Vijayawada is a city in the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region, on the banks of River Krishna in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The city is the third most densely populated in the urban population of built-up areas in the world and is the second largest city in Andhra Pradesh by population. Vijayawada is classified as a Y-grade city as per the Sixth Central Pay Commission. Vijayawada is the commercial headquarters of Andhra Pradesh. It was recognised as a "Global City of the Future" by McKinsey Quarterly, which expected an increase to GDP of $17 billion by 2025. Vijayawada was ISO 37120 Platinum Level certified in October 2018 and has been added to the "Global Cities Registry".
The city is known for its landmarks such as Prakasham Barrage across the Krishna river; Krishnaveni Mandapam (River Museum) depicting the history of Krishna river and a nearby idol of the river known as Krishnaveni statue; Gandhi Hill, the first Mahatma Gandhi Memorial in the country, an elevation of 500 ft on the on a hill; Bhavani Island, one of the largest river island amidst Krishna River. The Kanaka Durga Temple is a Hindu temple of Goddess Durga on the Indrakeeladri hill, on the banks of Krishna River. The deity is described as Swayambhu (self-manifested) in Triteeya kalpa. Akkana Madanna cave temple is a rock-cut temple which is located at the lower reach of the Indrakeeladri temple.
The Vijayawada airport is located at a distance of around 20 km from the city, at Gannavaram. It has flight to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Delhi. The Vijayawada railway station is connected to several major cities of India like Chennai, Trivandrum, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Bhopal, Luknow, Jammu, Bilaspur, Pondicherry, New Delhi, Kolkata, Varanasi, Patna and Chandigarh. Vijayawada is also well connected by all the major towns and cities in Andhra Pradesh. It has regular buses from Chennai, Tirupati, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Vizag.
The best time to visit Vijayawada is from November to February while the peak season is from November to February. Usually it takes 1-2 days to visit places in and around Vijayawada. This is very humid place and summer is usually very hot and humid.
