[vivek95]

Originally Posted by KL07

ii. Which area would be most suitable for me to stay in Mumbai keeping in mind that I have a day to explore Mumbai and an onward journey to Anand.

Dadar would be most convenient for you to explore Mumbai, more so SoBo (South Bombay) region. Next best is Andheri. No dearth of good hotels in Mumbai. Either Dadar or Andheri, you can hit the western express highway next day early morning and exit Mumbai on NH8 towards Anand.

Originally Posted by KL07

iv. I am also a little confused regarding the route from Kutch-Daman-Mahabaleshwar-Gokarna. It would be really useful if someone could throw light on the route and road conditions.

Thanks in advance.

Daman to Mahabaleshwar is via Mumbai-Pune-Wai phata-Panchagani-Mahabaleshwar and roads are good all through. Pune-Wai phata is under construction for 6 laning with several diversions but nothing to worry on road conditions as they are currently good. But do keep a watch on Bangalore-Pune-Mumbai thread to know the latest conditions post monsoons, I might myself update there.

Mahabaleshwar to Gokarna direct route is via NH17 Poladpur-Chiplun-Goa-Karwar but I do not recommend this route as its a 2 lane all the way with winding roads, numerous ghats and plenty of towns enroute. Involves crossing whole of Goa, so altogether a slower route. Nevertheless its a beautiful route cutting through amazing Sahyadris and Konkan of Maharashtra. The route I would recommend which is fastest and safest is Mahabaleshwar-Satara-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Hubli-Ankola-Gokarna. Satara to Hubli is NH4 which is a very good multilane highway. Hubli-Ankola is NH63 a 2 lane road which is presently good but watch out for latest updates on this post monsoons from Bangalore-Goa thread.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Daman to Mahabaleshwar is via Mumbai-Pune-Wai phata-Panchagani-Mahabaleshwar and roads are good all through. Pune-Wai phata is under construction for 6 laning with several diversions but nothing to worry on road conditions as they are currently good.

Mahabaleshwar to Gokarna direct route is via NH17 Poladpur-Chiplun-Goa-Karwar but I do not recommend this route as its a 2 lane all the way with winding roads, numerous ghats and plenty of towns enroute.

Involves crossing whole of Goa, so altogether a slower route.

Some of the simple reasons why I did not recommend the more "straight" route because it involves time and a lot of patience. Hence I also referred to the word FASTER at few places in my response.

Sample this: We did Mumbai - Panvel - NH17 till Ankola - Yellapura - Sirsi - Sagar - Shimoga - Arasikere - Tumkur Bangalore in more than 24 hours with a 5pm start from Mumbai and 11pm end at Bangalore the next day. It was only because we drove through maximum of 2 lane roads right after Mumbai which were all in excellent conditions but still if you consider this to doing Mumbai - Bangalore via NH4 it took double the time to cover a distance that was only 25% longer!

In fact, next week we are headed to Ratnagiri and although we have a route that passes Chorla and then Goa, its crossing Goa that we don't want to do and hence we will reach NH17 at Sawantwadi via Ajra Ghats directly and then climb up.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

it took double the time to cover a distance that was only 25% longer!

I have taken way longer time than you during day time between Belgaum and Bombay via NH17 for all those 15 odd ghats between Mumbai and Sawantwadi - 468 kms) on the lovely NH17. I have never come across so many ghats on a single stretch of National highway in my life that too less than 500 kms, but may be I need to visit North India Kashmir region. Goa-Mangalore has at the most only two or three ghats but Mumbai-Goa is simply a wholesale shop of ''ghats'' Just love it !

Originally Posted by paragsachania

In fact, next week we are headed to Ratnagiri and although we have a route that passes Chorla and then Goa, its crossing Goa that we don't want to do and hence we will reach NH17 at Sawantwadi via Ajra Ghats directly and then climb up.

So next week you are gonna have a gala time in Sahyadris in monsoons. I think you meant ''Amboli ghat'' because there is nothing locally / officially called as Ajra ghats. Needless to say, Ajara is a town on Tawandi-Uttur-Amboli route. I can figure out you are intending to take Bangalore-Belgaum-Amboli ghat-Sawantwadi-NH17-Ratnagiri route, so Ajara doesn't fall on this route. I guess you wish to explore Amboli waterfalls and the highly scenic Kavlesaad view point where water flows in reverse direction, hence the reason to take Amboli route, else for Bangalore--Ratnagiri, another most scenic and THE direct route is Bangalore-Kolhapur-Amba ghat-Ratnagiri. NH 204 Kolhapur-Amba ghat-Hatkhamba-Ratnagiri is a sheer bliss on the wide 2 lane supersmooth winding road through Sahyadris ! Some patches of road before and after Amba ghat was under reasphaltation in Dec-2015, hope its done up and hope the rest of the roads are decent enough after recent heavy lash of rains. Kolhapur-Hatkhamba is a much smoother and wider road than Belgaum-Amboli-Sawantwadi road. By the way there is a Y-fork before Sawantwadi town, the right one which is the continuation of Belgaum-Vengurla state highway and takes you directly at Zarap on NH17 bypassing Sawantwadi town,Sawantwadi 4 laned bypass and this 10 kms odd road was always good until 2 years back. It was the popular route for us whenever we did Belgaum-Shiroda beach or Belgaum-Malvan. I am not sure of the latest conditions though.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vivek95

I have taken way longer time than you during day time between Belgaum and Bombay via NH17 for all those 15 odd ghats between Mumbai and Sawantwadi - 468 kms) on the lovely NH17.

Agreed and when we did NH17, It was all through the night - Beautiful, empty and foggy (December).

I think you meant ''Amboli ghat'' because there is nothing locally / officially called as Ajra ghats.

My bad, the combo often referred as "Ajra-Amboli" made me type just Ajra. Aware that its Amboli ghats .

else for Bangalore--Ratnagiri, another most scenic and THE direct route is Bangalore-Kolhapur-Amba ghat-Ratnagiri.

Our destination is Kolhapur but we need to drive on NH17 till Ratnagiri and then reach Kolhapur. Make best use of good weather and awesome scenery.

NH 204 Kolhapur-Amba ghat-Hatkhamba-Ratnagiri is a sheer bliss on the wide 2 lane supersmooth winding road through Sahyadris !

And exactly the route (in reverse order) that we will take to reach Kolhapur .

[arun_josie]

Apart from white desert what are the other must see places in Kutch?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Apart from white desert what are the other must see places in Kutch?

You have got couple of places to visit apart from just the Rann:

1. Bhuj: Few Temples, Shopping typical Kutchchi items
   
   
2. Dholavira: Ruins of ancient civilization with a lot of history
   
   
3. Mandvi: Some amazing wooden ships, beautiful beaches, Dabelis to relish your tastebuds
   
   
4. Koteshwar: Temple situated on the Westernmost point of India

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

And exactly the route (in reverse order) that we will take to reach Kolhapur .

Just keep a tab on flood situation in Kolhapur district. Kolhapur-Ratnagiri NH 204 has been closed since last 4 days or so due to floods right outside Kolhapur city over Panchaganga river. Infact all roads leading to Konkan from Kolhapur had been closed, hopefully the water levels recede in next few days.

[jaganm]

So, we had planned a trip to the Rann of Kutch during the Christmas break. We booked the tent city for a 3n4d holiday back in August, booked the train tickets from Ahmedabad and thought we will have a fantastic holiday.

Unfortunately, it is not to be. Apparently there is some government event on those days and they told us that we are being moved to a resort in Dholavira. It all seemed very non transparent, so I requested for a refund and got it and have booked a hotel in Bhuj.

We arrive on Monday morning and have a train back on Thursday evening. So, I was thinking of the following itinerary

Monday - local sightseeing in Bhuj and tasting delicacies of Kutch at local restaurants
Tuesday - trip to Mandvi beach by taxi
Wednesday - leave early morning, visit Dholavira, kalo Dungar by lunch time, visit White Rann around sunset and also experience the white Rann in moonlight (1day after full moon)
Thursday - relax in Bhuj and board train

Is Wednesdays itinerary doable as it is quite a bit of travel. We don’t mind starting early in the morning and reaching back late at night. A few people were suggesting that we stay back at Dhordo on Wednesday so that we can enjoy the sunrise as well. But I can’t seem to find too many hotels in that place and cleartrip throws up suggestions in Bhuj itself.

Requesting people knowledgable with the area to advise.

[A350]

Originally Posted by jaganm

Requesting people knowledgable with the area to advise.

Am also planning to be in that area during the same time. Would request knowledgeable folks to provide their inputs.

[jaganm]

Originally Posted by A350

Am also planning to be in that area during the same time. Would request knowledgeable folks to provide their inputs.

So, what I've ended up doing is booking a home stay near Dhordo for the night, I will check out of the Bhuj hotel, drive to Dholavira in the morning, visit the Rann in the afternoon/evening and stay at the homestay and experience the full moon night on the Rann. The next day, start for Bhuj in the morning and then take a one way taxi to Vadodara.