Holiday in Ahmedabad

About Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad is India's first UNESCO World Heritage City — a place that embodies the soul of modern India like few others. Here, Mahatma Gandhi founded his Sabarmati Ashram in 1917, from where he organized the non-violent resistance against British colonial rule and embarked on the historic Salt March in 1930. The 6.3 million metropolis in the state of Gujarat is the cradle of the Indian independence movement and one of the country's most dynamic economic cities. The historic old town, which earned Ahmedabad its UNESCO status, is a labyrinth of over 600 Pols — traditional residential neighborhoods with intricately carved wooden balconies, hidden courtyards, communal wells, and temples that have been inhabited since the 15th century. The Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in India, impresses with 260 columns, none of which repeat a single pattern. The Sidi Saiyyed Mosque houses India's most famous stone lattice window: a perforated Jali work featuring a tree of life, which has become a symbol of Ahmedabad. On the west bank of the Sabarmati River stretches the modern Riverfront promenade — an 11-kilometer-long park that has reconciled the city with the river and becomes a meeting point for Ahmedabadis in the evening. On the other side of the river, modern architecture revolutionizes the skyline: Le Corbusier's Sanskar Kendra, B.V. Doshi's Amdavad ni Gufa (an organic underground gallery), and Louis Kahn's IIM Ahmedabad are among the most important works of modern architecture in all of Asia. Gujarat is vegetarian — and Ahmedabad is the vegetarian capital of India. The city has virtually no meat restaurants, and the vegetarian street food here is among the best on the subcontinent.