Uttar Pradesh उत्तर प्रदेश), which means Northern State, is a state in northern India. It covers 243,286 sq km (93,933.2 sq mi) and is the fifth biggest state in the country. Uttar Pradesh has a population of 199.6 million people (2011 estimate) and is likely to surpass the 200 million mark at any time at all. This makes it the most populous state in India. If it were an independent country, it would have more people than Pakistan and even Brazil, which is forty times its size.
While Uttar Pradesh is located in northern India, it is not the northernmost state of the country - that position is taken by Jammu & Kashmir. Uttar Pradesh is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the northwest, Haryana to the west, Rajastan to the southwest, Madhya Pradesh to the south, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to the southeast, Bihar to the east and with Nepal and Uttarakhand to the north. Its capital and largest city is Lucknow. The state comprises 72 districts.
Much of Uttar Pradesh is covered by fertile alluvial soil that allows it to support a high population density. Major rivers such as the Ganges, Yamuna and Ghaghara flows through this area. The landscape of Uttar Pradesh is one of small hills, plains, valleys and plateaus.
Uttar Pradesh experiences a subtropical climate. Hottest months are May and June, when the average temperature reaches 32.5°F (91°F). Coldest month is January, when temperature drops to 12.5°C (55°F). Rain is determined by the monsoon, with the wettest months being from June to September, during the southwest monsoon. Almost all the rain of the year falls during these four months, often crop-damaging creating floods.
How to go to Uttar Pradesh
You can fly from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata to Lucknow. Alternatively, Lucknow is on the route between Delhi and Varanasi. If travelling by road, it is 497 km from Delhi, 363 km from Agra, 985 km from Kolkata and 300 km from Varanasi.
Within each major city of Uttar Pradesh, the main form of public transportation comprises the ricksha, auto-ricksha and taxis. Drivers in bigger cities may speak some English, but don't count on it. Always negotiate a fare before boarding, whether you intend to hire the vehicle for a single trip or the whole day.
Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.
About this website
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.