As Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya gears up for the inauguration of Ram Mandir on January 22, the city has also gone through a makeover. Be it the new airport, railway station; numerous religious sites, ghats, parks, rivers, and more, the city has many sites of interest for tourists. Here are a few things you should know if you want to plan a trip to Ayodhya.
Visiting the Ram temple
The Ram temple will be open for visitors from January 24. As of now, Ayodhya hotels are fully booked and travel aggregators expect the trend to last for a while. Therefore, pilgrims should book their travel tickets and accommodation facilities well in advance if they wish to visit the temple.
To visit the temple, devotees should book through the official website of Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust (srjbtkshetra.org), selecting the slots of their convenience. Offline booking is also possible through the Ram Mandir Visitor Centre in Ayodhya, which is open from 10 am to 6 pm. The darshan timings are 7 am to 11:30 pm and from 2 pm to 7 pm every day. Entry is free, but special darshan tickets are available for longer darshans though the prices are not announced yet.
There are many flights via Bengaluru to Ayodhya, from Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Ayodhya Junction and Faizabad Junction are the main railway stations of the city.
Other places of interest
Ayodhya also has many other famous temples like Hanumangarhi, Kanak Bhawan, Nageshwarnath Temple, Treta Ka Thakur, Choti Chawni, Sita Ki Rasoi and Raja Mandir which also interest devotees. For those looking for more touristy options in the area, Ram Katha Park, a green open-air theatre with lawns can be a great spot for relaxation. It is a popular area in the city that stages cultural events, exhibitions, and the like.
Dashrath Mahal, a palace where Lord Ram is believed to have spent his childhood; a hillock called Mani Parbat that houses a Buddhist monastery built by Emperor Ashoka and the various ghats of the beautiful Sarayu River are some of the other locations that can interest tourists. If you have time at your disposal, you can also club neighbouring cities like Varanasi, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Faizabad, and more to your Ayodhya trip.