[RX135]

Folks,

I am looking for information on Gujarat-Rajasthan route.

There is wealth of information available on T-BHP and I am still going through it, but it scattered over multiple threads and consolidating it is taking longer then than in hand. If the information is available in another thread, just point me to the appropriate post and I'll pick it up from there.

There is repetition of information I am looking for on each sector, but it may be easier to respond specifically.

• Day 1: Pune - Ahmedabad (stop over at Ahmedabad):
  • Assuming start at 6:00 am in the morning, what time does one reach Ahmedabad?
  • Places to eat on the way(breakfast, lunch)?
  • Petrol pumps?
  • Roads to take and roads to avoid?
  • Any places recommended to see in Ahmedabad by evening?
• Day 2: Ahmedabad - Udaipur:
  • How much time it would take to reach Udaipur?
  • Places to eat
  • Petrol pumps?
  • Road to take and road to avoid?
  • Places recommended to see in and around Udaipur? (1 day halt)
• Day 4:Udaipur - Jaipur:
  • How much time it would take to reach Jaipur?
  • Places to eat
  • Petrol pumps?
  • Road to take and road to avoid?
  • Should Ajmer be included in the route? Or should it be done during return journey?
  • Places recommended to see in and around Jaipur? (3 days stay)
• Day 8: Jaipur - Mount Abu:
  • How much time it would take to reach Mount Abu from Jaipur?
  • Places to eat.
  • Petrol pumps.
  • Road to take and road to avoid?
  • Places recommended to see in and around Mount Abu? (2days stay)
  • Should Jodhpur be included in the route?
• Day 10: Mt. Abu - Mumbai
  • How much time it would take to reach Mumbai from Mount Abu?
  • I guess road will be the same after Ahmedabad.

Since it is going to be family trip with kids, travel of more than 7-8 hours per day is not possible. Also, travel on unknown roads during nights will be a "No No".

Thanks in advance for your help as always!

[advaitlele]

You can actually plan to touch the ExpressWay around 4.30am to avoid traffic at Thane / Ghodbunder / Manor stretch. Starting at 6am from home would mean you would be there around 10 / 10.30am with heavy traffic. Please refer to some other thread on Pune-Vadodara query - sorry not able to attach link here. A few details are given there.

It's about 12 / 13hrs journey with adequate breaks (considering family and about 80kmph speed). Places to visit in A'bad? well there are just so many. If you are planning to stay somewhere near Highway, you can have dinner at Vishala. If in the city, go to Kankaria lake in the heart of city (if you are not tired of full day driving); go shopping for authentic dresses near Law Garden or in the city. But I guess you will not have enough time for this.

All the best for your journey and do write about this with lots of photos.

[kingshukt]

Hi,

Posted in the wrong section, it should have been in the route query section.

1. Ahmedabad / Udaipur - [url=http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/73921-incredible-road-trip-lifetime-udaipur-most-romantic-city-world.html[/url].
2. Jodhpur - Team-BHP - The Definitive Indian Car Community (Gurgaon - Jodhpur)

Ramky1 would be the person to contact for Ahmedabad details
GD1418 would be the person for Jodhpur, his sasural is in Jodhpur

EDIT: Advaitlele - Can you recommend any specific place / shop for authentic dresses ?

[gd1418]

Wrong forum. Check in Travel Route / Queries. A couple of threads about these sectors is going on....

[RX135]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Wrong forum. Check in Travel Route / Queries. A couple of threads about these sectors is going on....

Yes. I have requested moderators to move it.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by RX135

• Day 1: Pune - Ahmedabad (stop over at Ahmedabad):
  • Assuming start at 6:00 am in the morning, what time does one reach Ahmedabad?

• • Around 6pm should see you reach in AMD.

  Originally Posted by RX135

  Places to eat on the way(breakfast, lunch)?

  Breakfast can be in Manor/Vapi(mcdonalds),lunch can be at La Palazzo just before the AMD Expressway to your left.

  • Originally Posted by RX135

    Petrol pumps?

    Plenty enroute,nothing to worry about

  Originally Posted by RX135

  Roads to take and roads to avoid?

  Come via Thane and reach Ghodbunder and then onto NH8,Road till Vapi is bad,after that it is excellent but traffic is dense.

• Originally Posted by RX135

  Any places recommended to see in Ahmedabad by evening?

  you could go to the Vaishno Devi mandir in Ahmedabad and on your way back catch a movie at the Drive in cinema,its quite a nice experience to sit in your car and watch a movie!

Originally Posted by RX135

How much time it would take to reach Udaipur?

It should take you around 4-5hours.

• • Originally Posted by RX135

    Places to eat

    Plenty of places to eat enroute,you could check out the Neelgiri Dhaba at Bichiwava

  • Originally Posted by RX135

    Petrol pumps?

    Plenty of options

  • Originally Posted by RX135

    Places recommended to see in and around Udaipur? (1 day halt)

    1 day is too less,take a boat ride in Lake Pichola and have a nice meal in any of the innumerable roof top restaurants.

• • Originally Posted by RX135

    How much time it would take to reach Jaipur?

    Would take you around 7 hours

  • Originally Posted by RX135

    Places to eat

    Midway Bhilwara

  • Originally Posted by RX135

    Petrol pumps?

    Plenty

  • Originally Posted by RX135

    Road to take and road to avoid?

    Take the NH76 via Chittor,do not take the NH8 which is 2 laned.NH76 is 4 laned and from Chittor it connects to NH79 all the way till Kishengarh where it rejoins NH8.

  • Originally Posted by RX135

    Should Ajmer be included in the route? Or should it be done during return journey?

    Ajmer is time consuming,would take you a good extra 3-4hours.

We did a similar circuit and details are in this travelogue

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...than-m800.html

[deky]

Ranjit has answered most of the querries, Let me add a few points.

1. Ahemdabad to Udaipur will be a breeze of a drive, should not take you more than four hours.

2. Fill up fuel tank at Ahmd and that will see you till Udaipur and refill tank at udaipur again. Otherwise at Himmatnagar there are good petrol bunks.

3. If you reach Udaipur by afternoon, you will have one and a half day in Udaipur. You could cut down one day from Jaipur and add in here. This extra day can be utilised to make a day visit to Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur.

4. Udaipur to Jaipur is 420 kms, Ideally it should take you 6 hrs on with one stop. But you should add Chittorgarh (en route ) to your itenary, the fort is worth the visit. For Chittor you will have leave the bypass and enter the city.The whole process plus lunch will take you around 2.30 minutes.

5. If you want to do Ajmer, its better to do it between Udaipur to Jaipur as your return journey Jaipur to Mt. Abu will be a long one. Jaipur to Mt Abu will take you around 10 hrs

6. 2 full days in Jaipur are enough, cut down one day from the allocated 3 days and increase the number of days in Udaipur.

7.Alternatively you could do Mt Abu from Ahemdabad and then come to Udaipur. And on your return leg you could do Jaipur to Vadodra straight, around 11 hrs but excellent roads thru out

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by RX135

[*] Day 1: Pune - Ahmedabad (stop over at Ahmedabad):

• Assuming start at 6:00 am in the morning, what time does one reach Ahmedabad?
• Places to eat on the way(breakfast, lunch)?
• Petrol pumps?
• Roads to take and roads to avoid?
• Any places recommended to see in Ahmedabad by evening?

[*]Day 2: Ahmedabad - Udaipur:[list][*]How much time it would take to reach Udaipur?[*]Places to eat[*]Petrol pumps?[*]Road to take and road to avoid?[*]Places recommended to see in and around Udaipur? (1 day halt)[/LIST

As Advait has mentioned, make sure you are on the Expressway by 4.30am so you reach Ghodbunder latest by 6.30-7am so that you avoid traffic in Mumbai itself.

Roads from Mumbai to A'bad are fairly nice except at a few places where there are massive traffic jams (eg. Gujarat border : where there is a huge huge pile-up due to trucks waiting for he octroi). At this place, a few cars drove around 3km on the wrong-side just to avoid the pile-up.

When we travelled, we took ~9 hours from Pune to Baroda (took an overnight halt) and a further 2.5 hours from Baroda to A'bad. (Baroda to A'bad is pure bliss to drive)

At A'bad, places to see are : Science City (something for school kids), Kankaria lake, Gandhi's Museum, a drive-through around IIM-A and Gujrat University.

A'bad to Udaipur is also quite a pleasant drive, will take 4-5 hours. There are tons of dhabas on the way so don't worry about food.
Places to see in and around Udaipur : the 7 or so lakes, Chittorgarh (you'll need a day for this), Haldighatti, I don't recall the person but there is this garden-memorial sorta thing on a hill (just besides a lake, fairly in the middle of the city), some temple you go to through the rope-way (it is adjacent a major lake which has a palace right in the middle), local shops to buy the local saris etc.. (Sorry can't remember some names).

[ramkya1]

Hai RX135,

Most of your questions are answered in great detail by others very well.

At Ahmedabad, you can also see the Step-wells, Akshardham, Vintage Car museum, Calico Museum etc.; one days job.

Alternatively if you fancy a 350 KM round trip, you can drive to Modhera Sun temple, Patnan Rani Ka Vav and the patola, if time permits may be even Siddhpur nearby, that again would be a complete days drive.

In case you need any help for hotel etc., in Ahmedabad let me know.

Ramky / 09377203000
================

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by kingshukt

EDIT: Advaitlele - Can you recommend any specific place / shop for authentic dresses ?

Think I can help..
In Udaipur, there are shops where they sell these saris : you dip them in starch water, they have a fragrance..
and apparently they "fragrance"is guaranteed for quite some years; they even have a return policy wherein they return some 80% money if you don't like the product..

Just catch an autowallah to show you around and he'll take you to one of those shops.. they are promoted by a Govt. agency..

They have other products like blankets etc. too.

[kingshukt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Think I can help..
In Udaipur, there are shops where they sell these saris : you dip them in starch water, they have a fragrance..
and apparently they "fragrance"is guaranteed for quite some years; they even have a return policy wherein they return some 80% money if you don't like the product..

Just catch an autowallah to show you around and he'll take you to one of those shops.. they are promoted by a Govt. agency..

They have other products like blankets etc. too.

There has been a miscommunication from my side.

I would be going to Ahmedabad and then to Jaisalmer and return vide Jodhpur. I would NOT be travelling thro' Udaipur.

Can you help me with shops selling authentic garments in Ahmedabad, Jodhpur or Jaisalmer

[RX135]

Thanks everyone for your detailed replies. The reason, I could not update this thread was because I have already hit the road and in Udaipur right now. We'll be heading to Jaipur tomorrow.

I hope to update this thread once I am back in Pune.

P.S.: I agree that 1 day is too less for Udaipur. This is indeed a charming city.

[libranof1987]

If possible, do try to make a trip to Haldighati and Chittorgarh.

[RX135]

Yes. I was able to visit Chittaurgarh en route Jaipur. I was kind of disappointed on the very first day at Jaipur, but second day fared much better.

So far, I considered Pune traffic as one of the most unruly and most congested traffic, but compared to Jaipur, I guess it is plain cakewalk

[athanedar]

Hi all,
Me and my wifey are thinking of driving up to Udaipur during the diwali week from Pune.
We have already done Pune -South Goa - Pune trip in July in my 1.5 year old i20 which has enhanced my confidence of longer drives. This Udaipur trip would be my longest drive. Currently the car has 22K on its ODO.
My wifey can drive but I think she is not confident on highways. But she thinks otherwise and we have agreed to disagree with each other on this topic. Bottomline only one driver for the route.
We dont want to make this trip very hectic and would like to see only must see places. We would like to make this as a leisure trip. We dont want to make it religious trip either. However forts, museums etc are in.

There are quiet a lot rajasthan related threads in this forum and have read through most of them. The posts by hvkumar and ranjitp1 and very very helpful. However thought of starting this thread to get current and uptodate suggestions on hotels, route and must see attractions.

After searching through google maps and tripadvisor have come up with this tentative plan.

Day 1 : Start from Chandani Chowk, Pune @ 5:30 am. Take Pune Mumbai expressway, Thane, Ghodbunder, Surat , Vadodara, NE1. Drive till Ahmedabad and stay in hotel.

Day 2: Start after breakfast around 10:00 am for Udaipur and then stay in Udaipur for 3 nights

Day 3 : Sight seeing --- Need suggestions on must see attractions here.

Day 4 : Sight Seeing --- Need suggestions on must see attractions here.

Day 5 : Mt Abu . Return to Udaipur.

Day 6 : After breakfast start return journey reach Surat 460 kms

Day 7 : Reach Pune 450 kms

My questions :

1. I believe Pune Ahmedabad is 650 kms.
Can I reach Ahmedabad around 3:00 pm with decent speeds not more than 100 kmph ( I am sedate driver) and required breaks ? Need suggestion for hotel here. Budget around Rs. 2000 per night.
Also any good Gujrathi restaurants which I should not miss ?

2. We might have some part of evening for roaming around in Ahmedabad. My wife likes to shop (whose wife doesnt? ) So need suggestions for window shopping. No malls please.

3. Need hotel suggestions in Surat ? Any must see attractions here?

4. I was thinking of staying either at Hotel Jagat Niwas palace or Hotel Lake Pichola in Udaipur which are bang on the lake with great lake views (Courtsey tripadvisor) . Anybody stayed here. Need reviews from team bhpians.

5. Need restaurant suggestions in Udaipur

6. Should I stay in Mt. Abu and return to Pune from Mt. Abu without going back to Udaipur. Need suggestions for good hotels in Mt. Abu in our budget. What is must see attraction at Mt.Abu?
Can it be done in 4-5 hours?

P.S. : We have already seen Jaipur, Jodhpur last year during our golden triangle tour hence going to only udaipur and Mt. abu this time.

Thanks for reading this rather long thread. Your suggestions would be really helpful.
This is my first attempt of starting thread in this forum. Hope its upto the mark.

Regards