Champaner

Champaner-Pavagadh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gujarat containing the only intact pre-Mughal Islamic city in India — a 15th-century capital built by the Sultanate of Gujarat and abandoned in 1535 when the Mughals captured it and never comprehensively reoccupied.

The Jama Masjid of Champaner, built between 1508 and 1513, is the finest mosque architecture in Gujarat and one of the most perfectly proportioned buildings in India — its carved stone screens and twin minarets demonstrating the complete maturity of the Gujarati Islamic architectural tradition at the moment it was interrupted by Mughal annexation.

The Pavagadh hill above the town, rising 820 metres above the surrounding plain, is topped by the Kalika Mata temple — a pilgrimage site receiving several hundred thousand visitors during Navratri — accessible by ropeway or on foot through the ruins of older Hindu and Jain temples that predate the Islamic city below. The hill's strategic position explains both why it was chosen as a capital and why Akbar spent two years capturing it.

Places to Visit in Champaner

• Jami Masjid, Champaner
• Pavagadh Hill
• Kalika Mata Temple, Pavagadh
• Saat Kaman

Things to Do in Champaner

• Indo-Islamic architecture tour
• Pavagadh Hill cable car ride
• Hilltop temple pilgrimage