Situated in the northern part of India, bordering with the capital of India New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh is one of the most popular and an established tourist destination for both Indians and non-Indians alike in India. The most populous state of India, Uttar Pradesh contains many historical monuments and places of religious significance. Geographically, Uttar Pradesh is very diverse, with Himalayan foothills in the extreme north and the Gangetic Plain in the centre. It is also home of India's most visited sites, Hinduism's holiest city, Varanasi. Kumbh city, Prayagraj. Kathak, one of the eight forms of Indian classical dances, originated from Uttar Pradesh.[citation needed] Uttar Pradesh is at the heart of India, hence it is also known as The Heartland of India. Cuisine of Uttar Pradesh like Awadhi cuisine, Mughlai cuisine and Bhojpuri cuisine are very famous not only in India but also many places abroad.[1]
Kanpur attracts thousands of Hindu pilgrims every year.
Bithoor or Bithur is a town in Kanpur district, 23.4 kilometres (14.5mi) by road north of the centre of Kanpur city, in Uttar Pradesh, India. Bithoor is situated on the right bank of the River Ganges, and is a centre of Hindu pilgrimage. Bithoor is also the centre for War of Independence of 1857 as Nana Sahib, a popular freedom fighter who was based there. The city is enlisted as a municipality of Kanpur metropolitan area.
Varanasi
Varanasi attracts thousands of Hindu pilgrims every year.
Varanasi (also called Kashi and Benares) is widely considered to be the oldest city in the world, before Jerusalem. This spiritual place is famous for its ghats (steps along the river) which are populated year round with people who want to take a dip in the holy Ganges River.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi is home to the Vishwanath Jyotirling temple, which is one of the most sacred of Hindu Temples dedicated to lord Shiva.
Varanasi is famous for its banarasi sarees, cuisines, it includes food like diversity of sweets and all kinds of spicy food .
Janmaashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna, is celebrated in the region.
Mathura is one of the seven most important pilgrimage sites in Hindu religion. Vrindavan, another place related to Lord Shri Krishna, is said to be twin city of Mathura. There are about more than 25 ghats out of which Vishram Ghat is most sacred where Shri Krishna rested after killing Kansa.
Ayodhya is also the birthplace of five Tirthankars, including the first Tirthankar of Jainism, Shri Rishabh Dev. He is known as the father of Jain religion. The city is also important in the history and heritage of Buddhism in India, with several Buddhist temples, monuments and centers of learning having been established here during the age of the Mauryan Empire and the Gupta Dynasty. Ayodhya reached its glorious peak as known to history during the reign of the Guptas over India.[citation needed]
Swaminarayan led the Swaminarayan Sampraday sect of Hinduism and lived here during his childhood years. It was from Ayodhya that Swaminarayan started his seven-year journey across India as Neelkanth.[citation needed]
Tulsidas is said to have begun the writing of his famous Ramayana poem Shri Ramacharitamanas in Ayodhya in 1574 CE. Several Tamil Alwar mention the city of Ayodhya. Ayodhya is also said to be the birthplace of Bahubali, Brahmi, Sundari, King Dasaratha, Acharya Padaliptasurisvarji, King Harishchandra, Shri Rama, Achalbhrata, and the ninth Gandhara of Mahavir Swami.[citation needed]
The Atharva Veda called Ayodhya "a city built by gods and being as prosperous as paradise itself".[citation needed]
Soron Shukar Kshetra is salvation land of Lord Varah and birthland of Sant Tulsidas.[citation needed]
Naimisaranya also known as Neemsar, Nimsar or Nimkhar is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu located in Sitapur district in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.[3] It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 temples of Vishnu revered in Nalayira Divya Prabandham by the 12 poet saints, or Alwars. The temple is believed to be of significant antiquity with contributions at different times from the ruling kings. The temple is counted as one of the eight temples of Vishnu that self-manifested and is classified as Swayamvyaktha Kshetra. The holy tank Chankra Kunda is associated with the temple and it is a pilgrimage centre where people take a holy dip during festive occasions.[4]
Prayagraj
A procession of Akharas marching over a makeshift bridge over the Ganges river, Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, 2001
Every year thousands gather at Prayagraj to take part in the festival on the banks of the Ganges, the Magh Mela. The same festival is organised in a larger scale every 12th year and attracts millions of people and is called the Kumbha Mela. Kumbh Mela (especially the Maha Kumbh Mela) is the most sacred of all the pilgrimages. Thousands of holy men and women (monks, saints and sadhus) attend, and the auspiciousness of the festival is in part attributable to this. The sadhus are seen clad in saffron sheets with plenty of ashes and powder dabbed on their skin per the requirements of ancient traditions. Some called Nanga sanyasis or Dhigambers may often be seen without any clothes even in severe winter, generally considered to live an extreme lifestyle. This tends to attract a lot of western attention as it is seemingly in contrast to a generally conservative social modesty practised in the country.[citation needed]
Buddhist religious sites
Uttar Pradesh has many sites which are connected to Lord Buddha and hence, are sacred to Buddhist.
Sarnath: a place where he held his first public discourse. Also at Sarnath is the Ashoka Pillar with the Lion Capital, is important archaeological artifact with national significance.[citation needed]
Places of interest in Uttar Pradesh include[citation needed]:
Varanasi – The origin of Hinduism and the oldest city of the world, also known as City of temples, holy place for devotees of Lord Shiva, one of the finest Textiles Industry in the world.
A view of the Ghat of Varanasi from the River Ganges
Agra – Taj Mahal and several others historical monuments and gardens.
Ambedkar Nagar - Historical places from ancient India to modern India and India's fastest growing Industrial city .
Prayagraj – Well known for its Kumbh Mela. The place where Indian national river Ganges and Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet. A mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. Akbar forts, one of the most popular religious center of ancient and modern India for Hinduism. Uttar Pradesh's administrative and education capital.
Pilibhit Tiger Reserve - 45th tiger reserve of India, won international award for doubling tiger count before target.
Bareilly—A large city of Uttar Pradesh with many attractions such as Banke Bihari Temple, Hari Temple, Ala Hazrat, and Gandhi Udhayan. The jhumka style of music is associated with Bareilly.
Sarnath-Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, the Buddha as one of the four places of pilgrimage which his devout followers should visit. The birthplace of Shreyansanath, the eleventh Jain Tirthankar of the Jainism.
Mirzapur – Mirzapur is famous for its carpet and brassware industries, its rich spiritual and historical sites like the Vindhyavasini Temple and Chunar Fort, and its folk traditions such as the Kajari festival. The city is also known for its natural beauty, including waterfalls and the Vindhya Hills.[14] Moreover Mirzapur also tells time to whole India as Indian Standard Time (IST) is calculated on the basis of 82.5 degrees east longitude from the clock tower which is in Mirzapur.[15]
Ghaziabad – Historical places from ancient India to modern India and India's fastest growing Industrial city .
Dudhwa National Park – Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, Birds Sanctuary, the unique Frog Temple at Oyal, Surat Bhawan Palace, Elephant Rides.
Rehar – Several major tourist attractions can be mentioned in the town's surroundings, like Jim Corbett National Park (India) about 24km, Nainital (India) about 69km
Gonda - Mulagandhakuti. The remains of Buddha's hut in Jetavana Monastery, Sravasti in Gonda Division and Swaminarayan Chhapaiyā: The village of Chhapaiya is situated at a distance of 50km from the district headquarters. The chief interest of the place is Swaminarayan temple which marks the birthplace of Swaminarayan, or Sahajanand Swami, who was born here on 2 April 1781 as Ghanshyam Pande. Ghanshyam left Chhapaiya at the age of 11 to travel to the pilgrimage sites around India. He completed his pilgrimage in Western Gujarat, where he assumed the leadership of Swaminarayan Sampradaya. The Akshardham temples in New Delhi and in Gandhinagar, Gujarat built by his spiritual successor, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, are both dedicated to him. His followers consider him to be a manifestation of the Supreme Godhead.[10] There have been many movies about the Swaminarayan filmed in this temple in Chhapaiya and in nearby places in the district.
Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (pronounced[piːliːbʱiːt̪ˈtaɪɡərɪˈzɜːvː]), is among the narrowest yet most canopy-rich tiger reserves, spread across a horseshoe-shaped landscape.[18] It has an estimated tiger density of 10.8 per 100 km2 area.[a] The reserve's total area is 730.24 km2, which is 97.6% (712.88 km2) located in Pilibhit district and 2.4% (17.36 km2) in Shahjahanpur district in Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh.[19][20] Approximately 21% of Pilibhit district's total geographical area comes under reserve's limits, thereby positioning it in the category of Uttar Pradesh's most forest-rich districts. It consists of the Himalayan lowlands terrain along the Indo–Nepal border in the upper northern plains. The habitat is distinguished by tall grasslands, sal forests, and the swamp ecosystem, which is maintained through regular flooding events originating from nearby rivers, riverlets and lakes during the rainy seasons. The Sharda sagar dam elongating up to a length of 22km (14mi) is on the edge of the reserve.[21]
The core area of the reserve contains 35 species of mammals,[22] 556 avians species,[23][24] 79 species of fishes,[25] as well as several species of reptiles and amphibians,[26] including herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous type of fauna. As of August 2025, reserve's officals confirmed that the core area hosts more than 79 adult tigers.[b][27][28] As per the internal survey conducted by the authorities, the reserve has more than 99,882 animals of 22 species of different class.[29] In 2020, the tiger reserve was awarded the inaugural TX2 global award in recognition of its achievement in multiplying the number of tiger within the stipulated time frame.[30]
↑ (total recorded tigers in the core area / area in sqaure kilometers)*100
↑ including 14 males, 53 females, and 12 tigers of undetermined gender. This figure excludes an additional 18 tigers, comprising cubs less than one year of age and individual tigers that have dispersed beyond the designated core zone into adjacent agricultural areas, commonly referred to as sugarcane tigers.
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