West Godavari

Andhra Pradesh delta district of rice fields, canal villages, Shiva temples, and lace-making towns.

West Godavari is a district in Andhra Pradesh centred on the fertile delta of the Godavari River as it fans out toward the Bay of Bengal. It is one of the most productive rice-growing regions in India, and the landscape is lush and green — a network of canals, palm groves, and temple towns quite different from the drier interior.

The main town of interest is Bhimavaram, known for the Somarama temple — one of the five holy Pancharama Kshetras dedicated to Shiva. Further east, Narsapur is the centre of a lace-making industry that employs tens of thousands of women in the villages of the delta, producing work that is exported worldwide. The Godavari backwaters around Narsapur offer boat trips through a landscape of canals and palm groves similar to — but less touristed than — the Kerala backwaters.

Near Eluru (formerly in West Godavari district), the Guntupalli Buddhist cave temples date to the 3rd century BCE and contain what may be the oldest rock-cut circular chaitya hall in India. The site is rarely visited and atmospheric.

Guide

Things to Do

West Godavari district's main draws are its religious sites and its river landscape. The Godavari delta, where the river splits into multiple channels as it approaches the Bay of Bengal, creates an intricate geography of canals, islands, and palm-fringed riverbanks that is unlike anything in the drier interior of Andhra Pradesh. The Pancharama temples — five ancient Shiva shrines scattered across the delta region — are important pilgrimage sites with real architectural and historical interest.

The district capital Bhimavaram is the most convenient base. The Guntupalli cave temples near Eluru are a rarely visited Buddhist site of considerable antiquity and beauty.