Where to stay in Ujjain

There is really only one decision to make about a room in Ujjain, and it is not the star rating. It is whether you can walk to the temple gate. Everything else, the breakfast, the lift, the view of the Shipra, matters less than what happens at half past one in the morning, when you have a Bhasma Aarti permission and the family has to be at the gate.

Near Mahakal Temple, from ₹2,500 a night

The lanes around the corridor, Harsiddhi Marg, Begum Bagh and the streets off the Mahakal approach, are where this matters. You walk out of the door and you are at the gate in a few minutes, with no taxi to find and no road closure to argue with on a Monday in Shravan.

• The only side of the city from which a four o’clock aarti is a walk rather than a scramble.
• Rooms are generally older and smaller than the newer hotels further out. You are paying for the two hundred metres.
• Noisier, and from well before dawn. That is the trade.
• Parking is tight, and the lanes are closed to cars at some hours.

Across the city, from ₹1,500 a night

Ten to twenty minutes out, in Freeganj, Dewas Road, Nanakheda or the old town behind Ram Ghat, the rooms get larger and newer for less money. Freeganj is the most useful of them: it is walkable from the station, there is somewhere to eat late, and the hotels there are built for travellers rather than for pilgrims.

• More room, a newer bathroom and easier parking, for less a night.
• Quiet enough to sleep before a two o’clock start.
• You need a car or an auto for the gate, which is fine by day and a nuisance at four in the morning.
• Dewas Road and Nanakheda suit you if you are driving yourself, or arriving from Indore late.

Dharamshalas and trust accommodation

There are dharamshalas and trust-run rooms close to the temple, and they are far cheaper than any hotel. They are also basic, usually first-come, and often booked in person rather than online. They work well for a single traveller or a group who need little; they are harder with children, with luggage, or with anybody who cannot manage stairs. We will tell you honestly when one is the better answer than a hotel.

Five things to check before you book anything

• Which gate it is near, not just how far from the temple. The complex is large and the walk differs by entrance.
• Stairs or a lift, and which floor your room is on. Ask directly. A great many of the old-city hotels have no lift.
• Whether reception is staffed at two in the morning, and whether the front door is locked. You will be leaving in the dark.
• Early checkout and late check-in, which almost every Ujjain trip needs at one end or the other.
• Parking, if you are driving. Not every hotel in the lanes has any.

The rates above are the lowest we can currently book and they move with the season. Mondays, the whole of Shravan, Mahashivratri and a Simhastha year are all dearer, sometimes by a lot, and the cheaper rooms near the gate go first. We quote you the real figure for your dates before anything is held.

The honest version of the advice

If you have one night and a Bhasma Aarti permission, stay near the gate and pay the difference. If you have two or three nights, a family, or anybody who will want an afternoon rest in a decent room, stay out and take a car. If you are travelling with somebody elderly, stay near the gate regardless. The thousand rupees saved is not worth the kilometre at four in the morning.

Questions people ask

Do you name the hotels?

Not on the site. We send you the property, the rate and the photographs for your dates once we have checked what is free, because what is available in Ujjain changes week to week and a list here would be out of date by the time you read it.

Do we pay now?

No. Nothing is taken up front and there is no account to create. We confirm the room and the rate with you in writing first.

Can you book a room for one night only?

Yes. Single nights are the normal case in Ujjain, though near the gate in Shravan they are harder to get than two.

Is ₹1,500 really the starting price?

It is the lowest we can currently book across the city, and it is a real rate for a real room rather than an advertised one. On festival dates it will be higher, and we will tell you so rather than let you find out.