Vadodara Palace, Champaner & Pavagad temple from Ahmedabad with guide
Description
In this one day trip from Ahmedabad, we will visit Vadodara Palace, world heritage site of Champaner and the famous Pavagad temple. The highlights include exploring the world’s largest residence at the 500 acre Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara. At the Champaner world heritage site, we will visit fascinating mosques like the Jami Masjid, Nagara style temples, granaries and tombs. This one day trip from Ahmedabad takes you finally to Pavagad for the famous Kalika Mata temple on the hill.
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Itinerary
This Palace was built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1890 and continues to be the residence of Vadodara’s royal family. At 500 acres, it is the largest private home in the world. The highlights of the Palace are its magnificent interiors embellished with mosaics, chandeliers, and art. There are some paintings by Raja Ravi Verma as well. The Palace grounds include a golf course.
Champaner Pavagad archaeological park is a world heritage site. The city was founded in the 8th century by King Vanraj Chavda. There are fascinating mosques, temples, granaries, tombs, wells, and walls to explore. All the temples are of the Nagara style having garbhagriha, mandapa and an entrance porch Jami Masjid is a splendid monument here with a carved entrance porch that leads into a lovely courtyard surrounded by a pillared corridor.
Pavagad became the capital of the Chauhan Rajputs around 1300, but in 1484 was taken by the Gujarat Sultan Mahmud Begada, after a 2 year siege. The most famous destination here is the Kalika Mata temple on top of the hill. A ropeway is available to cover most of the distance to the temple. After the ropeway one needs to climb 100 steps to reach the temple. Incidentally the the Pavagadh hill is composed of reddish-yellow coloured stone and is one of the oldest rock formations in India.
Highlights
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All hotels in Ahmedabad
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Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(2)
Very interesting and insight into the life of the maharaja whose family still lives there. Good audio is available in all languages to guide your round the part of the Palace that is open to the public. The building is a magnificent testimont to the architecture of the time it was built. Certainly a very good half day out to tour this building and its surroundings.
This tour is a full day tour from Ahmedabad but worth it. Out guide was phenomenal and made us very comfortable during the day. He was brilliant in terms of knowledge and showed us an opulent palace in Vadodara. We also visited an ancient capital called Champaner which was lovely. we ended the tour at Pavagad a famous pilgrimage site for the local people. What I loved most was that in this tour you get a sense of the real India beyond the cities. I could really connect with this part of India and that was the highlight.
