We visited Ayodhya on Nov 6th and stayed there till the 9th. Here are some tips on how to make the most of your trip to Ayodhya and some suggestions regarding stay and food.
Road Infrastructure
We drove from Gurgaon. Started from home at 7.07 am. Reached the Yamuna Expressway (54.5 kms) in an hour and 14 minutes. Can’t think of any other metro city in Bharat where you can do this distance in such a short time. Ofcourse, the early start helped.
We had breakfast at the Bikano Chat Cafe, near Mathura toll plaza. We usually stop at this place as it helps us to get a break, eat something and also fill petrol next door at Swagat Petrol Pump. On this day, the parking lot was full and two buses full of foreign tourists also came by at the same time.
The food at Bikano (the highway restaurants by Bikanervala) was outstanding and the service even better. Didnt forget to eat a plate of jalebi. When in UP, be like a UP-ite and eat Jalebi for breakfast !!
Our breakfast stop was for an hour. After filling petrol and a good debate with the fuel pump attendant we were on our way. Once again we had the same issue as in Jaipur, with the fuel gauge not showing the correct status. It didnt show “full” as it should have after the refuelling. I parked the car a couple of kilometres later and switched it off as the Toyota technician had told us, but the needle didn’t move. We just kept driving after that knowing that it wasn’t any major issue. I hadn’t switched off the car as it was being refuelled and that was the cause.
We crossed the Yamuna River around 11.45 am and also Hanuman Ji’s murti that has been placed recently. Don’t remember seeing it from our last trip this side.
We exited the Agra-Lucknow Expressway just before Mohan Exit and joined the newly built Lucknow Outer Ring Road. A short one kilometre of taking the U-Turn is through the famed Lucknow traffic, but once you get onto the Outer Ring Road, it’s like the expressway. The Outer Ring Road connects to the Purvanchal Expressway automatically.
The Purvanchal Expressway takes you to Ayodhya. The last 26 odd kilometres before you reach Ayodhya are through NH330A but have no worry, the road doesn’t have any potholes.
However much you dislike the Modi government, world class road infrastructure has been built by this government. Not saying that the world class roads remain that way all the time, the old potholes do creep in, but in the Pre-ModiJi era, we couldn’t have driven from Gurgaon to Ayodhya in 8 hours.
Travel Statistics – Gurgaon to Ayodhya by Road
Total Distance – 704 kms; Total Time Taken – 10 hours; Total Driving Time – 8 hours; Route taken – Gurgaon-Yamuna Expressway-Agra Lucknow Expressway-Lucknow Outer Ring Road-Purvanchal Expressway-NH 330A.
Stay at Ayodhya – Hotel Saryu
When we visited Ayodhya in 2023, we had been to Hotel Saryu, a UPSTDC hotel to have tea and snacks. Saw that it had rooms as well. We were also told that Yogi Ji stays here every time he visits Ayodhya.
The booking portal for Hotel Saryu is – UPSTDC Hotel Booking. You can access it through the UP Tourism website as well. Choose the rooms in the ground floor. They are all suites, while the rooms on the first floor are smaller. The website has stated the room size incorrectly.
We called Hotel Saryu to figure out which room to book. Had to cancel the first booking we made and change it to the suite. The hotel doesn’t take a booking over the phone, you have to book the room using the UPSTDC website.
The suite room is “massive”. The service is even more “massive”. For the first time in many years of travelling and staying at hotels, a hotel room was truly ready in every sense. The extra bed for Amma was already placed inside the room. Water in sufficient quantity was also placed. It’s RO water and you can ask for as many refills as you want. The mini-fridge was switched on and working. Most importantly the kettle was clean and functioning. The room was spotlessly clean. There is a walk-in closet just outside the bathroom. A special mention for the size of the bathroom – it will be sold as a 1bhk in Mumbai. Guess that says it all. There is hot water all the time.
The only thing to watch out for are the monkeys. They don’t snatch anything, but may be curious to check out your bags if you leave the car door open for too long.
In short everything works as it should.
Hotel Saryu address and contact details – R656+HP2, Ram Katha Park, Ayodhya, Manjha Kala, Uttar Pradesh 272129. Phone number – 094156 09449.
Would highly recommend the stay at Hotel Saryu. It’s a few hundred metres from the Lata Mangeshkar chowk and right next to the Ram Katha Park.
Sugam and Aarti Darshan – RamJanmaBhoomi
While stay and road access being wonderful is all very well, the reason why anyone visits Ayodhya is to get Ram Lalla’s darshan.
Please click on this website to book the darshan online – Sugam and Aarti Darshan.
Steps to follow for easy booking –
- Create an account using your mobile number on this portal – https://online.srjbtkshetra.org/#/mobileVerification. Using one mobile number you can book for 8 devotees.
- For Sugam and Aarti darshan, the online booking slot opens 15 days in advance and at midnight. For instance if you want to book for darshan on Jan 15th, you have to login at 12 midnight on Dec 31st.
- Keep the following ready – Aadhar card or Passport (for NRIs). Also online copies of Aadhar card and a photograph. Smaller sized pics, not beyond 1 MB.
- There are three Aartis for Ram Lalla everyday that you can book for – 4.30 am Mangala Aarti; 6.30 am Shringar Aarti; 9.30 pm Shayan Aarti. Remember that you have to be at the entrance half hour before the Aarti timing and plan accordingly. Total number of passes for each Aarti is 150 – 30 available online and 120 offline. All passes are free.
- The most sought after Aarti is the Shringar Aarti. There are only 30 slots available for online booking. So if your group is large, don’t even attempt. We could not book online for the Shringar Aarti despite being fully prepared. The tokens are flying and by the time you enter the devotee’s name and Aadhar number all the slots have been booked. The only way to get the online Aarti booking is to book for just one person, because his/her details will be automatically taken. Have several people sit simultaneously and book for themselves.
- Offline Aarti Darshan passes – For the offline pass you need to collect the token from counter 11 (for Mangala Aarti NEXT day), 12 (for Shringar Aarti NEXT day), or 13 (for Shayan Aarti SAME day), and go to counter 6 (women) and 7 (men) for getting the Pass with your photograph. Remember to stand in the queue by 8.30 am with your original Aadhar card.
- Location of the pass counter – exactly at the entrance to the Ram Janma Bhoomi temple and across from Birla Dharamshala.
- Sugam darshan tickets are relatively easier to book online.
Hanuman Garhi
Do get Hanuman Ji’s darshan at Hanuman Garhi before Ram Lalla’s darshan. I have no suggestions to offer on how to easily get Hanuman Ji’s darshan…. it’s chaotic. It’s always full of devotees and somehow everyone becomes restless and in urgency here. No queues and no control of any kind. Here is a pic of Hanuman Ji from 2018 when many of us devotees took a selfie with HIM.
Food and Sweets
Just as you complete your darshan and come out of the RamJanmabhoomi Mandir, you have a Udupi restaurant, Udupi Ayodhya Food Palace. Food is very good and it’s all jain food, no onion or garlic. There are many devotees from South India so you have several Udupi restaurants with near authentic idli-dosa :).
Also visit the Shree Vaani Sweets on the way to Hanuman Garhi. They supply the Prasad to Hanuman Ji. A must try at this sweet shop is the “emarti”, simply outstanding.
A quick recap of our Ayodhya visit –
- Road infrastructure is outstanding. All the way from Gurgaon to Ayodhya we only drove on Expressways. For 704 kms it took us just 8 hours of driving time.
- Cleanliness in Ayodhya is impressive. People are constantly cleaning up and it shows. We walked barefoot from the main entrance to the temple for our Aarti darshan. Came out and went into a hotel to have breakfast. Our feet were just coated with dust but not very dirty.
- Hotel Saryu is outstanding. Must be promoted as THE place to stay in Ayodhya.
- The battery operated rickshaws only charge the fixed fare and don’t fleece the devotees.
- Inside Ayodhya the road width and road signages are excellent.
- Security is excellent – enough police presence right through the day and night making Ayodhya very safe.
- The orderliness at the Token and Pass counters is commendable. The private security agency does a fabulous job of keeping control over the crowds. They were also very helpful to the devotees by answering all their questions.
- The restaurants have increased significantly making it easier for devotees to have hygienic food. Restaurants also maintained well.
- We didn’t notice a single beggar on the streets. There were lots of shops and individual hawkers but no beggars.
- No touts approached us as we stood in the queue to collect the Arti tokens. Usually most of the temples will have touts who offer quick darshan in exchange for money.
Enjoy a short silent video of the streets of Ayodhya … the cleanliness, the devotion and a civilisational change that Ram Lalla’s homecoming is bringing about. Please enable “cc” on YouTube before watching this video. Jai Sri Ram. Jai Bajrang Bali.
#KrishnansTempleTrails
Nice. You shud consider publishing travelogue..for us couch potatoes.
it is very unsafe to keep the engine running while filling petrol
Yes Hareesh. We do switch off the car while refuelling but I forgot to do it on that day.