Bharatpur famous for its Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary is easily approachable by train, flight, bus or private vehicle.
The best season to visit is from November to February. The park opens at 6:30 am and remails open till 5:30 pm. It is important to reach early as some birds come out only before 9 am. It is claimed that there are about 370 bird species here, but I could see only 26 species in 4 hours of travel across the park.
Entry fee to the bird sanctuary is Rs. 50 for Indians and Rs. 200 for foreigners. There is a canteen inside the sanctuary but it is not of must use. It only offers tea, coffee and packed chips. It is Important that you carry a bottle of water with you.
Guides are available for Rs. 100 per hour, and cycle rickshaw is available for Rs. 75 per hour, but you need to constantly ask them to speed up else they will drag the cycle rickshaw at extremely slow pace telling you all sort of stories to double your targeted time in order to make money. My target time was 2 hours and the cycle rickshaw kept dragging at extremely slow pace to stretch the time to 4 hours and I ended up paying Rs. 150 more. With this delay you end up paying more for the binoculars also that come at Rs. 25 per hour.
The park can be easily seen within 2 hours if you just want to glance at the birds, and there will not be much need to get down the rickshaw as you can see the birds sitting on the rickshaw. The rickshaw driver who doubles up as guide will always ask you to get down to view the birds so that you use up more time.
The park can be best enjoyed on foot if you are serious bird watcher. Just take a rickshaw at the main gate till the park entrance gate, which is more than 1.5 Kms, and then you can walk down the rest of the park viewing birds at your own pace. You can slowly walk and cover the whole park till the evening. But you will need a guide to learn more about the birds.
Where to stay?
Best option is Hotel Saras(Tel 05644-223790) that offers double non AC rooms for Rs. 950 and AC for Rs. 1350. It has very good restaurant that opens at 6:00 am and remains open till 10 pm. This is the only decent restaurant near the bird sanctuary.
Other cheap accommodations that are available near to Saras Circleare Royal Guest House for Rs. 300 & 600. Falcon Guest House Rs 400, Spoonbill Hotel Rs. 300. They all have boards saying restaurant facility but they are never able to provide anything to walk in customer. Anyhow, the food here is very expensive and its better to go to Hotel Saras restaurant. All these hotels are side by side in two parallel lanes and have almost same room rates.
At Hotel Saras restaurant you get Veg Thali for Rs. 100, Non-veg thali for Rs. 150, Tea for Rs. 11, Coffee Rs. 25, Cold coffee Rs. 40, Mineral water Rs. 20, Daal Rs. 50, Veg Kofta Rs. 55, Chana Masala Rs. 55, Salad Rs. 30, Stuffed parantha Rs. 20, Curd Rs. 30, Kheer/Rasagulla Rs. 25
If you want a free map of Bharatpur or any other information, you can approach the RTDC office(opens at 10:30 am) just opposite Hotel Saras.
It makes sense to stay at saras circle if you have plans to visit Taj Mahal(52 Kms), Fatehpur Sikri(16Kms), Mathura(39 kms) and Deeg(1 hour from bus stand) as you get frequent buses from Saras Circle for these destinations. Bharatpur is much relaxed and cheaper place to stay.
One last thing………carry your own mosquito repellent as the place is heavily infested by mosquitos.