Rourkela Travel Guide

Rourkela Travel Guide

Coming into prominence ever since the establishment of the first public sector steel plant in the year 1955; Rourkela is today extensively and rightly known as the steel city of Orissa. It is located at the bank of the Brahmani River and holds the reputation of being the second largest city of Orissa. Once a village, it has now developed into an ambitious town though there still lurks behind in affluent the cultural essence of the place. It is the proud possessor of the Rourkela Steel Plant, the most advanced and largest steel plants in India. This steel plant was established with Indo-German collaboration and is now owned by Steel Authority of India. The place houses India’s two most esteemed technological universities; Regional Engineering College and Biju Patnaik University of Technology. Rourkela has good connection with all other major cities by road, rail and road.

There are many places within Rourkela that you can visit while on your tour of the land. Some of them are Mandira Dam, Vedavyas, Junagarh, Khandadhar, Darjeeng, Hanuman Vatika, Maa Vaishno Devi Temple, Vedic Ashram and the Gurukul styled school.

Built across the Sankha River, the Mandira Dam is situated at a distance of 25kms from Rourkela. There is an impressive picnic spot in its vicinity and the dam is known to distribute water to more than 250 villages that lies at its fringes. The convergence of the rivers Sankha, Koel and Saraswati creates an alluring sight. Hence, Vedavyas is another tourist place of interest where the natural exquisiteness also contributes a great deal in heightening the beauty of the place. There is an ancient fort in the precinct of Junagarh, another tourist spot located at a distance of 4kms from Hemagiri. The temple is historically and archaeologically valued.

There is also a waterfall, the beauty of which draws a large number of tourists in its spot. Reaching up to a height of 244m, the Khandadhar waterfall is regarded as the highest waterfall in Orissa and also the fourth highest in India. One can find an ideal picnic spot in the environs of Darjeeng that lies at a distance of 51km from Rourkela. You can get the most enchanting view of the city below from the Maa Vaishno Devi Temple which is situated at the top of the hill. There stand the images of Goddess Kali, Goddess Lakshami and Goddess Saraswati in the temple. However, it is the Hanuman Vatika which surpasses all other tourist places mentioned above. It is a 75 feet tall statute of Lord Hanuman which is considered the pride of Rourkela.  

Rourkela thus has a lot to offer to the tourist. A visit to the place will make you realise and have a fair knowledge of two facets of the country: urban and rural. 

Last Updated: 29/03/2012