[Sting]

Originally Posted by Cavalier

Hi there
Anybody traveled on the Udaipur-Modasa-Godhra-Baroda route recently,appreciate if you can update on the current road condition,will be travelling on this route later today.
Thanks

Cavalier, I did this route on a motorcycle a few weeks ago and the road conditions are good to great on this entire route. Once you take the diversion on the state highway in Gujrat the traffic reduces significantly and the road conditions improve!

[djpeesh]

Any updates on this route? Plan to start this evening at about 6 pm from Bandra. Is it advisable to spend the night in Baroda? Or is the road safe enough to drive non stop to Udaipur?

[djpeesh]

Back from an awesome road trip and yes, the route is fabulous.

We left Bandra at 6 pm (yes, idiotic idea) but by the time we crossed the Dahisar toll, it was 830 pm.

Stopped at Ahura for dinner around 10. The drive was frustrating with trucks blocking all lanes and the headlights of my Baleno proving to be hopeless.

After pushing it for another few hours, we decided to call it a night and stop in Surat at about 1145. Checked into the Ginger in Surat (hopeless place. Really needs a renovation, even for a budget hotel).

Checked out at 7 am (set an alarm for 5 but you know the drift). Driving through Surat in the morning we were super impressed. What great roads. Clean, wide and super tarmac, marred by frequent speedbreakers.

Surat to Baroda was done in about 2 hours, crossing the new bridge at Bharuch.

Attachment 1618582


Google maps then sent us towards Halol. Until Halol, the route is horrible, with everyone doing whatever they want in the two lane Baroda-Halol highway. But once past Halol, you have what is possibly the best tarmac in the country. State highway 5 is incredible.

Attachment 1618583

We were at the Rajasthan border by 12. The road past the border isn't great and we got massive traffic thanks to many broken down trucks struggling up the brief ghat.

We were in Udaipur by lunch time, and then struggled to deal with the insanely narrow streets with stray cows, scooters, autos and other sundry items hurtling towards each other.

The view was worth it though.

Attachment 1618584

On the return journey, we started from Udaipur at about 7 am and we were home by 5 (after dealing with some horrible waiting at the Vasai Creek Bridge).

With it being holi, the truck traffic on the road was minimal and surprisingly, Sh5 didn't have too many people on the road playing holi, which we feared.

Post Daman, we saw two separate accidents with overturned cars and people streaming to help (and lots of onlookers furiously clicking photographs).

[anand.shankar82]

I am planning (not yet fixed) to drive from Pune to Udaipur, onward to Mount Abu and then back on Dec 20th (return on Dec 25th)

First question even before getting to the routes is whether this period will be hell on the highways due to the holidays etc.?

Secondly regarding the route, G-Maps shows me the routes as below and not sure if this is the best way hence asking the experts here

Pune to Udaipur --> Pune - Thane - Vasai - Baroda - Halol - Godhra - Modasa - Samalji - Udaipur

Mount Abu to Pune --> Abu - Palanpur - Mehsana - Ahmedabad - Nadiad - Baroda - Bharuch - Vapi - Vasai - Thane - Pune

Any suggestions would be great as I have never driven north of Maharashtra so idea, pointers, tips etc. are most welcome

Please also keep in mind I have a beaten up Hyundai Verna and travelling with 2 kids so roads would have to be decent else the car may never make it there and back

Thanks

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by anand.shankar82

Pune to Udaipur --> Pune - Thane - Vasai - Baroda - Halol - Godhra - Modasa - Samalji - Udaipur

Please also keep in mind I have a beaten up Hyundai Verna and travelling with 2 kids so roads would have to be decent else the car may never make it there and back

Thanks

I have taken the above route last year (Baroada - Halol - Godhra - Modasa - Samalaji - Udaipur), it was a good 4L stretch throughout except few bumpy stretches. Traffic is less in this route. You can check few pics here in my travelogue. We had packed food for breakfast and for lunch we stopped closer to Jaipur.

[udaygk77]

I've done pune to mehsana (13hrs) on 1st Nov journey towards jaisalmer and udaipur to pune 900 kms-15hrs. Only patchy section in return journey is udaipur to shamlaji where road tarmac isn't good and on top of it r3rd lane expansion work is going on. We took SH5 from shammlaji and maintained avg 80kmph till vadodara which is traffic less 4 lane highway and no toll for cars on gujarati SH. From vadodara to mumbai it's all 6 lane highway.

[Impala59]

I and my friends are planning on visiting Udaipur in March. We are a total of 7 people and will be taking two cars from Mumbai.

I have two queries:

1) What route would be ideal? Since this is the first time we are venturing beyond Ahmedabad by road. We plan on leaving early in the morning.

2) Since some of the drivers are not used to long-distance driving, we are planning on stopping a little before Udaipur, staying the night and then continuing towards Udaipur the next morning. Any suggestions as to where can we take a stop? Ideally should be maximum 2-3 hours before Udaipur. Wouldn't want to waste half a day just reaching Udaipur as we are on a tight schedule.

[abhikb]

Originally Posted by Impala59

I and my friends are planning on visiting Udaipur in March. We are a total of 7 people and will be taking two cars from Mumbai.

I have two queries:

1) What route would be ideal? Since this is the first time we are venturing beyond Ahmedabad by road. We plan on leaving early in the morning.

2) Since some of the drivers are not used to long-distance driving, we are planning on stopping a little before Udaipur, staying the night and then continuing towards Udaipur the next morning. Any suggestions as to where can we take a stop? Ideally should be maximum 2-3 hours before Udaipur. Wouldn't want to waste half a day just reaching Udaipur as we are on a tight schedule.

1) You can go via Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar-Himmatnagar-Shamlaji-Udaipur or via Vadodara-Halol-Godhra-Modasa route. Both the highways are good and safe.

2) Going by any route you can stop at Ratanpur(After crossing Guj-Rajasthan border) which is 120kms from Ahmedabad and 200 kms from Vadodara. Udaipur is 2 hours drive from there.

[SJM1214]

Originally Posted by Impala59

Any suggestions as to where can we take a stop? Ideally should be maximum 2-3 hours before Udaipur.

Originally Posted by abhikb

2) Going by any route you can stop at Ratanpur(After crossing Guj-Rajasthan border) which is 120kms from Ahmedabad and 200 kms from Vadodara. Udaipur is 2 hours drive from there.

Yes! Ratanpur and Bichhuwada have many hotels on the highway itself. However, I would like to suggest Dungarpur. Its just 100Km far from Udaipur and has many sights like the lake, fort, palace hotel etc. If you reach Dungarpur before dusk, you can spend a pleasant evening at Dungarpur.

[vikrantj]

Hi

We went to Udaipur from Pune on bikes in first week of December. Our route was

Day 1 . Pune - Thane - Surat - Statue of Unity

Roads were Fantastic all the way to SoU. Ghodbunder road was surprisingly free. No issues on Narmada bridge too.

Day 2 - SoU - Halol - Godhra - Modasa - Shyamalaji- Udaipur

Again fantastic road. Infact road from Godhra to Modasa and Shymalaji was one of the best roads we have ridden. Absolutely butter smooth.

We came back from Udaipur to Surat via same route (of course not going to SoU)

[vinit.merchant]

Cross posting my query from another thread, as it seems this one is more frequently updated

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

Friends,

Reviving an old thread here.
I plan to travel from Pune to Udaipur, in fact to Nathdwara temple, and then cover a few destinations around Nathdwara like Ranakpur, Chittorgarh, Kankroli & Haldighati, return to Udaipur for a relaxed couple of nights doing absolutely nothing, before leaving for Pune.

Following is the tentative plan, but I am totally clueless on the road conditions and hence, how much is it feasible

Saturday 14/12 - Leave Pune between 3-4 am and try to bypass Mumbai before all the mayhem begins. Hope to have lunch at vadodara, before leaving further for Udaipur/Nathdwara.

Sunday 15/12 - Morning + Afternoon will be temple runs. Late afternoon, plan on covering probably Chittorgarh.

Monday 16/12 - Morning temple runs and post early lunch, cover the remaining destinations, most probably Kankroli + Haldighati + Ranakpur.

Tuesday 17/12 - Temple runs + check out of Nathdwara. Post morning checkout, have kept this time as cushion in case any of the destination above is pending. If not, then direct to some resort (yet to be finalised) in Udaipur for 4 of doing absolutely nothing, but this is just wishful thinking since missus will need to go shopping + some sight seeing.

Friday 21/12 - Check out from Udaipur. Since I wont be in a position to check out too early, I will have to make an overnight stay at Vadodara, and resume on 22nd for Pune. (Here I can even stretch further till Vapi/valsad if need be)

This is the route that Google shows as most efficient for the travel. I have no idea of the challenges that there might be.

Will need suggestions on the same, and also on whether going via Ahmedabad makes more sense than this.

Plus I will also need suggestions on places to eat & stay on the way.

Passengers will be myself and spouse in my i20 Elite VTVT.

[ais]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

Cross posting my query from another thread, as it seems this one is more frequently updated

Try Pune to Chittorgarh via Indore.

I drove from Mumbai to Udaipur in March 2019 and didn't like the road as much as Mumbai to Indore in Feb 2015. Destination was Chandigarh in both trips.

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by ais

Try Pune to Chittorgarh via Indore.

I drove from Mumbai to Udaipur in March 2019 and didn't like the road as much as Mumbai to Indore in Feb 2015. Destination was Chandigarh in both trips.

Thanks, but taking Pune -Indore-Nathdwara increases a 100 kms and a good 2 hours to the journey. Additionally, Pune Nashik road has always been a toss, even Nashik bypass shows a lot of traffic.

[Impala59]

Originally Posted by Impala59

I and my friends are planning on visiting Udaipur in March. We are a total of 7 people and will be taking two cars from Mumbai.

I have two queries:

1) What route would be ideal? Since this is the first time we are venturing beyond Ahmedabad by road. We plan on leaving early in the morning.

2) Since some of the drivers are not used to long-distance driving, we are planning on stopping a little before Udaipur, staying the night and then continuing towards Udaipur the next morning. Any suggestions as to where can we take a stop? Ideally should be maximum 2-3 hours before Udaipur. Wouldn't want to waste half a day just reaching Udaipur as we are on a tight schedule.

Hi BHPians,

I would like to share a terrible incident that I and my friends experienced while going from Mumbai to Udaipur by road. A little late to post, but nevertheless.


As mentioned in the quoted post, we had decided to take a halt just before Udaipur and Dungarpur was finalized. We were traveling on the day of Holi and the journey was going fantastic until Gujarat. Soon, we entered Rajasthan and took a turn from the main highway into a small two-lane road towards Dungarpur - as shown by Google Maps. Being Holi, there were barely any cars on the road. A while later, we saw some people trying to stop the car asking for money. First 1-2 times, we were able to just avoid them by veering the car to the other side.

A while later - approximately an hour of driving on this lonely road - we saw an entire village of about 40-50 come on the road and block our way, demanding money. These villagers were clearly inebriated. Since we were refusing that, one of the villagers came and deliberately banged into the car while it was stationary. In no time, all the villagers became furious and started hitting the car and trying to bang on the windows, trying to break them. Some of them even tried to open the door to pull us out (I locked the door literally 0.5 seconds before that)

I who was at the wheel panicked and just reversed the car hurriedly, but the villagers ran after us. Luckily, on the left side of the road, I saw a little opening and decided to put the pedal to the metal and just go for it - else there was just no other way out. Good for us, no villagers decided to come in between and we were able to dodge the mob and go ahead.

Just when we thought that our troubles were over, one of the guys from the mob hurled a bottle of beer at our car which shattered the entire rear windshield (picture below) There was glass everywhere - on us, on the seats and all over the car's interior. I took one quick look behind to see if anyone was hurt. The glass bottle's motion was impeded by the headrest and it did not hit any of the three passengers seated behind. After that we just sped away, stopping only after a good 30 minutes to throw the bottle stuck inside, away.

We finally decided to just join the highway and go to Udaipur itself as we really could not find safe and secure parking in Dungarpur and did not want to risk parking a car with a broken windshield on the road. And the worst part? This was not an isolated incident. We encountered multiple such groups on the way ahead - this time with swords, rods and what not! Only this time, we were smart enough to give them a small amount of money to let us pass through.

I personally was quite shaken after this incident. I had multiple people with me who were doing a longish (300+ km) road trip for the first time in their lives. I was and am still aghast at this kind of incidents happening in broad daylight (Yup, it was somewhere around 2 pm)

Putting my experience here so that hopefully others do not have to go through similar traumatic encounters, ever

[MadTitan47]

Originally Posted by Impala59

Hi BHPians,

I would like to share a terrible incident that I and my friends experienced while going from Mumbai to Udaipur by road.

I am really shocked to read this incident. Although I have never drove to that part of the country before, but I always felt that Rajasthan is very safe. It's really horrible that these types of incidents are happening in the broad day light.
Your vehicle was not so lucky, but glad to see that you people are safe.