[shantanumishra]

Dear all,

I am currently in Gurgaon (originally working in Bangalore) with my parents and planning a trip to Gujarat & Rajasthan along with them, wife and 2 kids.

Need your help and guide in planning for the same. Plan is to basically visit Dwarka and Somnath temple and cover major cities in between. Post this, would be driving back to Bangalore, hence, this is the only window open to explore this area, though its Covid times...

Due to parents and kids, I have purposefully kept each day around 600 Kms, no plans to extend beyond it,

Below is a high level itinerary that I thought of, pls feel free to add/modify/drop any city.


Day 1 - 26th Sep - Start from Gurgaon to reach Udaipur (627 Kms).
Overnight stay at Udaipur

Day 2 - 27th Sep - Tour of Udaipur

Day 3 - 28th Sep - Udaipur to Ahmedabad (264 Kms). Spent rest of the day in Ahmedabad.

Day 4 - 29th Sep - Tour of Ahmedabad

Day 5 - 30th Sep - Ahmedabad to Dwarka (439 Kms)

Day 6 - 1st Oct - Tour of Dwarka

Day 7 - 2nd Oct - Dwarka to Porbandar (105 Kms).
Tour of Porbandar.

Day 8 - 3rd Oct - Porbandar to Somnath Temple (131 Kms)

Day 9 - 4th Oct – Somnath - Tour of Somnath. If possible, move to Diu (84 Kms) for overnight stay.

Day 10 - 5th Oct – Tour of Diu, Overnight stay in Diu

Day 11 - 6th Oct – Diu to Mount Abu (586 Kms)

Day 12 - 7th Oct - Tour of Mount Abu.

Day 13 - 8th Oct – Mount Abu to Gurgaon (724 Kms)


Can skip Mount Abu and include Statue of Unity, if its open at that time and can be accomodated.


I have kept 2 days (9th and 10th Oct) as emergency buffer, but really want to return on 8th Oct to Gurgaon.


Request your Inputs and guidance on the above, also, need hotel options and any extra Covid care that should be taken other than whatever is already known.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by shantanumishra

Request your Inputs and guidance on the above, also, need hotel options and any extra Covid care that should be taken other than whatever is already known.

No extra covid care over:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ovid-19-a.html (How to enjoy safe road-trips during Covid-19)

I had done the Udaipur route for my Kumbhalgarh trip - the return part was a nightmare in two sections (think deep craters every 200m or so) - about 10 odd km around:
1. midway between beawar and ajmer
2. 10km before jaipur from kishangarh side (city limits start signboard basically) - this place had ~250m waterlogging in which boleros were stuck so entire highway plus slip lane had to use the rightmost lane = chaos

Aside from that, the roads are makkhan till udaipur and you'll fly

My recommendation would be to plan meals at highway king (jaipur and bagru) but order it as a takeaway and eat outside!

I'm assuming your parents and kids are super cool with roadtrips given you are planning multiple 600km days. My wife and child have low patience and they were bored as hell.

Otherwise it is a sensible trip plan - i would budget some time for the parents to stretch their legs every 2.5 hours or for them to elevate their legs over their heart. I plan this with my mother whose now 75 - it quickly results in fairly low averages.

Your break planning is thus critical else

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by shantanumishra

Below is a high level itinerary that I thought of, pls feel free to add/modify/drop any city.

Day 1 - 26th Sep - Start from Gurgaon to reach Udaipur (627 Kms).
Overnight stay at Udaipur

Take - Beawar - Udaipur instead of Kishangarh-Bhilwara. I did both last month. Even though there is a patch of over 100 Kms that's single lane on Beawar route, the other one is being upgraded to 6-Lane and is a mess. If you start around 6 Am, with 2 Breaks, Breakfast, Lunch, you can easily reach around 3 Pm. So watch for speed interceptors around Jaipur. The first one that you may encounter will be 10-15 km before Bypass toll, then just after where it ends and a few more 3-5 km ahead. Sometimes, there are 2 interceptors just after a few kms of each other. They won't stop, but you can get E-challan.

Day 2 - 27th Sep - Tour of Udaipur

You can spend 2 days at Udaipur, lakes, walks and wonderful weather. I try to find a reason to head for a break. You can try Trident Udaipur or Udaivilas, both have some terrific deals.

Day 3 - 28th Sep - Udaipur to Ahmedabad (264 Kms). Spent rest of the day in Ahmedabad.

Factor around 6-7 hours as the road is under up-gradation and beyond Palanpur is a mess. Also, exit the highway when you are near to Gandhinagar, google normally routes via some internal roads before the main road. Can ask locals depending on your intended destination in Ahmedabad.

Day 11 - 6th Oct – Diu to Mount Abu (586 Kms)

This won't be possible. Google tells 14 hour, which is practically you may end up doing. I won't recommend. Don't discount the timings, google suggests. Mostly these are correct +- 10%.

Day 13 - 8th Oct – Mount Abu to Gurgsom)

Not possible with family. Google shows 13 hours. At some tolls in Rajasthan, it can get very tricky.

From your post, it appears, you want to take your parents to temples and also want to have fun days. Try to add more stops, even if that means skipping one destination. I won’t drive over 10 hours of drive with family.

If Abu Road is a must, check if you can do it next day after Udaipur. Mount-Abu is 2 hour drive from Abu-Road but you can go directly from Udaipur via Pindwara.

So, I will do a 2 stop journey from Diu, one day perhaps anywhere on the highway depending on the comfort level of family and the second night at Ajmer. There are some nice properties on Pushkar Road, like one from Taj.

I have no information about other routes, so have skipped comments.

[shantanumishra]

Let me rephrase my requirements so that experts can guide better...

Plan is to take my parents to Dwarka and Somnath temple while we are still in Gurgaon and before we move back to Bangalore.

While, enroute from Gurgaon to these places, wrote up the above itinerary.

My travel dates are from 26th Sep to 7th Oct, so, if experts can suggest some places in the route, preference is for historical and worship places. Detour of 50-100 Kms is not a major issue.

Have already been multiple times to Ajmer Sharif, so dont intend to include the same for this trip.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by shantanumishra

Dwarka and Somnath temple

Both are very busy temples. Somnath at least was managed better. Dwarka is a complete disaster. Crowds are totally mismanaged, same goes to Nageshwar.

There isn't much to see in Somnath apart from the Jyotirling.

Day 11 - 6th Oct – Diu to Mount Abu (586 Kms)

Would be too daunting.

Day 7 - 2nd Oct - Dwarka to Porbandar (105 Kms).
Tour of Porbandar.
Day 8 - 3rd Oct - Porbandar to Somnath Temple (131 Kms)

Nothing in Porbandar to put an overnight stay.

preference is for historical and worship places

You can stay at Patan/Mehsana and visit Modhera, Rani ki Vav, Becharaji. Ambaji is Enroute Abu.

Narara is a nice place to visit for kids, parents won't have anything to do though.

[urbanzameendar]

Hi Shantanu,

Being into tours and hospitality business, I think I can offer my couple of bits here.

Your route seems good till Udaipur. The problem i see is after Somnath. Believe me the national highways connecting Rajkot, Junagadh, Somnath, Diu and then Diu to Ahmedabad is in a really pathetic condition right now after the extreme rainfall the Saurashtra region received this monsoon season.

I would suggest an easier route, which we normally set for our own tour itineraries.

Instead of going to Ahmedabad initially, take the Palanpur-Radhanpur-Kutch route. Make a 1 or 2 nights stay in Kutch and proceed further to Jamnagar. If you don't plan to visit Kutch, then directly take the Samakhiyali Exit and proceed to make a night halt at Jamnagar and leave early for Dwarka the next day.

Leave Dwarka early and proceed to Somnath with Porbandar enroute. Stay at Somnath. Proceed for Diu after darshan of Mahadev. Now please be aware, despite Diu being just 90 kms from Somnath, it will still consume half a day of yours due to terrible road condition.

Once done with Diu, you may either choose to drive down to Statue of Unity or Ahmedabad. But beware, don't take the Diu-Bhavanagar-Ahmedabad route as this NH is getting six-laned and is in a terrible state. Take the Diu-Una-Tulshishyam-Amreli-Ahmedabad. State highways but drivable.

[shantanumishra]

Based on the feedback, I devised below route options as well,

Option 2

Day 1 - 26th Sep – Gurgaon – Jaipur – Ajmer – Beawar – Rajsamand - Udaipur (624 Kms), Overnight stay at Udaipur

Day 2 - 27th Sep - Tour of Udaipur

Day 3 - 28th Sep – Udaipur – Palanpur – Deesa – Radhnapur – Samkhiali - Jamnagar (611 Kms), Overnight stay in Jamnagar.

Day 4 - 29th Sep – Jamnagar – Motikhavdi – Khambhalia - Dwarka (132 Kms), rest of the day in Dwarka

Day 5 - 30th Sep - Tour of Dwarka

Day 6 - 1st Oct – Dwarka – Porbandar – Madhavpur - Somnath Temple (233 Kms)

Day 7 - 2nd Oct – Somnath - Tour of Somnath. If possible, move to Diu (84 Kms) for overnight stay, otherwise, do it next day early morning.

Day 8 – 3rd Oct – Tour of Diu

Day 9 – 4th Oct – Diu – Una – Tulshishyam – Amreli - Ahmedabad (376 Kms)

Day 10 - 5th Oct – Tour of Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar

Day 11 - 6th Oct – Ahmedabad – Godhra – Rajpuria – Barnagar - Ujjain (400 Kms)

Day 12 - 7th Oct – Tour of Ujjain

Day 13 - 8th Oct – Ujjain – Gwalior – Agra - Gurgaon (772 Kms)

[shantanumishra]

Option 3

Day 1 - 26th Sep – Gurgaon – Jaipur – Ajmer – Beawar – Rajsamand - Udaipur (624 Kms), Overnight stay at Udaipur

Day 2 - 27th Sep - Tour of Udaipur

Day 3 - 28th Sep – Udaipur – Palanpur – Deesa – Radhnapur – Samkhiali - Jamnagar (611 Kms), Overnight stay in Jamnagar.

Day 4 - 29th Sep – Jamnagar – Motikhavdi – Khambhalia - Dwarka (132 Kms), rest of the day in Dwarka

Day 5 - 30th Sep - Tour of Dwarka

Day 6 - 1st Oct – Dwarka – Porbandar – Madhavpur - Somnath Temple (233 Kms)

Day 7 - 2nd Oct – Somnath - Tour of Somnath. If possible, move to Diu (84 Kms) for overnight stay, otherwise, do it next day early morning.

Day 8 – 3rd Oct – Tour of Diu

Day 9 – 4th Oct – Diu – Una – Tulshishyam – Amreli - Ahmedabad (376 Kms)

Day 10 - 5th Oct – Tour of Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar

Day 11 - 6th Oct – Ahmedabad – Udaipur – Chittorgarh (374 Kms)

Day 12 - 7th Oct – Tour of Chittorgarh

Day 13 - 8th Oct – Chittorgarh – Jaipur - Gurgaon (544 Kms)

[urbanzameendar]

Do take a detour to Balasinor and visit the Dinosaur Fossil Park while on the way to Godhra from Ahmedabad. The kids would enjoy it. However check with them whether it's presently open or not due to covid situation.

Another suggestion, you may plan a Statue of Unity & Pavagadh visit as well. From Pavagadh, you may continue towards Godhra and eventually the journey to MP as planned.

[shantanumishra]

Originally Posted by urbanzameendar

Do take a detour to Balasinor and visit the Dinosaur Fossil Park while on the way to Godhra from Ahmedabad. The kids would enjoy it. However check with them whether it's presently open or not due to covid situation.

Another suggestion, you may plan a Statue of Unity & Pavagadh visit as well. From Pavagadh, you may continue towards Godhra and eventually the journey to MP as planned.

Though, I have this 3rd option open, my inclination is towards option 2....

I did contemplate Statue of Unity (No Indian would miss it), but 2 major deterrents,

1. Its still temporarily closed due to Covid
2. Its further South from my final destination of Gurgaon.

Most probably, I might go through option 2.

Now, I also need some guidance on hotel accommodations and food options, specially considering Covid, kids and parents above 60

[urbanzameendar]

Originally Posted by shantanumishra

Now, I also need some guidance on hotel accommodations and food options, specially considering Covid, kids and parents above 60

I would not recommend any less popular hotels / resorts during these times due to obvious reasons, it's a hit or miss. The chain hotels are relatively safer in terms of hygiene. You may choose from Fern, Regenta, Beacon or Sarovar Portico as you will find either of them at the places you are planning to visit.

Beacon has a good property in Jamnagar. Dwarka has a Vivanta by Taj. Fern is the best option in Somnath. Radhika Resort or Azzaro are 2 good ones in Diu. You may find plenty of chain hotels in Ahmedabad, for which you may do the research.

I am sure other members would be able to help you out with accomodation in RJ & MP.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by urbanzameendar

Being into tours and hospitality business, I think I can offer my couple of bits here.

Thanks for your valuable inputs. I travel to Gandhidham and Ahmedabad regularly but haven't visited Bhuj from the point of tourism. Can you share a link to some useful webpages about Rann of Kutch and other attractions?

[urbanzameendar]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Thanks for your valuable inputs. I travel to Gandhidham and Ahmedabad regularly but haven't visited Bhuj from the point of tourism. Can you share a link to some useful webpages about Rann of Kutch and other attractions?

Aah, it's a paradise. The Rann Utsav is scheduled to commence 12th November onwards. Although this year wouldn't witness the extravagance of the event due to limitation upon any event that calls for mass gathering including the Garba Mahotsav across the state. But nevertheless, you may still visit Kutch to witness the enchanting White Rann & Kalo Dungar.

Apart from these two attractions, you'll need an entire day for Mandvi. A full day for Mata No Madh, Narayan Sarovar, Koteshwar & Lakhpat. And ofcourse the city tour of Bhuj would consume an entire day too. All-in-all, a 3 Nights 4 Days trip would still be worthy even without the extravagant Rann Utsav event this year.

We have a resort right near the white desert and do plan out entire packages too. But I'm unsure about putting up my website link here, should it amount to advertising. Do let me know if you need any sort of assistance, I'd be more than happy to help.