[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by mayankk

When you say bumpy, was it bumpy in your Safari too?
And is it bad in a longish stretch, or for just a bit?
Im taking the tucson, so i suppose bumpy could be tolerable, but not so much.

By bumpy I do not mean potholed. I mean those wavy village roads with long undulations. Not so good in a safari, but okay in other vehicles like sedans and non boat like vehicles.

[recker_us]

Thanks a lot for all your advice.
I would take the jaipur- ajmer bypass - Beawer - Jodhpur - Pokhran - Jaisalmer route. Also I am planning to extend it to Gujrat.
Here is how my itinerary looks like. Please advice on places to seeing between Jaisalmer and Ahmedabad.

9th: Friday:Leave Shanghai.
10th: Sat : Reach Jaipur. Start on tour late afternoon (around 4pm). Halt at Jodhpur.
11th:(Sun): Local sightseeing in Jodhpur. Reach Jaisalmer by evening.
12th (Mon): Local sightseeing and reach Sam by afternoon.
13th (Tuesday) : Another day in Sam.
14th(Wednesday): Drive to Ahmedabad. Stop for good places enroute.
15th: Ahmedabad and sightseeing.
16th:Friday: Fly to Bangalore

Need your advice on this itnerary.. Also looking for your guidance on place to stay in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.

Thanks a lot again for your inputs..

[stormerider]

Originally Posted by recker_us

10th: Sat : Reach Jaipur. Start on tour late afternoon (around 4pm). Halt at Jodhpur.
11th:(Sun): Local sightseeing in Jodhpur. Reach Jaisalmer by evening.
12th (Mon): Local sightseeing and reach Sam by afternoon.
13th (Tuesday) : Another day in Sam.
14th(Wednesday): Drive to Ahmedabad. Stop for good places enroute.
15th: Ahmedabad and sightseeing.

might keep a day for Jaipur, there are many places of tourist interest and shopping for Ladies .
Jodhpur 1 day is good, start early, mehrangarh fort, ummaid bhavan palace.
Jaisalmer, sam is same on almost every day so if you have been there for 1 night, I suggest don't even bother to go again as the camel ride, dances and bonfire are the same itinerary. Instead keep 1 full day for fort and havelis and local sight seeing.
on your way to Ahmedabad, you might not have time for places enroute if you want to reach in a day.
Jaisalmer has a lot of hotels and guest houses within every budget, my suggestion, reach there a bit early and look for a decent place in your budget and Negotiate hard. We had paid only 5k for a package publicized for 10k over the internet!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by recker_us

Thanks a lot for all your advice.
I would take the jaipur- ajmer bypass - Beawer - Jodhpur - Pokhran - Jaisalmer route. Also I am planning to extend it to Gujrat.
Here is how my itinerary looks like. Please advice on places to seeing between Jaisalmer and Ahmedabad.

9th: Friday:Leave Shanghai.
10th: Sat : Reach Jaipur. Start on tour late afternoon (around 4pm). Halt at Jodhpur.
11th:(Sun): Local sightseeing in Jodhpur. Reach Jaisalmer by evening.
12th (Mon): Local sightseeing and reach Sam by afternoon.
13th (Tuesday) : Another day in Sam.
14th(Wednesday): Drive to Ahmedabad. Stop for good places enroute.
15th: Ahmedabad and sightseeing.
16th:Friday: Fly to Bangalore

Need your advice on this itnerary.. Also looking for your guidance on place to stay in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.

Thanks a lot again for your inputs..

Instead of two days in Sam,you can do a trip to Tanot and back to Jaisalmer,its a better experience than Sam.

Jaisalmer-AMD via NH15(Barmer-Sanchore-Tharad)is very poor on facilities.The only place to eat is at Barmer.budget for a 10hr drive.

[recker_us]

I got some feedback on net that people suggested staying in a real village within a kilometer of Sam rather than staying in the touristy, noisy Sam. I have no idea how touristy or noisy it is.. but would you suggest doing that wen travelling with family?? and are there decent places to stay near Sam?

Also just thinking whether it would be possible to visit Rann of kutch if I add a day or two to the itinerary?

[mayankk]

I'm on the road to balesar heading toward jaisalmer. I came via beawar -bar. Till beawar, it was fantastic, but it's just rotten after that. Rutted two lane highway, nh 114.
Have I taken the wrong route? It's scenic alright, but that's about it. Should I head back via the bikaner route?

[stormerider]

Originally Posted by mayankk

I'm on the road to balesar heading toward jaisalmer. I came via beawar -bar. Till beawar, it was fantastic, but it's just rotten after that. Rutted two lane highway, nh 114.
Have I taken the wrong route? It's scenic alright, but that's about it. Should I head back via the bikaner route?

Some part of Jodhpur jaisalmer highway is bad initially, should get better. 6 lane till beawar is complete, hence it's a breeze, should get good carpeted 4 lane to jaisalmer also. Should be better as you near pokharan.
Keep on this track, bikaner track is pathetic at this time, trust me you don't want to take that one.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by stormerider

Some part of Jodhpur jaisalmer highway is bad initially, should get better. 6 lane till beawar is complete, hence it's a breeze, should get good carpeted 4 lane to jaisalmer also. Should be better as you near pokharan.
Keep on this track, bikaner track is pathetic at this time, trust me you don't want to take that one.

Really?
Well, this started after beawar, and didn't end till about 20klicks from pokaran. Seriously bad road.

[stormerider]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Really?
Well, this started after beawar, and didn't end till about 20klicks from pokaran. Seriously bad road.

So I believe that's the latest condition! Might be the result of rains this season, especially last fortnight. Otherwise in general this road is always great because of army movements also.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by stormerider

So I believe that's the latest condition! Might be the result of rains this season, especially last fortnight. Otherwise in general this road is always great because of army movements also.

That might be why. It rained throughout the drive, from Jaipur to jaisalmer. Spatter to torrential.
It got scary at points between pokaran and jaisalmer. The road is unlit, and all of a sudden there would be a stream 10-12 feet across, going over the road. I'm sure the drive is lovely during the day.


Anyway, so you say up should not even consider the route via bikaner?

[gd1418]

Till Beawar the road is good because of the NH8/GQ. Beawar to Bar is NH 14 and not 114 as you mentioned. Then from Bar you turn right on NH 112 towards Jodhpur.

Jaisalmer - Bikaner via Phalodi is a very scenic route and Bikaner offers you the famous Junagarh Fort and delicious Rasgullas..!

Originally Posted by mayankk

I came via beawar -bar. Till beawar, it was fantastic, but it's just rotten after that. Rutted two lane highway, nh 114.

Have I taken the wrong route? It's scenic alright, but that's about it. Should I head back via the bikaner route?

[stormerider]

Originally Posted by mayankk

That might be why. It rained throughout the drive, from Jaipur to jaisalmer. Spatter to torrential.
It got scary at points between pokaran and jaisalmer. The road is unlit, and all of a sudden there would be a stream 10-12 feet across, going over the road. I'm sure the drive is lovely during the day.

Anyway, so you say up should not even consider the route via bikaner?

The streams and rains explain the condition then.
Jaipur Bikaner stretch has construction going on, and with the rainy season, I believe that will become your worst travelled road or something like that! Hence will suggest to keep off it.

Originally Posted by gd1418

Till Beawar the road is good because of the NH8/GQ. Beawar to Bar is NH 14 and not 114 as you mentioned. Then from Bar you turn right on NH 112 towards Jodhpur.

Jaisalmer - Bikaner via Phalodi is a very scenic route and Bikaner offers you the famous Junagarh Fort and delicious Rasgullas..!

, but NH 114 as he mentioned about balesar is after jodhpur towards pokharan.

[gd1418]

@stormerider what you say is true but read Mayankk's post carefully. He said that he came via Beawar-Bar and that the road till beawar was fantastic.

But after that was bad (NH 114) till Bar. I only mentioned that Beawar-Bar is NH 14 and not NH 114.

Originally Posted by stormerider

but NH 114 as he mentioned about balesar is after jodhpur towards pokharan.

[stormerider]

Originally Posted by gd1418

@stormerider what you say is true but read Mayankk's post carefully. He said that he came via Beawar-Bar and that the road till beawar was fantastic.

But after that was bad (NH 114) till Bar. I only mentioned that Beawar-Bar is NH 14 and not NH 114.

I already agree to you sir, but believe me beawar-bar-jodhpur is not bad at all if you consider the initial patches (most of it now till pokharan as described by mayankk) of jodhpur-pokharan nh114. This is mainly due to stone quarrying and heavy vehicles around Jodhpur. Beawar -bar is narrow and not good since you depart from the wonderful 6 lane nh14.

[hothatchaway]

Hello All,

Am planning a road trip into Rajasthan from Delhi in the week of 22nd December 2013 with the wife and our 3 year old daughter. Desert sojourn is the priority. Plan to hire a self drive car with me as the sole driver. Can do upto 700 kms a day with decent roads. We can budget upto 7 days from the time we reach Delhi to cover Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Jaipur or Udaipur (the latter gets included if we start from Ahmedabad, else its Jaipur replacing Udaipur if we start from Delhi)

We stay in Bangalore and hence have chosen Delhi as the starting point for the following reasons in order of priority - 1) We want to take a train to the nearest launching pad into Jodhpur/Jaisalmer and theres no rail connectivity between Bangalore and Jaipur 2)Availability of reliable self drive outfits (dont think Jaipur/Ahmedabad has any, the latter being the alternative to Delhi as the base)

I have gone through the wealth of information available on suggested routes in the threads on delhi - jaisalmer and ahmedabad - udaipur - jaisalmer. What I need more information is -

1) What are the suggested self drive options? e.g. Crazonrent/Avis/Auroriders from a cost and reliability standpoint (have gone through the thread on self drives but some more personal experiences shared while dealing with them will be great) Any good options in Ahmedabad in which case we can consider replacing Delhi with Ah'bd and save some 200 odd kms in driving back to base. Finally, any good options in Jaipur, even though this is the last preference for base since we will either have to fly to Jaipur from Bangalore or take a connecting train from Delhi.

2) Please suggest a good itinerary from Delhi onwards, what are the places to see and how much time one should spend in Jaipur/jodhpur/Jaisalmer and udaipur should we go via ahmedabad. Would upto 7 days be sufficient?

3) Route gurus pls share your expertise on weather conditions around 20th December (e.g. heavy incidence of fog in the mornings etc, what kind of car one should hire - am planning an Etios since its only the three of us - availability of pumps, eateries enroute, general suggestions on driving in Rajasthan, certain places to avoid because of bad roads, congestion etc

4) Places to stay - am thinking of RTDC. What would be the ideal properties to sample a night out in the desert. Not looking at fancy places but clean and kid friendly

Thanks in advance!