- Ramit Monga
Everything you should know before you visit the Statue of Unity - online tickets, cost & more!
Updated: Sep 8, 2021
After the failure of yet another Goa plan, it had now become frustratingly important for us to go somewhere or the other. We all thought, why not have a test drive first and see if we could live for just one day with each other without a bloodbath of any sort.
Statue of Unity, currently the world’s tallest statue (standing at 182 metres) is situated in a town called Kevadia, about 90 kms (1.5 to 2 hours) from Vadodara, 150 kms (3 to 3.5 hours) from Surat, and 200 kms (4 to 4.5 hours) from Ahmedabad. It was inaugurated on 31st October, 2018 and has been receiving a huge influx of tourists from all parts of the country. The latest introduction of the sea-plane service from Ahmedabad and Kevadia railway station (KDCY), just 5 kms from the statue opens a whole lot of opportunity and growth in the region in the upcoming years.
It was decided that we would go and visit the statue and be back the same day. The journey began at 8:30 am, which made us only one hour late from our decided schedule. We packed along with us the special Surti Locho for breakfast. The national highway, which comprised about 50% of the journey was smooth sailing but the rest of the fifty percent was state highway, which had many patches of construction and maintenance going on. After taking a break for breakfast, we finally reached the statue at about 11:30 am. We were amazed and astonished at the shear grandness of the statue!
We had booked our tickets one week in advance because of the rush and the limited number of tickets available during the current "Covid times". Although, tickets are available in offline mode, but currently they are only being sold online and they are limited in number. In my case, the tickets in my slot were completely sold out about 5-6 days in advance. I would advice you to check all the recent updates and plan your travels accordingly. The cost of the tickets are as follows:
1) Normal entry ticket – Rs. 150/ Adult
Includes only the entry (Viewing gallery not included) + a longer line/waiting period
2) SoU Viewing Gallery – Rs. 380/Adult
Includes entry and access to the viewing gallery (inside the statue at a height of 502 ft/153 metres) + no waiting line in our case
3) SoU Express Entry – Rs. 1030/Adult (latest available option)
Includes entry and access to the viewing gallery (inside the statue at a height of 502 ft/153 metres) + no waiting line at all
My personal recommendation for you would be to go with the second option i.e., SoU Viewing Gallery. There usually isn’t a very long waiting line for accessing the Viewing Gallery so it is only economical to choose this option over the express entry.
There are many other activities such as Jungle Safari, River Rafting, Boating, and many gardens (with different themes).
All the tickets can be booked from their website – www.soutickets.in
After entry and security checks, a pathway leads to the Statue of Unity. Along the pathway runs a travelator for the convenience of the visitors.
The elevators, which you’ll take to access the viewing gallery lie inside the museum on which the statue is built. You can either choose to visit the museum and the viewing gallery first to enjoy a breath-taking view of the entire Kevadia district, or take a series of escalators to reach the foot of the statue and click some photos beside the statue, with Narmada river in the backdrop. Just make sure that you visit the viewing gallery in the time-slot booked by you.
Visiting the statue will take about 1-1.5 hours, after which you can enjoy lunch at the cafeteria that houses restaurants like Subway, Café Coffee Day, Starbucks, and other local eateries. This is situated near the entrance to the statue, on the left.
After lunch, we just wanted to lie on the floor and sleep there itself. We rested for a while and got up somehow. It was about 2 pm then and we had pre-decided to leave by 3 – 3:30 pm so that we could reach back in time. So, to use the time at hand, we visited the ‘Valley of Flowers’, one of the many attractions to visit there other than the statue itself. It was already included in the ticket we had bought. You can reach all the attractions by buses that run regularly at about 10-15 minutes intervals. The main bus stop is situated right next to the entrance of the statue.
Valley of Flowers has more than 300 species of flowers and about 22,00,000 plants! The garden has a very vibrant landscape with a lot of photo booths, hence making it a "must-visit" for nature admirers and selfie-lovers.
The visit to ‘Valley of Flowers’ took about 45 minutes. We then moved forward and took a bus to visit the Sardar Sarovar Dam. For obvious security reasons, tourists aren’t allowed on the dam. But a Sardar Sarovar Dam point has been built for tourists to have a closer look and appreciate the structure of the dam. Even for tourists with a car, one has to take a bus to reach this point. I would highly recommend grabbing your favourite Amul Ice-cream from the booth available here to regain some energy after all the walking.
It was now time to head back home with a lot of great and fun memories. This is a great tourist spot for people to visit with both, family and friends. If with family, I would definitely recommend you to plan a one-night stay here to enjoy all the other attractions, including the laser show that is conducted after sunset.
I hope this blog provided you with an on-ground experience of visiting the Statue of Unity! Feel free to post your questions in the comments section!