Aurangabad city is located in the northern part of the state of Maharashtra, precisely in the western region of India. It is placed at a distance of 375 km from Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra. The city is yet again brilliantly environed by the rugged hills of Western Ghats. The river Kham cuts through the city of Aurangabad, to irrigate it in a yearly basis.

The name Aurangabad has arrived from the Persian or Urdu lingo, literally standing for "Built by the throne", which was, as the present name suggests, named after Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Aurangabad serves as a nerve-connecting city in Maharashtra. The city indeed redefines Indian historical tourism at its zenith, with the place itself administering as a tourist hub. Historical significance of this very ancient city is circumvented with many historical monuments, including the Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves as well as Bibi Ka Maqbara (the burial architecture of Aurangzeb`s wife, Rabia-ud-Durrani). Aurangabad city serves up as the administrative headquarters of the Aurangabad Division or Marathwada region. Aurangabad is in a pan-Indian concept, referred to as the most exquisite and elaborate `City of Gates`, as one cannot definitely tend to overlook or ignore the strong presence of these. Aurangabad is also famous and much celebrated for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University.

The city of Aurangabad is hugely respected and looked at with pride due to its medieval monuments and brilliant cultural heritage. The city had, during erstwhile times, served as the seat of the majestic and regal Mughal Empire for a brief period. The city boasting about its peculiar Bibi-ka-Makbara is a tomb that bears uncanny similitude to the Taj Mahal. Indeed, history of Aurangabad has much to emote, say and confess. The bloody tales of war, overlordship, jealousy, covetousness and invasion comes up time and again while furthering on the place`s history. The importance of Aurangabad grows in greatness and splendour, owing to its proximity with world heritage sites of Ajanta and Ellora. The fame and prestige of Aurangabad city, however does not terminate in historical pages; the city is also famous for its silk and cotton textiles.

Annual temperatures in Aurangabad city range within a scale of 9 to 40 degrees Celsius, with the most comfortable time to visit in the wintry months of October to February. During the cold season, Aurangabad district is sometimes impacted upon heavily by cold waves. Most of the rainfall in the city occurs in the monsoon season from June to September.

After much historical and archaeological experiments and researches, there now exists testimony to consider that Aurangabad was indeed developed as a trading hub at last four centuries ago. The city lies on a crucial and decisive trade route that used to connect north-west India`s sea and land ports to the Deccan region. It is also acknowledged that Aurangabad city was a major silk and cotton textile production nerve centre. A fine unification of silk with locally grown cotton was developed as Himroo textile. Much of the silk industry however has melted away with time, but some manufacturers - such as the Aurangabad Silk Mills, Standard Silk Mills - have managed to keep the tradition alive. The incredibly legendary and exquisite Paithani silk saris are also in fact manufactured in Aurangabad. The name of this cloth is derived from Paithan town (a city and a municipal council in Aurangabad district).

Till 1960, Aurangabad had served as the underdog as a city, remaining essentially an industrially backward one compared to its other Indian city heavyweights. However, in 1960, the region of Marathwada was incorporated into Maharashtra. This was the time when the industrial development of the Marathwada region had begun to roll its dice, incited as it was through assigned and delegated backward area benefits. And it was only when the MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) had begun to take land into possession and establishing industrial estates that the city began to grow. Aurangabad is in contemporary times a classic instance of endeavours of state government towards an equilibrised industrialisation of state. And, as its consequence, the city is now home to some of the best acknowledged brands. There is Videocon, Garware, Skoda Auto, Wockhardt, Ajanta Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, Lupin, Goodyear and Bajaj Auto, to just name a few

As far as transport is concerned Aurangabad Municipal Transport (AMT) is essentially an intra-city bus service that travels across almost all parts of the city and also links up the more outlying industrial suburbs. The AMT bus service is again most fortunately low-priced, efficient and safe. The "Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation" (MSRTC) and several other private bus operators furnish with a bus service to all parts of the state. Metered auto rickshaws also travel the regular routes regularly all through the city.

Aurangabad is pretty soundly connected by roads with the numerous other major cities of Maharashtra and other states in India. National highway NH-211 (Dhule-Aurangabad-Solapur) cuts through the city for smooth drives. Road connectivity is excellent and the roads linking the cities comprising Pune, Nagpur, Beed and Mumbai are being elevated into four lane highways. This city also proudly owns its International airport. In the recent times indeed, there were flights also made available to all the people travelling to Haj pilgrimage in Mecca. Aurangabad Airport has connecting flights to cities of Delhi, Udaipur, Mumbai, Jaipur, as well as Hyderabad. The railway station is situated on the Kachiguda-Manmad section of Hyderabad. Aurangabad owns rail connectivity with places like - Manmad, Aurangabad, Nanded, Parbhani, Parli Vaijnath, Latur, Osmanabad, Gangakhed, Mudkhed, Adilabad, Nagpur, Basar, Nizamabad, Nasik, Mumbai, Pune, Daund, Mahbubnagar, Kurnool, Kadapa, Renigunta, Tirupati, Katpadi, Erode, Madurai and Kachiguda (HYB).

Aurangabad is further known to be exceedingly enriched in its cultural heritage and ancient Indian legacy, a crucial factor which has made the city to possess a plethora of its art and crafts, exquisite in appeal. Whenever any visitor or tourist envisions about shopping in Aurangabad, himroo shawls, mashroo and kimkhab weaves, Paithani silk sarees come to the absolute forefront and in everybody`s mind. The silver inlay craft of Bidri ware too is famous. All these wares and items not only relate themselves to the well-heeled art and craft of the region, but also reflect the expertise of the artisans. Indeed, for these precise reasons, umpteen outsiders come to visit this city to shop these world famous crafts. However, as with most other ancient cities in India, Aurangabad possesses its quintessential mode of celebrating its clothesline through the various kinds of festivals held on a yearly basis. The fairs and festivals in Aurangabad are known to be quite a hit with the visiting population, which in turn, offers a platter full with extraordinary and remarkable items to collect and treasure them for the rest of the life.

Serving as a solid base for some of the most prestigious and revered architectures and monuments in the Indian historical scenario, Aurangabad can be called the perfect destination with the best of accommodations available. There can be hunted out an assorted bunch of hotels serving within one`s budget range, ideal to the breathtaking locales. Most of the hotels in Aurangabad come equipped with restaurants themselves, which further offers an astounding range of cuisines from Maharashtrian to Mughlai and Chinese to Italians. There lies a cluster of low budget, but exceptional finger-licking restaurants by the Station Road. But one may find lesser eating joints at Ajanta and Ellora Caves. These cave sites are also fitted with government run restaurants. There is a government resort at Fardapu. Traveller`s Lodge at Ajanta, and Hotel Kailas possess good restaurants with reasonable rates.

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