ferry to vashon island Vizag s train station is on the western edge of town, near the port. Visakhapatnam Junction station

About 75km from Puttaparthi is Lepakshi, site of the Veerbhadra Temple (admission free). The town gets its name from the Ramayana: when demon Ravana kidnapped Rama s wife, Sita, the bird Jatayu fought him and fell, injured, at the temple site. Rama then called him to get up; Lepakshi derives from the Sanskrit for Get up, bird.

Vizag s train station is on the western edge of town, near the port. Visakhapatnam Junction station is on the Kolkata-Chennai line. The overnight Coromandel Express (sleeper/3AC/2AC 333/881/1199, 13 hours) is the fastest of the five daily trains running to Kolkata. Heading south, it goes to Chennai (sleeper/3AC/2AC 310/817/1112, 14 hours). Frequent trains head to Vijayawada including 2717, the Ratnachalam Express (2nd-class/chair 108/477).

Museum of Habitat (admission 10; h10am1pm & 2-5pm) with exhibits ferry to vashon island on indigenous life. APTDC runs tours ( 500) from Vizag, which take in a performance of Dhimsa, a tribal dance, and the million-year-old limestone Borra Caves (admission 40, camera 100; h10am-1pm & 2-5pm), 30km from Araku.

MAIN POINTS OF ENTRY Hyderabad s new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is the main arrival point. The main train stations are Nampally and Secunderabad in Hyderabad; Imlibun is the interstate bus station. Visakhaptnam has monthly ferries leaving to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. Fast Facts