Surat Attractions - Tourist Places To Visit In Surat

This museum is also known as the Sardar Sangrahalaya and was established at 1889. The museum has a collection representing the rich cultural heritage of Surat and the planetarium organizes daily shows to make people aware about our universe.

The lake is named after the memory of Gopi, the Brahmin whose efforts ultimately led to the development of Surat. There are four mosques; Khudawand Masjid, Sayyid Idris Mosque and Khwaja Diwan Sahib along with the Nav Sa’id Masjid.

This Jain temple was constructed during Emperor Aurangzeb's rule and the exterior is quite simple compared to the intricately designed interior. The wooden pillars inside the Chintamani Jain Temple are supported with brackets and covered with paintings done with vegetable dyes.

Surat today, is a very famous name in the world diamond market and 8 out of 10 diamonds of the world market are cut in Surat. Rough, uncut diamonds come to Surat from South Africa because the international diamond trade is mainly headed by Hasidic Jews and Jains from Palanpur in North Gujarat.

These businessmen invest in the diamond cutting industry of Surat. The cut and smoothed gems then go to Antwerp, Belgium.

Surat is famous for its textile industry and a wide range of saris, salwar kameez, dress pieces, polyester, silk, printed and embroidered materials are available in the textile markets located in the south of Sahara Gate that opens on to the Bardoli Road.

These British and Dutch mausoleums of the 16th century are greatly influenced by the local Hindu and Islamic styles of architecture and alongside is the Armenian churchyard where there are tombs that are not big in structure but carry inscription. These tombs are all protected historical monuments and photography is prohibited in this area.

Built next to the Tapi river, Surat Castle was constructed for protecting the city of Surat from Portuguese invasion by Sultan Mahmud III, in 1540. At present this castle houses different government offices.

Bardoli town is the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's “No Tax” Movement of 1918. Later Sardar had also started agitation against the British tax hike from this town; all of these events were actually a forerunner to Sardar's participation in Gandhiji's Namak Satyagraha, the Salt March from Dandi.

The Swaraj Ashram, garden, museum, khadi workshops and also the Aitihasik Ambo, a mango tree under which Gandhiji declared about home-rule for India are the memorabilia of that glorious past that are there in Bardoli.

Surat has a few number of Parsi Fire Temples. Amongst those the Parsi Agiari is the main temple. The sacred flame is always burning in this temple and no non-Parsi is allowed inside this temple.

This is a burial chamber of the Governor of Surat, Khwaja Safar Sulemanim. This tomb was built by his son in 1540 and has the influence of Persian architecture.

Mughalsarai is basically an inn or Sarai khana constructed during the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's time in the 17th century to give to the Mecca bound Haaj pilgrims. In 1857, for a short period this building was converted into a jail and presently it is the office of the Surat Municipal Corporation.

The author of the Gujarat theme song ‘Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat’, Narmadashankar Lalshankar Dave, popularly known as Narmad, lived in this house. This a memorial that houses the works and memorabilia associated with the great poet.

Rander was the main city of South Gujarat before the centre shifted to Surat and it is one of the oldest cities of this area. The Jama Masjid or the Friday mosque in this area belongs to the 16th century and was built re-using parts of the Jain temple which was once there on this site and was abolished to build the mosque.

Situated on the banks of the river Purna, Navsari is at a distance of 30 km on the south of Surat and presently an important business centre. Navsari is famous as a Parsi settlement that took place in the year 1142 AD. The fire temple or the Atash Behram and other smaller agiaris, the Parsvanath Jain temple, the famous Sayed Saadat ki Dargah are some of the places to visit in Navsari.

Mr Jamshedji Tata, the founder of the Tata group of industries and the pioneer of Indian steel industry was also from Navsari. His house is a well preserved memorial today.

Situated on the banks of the river Ambika, this place is 25 km south of Navsari. For travelling towards Saputara one needs to go through Bilimora and it is also the sales centre of the products of the Dangs Forest.