Amritsar City is one of the main places to visit in Punjab, India || Punjabi City with Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Bagah Border,

When we talk about Tourism in Punjab, only Chandigarh and Amritsar comes into our minds although there are quite a few others places developed by Punjab Tourism Department. Out of these two Amritsar is more popular as a religious place or an old city with some historical importance. Many times people think that Amritsar is Capital of Punjab State of India !!! Let's have a flavor of Amritsar City through this PHOTO JOURNEY...

Personally I love to wander in streets and old markets on Amritsar. Although at times it's irritating to walk in these narrow lanes which are not very clean. Especially in summers we can't even think of going there. In North India, Amritsar is one of the worst city if we talk about weather. It's one of the coldest city of North India during winters and same situation in summers. Summers become intolerable in summers because of added problems of pollution in old part of Amritsar.  

Amritsar historically known as Ramdaspur and colloquially as Ambarsar. Amritsar is a city in the north-western part of India, in Punjab State of the nation. It is the administrative headquarters of the Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India, although confused with Capital of Punjab State. This city is well known as the spiritual center for the Sikh religion.  Amritsar is situated 220 kilometres of state capital Chandigarh and is 32 kilometres of Lahore, Pakistan and therefore, very close to India's western border with Pakistan.

Anyways, Old part of Amritsar is still alive and still able to present a wonderful view of old havelis. It looks almost similar to Old Delhi which is widely known for it's heritage. Still there are lot of families living in these Haveli and don't want to move out of these narrow streets of Old Amritsar. For outsiders, it looks very odd but for local folks it's very obvious thing to happen. Most of the business families are staying in this region of the Amritsar. These Photographs are clicked near the famous Cloth Market of Old Amritsar. Katra Jaimal Singh market is basically full of Cloths and Saris. This market provide variety of cloths from synthetic silk to pure smooth silk or woolens. Apart fro cloths, market has more than enough for folks interested in handloom stuff like Phulkari, Artificial Jewellery or wooden articles.  Check out http://www.traveliteindia.com/content/LocalMarketsAmritsar.aspx to know more about markets in Amritsar. Specific details about Hall Bazar, Guru Bazar, Katra Jaimal market, Kapda Bazar are available at - http://www.bharatonline.com/punjab/amritsar/shopping.html

It's almost impossible that someone visits Amritsar and doesn't come to Harmandir Saheb aka Golden Temple in Amritsar. This is most popular place in Amritsar and at times Amritsar is known by Golden Temple only. This place is quite peaceful even when lot of folks keep visiting the temple throughout the year. The best part is discipline and cleanness inside the Golden Temple Campus. Main Temple is situated in the middle of Sarovar and connected through one of the four sides of this campus. Most of the folks take a round around the lake which is considered as a religious process to get blessings of God.


Amritsar boasts of being the main center of Sikhs' cultural, religious, and political history... This city also houses the Sikh temporal and political authority, Akal Takht, as well as the Sikh Parliament. Amritsar is also known for the tragic incident of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in 1919 under British Rule. The main commercial activities include tourism, carpets and fabrics, farm produce, handicrafts, service trades, and light engineering. Amritsar City is known for its rich cuisine and culture as well. This City of Punjab is also home to Central Khalsa Orphanage, which was once a home to Shaheed Udham Singh, a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement.

Golden Temple is one of the main places to visit in Amritsar City of Punjab, India. Langar at Golden Temple is considered as very tasty and auspicious food. I have been to Golden Temple thrice, but never had enough time to have some but surely next time I will try to make it. When it comes to Langar, somehow Anandpur Saheb comes to my mind which is a place near Nangal, Punjab. I cross Anadadpur many times when I go to my hometown in Himachal and at times stopped at the place and had Langar & Chai(tea)...

On first day of the year (1st Jan 2012), whole campus of Golden Temple was full and there was a huge queue for main temple inside the lake. Here is a Photograph showing thousands of people inside Golden Temple Campus at Amritsar, Punjab, India.



Amritsar is home to the Harmandir Sahib which is the spiritual and cultural center for the Sikh religion. This important Sikh shrine attracts more visitors than the Taj Mahal with more than one lac visitors on week days alone and is the most popular destination for Non-resident Indians (NRI) in the whole of India.

There is enough space in Golden Temple Campus for folks to relax and spend some peaceful moments inside this religious place in Amritsar (Punjab, India). Such galleries are there in all four sides of Golden Temple Campus. Every gallery has suffiecient number of fans for summers and places are kept clean all the time. And most of the visitors serve for this cleanness activity, as almost no dedicated folks to do this. The word 'Seva' is used for serving at Golden Temple to keep this process running in best possible way. People offer their SEVA at different places inside the temple - Place where shoes are kept, Tea-Counters, Entry Gates, A huge piece of Bridge which connect main Temple with huge campus of Golden temple etc.

Not sure if you were able to make out anything out of the photograph shown above. This Photograph shows bullet marks on walls of Jallianwala bagh in Amritsar City of Punjab, India. The board in front has some details about Jallianwala Kand in Amritsar where lots of people were killed in this ground by British Army lead by Mr. Dier.

Now Jallianwala Bagh has become one of the main places to visit in Amritsar. It's very close to Golden Temple and in fact comes on the way when we move towards the main parking area for Golden Temple. Jallianwala Bagh was not in good shape this time and not sure if it's because of bad maintenance or some other reason which spoiled the magical look of the place. First time when I visited this place 10 years back, it back green and well maintained which was not the case this time.

Shahidi Kuan aka Martyr's Well is on one of the corners of Jallianwala Bagh which has a museum inside it. This Museum at Jallianwala Bagh has lot of photographs about freedom fighters with some details about their lives and things they did during their struggle for freedom of our nation.

Here a Photograph showing one of the visitor looking at photographs inside the Jallaianwala Bagh Museum and reading some facts about Freedom Fighters of India. With this Photo Journey to these main places of Amritsar completes and will share a separate Photo Journey on Wagah Border...