[ObsessedByFIAT]

Hi All,

A long weekend is around the corner and I am planning for a visit to Palitana with my family.

Since I have four days to spend on this long weekend, I would like to know which places can be visited in Palitana and any other suggestions for maybe Gandhi nagar, Ahmedabad etc.

For now, I have zeroed on the following places. Would like suggestions from you all to fine tune it:

1. Day 1: Pune to Surat - Halt
2. Day 2: Surat to Ahemdabad (Kankaria lake, Akshardham, Adalaj nu vav, Sabarmati Ashram) -- Can all these places be done in one day??
3. Day 3: Ahemdabad to Palitana. (Jain temples and local site seeing, need options here)
4. Day 3: Palitana to Surat - Halt
5. Day 4: Surat to Pune by late evening.

I am the only one to take up the driving seat. So please suggest accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

(Mod team: Though I searched and found a few threads about Ahemdabad, Did not find anything specific for Palitana. If you feel this post needs to be merged with another one, please do)

Cheers!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

Hi All,

A long weekend is around the corner and I am planning for a visit to Palitana with my family.

Since I have four days to spend on this long weekend, I would like to know which places can be visited in Palitana and any other suggestions for maybe Gandhi nagar, Ahmedabad etc.

For now, I have zeroed on the following places. Would like suggestions from you all to fine tune it:

1. Day 1: Pune to Surat - Halt
2. Day 2: Surat to Ahemdabad (Kankaria lake, Akshardham, Adalaj nu vav, Sabarmati Ashram) -- Can all these places be done in one day??
3. Day 3: Ahemdabad to Palitana. (Jain temples and local site seeing, need options here)
4. Day 3: Palitana to Surat - Halt
5. Day 4: Surat to Pune by late evening.

I am the only one to take up the driving seat. So please suggest accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

(Mod team: Though I searched and found a few threads about Ahemdabad, Did not find anything specific for Palitana. If you feel this post needs to be merged with another one, please do)

Cheers!

You could check this thread for more details:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...onal-park.html

[SS-Traveller]

If you are visiting Palitana, be prepared for trudging up over 3500 steps to visit the Jain temples at the top of the hill. It will take a full day to do that, and once you complete the climb and come back, don't expect to be in great shape physically to drive back to Surat immediately afterwards. You could of course hire a 'doli' to carry you up and down.

Also, I don't know of any regular hotels there - accommodation is in 'dharamshalas', unless hotels have opened up recently.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Thanks for your suggestion guys! Appreciate it!

@SS-Travller: Like you said, after climbing up (and down) 3500 steps, sure I am not going to be in a good shape! So we are also shooting around the idea of hiring a mini bus or some vehicle which can carry ten people in comfort.
Plan is to drive upto Ahemdabad and hire some vehicle from there. lets see how it works out.

Will update the thread on my return!

Cheers!

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

1. Day 1: Pune to Surat - Halt
2. Day 2: Surat to Ahemdabad (Kankaria lake, Akshardham, Adalaj nu vav, Sabarmati Ashram) -- Can all these places be done in one day??
3. Day 3: Ahemdabad to Palitana. (Jain temples and local site seeing, need options here)
4. Day 3: Palitana to Surat - Halt
5. Day 4: Surat to Pune by late evening.

Hello Friend,

I went to palitana two years back & belowe are my suggestion:

1. Day 1 - Pune to Surat - OK. Approx 500 KMs. Now Pune to Ahmedabad is approx 700 kms & easily can be done in a day. Hope you know Barida to ahmedabad is via a Expressway (at par with Mumbai-Pune E'way) & can be covered in almost 1 to 1.5 hours. This will help you to start sight seeing Ahmedabad on Day 2 morning.

Day 2 - If you are driving from Surat, covering all the places mentioned in Ahmedabad will be difficult.

Day 3 - Ahmedabad - Palitana - approx 220 KMS. Now at Palitana, you will have to climb 3500 steps, which is generally advised to start in morning. Also there are a large number is guest houses run by Jain trusts available.

Day 4 - I will suggest to take a night rest at Palitana on Day three & then start for Pune on Day 4 early morning which is approx 800 kms.

Thanks,

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello Friend,

I went to palitana two years back & belowe are my suggestion:

1. Day 1 - Pune to Surat - OK. Approx 500 KMs. Now Pune to Ahmedabad is approx 700 kms & easily can be done in a day. Hope you know Barida to ahmedabad is via a Expressway (at par with Mumbai-Pune E'way) & can be covered in almost 1 to 1.5 hours. This will help you to start sight seeing Ahmedabad on Day 2 morning.

Day 2 - If you are driving from Surat, covering all the places mentioned in Ahmedabad will be difficult.

Day 3 - Ahmedabad - Palitana - approx 220 KMS. Now at Palitana, you will have to climb 3500 steps, which is generally advised to start in morning. Also there are a large number is guest houses run by Jain trusts available.

Day 4 - I will suggest to take a night rest at Palitana on Day three & then start for Pune on Day 4 early morning which is approx 800 kms.

Thanks,

Hi Jignesh!

Thank you for your inputs!

The reason I am taking a halt on day 1 itself in Surat is because my in lwas stay there. So we are planning to move out of Surat the next day.

For rest of the days, as you have suggested, the itenary is more or less the same. (Might skip a few places from Ahemdabad) Those 3500 steps is what is worrying me a bit though! With 2 senior citizens, two middle aged, four young (including me!!) and two less than three years, it is really going to be difficult! But whats life without difficulties!!!

Off for the trip tomorrow morning. Will update on my return!

Cheers!

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

Off for the trip tomorrow morning. Will update on my return!

Hello,

Wish you are wonderful Tirth Yatra at the Satrunjay Mahatirth, Palitana.

For senior citizens in your group, they can avail Doli services if they cannot climb all the steps. For middle aged & young people there is no problem & one can easily climb these 3400 steps.

Also just for your information there are approx 27000 idols at Palitana mountain alone. Also if time permits there are many beautiful Jain temples within 50 kms of Palitana.

Thanks,

[ObsessedByFIAT]

I am back from the trip (Yesterday night). Though there were a lot changes to the plan made at run time, still, it was one of those memorable trips I had with my family.

I will be putting down the details over the weekend as I might not be able to get much time to compile it in the rest of the week. :(

Just a few highlights:

--Total of 1700 KM drive. (Solo driver!)
--Two wonderful highways (NH8 and NE1), and a state highway: SH 88
-- Four cities (Surat, Ahemdabad, Vadodara, Bardoli (Mahuva))
-- Had to skip the Palitana plan as majority of the family decided against it. :(

More details coming out shortly!

Thanks a lot everyone for putting in their thoughts and suggestions!

Cheers!

[mo1]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

I am back from the trip (Yesterday night). Though there were a lot changes to the plan made at run time, still, it was one of those memorable trips I had with my family.

I will be putting down the details over the weekend as I might not be able to get much time to compile it in the rest of the week. :(

More details coming out shortly!

Hello,
I am planning for a similar trip either in Nov or Dec.
Pune-A'bad-Palitana-Pune in 4 days.
Looking forward to your tour-blog.
Thanks in advance!

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by mo1

Hello,
I am planning for a similar trip either in Nov or Dec.
Pune-A'bad-Palitana-Pune in 4 days.
Looking forward to your tour-blog.
Thanks in advance!

I know I have not been able to post the details of my journey yet. Sincere apologies for that. Some or the other thing kept coming up.

So my plan initially was to start early from Pune (4:00 AM) and reach Surat by 11:00 AM. Spend the rest of the day there and then proceed for Palitana on the next day. While returning, wanted to visit attractions in Ahemdabad and Gandhinagar.

However, this is what actually happened!

Day 1:
1. Started off from Pune at 7:30 AM
2. Reached Surat by 5:00 PM (Got stuck up in the Sachin by pass due to Ganesh Visarjan processions)
3. Spent rest of the day in Surat.

Day 2:
1. Started off from Surat at around 6:00 AM
2. Reached Akshardham by 11:00 AM (Monday Akshardham is closed. Currently some renovation work is going on, so the main idol was all covered up.)
3. Started off from Akshardham around 5:00 PM and went straight to Adlaj nu vav.
4. By then, kids and parents were all tired and wanted to some rest. So went straight to our bunk. Reached there by around 7:00 PM. Had food and went off to sleep.

Day 3:
1. Next day, a late start (at around 9:30 AM), went straight to Pava Garh. Again disappointed as the rope way (Which was an attraction for the kids) was closed for maintenance. :(
2. Finally, by 2:00 PM we had our lunch in Baroda followed by a visit to the zoo, which the kids enjoyed thoroughly!
3. Started off from Baroda at around 6:00 PM and reached Surat by 9:30 or 10:00 PM. Straight to bed.

Day 4:
1. Started off at around 9:30 AM and went straight to Mahuva (near Bardoli, crossing Kamrez).
2. From there we started off at around 1:30 PM and straight to Pune by 8:30 PM (or so).

Had to completely leave out Palitana as there are some 3000 steps to be climbed and with old parents and small kids, it was a herculean task. Moreover you would need atleast two full days to visit maximum temples out there.

Though I had kept all the toll receipts and other bills, but I am not able to locate them now. :(

Onething for sure though! Keep a lot of loose money handy. There are plenty of tolls.

Road conditions:
Pune to Mumbai Express way: Good condition.
Mumbai to Surat: Good condition.
Surat to Baroda: Excellent condition. (Go through Ankleshwar town to avoid the Narmada bridge traffic if you planning to hit the town during day time.)

Baroda to Ahemdabad: Best road you can drive on! National Express Highway1. The top speed limit is 100 KMPH! Look out for a couple of good sign boards along the way. One of them read : "Welcome to NE1, the joy ride" (or something similar)

The roads inside the city are also in good condition.

Hope this helps!

All the best for your journey!

Chees!