About Surat Tourist Places List in Gujarat India

This flourishing port city on the banks of river Tapti is one of the oldest trading centres of India.  The British East India Company established its first ware houses in Surat in 1612.  It is renowned for fine silks, exquisite brocades and diamond business. The main attractions are 14th century Fort; Rangupavan, one of the biggest open air theatres in the country;  Sardar Patel Museum and Textile market etc.

Surat City

The city of Surat is located in the southern part of Gujart at 21°15' N latitude and 72° 52' E longitude on the southern bank of river, Tapti.  The city forms a major urban core in the Ahmadabad-mumbai regional corridor, centrally placed between both the settlements, at a distance of 260km north of Mumbai and about 224km south of Ahmadabad.

Surat Climate

The climate of Surat is mild due to its nearness to the Arabian Sea.  There is not much change in the winter and summer temperature, which ranges between 10°C to 38°C.  Although one can visit Surat in any season, the best time to do so would be between October and March.

Surat History

The existence of Surat city dates back to the years of Mahabharat, i.e. about 3,000 BC.  It is said that Lord Krishna stopped with his cows on his transition from Mathura to Dwarka city and the images of the cow's footprints are still visible to the devotees at a place popularly called "Gai Pagli" (Footsteps of cows).  Another story about naming of the town reveals that the Tapi River at Surat was used as one of the major ports for exports and also for Muslim pilgrimage (Haj) to Mecca.  In Farsi/Persian languages, this was recognized as "Bunder-e-Khubsurat", meaning a beautiful port.  The word "SURAT" seems to have been derived from this popular phraseology.

Places to visit in Surat

About Surat, the capital of South Gujarat, was one of western India's major ports and trading towns in the 17th and 18th centuries and the first European settlement in India.  Surat is renowned for its silk weaves like the Tanchoi and Gajee sarees, and the kinkhab brocades sometimes woven with gold and silver treads.  It is famous for its jewellery market and diamond cutting as well as ivory and wood inlay work.

Bardoli (31km)

Gandhiji launched a farmers satyagraha in 1921-22, under the leadership of Sarder Vallabhbhai Patel from here.  The Swaraj Ashram has become a site of pilgrimage. It is situated 34km from Surat.  Gandhiji nad launched a farmers' Satyagraha, known as the Bardoli Satyagraha in 1921-1922 under the leadership of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.  The Swaraj Ashram at Bardoli has become a place of pilgrimage in India.  It is the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel the Iron Man of India.

Dumar (16km)

An excellent sea-side resort.

Hajira (28km)

Hajira is the ‘industrial capital’ of South Gujarat and a beautiful beach resort. It is situated 28km from Surat.  The pleasant Hajira beach is fringed by the feathery Casuarinas trees, and has a comfortable holiday home for visitors.

Ubharat (40km)

The beautiful beach was the summer resort of the Gaekwads of Vadodara. It is situated 42km from Surat.  Ubharat is known for a fine, sandy beach with backdrop of shady palm groves.

Old Fort

Mohammed Tughlak has built it in the 14th century as a defence fortification against the Bhils. 

Dandi

Along the coastline of Gujarat, and about 50-55km. from Surat, lies Dandi where the story of salt was scripted with the famous Dandi March and Satyagraha, in 1930, led by Mahatma Gandhi.  The Salt Satyagraha proved to be the beginning of the end of the British Empire in India.

Tithal

It is situated 108km from Surat and 5km from Valsad on the Mumbai-Vadodara Western Railway.  A beautiful sandy beach and palm sheltered cottages is what you would get to see there.

Ukai

This is situated 94km from Surat.  It is a major multipurpose irrigation project of Gujarat.  The storage of water at the dam site is nearly as large as that of Bhakra Nangal dam in Punjab.

Surat Festivals

Chak Phra Festival

Surat celebrates the official end of the annual 3-month Buddhist Rains Retreat (OK Phansa) in mid-October with the Chak Phra Festival (literally 'the procession of hauling the Buddha image).  The tradition stems from the belief that Buddha ascended to Heaven during Phansa to preach to his mother.  The festival marks the Buddha's return to Earth, and is an occasion for religious merrymaking and general celebrations.  Local people organize dazzling land and waterborne processions of the revered Buddha images (to symbolize the Buddha's return to Earth) and boat races on the Tapti River where long boats, manned by up t 50 oarsmen, are ebulliently raced.  Religious devotion, spectacle and merriment combine to make Surat Thani's Chak Phra Festival a memorable annual event.

Rambutan Fair

The annual August fair celebrates the delicious fruit, first plated in Surat Thani during 1926. Highlights include floats adorned with rambutans and other fruits.  Exhibitions of local products and ornamental plants, and demonstrations by specially trained monkeys who harvest coconuts are the salient features of the Rambutan Fair.

Surat City Distance Guide

Bhavnagar 463 Km
Bharuch 83 Km
Bhuj 678 Km
Dwarka 736 Km
Gandhi Nagar 305 Km
Jamnagar 586 Km
Junagadh 602 Km
Kandla 623 Km
Palitana 513 Km
Porbandar 685 Km
Rajkot 498 Km
Sasangir 647 Km
Somnath 689 Km
Ahmadabad 273 Km
Vadodara 154 Km
Veraval 689 Km