Champaner UNESCO World Heritage Site

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Dear readers,

Warm greetings from “Kutch Adventures India”

Recently I have been to various places of Gujarat (India) with my family and explored some of random sites, I never been before such as Champaner (Panchmahal-North East district of Gujarat State)

Before I share my travel story, let me tell you that Champaner, Gujarat is one of the “UNESCO World heritage site” that I knew for long time but couldn’t manage to visit until now.

I went to Champaner along with my family. Before I reached there I visited Krishna temple at Dakor, swam in to Mahisagar River at Galteshwar. We reached Champaner an hour before the sunset. You could drive 5 km up to the ‘Machi’ -kind of base where there are dozens of food stalls, couple of guest houses and paid parking zone. Even if you don’t have personal vehicle, you could get shared jeeps from the bottom of hills. Roads were very good around this area, perhaps due to being one of the World Heritage Site so there wasn’t any problem getting up there. From Machi you could either climb hill by stairs (which probably could take an hour or so or by “Udan Khatola (Rope-way) which costs Rs. 90 per person. Crossing valley by rope-way was one of the best moments. Before you reach top of the hill where Mahakali Temple is located, you will find typical pilgrimage atmosphere such as hundreds of flags, coconuts, deities of God/Goddesses, foot wears (Pic-14) We wanted to stay one night at Hotel Champaner-Run by Gujarat Tourism but couldn’t stay unfortunately as the manager over there explained to us that they didn’t have water due to some electricity interruption. So we had no choice but either to stay at another guest house up there which was kind of prison surrounded by shops and unpleasant smell. So we drove back to the bottom of the hill and found another guest house called “Shiv-Shakti” located in the middle of fortified Champaner village which was reasonably clean, staff was very supportive and most of all they had water 😉 You could view Pavagadh hill straight from your room.

Next morning I had very special tea made by one tribal lady who runs small tea stall near the guest house. She made wonderful tea at 5 o’clock in the morning, following my preferences. I couldn’t stop myself paying her double than she has asked for because “that cup of tea had made my day” :-)

Before we left Champaner, we explored various old mosques, ruins of old fort, temple, etc. The trip was wonderful and I would highly recommend you to visit Champaner if you ever come to Gujarat while travelling in India. It is peaceful, safe, well kept site (comparatively) and now my one of the favourite historical site. I wish I could have spent bit more time so I must go to Champaner again 😊

Next time, I should explore bit of forest also where tigers wanders according to locals.

Thanks for reading/viewing pictures.

“Wherever you are, wherever you go, keep exploring and keep enjoying :-)”

Cheers!

Kuldip Gadhvi

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Comments

[Robyn Williams]

Interesting Account
I had never heard of Champaner before, but your it sounds like a fascinating place. Wonderful photos!! I love the stone carved windows - so many different patterns.

[Anya Vats]

I loved your post because I learned a lot about these tourist destinations.Gujrat have many beautiful places that can visit.More detail visit.....Gujrat PackagesThank you for posting this.

[cooldeep]

Thank you :)
Dear Anya, Thanks for stopping by and admiration. Best wishes from Kutch.