Gaya is a city in Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.

Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River (Niranjana, as mentioned in Ramayana), it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions. It is surrounded by small rocky hills (Mangala-Gauri, Shringa-Sthan, Ram-Shila and Brahmayoni) by three sides and the river flowing on the fourth (western) side. The city has a mix of natural surroundings, age old buildings and narrow bylanes.

Gaya was a part of the ancient state Magadha.

Documented history of Gaya dates back to the enlightment of Gautam Buddha. About 15 km from Gaya town is Bodh Gaya, the place where Gautam Buddha got enlightenment. Since then the places around Gaya (Rajgir, Nalanda, Vaishali, Patliputra) had been the citadel of knowledge for the ancient world.

These centers of knowledge further flourished under the rule of dynasties like the Mauryans who ruled from Patliputra (modern Patna) and covered the area beyond the boundaries of the Indian subcontinent. During this period, Gaya was a part of the Magadh region.

Gaya has also immensely contributed in the Indian Independence Movement. It has also been a place of the Gandhian leader Bihar Bibhuti Dr.Anugrah Narayan Sinha. During the independence movement,the All india session of the Congress was also held which was attended by great illumanaries and prominent leaders of the Indian Independence Movement, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha , Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Nehru and Sri Krishna Sinha. jai parkash narayan spend months in patluka village in barachatti when he flew from hazaribagh jail in 1942

Gaya is located at 24.78° N 85.0° E. It has an average elevation of 111 metres (364 ft).

Gaya is well connected to the rest of India and the world by roadways, railways and airways.

Roadways
The Grand Trunk Road (NH-2, which is undergoing a revival under The Golden Quadrilateral project) is about 30 km. from Gaya city . Thus, Gaya is well connected to Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Hazaribag,Kolkata, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Delhi, Amritsar, and to the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Peshawar. The highway connecting Gaya to Patna,Gaya to Nawada,Rajgir and Bihar Sharif is now in a good condition.

Railways
Gaya is the second most important station in Bihar after Patna. It is a junction and is connected to the all the four metropolis New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai through Important Broad Gauge Routes (direct trains). Now it is also directly connected to Guwahati(N-E India) including the Grand Chord line. There is a direct non-stop train, the Mahabodhi Express from New Delhi to Gaya daily. It takes around 16 hours to reach Gaya from New Delhi through train. Mr. B.K. Narayan was the Chief Reservation Supervisor at Gaya Railway Station.

Airways
Gaya Airport is the only international airport in Bihar and Jharkhand taken together. It is an international airport connected to Colombo, Sri Lanka through two airline operators; Bangkok, Thailand; Singapore, and Paro, Bhutan. It is said to be being developed as a stand-by to the Calcutta airport. Gaya Airport is served by Indian Airlines for domestic flights and Sri Lankan Airlines, Mihin Lanka, Drukair and Indian Airlines for international flights. Thai Airways is planning a non stop flight to Gaya from Bangkok. The distance of gaya airport to National Heritage sites "Bodh-Gaya" about 5 Kilometers.

The staple food of Gaya is common to the rest of Bihar and Jharkhand. The other special preparations found in Gaya are typically traditional Bihari. The most popular of them include sattu, litti, pittha, pua, marua-ka-roti, bari-dal, sattu-ka-roti, baigan-bharta, sukhaota, etc.