Winter is coming! Lots of holidays waiting ahead. If you’re looking for a quick escape from your busy routine, Ranchi, the “City of Waterfalls”, is a perfect weekend destination, especially for travelers from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha. With just 2-3 days leave, you can explore forests, hills, waterfalls, rivers, and dams together, if you visit the capital of your neighbor state, Ranchi. Based on our travel experience in Ranchi, I have crafted a compact Ranchi Tour Plan for your 2-3 days weekend trip.

Nevertheless, two days is a very short time to reveal the essence of Ranchi; it’s going to be another hectic tour where you just touch up most of the spots without feeling their true flavor. Still, Ranchi is a great place to visit on a 3 days weekend trip, especially if you have a holiday on Friday or Monday, including Saturday and Sunday. Before diving into the Ranchi tour plan, just take a look at the list of places that you can cover at Ranchi.

Best Places to Visit in Ranchi

1. Dassam Falls
2. Suriya Temple
3. Jonha Falls
4. Sita Waterfalls
5. Getalsud Dam
6. Hundru Falls
7. Subarnarekha River
8. Patratu Valley
9. Patratu Lake
10. Rock Garden
11. Dhoni’s Residence (No standing, just located)
12. Ranchi Pagla Khana (No standing, just located)
13. Ranchi Hill / Tagore Hill
14. Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park (Ranchi Zoo)

Ideally, 3 full days are okay for a Ranchi trip, while a 4-day trip would be the best to cover everything smoothly (We spent 5 nights in Ranchi + Patratu). If you have sufficient time, you may further proceed for some other nearby beauties (as we did), like:

• Netarhaat (1 day – 2 night)
• Lodh falls (1 day)
• Maromar (1 night stay)
• Betla National Park (1 Day), and
• Daltongunje (1-night stay) before return.

Anyway, without any delay, let’s dive into a perfect Ranchi tour plan for your upcoming weekend.

Step 1: How to reach Ranchi?

The best way to reach Ranchi is by personal car. We opted for this option because a personal car lets us travel freely and saves a lot of car rents. For accessible or self-driven distances we generally prefer a personal car. Nevertheless, every car owner may not prefer to drive long distances because it’s another hectic job for a person who doesn’t love driving.

So, the second best option is taking an overnight train, especially if you are traveling to Ranchi from nearby destinations like Kolkata, Durgapur, Dhanbad, Bhubaneswar, or even Baranasi. Let’s take a look at the best trains’ timings.

From Kolkata via Kharagpur

• 18615 Howrah-Ranchi Kriya Yoga Express, (9:10 p.m. – 5:20 a.m.)
• Howrah-Ranchi Vande Bharat (2:35 AM-10:00 PM)

From Kolkata via Bardhaman/ Durgapur/Dhanbad

• Saktipunj Exp (1:10 PM -8:20 PM)

From Varanasi

• 20888 Varanasi-Ranchi Vande Bharat (4:05 PM -11:55 PM)
• 18612 Banaras-Ranchi Exp (3:30PM-4:15AM)

From Bhubaneswar

• 20832 Ranchi Exp (8:25 PM – 6:00 AM)

If you’re in a hurry, or traveling from an away state, you can opt air route. Flights from various states of India land at Birsa Munda Airport.

Step 2: Find a Hotel in Ranchi

After arriving, the first task is to find a hotel. There are plenty of budget hotels just outside Ranchi station’s platform 1. Alternatively, you can stay in the middle of the town for better options. Ranchi is overwhelmed with hotels of all budgets, low cost or luxurious.

We stayed at the Sohrai Inn in the middle of the town, at a fine place. The lodging charges were quite fair for its location which was around 1500/- per room. Food was delivered from the nearby restaurants, which was not bad at all. (The rooms were quite nice, and the hotel staff was very friendly, You can check out from the given link.)

Near the railway station, you can book a room at Hotel Royal Residency for Rs. 1000 (Phone: 6287672066).

Step 3: Get a Car for Sightseeing in Ranchi

If you are traveling by your personal car, that’s well and good; the tour plan is already available to you, and you can navigate the spots using GMap. In case, you are traveling by train or flight, you need to arrange a car for sightseeing in Ranchi. Most of the hotels can arrange a car for sightseeing as they have contacts. If they can arrange, it’s well and good. Otherwise, go to the nearby car park, you can easily get a cab for your day travel.

Step 4: Travel-Time – Ranchi Tour Plan

In this step, you are going to explore how you can plan a Ranchi tour comfortably so that you can manage to attend most places within 2-3 days.

On the first day, start your journey within 9:00 a.m. after breakfast, visiting:

1. Jonha Falls (Entry: Rs. 10/person, Rs. 30/car) – YT Video link
2. Sita Waterfalls (Entry: Rs. 10/person)
3. Hundru Falls (Entry: Rs. 10/person)
4. Getalsud Dam

All are in the same direction; you just need to hurry to cover everything within a day. for your note, entry for all waterfalls ends at 4:00 PM.

After covering all, you’ll be exhausted and return hotel at around 7:00 to 8:00 PM. So, take a rest because you are on a short trip and have to travel a lot the next day.

The next morning again start at 9:00 a.m., after breakfast; you’ll explore the following spots:

1. Dassam Falls (Entry 10/-) – YT Video link
2. Suriya Temple
3. Subarnarekha River
4. Dhoni’s Residence
5. Ranchi Pagla Khana (just for spotting the location)
6. Rock Garden (Entry: Rs. 30/person)

If you are on a 2-day trip, you probably can’t cover more places because you may have the return ticket in the evening or have to drive the whole night to return home. If you can, you may visit the following places as well.

In case, the third day is free for you…

The next morning… start at 9:00 AM again:

1. Patratu Valley – YT Video link
2. Patratu Lake (Entry: Rs. 30/person; speedboat ride for Rs. 700 for 7 people)
3. Ranchi Hill / Tagore Hill

The beauty of Ranchi doesn’t end here at all; there are several other offbeat places and hidden waterfalls striving around. Also, halting at Patratu Valley is a fantastic experience (for at least one night). So, it’s always better to Visit Ranchi with at least 4 days’ holidays in hand. You can visit here on the weekends for 2-3 days of vacation, but in that case, don’t plan to cover all the spots; it’ll make your trip very hectic.

**Car Rental Information:** 
For an 7 seater Ertiga (seven people) you have to pay approx Rs. 6500-7000, which includes parking fees. 
For your reference, I’m sharing a car contact: 8789485890.

Food Highlights in Ranchi

A local specialty to try is desi chicken curry. We had our outside lunch with desi chicken curry near Jonha Falls (Rs. 150/plate – 4pc), Dassam Falls (Rs. 150/plate – 4pc), and Lodh Falls (Rs. 800 for full deshi hen/cock – price varies with size). We also tried mutton and fish thalis at a dhaba on the way to Patratu Valley (Mutton Rs. 170, Fish Rs. 80), and you can try them too.

Ranchi Tour Plan – Final Remarks

So, it’s all about the Ranchi tour plan to arrange a fantastic weekend trip to the capital of Jharkhand. You can fairly follow this tour guide for any season from July to April. Ranchi offers a tourist-friendly weather throughout the year, except the hot summer. In rainy seasons Ranchi emerges a indifferent beauty with a cloudy backdrop and overflown waterfalls.

Known as the “City of Waterfalls,” Ranchi did not disappoint with its beautiful waterfalls, landscapes, and greenery.

If you’re planning a Ranchi trip, I hope this post is helpful! If you still have any further queries about Ranchi tour, you can ask me anytime, posting your comment in the comment box below. I’ll be more than happy to help you.

Suvankar Das

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Dr. Suvankar Das is a scientific advisor by profession, associated with a CRO organization. He pursued his doctoral degree in Chemistry in 2015. Later, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher & scientist in a couple of institutes/companies.

Besides his scientific journey, Dr. Das is also a passionate traveler and travel blogger. He loves to share all his travel experiences with other travelers so that everyone can enjoy hassle-free holidays with their own tour plans.

He believes, the most beautiful thing in this world is the WORLD itself. so there is no way to live like a clock; rather live it like a compass!

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