Gurdwaras of the world

The journey in one line

9 stops in India, Pakistan, United Kingdom and Canada so far. The first rung is 4 of them, and the list keeps growing.

A gurdwara is wherever the Guru Granth Sahib is installed and read, which means it can be a marble complex on a lake or a converted building on a suburban road. This list runs from the Harmandir Sahib, the centre of Sikh life, to gurdwaras built by communities who settled in west London and in Ontario. It is an editorial selection and it will grow. It is not a ranking.

Two things are constant wherever a gurdwara is. The doors face outward on more than one side, and there is a kitchen that feeds anyone who comes. Langar is not charity aimed at the poor. It is a rule about sitting on the same floor at the same level, and it has been kept for five hundred years. Several of these places also record violence: Sis Ganj marks an execution, Fatehgarh Sahib marks the killing of two children, and the Akal Takht was destroyed in 1984.

Most gurdwaras are open long hours and several never close. Entry is free everywhere. Hemkund Sahib is the exception in every way: 4,632 metres, open only from about late May to early October, and reached by a steep six kilometre climb from Ghangaria. Panja Sahib at Hasan Abdal is in Pakistan and needs a visa or a jatha place.

Where it goes

The stops, in order

What a visit means here. A visit means being in the gurdwara precinct. Langar and any personal observance stay separate and are not recorded.

1. 1

   Sri Harmandir Sahib

   ਸ੍ਰੀ ਹਰਿਮੰਦਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ

   Amritsar, India

   

   Harmandir Sahib stands in the middle of the Amritsar pool with a causeway to it and doors on four sides. Guru Arjan installed the Adi Granth here in 1604. The kitchen serves free meals to everyone who comes, tens of thousands a day, and has done so without a break for centuries.

   What counts as a visit

   The parikrama, the causeway and the darbar sahib itself, and the langar hall.

   Access

   Heads covered, footwear left at the counters, feet washed at the entrance. No tobacco or alcohol. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

2. 2

   Gurdwara Bangla Sahib

   ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਬੰਗਲਾ ਸਾਹਿਬ

   New Delhi, India

   

   Bangla Sahib stands where Raja Jai Singh's bungalow was, and where Guru Har Krishan cared for people during a smallpox and cholera outbreak in 1664 before dying of it himself. The tank beside it is treated as healing water. Its kitchen is one of the busiest in Delhi.

   What counts as a visit

   The gurdwara, the sarovar and the langar hall.

   Access

   Open all hours. Heads covered and footwear left at the counter. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

3. 3

   Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib

   ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਸੀਸ ਗੰਜ ਸਾਹਿਬ

   Delhi, India

   

   Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed in Chandni Chowk in 1675 after refusing to convert and after defending the right of Kashmiri Hindus to their own practice. Sis Ganj marks the place. The trunk of the tree he was held under is kept inside.

   What counts as a visit

   The gurdwara on Chandni Chowk and its langar.

   Access

   Heads covered and footwear left at the counter. Checked 2026-09-17.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

4. 4

   Takht Sri Harmandir Ji, Patna Sahib

   ਤਖ਼ਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਹਰਿਮੰਦਰ ਜੀ

   Patna, India

   

   Guru Gobind Singh was born in Patna in 1666 and spent his first years here. The Takht stands on the site of the house and holds relics from his childhood. The present domed building was put up in the twentieth century after an earlier one burned.

   What counts as a visit

   The Takht building and precinct in Patna City.

   Access

   Heads covered and footwear left outside. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

5. 5

   Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib

   ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਫ਼ਤਹਿਗੜ੍ਹ ਸਾਹਿਬ

   Fatehgarh Sahib, India

   

   The younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh, aged about nine and six, were bricked up alive at Sirhind in 1705 after refusing to convert. The gurdwara stands over the place. Shaheedi Jor Mela is held here each December in their memory.

   What counts as a visit

   The gurdwara complex at Fatehgarh Sahib, including the Bhora Sahib basement.

   Access

   Heads covered and footwear left outside. Checked 2026-09-17.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

6. 6

   Gurdwara Sri Hemkund Sahib

   ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਹੇਮਕੁੰਟ ਸਾਹਿਬ

   Chamoli district, India

   

   Hemkund Sahib sits at 4,632 metres beside a glacial lake ringed by seven peaks, and is connected to a passage in Guru Gobind Singh's Bachitar Natak. The gurdwara was built in the twentieth century after the site was identified. Reaching it means a steep six kilometre climb from Ghangaria.

   What counts as a visit

   The gurdwara and the lake shore at Hemkund.

   Access

   Open roughly late May to early October and snowbound otherwise. Above 4,500 metres, so altitude sickness is a real risk. Checked 2026-09-17.

   SeasonalHigh altitude

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

7. 7

   Gurdwara Panja Sahib

   ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਪੰਜਾ ਸਾਹਿਬ

   Hasan Abdal, Pakistan

   

   Panja Sahib at Hasan Abdal is built around a boulder that carries what is held to be the handprint of Guru Nanak. A spring runs from under the rock into the sarovar. It is one of the gurdwaras Indian jathas visit under the 1974 protocol.

   What counts as a visit

   The gurdwara precinct and the sarovar at Hasan Abdal.

   Access

   A Pakistan visa is needed, or a jatha visa for Indian pilgrims. Heads covered and footwear left outside. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Permit required

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

8. 8

   Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall

   London, United Kingdom

   

   The Havelock Road gurdwara opened in 2003 and is one of the largest outside India. Southall's Sikh community grew from post-war migration and the gurdwara serves it daily with worship, langar and classes. The building holds thousands at a time.

   What counts as a visit

   The darbar hall and langar of the Havelock Road gurdwara.

   Access

   Heads covered and footwear left at the counter. No tobacco or alcohol on the premises. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

9. 9

   Ontario Khalsa Darbar

   Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

   

   Ontario Khalsa Darbar on Dixie Road opened in 1990 and serves one of the largest Sikh communities in North America. It runs daily langar, a library and Gurmat classes. The Greater Toronto Area is now among the biggest centres of Sikh life outside Punjab.

   What counts as a visit

   The darbar hall and langar hall.

   Access

   Heads covered and footwear left at the entrance. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

Respect and access

Cover your head before you go in. Scarves are provided if you do not have one. Leave footwear at the counter and wash your feet. No tobacco or alcohol on the premises, and do not bring either in a bag. Sit on the floor in the darbar hall, do not point your feet at the Guru Granth Sahib, and do not walk in front of people who are listening. You are welcome to eat in langar. Photography of worshippers is not appropriate.

Permit required

Entry needs a permit, a booking or a ticket arranged in advance.

Seasonal

Access follows a season, a calendar or an event rather than being open year round.

High altitude

The place sits high enough that altitude affects who can reach it and how long it takes.

A place of reflection

This is a memorial or a site of atrocity. Visitors are asked to be quiet, to follow the custodian's guidance on photography, and to treat it as somewhere people grieve.

Opening times, prices, permits and eligibility change. Nothing on this page is a statement about today. Follow the Check access link on a place before you plan around it.

Sources

• sgpc.nethttps://sgpc.net/sri-harmandir-sahib/ · checked September 17, 2026
• dsgmc.inhttps://dsgmc.in/DharmParchar/GurdwaraBanglaSahib · checked September 17, 2026
• dsgmc.inhttps://dsgmc.in/DharmParchar/GurdwaraSisGanjSahib · checked September 17, 2026
• sgpc.nethttps://sgpc.net/five-takht-sahibs/takht-sri-harmandar-ji-patna-sahib/ · checked September 17, 2026
• fatehgarhsahib.nic.inhttps://fatehgarhsahib.nic.in/tourist-place/gurudwara-fatehgarh-sahib/ · checked September 17, 2026
• incredibleindia.gov.inhttps://www.incredibleindia.gov.in/en/uttarakhand/badrinath/hemkund-sahib · checked September 17, 2026
• etpb.gov.pkhttps://etpb.gov.pk/shrines/gurdwaras/functional/ · checked September 17, 2026
• sgsss.orghttps://www.sgsss.org/ · checked September 17, 2026
• ontariokhalsadarbar.comhttps://ontariokhalsadarbar.com/ · checked September 17, 2026

TravelDay selected and grouped these places. Naming a custodian, a government agency or UNESCO as a source is not a claim that any of them endorsed this journey.