Incredible India
7 Things to Do in Khajuraho, Home to India's Most Intricately Carved Temples
A UNESCO World Heritage Site in Madhya Pradesh, Khajuraho's sandstone temples, built by the Chandela dynasty over a thousand years ago, carry some of the finest stone carving anywhere in India.
Sep 23, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Khajuraho, a small town in Madhya Pradesh, was once the capital of the Chandela dynasty, which built more than 80 temples here between roughly 950 and 1050 CE. Fewer than 25 survive, but the surviving group, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, is regarded as one of the finest examples of Nagara-style temple architecture and stone carving in India. Here are seven things to do, each with a direct map link.
1. Western Group of Temples
The largest and best-preserved cluster, the Western Group includes the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, the tallest and most elaborately carved of all of Khajuraho's temples, its spire rising over 30 metres above a base covered in detailed figural carving.
2. Devi Jagadambi Temple
Standing within the Western Group, this temple was originally dedicated to Vishnu before later being rededicated to the goddess Parvati, and its carved panels remain among the clearest examples of the site's craftsmanship.
3. Sound and Light Show
Held most evenings within the Western Group grounds, the show narrates the history of the Chandela dynasty and the temples' construction against the illuminated temples themselves, a popular way to see the carvings after dark.
4. Eastern Group and Parshvanath Temple
A cluster of Jain temples on the town's eastern edge, this group includes the Parshvanath Temple, the largest Jain temple at Khajuraho, still an active place of worship alongside its historical carvings.
5. Duladeo Temple
Part of the Southern Group and among the last temples built at Khajuraho, Duladeo Temple is dedicated to Shiva and shows a slightly heavier, more geometric carving style than the earlier Western Group temples.
6. Raneh Falls
A striking granite canyon around 20 kilometres from Khajuraho, Raneh Falls cuts through multicoloured volcanic rock and carries the most water in the post-monsoon months of October and November.
7. Panna National Park
A tiger reserve roughly 30 kilometres from Khajuraho, Panna is often combined with a temple visit for travellers with an extra day, offering jeep safaris across a landscape of teak forest and river gorge.
Traveller tips
- Khajuraho Airport connects to Delhi and Varanasi with a small number of flights; Jhansi and Mahoba are the nearest railway junctions.
- Early morning is the coolest and least crowded time to see the Western Group before tour buses arrive.
- Hiring a licensed guide at the entrance helps make sense of the carvings' mythological detail, easy to miss without context.
- The Khajuraho Dance Festival, held each winter, stages classical Indian dance against the floodlit Western Group temples.
Where this is
Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh