[SJM1214]

Originally Posted by Torq

Hey guys, planning a trip to GJ in Jan 2020 from Dombivli.

Day1 looks good, If you can cover Dombivli to Statue of Unity and reach SOU during visiting hours, which are 0800 to 1800. Staying the night at SOU doesn't make sense. I suggest to drive 80km more from SOU and reach Baroda for night stay.

For Day 2, you should leave early from Baroda, visit temples at Dakor & Talod and aim for Shamlaji (215km 4hours, Baroda to Shamlaji). Plan a night stay at Shamlaji. This will save you one day.

Day 3, Reach Udaipur, visit Nathdhwara and come back to Udaipur.
Day 4, Visit Kumbhalgarh and come back to Udaipur.
Day 5, Visit Ambaji and reach Mt. Abu.
Day 6, Rest and Mt. Abu Sightseeing.
Day 7, Mt.Abu to Anand(or Baroda)
Day 8, Anand(or Baroda) to Home.

I have taken the liberty to utilize one extra day at Kumbhalgarh. If you don't want to do it you can skip it and go to Mt.Abu on Day4.

[laluks]

Dear BHPians, an acquaintance of mine Mr. Rohit has the following request. He is not a member here so I am posting on his behalf.

I am planning for a road trip from blr to rann of Kutch. Starting blr on 20th stay in Pune, 21 start from Pune and stay in Ahmedabad. Need your and forum experts to help plan the route. I have never traveled to these parts of India.

Please help him with suggestions.

[SJM1214]

Originally Posted by laluks

Please help him with suggestions.

It could be helpful if the number of days is mentioned. However, here is a basic itinerary of 4days trip Ahmedabad to Ahmedabad by self-driven car.

Day1: Leave early from Ahmedabad for Bhuj (330 km, 7hours), or drive up to Dhordo (412km). The roads are good.
Day2: Sightseeing, places like Kalo Dunger, Border, White Ran of Kutch.
Day3: A visit to Narayan Sarovar (115km from Dhordo). Drive to Mandvi from Narayan Sarovar (144km). Night Stay at Mandvi.
Day4: Mandavi sightseeing like Beach, Vijay Vilas Palace and drive to Bhuj. Night stay at Bhuj.
Day5: Bhuj to Ahmedabad and beyond.

[maximus.]

Below is the detailed plan. Driving in XUV3OO with wife & 8 year old daughter.
Day 1 : Start from Bangalore (Bannerghatta Road) 4:30 AM. Plan to reach Pune (IBIS Hinjewadi) by 7:00 PM - Please let me know if this is apt time

Day 2 : Start from Pune @ 4:30 AM and drive to Ahmedabad (Sanand Ginger). Is this start time fair enough to cross Mumbai and not hit peak traffic

Day 3 : Start from Sanand @ 5:00 AM and drive to Hodka (Shaam E Sarahad)

Day 4 : Enjoy in Shaam E Sarahad, Vighakot, Indira Bridge, Rann Utsaav

Day 5 : Start from Hodka and reach Dholavira (Rann Resort)

Day 6 : Go around Dholavira to cover Harrappa Civilization, Fossil Park, etc

Day 7 : Start from Dholavira and travel to Ahmedabad (yet to book stay. Any good hotel along with safe parking would really help)

Day 8 : Early Morning Start @ 6:30 and reach Modhera Sun Temple. Back to Ahmedabad

Day 9 : Early morning start @ 5:00 and reach Pune by late evening

Day 10 : Early morning start from Pune @ 4:30 and back to Namma Bengaluru

Please help in route planning as I have not travelled to this part of India and this will be my first long road trip

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by maximus.

B
Day 8 : Early Morning Start @ 6:30 and reach Modhera Sun Temple. Back to Ahmedabad

Day 9 : Early morning start @ 5:00 and reach Pune by late evening

Unless you have anything specific planned for Ahmedabad on Day 8, Modhera Sun Temple is only two hours drive from Ahmedabad. Rather than staying overnight at Ahmedabad, can you please review if you can reach Surat ? Night halt at Surat will cut next days's distance of Ahmedabad-Pune (650 kms.) to 414 kms. Further more, you can travel till Vapi if possible or Navsari and halt there. This will give you some headroom for next day.

[maximus.]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

? Night halt at Surat will cut next days's distance of Ahmedabad-Pune (650 kms.) to 414 kms. Further more, you can travel till Vapi if possible or Navsari and halt there. This will give you some headroom for next day.

Thank you sir! Since travelling from Blr, the halt in Ahmedabad is to showcase a different city and culture to my little one and just roam around the city in the evening

[jkrishnakj]

Day 1-you can actually hit Panvel by 8 pm or so. For Day 2: yes. A 430 am start will help you cross Mumbai traffic.

One thought - having going all the way there , you may want to cover Dwarka and Gir and Somnath. There is also an awesome Black Buck Resort as well.

What I did two years back was to fly to Ahmedabad and do a self drive using Myles. We could cover a lot of places. Just a thought that I'm bouncing off.

[ruzbehxyz]

Have planned a road trip to Kutch coming this weekend for 10 days.

I have a few questions:

1. How easy is it to get permits for Vighakot, especially since I am traveling with two kids aged 4 and 2?
What is the exact procedure and location to get the permits? If we have the Vighakot permit, do we still need to take permits for Kalo Dungar and White Raan considering they are enroute ?

2. Is it better to take Kalo Dungar, white raan permits online or on the spot considering the tourist season?
If we don't go to Vighakot, then can we visit upto India bridge on the normal White raan permit ?

3. If we stay outside the tent city somewhere near Dhordo, can we visit the tent city white raan area and the cultural areas, shops etc?

4. Do we need permits for Lakhpat, Koteshwar ?

[dmplog]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Have planned a road trip to Kutch coming this weekend for 10 days.

I have a few questions:

1. How easy is it to get permits for Vighakot, especially since I am traveling with two kids aged 4 and 2?
What is the exact procedure and location to get the permits? If we have the Vighakot permit, do we still need to take permits for Kalo Dungar and White Raan considering they are enroute ?

2. Is it better to take Kalo Dungar, white raan permits online or on the spot considering the tourist season?
If we don't go to Vighakot, then can we visit upto India bridge on the normal White raan permit ?

3. If we stay outside the tent city somewhere near Dhordo, can we visit the tent city white raan area and the cultural areas, shops etc?

4. Do we need permits for Lakhpat, Koteshwar ?

For Kalo Dungar and White Rann you can get it online (recommended for tourist season), at following

http://www.rannpermit.com

[akshay386]

Alart ! Alart !! Alart !!!

SH64 which connects statue of unity to Ankaleshwar (Till you joins NH 48) is in pretty bad shape. Lot of potholes, broken road and sometimes the traffic has been diverted to other side of the road making it as bidirectional road. Better avoid it, if you are traveling from Statue of unity to Maharashtra. I would suggest travel back to Vadodara from statue of unity and then connect to NH 48. Statue of unity to Vadodara road is butter smooth.

[Vasuki]

Friends, I am planning a bike trip to Gujarat from Kerala. I'll be reaching Ahmadabad on 13th January. I need to service my bike there and next two days being holiday would be staying there in the city. Service would be done on 16th. So can start leg on 17th morning. Planned like this because would like to enjoy kite festival in Ahmadabad on 14th. Also can visit some nearby places like Sabarmati Ashram and Akshardham temple.

Places would love to visit
1. Rann of Kutch and if possible border areas, is any permits required? Do we need to book them online or can these be obtained on the go. How many days required, there are multitude operators offering 2 days/ 3 nights package. Is it worth the buck? Yes would love to stay in tents.
2. Dwaraka & Somnath
3. Sasan Gir
4. Daman & Diu
5. Statue of Unity, would cover in the return leg.

How many days should I allocate to each place, can stretch 12 days(+2 days in case..) for these 5 places.

I know, I'm really late in posting this query, Thanks in Advance

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

1. Rann of Kutch and if possible border areas

White Desert has online permit. None of the other places in Kutch tourist circuit need permits (Kalo Dungar, India Bridge, Lakhpat). To visit Vigakot or Anda Bet you need to visit BSF Section HQ in Bhuj, you need to give it a day for process. Vigakot is 80 km north of India Bridge and bad roads as a part is a given Suhas has done this 2 years back.

Budget 3 days for Bhuj.

2. Dwaraka & Somnath

Somnath darshan is surprisingly quick. Dwarkadish temple is a mess, and Nageshwar crowd management is also a mess but not to the extent of Dwarka. We finished both temples in a evening, which gave us a full day for Narara that was tide sensitive. Staying 2 days in Dwarka also gave the flexibility of moving things around for Narara and Porbandar visit.

SoU, Dilwara was a disappointment for me. You can add Modhera, Patan, Little RoK. Ambaji, Becharaji if you are religiously inclined. I had 12 days in GJ excluding drive in and out.

One thing for sure, it will be drive/ride heavy trip. Ex-Kochi you should budget 8000-8500 km thereabouts home to home.

[earthian]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

How many days should I allocate to each place, can stretch 12 days(+2 days in case..) for these 5 places.

One night and two days should be quite enough for visiting the Rann. Hope you have tied up with the bike service center, since 14 and 15 Jan would be closed and attendance poor on 16th and 17th.

Ahmedabad-Gir-Somnath-Diu-Porbandar-Dwaraka-Bet dwarka-Bhuj-A'bad

Before i forget. Daman is near Vapi. If you really want to check it out, perhaps on your way back.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by narayans80

White Desert has online permit. None of the other places in Kutch tourist circuit need permits (Kalo Dungar, India Bridge, Lakhpat). To visit Vigakot or Anda Bet you need to visit BSF Section HQ in Bhuj, you need to give it a day for process. Vigakot is 80 km north of India Bridge and bad roads as a part is a given Suhas has done this 2 years back.

Budget 3 days for Bhuj.



Somnath darshan is surprisingly quick. Dwarkadish temple is a mess, and Nageshwar crowd management is also a mess but not to the extent of Dwarka. We finished both temples in a evening, which gave us a full day for Narara that was tide sensitive. Staying 2 days in Dwarka also gave the flexibility of moving things around for Narara and Porbandar visit.

SoU, Dilwara was a disappointment for me. You can add Modhera, Patan, Little RoK. Ambaji, Becharaji if you are religiously inclined. I had 12 days in GJ excluding drive in and out.

One thing for sure, it will be drive/ride heavy trip. Ex-Kochi you should budget 8000-8500 km thereabouts home to home.

Thanks for fast reply. Will do so, Yes it would be a long riding trip. We might drop Dwaraka, if it congested as you mention. Should I go for packaged tour @ Rann of Kutch?

Originally Posted by earthian

One night and two days should be quite enough for visiting the Rann. Hope you have tied up with the bike service center, since 14 and 15 Jan would be closed and attendance poor on 16th and 17th.

Ahmedabad-Gir-Somnath-Diu-Porbandar-Dwaraka-Bet dwarka-Bhuj-A'bad

Before i forget. Daman is near Vapi. If you really want to check it out, perhaps on your way back.

Thanks for fast reply. I have already contacted bike service centre and booked for service on 17th.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

Thanks for fast reply. Will do so, Yes it would be a long riding trip. We might drop Dwaraka, if it congested as you mention. Should I go for packaged tour @ Rann of Kutch?

Dude! Us family travellers don't do package tours, why would you do as a solo traveller on a bike?

You can look at the bhunga stay in Shaam e Sarhad. Suhas's travelogue (Wanderlust Traveller: Bangalore to the western frontier - White Rann, Vigakot, Lakhpat & Dholavira) is an excellent reference for planning. Your travel is overlapping with Republic Day, so please plan your stay ahead especially if its for Bhuj/Hodka.

My visit was day before Xmas in evening for Dwarka. If you are visiting off peak, it might be better. If you are not religiously inclined, you could skip it.