Amritsar and colloquially as Ambarsar, is a city in north-western part in India in the state of Punjab.

It is home to the Harmandir Sahib (commonly known as the Golden Temple), the spiritual and cultural center for the Sikh religion.

This important Sikh shrine attracts more visitors than the Taj Mahal with more than 100,000 visitors on week days alone and is the most popular destination for Non-resident Indians (NRI) in the whole of India. The city also houses the Sikh temporal and political authority, Akal Takht, as well as the Sikh Parliament.

The 2011 India n census reported the population of the city to be 1,132,761. The main commercial activities include tourism, carpets and fabrics, farm produce, handicrafts, service trades, and light engineering.

The city is known for its rich cuisine and culture, and for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 under British Rule. Amritsar is home to Central Khalsa Orphanage, and Pingalwara for destitutes.

Harike Wetland also known as “Hari-ke-Pattan”, with the Harike Lake in the deeper part of it, is the largest wetland in northern India in the Punjab state. The wetland and the lake were formed by constructing the headworks across the confluence region of Beas-Sutlej river.

The rich biodiversity of the wetland which plays a vital role in maintaining the precious hydrological balance in the catchment with its vast concentration of migratory fauna of waterfowls including a number of globally threatened species (stated to be next only to the Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur) has been responsible for the recognition accorded to this wetland in 1990, by the Ramsar Convention, as one of the Ramasar sites in India, for conservation, development and preservation of the ecosystem.

This man-made, riverine, lacustrine wetland spreads into the three districts of Amritsar, Ferozepur and Kapurthala in Punjab and covers an area of 4100 ha.

Conservation of this Wetland has been given due importance, since 1987–88, both by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and the Punjab State Government (through its several agencies), and over the years several studies and management programmes have been implemented. The rich biodiversity of the wetland, with several species of birds, species of turtles, species of snakes, taxa of amphibians, taxa of fishes and taxa of invertebrates, is reportedly unique.

Weekend Trip Plan – Amritsar – Golden Temple