Sambalpur (50 km east on NH55) is the regional capital and the obvious base for exploring western Odisha; it has better hotels, the Hirakud Dam viewpoints, and the Sambalpuri silk weaving cooperatives. The drive along the national highway takes just over an hour. From Sambalpur, the Gandhi Minar lookout tower on the dam's northern dike gives wide views across the reservoir, and boat rides on the lake can be arranged at the dam site.
The Gandhamardhan hills straddle the Bargarh–Bolangir border and reward a longer excursion. The cluster of temples, waterfalls, and sacred groves on the eastern slope — centred on Nrusimhanath — makes for a full day out if approached from Paikmal. The western slope, reached from Titilagarh, holds the Harishankar shrine in an equally dramatic wooded valley. The hills are also regarded as a living pharmacy: hundreds of medicinal plant species grow on the forested slopes, and the forest has been important to Odia traditional medicine for centuries.
Titilagarh and Bolangir to the south open up another circuit: the ancient Ranipur-Jharial archaeological site near Titilagarh preserves a remarkable group of 10th-century Tantric temples, largely unvisited and rarely crowded.