What is Gorakhpur best known for?
This age-old city is named after the great saint Gorakhnath and was a part of the Koshal Kingdom. Gorakhpur also sees its relevance in some important Indian historical uprisings at the time of independence like the Chauri-Chaura Movement and religious movements like the Nath Hindu Monastic movement. Moreover, this city also has the world's longest platform. Gorakhpur is also associated with some prominent names in the poetry and film industry like Firaq Gorakhpuri, Prem Chand, Saurabh Shukla and Anurag Kashyap, among others.
The best-known places in Gorakhpur are:
- Gorakhnath temple: Gorakhnath temple has the shrine of the saint Guru Gorakhnath. One fascinating thing about this temple is the ‘Garbhagriha’, which has a white marble statue of Guru Gorakhnath that looks like Lord Shiva in deep meditation.
- Commerce Museum: This museum is a popular one among many museums in Gorakhpur and teaches the locals as well as tourist more about this city and surrounding areas.
- Purvayatana Archaeological museum & Puratatva Sangrahalaya: Located within Gorakhpur University Complex, this museum provides insights into the city’s history. This museum possesses precious artefacts, manuscripts, sculptures and photo scripts, stone tools, coins etc. Other museums in Gorakhpur are Rail Museum, Zoological Museum and Buddha Museum.
Apart from these, the city also has other famous landmarks like Imambara – the shrine of Sufi saint Roshan Ali Shah, Ramgarh Taal – the largest lake of Gorakhpur, Kushmi Forest, Vishnu Temple and Arogya Mandir to add to your list of places to visit in Gorakhpur.
Airport in Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur Airport is also known as Mahayogi Gorakhnath Airport. The Gorakhpur airport used to be a military airport and now a part of it operates as a commercial airport. There is a single runway on the airport.
- Airport address- Mahayogi Gorakhnath Airport, Airport Area, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh 273001
- IATA code- GOP