[WheelWake]

Wow I love this thread!!
Exactly something that always comes to my mind around this time of the year.

With regards to recommendations based on my experience:

1)the very first proper road trip I did was to Kerala in my Chevrolet Aveo in 2008 with a couple friend. we visited Munnar, Thekkady, Periyar, Kovalam. we did stop over at Bangalore for onward and return journey. we still remember that trip so fondly and would definitly want to get back to Munnar (stayed at Deshadan, it had some best views) and Kovalam (stayed at then newly launched Leela at dirt cheap rates and that too it was last minute decision to visit Kovalam & Poovar).

2) the other recommendation is obviously to cover Goa and some of Karnataka. A similar circuit I had done 2 years back in summers (Coorg/Sakleshpur/Jog Falls/Belur/Wayanad/Ooty/Goa/Hampi/Bandipur). again we did a round trip that included Bangalore.

3) Rajasthan is something that I have done once covering Jaisalmer/Jodhpur on 6 day road trip. I am sure you can add in may be Chittorgarh/Mt Abu and of course Udaipur and stretch it to 15 days trip.

4)another side which I think sometimes get overlooked is Madhya Pradesh. May be include Aurangabad (but roads from Mumbai are very bad based on the last time i checked). I will do this in the next non-covid times and include Tadoba for safaris.

5) Finally, I am myself going to Goa on 11 day trip this time staying in a homestay. I guess nothing beats Goa. time will easily fly. I usually do North 4 days and then south 4 days if I have time. 10+ days will also be fine if you include any of the heritage/Old Goa visits etc.

Cheers
Happy driving

[VT-RNS]

Excellent thread.

While folks based in/around Delhi seem to have unlimited options closeby & can spontaneously head off in any direction, I believe that for folks based in/around Mumbai, we definitely have to plan a bit more in advance.

Here are some recommendations based on my past trips. I plan to write travelogues in due time (as I joined only this week):

1) Explore "tried & tested" Rajasthan:
Mumbai - Udaipur (1 day drive, 2-3 days to explore around and in city. Must visit Ranakpur temple which is couple of hours away)

Udaipur - Jodhpur (half day easy drive, 2 days to explore at a min. My fav city in Rajasthan. Lip-smacking food and easy to get lost in the old city walking about)

Jodhpur - Bikaner (half day easy drive, 1 day to explore Bikaner, and 1 day at Gajner Palace Heritage hotel which is 20 kms before you reach Bikaner. a real gem)

Bikaner - Jaisalmer (half day easy drive, and you can easily spend 3 days with Jaisalmer as the base)

Jaisalmer - Mount Abu ( 1 day drive, and 2 days at min in Mt Abu. I am a big fan of Dilwara temples)

Mount Abu - Mumbai ( 1 day drive, a little long)

Easily a 2 week trip, and you can add/subtract based on what you like. I have done Rajasthan couple of times now and I still want to go back again

2) Southern & Eastern Madhya Pradesh:
Parts of this trip were recently traveled (winter 2020), though it was part of a longer overall trip. Others were done separately, but am stitching them together based on overall experience. Furthermore, I am planning a trip to Maheshwar/Omkareshwar/Bhopal next month, so this is how i would go about it (and in some part, done it already):

Mumbai - Maheshwar (1 day drive, atleast 1 or 2 days to see around. you can do Mandu which is closeby as well, as is Omkareshwar, or that can be done in the return)

Maheshwar - Indore (2-3 hours drive, and 1 or 2 days to checkout Indore. What is more imp is the nights in Indore to try the Chappan Dukkan street food magic!)

Indore - Ujjain - Dewas- Bhopal (Start early, and cover the temples of Ujjain, Dewas and reach Bhopal in 1 day). Spend 1 max 2 days exploring Bhopal

Bhopal - Khajuraho (1 day drive. I did it recently and its largely good roads, though its 2 lane highway mostly). Atleast 2 days in and around Khajuraho. Loved it!

Khajuraho - Jabalpur (1 day drive) and enjoy Bhedaghat.

From Jabalpur, many options come up, depending upon what you enjoy:
visit Kanha Tiger Reserve
visit Pachmarhi hill station and tiger reserve
visit Pench national park

Depending upon where you go, you can return to Omkareshwar or Indore and from there make way back to Mumbai. And if you hit Pench, then you can return via Nagpur route too.

3) Northern Maharastra:
This is a trip i have done 3-4 times in multiple iterations. Sharing below the latest trip from Nov 2019.
Day 1: Mumbai to Nasik, visit key places and rest in Sula Vineyards.
Day 2: Explore Sula & surrounding lake in morning/afternoon and post lunch, we reached Shirdi (Another option is to go to Saputara)
Day 3: Shirdi Darshan and other temples if it interest you, though we still managed to reach Aurangabad by afternoon/evening.
Day 4: Ellora Caves & Devgiri fort (also known as Daulatabad). Ellora itself needs atleast half a day. And Devgiri fort is huge. Your stamina determines how much you want to explore!
Day 5: Aurangabad city caves, Mini-Taj Mahal etc. Relax a bit. Some very nice restaurants in Aurangabad this time when I visited vs many years back
Day 6: Ajanta Caves. The roads were fully under construction in 2019 Nov, so it was a nightmare. Took me 3.5 hours to cover 90 kms (one way). But the Ajanta Caves themselves are a sight to behold. Hopefully roads are ready by now.
Day 7: Drive to Paithan (i am a history buff, and it was capital of Satvahana Dynasty), Enjoy the Nath Sagar (Godavari Reservoir) and reach Ahmednagar at night. I stayed in Ahmednagar and saw some historical places due to my uncle being in Defence. You can skip if its not interesting enough for you
Day 8: Reach Bhimashankar and can spend a day/night, or travel along and reach Mumbai/Lonavala depending upon your preferences

My trip was 8 days and it was not taxing at all.

Hope this helps. Just some ideas based on my travels! happy to get feedback based on other's experiences

Cheers!

[humyum]

So its that time of the year again but this time we want to explore the North.

I have holidays from work from 15th October to 30th October and my mom, dad and me want to explore some amazing scenic hill stations. I know we are late but the leaves just got sanctioned.

Our aim is to stay at one or maximum 2 Airbnb's on the entire trip. Mom can't eat outside food for 15 days so only during the journey we will look at hotels but otherwise airbnb's where we can cook food and make her juice since she is jut 10 months in her cancer remission.

We want to travel at max 2000 -2200 km from Mumbai since if we set a higher distance like Mumbai to Leh, we will be spending 4-5 days going and 4-5 days coming back and will not get much time to explore the place.

Eagerly waiting to know the best options for us. I researched some places like McLondganj and Dharmasala but North is something which is a bit unknown to us so not able to decide.

[SweetCupcakes]

Hey! Did you guys decide on a destination? It would be nice if you could share any useful details as we are planning something similar.

Right now, our plan is something like:
Mumbai-Palanpur-Jaisalmer-Bikaner-???-Mcleodganj-Manali-Sissu or Jispa and return.

Our goal is to enjoy the Himalayan winters. I am unsure about the route from Rajasthan border as the google maps suggests going through Udaipur-Jaipur (which we've already covered).

[earthian]

IF you and your parents like jungles, Kabini is a good placea

[earthian]

Originally Posted by SweetCupcakes

Hey! Did you guys decide on a destination? It would be nice if you could share any useful details as we are planning something similar.

Right now, our plan is something like:
Mumbai-Palanpur-Jaisalmer-Bikaner-???-Mcleodganj-Manali-Sissu or Jispa and return.

Our goal is to enjoy the Himalayan winters. I am unsure about the route from Rajasthan border as the google maps suggests going through Udaipur-Jaipur (which we've already covered).

read this: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...l-pradesh.html (A drive to the Valley of the Gods - Kullu and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh)