Gujarat is India's westernmost state, a broad sweep of Arabian Sea coastline, salt desert, and temple towns on the border with Pakistan and Rajasthan. It holds four UNESCO World Heritage Sites plus the walled city of Ahmedabad, the only Asiatic lion population on earth at Gir, the white salt flats of the Rann of Kutch, and the 182-metre Statue of Unity. It is also an alcohol-prohibition state with a famously vegetarian kitchen, from the multi-course Gujarati thali to Surat's locho and Kutch's dabeli.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Adalaj Stepwell & Akshardham, Gandhinagar
The five-storey Adalaj ni Vav, sunk into the ground in 1499 by Queen Rudabai, is the most complete and most beautiful stepwell within easy reach of Ahmedabad, blending Hindu and Islamic carving over an octagonal well shaft. Paired with the vast Swaminarayan Akshardham complex in Gandhinagar, it makes a half-day of contrasting sacred architecture, old and new.
Highlights: Five descending storeys of carved pillars and niches at Adalaj ni Vav · The Ami Khumbor and Kalp Vriksha motifs carved into the stepwell walls · Swaminarayan Akshardham's carved sandstone mandir in Gandhinagar · Cool air at the base of the stepwell even on the hottest afternoons
Lothal Harappan Port from Ahmedabad
Lothal is one of the most important excavated cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation and the site of what is widely interpreted as the world's earliest known dock, a vast brick basin connected to the Sabarmati estuary around 2400 BCE. The low walls of the acropolis, warehouse, bead factory and drainage channels are laid bare, and the adjacent Archaeological Survey of India museum holds one of India's finest Harappan collections.
Highlights: The excavated dockyard basin, among the earliest known in the world · Grid-planned streets, drains and the warehouse platform of the acropolis · Harappan beads, seals, weights and painted pottery in the site museum · The bead-making workshop that made Lothal a manufacturing centre
Modhera Sun Temple & Rani ki Vav, Patan
North Gujarat holds two of the finest pieces of Solanki-era stonework in India. The eleventh-century Sun Temple at Modhera stands behind a stepped tank of miniature shrines and was aligned so that the equinox sunrise reaches the sanctum, while Rani ki Vav at Patan is a UNESCO World Heritage stepwell descending seven storeys past more than five hundred principal sculptures.
Highlights: The Surya Kund stepped tank at Modhera with its 108 miniature shrines · The carved Sabha Mandap assembly hall and its torana arches · Rani ki Vav's seven storeys and over 500 major sculpted figures · Patola double-ikat silk weaving demonstrations in Patan town
Champaner-Pavagadh from Vadodara
Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, inscribed by UNESCO in 2004, holds the abandoned fifteenth-century capital of Sultan Mahmud Begada spread beneath a volcanic hill crowned by the Kalika Mata temple. Jami Masjid's carved stone minarets and Hindu-Islamic hybrid mosques stand among fields and forest, while a ropeway lifts pilgrims toward the summit shrine.
Highlights: Jami Masjid, one of the finest sultanate mosques in western India · The Kevda Masjid, Nagina Masjid and the stepwells scattered through the ruins · Kalika Mata temple on the Pavagadh summit, reached by ropeway and steps · Panoramic views over the Panchmahal plains from the hill
Statue of Unity at Ekta Nagar from Vadodara
The Statue of Unity is the world's tallest statue at 182 metres, a bronze-clad likeness of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel standing on an island in the Narmada below the Sardar Sarovar Dam. A viewing gallery inside the chest at 153 metres looks out over the river and the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, and a cluster of gardens, a jungle safari park and a cactus garden has grown up around it.
Highlights: The 182-metre statue, the tallest in the world since its unveiling in 2018 · Viewing gallery at 153 metres inside the statue's chest · Valley of Flowers along the Narmada riverbank · Sardar Sarovar Dam viewpoint and the evening laser show
Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary from Ahmedabad
Nal Sarovar is the largest wetland bird sanctuary in Gujarat and a Ramsar site, a shallow lake of around 120 square kilometres dotted with low islands that fills with migratory birds from November to February. Flat-bottomed boats poled by local boatmen drift among rosy pelicans, greater and lesser flamingos, storks, herons and ducks, with more than 200 species recorded in winter.
Highlights: Greater and lesser flamingos massed in the shallows in winter · Rosy pelicans, white storks, brahminy ducks, herons and harriers · Poled country boats gliding between the lake's low islands · Sunrise and sunset over water barely a metre deep
Little Rann of Kutch Wild Ass Safari
The Little Rann of Kutch is a vast seasonal salt desert and the only place on earth where the Indian wild ass, the khur, still runs free. Open 4x4 safaris cross the cracked white flats between grassy islands called bets, turning up wild ass herds, nilgai, desert fox, jackal, and in winter thousands of flamingos and cranes on the shallow pans.
Highlights: Herds of Indian wild ass, found nowhere else in the world · Flamingos, cranes, pelicans and raptors on the winter pans · Agariya salt-pan workers harvesting the flats by hand · Endless cracked white horizons and enormous sunsets
Velavadar Blackbuck National Park from Bhavnagar
Velavadar protects 34 square kilometres of flat tropical grassland at the head of the Gulf of Khambhat, and is the best place in India to watch blackbuck - hundreds of them, the males spiralled-horned and near-black, sprinting across open savanna. The park also holds one of the world's largest known harrier roosts and a rare accessible population of Indian wolf.
Highlights: Large herds of blackbuck on open grassland, with rutting males on leks · One of the world's biggest communal harrier roosts in winter · Indian wolf, striped hyena, jungle cat and Indian fox · The lesser florican displaying in the grass after good monsoon rain
Polo Forest & the Abhapur Temples
Polo Forest spreads across around 400 square kilometres of dry deciduous woodland in the Aravalli foothills along the Harnav river, hiding a scatter of fifteenth-century Hindu and Jain temples in the trees. The Sharaneshwar Shiva temple, Lakhena's Dera Jain group and the Shiva-Shakti temple are the highlights, and the whole valley turns green and waterfalled after the monsoon.
Highlights: The three-storeyed fifteenth-century Sharaneshwar Shiva temple · Lakhena's Dera, a group of Jain temples with carved stone screens · Monsoon waterfalls and green Aravalli ridges along the Harnav · Camping, night skies and birdlife in the forest
Mandvi & Vijay Vilas Palace from Bhuj
Mandvi was the great port of the Kutch state and still builds wooden dhows by hand on the Rukmavati riverbank, a trade four centuries old. Its long beach, the 1920s Rajasthani-style Vijay Vilas Palace among 450 acres of gardens, and a row of offshore windmills make it the best day out from Bhuj.
Highlights: Hand-built wooden dhows on the stocks at the Mandvi shipyard · Vijay Vilas Palace and its private beach, set in 450 acres of gardens · A long open beach with camel rides and evening food stalls · The old town's merchant havelis and the Rukmavati riverfront
Diu & Ahmedpur Mandvi from Somnath
Diu is a small Union Territory island of Portuguese churches, a sea-facing fort and quiet beaches, sitting immediately across a creek from Gujarat's Ahmedpur Mandvi - a six-kilometre stretch of pale sand that is among the best beaches on the Saurashtra coast. The pairing makes an easy escape from the temple towns of Somnath and Veraval.
Highlights: Diu Fort, built by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century above the sea · St Paul's Church and the whitewashed lanes of Diu town · Ahmedpur Mandvi's long pale-sand beach and water sports · Nagoa Beach on Diu, a curved palm-backed bay
Trips by distance
How far you can go in a day.
Getting there
Transport options for day trips.
- Tours
- Guided day tours out of Ahmedabad to Modhera and Patan or to Lothal typically run about INR 3,500-7,000 (about USD 36.45-72.90) per person including an air-conditioned car, driver and guide; Gujarat Tourism and Ahmedabad operators sell fixed-departure heritage day trips
- Private
- A private car with driver costs roughly INR 2,500-4,500 per day (about USD 26.05-46.90) including 250-300 km, which covers almost every day trip in this list; hotels and travel desks in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bhuj and Bhavnagar arrange them
- Public
- Indian Railways reaches Ekta Nagar, Patan, Bhavnagar and Veraval directly, and GSRTC buses serve almost every town; check timetables on irctc.co.in, the GSRTC app or RedBus, and note that rural return services often end by late afternoon
- Rental
- Self-drive cars from Zoomcar, Revv or MyChoize start around INR 1,800-2,800 per day (about USD 18.75-29.15) plus fuel at roughly INR 95-100 per litre (about USD 0.99-1.04); highways are good but night driving outside cities is best avoided
Multi-day tours from Gujarat
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
Browse multi-day tours from GujaratWe may earn a commission from bookings made through this link.
Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Distances in Gujarat are long and public transport thins out in the afternoon - a hired car with driver at roughly INR 2,500-4,500 per day (about USD 26.05-46.90) is the practical backbone of most day trips
Archaeological Survey of India monuments such as Adalaj, Rani ki Vav and Champaner charge about INR 40 (about USD 0.42) for Indian nationals and INR 600 (about USD 6.25) for foreign nationals, and several site museums close on Fridays
Wildlife trips to Nal Sarovar, Velavadar and the Little Rann are strictly seasonal - November to February is the window, and the Little Rann is impassable in the monsoon
Book Statue of Unity viewing gallery slots online before travelling, and remember the complex is closed on Mondays
Gujarat is a dry state: alcohol cannot be carried in a hired car, and bringing it back from Diu into Gujarat is an offence checked at the crossing
Start early on every trip - the open stone of Modhera, Lothal and Champaner becomes punishing by mid-morning from March to June