Surat

Surat is a popular port city in the state of Gujarat. The Indian city is located at 20.58° N latitude and 72.54° E longitude. The city is famed for its textile and diamond businesses. According to an estimate, three-quarters of the world's diamonds are cut and polished in Surat. Diwali, Makar Sankranti and Ganesh Chaturthi are the most celebrated festivals.

Demographics
According to the popular survey conducted in the year 2005, Surat and its metropolitan area has a population of approximately 3.6 million. The city has 773 females for every 1000 males, with a high literacy rate of 83%.

Climate of Surat
The climate in Surat is tropical with abundant monsoon showers. The city receives rainfall close to 2500 mm a year. The temperature in winter varies between 12 to 32 degrees and in summers it goes up to a max of 40 degrees. Although one can visit the city during any season, but the best time is between October and March.

How to Reach Surat
The Prominent city of Indian state of Gujarat is very well connected with other regions and states through rail and road. The city does not have an airport, the nearest one being in Vadodara (Baroda) approximately 140 kms away from the city.
Surat is an important station on the Western Railway's network and is well connected to all important parts of the country. It is also connected to all parts of Gujarat through national highways.

The distances to some important cities and towns from Surat are:

• Ahmedabad 267 km
• Baroda 140 km
• Mumbai 326 km
• Bhavnagar 422 km
• Junagarh 550 km
• Jamnagar 531 km
• Bhuj 619 km
• Palanpur 434 km

Surat city has a local city bus system and private auto rickshaws to meet the transportation needs of the public. A large number of road engineering projects are being undertaken to meet the needs of the thriving diamond and textile industry.

Important Tourist Destinations
Some of the popular and significant places in the city are:

• The Old Fort
• Textile Market
• Dutch Garden
• Sardar Patel Museum
• Rangupavan

Education in Surat
Surat has a number of educational institutions including schools and colleges. Most of the schools have Gujarati language as the medium of instruction. The schools are a part of the Gujarat State Education Board. Certain schools like Delhi Public School are affiliated to CBSE.
Surat has a large number of colleges, providing graduate and post graduate degrees in various fields. These colleges are under the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University. The MTB Arts and PT Science colleges are among the oldest in the state of Gujarat.

Economy of Surat
Surat is known to be the heart of diamond polishing industry in India. It is the largest export earner for the country in terms of diamond business. The city is also an industrial hub for natural and synthetic fibres and fabrics. It makes a significant contribution of about 28% to the synthetic fibre output and around 40% of the natural fabric output.