GUJARAT                                                                                                                  

Tourism in Gujarat

Located on the country's western coast, Gujarat is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west and southwest and Pakistan to the northwest. Rajasthan neighbours it to the north, Madhya Pradesh to the east and Maharashtra to the southeast. Gujarat has a fertile plain land in the south cut by several rivers, low hills in the west, and broad mudflats in the north that adjoin the Thar (Great Indian) Desert. A varied climate characterised by a dry northwest, scorching summers, a cold winter have made this state a land of unexplainable contrasts.
Ahmedabad is the first place to stop in Gujarat. Some of its sights include some outstanding mosques, including the Jami Masjid, Siddi Bashir's Shaking Minarets and Sabarmati Ashram. Gujarat's loveliest beach - and the state is well endowed with them - is Ahmedpur Mandvi whose chief attraction is the ethnic beach resort. Situated on the Gujarat Coast, Dwarka is one of the holiest centres of Hindus.
Capital of GujaratGandhinagar the capital of Gujarat, is in west-central India. It lies on the banks of the Sabarmati River, north of the former capital of Ahmedabad. Laid out in 30 residential sectors, in an ordered style influenced by the work of Le Corbusier, who designed Chandigarh, its near-symmetrical numbered streets are wide and strangely quiet, lined with a total of 16 lakh trees. An expressway connects Gandhinagar with Ahmedabad.
History of GujaratSigns of civilization in the region that is now Gujarat date back to the period from 3000 to 1500 BC. The region was part of the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BC under King Ashoka. In 1818 AD, the British East India Company took control of Gujarat by administering the state through local princely rulers. With the independence of India in 1947, Gujarat became part of the state of Bombay . In 1960, Bombay state was split and Gujarat was formed from the northern and western portions, which were predominantly Gujarati-speaking areas. The remainder of Bombay state became Maharashtra state.
The Gujarati PeopleGujarat's population is overwhelmingly Hindu, with Muslim and Jain minorities. The diverse ethnic groups may be broadly categorized as Indic (i.e., northern-derived) or Dravidian (southern-derived). The former include the Nagar Brahman, Bhatia, Bhadela, Rabari, and Mina castes (the Parsis, originally from Persia, represent a much later northern influx); among the people of southern origin are the Bhangi, Koli, Dubla, Naikda, and Macchi-Kharwa tribes. The rest of the population, including the aboriginal Bhil tribe, exhibits mixed characteristics. Members of the scheduled castes and of the aboriginal tribes form nearly one-fifth of the state's population. Gujarati and Hindi are the state's official languages.
Culture of GujaratThe folklore and folk culture of Gujarat can be traced to the mythology of Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Dances in honour of Krishna have survived in the form of the popular folk dance, the 'garba'. A folk drama, the 'bhavai', also has survived. Gujarat is also famous for its art and craft products. Among the most durable and effective of the Gujarat's cultural institutions are the trade and craft guilds known as 'mahajans', which often solves disputes, acted as channels of philanthropy, and encouraged the arts.
Occupation in GujaratGujarat has an agricultural economy; the total crop area amounts to more than one-half of the total land area. Dairy farming, primarily concerned with milk production, is also a job sector in Gujrat. The state's textiles, petroleum, cement, vegetable oil, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries are also highly important. New industries include the production of fertilizers and petrochemicals.
Population in Gujarat50,596,992 as per the provisional results of the Census of India 2001.
Festivals of GujaratKite Festival in January; Modhera Dance Festival in January; Rann Festival in February/March; Bhavanath Fair at Junagadh in February-March; Chitra Vichitra Fair in March; Dang Durbar in March; Janmashthami in August at Dwarka; Bhadra Purnima at Ambaji in September; the three-day Tarnetar Fair in September; Navratri festival in September; Shamlaji Fair in November; Vautha Nomelo fair in November, near Ahmedabad; Somnath Fair in November/December.

CLIMATE OF GUJARATThe northwestern part of the state is dry, with less than 500 mm rain a year. In the southern part of Gujarat, rainfall averages 2000 mm a year. In winter, temperature average between 12° and 27° C, although freezing levels have been recorded in the state. In the summer, temperatures average between 25° and 43° C and have been known to reach as high as 48° C. Best time to visit Gujrat is October to March.

Tourist Information Offices in Gujarat Gujarat Tourism Office: located in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat
Gujarat Tourism, off Ashram Road, Ahmedabad, GujaratTourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd., Airlines House, Lal Darwaja.
Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited, Dhanraj Mahal, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai- 400 039
Toran Tourist Dormitory, Near Govt. Guest House, Dwarka, Gujarat.
Office of the Administrator, Dwarka Devasthan Samiti, Dwarkadhish Temple Trust, Gujarat 

Ooty

Ooty is the famous hill station of Tamil Nadu, and it’s another name is Udhagamandalam. This Nilgiri hill place is a sheer beauty and pleasure place of the South India. The natural beauty of the spot is capable of make the moment memorable. The plush tea gardens, lined streets, falling orchards, green pine and trees of eucalyptus with multi-coloured floral offers this place as first choice for a nature lover. Toy train of Ooty is special as lots of songs and movies being made on this train.

Interesting destinations of Ooty:

Botanical Garden: This is the famous the park which is spread in 55-acre land area. This garden is situated at Dodabetta hill, and it is the top peak point of Ooty founded by John Sullivan. John was the collector from Coimbatore and also a discoverer of Ooty for summer season. Here tourist will be able to enjoy watching diverse flora, which includes 30 varieties of eucalyptus, and colourful avian city. Special events conducted in the summer season could be different experience for a tourist. The Summer Festival is performed every year in May. Tourist can enjoy events such as flower shows, cultural programs, dog-shows and trekking sports.

Museum: this museum is situated on Mysore Road. It contains a wide collection of tribal arts and crafts through which tourist can learn about the history of this place. Educating tourist through available sources about the Nilgiri purlieu is the major concern of this museum. Its timings are 10 am to 5pm, and it is closed on every Friday, second Saturday and on national holidays.

St. Stephens Church: this is another spot, which is located on Club Road of Ooty. This church is designed with gothic-style. This oldest church of Nilgiri hills is the good place to visit.

Ootacamund Club: This club is added into the list of best preserved colonial clubs in the country. Playing golf or selecting different activities in this club is diverse experience.

Rose Garden: This is the park located at 3 km distance from Charring Cross. The area of park is about 10 acres and there are more than 2000 varieties of roses in the garden.

Lake of Ooty: lake of Ooty is one more spot where a tourist can watch the natural beauty of the hill station. It is just 2.5 km far from the local bus stand, and its founder is John Sullivan. This lake is turned as the most beatific spot of tourist in Ooty. The mini-train helps the visitors to take a round of the park. Boating is another option in this park and tourist can enjoy the fishing with other events as well. However, tourist has to take prior permission for fishing from the concern department.

NMR (Nilgiri Mountain Railway): this is the most amazing part of journey of Ooty. This World Heritage Site covers a good distance of 46 kms through various Nilgiri Hills. There are 208 curves, 250 bridges and 16 tunnels throughout the journey. This journey starts from Mettupalayum, which is 1069 ft higher. The train takes approximately 290 minutes to reach Ooty, which is situated at the good height of 7,440 ft.

Adventure escapades: those people who love, hang-Gliding, Trekking and Angling kind of activities can reach the Ooty adventure escapades to enjoy some amazing sports.

Some nearby tourist spots of Ooty:

Coonoor: just, 10 kms away from Ooty where people can enjoy Dolphin's Nose Viewpoint, and many other things such as water falls and parks.

Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary: this is another spot, which is just 67 kms from Ooty bus stand. It is one of the largest populated areas of elephants in India. The wild dogs, Nilgiri langur (monkey), gaur (Indian bison), jackal, bonnet macaque, hyena and sloth bear are some big animals that visitors can watch in this sanctuary.

Avalanche: next-best spot near Ooty is an avalanche which is just 26 kms away from the city. Here people can do the fishing and some more water sports though, summer is the best season to visit this place.

Some more places like Mukurti (36 km), Pykara (21 km), Kalhatty Falls (12 kms) are other places for visitors.

Reaching Ooty:

By Air: nearest airport to reach Ooty is Coimbatore. The journey between Coimbatore and Ooty is 3 hours 30 minutes. Frequent flights are available from various parts of the country to reach Coimbatore.

By Train: The Nilgiris Express is directly connected from Chennai to Mettupalayam. Mettupalayam is the closest railway station to reach Ooty. This small town is situated at foothills of the Nilgiri Mountain. The train commences at 6.30 am so visitors should plan their trip accordingly. From Mettupalayam, the Toy Train is available to reach Ooty. This toy train moves twice a day so tourist can reach the spot accordingly. However, passenger capacity is less of this toy train so first come first serve is the procedure to get the train.

By Car: the beautiful hills and their amazing view from the car could be different experience for a tourist. The Blue Mountains known as Nilgiri’s are full of natural beauties and deep valleys. The heavily forest winding roads and sharp bends give diverse feeling. 

By public transport: Buses from different parts are reaching directly to Ooty so visitors can go through deluxe or comfort buses. Selection is based tourist comfort as there are lots of public transport vehicles are available. Coimbatore is just 89 Kms away, Mysore is 160 Kms, Bangalore is 290 Kms, Calicut is 187 Kms, Cochin is 281 Kms, Kodaikanal is 256 kms, Trichy is 302 Kms away from Ooty. 

Amazing Photos of Ooty

       

     

Srisailam: A holy place with dense forest

Those who love to enjoy nature and like to visit holy places can plan their trip to Srisailam situated at good distance of 232 km from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. This holy place is well-known and turning into the first choice for tourist around the world. Those who like to get the real view of deep forest must visit this place as 80 km of distance is complete dark forest where people can enjoy viewing the real king (the Tiger) of animals. Srisailam is a small holy town located at Nallamala Hills of Kurnool region of Andhra Pradesh. The river Krishna is also another nature of beauty as it comes across the mountains and forests.

The temple of Lord Mallikarjuna Swamy who is also known as form of Lord Shiva is best temple to visit. This temple is covered by forest and big mountains all around.Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple is the one Jyotirlinga temple of 12 temples of Lord Shiva. However, there are many other places where people can enjoy the nature like Srisailam Dam planned on Krishna River. This dam is 245 km away from Hyderabad and plays the important role for offering power services to most of the area of state.

The history of this place is also mentioned in various religious books. According to sources Sri Adi Sankara visited this temple and composed Sivananda Lahiri. Many other sources like Puranas and Mahabharata is also having detail mentioned about the Srisailam. The details available about the temple are Lord Rama himself installed the Sahasra linga and the Pandavas lodged the Panchapan dava Lingas in the temple court. Sri Parvata is the hill blessed by many Hindu gods according to available sources.

Gateways

Ritual, creative writing and many other sources utter that the blessed hill of Srisailam has four different entryways in the four prime directions known as Tripuranthakam (Located in Prakasam District in the East where God Tripuranthakeswara Swamy and Goddess Tripurasundari Devi are Presiding Deities), Siddhavatam (Located on the bank of the river Penna in Kadapa District in the south where Jyothisideswara Swamy and Goddess Kamakshi Devi are the presiding Deities), Alampur (Located on the bank of the river Tungabhadra in Mahaboobnagar District in the west where a group of nine temples of Chalukya period are situated), Umamaheswaram (Located in Rangapur, Achampeta Mandal, Mahaboob Nagar District in the North where God Umamaheswara Swamy and Goddess Umamaheswari Devi are the presiding deities).

Some other interesting places to visit at Srisailam are:

Srisailam Dam: This dam is 512 meter long and built on Krishna River. The beautiful scenery like ghats, craggy ridges, cliffs, dense forests and plateaus are some more interesting places. The twelve crest gates are capable to hold the water level of 885 ft. 


Sanctuary: the largest tiger reserve of is situated at Srisailam. Visitors can enjoy watching tiger, sloth bear, leopard, deer and many other wild animals. Down water at dam gives the shelter to many crocodiles. 

Transport:

Reaching Srisailam is possible from Hyderabad and Guntur (a well-known place of Andhra Pradesh).

By Road: To reach the exact location users have to use the road transport. Many local buses and tourist buses run by AP tourism is best source to reach the accurate location of dam and temple. Andhra Pradesh Transport Corporation is having buses connected to various cities and towns such as Hyderabad, Tenali, Guntur, Vinukonda, Kurnool, Mahanadi and many other places. The nearest major town to Srisailam is Kurnool and Narsaraopet. Journey through dense forest is only possible between 6 am to 9 pm. As the forest is fully covered with wild animals, there is lesser transport facility in late night. Visitors should plan their trip according to timings as it becomes dangerous in night to travel.  

By Train: The closest railway station to Srisailam is Markapur which is 85 km distant from this place. Next station is Vinukonda and Kurnool.

By Air: Rajiv Gandhi International Airport situated at Hyderabad is the nearest spot for airways. Users can hire the buses and different ways to reach Srisailam from Hyderabad.

Accommodation:

Visitors can book the a/c or non a/c room in advance through different hotel websites. However, there are many lodges and hotels offering immediate booking of room and pleasant forest trip. Users can book the hotel and enjoy the riding dense forest in complete two days. Some of the known hotels are Pathaleswara Sadanam, Sivasadanam, T.T.D, Aditya Cottage, Ramanaidu Cottage and many others. 

Interesting Pictures of Vizag 

Vizag in Night

Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam is the popular beach spot also recognized as Vaishakhapuram. The easy name to identify this Indian tourist place is Vaizak or Vizag. This is the main city with port on the South-East India. Vizag is the 2nd biggest metropolis of state of AP (Andhra Pradesh), India. This city is also the 3rd chief metropolis on the east coast after Chennai and Kolkata. Vizag is just 625 kilometres away from the capitalHyderabad. Today Visakhapatnam is turned as main spot for ample of heavy firms and steel plants. Vaizak is the India's chief and major sea ports that serve India from long time. The oldest shipyard is first choice for a traveller to holiday in Vizag. Visakhapatnam is the only harbour created by nature situated in the east coast side of India.

The name of Vaizak was given after Visakha, who is the Hindu divinity of Valor. The beautiful hills surrounded the city is amazing and visitors will get countless spots with astonishing views. The nestled hills, Ghats and Bay of Bengal are key spots of tourism in this spot. As Visakhapatnam is headquarter of the Indian Navy so the city is spotless and delightfully preserved by the local administration. Because of cleanness, it is referred as “The City of Destiny." Reaching Vizag allow a tourist to reach Goaas well, which is another best Indian tourist place. The impressive and appealing beaches, late rite hillocks with dramatic landscape are special things in the city.

This city is serving huge range of tourist attractions such as counting cliffs, beaches, parks on hills with sea facing, long drive's beach road, zoo and wildlife, the submarine museum, sandstones or limestone caves, hill picnic spots, peak ranges and colourful valleys. The two major five-star hotels, The Taj and The Park offers luxuries services for clients, although the reasonable hotels and restaurants are also available with standard services for a tourist.

Sight marks in Visakhapatnam:

Kailasagiri: this VUDA developed park is situated on the hilltop which allows a stunning view of the sea. Here tourist can enjoy the view of Bay of Bengal and Visakhapatnam city. The ropeway is the easy way to connect the park from ground to the peak of the hill.

The Beach Road: situated at East point of the city beach road is special spot for honeymoon couples. The parks and statues are special things to watch at this spot. The evening gathering at this point makes the spot a busiest place of the city. Here tourist can also reach the India's submarine museum, the Visakha museum, INS Kursura and Matsyadarsini. The musical fountain with entertainment things for children makes it a special place for a tourist. The roller skating is also special in the beach road as numerous, international and national skating competitions being conducted at this place.

Rushikonda Beach: this is one of the beaches situated at 6 kms distant from Vizag city. Rushikonda beach is the favourite evening location for native as well as outsiders. The finest view of beach is Bhimili-Visakhapatnam Road, which is 30 kms long. Here the tourist can view sand, greenery and big hills. Countless parks are developed nearby this road so tourist can have a nice view of the beach. Tenneti Park is developed as picnic spot situated on cliff of Kailasagiri. Loads of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films were filmed at this spot.

Simhachalam Temple: this holy shrine is situated on the hill. Devotees of Lord Narasimha visit this temple everyday and the distance of the shrine from city is 16 kms. The temple was developed by Gajapathi, the Kings of Orissa.

Ramanaidu Film Studios: this is another tourist spot of Vizag started recently.

IGZP (Indira Gandhi Zoological Park): this park is situated at National Highway 5. Holiday-maker can take pleasure of the beach and zoo spread in 250+ ha area with 700+ animals and 89+ species.

Araku-valley: Araku valley is situated in outskirts of city. The good distance of 112 kms from Vizag permits users to view natural beauty during the journey. This valuable tourist spot is containing hill station and famous gardens with valleys, falls and watercourses. During the journey to araku valley tourist can enjoy Borra Caves formed naturally in Vizag hills.

Buddhist Stupa: this famous tourist place of India is surrounded by early Buddhist sites. Buddhist stupa is situated at Bojjannakonda, which is again a greenery area. Reaching Bavikonda is also special for Buddhist inheritance site situated on the hill.

Pavuralakonda: the hill location positioned at 24 kms distant from Vaizak is Sightseer spot, especially for Buddhist.

Gopalapatnam: Gopalapatnam is located on the River Tandava (one more Buddhist place for a tourist).

How to attain Vaizak?

By Air: the airport of Vishakhapatnam with frequent flights throughout India allows the tourist to reach the spot with no worries. Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkatta, and Chennai are major airbase to reach Vizag.

By Train: Vizag is the key station for important trains crossing between Chennai and Howra. Some important trains are going through Vizag to reach various destinations in India.

By Road: those who love to drive can go to Vizag through NH-5.