CityDekho
Anandpur Sahib

Anandpur Sahib

pilgrimage site · Punjab

Anandpur Sahib, translating to the 'Holy City of Bliss', matters as much as anywhere in the Sikh faith outside Amritsar.

State
Punjab
Type
Pilgrimage Site
Best season
Spring
Things to do
2+

Anandpur Sahib, translating to the 'Holy City of Bliss', matters as much as anywhere in the Sikh faith outside Amritsar. It sits at the foothills of the scenic Shivalik mountain range along the Sutlej River loop in Punjab, the town is structurally dominated by white-stone fortress-style Gurdwaras. It serves as a center for theological studies and martial heritage curation. The spiritual nucleus of the city is the Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, one of the five supreme temporal seats (Takhts) of Sikh authority. The city architecture is backdropped by the Virasat-e-Khalsa museum, an architectural marvel designed by Israeli architect Moshe Safdie that meticulously brings out 500 years of rich Sikh history and regional cultural traditions.

When to go

The recommended season to visit is from October to March, with March hosting the globally famous martial festival of Hola Mohalla.

Why visit

This is where the Khalsa was founded in 1699, and Keshgarh Sahib is one of the five Takhts. The Virasat-e-Khalsa museum below it, by Moshe Safdie, is the best-designed museum in north India — allow two hours, not twenty minutes.

Cultural notes

Founded in 1665 by Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru, the city witnessed a monumental civilizational milestone on Vaisakhi in 1699, when Guru Gobind Singh formally initiated the Khalsa Panth (the community of baptized Sikhs) here and forged the identity of the saint-soldiers.

How to reach

Excellently connected via the broad multi-lane National Highway 503 corridor, located 85 km from Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Chandigarh. Anandpur Sahib hosts its own railway station with direct train links from Delhi and regular luxury bus lines.

Anandpur Sahib guide & itineraries

Popular attractions

The places in Anandpur Sahib most people come for.

Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib

Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib

Attraction

Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum

Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum

Experience

See all attractions

Reviews & ratings

What travellers say about Anandpur Sahib

CityDekho traveller reviews

★★★★★★★★★★

No CityDekho reviews yet

Be the first traveller to review this place.

Sign in to write a review

Community

Ask questions and share tips about Anandpur Sahib

Sign in to ask a question or share a tip about Anandpur Sahib.

Loading…

Been to Anandpur Sahib?

Write what you would tell a friend — where you stayed, what you would skip, the thing you wish somebody had mentioned before you went. We read every submission before it goes up.

Share your story

People also explored

Travellers viewing Anandpur Sahib also loved these

West Bengal

Bahula Temple

Bahula Temple in Ketugram, Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the **left arm** of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as **Bahula**, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as **Bhiruk**. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Jayanti (Jaintiapur)

Jayanti (Jaintiapur) in Jaintiapur, Bangladesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the **left palm** of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as **Jayanti**, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as **Kramadishwar**. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

More heritage & forts

More places you'll love

Karnataka

Daria Daulat Bagh (Srirangapatna)

Daria Daulat Bagh is the elegant summer palace of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, set in a garden on the river-island of Srirangapatna near Mysuru. Built largely of teak in 1784 in the Indo-Saracenic style, its walls and ceilings are covered in vivid frescoes, floral motifs and murals, including a famous depiction of Tipu's forces at the Battle of Pollilur.

Assam

Sivasagar

Sivasagar, once the capital of the mighty Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries, is a town rich in monuments around its great tank. Its highlights include the Rang Ghar, often called Asia's oldest surviving amphitheatre, the Talatal and Kareng Ghar palaces, and the towering Sivadol temple.

Tripura

Neermahal

Neermahal is a striking water palace rising from the middle of Rudrasagar Lake near Melaghar in Tripura, built by the Manikya king in the 1930s as a royal summer retreat. Blending Hindu and Mughal architectural styles, its white-and-red pavilions are reached by boat and beautifully reflected in the lake.

Tripura

Unakoti

Unakoti, in the forested hills of northern Tripura, is an ancient Shaiva pilgrimage and archaeological site famous for its colossal rock-cut carvings and stone images dating back over a thousand years. Legend says there are one less than a crore of images here, giving the site its name, set amid waterfalls and greenery.

Delhi

Safdarjung's Tomb (Delhi)

Safdarjung's Tomb is a garden-tomb built around 1754 for Safdarjung, the powerful Nawab of Awadh and a prime minister of the Mughal empire. Set in a formal charbagh garden, its red-and-buff sandstone dome and symmetrical layout make it one of the last great monuments of the Mughal era.

Maharashtra

Bibi Ka Maqbara (Aurangabad)

Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) is a grand Mughal mausoleum built in the 1660s to 1670s for Dilras Banu Begum, the wife of Emperor Aurangzeb. Closely modelled on the Taj Mahal, its marble and stucco dome earned it the nickname the Taj of the Deccan.

Karnataka

Gol Gumbaz (Vijayapura)

Gol Gumbaz in Vijayapura (Bijapur) is the mausoleum of Sultan Mohammed Adil Shah, completed in 1656. Crowned by one of the largest masonry domes in the world, it is famous for its Whispering Gallery, where even a soft sound is carried clearly across the vast circular hall and echoes many times over.

Rajasthan

Kumbhalgarh Fort

Kumbhalgarh, a UNESCO-listed Mewar fort in the Aravalli Hills, is famed for its immense perimeter wall, which stretches roughly 36 km and is often called the second-longest continuous wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. Built mainly in the 15th century by Rana Kumbha, it was the birthplace of Maharana Pratap and a refuge of the Mewar rulers.

Maharashtra

Daulatabad Fort

Daulatabad Fort (historically Devagiri) stands atop a steep 200-metre conical hill roughly 15-16 km northwest of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Maharashtra. It is a massive fortified hill-city built up over about 1,000 years, enclosed by three concentric fortification walls and two moats, best known for Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq's failed 14th-century attempt to shift the Delhi Sultanate's capital here.

Delhi

Lotus Temple (Delhi)

The Lotus Temple is a Baha'i House of Worship and one of Delhi's most photographed modern landmarks, shaped like a half-open lotus with 27 marble-clad petals set among nine pools and landscaped gardens. Completed in 1986 and open to people of all faiths, it is kept silent, and that is the point of going.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Cellular Jail (Port Blair)

The Cellular Jail in Port Blair, known as Kala Pani, is a colonial-era prison built by the British between 1896 and 1906 to hold Indian freedom fighters in solitary confinement. Its original seven wings radiated from a central tower like spokes; today the surviving structure is a national memorial to the independence movement.

Delhi

India Gate (Delhi)

India Gate is a 42-metre war memorial arch on the ceremonial Kartavya Path, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931. It honours around 74,000 Indian soldiers who died in the First World War and the Third Anglo-Afghan War, their names inscribed on its sandstone walls.

Trending in Punjab

Amritsar (Golden Temple)

Amritsar (Golden Temple)

The Golden Temple sits lower than the ground around it, and you walk down steps to reach the water. That is deliberate: nearly every other temple in India makes you climb up to it. It has four doors, one on each side, for the same reason — the building is meant to be entered from any direction, by anyone. Head covered, shoes off, feet through the water channel at the entrance, and nobody will ask you anything else. The langar behind the complex feeds on the order of a hundred thousand people a day, more at weekends, on donated food and volunteer labour. The dish hall takes anyone who turns up to help, and half an hour in it tells you more about the place than any guidebook. The Akal Takht faces the sanctum across the water. It is the seat of temporal authority in Sikhism, and those two buildings looking at each other across a pool is the whole argument of the faith in one view.

Wagah Border

Wagah Border

The Wagah Border is a famous international military outpost marking the Radcliffe Line checkpoint separating India and Pakistan, roughly 28 km outside the historic city of Amritsar. The location has transformed into a high-interest national monument, hosting a grand stadium-like amphitheatrical seating arrangement built to accommodate tens of thousands of high-energy patriotic spectators daily. The entire landscape turns electric every single evening during the synchronized Beating Retreat Ceremony. Executed jointly by the tall elite soldiers of India's Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers, the martial ritual features fast-paced, high-stepping aggressive foot stamps, sweeping synchronized arm gestures, and the coordinated lowering of the national flags among booming patriotic chants from both sides.

Fatehgarh Sahib

Fatehgarh Sahib

Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib rises in white marble over the site of Sikhism's most heart-rending sacrifice — where in 1704 the two youngest sons of Guru Gobind Singh, aged just seven and nine, were bricked alive by the Sirhind governor for refusing to abandon their faith. The underground Bhora Sahib preserves the wall's site; nearby stand Mata Gujri's tower prison and the shrine of Todar Mal, who bought the cremation ground with gold coins laid edge to edge.