AHMEDABAD
Hotels to stay
Restaurants
Shopping
Sight Seeing Places
Hotels to Stay
Ahmedabad is a huge city with lot of good hotel options all around the city. The hotel can be opted nearby the places you want to visit. It may be for shopping, Akshardham or sight seeing the city.
Well I have shortlisted the hotels which are in the city centre and are conveniently located for visiting all the major attractions in the city. The hotels are located near Sabarmati Ashram.
Starottel Hotel: This is a good 4 star hotel with an open air lounge and restaurant.
Fortune landmark hotel: This is a 5 star property with good lounge and restaurants.
Restaurants
Ahmedabad is famous for its food. People in Ahmedabad are real foodies. There are a lot of options for vegetarians here. You get good gujarati thalis all around the city. Also they have popular food chains which are famous all over the world. Some are Sankalp, Sams Pizza and Havmor for ice creams.
Manek Chowk is famous for its street food. This area opens up late in the evening after 7:30 pm. All the local shops shut down by this time and then the hawkers put up their stalls in the evening. They say if you come to Ahmedabad; then one must visit this place.
Agashiye( Lal Darwaja) : This restaurant is famous for its authentic gujarati thali.
Vishalla : This restaurant also serves authentic thali and is also famous for its ambience( village set up)
Toran Dining Hall(Ashram road): The restaurant serves gujarati thali.
Sasuji(CG road) : Thali restaurant
Sankalp is a famous food chain all around Ahmedabad specially for south Indian delicacies.
Havmor is famous and well known for the Ice Creams. They also have many branches all over the city.
Oshwal: This is a must visit place if you are looking for authentic gujarati snacks. The fafda jalebi they serve here is just awesome. Most importantly they serve it hot and make them as you place the order. Also the other food items like kachori, khaman were good.
Shopping
There are many Gujaratis who specially visit Ahmedabad for shopping their traditional clothes. Ahmedabad is famous mostly for their traditional wear like sarees, Bandanis, Dress materials and readymade kurtis. I have jotted down few places here
Teen Darwaja: This area is full of small shops selling traditional gujarati sarees and kurtis.
CG road: This area is famous for good bigger shops.
Sanskruti: This shop is located at CG road and has lot of variety in dress materials and readymade kurtis. This place is very good to buy traditional dresses. One must visit this shop. They also have traditional cushion covers and bedsheets.
Law Garden: This area is famous for street shopping. There are lot of hawkers selling traditional Gujarati accessories and dresses here.
Sight seeing places (Please do note that all the sight seeing places in Ahmedabad are closed on Monday except for Gandhi Ashram)
Gandhi Ashram: This place is where Mahatma Gandhi resided for a few years.
Sabarmati Riverfront: This place is a hangout place for the people in the city especially in the evenings. There is flower park near the riverfront; where there are several flowers displayed and also there is a small kids park besides.
Kankaria lake (Monday closed; Timings : 9-6) : There is a mini train near the lake which tours around the lake. There are so many activities around the lake specially for kids. They have small rides for toddlers, adventure zones for older kids, kidscity is also a big play activity area for kids, segway, nocturnal zoo and butterfly park, zoo, aquarium and lot more activities. You can spend one whole day there if you have kids along. The place is very well maintained and clean. Also there are lot of food stalls. A must visit if you are in the city.
Akshardam (Gandhinagar) (Monday Closed; Timings 9:30-7:30): This is a huge Swaminarayan temple in Gandhinagar which is 1 hour away from Ahmedabad. People in large numbers visit this place. The temple is specially known for its architecture and its laser and fountain show.
Laser and Water show: This is a 45 minute show which starts after the sunset. One should not miss the show while visiting the temple. The show starts in the evening at 7:30 pm. You have to buy tickets for the show which costs Rs.90.Please check the show timings before visiting the temple and plan your trip accordingly.