Gujarat Science City is a science centre built by Gujarat government with the aim to showcase science through means of entertainment and draw more students to Science. It has an energy park, IMAX 3-D theatre, a hall of science having science exhibits, simulating thrill rides.
Reading this, you may be thinking that this place would be interesting. That’s exactly what I thought when I first read about this place. Being a science student in my school days, I was very excited about going to Gujarat Science City. I expected interactive exhibits with guides and an opportunity to understand science and have the first-hand experience of academic knowledge that I got in school.
Instead, I encountered the rude staff who were unwilling to start the ride or show, citing low participant numbers, poor quality 3-D show and vaguely described science exhibits without any guide/expert.
Gujarat Science city was part of my Ahmedabad Trip in 2017 fall along with my sister, her husband and their daughter. After checking out reviews on the internet and reading some positive reviews about this place, we decided to dedicate a full day to Science City.
We reached there around 10:30 on Thursday morning. There were hardly any people there. As the official park timings were from 10 to 6, we thought we came in ahead of time and others would follow shortly. As soon as we entered the park, the one thing that stood out was vastitude of the park which is spread across 107 acres of land.
We were strolling around the park and noticed that there were no proper signboards or map to guide the tourists to various park attractions. We found this to be erratic given the park size; anyone can lose their way and there should have been sign-boards guiding the visitors to the exit.
First, we came across the simulator rides; and we were told that they would not start until there are at least a group of 6 people. We thought of revisiting this later and moved in search of the new attraction.
After walking for a few minutes, we saw the board with Hall of Space written on it. We entered there and started to walk through the area. There were some satellite phone communication exhibits which I could not understand at all. Few phones were placed in a circle and by pressing some button in a phone would light up one of the other phones. Heck, I am not some 4-year old who would get happy by seeing a glowing phone. I expected some description or explanation for it.
There was “Walking on Moon” show in Space hall which staff refused to start citing the same 6 people rule. We asked a few people to join us but they reacted like they didn’t hear us. There were around 20-25 people at that time in the hall, and each one was just passing from one exhibit to others without spending any significant amount of time on one particular display. We could sense that no one had any idea what these exhibits are for.
Now, we had started to get frustrated by the indifferent behaviour of staff and started ruing our decision to visit Gujarat Science City. But we stayed on hoping for a better experience later on.
There was another floor in Space Hall and we decided to check it out. It has more science exhibits than the one on the ground floor but without any detailed description or professional guide, those were uninteresting and incomprehensible.
When we came out of the Space Hall and it was around noon and we went to the IMAX 3-D theatre to watch the “Island of Lemurs – Madagascar” show. Once again, we were told that the show was cancelled because of lack of people.
We walked around the park for some time looking for other attractions but we didn’t find any. There was not a single person visible in the vicinity whom we could have asked for directions. As we had planned the full day for Science city, we had nothing else to do. We thought of waiting until lunchtime and leave if nothing happens till then.
We sat under a tree and stayed there for some time and went back to simulator rides to see if they are ready to start. They didn’t and we moved back to IMAX theatre one more time. It was a few minutes past 1 and we were told that the 1 pm show (T-Rex) has already started.
“Finally, something happened”, we told ourselves. We took the tickets and went inside. To our dismay, 3-D glasses were pathetic, to say the least. The picture was blurry and was straining on our eyes. It felt like watching without 3-D glasses. When we came out of the show, we were almost on the verge of having a headache.
It was the final nail in the coffin and we made up our mind that there is no point in staying there. It was almost 2 PM and our stomach was starting to talk. We ate in the nearby cafeteria and left the place in disbelief.
Now I understand why we didn’t see many people there because I don’t think they get repeat tourist. Tourism industry works on word of mouth. Everyone visiting a new place, tell their friends and family about the experience. Good experience helps in bringing old as well as new traveller while a bad experience puts the brakes on tourist flow. As we were coming back from Science city in the cab, our driver also told that Gujarat Science City used to be popular around 3 years back but now it isn’t. I guess the government itself is not bothered by lack of crowd and is just happy by getting the occasional school group.
PC: Wikimedia Commons
They have a plethora of activities and exhibits that have the potential to attract loads of tourist each day. They just need to be organized. When I went there, it was chaotic and disorganized.
I could think of certain things, they should do:
- Signboards with clear direction after every few metres and the map of the park in front of each attraction displaying the current location and locations of other attractions.
- Adhere to the timelines of the show and not cancel it even for a single person. For rides, they should ask to wait for 10-15 minutes in case more people come and then, they should start it with whatever people they have.
- They can arrange the hourly guided tour for science exhibits. That way, people would be able to explore the exhibits by themselves after the tour.
Creating an infrastructure alone does not bring tourists, but making it more accessible to people and a little bit of hospitability sure does. I hope authorities understand that and rectify their shortcomings.
Gujarat Science City may never be able to achieve the popularity of Kankaria Lake Front because of being a niche attraction. But it also does not deserve to be neglected.
If you were planning to visit Gujarat Science city, do not skip it because I had a poor experience. Maybe it has changed and the situation is not the same or maybe it was just one of those unlucky days when anything we tried did not go our way or maybe it was just the case of going on weekdays.
Go visit Science City and let me know how it was.
Address – Gujarat Council of Science City, Science City Rd., Off S. G. Highway, Ahmedabad – 380 060
Phone – +91 7929703122
Official website – https://scity.gujarat.gov.in
Opening Hours – 10 AM to 7 PM
Have you ever been disappointed by a certain place that you were eager to see?
It seems like a great concept, It’s a shame they can’t put it to work. Perhaps, they might rethink after your honest review.
It is sad to hear about your experience. I agree with proper signboards being of great help. You can get lost without one. In most places across the world, they make sure you find your way without wasting precious time.
In India, people just don’t seem to understand that creating a tourist infrastructure is not just enough. It has to be people-friendly as well. India has such a huge tourism potential but loosing out due to authorities ignorance.
Thanks for sharing your honest review on this and I’m sorry you were left disappointed. I hope that someone from management sees this post and your feedback, and makes the changes you suggested.
Thanks, Catherine.
Such a shame. Seems like a good concept but clearly they are not able to execute it well. I agree with your suggestions especially about guided tours – what’s the point of having an exhibit without any information?!
Exactly. Information becomes even more important for science exhibits as not everyone is aware of science concepts.
Sounds like a very disappointing visit. Seems like the 6 people rule should be a bit more flexible if attendance is so low.
That’s so disappointing that the Science Center didn’t live up to your expectations. I like that you wrote very detailed examples of how they could make it better – I hope someone is paying attention!
Oh man, that’s a huge shame. The park itself looks amazing. The potential for tourist traffic is huge, just with the few suggestions you made.
Place looks very interesting and educational. But still costumer service is more important. Thank you for sharing this so people would be aware about it.
I looked at Tripadvisor reviews and they are mixed as you said. The positive reviews, however, arenot very detailed, so who knows what the expectations of the different reviewers are. Anyway, this one is off my list.
After reading your post i don’t think we will ever visit Gujarat’s Science City. Thanks for writing about it.
Oh what a shame!
I guess it is also a chicken or the egg situation. If they do not run the attractions, then fewer people will come. Then, as there are fewer people, they won’t run the attractions. I am sorry to hear you had such a rubbish time! 🙁
Darn this is pretty disappointing, especially since there are so many kids and adults who would be fascinated by science if it were presented in the right way. I hope they invest in some proper management and upgrading their features, seems like such a waste to keep it open and not be worth the trip!
Yes, Darby. It’s a great concept on paper to attract more students and even adults to science but like any other concept, implementation is key to success. Poor management and stupid rules have turned Gujarat Science City to failure.
It looks like a clear case if mismanagement. It opened well,bhad a great vision, but had pour exevutionm I wonder though why they did not have negative comments on the website. You should register one!