Your Palitana Guide for an Impressive Jain Pilgrimage

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I would be lying if I told you that I liked the dusty polluted town of Palitana. That’s why I’m making this Palitana Guide for you. First impressions are not kind to a place like this. It’s considered a “Holy City” in the Jain religion and has a massive community of Jain followers that live and worship here. But alongside the bald white-robed Jain monks is a rough city crumbling beneath its own history. It appears little money goes towards the upkeep of anything besides the immaculate temples and traveling here as a foreigner is difficult as lodging options are limited. Specifically, for foreigners. 

But the Jain temple (or many Jain Temples) at the summit of the 2.2-mile or 3,000-step staircase makes the town worth your visit. It’s truly one of the most incredible collections of carefully carved stone architecture I’ve ever seen. With the sun rising behind you casting a smoggy red glow over the entire valley — there are few more peaceful and beautiful temples in India. And the Jain monks are kind and curious about visitors. 

Since this isn’t a super popular place in India to visit, there was very little information online to help guide us on our quest. That’s where this Palitana Guide comes in handy. 

Your Complete Guide to Palitana 

Let’s talk about this lesser-visited destination. I’ll share some Palitana temple photos, explain some Palitana history for those curious to learn the significance of said Palitana temples, help you get from popular cities like Mumbai to Palitana, and share some other neat places to visit near Palitana while you’re in the area.

This is the best guide to Palitana on the internet. Because it might be the only one.

What is the Jain Pilgrimage? 

Jain is a devout religion that combines a bit of Buddhism, a bit of Hinduism, and a little of its own mix. 

The monks practice an extreme form of non-violence where they refrain from eating anything living (including potatoes and other vegetables you must kill to consume), transport only on foot (so as to not kill anything- no matter how small) often sweeping the ground in front of them as they go, and live a life of complete detachment. 

This is one of their holy sites. The entire city actually. And the temples within it are worth seeing. Visiting Jains will climb this mountain not once but 99 times during their visit. Barefoot and often dropping to their knees to pray after each step. Once was plenty for me. The Jains will typically climb 3 times per day for a month to complete the pilgrimage. 

The Palitana temple steps distance is around 4.4 miles round trip.

Who Built Palitana Temple?

These temples scattered across the top of Shatrunjaya Hill were built over a period of 900 years beginning in the 11th century. Many of the temples in town are much newer. Some are still currently being constructed. That’s what makes this specific site so holy and interesting.

According to the Gujarat tourism site, it was Kumarpal Solanki, a great Jain patron, who built the first temples.

What is the best time of year to visit Palitana? 

If you plan to hike the mountain (and that’s the only real reason to visit Palitana) then I recommend the winter. November-March is the best season because the desert temps are more manageable. 

How to Reach Palitana 

This is one of the most essential parts of this Palitana Guide. I thought this city since it is a major pilgrimage site in Gujarat, would be easy to reach— but I was wrong. 

The easiest place to reach Palitana is Ahmedabad. And you’ll have to do it via bus. 

Some people try to go Mumbai to Palitana rather than Ahmedabad to Palitana, but this is a VERY long journey that will have to transit through Ahmedabab anyway. I don’t recommend it. If you insist though take the overnight train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and be sure to book in advance.

How to Book Your Palitana Bus

You can use RedBus or Goibibo App to look up the schedule between the two cities. But since you need both an Indian phone number and an Indian credit card to book online— you are going to need your hostel/guesthouses’ help to book the tickets. This is one of the great frustrations of India. You CAN book your tickets with added convenience fees usually around $3-6 per ticket on 12go.Asia or Ease My Trip. You can book your ticket through one of the many travel agencies on the street as well. Just be sure to look up the price before you get there so they don’t take advantage of you. The bus ride will take about 5-6 hours.

There is also a once-per-week train if that works in your schedule. It only runs on Wednesdays.

If this all seems a little complicated it’s because it is. Getting around in India is cheap but it can be timeconsuming to score those cheap prices. I wrote a full guide on for “first-timer’s in India” to help with all the logistics.

Charyana Dorms in Ahmedabad has an insanely kind and helpful host who booked all our trains and buses. Like 7 of them. That being said…I can’t recommend the place to anyone besides extreme budget travelers because the bathrooms were horrendous! I’ve actually never seen such a messy hostel before. I’m also fairly positive I watched a staff member just remake the bed with the same sheets. But for $3 per bed, I suppose that’s what you get. 

It’s not easy to reach other destinations (like Gir National Park) from Palitana either. You’ll have to take a bus or train back to Ahmedabad. All things in Gujarat run through Ahmedabad.

Important Things to Know For Your Palitana Pilgrimage 

This is probably what you are here for. What do you need to know before you set out up the mountain?

• The best time to hike is at 5 AM. This will put you at the summit around sunrise and allow you to descend before the heat is absolutely blistering. This is the single most important factor of your hike.
• You cannot bring snacks or water on the 4.4-mile round-trip hike. This is a Jain rule. The hike is meant to be a fast and there will be someone checking your bags at the bottom. It sucks — I know. I recommend bringing a reusable Lifestraw bottle and tucking it into your backpack. Technically, you just can’t bring plastic (because people throw their trash everywhere in India) or drink before sunrise (Jain rule). We managed the hike without water but I was very thirsty at the end.
• Also no cameras. Cell phones are fine but they turned us back with our DSLR. Technically speaking, there is to be no photography on the mountain, but we saw many people using their phone cameras, so we did too. 

• The hike itself isn’t too intense. Nothing compared to Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka (another awesome pilgrimage). It took us a total of 4 hours with the hike up and down with lots of time to take photos on the top. 
• There will be people ready to cart you up and down by pure brute strength if you can’t make it yourself. It is a rickety little chair set up and costs 1,000 rupees. But other than that there is no way up but walking. 
• Be sure to dress temple appropriately. This means shoulders and knees covered men or women. 
• You will have to go barefoot when you reach the temples. There will be a place to store your shoes. 
• It is really worth the effort. We’ve seen a lot of temples, in India and elsewhere, and these are among the most intricately carved and beautiful we’ve gotten to see.
• The entire experience is free. Other than the rickshaw ride to the Jain Temple entrance. If you stay at Om Palace the ride should be 10 minutes and cost no more than 150 rupees. And that’s generous.
• There will be food open at the base of the mountain when you return. Definitely pop in for some breakfast after the hike. Most other places in town won’t open until 11 AM or Noon.

Where to stay in Palitana 

As I mentioned, places to stay are limited. And many won’t rent to foreigners. I think it has something to do with government paperwork. That being said we stayed at the only hotel on Booking.com and we didn’t love it — but it did the job. The rooms are large and A/C but don’t expect a shower or much at all beyond that. It’s also in the shitty part of town. I’ll let the reviews speak for themselves. 

Om Palace and Party Plot. 

How long to Stay in Palitana?

According to our host in Ahmedabad, few people stay overnight in the city. Most Indians will visit with a car and make it a day trip. I recommend one night in the city. This way you can hike at sunrise and wander around the town for an evening before grabbing a bus back. But you really don’t need longer in Palitana. 

You can book bus tickets easily either the day of or the day before from the Palitana bus station — just a short walk from Om Palace Hotel. 

If you are interested in Palitana tour packages it is best to arrange it from Ahmedabad. Any of the hotels in the area should be able to coordinate this for you. In that case, you wouldn’t have to worry about transport or about staying at one of the less-than-lovely hotels. But it’s really not that difficult to do independently.

Best Places to Eat in Palitana 

Finding food in Palitana overwhelmed us at first. It’s hot and dusty and polluted and most places serving food looked sketchy at best. And I’m a street food lover. But once you learn to distinguish the dilapidated unassuming hole-in-the-wall eateries you’ll find the food to be pretty good. 

The Gujarat Thali at Jagruti (across from the bus station) is cheap and famous. 

The cheese and masala dosa that can be found near Takdir Restaurant is exceptional. One of the best in Gujarat. Just look for the sign showing Dosa out front. 

Breakfast at Janata Bhel after the trek is best. They have great banana chips, sugar cane juice, and Bhel Puri.  

Other Places to See Near Palitana

You would wander around the city to see some of the other, newer Jain temples while you are here. They are absolutely stunning. Most of them don’t have the same history as the ones on the mountain but still worth looking at. Here are a few other places in Gujarat (the state that Palitana is in) that you should visit if you’re already over here.

Gir National Park. The only place in the world you can still see wild Asiatic lions. Enough said.

Ahmedabad. You have no choice but to come here so you might as well enjoy it. The best sights were Manek Chowk market for dinner, Hutheesing Jain Temples, Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kalupur, and Dai Halima Vav (stepwell). Visit these places and you might actually enjoy the chaotic city. We also became a regular at Lucky Restaurant for morning chai, bun maska, and sandwiches. It’s super cheap and the restaurant is unique because it was built on an old Muslim cemetery. Instead of just destroying it, the owner built the whole place around it. So now you dine with the tombs.

If you can make it out to the White Desert of Kutch, you won’t regret it. Without your own car, I think it is way too expensive. Let me know if you find a budget-friendly way or if you managed to visit!

Travel in Gujarat isn’t for the faint of heart. Once away from the beaten tourist trail or the hippie highway as it’s known in India you’ll find getting around much more difficult. You’ll also have to be okay with eating local food— even if that means just street food with very limited options. But for those intrepid few who visit you’ll find that the west desert has a handful of interesting places worth the visit. Palitana is one of them. Hopefully, this guide to Palitana and the Jain Holy City gives you all the info you need to plan your next adventure in India. 

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