Tag: gujarattourism

Statue of Unity – Travel Guide to the World’s Tallest Statue

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is the man behind today’s unified India. He was one of the most important leaders who helped India attain freedom from the British in 1947. India being the world’s most diverse country, Sardar Patel took up the most challenging job of unifying it and hence was given the name ‘Iron Man of India’. The Statue of Unity is raised as an iconic symbol for the future generations to know how a man can unify a country of 560+ princely states to what it is now. My blog post ‘Statue of Unity – Travel Guide to the World’s Tallest Statue’ will give you a detailed information on what you can do at Statue of Unity.

SoUfromRoad — View of the statue from outside the memorial garden

Short History of SoU

The 182m statue on the banks of river Narmada facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam is located in Kevadia (currently Ekta Nagar) which is a small town in the Narmada district of Gujarat. The statue designed by Ram V Suthar was built by melting tons of iron collected from 100 million farmers across the country. The statue’s colour is expected to change as the statue ages. More than 3500 workers were employed to construct this architectural marvel of Sardar Patel in 4 years’ time frame.

KingsofPrincelyStates — With the then kings of several princely states

Note: Hundreds of local people are employed at the SoU boosting the economy of the district, the state and the country through sustainable tourism.

How to reach SoU?

From	Distance (approx.)	Time taken (approx.)	Train (to & from – Ekta Nagar Railway Station)	Bus (to & from – SoU bus stand/helipad ground)
Ahmedabad	200 km	3.5 – 4 hours	JAN SHATABDI EX (20947)	GSRTC
Vadodara (Baroda)	90 km	1.5 – 2 hours	JAN SHATABDI EX (20947), DDR EKNR SF EXP (12927)	GSRTC
Surat	160 km	3 – 3.5 hours	DDR EKNR SF EXP (12927)	GSRTC

Pre-book your buses at GSRTC portal/mobile app
Pre-book your train tickets at IRCTC portal/mobile app
SoU team also offers you a day’s tour packages from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat where the standard cost for a person is Rs.2500/- and it is the same for people boarding from any of the 3 cities
Click here to reserve your package.
Click here to check details about the package.
Note: In the links above do not get confused if the title of the page is given as from Vadodara/from Ahmedabad/from Surat. The details regarding the package and price remain the same irrespective of the start and end location.

How to commute within the Statue of Unity premises?

Statue of Unity(SoU) is an EV(electric vehicle) zone. Unless you have your own EV, you will have to board SoU buses or SoU’s pink coloured electric auto-rickshaws run by the local women to commute between different view/activity points.

Where to book tickets?

Statue of Unity and entry to various view/activity points can only be booked online through their official website post-Covid.
Click here to book tickets.

There 4 different types of tickets just for entering the premises of the statue

Ticket Type	Price (Adult – A, Child – C)	Includes
SoU Entry Ticket	(A)Rs. 150/- (C)Rs. 90/-	Access to go till Sardar Patel’s feet + museum + laser show + valley of flowers + shuttle buses + Sardar Sarovar viewpoint + laser show (NOT allowed to Viewing Gallery)
SoU Viewing Gallery	(A)Rs. 380/- (C)Rs. 230/-	Viewing Gallery + above
SoU Express Entry	(A)Rs. 1030/- (C)Rs. 1030/-	Viewing Gallery + above
SoU Foreigner VG	(A)Rs. 1530/- (C)Rs. 830/-	Viewing Gallery + above

Tickets for all other attractions also must be booked on the same official portal.
Tip: If you are planning to visit on a weekend it is better to take SoU Express Entry (Indian) / SoU Foreigner VG (Foreigner) to skip queues.

Movingwalkway — Moving walkway (travelator)

Where to stay?

Statue of Unity team offer many stay options themselves and there are many hotels that have come up in that area because of the increase in tourism. Narmada Tent City is the most popular stay, and it is a bit on the expensive end. You can check out more stay options provided by SoU here.

Note: I didn’t have an overnight stay at SoU. I commuted by car from Vadodara and I was back home for the night 🙂
In case you had started from Vadodara then you can come back for the night since there are umpteen number of buses and trains.

Where to have food?

You will get vegetarian food in and around the SoU premises. I had my breakfast in a food court within the statue premises and lunch at the Amul parlour in Shreshta Bhavan premises before my cruise ride.

Similar to ‘Statue of Unity – Travel Guide to the World’s Tallest Statue’, click here to read my blog posts from Kashmir.

Five Zones of the Statue of Unity

Zone 1

Includes the memorial gardens and the interactive museum where you can learn a lot about the man himself, Sardar Patel’s role in uniting India and India’s freedom struggle.

Zone 2

Includes the area between Sardar Patel’s feet till thighs.

Sardar's feet — Feet of Sardar Patel’s statue

Zone 3

The area between Sardar Patel’s thighs to chest. The viewing gallery is present at 153m from the ground and at his chest. The view from the gallery of River Narmada and the SoU premises gave me goosebumps 🙂

viewfromgallery — View of River Narmada from the gallery

viewofnarmadafromgallery — View of River Narmada from the gallery

Zone 4

The area between his chest and shoulders lies here. Tourists are not allowed in this zone.

Zone 5

Includes shoulder and head portion of the statue.

entire statue — Close view of the statue

Attractions around Sardar Patel’s statue

There are many attractions around the statue and if you want to visit every attraction then you would need at least 2 days.

The attractions that I visited in a day

Vishwa Van – a place that houses herbs, shrubs and trees native to all 7 continents and you also get a view of the statue from the side

Valley of flowers (not worth it)
Butterfly park (not worth it)
Jungle Safari (includes aviary) – They had exotic animal and birds. The aviary was massive and I was amazed to see birds flying in flocks within it. I had a lovely time here

Ekta Cruise – This was the best of all attractions according to me

Laser Show – 15 mins of fun

Sardar Sarovar Dam – The music and the colours of the dam after sunset is not to be missed

SarovarDam — View of Sardar Sarovar Dam from Valley of Flowers

dam — View of Sardar Sarovar Dam from Valley of Flowers

Glow Garden – The garden was literally glowing after the sunset

Other attractions apart from the above

Narmada Ghat Aarti
Zarwani waterfalls
River rafting at Khalwani
Ekta dinner cruise
River front cycling
Sardar Sarovar Nauka Vihar (Boating)
Khalwani to Zarvani Eco Tourism Bus Tour
Ekta Tribal Cafe at Ekta Nursery – Tribal Thali/Ekta Thali – I heard from a friend that this is not worth it
Ekta mall
Pet zone
Cactus garden
Arogya van
Children’s nutrition park

Note: There are also cycles available for rent if you want to tour by cycling

Should you know anything else?

Statue of Unity is closed on Mondays
Food from outside is not allowed inside the SoU premises
Laser show happens at the helipad ground after sunset. I had visited in March where the sun had set at 7 pm, followed by the laser show at 7.15 pm but in the winters the laser show starts between 6.15-6.30 pm
Choose river rafting only if you are planning to stay for a day or if you have nothing else in your agenda apart from the statue. It might be time consuming, and you might miss on the other attractions if you want to do everything in a day

The statue of unity has a very neatly maintained campus. It is currently generating a lot of income in the form of tourism for the government. It has also employed the locals. It is made sure that the story of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Iron Man of India) is told to the future generations to come.

Similar to my blog post ‘Statue of Unity – Travel Guide to the World’s Tallest Statue’ I have written other itineraries of places in Gujarat. Click here to read.

June 12, 2022

Must Read Guide to Champaner & Pavagadh in Gujarat
Champaner and Pavagadh are located in the Panchmahal district of Gujarat which is 45 km from Vadodara. The ruins of Champaner are known for their 16^th century monumental mosques with an Indo-Islamic architecture. It is located at the base of the Pavagadh hill which is known for the Mahakali Temple. Champaner – Pavagadh Archaeological Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. This blog post will give you all the reasons to visit this marvel, especially if you are interested in Indian History.
Why to visit Champaner?
If you are someone who is interested in Indian history like me, then these ruins will be one of your places of interest.
Hello from Jami masjid
A Short History of Champaner
The Rajputs had established themselves in the Pavagadh region in the early 14^th century. The Gujarat Sultanate under Mahmud Begada overthrew the Rajputs in the Champaner region in the late 15^th century, making Champaner as their capital from Ahmedabad. The Mughals under Humayun captured Champaner in 1536, reverting Ahmedabad as the capital of Gujarat. This short-lived capital of the Gujarat Sultanates fell into ruins.
How to reach Champaner?
Champaner is at a distance of 45 km from Vadodara. You will get buses from the Vadodara Central Bus Station to Pavagadh every 30 minutes. The ancient city of Champaner lies right opposite to the Pavagadh bus station.
Pavagadh Sign Board
Where to stay in Champaner?
Stay options at Champaner-Pavagadh Archaelogical Park are very minimal and are at least 6-10 km away from the ruins. Below are few of the basic stay options available online
1. OYO 28248 Hotel Balaji Inn
2. OYO 80228 Hotel Richa
3. OYO 80729 Hotel Deep
You will find other stay options not listed online, when you are on Halol-Pavagadh road.
When to visit Champaner?
I would suggest monsoon and winters to visit the ancient city and Pavagadh temple. I visited in the month of March and it was blazing hot till the sun had set.
How to commute within the Champaner town?
There are shared autos available within the ancient city. The auto stand is right opposite to the bus stand as soon as you enter the ancient city.
Champaner Entrance
How to visit the Pavagadh Kalika Mata Temple?
There are shared cabs available that will take you up to the hill. You will have to either take the stairs (average time taken by stairs: 1-1.5 hours) after reaching the car parking spot or you will have to take the cable car to reach the temple.
Note: Even if you reach the temple area by a cable car, you will have to take stairs and climb for 20-30 mins for the final ascent to the shrine.
Monuments I visited in Champaner
I got to know from a security guard in one of the monuments that there are around 49 monuments within a radius of 5 km in Champaner. I got a chance to visit Jami Masjid, Shahar ki Masjid, Vada Talav, Khabutar Khana, Sat Manzil, Nagina and Kevada masjids.
You will have to pay an entry ticket of Rs. 40 (offline) or Rs. 35 (online) to enter Jami Masjid and Shaher ki Masjid.
Jami Masjid in Champaner
It is the biggest and the most famous mosque in Champaner. A visit to Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is incomplete without visiting this mosque. The Indo-Islamic Architecture of the Gujarat Sultanates is said to be the stimulus behind constructing many such monuments by the Mughals.
The mighty Jami (Jama) masjid
Pillars and dome like structures in the masjid
The intricately carved domes, stone pillars, minarets and the fine stone jalis will definitely grab your attention. I had spent at least 2 hours in Jami masjid.
Main entrance to the masjid
Entrance from the side of the masjid
You can hire a guide for Rs.300 (25 mins of explanation) to know about the masjid that Google can’t tell you.
Shaher ki Masjid
This was a smaller masjid compared to Jami and this is the first masjid you will easily encounter as soon as you enter the city.
The guide charges Rs.100 for 10 mins of explanation.
Shaher ki Masjid
Kevada Masjid
This is a quite masjid that is present in the forests of Champaner. You will have to cross Kevada to reach Nagina. I was freaking out seeing just my husband and me, driving down into the forests with no one in sight. It was a relief when I saw the board of Kevada masjid and a security guard standing in.
Creepy thorny narrow road
The board that gave us relief after entering the forest
Kevada Masjid
Nagina Masjid
This was quite far from the rest of the masjids and the way to Nagina Masjid gave an eerie feeling. It was just my husband and me driving down the eerie mud roads covered by thorny plants on both the sides of the road.
Entrance to the eerie masjid
Nagina Masjid
As soon as we reached the masjid, we saw 2 security guards surprised seeing someone visit the masjid which is far from the other monuments. While talking to them we came to know a lot about Champaner, the Pavagadh hills and leopards that live near the area that surrounds the masjid.
Inside the masjid
My husband with Ganpath bhai and Kanu bhai who are working as security guards since 10 years 🙂
The tourist time to visit the monuments is between 10 am – 6 pm but in Nagina the time is only till 3 pm because the leopards come down once the sun is hidden behind the hills. Since the guards have spotted the leopards many times, they always try to leave early from their shift, when it comes to Nagina.
It was about 1.30 pm when we planned to leave Nagina masjid. The security guards suggested us to have lunch and then leave to Pavagadh Kalika Mata temple and after returning from the temple, to go to Vadatalav lake and Kabutar Khana during the sunset.
Read also: Vadodara – Travel Guide to Gujarat’s Cultural Capital
Pavagadh Temple and Trek Experience
We drove to Kalika Mata temple at the top of the Pavagadh hill from Champaner. The roads were butter smooth. We also visited few more ruins like Sat Manzil which was on the way to the temple.
Sat Manzil on the way to Pavagadh
On the way to Sat Manzil
Mahakali temple is said to be at least 1300 years old. It comes under one of the 51 Shakti Peethas. During Navaratri, the temple is said to be flooded with people.
Pavagadh Ticket Counter
On the way to hill top
Rope car reaching hill top
We decided to take the rope car to reach the top of the hill, after which we had to climb 250 odd steps to reach Kali Mata’s shrine. I am attaching the ticket price list from the ticket counter below. While returning back from darshan, we saw a queue to go down the hill via rope car. The wait time was at least an hour and hence my husband and I decided to take the stairs down even though we had the return ticket. Our descend took us 50 minutes.
Bird’s-eye view from hill top
Fun fact: I had the best lime soda in my life while walking towards the Goddess’s shrine. I loved it so much, that I decided to have 3 of those in an hour at various intervals.
Pavagadh Temple timings: 6am – 12pm and 3pm – 7pm
On the way to the shrine
Vadatalav lake and Kabutar Khana
After we descended down the hill, we decided to get ourselves revitalized by the evening breeze of Champaner. The lake and Kabutar Khana were the right place for us to do that and they were opposite to each other.
Hardly any kabutar (pigeon) on a weekend
Vada Talav Lake
We left from Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park at around 6 pm in the evening and headed back to Vadodara.
Points to note:
– If you plan to explore the region, ensure you are fit to walk long distances.
– Unless you have brought your own food, finding places which serve food is difficult. We had to travel 7-8 km away from the ruins for lunch.
– We explored only few monuments but it is upto you on how many monuments you would want to visit and how long to stay.
– Beware of leopards and make sure you don’t get into the forest area alone especially when it starts to turn dark.
Read also: My other blog posts from Gujarat
July 20, 2021