Sabarmati Ashram

About 5km from the centre, peacefully set on the river Sabarmati's west bank, this ashram was Gandhi’s headquarters during the long struggle for Indian independence. He founded the ashram in 1915 and it moved to its current site a few years later. It was from here on 12 March 1930 that Gandhi set out on his famous Salt March to the Gulf of Cambay in a symbolic protest. Handicrafts, handmade paper and spinning wheels are still produced on the site. There’s a paper factory over the road that’s worth a look (ask at the ashram for permission). Gandhi’s poignant, spartan living quarters are preserved and there’s a pictorial record of his life. The library contains the letter sent by Gandhi to Hitler on 23 July 1939 asking him to pull back from war. Gandhi was imprisoned at Sabarmati Jail, just down the road, in 1922.