Where to Stay in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh

What is Gorakhpur known for?

On the Rapti river in the Terai of eastern India, it grew around a famous yogi monastery, and it keeps the great Gorakhnath temple of the Nath sect, the Buddhist shrine at Kushinagar where the Buddha passed away, the Gita Press that prints the Hindu scriptures, and the wide Ramgarh lake by the town. The flat Terai spreads all around. A wide lake shines nearby.

What are the main landmarks in Gorakhpur?

The Gorakhnath temple is the pride of Gorakhpur. The great monastery of the Nath yogis, thronged with pilgrims and sadhus, is the emblem of the city, downtown. A Buddha lies at Kushinagar.

The reclining Buddha of Kushinagar, where the master died, rests in a shrine to the east, while the Gita Press, the Ramgarh lake, and the Terai fields mark the country around Gorakhpur.

What is the history of Gorakhpur?

Gorakhpur grew around a yogi's shrine. The Gorakhnath temple, seat of the Nath ascetics, drew pilgrims and gave the city its name, and around it the town rose on the Terai plains. Nearby the Buddha passed away.

At Kushinagar, a little to the east, the Buddha died and entered nirvana, and the spot became one of the four great places of the Buddhist world. The city grew as a hub of faith and trade. Pilgrims came to the Gorakhnath temple and to Kushinagar, and Gorakhpur became a great railway town of the eastern plains, its junction among the busiest in the land.

Here too the scriptures were printed. The Gita Press of Gorakhpur grew into the largest printer of Hindu holy books in the world, and the city kept its temple, its shrines, and its lake. The pilgrims still fill the temple.

Gorakhpur keeps its temple city on the Terai.

Where is Gorakhpur?

Gorakhpur lies in the far east of Uttar Pradesh in India, on the Rapti river in the Terai. The city sits on the flat, wet plains below the Himalayan foothills, near the border with Nepal, with the Ramgarh lake on its edge and the rivers of the Terai spreading around. Wet plains run flat and green.

The lake lies calm and wide.

What is the climate of Gorakhpur?

Gorakhpur has a hot, humid monsoon climate. Warm weather holds much of the year, with fierce heat before the rains and a heavy monsoon that floods the Terai. Rains flood the Terai each summer.

Winter brings a cool fog.

How do you get to Gorakhpur?

Gorakhpur lies in eastern Uttar Pradesh in India, near the Nepal border. Trains run to it across the plains from Lucknow and Delhi, and roads lead north to Nepal and east to Kushinagar. Pilgrims crowd the junction.

Lucknow lies west up the line.