To the religious minded people Mathura and Vrindavan are important and must visit places. Mathura is the birthplace of Lord Krishna and Vrindavan the rass bhomi.
These are basically the weekend places for Delhi. On Saturday you will find heavy rush at these places. Delhi and surrounding area people usually go by their own vehicle and it adds to the traffic congestion at these small places.
Mathura is approximately 150 km from Delhi on Delhi-Agra highway. Vrindavan is 130 K.m. from Delhi and before Mathura. On Delhi-Agra highway you hit Chatikara after 125 km and take a left turn for Vrindavan. It takes 2.30 hr to reach Vrindavan from Delhi border.
Once you take the left turn, you can feel the change. In spite of modern age constructions, there is something in air, which will change your mood and perception. When you are driving on this small road, on left side you will notice a lotus dome shaped building. This is a beautiful temple of ISKON, Bangalore and these people are running AKSHAY PATRA scheme under which food is provided to thousands of children, who are unable to go to school because of poverty or other reasons. Because of this scheme it is claimed that more and more children are joining schools. One must see the kitchen, where food in huge quantity is cooked. It is German machine plant. Roti machine can knead flour and make thousands of chapattis in short span of time. Steam process is used to cook nutritious food. Cooking process starts at 3-4 am and by 10 am food is loaded in vans and sent to various schools in Mahtura district. They have rooms available for stay but this place is bit far from city.
After this you come across the Raman Reti area, where you will find lots of ashrams and temples. I will restrict to temples of my choice only. First major temple we come across is of ISKON. It is a beautiful temple. Deities of Radha and Krishna are the most beautiful one and I have not seen such beauty anywhere. These are decorated with extraordinary dresses and flowers. One can imagine the efforts put in to do such shringar. Other than Sri Radha Krishna, there are ditties of Krishna-Balram and Nitai-Gaur. In right to the main temples Swami Prabhupada’s deity is there. There are many flower sellers outside the temple and have stocks of beautiful garlands of variety of flowers and of Tulsi. Prefer to buy Tulsi mala, as it is dearer to Krishna. After darshan one can have Maha prasad available at counters inside the temple or snack at cafeteria in temple complex. Rooms are available in ISKON temple for stay.
Before ISKON temple, there is parkrima marg, which goes up to river Yamuna. On this path you will come across various good places to stay. One of the best places to stay is Anand Van. This is beautiful complex of modern flats. Rooms are with modern amenities like A/c, attached toilets, and kitchen area with microwave. Rooms are spacious for 4 persons and are available for Rs.1, 000/- per day. This place has got its own restaurant with buffet system. Food is excellent and value for money.
After ISKON you enter in main city of Vrindavan. Preferred way of conveyance is on foot or Rickshaw. Don’t make mistake of taking your vehicle in town, as there are very narrow roads and rush. It is advisable to park vehicle at safe place and take rickshaw for visiting other temples. First temple to visit is Bankey Bihari mandir, which is world-renowned and is the most visited temple. There is always a heavy rush and you have to make your own way to have darshans. Take care of your belongings, kids and purse. From Bankey Bihari one can walk to the temple of Sri RadhaVallabh, which is another important mandir and belongs to Harivansh sampradaya. There are timings of all temples and you must ensure to visit the temples accordingly. Early morning darshan is called Mangala and it is recommended for Radha Vallabh mandir. This time you see the deity without any shringar and only with adhovastra. One will be mesmerized by this darshan and would not like to move. Another recommended time is evening. This time a group of people sings padas in classical form and it is known as samaj. Even to people like me who lack in knowledge of music, it attracts like any thing.
From RadhaVallabh mandir one can walk up to Sewakunj mandir, which is supposed to be the Rass lila place of Krishna, Radha and gopis. One has to pass through the bushes to reach temple and here it is only the photograph, which is worshipped. It is said that after the shayan arti no one can stay in mandir and if any one stays he either dies or cant explain what he saw previous night.
From SewaKunj one can go to Nidhi van, which is supposed to be the shringar place of Radha Krishna before making Raas Lila. There is smadhi of Swami Haridas ji who was teacher of Tansen the renowned singer in Akbar’s court. This is also very good place to visit. If one goes in late evening, one can see the dedicated people cleaning the grounds and places under the bushes for Radha Krishna.
The road form Nidhivan further goes up to Radha Raman mandir, which is again very old temple and is one of the neatest temples. It is said that Krishna here was very small deity and priest always complained that how he should do the shringar and one day the deity became big enough so that priest could enjoy shringar. This is not a big deity but is one of the beautiful one.
Apart from these there is never ending list of temples like shah ji ka mandir, govind dev ji, Rangji mandir, Kanch ka mandir, meera mandir, Katyani temple, Birla mandir, pagal baba mandir, Rama Krishna mission etc etc.
TIPS
Start early morning form Delhi to avoid traffic chaos at Faridabad, Ballabhgarh and tractor traffic on highway near the villages.
Keep program of minimum 1 night and two days.
While in Vrindavan never wear goggles or carry purse or important bags in your hands as the monkeys here are in strange habit of snatching these away from you.
Park your vehicle in safe parking and use rickshaw for visiting temples.
Don’t be tempted by Lassi shops in market, as these may be the source of stomach upsets.