Civil Lines Market (MG Marg)

Civil Lines is Prayagraj's most graceful commercial quarter — a rare example of a planned colonial-era "civil station" laid out on a rigid grid of broad, tree-lined avenues that still feels calm and orderly compared with the dense lanes of the old city across the railway line.

• Its spine is Mahatma Gandhi Marg, universally known as MG Marg, a wide boulevard flanked by long arcaded frontages, mid-century buildings and a steady rhythm of showrooms, cafés and bookshops.
• The neighbourhood took shape in the late nineteenth century as the administrative and residential district of what was then Allahabad, the capital of the United Provinces, and something of that unhurried, boulevard-and-bungalow character survives in the setbacks, the roundabouts and the generous pavements.
• For visitors, Civil Lines works best as a place to stroll, browse and people-watch rather than tick off a single monument.
• Allahabad has a long literary reputation, and MG Marg and its cross-streets have historically been the city's bookselling heart, with stationers, second-hand stalls and long-running bookstores stocking everything from civil-service exam guides to English and Hindi fiction.
• Around them cluster garment showrooms, footwear and textile shops, electronics stores, salons and old-style bakeries whose glass cases of biscuits, patties and cream rolls are a local institution.
• The Civil Lines bus terminal anchors one end, and the district doubles as a transit and meeting point, busiest on weekend evenings when families come out to shop and eat.
• The grid makes it exceptionally easy to explore on foot: pick a corner on MG Marg and walk the parallel avenues, dipping into arcades and side lanes.
• It also sits within easy reach of the city's heritage circuit — Alfred (Chandrashekhar Azad) Park, Anand Bhavan and the university quarter are all nearby — so Civil Lines is a natural base for a half-day of unhurried sightseeing, coffee and browsing.
• For pure-vegetarian eating, Civil Lines is comfortable territory.
• The district's old bakeries and confectioners turn out egg-free biscuits, rusks, cream rolls and patties (always ask for the vegetarian, eggless tray), while its pure-veg sweet houses and namkeen counters along and around MG Marg sell milk sweets, kachori-sabzi, samosas and dahi-based chaat.
• For a fuller meal, look to the vegetarian thali kitchens and South Indian dosa-idli cafés of the Civil Lines and adjoining Katra stretch, and refresh with plain (bhang-free) thandai, lassi or filter coffee.
• If you prefer a guaranteed all-veg kitchen, choose a clearly signed pure-vegetarian restaurant or sweet shop rather than a mixed-menu place, and confirm the eggless option at any bakery counter before you buy.