Two tiger reserves, two very different pieces of India: Rajaji in the Shivalik foothills and Ganga river belt of Uttarakhand, Bandhavgarh in the Vindhyan-Satpura transition of the Central Indian Highlands in Madhya Pradesh. Both have their own booking systems, gates and published rules. This page sets the two official records side by side and stops there — no verdicts, no counts, no figure the sources do not print.
Sources checked on 12 November 2026: the reserve's own Chilla page and booking page, and the official Madhya Pradesh Forest booking portal, and the Bandhavgarh notices, brochure and permit terms as attributed below; plus this site's own pages, linked below.
Location and landscape
Rajaji lies across the Dehradun, Haridwar and Pauri Garhwal districts of Uttarakhand, in the Shivalik foothills along the Ganga's riverine belt — sal forest, grassland and river edges. Bandhavgarh lies mostly in Umaria district, with ground in Katni and Shahdol, on the Vindhyan-Satpura transition of the Central Indian Highlands: sal and mixed deciduous forest, bamboo and grassy valleys, at about 440 to 810 metres.
The practical difference is the forest you drive into: a riverine belt in the Himalayan foothills against a hilly Central Indian landscape of sal, bamboo and meadow — and both publish permits rather than promises.
Size and history
Each record is quoted from its own publisher. Rajaji: national park notified in 1983, 820.42 sq km, and in 2015 a further 255.63 sq km added as buffer, taking the declared tiger reserve to 1,075 sq km. Bandhavgarh: total 1,536.938 sq km, core 716.903 and buffer 820.035 sq km, with a national park first notified in 1968 at 105 sq km, expanded in 1982 to 448.842, Project Tiger in 1993, a tiger reserve notification in 1993-94, and the core re-notified under section 38V in 2007.
So the two are not measured the same way: Rajaji's pair is park plus buffer at declaration, Bandhavgarh's triple splits total into core and buffer, and its park area has moved across four notifications. Quote each figure with its document.
Zones and gates
Rajaji publishes six day-visit zones — Chilla, Chillawali, Chaurasi Kutiya, Haridwar, Motichur and Ramgarh — each entered through its own gate, with the live calendar deciding which are offered. Bandhavgarh publishes three core zones and three buffer zones, each with its own gate: the core is Tala, Magadhi and Khitauli, the buffer Dhamokhar through Parasi, Johila through Chechpur or Gajwahi, Panpatha through Pachpedi. Fewer names on one side, a core-and-buffer split on the other — either way the booking system names what you can buy.
Season and shifts, including the conflicts
Rajaji publishes 15 November to 15 June on most pages while the booking page's Chilla line says 15 October to 15 June; the calendar settles it. Bandhavgarh is published inconsistently too, and the conflict is reported rather than resolved: the reserve says usually 15 October to 30 June, the MPOnline brochure best time 15 October to 15 June, MP Tourism the core closing July to September while buffers can remain open. The portal's revised table, effective for safari dates from 1 October 2026, prints month-banded shifts: October to November, morning 06:00 to 11:30 and evening 15:00 to 18:00; December to January, 06:20 to 11:30 and 15:00 to 18:00; February to March, 06:10 to 11:30 and 15:00 to 18:30; April to June, 05:30 to 11:00 and 15:30 to 19:00. That table is the portal's notice, not a reserve-specific clock: confirm the bands at booking. The summary to carry: the core broadly runs October to June with a July to September closure, the buffer may remain open — then check the notification.
Booking and identity
Bandhavgarh is booked on the official Madhya Pradesh Forest portal: register or log in, select the park, then date, zone or gate, shift, vehicle permit or single seat, visitor details, payment, download — with the window opening on the 120th day at 11:00 AM. At the gate: printed permit, original ID, a mandatory guide, and vehicle and guide charges paid separately. The vehicle is a park-registered light motor vehicle capped at eight including driver and guide — six tourists, one guide and one driver — the permit is individual and non-transferable, mobile phone use is strictly prohibited inside the protected area, a 20 km/h speed is recommended, and you stay in the vehicle except at designated points. Foreign nationals book against passport details and carry the same original passport; the ID list also names Aadhaar, voter ID, driving licence, PAN and student ID.
Rajaji runs its own portal — date, zone, shift, visitor details with the group leader, payment, print permit — with a passport mandatory for non-Indians, a static-IP desktop caveat and the 20-minute gate rule. Two systems, two rule sets.
Wildlife, without counts
Bandhavgarh's published list runs tiger, leopard, dhole, sloth bear, gaur, chital, sambar, chausingha, chinkara, ratel, wild boar, hyena and wolf, with rich bird and butterfly life. Rajaji's pages describe elephants, tigers, leopards and deer, with approx. 315 bird species on the Chilla page. Neither side is a population figure: this page states no tiger count for either park, and a permit buys an entry, not an encounter.
Access, with every figure attributed
No official Delhi distance or drive time for Bandhavgarh was located, so none is printed. Three sources publish the gateway figures, kept separate here. The reserve's Tala page gives Umaria 32 km, Katni 97, Shahdol 97, Rewa 115, Satna 117, Jabalpur 170, Khajuraho 226 and Nagpur 450. The MPOnline gate-wise table differs: Tala Umaria 32, Katni 100, Jabalpur 167; Khitauli 37, 90 and 159; Magadhi 38, 90 and 159; Pachpedi 55, 63 and 148; Chechpur 32, 116 and 185; Parsai 44, 83 and 152. MP Tourism gives Umaria 35, Katni 102 and Jabalpur 190. For Rajaji the reserve publishes Delhi to Chilla about 224 km via NH 334, Dehradun about 55 km and Jolly Grant about 40 km. Attribute every figure, merge nothing, attach no estimate in hours.
Who each park suits
Rajaji suits a trip anchored in Uttarakhand — Haridwar, Rishikesh or Dehradun — with six zones, a riverine landscape and an extension beside a northern itinerary. Bandhavgarh suits a Central India itinerary built around the Umaria, Katni and Jabalpur gateways, with a core-and-buffer choice and published month-banded shifts. Families, photographers and first-timers appear on both lists; what decides it is your starting point, your dates and which calendar offers your day.
What to confirm before you decide
- Which live calendar offers your dates — the reserve's portal for Rajaji, the Madhya Pradesh Forest portal for Bandhavgarh.
- Which notification and shift table are in force for your date, since both reserves publish conflicting seasons.
- Which gate your booking names, and where you will sleep relative to it.
- Which identity document each system asks of you — passport for Rajaji's non-Indians, passport with the permit for foreign nationals at Bandhavgarh.
What this page will not claim
Six abstentions. No verdict about which reserve is better. No tiger count for either park. No single Bandhavgarh season, because three official sources disagree; the current notification is the answer. No Delhi distance or drive time for Bandhavgarh, and no invented distance or drive time anywhere — only the published figures above, each attributed. And no sighting guarantee behind either permit.
Where to read next
For the wider field, Rajaji versus other Indian tiger reserves; for the closest pair, Rajaji versus Jim Corbett; for the rest of this series, the Sariska comparison and the Dudhwa comparison. For the Rajaji side, the official portal and process guide, and for what a day visit is, the jungle safari overview. Companion pages in this release: the Jolly Grant airport page and the winter fog guide. Sources checked 12 November 2026.
Rajaji versus Bandhavgarh: questions answered
Is Bandhavgarh better than Rajaji for tigers?
This page does not rank them and prints no tiger count for either. What the official records differ on is setting and scale: Bandhavgarh sits in the Vindhyan-Satpura transition of the Central Indian Highlands in Madhya Pradesh, mostly Umaria district, with sal, mixed deciduous forest, bamboo and grassy valleys, while Rajaji is a Shivalik and Ganga riverine landscape in Uttarakhand. Both publish permits rather than sightings, and a permit buys an entry, not an encounter.
How do I reach Bandhavgarh from Delhi?
No official Delhi distance or drive time for Bandhavgarh was located in the sources used here, so this page prints none. What is published are the distances from the railheads and towns around the reserve: the BTR Tala page gives Umaria 32 km, Katni 97 km and Jabalpur 170 km, while the MPOnline gate-wise table gives Tala as Umaria 32, Katni 100 and Jabalpur 167, and MP Tourism gives Umaria 35, Katni 102 and Jabalpur 190. Three sources, three sets of figures — attribute the one you use, and check live navigation rather than an hour estimate.
When are Rajaji and Bandhavgarh open?
Rajaji publishes 15 November to 15 June on most of its pages while the booking page's Chilla line says 15 October to 15 June, so its live calendar decides your date. Bandhavgarh is published inconsistently too: the reserve says usually 15 October to 30 June, the MPOnline brochure says best time 15 October to 15 June, and MP Tourism says the core closes from July to September while buffer zones can remain open. Confirm the current notification on the official booking portal before you plan: https://forest.mponline.gov.in/Search.aspx?park=1.
Can I combine Rajaji and Bandhavgarh in one trip?
Nothing stops you planning both, but they are two tiger reserves in two states with two booking systems and no combined permit. Rajaji is booked on the reserve's own portal: https://rajajitigerreserve.uk.gov.in/jungle-safari-booking.aspx. Bandhavgarh is booked through the official Madhya Pradesh Forest portal with register or login, then park, date, zone or gate, shift, vehicle or seat, visitor details, payment and a downloaded permit. This page prints no distance or travel time between the two parks, because none was verified for it.
Which is better for a family?
That is a question about your starting point rather than about the parks. Travellers already in Uttarakhand or arriving at Delhi compare the Shivalik and riverine option with the Central Indian Highlands option; family logistics turn on the gates, the published shifts and which live calendar offers your day. Read the two bodies side by side, confirm identity documents on each park's own rules, and send group-specific questions through each reserve's official contact route. Sources checked 12 November 2026.