Ahmedabad Travel Guide: the Walled City, Sabarmati Ashram, Uttarayan and Flights
Ahmedabad is a city in Gujarat, divided by the Sabarmati River into the Walled City, its old quarter on the east bank, and a newer town on the west with educational institutions, offices and business districts. Incredible India, the Ministry of Tourism's website, calls it India's first World Heritage City, a listing made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Incredible India points visitors to the Walled City, the Sabarmati Ashram (where Mahatma Gandhi lived), the Navratri and Uttarayan festivals, and Gujarati food and textiles. Flights land at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (AMD), about 9 km north of central Ahmedabad, and the India travel guide covers the rest of the country.
What to see in Ahmedabad
The Walled City, a World Heritage site
Sultan Ahmad Shah founded Ahmedabad in 1411 on the east bank of the Sabarmati, and UNESCO lists the old walled city as the Historic City of Ahmadabad, its own spelling. Incredible India traces an earlier city, Karnavati, to the Solanki ruler Karandev I in the eleventh century, and says the East India Company took over Ahmedabad in 1818. Gujarat Tourism names Gandhinagar as the capital of the state.
UNESCO describes the old city through its pols, the gated residential streets, and the khadkis, the inner entrances to the pols, and calls its timber-based architecture of exceptional significance. Its description also records institutions of many religions within the historic city. Incredible India describes the Walled City's fort wall of about 10 km, its old gates and winding lanes, and the chabutros, elaborately crafted bird-feeding towers, in the pols.
The Heritage Walk through the old city
The Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) lists a Morning Heritage Walk with a professional tour guide. The walk covers about 2 km in two and a half hours, starting on Swaminarayan Mandir Road at Kalupur, with Manek Chowk given as the end point, though the AMC's list of pause points continues to the Jami Masjid.
Stops on the AMC's list include the Swaminarayan Temple at Kalupur, Lambeshwar Ni Pol, the Calico Dome, Fernandez Bridge on Gandhi Road, Rani-no-Haziro, Badshah-no-Haziro and the Jami Masjid. The walk passes temple and mosque complexes, and the AMC sets a dress code for them: shoulders covered, and lower wear reaching at least below the knee.
Bookings are made on the walk's own website, and the AMC's Heritage Walk page gives its address and the start time.
Mosques and monuments
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) lists the Jami Masjid, Sidi Saiyad's Mosque, Rani Rupavati's Mosque, Rani Sipri's Mosque and Tomb, Ahmad Shah's Tomb, the Teen Darwaja (Tripolia gate) and the Bhadra gate among its centrally protected monuments in Ahmedabad. Its list also takes in the Great Mosque and the tank, palace and harem at Sarkhej.
Incredible India says the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque was built in 1573 and calls its jaali windows exquisite, particularly the "tree of life" window. It calls the Jama Masjid the largest mosque built in India in the early 15th century, and the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir at Kalupur the world's first Swaminarayan temple, dating back to 1822.
Sabarmati Ashram
Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba lived at the Sabarmati Ashram, and Gandhi began the Dandi March from here in 1930. He first set up an ashram at Kochrab in 1915, and Gujarat Tourism says it moved to its riverside site on 17 June 1917.
As of October 2026, the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust's website gives the ashram's hours as 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and says it is open every day of the year. The same page says Hridaykunj can be viewed from the outside, but visitor entry is temporarily restricted while conservation work goes on. Gujarat Tourism lists the Hutheesing Jain Temple, the Sabarmati Riverfront and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Museum as nearby attractions.
Museums, markets and food
Museums in the city include the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Museum, the Kite Museum, the Adivasi Museum and the Calico Museum of Textiles, and there are also the Vikram Sarabhai Space Exhibition Centre and Gujarat Science City. Kankaria Lakefront and the Sabarmati Riverfront are places for water activities and evening leisure.
Incredible India describes Manek Chowk as a vegetable market that turns into a food market after sunset, and names Law Garden Night Market and Bhatiyar Gali for food. It lists the Gujarati thali, undhiyu, thepla, dhokla and khakhra among the dishes to look for, and says Ahmedabad is also called the "Manchester of the East" for its textile industry, with applique work and block printing among its crafts.
When to visit Ahmedabad
Gujarat Tourism gives November to February as the visiting season for Gujarat as a whole, and calls those months winter, March to May summer and June to October the monsoon. The Meteorological Centre Ahmedabad of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) describes the city's climate as hot and semi-arid, and its weather from March to June as hot and extremely dry.
The same IMD centre counts June to September as Ahmedabad's rainy season. It dates the city's winter from December to February.
Festivals in Ahmedabad
Uttarayan, the kite festival held at Makar Sankranti, falls around 14 January; check that year's programme for Ahmedabad's organised celebrations. Gujarat Tourism says kites and kite supplies are made on the city's streets from November, above all in Patang Bazaar, a kite market that appears in the old city. On the day itself, it says, almost all normal activity across the state shuts down, so plan errands around it.
During Navratri the city holds nine nights of Garba; check the dates for the year you travel.
Flying to Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad's airport is Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, at Hansol, run by Ahmedabad International Airport Limited, a company managed by Adani Airport Holdings Limited. As of October 2026, the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) lists the metro's airport extension as under implementation and marks the Airport station as work in progress. The airport page covers its terminals, buses and taxis.
Main direct routes recorded from Ahmedabad go to Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, and also to Pune, Guwahati, Kochi and Goa (Dabolim). The airport page has more.
Airlines recorded on direct routes from Ahmedabad include IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express, Akasa Air, SpiceJet and Star Air.
Getting around Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad Metro
GMRC runs the metro and lists Ahmedabad Phase-1 and Phase-2 as operational. Stations on its list include Vastral Gam, Kalupur Metro Station, Gheekanta, Gujarat University, Thaltej Gam and Motera Stadium, with Sector-1 and Juna Sachivalaya on the Gandhinagar side.
Ticket options include the Ahmedabad Metro app, ticket vending machines and kiosks, and GMRC publishes first and last train times on its Ahmedabad page. As of October 2026, it marks several stations, including the Sabarmati Railway Station and Airport stations, as work in progress.
City buses
The AMC manages AMTS, the city's Municipal Transport Service, and runs the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), called Janmarg, through Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd, a company it wholly owns. BRTS buses run in a dedicated lane. The AMC's transport portal, amdavadone.in, carries routes and schedules for both services.
Side trips from Ahmedabad
Adalaj stepwell
The Adalaj stepwell (Adalaj ni Vav), in Gandhinagar district, lies about 19 km north of Ahmedabad, according to Gujarat Tourism, which dates it to the 15th century; Incredible India gives 1499. The ASI's list of centrally protected monuments includes a stepwell at Adalaj, entered as the Rudabai stepwell with inscription.
Modhera Sun Temple
The Modhera Sun Temple, in Mehsana district, is about 99 km from Ahmedabad by road, according to Gujarat Tourism, which gives Mehsana Junction as the nearest railway station, about 28 km away. It quotes the ASI as dating the temple to 1026-27, during the reign of Bhima I of the Chaulukya dynasty, and the temple is on the ASI's protected list. Incredible India says January has the Modhera Dance Festival, which it calls a three-day event; check that year's dates.
Lothal
Lothal, about 80 km south-west of Ahmedabad, was a city of the Indus Valley civilisation some 4,500 years ago, and Gujarat Tourism says its excavations revealed the world's oldest known artificial dock. The ASI excavated the site between 1955 and 1960 and lists it among its protected monuments. Lothal is on UNESCO's Tentative List, where its entry gives a submission date of 15 April 2014, and Lothal-Bhurkhi station is about 6 km from the site.
Rani-ki-Vav, Patan
Gujarat Tourism's page on Rani-ki-Vav, the stepwell at Patan, says it was built in 1063 by Rani Udayamati of the Chaulukya dynasty in memory of her husband, Bhimdev I. It adds that the ASI restored it in the 1980s and that it has been on UNESCO's World Heritage list since 2014. The same page names Ahmedabad as the nearest airport to Patan, about 125 km away, and says intercity buses from Ahmedabad to Patan take about three and a half hours.
Questions about visiting Ahmedabad
Is Ahmedabad the capital of Gujarat?
No. Gujarat Tourism names Gandhinagar as the capital of the state.
When is the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad open?
As of October 2026, the ashram's own website gives 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, every day of the year. Visitor entry to Hridaykunj is temporarily restricted for conservation work, though it can be viewed from the outside.
When is the kite festival in Ahmedabad?
Uttarayan falls around 14 January, at Makar Sankranti. Gujarat Tourism says kite-making starts on the city's streets in November.
Does the Ahmedabad Metro go to the airport?
Not yet, as of October 2026: GMRC lists the airport extension as under implementation and marks the Airport station as work in progress. The airport page covers the buses and taxis that serve it.
What is the best time to visit Ahmedabad?
Gujarat Tourism gives November to February as the visiting season for Gujarat as a whole, not for Ahmedabad alone. The IMD's Ahmedabad centre describes March to June in the city as hot and extremely dry, and counts June to September as its rainy season.
How far is Lothal from Ahmedabad?
Gujarat Tourism puts Lothal about 80 km south-west of Ahmedabad, with Lothal-Bhurkhi station about 6 km from the site.