Jamnagar, the Jewel of Kathiawar, is a coastal city on the Gulf of Kutch, in the state of Gujarat, India. It has unspoilt islands and beaches, hills, temples, palaces, forest, fantastic birdlife in the bird sanctuary and marine sanctuaries and fascinating corals and marine life in the Marine National Park. Its metro population was 600,000 in 2018.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons contributors.
The founder of the princely state of Jamnagar was the Great Jam Rawal, who descended on the northern coast of Kathiawar in 1535 AD. Jam Rawal's father Jam Lakhaji ruled in Terabanu in Kutch. Jamnagar was then known as Halar. According to bardic chronicles, Jam Lakhaji had two cousins Tamachi Deda and Hamirji Jadeja, who envied his reputation for valor. Their envy was heightened by the fame of Jam Lakhaji at the siege of Pawagadh. So largely did he contribute to its capture by Bahadurshah, the Emperor of Gujarat, that he was bestowed 12 villages by him. As Jam Lakaji was going to take possession of his new fef, he was treacherously killed by his cousins Tamachi Deda and Hamirji Jadeja.
There is an excellent local bus service, and you can catch most of the buses from near the Town Hall. State Transport Bus Service (ST BUS) connects Jamnagar to all villages and cities of Gujarat. Auto rickshaw is the preferred transport, locally. Fix the fare before getting on an auto rickshaw. Prices vary by distance but start from ₹7 up to ₹15 within the town. Taxis are hired to travel longer distance. Everything within the town is covered by auto rickshaw. Again, fix the price and try to bargain a bit! Almost all areas of Jamnagar can be reached on a bicycle. Wearing a facemask helps - especially if you want to avoid dust/vehicle pollution.
1 Balahanuman Temple, ☏ +91 288 255 8196. This is where Ramdhun Sri Ram Jay Ram Jay Jay Ram is being chanted non-stop since the last 51 years. And it is a world record registered with The Guinness Book of World Records. This temple faces the Lakhota Lake (man made) which is a nice place to spend ones time. At the center of the Lakhota lake is a small museum that has (among other things) photos of Kumar Ranjitsinhji who played Test cricket (for England). 2 Lakhota Palace and Museum. 3 Pratap Vilas Palace, Swastik Society, Park Colony. 4 Shantinath & Adinath Mandir. The two Jain temples in the Chandi Bazaar area are worth visiting. They are historic temples built around 1564-1622.
Camping Walking at the Bird Park Sailing to any one of the 42 islands 1 Marine National Park.
Jamnagar people love to eat, so here one finds quite a few food joints scattered all around the city; there may be a hawker with foods on display in his lorry or a small shop selling food to the huge waiting list of people. Sundays are the days when most people go out to have fun in Jamnagar. Fun in Jamnagar means going out for a long drive or making an 8 around the city (going around the lake and Pratap Palace Area). and visiting these lorries and eating the hot & tasty food. On the lake there are so many joints for this kind of snack foods.
Tea, coffee, fresh juices and Lassi, Nariyal Pani - you get these in any corner of Jamnagar.
The people of Saurashtra, in general and Jamnagar in particular, are very friendly and helpful. A case in point is when the riots took place in 2002, Jamnagar was totally unaffected though the rioting had spread up to Rajkot. During the festival months one can find women and young girls walking around even late at night. The composition of the population of Jamnagar has been changing over the years because of the large number of people employed by Reliance and ESSAR Petrochemical Refineries (now Nayara Energy) since the mid 1990s. There has been a steady influx of Indians from all over which is soon going to give Jamnagar a cosmopolitan look.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
Flight prices are real fares travellers found in the last 48 hours, refreshed daily — the booking site confirms the final price. Train, bus and ferry fares are shown on the operators' booking sites. Weather data by Open-Meteo; exchange rates: ECB reference. Data updated 2026-10-11. Some links earn Stayonomy a commission at no cost to you.
stayonomy