Entry to the Khajuraho Temples Is Listed at Rs 40 for Indian Visitors and Rs 600 for Foreign Ones, and Here Are the Hours, Show Times and Routes the Official Pages Give

The Archaeological Survey of India’s page for the Khajuraho temples gives entry as Rs 40 per head for Indian visitors and Rs 600 for foreign ones, both marked as cash payments, with children below 15 free. Hours are sunrise to sunset, the same page says. We read it on 8 October 2026, along with the Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Incredible India and district pages cited below, and where no official page gave a figure we left it out.

What the ASI page says about tickets and hours

The ASI page, headed Group of Temples, Khajuraho (1986), lists Rs 40 per head for Indian visitors and Rs 600 per head for what it labels “Other Foreign Visitor”. No update date appears, and the footer reads 2025. It does not split the fee by group or say whether the Eastern and Southern groups need a ticket, and no other official page we opened does either, so ask at the gate what your ticket covers.

On buying online, All India Radio reported on 7 January 2026 that ASI tickets for over 170 centrally protected monuments and museums can be booked through apps on the Open Network for Digital Commerce, with a discount of Rs 5 for Indian visitors and Rs 50 for foreign nationals. Because the report names no monuments, we cannot confirm that Khajuraho is among them. ASI’s own booking portal showed us no fee list.

Three groups, and a sensible order

Incredible India sorts the temples into Western, Eastern and Southern groups. Its destination page counts twelve temples in the Western Group, among them Kandariya Mahadeva, Visvanatha, Lakshmana, Devi Jagadambi and Chitragupta. Its second page says the granite Chausath Yogini temple was the first one built, “around the 9th century”. Inside the Western Group stands the Archaeological Museum, with five galleries of Chandela-period sculpture, according to the destination page. Neither Incredible India page gives its hours.

Matangesvara is the only temple in the complex still used for worship, with prayers in the morning and afternoon, according to Incredible India’s second page.

Near Khajuraho village lies the Eastern Group, and the two Incredible India pages disagree on its contents: one counts three Hindu and four Jain temples, the other lists four Jain temples (Parsvanath, Adinath, Shantinath and Ghantai) plus the Brahma and Vamana temples. Javari is in the first list. About five kilometres south of the village, the Southern Group holds the Duladeo temple, dedicated to Shiva, and the Chaturbhuj temple. Incredible India says Chaturbhuj is the only temple there without erotic carvings.

One suggested route, on the second page, is the Western Group early in the morning, then the Eastern Group, ending at Chaturbhuj in time for sunset. Neither page gives per-temple hours. Our Hampi guide uses the same read-on-a-date method, and Odisha’s Konark and the rock-cut caves in Ajanta and Ellora are different temple traditions covered separately.

Who built it, and when

Khajuraho belongs to the Chandela rulers, the ASI page says. It credits Yasovarman with the Lakshmana temple, dated AD 954, and attributes Kandariya Mahadeva, the largest temple, to King Ganda, AD 1017 to 1029. Incredible India puts most of the building between 950 and 1050 and calls Khajuraho the Chandela capital from the 9th to the 12th century. Kandariya Mahadeva has towers over 31 metres high and more than 870 sculptures, per its destination page. That page also calls the Chausath Yogini the earliest surviving shrine, and the ASI notes that Chausath Yogini, Brahma and a temple it calls Mahadeva are granite while the rest are sandstone.

A British officer, T.S. Burt, rediscovered the site in 1830, according to Incredible India.

The number of temples varies by page. Local tradition lists 85, the ASI says, of which 25 stand. Incredible India’s destination page says about 20 survive across six square kilometres, while its second page says about 25 and then lists a breakdown by deity that adds up to 20. The Google Arts & Culture story, which Incredible India published with the ASI, also says about 20. Treat any single count as approximate.

Erotic carvings are one subject among several. The same story lists daily life, human emotions, celestial women, elephant fights and hunting scenes, and places erotic sculpture on the facade of the Parvati temple. Dedications run to Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha, the Sun God and Jain tirthankaras (the 24 teachers Jains revere).

The evening sound and light show

Madhya Pradesh Tourism lists a Khajuraho show at the Western Group of Temples complex, in English and Hindi. Its page carries the date 13 July 2026 and no update label. The times change with the season:

• October to February: English 6.30 to 7.05 pm, Hindi 7.25 to 8 pm.
• March to September: English 7.30 to 8.05 pm, Hindi 8.25 to 9 pm.

Tickets are Rs 300 for an Indian adult, Rs 150 for an Indian child, Rs 800 for a foreign adult and Rs 400 for a foreign child. Incredible India says it runs every evening. We found no official page that names the operator, explains where tickets are sold or says what happens in rain, so we say nothing on those points.

The Khajuraho Dance Festival

Madhya Pradesh Tourism lists the 53rd Khajuraho Dance Festival for 20 to 26 February 2027 at the Khajuraho Group of Temples, with free entry. The page says the festival has run for over five decades and celebrates Indian classical dance. Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Odissi are the dances Incredible India names. No official page we opened gives daily timings or a line-up, and the tourism page still carries some 2026 wording, so check the dates again nearer the time.

When to go

Incredible India’s destination page says the best time to visit is October to March, while its second page says October to February. The destination page’s monthly temperature ranges run, in degrees Celsius, from 3.7 to 30.2 in January, 4.9 to 30.8 in December, 21.8 to 46.6 in May and 23.9 to 46.1 in June. The February festival falls inside both pages’ windows.

Getting there

By air, Madhya Pradesh Tourism says Khajuraho Civil Aerodrome (code HJR) is about 2 km from the town centre and links to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Varanasi and Indore. It does not give a timetable, and neither does any other official page we opened.

By rail, the tourism page puts Khajuraho Railway Station (KURJ) about 5 km from the town centre, with connections to Delhi and Varanasi and, through Satna, to Mumbai and Kolkata. Indian Railways timetable pages did not open for us, so we give no train numbers. The Chhatarpur district site, in a page last updated in July 2019, places Khajuraho about 175 km southeast of Jhansi, the city of Rani Lakshmibai, and about 45 to 50 km from Chhatarpur town (the district’s own pages give both figures).

By road, Madhya Pradesh Tourism says Khajuraho is connected to Jhansi, Orchha, Bandhavgarh and Chhatarpur, and taxis can be hired from any of them.