[tinnieboy]

It was all planned in December when my wife had been pressing me for a vacation and another couple friend of ours suggested to reschedule my proposed trip to Udaipur in January since they were pressed for time in December. So we planned it all in Jan over the extended weekend on 26th Jan. Made our hotel booking on Jan 9th in Hotel Swaroop Vilas hotel through Yatra portal after trying a dozen hotels which were all booked by then. It is an amazing hotel at its price. All they charged is Rs. 2498 per night for the rooms as lavish as the ones in a 5 star.

So all set I took an early leave from work on Jan 22nd, 2009 in the noon to get my personal Nirvana zone as I like to call it (Hyundai Verna Xi) all set for the journey. Got the tyre pressures, coolant, pollution and fuel top ups done and was all set to vrrroooommm.

In the night packed all my stuff with all the relevant papers and maps that I had used to refer from my research on the exact route. These came in really handy when searching for the landmarks. Here they are for the reference of all who wish to travel. Have taken most of them from Map my india and Google maps. Not sure if there could be a copyright issue but if not advisable would request the mods to please delete them and whoever wishes to get their hands on them just send me a mail and will share the same with you.

Start of the Dream Drive (Day 1) Jan 23rd, 2009
-----------------------------------------------
Jan 23rd (Friday) early morning at 0630 hours we left our place in east delhi picked up the other couple friend and another guy friend and started to roll. 0730 hours we had crossed the Manesar toll and ventured into the landscapes of Rajastan greeted by a Welcome to Rajasthan Signboard by 0815 hours. The drive was fantastic in the wee hours where we could easily push it to 100 - 120 kmph in open stretches we came across. We finally reached the Jaipur Bypass after Shahpura and took the same to avoid the city's mad rush I had read a lot on the forum. Thanks to the forum members who made our drive to Udaipur really comfortable and exact with no errors at all in the 700 km stretch for someone who had never driven out to Rajasthan before.

To all those who have never taken the Bypass route. Just a suggestion to take that route either going into or out of Jaipur once for sure. Its a breeze drive where you can easily drive comfortably above 110 kmph without applying any brakes. And the scenic beauty is simply awesome. Never ever thought of seeing such landscapes in the land of deserts. Wish I had stopped to capture the images as my description does no justice to the landscapes we witnessed. Very refreshing and eye catching.
Though we had planned to stop at Kishangarh for our first pitstop to have some brunch but the ladies gave up and were on our back as they couldnt resist the dhabas anymore.

We stopped a appx 40 kms before Kishangarh at 11:00 and had paranthas which actually turned out to be more like bhaturaas stuffed with Aloo ki sabzi (cooked potato vegetable). But as expected all of us liked it since it had been 5 hours we had eaten anything but Wafers and cookies. 11:40 we left the dhaba and just after Kishangarh we took another left diversion to NH 79. the dream drive continued and we took another pitstop just before Bhilwara at 13:15. Another round of necessaties and colddrinks. Its here we started feeling the heat with the sun right on top of our head and even after jackets were thrown in the boot at Kishangarh pitstop. We continued on our journey at 1330 and decided to visit Chittaurgarh fort if we manage to reach there on time that was around 1500 hours.

Route to Udaipur







I had read in all the travelogues that for Chittaurgarh there exists no bypass and we had to cross from within the city which is why we planned to give the Chittaurgarh fort a visit. But to my surprise the highway NH 79 has now been stretched and etched to enale you to bypass the Chittaurgarh city as well. Thats the only place we had got confused and enquire the NHAI employee to help us know the route to Chittaurgarh fearing we had diverted from our way.

At 1515 hours we were expecting Chittaurgarh to be near by but as there was no buzzing city life to see anywhere we could see we assumed we were far off yet. Just out of intuition we decided to enquire the route from the next life we see enroute. To our utter surprise the NHAI employee informed that we just need to lake a U-turnish diversion 100 meters ahead to the rightmost lane, that is the NH 76 highway leading straight to Udaipur !!! BINGO !!! We were glad we enquired right person dot on time. Had we waited for another few kms to ask, expecting to pass though the city before finding the diversion to NH 76, we would have lost the diversion far behind. The dream drive continued and we stopped after another 80 kms at another dhaba where the ladies yet again wished to hog on wierdly cooked Chana Masala and chapatties. The chanas were quite not boiled. I still wonder how did the ladies manage to finsh that one off. Maybe I was too inclined to reach on time to oversee they were starving. Bad stubborn boy that I am

From there in no time we reached the Udaipur enterance which in itself is a sight. We were no at our hotel at 1700 hours after asking for route from someone in the city.

Entry to Udaipur





We relaxed for a while in the Hotel and refreshed ourself for the treat we wanted to gift ourself after a 10 hour drive which was indeed a blessing. A dream drive as I like to call it. Multiple times on our way was I suggested to hand over the command to the wheels to my mates but my selfish self had no intentions to let anyone but myself enjoy the pleasure of driving on those awesome roads. we had our merry with light drinks and a great dinner served at hotel and we were off to bed.











The Day of the Royals (Day 2) Jan 24th, 2009
--------------------------------------------
The hotel breakfast that was complimentary had nothing in it to talk about. I would suggest to rather order something out of the two dishes served in regular breakfast, than go in for a complementary breakfast included in the stay.

Day two we hired two Autos who would stick together and take us to all the place worth a visit. we visited City Palace, Jag Mandir on Pichhola Lake, Saheliyon Ki Baadi, Nehru Park on Fateh Sagar Lake, and the best place to visit the Monsoon Palace from where the view is simply mesmerising. Post this we went to Hathi Pole market for the ladies to do some traditional shopping. Have the pictures attached for you below. Cost per auto Rs. 500. The Hotel manager had arranged for the autos. The manager at the hotel is a great guy who is always more than helpful and always pleased to give you the best of the services you had come expecting.

City Palace





















Saheliyo Ki Baadi

[tinnieboy]

Continued ...

Nehru Park











Monsoon Palace































End of day two was again marked by treating ouselves with some liquidated tonics and a grand dinner. Dinner at the hotel was awesome and very very reasonable too. Both the nights we had a grand dinner for 5 of us in less than 500 bucks.

[tinnieboy]

Goodbye Udaipur (Day 3) Jan 25th, 2009
---------------------------------------

Though we had scheduled to leave at 0930 from Udaipur to Jaipur on our route back but got delayed by more than an hour and we finally left at 11:30 hours. This time around we decided to take the NH8 highway to Jaipur and that was not a good decision taken at all. Though the roads were well to drive on but being single lane we had to encounter a dozen traffic jams and could never maintain the velocity that we intended to, in order to reach Jaipur in time. Had one pitstop at a great restaurant Chitkul which actually made up for the uncomfortable drive. Great ambience and great food.

We reached Jaipur at 1830 and since all the forts are closed for public by that time we decided to check straight in to the hotel and hit Chokhi Dhani. To our utter disappointment the place was jam packed and the entry was closed to anymore visitors after 2030 that is when we reached. We had nothing better to do but to head to a restaurant which we did and slept at he hotel for the night. Tired and disappointed.

Way Back to Jaipur














Chitkul Restaurant







Bidding the Palaces and Forts Goodbye (Day 4) Jan 26th, 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------
We started early this day at 0930 hours and headed straight to the Jaigarh Fort with a little stop in between to fulfill our starving tummies. Luckily since it was the Republic Day all the markets were closed giving the car and our pockets a great relief from the torcher they could have gone through

Spent a lot of time at this fort and went straight to Amber fort post which we headed back to Delhi at 1300. I will let the pictures do the talking. Now the horror started when we met with massive jams and roads completely packed with trucks on the way. Its was absolutely contradictory to our drive to Udaipur. Two reasons behind the traffic atrocities we were subjected to. Never in our calculations did we assume that Jan 25th, 2009 the public transport (trucks and other carriers) are not allowed to enter Delhi till 2000 hours Jan 26th, 2009 which amounted to double the traffic on our way back. A horror ride once again but we did manage to reach back by 1900 hours (6 hours from Amber compared to 3.5 hours while on our way to Jaipur). But in all it was a great visit with loads of driving experiences and lotsa fun.

Jaipur







Hawa Mahal, Jal Mahal, Jaigarh Fort & Cannon, Amber Fort

[tinnieboy]

Continued ...





















Observations :
1. Whether in or out of Jaipur, make sure to take the Bypass route. Its way better than any other possible route to Jaipur.

2. Do not waste your time fining a good hotel in Jaipur around airport because there are none except a few guest houses which are not maintained really well.

3. Thanks to a great route to Udaipur. My car gave me a superb 17km/litre mileage on the trip. I went with the tank full to tank full method to calculate the average.

Here are the maps I referred to :

Jaipur Bypass



NH8



NH79



NH76



Udaipur City Maps





The End

Tinnie.

[Rajesh Rawal]

nice trip you had there! with great pictures and detailed maps

good to see water in lake pichola ,when i was there it was more like a swamp

there is something about rajasthan dude ,every time you see it you want to visit there over and over again..

thanks for sharing.

[akroy]

Nice pics. I specially liked the hotel. It seems it was a great VFM at that price.

Abhi

[tinnieboy]

Oh yeah all the lakes including the Swaroop sagar had water. In fact Pichola and Fateh Sagar had plenty on our trip and we really enjoyed the boat ride to Nehru park at Fateh Sagar.

Rajathan is indeed quite historical. I am just back from this visit still very fresh in memory and I plan to make a visit to Jaisalmer and Bikaner route next. Will maybe club jodhpur and Mt. Abu that time. And just cant wait to hit that part as well.

Thanks anyways.

tinnie.

[tinnieboy]

Roy Sahab hotel was worth every penny we paid for. Really enjoyed our stay there.

[pulsar56]

Nice write-up. I was transferred back to my Pilani days for sometime!

[ramkya1]

Hai tinnieboy,

Lovely travalogue, great photos. Reminds me of my recent trip to Udaipur and the great time we had there.

Your report of Chittaurgarh BP being complete is welcome news, it will shave-off at least 15-30 mts of driving time.

Are you sure this is open (no offence meant), someone reported recently that the BP is not complete!!!!!!

Thanks,

--Ramky

Originally Posted by tinnieboy

It .........................

Start of the Dream Drive (Day 1) Jan 23rd, 2009
-----------------------------------------------
Jan 23rd (Friday) early morning at ......................

I had read in all the travelogues that for Chittaurgarh there exists no bypass and we had to cross from within the city which is why we planned to give the Chittaurgarh fort a visit. But to my surprise the highway NH 79 has now been stretched and etched to enale you to bypass the Chittaurgarh city as well. Thats the only place we had got confused and enquire the NHAI employee to help us know the route to Chittaurgarh fearing we had diverted from our way.

At 1515 hours we were expecting Chittaurgarh to be near by but as there was no buzzing city life to see anywhere we could see we assumed we were far off yet. Just out of intuition we decided to enquire the route from the next life we see enroute. To our utter surprise the NHAI employee informed that we just need to lake a U-turnish diversion 100 meters ahead to the rightmost lane, that is the NH 76 highway leading straight to Udaipur !!! BINGO !!! We were glad we enquired right person dot on time. Had we waited for another few kms to ask, expecting to pass though the city before finding the diversion to NH 76, we would have lost the diversion far behind. The dream drive continued and we stopped after another 80 kms at another dhaba where the ladies yet again wished to hog on wierdly cooked Chana Masala and chapatties. .....................

Saheliyo Ki Baadi

[tinnieboy]

Thanks Pulsar.

Thanks Ramky,

Well the work on Chittorgarh Bypass was not exactly complete but very close to completion. They have anyways opened the stretch for the commuters to pass by if they wish to. All you have to do is drive through mere 50 meters of rubble on the unfinished bypass and take a U-turn to the right most lane (i.e. NH76). Though what needs to be ensured is you dont pass that crossing as there were absolutely no signboards or any help on directions we could see like the entire route. It becomes very essential to ask for the diversion from someone. We were lucky to spot the NHAI employees who were on the job.

The only clue I can give you is just bypass (go straight) and do not take the Railway crossing diversion to enter the Chittaurgarh. After around half a km you can see Uturn to Bhilwara and U-Turn to NH76 just where the exit road from Chittaurgarh merges. NH 76 being the last lane on your right if you are approaching from Chittaurgarh to the Uturn.

Hope that helps.

tinnie

[arindamray]

Nice travelogue. Rajasthan mesmarises.
How do you go to Jaigarh fort, is it motorable? I only went to Amber and just saw Jaigarh in the backdrop.

[deky]

Originally Posted by arindamray

Nice travelogue. Rajasthan mesmarises.
How do you go to Jaigarh fort, is it motorable? I only went to Amber and just saw Jaigarh in the backdrop.

Both Nahrgarh and Jaigarh are motorable. While you going from Jaipur city towards Amber fort there is a left turn as you enter the hills.

That road ends at a T junction and if you take a right from there you reach Jaigarh and if left you reach Nahrgarh