How much does a trip to Amritsar cost?

What Amritsar costs

Amritsar is the cheapest major tourist city in north India, and the reason is structural: the thing you came for is free, and it feeds you for free too. The Golden Temple charges nothing and serves up to 100,000 meals a day at no cost. Your real spend is a bed, Wagah transport and food outside the langar.

🕉️ The Golden Temple — free, all of it

Sri Harmandir Sahib is open 24 hours, every day of the year, with no entry fee, for people of any faith. It receives more visitors than the Taj Mahal. Its dome and upper walls are covered in roughly 750 kg of gold.

• Amrit Vela, roughly 3:00 to 5:30 AM — the pre-dawn window. Quietest, most atmospheric, and when the temple is at its most spiritual rather than its most crowded.
• Prakash / Palki Sahib ceremony at about 4:00 AM, when the Guru Granth Sahib is brought out in procession.
• Sukhasan at about 9:30 PM in winter and 10:30 PM in summer, when it is carried back. The procession is worth seeing.
• Darshan queues are longest in the late morning and evening.

What it costs you in practice: a head covering (scarves are available free at the entrance, so nothing), shoe storage (free), and an optional donation. That is all.

Rules: head covered at all times for men and women, shoes off and feet washed at the tap row, no tobacco or alcohol anywhere on the premises, modest dress with shoulders and knees covered. Photography is permitted in the outer complex and around the sarovar but not inside the sanctum during the continuous reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, and never photograph the scripture itself.

🍲 Langar — the largest free kitchen on earth

The langar serves roughly 75,000 to 100,000 people a day, rising above 200,000 on Baisakhi. It runs 24 hours. Dal, roti, sabzi, kheer and rice, served by volunteers, eaten sitting on the floor in rows with whoever is next to you. No faith requirement, no cost, no reservation, no discrimination of any kind.

This is not a charity gesture you observe — it is a meal you eat. It genuinely removes food from your budget for a day or two. Sit, accept the tray with the right hand, eat everything you take, and carry your dishes to the collection point as everyone does. Participating in seva — volunteering to peel vegetables, wash dishes or serve — is welcomed and is the most memorable hour available in Amritsar.

🎟️ Other sights

• Jallianwala Bagh — free, about 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM (some listings say 9:00 PM), 200 m from the Golden Temple. The site of the 13 April 1919 massacre, with the bullet marks on the walls, the Martyrs' Well and a renovated memorial museum. Essential, and free.
• Partition Museum, in the Town Hall — a modest ticket, roughly ₹250 for foreign visitors and less for Indians. One of the most important museums in India and worth every rupee.
• Wagah / Attari border — free, but ID required. Your cost is transport: a return taxi runs ₹1,200–2,500, or a shared trip far less.
• Durgiana Temple — free, 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM. A Hindu temple deliberately modelled on the Golden Temple, complete with a sarovar.
• Gobindgarh Fort — a modest entry with an evening sound-and-light show
• Old city heritage walk — free on your own, or ₹500+ for a guided one. Best in the morning.
• Ram Bagh gardens and the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum — small fee

🛏️ Where you sleep

• Hostel dorm near the temple — ₹400–800
• Budget guesthouse in the old city — ₹800–2,000
• Mid-range hotel — ₹2,500–6,000
• Heritage and luxury (Taj Swarna, ITC, Hyatt Regency) — ₹8,000–20,000

Stay within walking distance of the Golden Temple. The old-city guesthouses are basic but you can do a 4:00 AM Amrit Vela darshan, walk back for breakfast, and be in bed by 6:00 AM — which is the actual Amritsar experience. A hotel three kilometres away turns that into a ₹300 taxi negotiation in the dark.

October to March is best, 10–25°C. November to February is ideal for food and sightseeing. Baisakhi (13–14 April), Diwali and Guru Purab are spectacular and book out months ahead, with langar serving over 200,000 on Baisakhi. May and June hit 40–45°C and are uncomfortable.

🍛 Food — the reason many people come

Amritsar is widely called India's food capital, and the prices do not match the reputation:

• Amritsari kulcha — ₹60–150. A stuffed leavened flatbread baked in a tandoor, smeared with white butter and served with chhole and pickle. Kulcha Land, Surjit Food Plaza and Bharawan Da Dhaba are the three names.
• Lassi in a clay cup — ₹40–100. Thick, set yoghurt, topped with malai. Ahuja Lassi is the institution, and the dhabas around the Golden Temple all make it.
• Amritsari fish — ₹250–600. White fish in a spiced chickpea batter, deep fried. Makhan Fish and Chicken Corner on Lawrence Road is the reference. A winter dish at its best.
• Langar — ₹0
• Chole bhature — ₹80–180
• Kesar Da Dhaba — operating since 1916, in a lane off Chowk Passian, and the most famous dhaba in the city. ₹200–400 for a full meal. Narrow lanes, no signage, ask locally.
• Beera Chicken House — butter chicken, just outside the city
• Gurdas Ram Jalebi Wala — hot jalebis, decades old
• Brothers Dhaba — Punjabi thali
• Phirni — ₹40–80, set rice pudding served in an earthen cup

A full day of serious eating — kulcha breakfast, lassi, langar lunch, fish dinner — costs under ₹600. There is no city in India where the food quality-to-price ratio is better.

🚕 Transport

• Walking — the whole old-city core, free
• Auto or cycle rickshaw — ₹50–150
• Uber/Ola — ₹80–300
• Airport transfer — ₹300–600
• Wagah return by taxi — ₹1,200–2,500
• Full-day car with driver — ₹1,800–3,000

💰 Three daily budgets

Shoestring — ₹900–1,800. Old-city guesthouse ₹600–1,200, langar for lunch at ₹0, kulcha and lassi ₹150–300, walking and one rickshaw ₹100, Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh free.

Mid-range — ₹3,500–6,000. Mid-range hotel ₹2,500–4,000 between two, a Wagah taxi share ₹600–1,250, Partition Museum ₹250, two serious restaurant meals ₹500–900.

Comfort — ₹12,000+. Taj Swarna or Hyatt, a private car and driver for two days, a guided heritage walk, Makhan Fish and dinner at a good restaurant.

💳 Money

UPI works everywhere, including the dhabas and the lassi stalls. Foreign cards work in hotels and larger restaurants but not at Kesar Da Dhaba or the kulcha lanes. ATMs are plentiful around Hall Bazaar.

Carry ₹1,500 in small notes. Most of the best food in Amritsar is bought in ₹50 and ₹100 increments from places with no change for ₹500.

Do not offer money at the Golden Temple beyond a donation in the box. Nobody will ask you for anything, and anyone outside who does is not acting for the temple.

For getting between all of these, see the Amritsar transport guide.

Next on the circuit: Delhi.