[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ampere

The thought process was, we have seen enough of Goa and hence we did not want to spend more days at beaches. So the question is; what is that I missed?

Quite a good way of looking at it and I would concur too.

Diu in general is no more (or less) than Goa - Beaches, Old Forts, Few temples and of course, the ancient Portugal architecture. Pretty much it. So in reality, you haven't really missed anything.

I believe the main reason to include Diu is simply because of its proximity to Somnath/Veraval and they just want you to cover it like others do.

The other reason is due to the fact that its one much visited place by the Kathiawadis as it has remained the closest bootlegger's den for the dry state. The beaches are of course good, I have heard.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Diu in general is no more (or less) than Goa - Beaches, Old Forts, Few temples and of course, the ancient Portugal architecture. Pretty much it. So in reality, you haven't really missed anything.

Very true. We had planned 2 nights in Gir in case we did not get the safari. But had awesome luck on day one itself. Veeraval to Gir is 40 minutes. So our plan was to drive early reach Gir and stand in queue as the online bookings were sold out. We reached in time and I stood for about 3-4 hours to get the tickets. And it was worth it! We spotted about 5-10 in a group!

And that was the reason, we got an extra day. We chose to visit Bhavanagar for the extra day. And it was totally worth it!

The beautiful Swami Narayan Temple


The ~1.5 km walk into sea for Nishkalank Mahadev (Cell phone shot)

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ampere

And that was the reason, we got an extra day. We chose to visit Bhavanagar for the extra day. And it was totally worth it!

That indeed was a brilliant decision. I am sure one wouldn't repent for not having visited Diu but then seeing the pictures of the beautiful temple below, one would really want to set priorities then . I will myself opt for Bhavnagar over Diu as Goa can happen anytime again.

The beautiful Swami Narayan Temple

Most of the temples, especially Swaminarayan are indeed very beautifully done and a distinct style. In fact, I am planning to not miss another wonderful place near Porbandar (Shree Hari Mandir) next time I am around here.

As they say, there is a lot to see when you look around!

[Ry_der]

Originally Posted by ampere

The thought process was, we have seen enough of Goa and hence we did not want to spend more days at beaches. So the question is; what is that I missed?

Diu is the miniature version (less crowded too) of Goa. IMO you haven't missed much. You can compare it with South Goa. There are no clubs, no hill top parties and no casinos. Sand is not as white as that of Palolem beach. Diu is an economical tourist place. You can have a good time at 1/3rd of the cost in Goa.

[arun_112]

2018 ROAD CONDITION-TOLL-RESTAURANTS-CNG PUMPS ON THE ROUTE THANE-BARODA-CHOTILA-RAJKOT-DWARKA-PORBANDAR-SOMNATH-DIU-MAGNETIC HILL-GIR-AMRELI-DHANDHUKA-BARODA-THANE

This is the log of my road trip stating from Thane to Chotila, Dwarka, Somnath, Diu, Magnetic Hill and Gir in third week of May 2018. I have purposely made Trip –A to 000 at CNG pumps and other important locations so that people can start using this log mid way or if joining from other locations.


ROUTE: THANE – CHOTILA-DWARKA

Trip A 000 - Start from Thane
43 Km Toll Rs 65
91 Km Toll Rs 60
149 Km Gujarat Gas CNG pump at 3-11, GIDC Rd, Phase 1, GIDC, Vapi,

The road is just wonderful. If you start early morning by 5 am, you will not find any traffic on the road and you can attain high speeds. Lot of petrol pumps on routr for petrol and diesel. But for CNG this would be the first pump in 150 Kms drive from Thane/ Mumbai


Trip A-000 at CNG pump
10 Km Toll Rs 65
Note- 16 Km highway touch online cng available
70 Km Toll Rs 60
Note- 89 Km online cng available
124 Km Toll Rs 70
Note- 151 Km online cng available
166 Km Giriraj Hotel. Good food.
174 Km Toll Rs 20
192 Kabir Petroleum And CNG Station, National Highway 8, Jhanghar, Gujarat 392210

Road condition is very good. Low to moderate traffic. Many petrol/diesel pumps. Few CNG pumps.

Trip A-000 at Kabir CNG pump
20 Km Toll Rs 90 at 12:30 pm
57 Km Toll Rs 110
99 Km Om Restaurant is very good for lunch
160 Km cng pump available
237 Km Gujarat Gas CNG Online 247, Limbdi, Gujarat 363421. Waiting period about half an hour for cng.

Road condition is very good. Road had moderate traffic. Can attain speed of 100 to 120 very easily.

Trip A-000 at CNG pump at Limbdi
4 Km HFM Highway food mall at 6:30 pm
10 Km cng pump available
68 Km Sapna Hotel, Chotila is a very good hotel for overnight stay

Road condition excellent. Traffic increases by evening. Yiou will reach Chotila by 8:30 pm if you started by 5 am from Thane/Mumbai. There is famous a temple at Chotila, if anyone wants to visit.


Trip A-000 at Chotila
50 Kms Rotary Doll museum Rs 30 entry Rs 25 camera
62 Km Tadka Express Breakfast is the only decent place on way till Dwarka.
62.5 Km CNG on right side of road
78 Km Bharat Hotel
110 Km Hotel Shiv Kripa …no others hotels after Chotila
157 Km Gujarat Gas CNG Pump Station, 50 feet Rd, Ketivadi Farmers Colony, Mayur Nagar, Jamnagar, Gujarat 361003. Waiting period only 5 minutes as no rush in mornings and afternoon.

Road is very good. Can maintain 100 Kmph speed easily. Dearth of eating joints, so carry enough food with you. Rarely you will come across any restaurants.

Trip A-000 at cng pump Jamnagar.
17 Km Hotel Express
30 Km to 38 Km road is very, very bad
54 Km cng is available. This is the last CNG pump on this route.
86 Km sharp right turn for Limbdi
130 Km you reach Dwarka

Road is fairly good with low traffic. No toll on this route.
You can visit Okha located at 36 Km from Dwarka. The road is very good but as you reach Okha the road is bad with lot of trucks.


ROUTE: DWARKA-PORBANDAR-SOMNATH

A-000 at Dwarka
29 Km Milan restaurant on way
46 Km CNG finished, switched to Petrol. Keep stock of petrol worth Rs 2,000
105 Km Porbandar. Visited Kirti Mandir, birth place of Mahatma Gandhi
139 Km good Petrol Pump
162 Km Madhavpur Beach on way. You can stop here for photos of good scenery
165 Km Madhavpur Hotel. Only good hotel on way for accommodation.
180 Km Madhuban Restaurant. Only decent place for lunch on way till Somnath.
226 Km Toll Rs 70
240 Km Somnath by 3:35 pm

Dwarka to Somnath road is very good. New road is being made. After a year the full route will be breeze. But currently you will find bad patches at times






ROUTE: SOMNATH TO DIU


Trip A-000 at Somnath
Up to 32 Km extremely bad road.
86 Km reached Diu

Somnath to Diu has very very bad roads. You will not be able to maintain speed more than 15 Km per hour at times. Maximum you can go will be 40 Kms per hour. But as soon as you approach Diu, the road is excellent. You can visit Diu Fort, Nagoa beach and Ghogla beach. Hotels are over priced here during weekends, so plan to go during week days.


ROUTE: DIU- TULSI SHYAM- MAGNETIC HILL-AMRELI

Trip A-000 at Diu
3.6 Ghogla beach
46 Km Divyashyam Alphaar at Tulsi Shyam
Went 5 Km and returned 5 Km stopping every now and then trying to get magnetic pull experience but failed. No magnetic hill experience. It’s a hoax
70 Km Madhuban Dhaba in Gir forest
74 Km Hotel Sudershan on way
114 Km Essar Pump
134 Km Shivam CNG Station, Amreli, Gujarat 365601

This is a very good route going through Gir forest. You can see wild life if you are alert. The cheetals and sambhars come near your car if you feed them. You will find the first CNG station at Amreli and then you can switch over to cng. You have traveled 450 Kms on petrol from Dwarka. The road till Tulsi Shyam is very good but with plenty of traffic. No restaurants on this route so keep stock of food.


ROUTE: AMRELI- DHANDHUKA-BARODA

Trip A-000 at Amreli
2.6 Km Radheshyam Hotel. Good for vegetarian food
151 Km Honest restaurant
174 Km Gujarat Gas CNG Station Loliya, Dhandhuka, Gujarat 382230 (half hour waiting)

Trip A-000 at cng pump Dhandhuka
91 Km CNG pump available
132 Km Toll Rs 110
157 Km Baroda

The road is excellent. Heavy traffic. Lot of restaurants on way. Plenty of petrol/diesel pumps.


ROUTE: BARODA-THANE

36 Km Toll Rs 90 on NH 48
75 Km Toll Rs 20
93 Km CNG pump, Bakrol, Ankleshwar

Trip A-000 at cng pump
33 Km Toll Rs 70
33 Km Kathiawad Restaurant
86 Km Toll Rs 60
144 Km Apical Hotel
151 Km Toll Rs 65
164 Km Gujarat Gas CNG pump at Vapi

Trip A-000 at cng pump
56 Km Toll Rs 60
104 Km Toll Rs 65
146 Km Thane

The road is excellent. Heavy traffic. Lot of restaurants on way. Plenty of petrol/diesel pumps.

Total distance covered 2306 Kms (on CNG 1873 Kms and + on petrol 433 Kms)
Total toll paid Rs 1,230

[PetrolRider]

Dear team mates,


I am planning to take my parents for a Somnath and Dwarika trip in end of March. Due to the age and health factor of my parents and limited time available to me; driving down is being ruled out.

So I am planning to fly to Porbandar and do rest of the trip by road. I would appreciate any suggestions on following planned itinerary as this would be our first trip to State of Gujarat.

• Friday: Fly in to Porbandar around noon and depart for Somnath by road.
• Saturday: Somnath temple visit and depart for Dwarika. Can we manage Gir safari trip in between?
• Sunday: Dwarika temple visit and depart for Porbandar.
• Monday: Morning flight back.

Coming back to my other queries:

• Do I get any self drive option in any of these places? If not, any trusted and reputed cab company that I can contact for the trip from Porbandar to Porbandar basis.
• Suggested hotel in all these 3 places?

Thank you all in advance.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

[*]Friday: Fly in to Porbandar around noon and depart for Somnath by road.

Easily possible without much ado due to the distance not that long.

Saturday: Somnath temple visit and depart for Dwarika. Can we manage Gir safari trip in between?

Tight one. If you can first wrap up Gir Safari (morning slot), followed by visit to the Somnath Temple and then head to Dwarka, it makes sense.

Do I get any self drive option in any of these places? If not, any trusted and reputed cab company that I can contact for the trip from Porbandar to Porbandar basis.

Not that recommended at Porbandar. Best would be to hire a cab.

[*]Suggested hotel in all these 3 places?[/list]Thank you all in advance.

Somnath - You have plenty of options now with wider range to suit your requirement and budget, most of them closer to the temple itself.

Porbandar - Lords is a renowned name and they have good presence all over Gujarat. You have many other options too.

Dwarka - Mercure is one of them. Apart from this, Dwarka also has this fantastic facility called 'Kokila Dhiraj Dham' .

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Tight one. If you can first wrap up Gir Safari (morning slot), followed by visit to the Somnath Temple and then head to Dwarka, it makes sense.

Thank you very much Parag for your quick reply, it is indeed really helpful to my planning.

Just one more question, how much time it takes to cover the temples at Somnath and also in Dwarika (including Bet Dwarika) on a normal weekend? Do they have any online pass facility or separate queue for senior citizens?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Just one more question, how much time it takes to cover the temples at Somnath and also in Dwarika (including Bet Dwarika) on a normal weekend? Do they have any online pass facility or separate queue for senior citizens?

End of March is not peak season due to school exams and the weather (just about to welcome summer). So the rush factor won't be that bad around this time.

Somnath typically takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 Hours. I myself don't recollect taking anywhere beyond 45 minutes to get in and come out during various time of the year - May, October and January. However, as I mentioned earlier, March should be a good time to be there. Peak seasons do witness higher waiting times.

Regarding Dwarka and Bet Dwarka, you need to factor half a day for sure and also include Nageshwar Jyotirling along with these 2 and cover it either during onward to Bet Dwarka or on return.

I don't recollect separate queues about Sr. Citizens. My parents were there with me but we were together all the time.

[Biraj]

I will recommend starting with Dwarka as it's closer to Porbandar. You should be able to manage the darshan in the evening on the same day. Next day travel to Somnath and cover the main temple, old temple (Ahilyadevi temple) and Bhalka teerth. All are close by so won't take a lot of time. You may then carry on to either Diu or Gir based on preference. Next morning in Gir, instead of the main safari you may go to Devaliya safari park. At least the sightings will be guaranteed there. You can return to Porbandar in the evening and take the flight next morning.

A new Club Mahindra resort has opened in Dwarka. Very nice property but outside the city. Else, Lords is a good option in almost everywhere in Gujarat.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Dear team mates,


I am planning to take my parents for a Somnath and Dwarika trip in end of March. Due to the age and health factor of my parents and limited time available to me; driving down is being ruled out.

So I am planning to fly to Porbandar and do rest of the trip by road. I would appreciate any suggestions on following planned itinerary as this would be our first trip to State of Gujarat.

• Friday: Fly in to Porbandar around noon and depart for Somnath by road.
• Saturday: Somnath temple visit and depart for Dwarika. Can we manage Gir safari trip in between?
• Sunday: Dwarika temple visit and depart for Porbandar.
• Monday: Morning flight back.

Coming back to my other queries:

• Do I get any self drive option in any of these places? If not, any trusted and reputed cab company that I can contact for the trip from Porbandar to Porbandar basis.
• Suggested hotel in all these 3 places?

Thank you all in advance.

Having lived near Somnath for the first 30 years of my life and having driven hundreds of times on that route, my advice for convenience's sake would be to go to Dwaraka first than Somnath. In terms of distance, Porbandar falls exactly half way between Dwaraka and Somnath/Veraval. While in Veraval, you can visit Bhalka temple and Gita Mandir as well as Bhalka tenple is the area where Lord Krishna was mistakenly shot in the foot by a hunter.

You need quite some time for Gir Safari. So your planned schedule would be tight.

No self drive options are available.

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by Biraj

I will recommend starting with Dwarka as it's closer to Porbandar. You should be able to manage the darshan in the evening on the same day. Next day travel to Somnath and cover the main temple, old temple (Ahilyadevi temple) and Bhalka teerth. All are close by so won't take a lot of time. You may then carry on to either Diu or Gir based on preference. .

Thank you Biraj for your recommendations.

Just wanted to know, whether one evening would be sufficient to cover Dwarka including Bet Dwarka? Again, what would be the preferred time to cover the temples in respect to crowd, morning or evening?
If you are aware of any advance online booking required for Devaliya safari park? if yes, kindly provide website details?

Originally Posted by skanchan95

You need quite some time for Gir Safari. So your planned schedule would be tight.

No self drive options are available.

Thank you for the valuable suggestion. As suggested by majority, I am now considering to follow PB-Dwarka-Somnath-PB route.
As per your suggestions, I am keeping the Gir plan on standby for now.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Thank you Biraj for your recommendations.

Just wanted to know, whether one evening would be sufficient to cover Dwarka including Bet Dwarka? Again, what would be the preferred time to cover the temples in respect to crowd, morning or evening?
If you are aware of any advance online booking required for Devaliya safari park? if yes, kindly provide website details?




.

You don't need advance booking for Devaliya. They have mini-buses going into the park at small intervals.

Bet Dwaraka(Okha) is around 30 kms north of Dwaraka. I am not sure what are timings of the boat services in the evening from Okha to Bet Dwaraka.

[paragsachania]

www.girlion.in is something you can try. There are options to book a Safari Bus or a Safari Gypsy.

Last Xmas a colleague managed to do this and was happy as he didn't get through the Govt. Authorized modes. I then called my folks at Medarda and they advised to try this link and book online.

[Ry_der]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Thank you Biraj for your recommendations.

Just wanted to know, whether one evening would be sufficient to cover Dwarka including Bet Dwarka? Again, what would be the preferred time to cover the temples in respect to crowd, morning or evening?

I think it will be very hectic to cover Dwarika in one evening, more difficult with aging parents. Foot journey is must for both the temples. Try to accomodate atleast one day for Dwarika.

Been to both Dwarika and Somnath in Nov 2018. Some points you may want to consider :-

1. Somnath temple is open throughout the day and last Aarti is around 7 PM.

2. Dwarika main temple opens at 6.30 am to 1.00 pm and 5.00 PM to 8.30 PM(IIRC). Between 1.00 pm and 5.00 pm, temple remains closed.

3. Bet Dwarika is around 30 KMs from Dwarika. Darshan timings are same as Dwarika main temple.

4. Shared boats are rarely available (Rs. 20 each side)
once the temple at Bet Dwarika closes at noon. (Not recommended for aged people)

5. You can also hire a private boat (~3-4K around) for Bet Dwarika if you dont want to wait.

6. It will take around 2.5 Hours from Dwarika to cover Bet Dwarika and return.

7. In your return journey, you can also visit Nageshwar Jyotirling which is the last one of the Twelve Jyotirlingas.

8. Try to visit Dwarika main temple during morning hours and leave for Bet Dwarika around 8.30 AM. I can not comment about the evening hours as I have never been there in the evening. Also, Sundays in Gujarat attract more crowd to places like this.

9. Somnath-PBR route was in very bad condition due to ongoing 4 laning work. Try to cover that stretch during Daytime. My lower beam conked off due to the judders.

10. There are no good restaurants on the highway.

11. You can stop for a Pani-puri break at Madhavpur Beach on Somnath PBR highway.(Recommended for scenic beauty, not for cleanliness).

Have an awesome trip. !!

Cheers