# Golden Temple Sarai Room Booking > The sarais at Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib are the pilgrim rest houses run by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in and around the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, and a room in them is either allotted at a sarai counter inside the complex or reserved on SGPC's own booking site, sgpcsarai.com. The niwas differ from one another: the largest carries no room charge at all, only a refundable security, while those with attached bathrooms, geysers or air conditioning carry a daily charge. SGPC states that allotment is first-come, first-served against availability on the dates you want. - **Ritual:** Sarai Rooms - **Place:** [Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple)](https://sevahey.com/gurudwaras/golden-temple/) — Amritsar, Punjab - **Administered by:** Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Sri Amritsar, the elected body that administers Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib and its sarais - **Official booking portal:** https://sgpcsarai.com/ (sgpcsarai.com) - **This page:** https://sevahey.com/rituals/golden-temple-room-booking/ ## What Sevahey does not do Sevahey does not book sarai rooms. It cannot hold, reserve or resell accommodation at Sri Harmandir Sahib, takes no payment on SGPC's behalf, and has no relationship with the committee. If you want a room, the SGPC portal above and the sarai counters inside the complex are the only routes, and they are the only ones we would point you to. What Sevahey does is a different thing altogether, for the devotee who is not coming to Amritsar at all. ## Booking Sarai Rooms at Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) 1. Book only at sgpcsarai.com. SGPC's own wording is that this is the official website for room booking at Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib and that booking should be done from this website only. The committee does not appoint agents or apps to sell sarai rooms on its behalf. 2. Register an account first. The portal requires a valid email address and mobile number before you can make a booking, and your receipt is emailed after your bank confirms the payment, so use an address you actually read. 3. If the online facility is down, go to the counter instead. SGPC has taken the booking site offline for stretches over payment-gateway problems (it was down when this page was last checked in August 2026) and publishes a booking helpline on the portal itself for exactly that situation. The main booking counter is inside Guru Arjan Dev Niwas at the entrance to the sarai area, and the sarai reception counters are staffed around the clock. 4. Carry government photo ID for everyone staying, and a passport if you are a foreign national. Book in the names of the people who will actually check in. 5. Expect first-come, first-served. SGPC states that sarai booking is offered on a first-come-first-serve basis subject to availability on the dates you want. Around Gurpurabs, Vaisakhi and weekends the rooms go early, so have a fallback rather than a plan that only works if a room appears. **Timing.** The sarai reception counters inside the Sri Darbar Sahib complex work around the clock, so arriving in the middle of the night is not itself a problem. Check-in and check-out times are set per niwas at the counter. **Booking ahead.** SGPC does not publish a fixed booking window. What it does publish is that allotment is first-come, first-served subject to availability on your dates, so the honest advice is to reserve as soon as the portal will let you and to treat busy dates (Gurpurabs, Vaisakhi, long weekends) as the ones where you will need somewhere else to sleep if it does not come off. **Dress code.** Heads must be covered and shoes removed inside the Darbar Sahib complex; head coverings are available at the entrance. Tobacco and alcohol are not permitted anywhere inside. **Cost.** The niwas are not priced alike, and the structure matters more than any figure. The largest sarai carries no room charge at all (only a refundable security deposit) with common bathrooms. Niwas with attached bathrooms, geysers or air conditioning carry a daily charge plus a larger refundable security, and at least one also takes a small refundable fee for a locker. SGPC publishes the current amounts on its own sarai page and we deliberately print none of them here: the rates are revised, GST on this kind of accommodation has itself been publicly contested, and a stale number is the single most common defect in the pages that rank for this search. **Before you pay anyone.** This is one of the most impersonated bookings in India, and SGPC has said so repeatedly. Fake portals copy photographs of the Golden Temple and Saragarhi Niwas, add Sikh symbols, and ask for an advance by QR code, wallet or a mobile number; once the money is sent the numbers go dead. SGPC's sarai management has reported cases running into the dozens and has had at least one bogus portal blocked. The committee's instruction is blunt: room booking should be done only from sgpcsarai.com, and payment should not be made through any mobile number, QR code or online transaction on any other platform. Two smaller cautions worth knowing. SGPC's public sarai page is not internally consistent about how many niwas there are (the text says six, the list names nine, the tables set out eight) and the online portal and that page describe overlapping but different sets of buildings, so the counter is the authority on what is actually available. And the widely repeated rules you will see elsewhere, such as a two-night maximum or a families-only condition, do not appear on SGPC's own pages; we could not verify them and neither should you assume them. ## About Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) Harmandir Sahib is the holiest shrine in Sikhism, and the sarai around it is not an amenity bolted on afterwards, it is part of what the shrine is for. The same institution that feeds tens of thousands a day in the langar also houses them, on the principle that a devotee who has come this far should not have to find a bed elsewhere. The oldest of the rest houses, Sri Guru Ram Das Niwas, was begun in 1931; its foundation stone was laid by Sant Sadhu Singh of Patiala in January that year, and it still runs to 228 rooms and eighteen halls. Others were added over the decades, Guru Arjan Dev Niwas at the entrance to the sarai area, where the main booking counter sits; Mata Ganga Ji Niwas; Guru Hargobind Niwas with the Sri Guru Ram Das Library in its basement; Baba Deep Singh Ji Niwas by Gurudwara Shaheed Ganj Sahib; the New Akal Rest House; Mata Bhag Kaur Ji Niwas out by the bus stand; and a niwas for visiting sangat from abroad near the Akal Takht Sahib exit. SGPC's reception counters are staffed around the clock, which tells you what kind of place this is: a family arriving off a night train at three in the morning is not turned away for the hour. That is also why the demand outruns the rooms, and why a whole industry of impersonation has grown up around a booking that the committee has never charged an agent to make. ## What a Sevak can do instead The Sevak attends Harmandir Sahib, has your ardas offered in the names you give, listens for the day's Hukamnama and sends it back to you, and returns proof the same day, GPS-tagged photographs from the complex where photography is permitted, audio from the kirtan or ardas, the timing, and a handwritten note signed by the named Sevak. - **Seva:** Ardas & Hukamnama - **From:** ₹251 (a full seva is ₹899; booked in the Sevahey app) - **Performed by:** a verified, named Sevak - **Proof:** GPS-tagged photos, short video, audio where it applies, handwritten note — usually same day **Who books this.** Sangat abroad who cannot make the journey to Amritsar, families keeping a Gurpurab or an anniversary from another city, elders who once came every year and no longer can, and people who simply want an ardas offered at Darbar Sahib in a parent's name. **Proof.** Photography is restricted inside the Harmandir Sahib building itself, so the proof comes from where it is permitted, GPS-tagged photographs in the complex, the day's Hukamnama, audio, the timing, and a handwritten note from the named Sevak. Where the gurudwara restricts photography, the proof takes another form rather than the rule being broken. ## Questions ### How do I book a room at the Golden Temple? Rooms in the SGPC sarais at Sri Harmandir Sahib are reserved on SGPC's own site, sgpcsarai.com, or allotted at the sarai counters inside the complex, the main booking counter is in Guru Arjan Dev Niwas. Online booking needs an account registered with a valid email and mobile number. SGPC states that allotment is first-come, first-served subject to availability, and that booking should be done from its website only. ### Is accommodation at the Golden Temple free? Partly. The largest sarai carries no room charge at all (only a refundable security deposit) with common bathrooms. The niwas with attached bathrooms, geysers or air conditioning do carry a daily charge plus a larger refundable security. SGPC publishes the current amounts on its own sarai page; we print none here because they are revised and a stale figure is worse than no figure. ### What is a sarai at the Golden Temple? A sarai, or niwas, is a pilgrim rest house run by SGPC in and around the Sri Darbar Sahib complex. They include Sri Guru Ram Das Niwas (begun in 1931 and the largest, with 228 rooms and eighteen halls) along with Guru Arjan Dev Niwas, Mata Ganga Ji Niwas, Guru Hargobind Niwas, Baba Deep Singh Ji Niwas, the New Akal Rest House, Mata Bhag Kaur Ji Niwas and a niwas for sangat visiting from abroad. Reception counters are staffed around the clock. ### Is the SGPC sarai booking website working? Online sarai booking at the Golden Temple has not been continuously available. SGPC has taken sgpcsarai.com offline for periods because of payment-gateway problems, and it was offline when this page was last checked in August 2026, with the committee directing sangat to a booking helpline published on the site. Rooms continue to be allotted at the sarai counters in the meantime. A site that is taking your money for a Golden Temple room while the official portal is down is not the official portal. ### How long can I stay in a Golden Temple sarai? We cannot tell you honestly, and neither can most of the pages that do. A two-night maximum and a families-only rule are widely repeated online, but neither appears on SGPC's own published sarai pages, so we are not going to state them as fact. Ask at the counter or on the SGPC helpline, and treat any confident figure elsewhere as unverified. ### Are the sites offering Golden Temple room booking genuine? Many are not. SGPC has publicly warned that fake portals copy photographs of the Golden Temple and Saragarhi Niwas, add Sikh symbols, and take advance payment through QR codes, wallets or mobile numbers before going silent; cases have run into the dozens and SGPC has had a bogus portal blocked. The committee's instruction is that booking should be done only at sgpcsarai.com and that payment should not be made through any other platform, mobile number or QR code. ### Can Sevahey book a room at the Golden Temple for me? No. Sevahey does not book sarai rooms, cannot hold or resell accommodation at Sri Harmandir Sahib, and takes no payment on SGPC's behalf. What Sevahey does is different: if you cannot travel to Amritsar at all, a verified Sevak offers your ardas at the Golden Temple in your name and sends you same-day proof. ### What can a Sevak do at the Golden Temple if I cannot travel? A verified Sevak attends Harmandir Sahib, has your ardas offered in the names you give, sends back the day's Hukamnama, and returns same-day proof, GPS-tagged photographs from where photography is permitted, audio, the timing, and a handwritten note. An Ardas & Hukamnama starts from ₹251, and a full seva is ₹899. Sevahey is a service platform. It does not promise a spiritual, medical, financial, legal, or personal outcome from any prayer, seva, or ritual.