From a small village pool to a prominent business center, the city of Amritsar is now one of the most frequently visited cities of India. It is also the second largest city of Punjab, the state with highest per capita income in India. Amritsar, literally meaning "holy pool of nectar", is the home to the Golden Temple, and the spiritual and cultural centre of the Sikh Religion.
According to the 2001 Indian census, the population of the city of Amritsar was over 1,000,000 and that of the entire district was over 3,096,077.
The weather in Amritsar is seasonal with four distinct seasons. The hot summer (April-June) where temperatures can reach 46°C, monsoon season (July-September) and post-monsoon (September-November) and the winter season (November-March) where temperatures ranges from 18°C to about -3 °C. Amritsar is most temperate between October and March.
The city of Amritsar is connected by rail, road as well as air, with all the major cities in India like Ambala, Chandigarh, Delhi, Ferozepur, Jammu etc. It is about 450 km north of Delhi.
» Air : Amritsar has Rajasansi airport, about 11 km from town, which is connected by domestic flights to Delhi, Srinagar and Chandigarh. The city also has an international airport (Raja Sansi International Airport) that is about 11 km from the city center. It is connected with Singapore, Tashkent, Ashgabat as well as London, Birmingham and Toronto.
» Rail : Amritsar is connected by direct trains to major Indian cities like Delhi, Jammu, Mumbai, Nagpur, Calcutta and Puri. It has Super Fast or Utrain service from Delhi and Chandigarh.
» Road : Apart from the routine deluxe and semi deluxe buses to cities, the bus service from Amritsar to Lahore (35 km), is the only overland connection between India and Pakistan. |
