Places to visit in Gujurat

Gujarat is well known for its rich history with culture, tradition and heritage. Blend with modernity with change in time frame, Gujarat has the influence of Hindu, Islamic and European culture. Located strategically, the progressing State to scale the charts in global map, has a tourist inflow from all over the world. It has become Tourists’ Paradise and is emerging the most sort for destination.The top hits of the places to visit in Gujurat are many. But few of the places where you get to enjoy, cherish these moments forever in in your life! These are the must visit places. Some of them are:

Ahmedabad :

1. Sabarmati Ashram / Mahatma Gandhi's Home:

If there is a place one must visit in ones lifetime ,let sabarmati ashram be the one.its mesmerizing the whole ambiance makes your heart fill with gratitude for the living mahatma,whose deeds spoke more than his words.i felt humbled. The humility of this great man had me in tears.and the very idea that i was in the same space as the great man.

2. Auto World Vintage Car Museum:

A must visit place if you are planning to visit Ahmedabad, India. 

A trip to Auto World, one of India’s biggest Vintage & Classic car museum can make you nostalgic. The trip leaves you in awe as you marvel at the vintage cars on display from early 1900 to 1950s. Cars which used to be epitome of luxury & status.

The museum has rich collection of Vintage car models such as Fort T model, Cadillac, Rolls Royce Phantom, May batch, Bentley , Jaguar, Mercedes, Fiat, Austin Ruby, Magna, Sunbeam, Daimler, Rover , Chrysler, Humber, Riley, Alvis, Citroen and Lincoin. One of the car has separate place for keeping rifles.

There are 100 plus vintage cars on display maintained in excellent condition. They also offer rides around the estate for a fee in some of these vintage cars. Apart from cars, there are also vintage carts and motorcycles on display.

The place also has a restaurant serving delicious Gujarati food and a small park for children making this an ideal place for outing with the family. Ideal time of 3 -4 hours is sufficient to see the place.

Entry charges are Rs.50 and camera fee is Rs.100.

3. ISKCON Temple, Ahmedabad:

This place is a must visit on the day of Krishna Janmashtami festival. The temple is very huge and is in the super famous road called S G Highway. Will take you to the new avataar of Lord Krishna.

4.Jama Masjid:

Built with yellow sandstone in 1400's by Ahmed Shah, it has a huge courtyard and a water tank in the center for praying and rituals. The prayer hall has multiple domes with intricate stone cut work supported by 100's of columns. The other three sides have pillars running across with Arabic writings on them. As the Sun rises behind the walls of the Masjid, the serenity and beauty of the place calms your soul and warms your heart! :) The architecture is very unique with hindu temple like carvings in the mosque. Best to go early in the morning. We went there as part of the heritage walk organized by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

5.Akshardham Temple:

This is a marvelous example of pride in a venue. Spotless, well manicured, lots to do and inexpensive food and gift shops. If you have an interest in the Hindu religion, the books are great and cheap. They also carry man herbal remedies and other items relating to their heritage. The gardens are beautiful and the plants and tress trimmed in formations of animals.Excellent work of stone and marble.The museum is well kept and descriptions of relics are well displayed.Fountains and sculptures of Indian gods are displayed artistically in the gardens.Sound and music shows in the evening.A small restaurant with good food,ice creams etc which are reasonably priced. The laser light show is absolutely out of the world. I had seen the Symphony of Lights at Hong Kong, and thought it's the best laser show, but this show is, I feel, much superior to it. Lovely story, wonderful inaction and stupendous effects...The only downside is the distance from the city-yet a must for anyone visiting Ahmadabad.

6.Adalaj Step-well:

Built more than 500 years ago,this is one of the must-see architectural structures in & around Ahmadabad. Popularly known as adalaj baav. Its a very old structure which has a window in window effect. Its an architectural marvel. On entering the adalaj village you feel very clumsy, dull. The temple is good, but after reading the board of adalaj you feel its something that you always see(some carvings, paintings etc). But you get a good surprise once you go right of the temple and step 5-6 steps down. The sight was really awesome. There are lots of monkeys in this place, beware of them. Overall its a nice unique place, something which you would not get to see anywhere. It has 5 horizontal layers of window and 5 vertical layers. from any point of adalaj well you can see 5 layers. As you go stepping down floor by floor, temperature dips down to give nice cooling effect. The place is also very well maintained. There is also a very big and lush green garden to relax your self. the place is situated at just 20 mins from famous temple of Akshardham. This is also a photographer's delight. There are a few step-wells in and around Ahmadabad but this one is the most famous among them. Referable during winter or summer, avoid during monsoon or humid weather. A very good place for photography for those who loves photography. 

Gandhi Nagar :

1. Swaminarayan Akshardham:

Like all Swaminarayan temples, this is yet another fabulous piece of architecture. After the terrorist attack which had claimed several lives a few years ago, security has been stepped up and you cant carry your mobile phones etc in there and no photography allowed. 

The complex is huge, has very nice well maintained gardens and there is a corner dedicated to kiddie attractions. For a small fee, you can get yourself photographed with the temple as a backdrop.

The history of the temple is so well depicted with statues and other artefacts. Do not miss out on the hour long fountain laser show in the evening. Its worth every minute that you spend in there.

There is a food court which serves various cuisines at a nominal rate, and its very clean and food served is fresh.

About 5 minutes away is a Jain dharamshala with spotless accommodation and simple good food at very very low rates. If you are a Jain, or are accompanied by one, then please do take advantage of this facility. You will find peacocks and langurs hovering around you and the sunrise from the windows is magnificent.

Except the relics of sentimental value for the followers of Lord Swaminarayan everything else here is a commercial exhibition.
The forced 3 hours ordeal of guided tour is not worth.
Most exhibits are of least artistic value and the whole atmosphere is like a dolls exhibition.
If you are desiring of visiting this place watch You tube and the net and then decide.

2. Indroda Park:

This is a very good place to visit, a park with different themes like fossil park, botanical garden with cactus collection, a zoo all in a very natural surroundings. They have not built roads inside and all are just dusty paths and not at all flat surface. I visit it frequently and believe me, I feel as good as I'm on a jungle picnic. Best place if you are a nature lover and secondly if you are traveling with your kids huge park with plenty of animals in cage as well as in their natural habitat (that's the best part) overall a lovely picnic spot for all ages.

3. Blackbuck National Park:

Blackbuck National Park is a small, 34 square-kilometer untravelled park was beyond wonderful. Beautiful grasslands of red and gold and green teaming with life. The majestic Nilgai, in large herds; the elegant blackbuck, keen to show off their graceful leaps; crazy numbers of harriers – the largest nesting ground of harriers – nicely landing, hunting and flying for us; then there were marshy wetlands filled with birds of all sort, including beautiful eagles, pelicans, ducks... A paradise for photography, especially for birds, but also for capturing the elegance of the blackbuck.

Our cameras seemed never to stop, as we kept trying to capture the perfect flight photo of the pallid, marsh and montague harriers. Not to mention the mid-leap beauty of the blackbuck antelope. The mature males have incredible spiraling horns, that can reach 65cm. Wonderful stop on our trip.

You take your own car into the park, and stick to a set route/road within it. The fee is for the full day, so if you want to take two drives, time it accordingly, otherwise you’re paying double the amount for two drives that you would if you did a morning and afternoon drive the same day. 

As well, there doesn't seem to be any map available for visitors. My Google Maps phone app helped us to a certain degree. On our second drive, we asked a local boy/quasi naturalist-guide to join us. It was worth it, but his English was not strong so you need to have an Indian with you, or your driver needs to be able to translate. Still, for 100 INR it is worth it for him simply to point you in the direction of heavily populated areas.

There’s not much here for accommodation and not much for information available for planning to go to this park. Bhavnagar is the nearest big town, and is a couple of hours away. There is the Gujurat tourism guest house, which is a good deal for Indians, but overpriced for foreigners. If you stay here, bring your own food if you can – especially if you’re a foreigner since the same meal costs you 7x the cost of what an Indian national pays and is not nearly worth what you get. 

There’s the upscale Blackbuck Lodge that we popped in to see. It looks very beautiful and sumptuous, but is proportionately priced. We also passed a roadside hotel on the main road to the park entrance road -- Jeer Hotel -- but didn't check it out and have not been able to find any reference online for it.

If you’re a wildlife, and especially bird, lover, this park is definitely worth a visit. If you are, then try to do a morning and an evening drive.

By - Anirudh Chandrashekar

Email : anirudhchandrashekarao@gmail.com
Blog : www.visit-india-now.blogspot.in