Aurangabad is not the destination. It is the place you sleep in order to reach two of the most extraordinary sites in Asia, and it is worth being clear about that before you book. The Ellora caves are 30 kilometres away, 34 rock cut temples of three religions carved between the sixth and eleventh centuries, culminating in the Kailasa temple, a complete Hindu temple the size of a cathedral excavated downward out of a single hillside and estimated to have removed 200,000 tonnes of rock. The Ajanta caves are 100 kilometres in the other direction, 30 Buddhist caves cut into a horseshoe gorge between the second century BC and the sixth century AD, abandoned, forgotten, and rediscovered by a British hunting party in 1819 with their painted murals still on the walls.
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Both are day trips, both involve long drives on Deccan roads, and both involve several hours of walking on rock in heat. The city itself, renamed Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023 though the old name is still in common use and on most signage, has a handful of Mughal sites of its own. Pack for the caves, not for the city.
What Makes Aurangabad Different to Pack For
Deccan plateau heat and a hard dry season
Aurangabad sits at around 570 metres on the Deccan. Summer, from March to June, runs 30°C to 42°C and is genuinely punishing. The monsoon arrives in June and runs to September with heavy rain and green landscape. Winter, November to February, is the season to come: 12°C to 30°C, dry and clear, with cold mornings that surprise people.
A merino wool base layer for women is worth carrying for December and January mornings, when an early start for Ajanta at six leaves in genuine cold, and for the long air conditioned car journeys.
The caves are a walking day, not a viewing
Ellora runs two kilometres along an escarpment and the Kailasa temple alone involves substantial climbing on uneven rock. Ajanta is worse: the caves are reached from a bus drop by a flight of over a hundred steps, then a path along the gorge face connecting all 30, with more steps between many of them. Expect five to seven hours on your feet at each, mostly on stone, much of it in sun.
Shoes off, repeatedly
Footwear must be removed at several cave temples and at the Grishneshwar temple near Ellora. You will be barefoot on stone that has been in full sun, which at Ellora in April is hot enough to hurt. Socks solve this and are not disrespectful.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Aurangabad Packing List
Footwear
Closed shoes that come off easily. This is the whole problem in one sentence: you need a real sole for hours on uneven basalt and steps, and you need to remove them a dozen times. Slip on trainers or walking shoes with a quick lace beat boots here. Carry a pair of thick socks for the barefoot sections. If you are visiting in monsoon, waterproof hiking shoes handle the wet rock at Ajanta, which becomes slick and genuinely dangerous on the gorge path.
Clothing
Loose, covering and light coloured. Shoulders and knees covered at all the cave temples and at Grishneshwar, one of the twelve jyotirlinga shrines, where the code is enforced and men are sometimes asked to remove shirts. Long loose trousers or a long skirt with a light long sleeved top is the practical uniform and also the coolest thing to wear in Deccan sun.
A scarf is the most useful single item: head covering at shrines, sun protection on the escarpment, dust filter in the car, and something to sit on.
For the caves specifically
A torch. This is not obvious and it matters. The Ajanta murals are lit dimly to protect them and the interiors are genuinely dark; flash photography is prohibited and a small torch pointed at the floor or a wall lets you actually see the painting. Many visitors see almost nothing because they never bring one.
A wide brim sun hat and far more water than you expect. There is very little shade at Ellora and the Ajanta path is exposed along the gorge face.
For the road days
Ajanta is a three hour drive each way on roads that are rough in places. Motion sickness tablets if you are prone. Snacks, because the options en route are limited. Cash in small notes for tickets, the mandatory shuttle bus at Ajanta, and tips.
Medical and practical
Mosquito repellent, especially in and after monsoon. Rehydration salts, which matter more than anything else in the kit in April and May. Hand sanitiser and any prescription medication in quantity.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Ellora
Thirty four caves in a line: Buddhist at the southern end, Hindu in the middle, Jain at the north. Cave 16, the Kailasa, is the one that stops people speaking. It was cut from the top down, took perhaps a century and a half, and is the largest monolithic excavation in the world.
Practically: closed on Tuesdays, which catches out an extraordinary number of visitors. The site is spread over two kilometres and a rickshaw runs between the ends. Climbing around Kailasa involves steep stone stairs without rails and is the most demanding part of the day.
Ajanta
Thirty caves in a horseshoe above the Waghora river, the earlier ones Hinayana and the later Mahayana, with the painted caves 1, 2, 16 and 17 holding the murals that make the site globally important. The viewpoint across the gorge shows why the monks chose it.
Practically: closed on Mondays. Private vehicles stop four kilometres away and a government shuttle covers the rest. There are over a hundred steps from the drop off to the first cave, palanquin carriers are available for those who need them, and the connecting path has many more. No flash, no tripods, and shoes off at several caves. It is a long, hot, uphill day.
The city itself
Bibi ka Maqbara is a 1660s mausoleum built by Aurangzeb's son for his mother, modelled closely on the Taj Mahal at a fraction of the budget and known locally as the poor man's Taj. Daulatabad fort, halfway to Ellora, is a hill fortress with a genuinely sinister defensive system of a spiral tunnel designed to be blocked and smoked.
Practically: Daulatabad is 750 steps to the top in full sun, with a dark bat filled tunnel section partway. It is harder than Ellora. Bibi ka Maqbara requires shoes off on the platform.
What Not to Bring
Leave shoes that lace tightly. Leave the flash and the tripod, both banned at the caves. Leave the assumption that you can see Ajanta and Ellora in one day; they are in opposite directions and the attempt ruins both.
Leave revealing clothing entirely. This is conservative interior Maharashtra rather than Goa or Mumbai, and the sites are active places of worship as well as monuments.
Essential Resources for Women in Aurangabad
Emergency numbers in India: 112 is the national emergency number. Police 100, ambulance 102 or 108, fire 101. The women's helpline is 1091 and the domestic violence helpline is 181, both staffed nationally.
Tourist support: India operates a 24 hour multilingual tourist helpline on 1363. Maharashtra Tourism has an office in Aurangabad, and the city police run a tourist assistance desk at the main sites in season. A stolen passport needs an FIR filed at the local police station before the embassy can issue a replacement.
US Embassy and consulate: the embassy is in New Delhi at Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, telephone +91 11 2419 8000, at in.usembassy.gov. The relevant consulate for Maharashtra is the US Consulate General in Mumbai, C 49 G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, around seven hours by road or a short flight. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the Government Medical College and Hospital in Aurangabad is the main public hospital, and MGM Medical College Hospital and Kamalnayan Bajaj Hospital are the private options most visitors are directed to, all with 24 hour emergency departments. There is no medical facility at Ajanta beyond basic first aid, and you are three hours from the city. Travel insurance is essential.
Official health authority: the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at mohfw.gov.in.
US State Department travel advisory for India: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for India: entry requirements, safety and health guidance.
Official tourism authority: Incredible India at incredibleindia.gov.in, with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation at maharashtratourism.gov.in for cave opening days, shuttle arrangements and the official guide service, which is worth using at Ajanta.
Solo women safety assessment: Aurangabad is manageable for a woman travelling alone but it is not a place that is set up for independent female travellers the way Goa, Kerala or Rajasthan are, and the experience is noticeably more conservative. Expect staring, particularly away from the cave sites, and dress accordingly, which reduces it substantially. Violent crime against foreign visitors is rare, but verbal harassment and unwanted attention are reported, and the city has a limited evening street life for women compared with Mumbai. Practical steps make a real difference here. Hire a car with a driver for the cave days rather than using public buses, which is standard practice, inexpensive by Western standards, and removes the two situations where women most often report trouble: crowded local buses and waiting alone at rural stops. Use prepaid or app based taxis in the city. Avoid arriving on an overnight bus and walking to a hotel before dawn. At the caves themselves you will be among crowds of Indian families and school groups and the atmosphere is entirely comfortable, though be prepared for repeated requests for photographs, which are almost always well meant and which you are free to decline. The most underrated risk is heat: the cave days are long, exposed and physically demanding, the temperature in April and May is dangerous rather than merely uncomfortable, and heat exhaustion on the Ajanta steps with limited medical support three hours from a hospital is the thing most likely to go seriously wrong.
Reading On
Ajanta and Ellora are worth planning a trip around, and Aurangabad is simply the bed you need in order to see them properly. The India travel guide for women is the parent for the whole country and covers the regions, the seasons and the trains, and the India packing list for women covers a multi region trip. The nearest major city is Mumbai, and the Mumbai packing list for women covers the usual arrival point. For other great carved and built sites, the Hampi packing list for women and the Khajuraho packing list for women are the natural companions to this one, and the Agra travel guide for women covers the Taj, which Bibi ka Maqbara imitates. South, the Goa travel guide for women is the usual next stop. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino handles a 42°C Deccan afternoon and a 12°C pre dawn start in the same garment, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
