Hotels near Akshardham Temple

Swaminarayan Akshardham opened in 2005 on the eastern bank of the Yamuna, built from Rajasthani pink sandstone and Italian Carrara marble with no structural steel or concrete anywhere in the monument. The central shrine stands 43 metres high on 234 carved pillars, under 9 domes, with roughly 20,000 sculpted figures across its surfaces. Around 7,000 craftsmen and 3,000 volunteers worked on it. The grounds cover 100 acres.

Entry to the grounds is free. The exhibition halls, the boat ride through 10,000 years of Indian history and the musical fountain are ticketed together at around INR 220 for adults, about EUR 2.40. Security is the strictest on this list by a wide margin: no phones, no cameras, no bags, no electronics of any kind pass the gate. Closed on Mondays. Budget three hours if you take the exhibitions, ninety minutes if you do not.

Pro Tip: Leave your phone and bag where you are staying, or use a locker at Akshardham metro station, rather than joining the on-site cloakroom line that runs 30 minutes at weekends. The musical fountain at sunset is the one paid extra worth buying.