Akshardham, Gandhinagar

The atmosphere here is so nice that you feel like going back home. You don't feel like going back home. Here is a very nice ride for children. Here is the real Swaminarayan Lord. What is the leisure inside here? Jai Swaminarayan I have taken this photography by taking a screenshot, I have not taken the photography but whoever has taken this photography has taken a very nice photo. This is a beautiful and fun temple located inside Gandhinagar City.

The monument is nice and well-maintained. But the staff's behavior is not good. I do not understand why photography is not accepted. The only photo you can get is by paying 100 per photo, which you can not even see. The behaviour of the staff should be improved.

Open Tue to sun....closed on Monday ...very peaceful and beautiful place with wide range of plants and greenaries ....rides and fountain show (from 7.15pm...age13+ 100₹ below 70₹)are also there. If you want to visit peacefully then avoid going on sunday and it would take 3 4 hrs easily ..no electric gadgets allowed ...many stalls and dhabhas around there.

Place is very well maintained, temple environment is very nice. You should view there exhibition which is very well designed. Only one thing the bathroom are not clean. You can spent around 2 to 3 hours I this place

BAPS Akshardham Temple. Gandhinagar. As was expected there was a fair crowd, mostly devotees of Lord Swaminarayan and a few of our kind, generally called “the tourists”, who come to see so-called tourist attractions, which are generally beautifully constructed, well-landscaped, and laid-out buildings, temples etc. One can not carry mobile phones or cameras in the temple IMPORTANT TO NOTE 1. If you go to the gate directly you will be sent back to the deposit room to deposit all your phones and cameras. If there is too much of a crowd and you have to return all the way back to deposit the phones/cameras is quite frustrating. So go and deposit the phones/ cameras first. A token will be issued to reclaim the items deposited. To compensate for this the temple authorities have their own photographer who takes your photos which can be collected after a gap of about 30 minutes. Of course, this comes at a cost and you have to pay for the photocopy. The Photo for which we paid is attached. 2. While issuing the token, a photo of the person who is depositing the items is captured. If visiting in a larger group, remember that only the person who has deposited the items can reclaim them. This insures that no fraud takes place. Those who go to Akshardham or any temples considered tourist attractions are not necessarily atheists. At these places of worship, We the tourist also pray and pay obeisance to God. We being who we are, like to have something to remind us of our visit to these wonderful places. Photos taken at that place are the only memories we can carry. I see no logic or valid reason for the “No photographs” rule at Akshardham or any other place of worship or of tourist interest. It is high time the Department of Tourism issued guidelines on this subject. Akshardham Gandhinagar lives up to the rightly earned reputation of r by the “Akshardham” temples built by BAPS all over India and the World. Like all the others, Akshardham Gandhinagar is grand, it is huge, and it is built of pink red sandstone with exquisite and amazingly beautiful carvings, It is located in a vast sprawling ground. These grounds are very nicely and professionally landscaped with the right kind of well-maintained, trimmed plants and shrubs. It also has plats and shrubs with excellent topiary work. As you face the temple, on the right, there are five exhibition halls. Others from the group were happy with whatever we had seen by then and wanted to proceed to the next place. But I wanted to see one of the halls named “The Mystic India”. I was sent off to satisfy my wish with a stern warning not to take more than half an hour. So off I went. One cannot enter any hall at his will. The entry has to be through hall number one, progressing from hall 1 to hall 2, and so on and so forth till you reach hall five and finally exit the hall’s corridor. So, I went to hall number 1. Entry to the exhibition halls is as per laid down timings. Luckily, I did not have to wait too long. Exhibition Hall no 1 had paintings of, life-size tableau covering the start of the pilgrimage by Shri Swaminarayan at the age of 11. There is also an audiocassette playing in the background describing the paintings and the tableau. As I was in a hurry I walked fast through the hall. My progress was halted as the exit door to hall 1 and entry door to hall 2 both were closed. The doors were opened only after the audio cassette ended describing events covered in painting and tableau in hall no 1. As I was pressed for time I requested the staff and came out without going through the other 4 exhibition halls. Apparently, there is a continuous audio recording describing the life and achievements of Shri Swaminarayan. Your progress through the halls is controlled by the progressive unwinding of the audio cassette. The recording is approximately 2 hours plus duration. So if you want to see all the exhibition halls earmark about 2 hours plus for that activity. I joined others and we were good to go for Dandi Kutir which was the next place on our itinerary.