Trip to Surat

This time I planned to visit Surat, a port city in Gujarat. Surat is situated on the bank of  the river Tapti. It is well known for its diamond and textile industry. The city is also called the Diamond Capital of the world and Textile City of India. Based on Surat we would visit Tithal, Daman and Saputara. Finally we would go to Mumbai and then come back to Kolkata.

Surat Textile Market

We boarded the Howrah-Ahmedabad Express which leaved Howrah station at 23:55 hrs. After spending the second day in train, we reached Surat on the third day at around 11 am. There were many hotels opposite to the railway station. We booked a room in Hotel Imperial. Although the hotel was clean and the rooms were good enough but there were no windows in the rooms. After having lunch in our hotel's restaurant we came out of our hotel. We saw that there was a bus stand just opposite to our hotel. We boarded one of the bus and it took us to the Textile Market situated in Ring Road. Many types of beautifully embroidered saris with zaris which are woven manually were being sold here. Most of the saris were made of synthetic fibres. After that we came back to the hotel. In the evening we had a look at the market near the station. There were so many things which were sold here - electrical appliances, fruits and vegetables, sweets, newspapers, snacks and much more. At night we ate at the Roopa Restaurant. The food was of standard quality.

Surat Zoo

Next day we planned to visit the zoo at Surat. The zoo was situated at Sarthana on Varacha road. We took a auto rickshaw and reached the zoo at around 9:30 am. The zoo is open on all days from 10:00 am to 05:00 pm. So we waited there and meanwhile we ate some potato chips. Then the ticket counters of the zoo were opened and I went and bought tickets. I was feeling glad about the way the Surat Municipal Corporation was maintaining the zoo. First we saw the ducks and swans. When we were standing in front of their cage we saw that lots more were coming towards us from the other side of the lake. Maybe they were in hope of some food but unfortunately we were not carrying any food. So they went back Then we saw the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger. We saw many more animals like lion, leopard, hyena, bear, crocodile, emu and monkeys. There were also may types of deer. One thing which striked me the most was the health of the animals in that zoo. But I was amazed to find that there were no elephants in the zoo. In the evening we visited the Athwa Gate. There was also a market in Athwa Gate. At night we ate at Chinese Room, a Chinese restaurant near Athwa Gate. It was one of the most delicious and wonderful Chinese food I had ever had.

Dumas Sea Beach

The day after we went to the Dumas sea beach by auto rickshaw. It is 16 km away from Surat. On reaching the beach we were disappointed because the sea was far away from the place where we were standing. Between the sea and us was a patch of land full of mud. But we found out a way to the sea. The sea was also not looking clean and was blackish in colour. There we also ate some Gujarati snacks. So a little disappointed we came back to our hotel. On the way back we saw a aeroplane landing in Surat Airport. In the evening we went to Ambaji temple. It is a temple of Goddess Amba. The temple is quite big. There were idols of Goddess Amba, Lord Rama, Laxman and Sita.There were also Lord Ganesha, Radha Krishna etc. This temple was situated just beside the river Tapti. Then on the way back to our hotel we bought some sweets from 24 Karats Mithai Magic which was situated at Parle Point. Many types of sweets are available there - from Bengali sweets to Mewa. We had dinner at a restaurant named Purohit Gujarati Thali. It was located just opposite to the railway station. There we had Gujarati thali. The specialty of Gujarati thali is that along with roti, rice and dal a variety of veg dishes are served. The quality of the food was very good and one could take as much food as he want for the same price. After having such a good dinner we went back to our hotel which was just a few steps away from the restaurant. The next day we would start our journey towards Valsad and from there we will reach Tithal, a popular sea beach of Gujarat.

Continued to Visit to Tithal

How to reach :

From Howrah Railway Station, 12834 Howrah-Ahmedabad Express leaves at 23:55 hrs and reaches Surat on the 3rd day at 09:02 hrs. 12906 Howrah-Porbander Express departs at 22:55 hrs and reaches Surat on the 3rd day at 04:55 hrs.

Nearest Airport - Surat Airport

Where to stay :

There are many hotels located opposite to the Railway Station. Also there are many which are situated in the city. Some of the hotels are listed below.
Hotel Tirupati - Rs 600-1400
Hotel Citizen - Rs 550-1100
Hotel Imperial - Rs 300-1200
Hotel Anand - Rs 500-800

Places of interest :

You can visit the Surat Zoological Gardens, Textile Market at Ring Road, Diamond Market at Varachha Road and Ambaji temple. Also there are Dumas sea beach and the Old Fort.

For more information, please contact :

Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited,
Udyog Bhavan, Block No. 16,
4th Floor, Sector-11,
Gandhinagar - 382 011
Gujarat, India