Last Updated on: 24th November 2025, 08:43 am
While Varanasi often steals the spotlight as India’s spiritual heart, the country is home to a plethora of holy cities that most outside of India have never heard of. Among them is Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, often dubbed the ‘City of Temples.’ If you’re interested in experiencing this millennia-old city, we’ll be covering the top places to visit in Ujjain along with what to expect as a foreigner.
Ujjain has been an important holy city for thousands of years, with Emperor Ashoka even making a trip in the 4th century BC. Ever since, it’s widely been regarded as an important learning center and pilgrimage spot, especially for devotees of Shiva.
Before going further, understand that visiting Ujjain isn’t for the casual tourist. To get the most out of your visit, you should at least have a basic understanding of, and ideally a strong interest in, Hindu philosophy and mythology.
On that note, even if you’ve read the Bhagavad Gita, tried meditation and chanting, or practiced yoga, Ujjain reveals a major facet of modern Hinduism that few foreigners experience: the Indian temple. And not just any temple, but ‘mega temples’ like Mahakaleshwar, which can attract up to 100,000 visitors in a day.
Getting Around Ujjain
Uber does not work in Ujjain as it does in neighboring Indore. As such, you’re going to have to negotiate with local tuk tuk drivers.
Drivers in Ujjain commonly provide tours to five or six of the top landmarks for just Rs 300. At least if you’re Indian. As a foreigner, they will try to get at least Rs 5-600 from you. (Note: Most drivers won’t speak any English, so you’ll have to rely on translation apps.)
Rather than hire a single driver for the whole day, I took a few different tuk tuk rides in addition to a fair amount of walking. Here’s what I did:
Upon arrival in town, I took a tuk tuk from the Nanakheda Bus Stand to Mahakol Lok, and then proceeded on foot from there to Mahakaleshwar Temple, Shree Bada Ganesh Mandir, and Ram Ghat.
I then hailed a tuk tuk to Sandipani Ashram for Rs 100, and then with the same driver to Kal Bhairav Temple for another Rs 250. He waited for me there and finally dropped me off at the bus stand so I could return to Indore.
For more info on reaching Ujjain in the first place, be sure to check the end of the article.
Mahakol Lok & Mahakaleshwar Temple
One of the top places to visit in Ujjain is Mahakal Lok, a riverside promenade featuring a modern display of huge sculptures of various Hindu deities.
Initially, I was under the impression that it was its own attraction, but soon realized that it’s part of the larger Mahakaleshwar Temple complex. You could, however, still just walk down the promenade without going into the temple.
Stretching out to 900 meters long, the ambitious project was just inaugurated as recently as 2022. It features nearly 200 sculptures and 108 pillars (108 being a very auspicious number in Hinduism).
Unfortunately, despite it being outdoors, dedicated cameras are banned here. While I was initially told ‘no photography’ at the initial security check, I assumed the guards were talking about the temple interior.
I did, at least, manage to snap a number of shots before I was scolded by a guard (cellphone photography is fine, apparently.)
Some of the sculptures stand on their own, while others are part of elaborate scenes from Hindu mythology. As Shiva is the prominent deity of the Mahakaleshwar Temple, it’s not surprising that most sculptures depict Shiva and his various forms.
Admittedly, I came to Ujjain fully intending to skip Mahakaleshwar. Despite its significance, I’d read plenty of stories of people waiting up to three hours just to get a few moments in the main shrine!
With only a day in Ujjain and plenty else to see, I figured I’d just see the temple from the outside and then move on. But when walking around and admiring the sculptures of Mahakal Lok, a friendly pilgrim from Maharashtra approached me and we started chatting.
He wondered if I was going to Mahakaleshwar, and I told him no. He had already gone that morning and said that if I came all the way to Ujjain then I shouldn’t miss it. He then offered to come with me to store my belongings and then find the correct line for the temple!
At this point, I couldn’t refuse his kind offer and decided to go for it. Aside from the crowds, another challenge of visiting Mahakalashwar is that all of the signage is in Hindi only.
If you’ve already been to Varanasi or Pushkar, you’re probably wondering what the scam ended up being. But refreshingly, Ujjain is a very different type of town, and nobody would try to scam me other than maybe being quoted some slightly higher taxi fares.
Indian temples – especially popular ones – can sometimes be very strict about what you can bring in, with some prohibiting any kind of bag or even cellphones. But the problem is, they often fail to provide adequate security for your belongings.
I’d previously given up on visiting another jyotirlinga temple called Grishneshwar for that very reason.
Fortunately, Mahakaleshwar is an exception. They are so thorough with taking care of your belongings that I’d spend more time queuing for the bag check than I would for the temple itself!
My helpful guide and I waited in line at the ‘mobile locker’ for cellphones and other electronics. After nearly an hour of waiting, it was finally my turn.
The staff take your name and phone number and then take photos of both you and your stuff. They then print out a receipt that you show them when you come back.
As mentioned, various online sources say that the normal line to see the jyotirlinga (more on that shortly) could be up to three hours. But it’s possible to pay Rs 250 to access an ‘express line’ that gets you there faster (the temple otherwise has no fee).
Though I was intending to do so, my guide asked the guard near the entrance about the estimated wait time for the regular line, and he said that it shouldn’t be more than an hour. Maybe I just got lucky, but my arrival time happened to be 11:00 am.
I said goodbye to this incredibly hospitable stranger who had a train to catch, and then I was on my own.
Well, not quite. I soon found myself rushing through various rooms with hundreds of Indian worshippers. We walked quickly from one room to the next, many of them filled with metal queue barriers. But there were only a couple of rooms with long wait times.
With countless people jostling to get ahead, the experience felt more like getting through a crowded train station than something ‘spiritual.’
Finally, after just about 30 minutes, I found myself in the main shrine. But I could only see the jyotirlinga from afar, with metal barriers blocking most of us from getting closer.
I was carrying some traditional offerings that I’d purchased outside and was expecting to get closer to the linga to leave them. But there was no way down.
I then realized that there was a priest at this upper level who was accepting the offerings. Even after taking mine, he told me ‘cash, cash’ in English. I found it rather unsettling, but I put a small note down as others around me were also doing.
And then we were quickly whisked away by security, with barely even time for a glimpse of the jyotirlinga.
Oddly, some visitors were indeed much closer to the main shrine, and I’m guessing they were people who’d paid the extra fee.
What Are Jyotirlingas?
A famous myth in the Shiva Purana details an argument between Brahma and Vishnu over who was the superior deity. Shiva then transformed himself into an infinite pillar of light, telling the two gods that whoever could locate either of end of it would be declared superior.
The challenge went on for thousands of years. But Brahma, exhausted, ultimately lied to Shiva and said he’d reached the top.
Vishnu, on the other hand, realized that the pillar had no end and acknowledged the Shiva’s boundlessness.
Shiva, upset with Brahma’s dishonesty, declared that he would never be worshipped on earth (with the exception of Pushkar’s Brahma Temple).
Today, twelve jyotirlinga temples throughout India are said to be locations where Shiva’s light once appeared, though there were supposedly once as many as 64.
Mahakaleshwar Temple is considered especially significant amongst the twelve. Typically, Shiva lingas (stone pillars representing Shiva and the upward movement of consciousness) must be consecrated with external energy to be considered spiritually active.
Mahakaleshwar’s linga, on the other hand, is considered ‘Svayambhu,’ or self-manifested, meaning it was formed here by Shiva himself.
Upon exiting the main shrine, I ended up at an outdoor area with additional temple structures. Frustratingly, plenty of people had snuck their phones in and were posing for selfies. Despite the strict security at the entrance, the guards didn’t seem to care.
Given the long history of Ujjain, the temple’s history is a bit murky, but these outdoor stone shrines seemed older than the other buildings. But probably not older than the 18th century when the temple was reconstructed by Maratha rulers.
Finished with my visit, finding the exit and then making it back to the locker room was a much bigger challenge than I’d anticipated!
Visitors will also need to leave their shoes in one of the shoe racks along Mahakol Lok before even stepping into the main temple complex. Fortunately, mine were still there hours later.
Shree Bada Ganesh Mandir
At the opposite end of Mahakal Lok is the Shree Bada Ganesh Mandir, a small temple dedicated to Ganesha, the mythological son of Shiva.
While the temple itself is small, it features an especially massive Ganesha idol and is worth a quick visit if you’re already in the area.
Ram Ghat
Next, I headed west until I reached Ram Ghat, situated along the Shipra River. Here, lots of pilgrims come to bathe in the sacred waters, though it wasn’t as many as I’d previously seen in Nashik.
Ujjain is one of the four locations which hosts the Kumbh Mela festival (along with Nashik, Haridwar, and Prayagraj). Correlated with the rotations of Jupiter, it takes place every 6 or 12 years, rotating from one city to the next.
And when Ujjain hosts, most of the rituals take place at Ram Ghat.
It’s also believed that Lord Ram bathed here during his exile. To refresh your memory on the Ramayana, Rama was exiled from the Kosala Kingdom (current Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh) near the beginning of the story.
Despite being next in line to rule, his stepmother Kaikeyi urged King Dasharatha to let her own son, Baratha, be declared the official heir instead. And Kaikeyi also forced the king to banish Rama to the forest for fourteen years!
And it’s during these years of exile that many of the important events of the epic unfold.
While the name ‘Ujjain’ doesn’t appear in the Ramayana, it’s associated with Avantika. The city gets mentioned in passing as a place where Rama, his wife Sita, and his brother Lakshmana spent a few years of their 14-year exile.
Not far from Ram Ghat, I found a local restaurant and has a simple thali lunch for just Rs 150. I then took a tuk tuk to Sandipani Ashram for 100 rupees.
Sandipani Ashram
As mentioned earlier, Ujjain was long considered a major center of learning in ancient India. But by far the city’s most famous student was none other than the Lord incarnate himself: Krishna.
It’s said to have been here that Krishna and his brother Balaram studied under their guru, Sandipani. And a modern art exhibit displays exactly what they studied.
But first, visitors will walk by the Gomti Kund. According to legend, the Guru Sandipani used to travel each morning to bathe in the Gomti River, which is not anywhere near Ujjain.
But upon learning this, Krishna used his powers to bring some of the Gomti River’s sacred water to this pond so that his guru would no longer have to travel. And Krishna and Balaram could then study unimpeded by their guru’s absence.
In fact, according to legend, they learned 64 different arts in no less than 64 days.
The galleries surrounding the complex contain descriptions and illustrations of everything the brothers learned.
While we won’t cover everything here, subjects included etymology, sculpture, music, Ayurveda, studies of the Vedas, archery, martial arts, political science, astrology, and a whole lot more.
But you may be wondering: If Krishna is the embodiment of the Supreme Lord, why did he need to study at all? According to one popular interpretation, the couple of months spent here were to exemplify the traditional guru-disciple relationship to ordinary people.
Also at Sandipani, you’ll encounter art depicting various scenes from the Bhagavad Gita. And unsurprisingly, there are a couple of Krishna temples on the premises as well.
There’s also a small Shiva shrine with a very rare sculpture of Nandi the bull that’s standing rather than seated.
Speaking of the Bhagavad Gita, within the text, Krishna speaks of going beyond mechanically performing rituals.
One of the text’s core messages is that people should focus on inner transformation while selflessly performing acts with no concern for the outcome.
While there’s nothing wrong with rituals with the proper mindset and intention, the Bhagavad Gita reminds people that they won’t get very far by simply carrying them out with hopes for material gain.
But Ujjain as a whole, it seems – at least in modern times – is a place that’s largely centered around rituals. From my perspective, the Ujjain temple-visiting experience exemplifies Hinduism’s outer, exoteric side.
Sandipani Ashram, of course, is an exception, and the calm energy of the place was just what I needed following the chaos of Mahakaleshwar Temple.
But little did I realize that the most chaotic experience of the day was yet to come.
Earlier, upon my arrival at Sandipani Ashram, my tuk tuk driver and I worked out a deal for him to wait for me and then take me to Kal Bhairav Temple. There, he’d wait for me again and ultimately take me to the bus terminal.
Kal Bhairav Temple
My last stop of the day was Kal Bhairav Temple, arguably Ujjain’s most famous temple after Mahakaleshwar. Kal Bhairav is regarded as the protector deity of the city. A fierce manifestation of Shiva, he’s also a prominent deity in various Tantric traditions.
Upon arrival at the parking lot, most visitors purchase a special bowl of offerings that seems to be unique to this particular temple.
It consists of things like marigold flowers, an acorn, a coconut, and a fierce-looking mask, presumably depicting Kal Bhairav himself.
Followers of the Abrahamic traditions often see such imagery and denounce it as ‘demon worship.’ The key difference is that deities like Kal Bhairav are not demons themselves, but rather appear menacing in order to ward off evil spirits and provide protection.
Notably, another popular offering that people bring is alcohol, and priests will pour it into the mouth of the idol (much like the Mayan Maximón ceremony I’d witnessed in Guatemala).
But if you’ve traveled to other holy spots of India, you’ll have noticed that alcohol is often strictly prohibited – even in entire cities. Temples like Kal Bhairav, therefore, reveal the great diversity of customs and practices that fall under the wider umbrella of ‘Hinduism.’
While I’d come expecting a crowd, I was under the assumption that the worst was over after my visit to Mahakaleshwar Temple. I couldn’t have been more wrong. But by the time I realized the predicament I was in, there was quite literally no escape!
We were all packed together like sardines, moving at a snail’s pace. Every so often, tragic tales of fatal stampedes at Indian religious festivals make international headlines, and now I see how easily such a thing can happen.
Fortunately, no stampede would occur, but a fight did break out behind me at some point.
While I’m not exactly sure, the entire wait to reach the main shrine probably took around two hours.
After what felt like days, I finally made it to the idol. At this particular temple, upon giving your basket of offerings to the priest, they also give you something in return.
They put some sweets (prasad) and a little medallion back in my basket. They also returned my coconut along with some flowers.
Back in the parking lot, it was so large and crowded that I had a hard time finding my driver. But miraculously, he spotted me from a distance and caught my attention.
All in all, Ujjain was an unforgettable experience, and I feel like I got to see a side of India that few foreigners ever do. But now having done it, I think I’ll pass on visiting any more Hindu ‘mega temples’ for quite some time.
Additional Info
Ujjain is well-connected by train, and you can even get there directly from Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore.
Ujjain is just an hour or two away from Indore, the largest city in Madhya Pradesh. Considering how Indore is also the nearest city to fascinating towns like Mandu and Maheshwar – situated in the opposite direction from Ujjain – most foreign visitors should consider basing themselves in Indore and visiting Ujjain as a day trip.
To reach Ujjain from Indore, the easiest and cheapest option is by public bus.
First, head to the point marked ‘Bus Stand for Ujjain’ near the intersection of Mahatma Gandhi Rd and Railway Station Rd.
Buses depart regularly, though it’s not clear if they depart according to a schedule or simply leave when mostly full. In my case, I arrived at the bus stand around 8:00, took a seat on the bus, and only had to wait fifteen minutes until departure.
The ride cost about Rs 75 each way, with the journey lasting around two hours. Expect to be dropped off at the Nanakheda Bus Stand in the south part of Ujjain.
While it’s possible to stay in Ujjain, you might have a bit of difficulty finding foreigner-friendly hotels. As such, most foreign visitors would be best off basing themselves in Indore.
I stayed at Hotel Lakshya Sheesh Mahal Indore which was one of the better hotels I stayed at in central India. While only the manager spoke English, he was quite friendly and helpful and told me to call him anytime I had a question.
The hotel provides chai or coffee whenever you request it, while the shower had both warm water and strong pressure.
(If you’re traveling in winter like I was, note that hotels lack heating, so a hot shower is the only way to warm up. Most midrange hotels only have lukewarm water at best.)
Regarding the location, I was able to walk numerous landmarks, though Uber works quite well in Indore overall.
Remember that when traveling even a little bit off the tourist trail in India, you can’t just stay at any hotel you like. Only certain hotels will accept foreigners, and sites like Booking will not specify this!
You’ll have to double-check with your hotel that you’ll be allowed, or at least check to see if people with foreign names and flags have left reviews.
As Madhya Pradesh’s largest city, Indore is well-connected by rail with the rest of India (Mumbai, Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, etc.)
The nearest major city is Bhopal, the Madhya Pradesh state capital. From Bhopal, numerous direct trains depart throughout the day, with the ride lasting from 3-5 hours, depending on which train you take.
Indore also has its own well-connected airport.
As mentioned above, the main reason for most foreign visitors to visit Indore is to use it as a base for visiting Ujjain, Mandu and Maheshwar. Be sure to check our dedicated guides for each for detailed transportation info.
If you’re doing a long trip through India, it’s best to create an account on the official Indian Railways (IRCTC) website. But that’s much easier said than done!
If you’re just doing a shorter trip, it’s best to book train tickets through 12GoAsia. You’ll pay a significantly higher fee, but it’s a much smoother experience.
The above link is an affiliate link, but I did use 12GoAsia a few times before I got my IRCTC account set up and I had no issues.