A sultan's city on the Sabarmati
The founding: Ahmed Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate founded his city in 1411 on the east bank of the Sabarmati, beside older settlements called Ashaval and Karnavati.
A style found nowhere else: he and his successors built mosques, tombs and gateways that blend Islamic domes and arches with the carved pillars, brackets and lattices of Gujarat's Hindu and Jain builders.
A rich capital: for about a century and a half, Ahmedabad was the capital of one of the richest kingdoms in India.
- Founded
- 1411, by Sultan Ahmed Shah
- River
- Sabarmati, east bank
- Mughal conquest
- 1573, under Akbar
- Gandhi's ashram
- 1917 to 1930
- UNESCO
- 2017, India's first World Heritage city
- Uneasy neighbours: the sultans of Gujarat bordered our own Rajput kingdoms and fought the ranas of Mewar for generations.
- Chittor, 1535: Sultan Bahadur Shah besieged and took Chittorgarh Fort, the moment remembered in Mewar for the jauhar of Rani Karnavati.
- Akbar's victory: the Mughal emperor conquered Gujarat in 1573 and built the Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri to celebrate.
- A Mughal trading city: under the Mughals, Ahmedabad became a great centre of trade in cloth, indigo and jewels.
- The Manchester of the East: in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the merchant families built textile mills.
- Patrons of the new: the same families backed art, science and architecture, and invited Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn to design buildings here.
- Gandhi comes home: in 1915 Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa and soon settled by the Sabarmati. For fifteen years the struggle for independence was run from his ashram on the river bank.
- World Heritage: in 2017 UNESCO inscribed the Historic City of Ahmedabad, the first city in India to be listed.
- The city today: large, busy and prosperous, with new flyovers and riverfront promenades.
- Where its heart is: the old walled city on the east bank, where we spend most of our time.
The pols, a city of gated neighbourhoods
What a pol is: a residential neighbourhood, usually a single street or a cluster of lanes, closed by a gateway.
A community behind a gate: traditionally each pol housed families of one community, caste or trade, who looked after each other, settled their own disputes and shut the gate at night.
Why UNESCO came: old Ahmedabad holds hundreds of pols, and they are the reason the city was listed.
- Pol
- A gated lane of houses
- Tanka
- Underground rainwater tank
- Chabutro
- Carved bird feeder on a pillar
- Heritage walk
- Starts at Kalupur Swaminarayan temple
- Best hour
- Early morning
- The houses: built close together, often three or four storeys high, with richly carved wooden facades.
- The carving: brackets shaped like dancers and parrots, balconies, painted pillars and doors studded with brass.
- Inside: many have a small open courtyard for light and air, and a tanka, an underground tank that collects the monsoon rain from the roof.
- The chabutro: in the middle of many pols stands a tall carved and painted bird feeder on a pillar, where families leave grain every morning.
- Kindness to birds: feeding birds is a deep habit in Gujarat, rooted in Jain and Hindu ideas of kindness to all living things.
- The municipal walk: begins at the Swaminarayan temple at Kalupur in the morning and winds through pols, temples and small mosques to the Jama Masjid.
- Our way: a private walk with a guide who lives in the old city, often ending with breakfast or tea in a restored pol house. Our page on heritage walks explains how we choose routes.
- Look up: the best carving is on the upper floors, and the chabutros are painted.
- Watch the lintels: many doorways are carved with Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of beginnings.
- Keep your voice down: these are homes, not a museum, and families are going about their mornings.
The mosques, tombs and temples of the old city
- Jama Masjid
- Finished 1424
- Dada Harir stepwell
- 1499
- Sidi Saiyyed Mosque
- 1572-73
- Hutheesing temple
- 1848
Sidi Saiyyed Mosque and its jali
Who built it: Sidi Saiyyed, a nobleman of Abyssinian descent, in 1572 to 1573, in the last years of the Sultanate, near Lal Darwaza.
- The famous lattice: one arched window holds the best-known stone jali in India, a few slabs of yellow sandstone carved into intertwining tree branches with a palm at the centre.
- A city emblem: the design inspired the logo of the Indian Institute of Management here.
- When to go: early morning, when the light comes through it from behind.
The Jama Masjid
Ahmed Shah's great mosque: finished in 1424.
- A forest of pillars: around 260 of them hold up the prayer hall, many carved with temple motifs such as bells, chains and lotus flowers.
- Light and calm: inside, light falls through stone screens onto the floor. At midday the courtyard marble is cool underfoot.
Bhadra Fort and Teen Darwaza
The citadel: Bhadra was the sultans' fortress, built in the year the city was founded.
- Its goddess: it holds the temple of Bhadrakali, who gives it her name.
- Teen Darwaza: a short walk east, the triple-arched gateway spans the road into the old bazaars, where stalls sell everything from saris to steel pots.
Manek Chowk and the royal tombs
The tombs: near the Jama Masjid lie the tomb of Ahmed Shah and Rani no Hajiro, the enclosure of his queens.
- By day: Manek Chowk is a jewellery and vegetable market.
- After dark: the jewellers close and the square fills with food stalls, frying and grilling until long past midnight. Go with a guide and a good appetite.
Hutheesing Jain Temple
Who built it: the family of the wealthy merchant Sheth Hutheesing, in white marble in 1848, just outside Delhi Darwaza.
- Its dedication: Dharmanatha, the fifteenth Jain tirthankara.
- A living tradition: its carved pillars and domes continue the work of Ranakpur and the Dilwara Temples.
- Before you enter: leave leather goods outside.
Jhulta Minar, the shaking minarets
Where: the Sidi Bashir mosque near the railway station.
- The oddity: shake one slender minaret, and the other is said to tremble in sympathy.
- Today: climbing is no longer allowed, but the minarets are a fine example of Sultanate stonework.
Dada Harir stepwell
Who built it: Bai Harir, a lady of the Sultan's household, in 1499, in the Asarwa area.
- Its depth: five storeys of pillared galleries down to the water.
- Its carving: Islamic geometry mixed with Hindu floral motifs, and it is often quiet.
- A good first stepwell: the perfect introduction to the larger well at Adalaj.
Stepwells at Adalaj and Rani ki Vav in Patan
Why they were built: to store the monsoon rain and reach groundwater in the long dry months.
More than wells: places to rest, gather and pray, cool in the hottest weather.
- Adalaj
- About 30 minutes north
- Patan
- About 3 hours north
- Rani ki Vav
- 11th century, UNESCO 2014
- Modhera
- Early 11th century
- Wear
- Shoes with grip
- Cousins of ours: if you have seen the Abhaneri stepwell, Raniji ki Baori in Bundi or Toorji ka Jhalra in Jodhpur, Gujarat's will feel like relatives, only more ornate.
- The family tree: our article on the stepwells of Rajasthan traces it, and our guide to stepwells has more.
- Watch your step: stepwell stairs are steep and can be slippery.
Adalaj, half an hour from the city
Two builders: begun in the late fifteenth century by Rana Veer Singh of the Vaghela dynasty, and completed under Sultan Mahmud Begada after Veer Singh was killed in battle.
The legend: the sultan wished to marry the widow, Rani Rudabai, and she asked him to finish the well first.
- Five storeys: octagonal openings at each level let shafts of light fall into the cool galleries below.
- Its carving: elephants, flowers, birds and pots of plenty, mixed with Islamic geometric patterns.
- When to go: morning, when the sun reaches the lower levels.
Rani ki Vav, the queen's stepwell at Patan
A Solanki capital: Patan, about three hours north of Ahmedabad, was the seat of the Chaulukya, or Solanki, dynasty.
A queen's memorial: in the eleventh century Queen Udayamati built the stepwell in memory of her husband, King Bhima I.
- Seven levels: lined with hundreds of sculptures, many showing the avatars of Vishnu, with goddesses, dancers and women at their toilet.
- Saved by silt: floods from the Saraswati river buried it for centuries, which is why the carving survives so sharply.
- Rescued: the Archaeological Survey of India excavated and restored it in the later twentieth century, and UNESCO listed it in 2014.
- In your wallet: it appears on the back of India's 100-rupee note.
Patola weaving in Patan
A demanding cloth: patola is double ikat, where both warp and weft are tie-dyed to the pattern before weaving, so the design appears identically on both sides.
- Months per sari: a single sari can take months to make.
- The weavers: a few families of the Salvi community keep the craft alive, and a visit to their workshop is a great privilege.
- Our own tie-dye: our page on Rajasthani dress and textiles explains how it relates.
Modhera Sun Temple, on the way
When: built in the early eleventh century under the same Bhima I, between Ahmedabad and Patan.
- The tank: in front lies the great stepped Surya Kund, lined with dozens of small shrines.
- The Rajasthan link: Bhima I's minister, Vimal Shah, built the Vimal Vasahi temple at Dilwara on Mount Abu in 1031, so Modhera and Patan join naturally with a Rajasthan journey.
Sabarmati Ashram, where Gandhi lived
The move: Gandhi moved his ashram to this spot on the bank of the Sabarmati in 1917 and lived here until 1930.
A headquarters: from here he led campaigns of non-violent resistance and published his newspapers.
- Gandhi lived here
- 1917 to 1930
- Dandi March began
- 12 March 1930
- Museum
- By Charles Correa, opened 1963
- Best hour
- Early morning
- The Dandi March: on 12 March 1930 he set out with his followers, walking to the sea to make salt in defiance of British law.
- A vow kept: he swore not to return until India was free, and he never lived here again.
- Hriday Kunj: his cottage is kept as it was, with his spinning wheel and his few belongings.
- The museum: designed by Charles Correa and opened in 1963, a quiet series of open pavilions around water courts, in brick, stone and tile, simple as Gandhi would have wanted.
- When to come: early morning, when the riverbank is calm and the light is soft.
- More moving than expected: many guests are, especially after a few days in Rajasthan's palaces, because the contrast tells its own story about India in the twentieth century.
Textile museums and modern architecture
The Calico Museum of Textiles
Founded: in 1949 by the Sarabhai family.
Its setting: behind carved wooden haveli facades in the gardens of the family estate at Shahibaug.
- The collection: court textiles of the Mughals and the Rajput kingdoms, temple hangings, embroidery, tie-dye and printed cloth from across India, among the finest in the world.
- How to visit: by small guided tours that need planning well ahead, which we arrange as part of your journey.
- For textile lovers: unmissable.
Le Corbusier, Kahn and Doshi
Le Corbusier: in the 1950s he designed four buildings here, including the Mill Owners' Association building and the Sanskar Kendra museum.
Louis Kahn: a decade later he designed the brick campus of the Indian Institute of Management.
- Balkrishna Doshi: the Indian architect who worked with Le Corbusier built much of his life's work here, including the CEPT University campus and the cave-like gallery Amdavad ni Gufa.
- A Pritzker city: Doshi received the Pritzker Prize in 2018.
- How we do it: an architect-led half day, a pleasure for anyone who loves buildings.
Shopping for cloth
What to buy: bandhani tie-dye, block prints, embroidered pieces from Kutch and Saurashtra, handloom saris and patola.
- The old markets: around Teen Darwaza, for the brave.
- For quality and calm: we take guests to established craft shops and to makers directly.
- Tie-dye compared: our guide to leheriya and bandhani explains how Gujarat's differs from Rajasthan's.
What Ahmedabad eats
The thali: a round steel plate of lentils, vegetables, kadhi (a gentle yoghurt curry), pickles, chutneys, rice, rotis and sweets, refilled until you beg them to stop.
Balance: sweet, sour, salty and spicy in every mouthful.
A famous rooftop: Agashiye, at The House of MG, serves one of the city's best-known thalis, looking out over the old town.
- Signature meal
- The Gujarati thali
- Snacks
- Farsan
- Winter dish
- Undhiyu, around Uttarayan
- Night food
- Manek Chowk
- Alcohol
- Dry state, by permit only
- Dhokla: a steamed, spongy cake of fermented gram flour.
- Khandvi: a delicate roll of gram flour and yoghurt, tempered with mustard seeds.
- Fafda and jalebi: crisp gram flour strips eaten with hot jalebi, above all on the morning of Dussehra, when the queues stretch down the street.
- Undhiyu: in winter, around Uttarayan, every family slow-cooks winter vegetables, beans and fenugreek dumplings.
- Street food at night: Manek Chowk, from pav bhaji to chocolate sandwiches.
- Mostly vegetarian: much of the food has no onion or garlic, following Jain tradition.
- A dry state: alcohol is available only by permit and in licensed shops. Visitors can apply, and our guide to alcohol and dry days explains how.
Where to stay in Ahmedabad
The House of MG: a mansion built in 1924 for the textile magnate Sheth Mangaldas Girdhardas, restored by his family as a heritage hotel.
Its position: opposite the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, right on the edge of the old city, the best base for walking the pols.
- What it's like: high-ceilinged rooms, old furniture, a courtyard pool and the rooftop thali restaurant Agashiye.
- Modern luxury: ITC Narmada and the international chain hotels on the west side offer spacious rooms, spas and polished service, closer to the airport and the newer city.
- Who prefers which: families and business travellers often choose the modern hotels. We decide with you based on how much time you want in the old city.
- As part of a journey: our Mount Abu and Gujarat's heritage journey combines the city with the hill station, the Jain temples and the palace hotels of Udaipur.
When to come, and the festivals worth timing a trip for
November to February: warm days and cool nights, the season to come.
- Best season
- November to February
- Still pleasant
- March
- Hot season
- April to June, often above 40°C
- Monsoon
- July to September
- Uttarayan
- 14 January
- March: still pleasant.
- April to June: intense heat, so we keep sightseeing to the early morning.
- July to September: heavy monsoon rain, and green fields around the stepwells.
Uttarayan, the kite festival, 14 January
Gujarat's Makar Sankranti: celebrated with an International Kite Festival and two days of rooftop kite battles in the pols.
- Festival food: families cook undhiyu and eat sesame and peanut sweets.
- The way to see it: spend the day on a pol rooftop with a local family.
- Compare the cities: our page on kite flying sets Ahmedabad beside Jaipur's Makar Sankranti.
Navratri, nine nights of garba
When: September or October, nine nights in honour of the goddess.
The dances: garba and dandiya raas fill neighbourhood squares and vast grounds until late at night.
- The dress: women in mirror-worked skirts and men in embroidered jackets.
- World heritage: UNESCO recognised garba as intangible cultural heritage in 2023.
- At home: read about the same festival in Navratri in Rajasthan.
Getting to Ahmedabad and getting around
By air: the airport has direct flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and many other cities, as well as international connections.
From Rajasthan: about four to five hours by road from Udaipur, and about four from Mount Abu.
- Airport
- Ahmedabad (AMD)
- From Udaipur
- About 4-5 hours by road
- From Mount Abu
- About 4 hours
- Lothal
- About 2 hours south-west
- Bhuj
- About 6-7 hours west
- Adalaj: about half an hour north of the city.
- Modhera and Patan: a full day trip, about three hours each way with stops.
- Lothal: the Harappan dockyard town, about two hours south-west.
- The Little Rann of Kutch: about two to three hours west.
- Bhuj and the White Rann: the White Rann of Kutch is about six to seven hours west by road, or a short flight via Mumbai.
- In the old city, walk: the pols are too narrow for cars, and your driver meets you at the gates.
Two days in Ahmedabad, the way we'd spend them
- With a third day: add Dada Harir stepwell, the Hutheesing temple and an architecture tour of Le Corbusier and Kahn.
- A longer craft journey: our textile and craft trail links Ahmedabad's museums with the craft villages of Kutch and Rajasthan.
Day one, the old city and the ashram
Morning: begin at Sidi Saiyyed Mosque as the light comes through the jali, then walk the pols with a guide who lives there, ending at the Jama Masjid.
- Afternoon: after lunch and a rest, the Calico Museum on a pre-booked tour, or Sabarmati Ashram in the late afternoon.
- Evening: dinner on the rooftop at Agashiye, then Manek Chowk if you still have room.
Day two, Adalaj, Modhera and Patan
Morning: leave early and stop at Adalaj in the morning light.
- Midday: continue to the Sun Temple at Modhera.
- Afternoon: Patan, for Rani ki Vav and a visit to a patola weaving family.
- Evening: back to Ahmedabad for dinner, or on towards Mount Abu or the Little Rann.
What we tell our own cousins about Ahmedabad
Start every day early: the old city is at its best before nine, and the heat builds quickly.
Dress for worship: cover shoulders and knees for mosques and temples, and leave leather belts and bags outside Jain temples.
- Book the Calico Museum: as soon as your dates are fixed, because places on its tours are limited.
- Plan for the dry state: if you would like a drink with dinner, ask us to help with a permit in advance.
- Say kem cho: the Gujarati hello, answered with majama, I'm well.
- Eat what the house serves: a Gujarati host keeps refilling your thali until you put your hand over it.
- Pair it with Rajasthan: Ahmedabad's Sultanate buildings make far more sense after you have seen the Rajput forts they once faced.
