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Originally Posted by JoshMachine Day 1. Pune > Ahmedabad |
Make sure you leave as early as possible from Pune (no later to 0500). This will help you cross Mumbai by 0800) and help you beat the local traffic before peak time starts. 30 minutes earlier to this will be fantastic.
You can plan your breakfast at a lot of options after hitting NH8 post Ghodbunder. Like I always say, Mum-Ahmedabad is a food highway and you really need not bother on where to stop.
Vittal Kamat located before Manor will be around 40 minutes post Ghodbunder Junction. If not this, there will a lot more options to stop and with visible hints - Plenty of cars parked.
Ideally, Pune to Ahmedabad with an early morning departure will take anywhere between 10-12 Hours. Mumbai - Ahmedabad alone takes 7-8 Hours depending on traffic conditions.
Ankleshwar - Bharuch bridge mess and the art of tackling it:
If you didn't know, this one can be a huge time consumer if you get stuck ina Jam. Reason being that the main highway has 2 Bridges. One for North Bound Traffic and another for South Bound traffic over river Narmada.
However, the North Bound Bridge is new while the south bound one is very old (and weak). Hence, all the trucks and heavy vehicles are not allowed to take the south bound bridge due to its weak structure. They are instead made to take the North Bound bridge manned by cops on both the ends who allow only one way traffic in cycles from both sides.
The older & weaker south bound bridge is allowed for Cars and other local traffic. While the south bound traffic simply takes this, the North bound cars are made to cross the median and take the other side of the road and the bridge and join back on the main corridor at the other end of the bridge.
The Video below should give you an idea. The last 10 second of this Video is where you will notice me entering the old bridge while the trucks are all using the bridge on the other side.
Bottom line:
Something that I always do whenever driving here and which always worked till date. Check on googlemaps when you are nearing
this location. If you notice that the jam extends beyond a kilometer, you better take exit for Ankleshwar town, pass the Golden Bridge, enter Bharuch town and merge back onto the main highway.
This is the Golden Bridge that connects Ankleshwar & Bharuch Towns through an alternate road that one needs to take in case the jam on the highway is longer than usual.
The pain is generally less when heading south but again, it is always better to assess the traffic on Googlemaps which is almost accurate before exiting to Bharuch and joining back the main highway after Ankleshwar.
The pic below illustrates that:
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Day 2. Ahmedabad sightseeing
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Easy one. Based on your time and the fact that next day's drive won't be more than 8 hours, you can do good sight seeing here and am sure you will have all the POIs listed - Sabarmati Ashram, Adalaj Step Well, Swaminarayan Temple (Gandhinagar), Shopping near Law Garden.
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Day 3. Ahmedabad > Sasan Gir
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The route is simple and stick to this :
Ahmedabad - Bavla - Bagodara - Limdi - Chotila - Rajkot Bypass - Gondal Bypass - Virpur - Jetpur (Exit NH for Porbandar here below the Interchange) - Junagarh - Mendarda - Sasan Gir
4 Lane all the way till Junagarh, cross Junagarh City and then head towards Sasan Gir on single lane. Roads are fantastic throughout.
Look out for
Honest Restaurants and
HFM - Highway Food Mall when driving from Ahmedabad to Rajkot to Gir. Plenty of them now.
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Day 4. Sasan Gir Jungle Trail (6 am - 9 am slot) > Somnath (temple darshan) / Diu (beach) > Somnath
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The road from Sasan Gir to Somnath is again in excellent condition. It is a 2 lane road with occasional speedbreakers in the forest area but the road itself is good. So nothing to worry.
What I am not sure if the road to Diu from Sasan Gir. I have driven Sasan Gir - Talala - Prachi in January this year and that road was in excellent condition. Post that I am not sure but I assume that should be in good condition too.
So in case your destination is Diu first then you need to do
Sasan Gir - Talala - Prachi - Kodinar - Diu. Diu to Somnath is again good roads.
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Day 5. Somnath > Porbandar > Dwarka (temple darshan) > Jamnagar
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Easy one, No such concerns, roads remain in good condition. Based on the time taken for the Darshan at the temple in Dwarka, you can take a call whether you need to halt at Dwarka or at Jamnagar.
Dwarka will have lot of options while Jamnagar is a typical Gujarat City and will have regular Hotels to stay - President, Fortune Palace etc.
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Day 6. Jamnagar > Vadodara
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Jamnagar - Dhrol - Rajkot - Limdi - Ahmedabad Ring Road - NE1 - Vadodara - 415 Kms
The alternate is Jamnagar - Dhrol - Rajkot - Limdi - Bagodara - Dholka - Kheda - Nadiad - Anand - Vadodara - 379 Kms
The difference between the 2 is the one via Ahmedabad will also pass via NE1 while the alternate route will fork out at Bagodara before Ahmedabad.
Although Ahmedabad Ring road itself is not a pain to cross with new bridges done, you can take a call on which one you will prefer. In terms of timings, both will make a difference of 15-30 minutes.
Straightforward. Only advises -
- Do assess Googlemaps before nearing Bharuch and take a call whether to take Golden Bridge route via Bharuch & Ankleshwar towns or take the normal highway
- Make sure that you cross Mumbai between 1-4 PM which will help you avoid peak hour traffic
- Do not reach Mumbai around 10PM. You will be driving along with a sea of trucks soon after Ghodbunder and the check nakas and parked trucks will be too much to handle at night
- Do not enter Mumbai - Pune expressway after 11PM, I am sure you know why I say that - South bound buses along with usual trucks and trailers will crawl on those 8 kms nearing Lonavala and you won't be happy tailing them when your destination is only 60 minutes away
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Planning to book Ginger Hotels wherever possible.
Requesting suggestions / recent road updates.
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- Sasan Gir has Fern and Gateway as your options. They opened quite a while ago as I noticed them in January itself.
- Somnath will have Lords and Fern along with others
- Jamnagar as I mentioned above has President & Fortune Palace
- Vadodara - Unless you have solid reasons to stay inside the city, you can always opt for something close to the highway so that you high the highway as soon as you crank.
- Plazzo Resorts & Baniyan Paradise Resorts are popular places to stay by the highway here and Plazzo is a reputed name in Gujarat (Ahmedabad included).