48 hours in Amritsar

Amritsar, situated near Pakistan and the Wagah border, is a spiritual and cultural centre for the Sikh religion. Tourism being one of the main commercial activities of Amritsar, attracts more than 100,000 visitors on week days alone.

Amritsar holds a lot of historical background to its name too. From Jallianwalabagh massacre, to being the birth place of eminent personalities like guru TeghBahadur, the 9th Guru of Sikhs and Manmohan sigh, the Prime Minister of India, to name a few.

The main attraction is the magnificent and picturesque Golden Temple, filled with thousands of tourists at all times, full of infectious excitement. Golden Temple should be visited twice, once in the day and once at night because both the times have their individual scenic beauty. Golden Temple includes well-known things like GhantaGhar, Harmandir Sahib, Akal Takht, Central Sikh Museum and AmritSarovar and thus makes it mandatory to pay a visit to this stunning Temple.

The Golden Temple (Photo Courtesy: www.pinterest.com)

The Golden Temple at Night  (Photo Courtesy: thptravels.wordpress.com)

Other than the Golden Temple there are other places that one must visit while in Amritsar like the JallianWalaBagh, which is barelya 5 minutes’ walk form the Golden temple. The JallianwalaBagh includes the memorials and the historical well that thousands of people jumped into for saving themselves from being shot. 

JallianWala Bagh (Photo Courtesy: www.kvtravelsasr.com)

Also, there is Mata Temple which is a cave temple dedicated to the female saint Lal Devi. Traditionally, women wanting to get pregnant come here to make a wish. What make visiting this temple fun are the inclined pathways, mirrored halls and ankle-deep water. The deities and the patterns made with the mirrors mixed with colours make the experience more psychedelic.

Lal Devi Mata Temple (Photo Courtesy: amritsar-guide.blogspot.com

Summer palace of Maharaja Ranjitsingh filled with weapons, oil paintings, miniatures and antique things makes this place too, a must visit. 

Apart from these beautiful and striking things, one must go to Ram tirth. This place holds a special place in the ancient scriptures. With the history of Rama and Sita and HrishiBalmiki, this place attracts a lot a tourists and devotees.

Amritsar’s climate is easy to understand and it has four main seasons. The best time to visit Amritsar is between October and March.

Amritsar’s food is a speciality of Punjab. The mouth-watering Non-Vegetarian and  Vegetarian palates can make any lips smack. The Chanabhaturas, Parathas, Mutton Tikkas, seekhkabab, barbequed chicken etc. make the visit even more interesting.

Amritsar’s mouth-watering food (Photo Courtesy: incredibleindiaexpeditions.blogspot.com)

Amritsar flights connect Amritsar to various cities with its International airport called  Sri Guru Ram DassJee International Airport which has more than 160 domestic and international flights with daily connections to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Jammu and Srinagar etc. and also connects international places like Dubai, Sharjah, Tashkent, Doha,London etc. Amritsar is near to AllamaIqbal International Airport.