Trip to Rajasthan and Gujarat

This is a travelogue to Rajasthan and Gujarat from Chennai.

Before I start off, I have to thank all the friends, colleagues, forums for all the guidance. Specifically, HVK forum in FB was the single most important source of info; thanks to HVK sir for route guidance. Various posts from www.teamfiat.com were also of great help in the preparation and route guidance.

Preparation: prepared a big to-do list and things to be taken; it included service center list and phone numbers, emergency contact details. Got GJ yellow sticker from local sticker shop and took printout of all important documents.
I did a quick general checkup at Ramkay Fiat, Chennai. They did a good job; got the car back in 1.5 hours. Also, changed couple of tires to Michelin 3ST.

The start was delayed by a day because of office work. Finally, started from Chennai to Krishnagiri on Saturday, 20th. There was lot of excitement; and lot of butterflies in the stomach. It was like preparing for an important exam and then taking the exam.
Plan of execution was a below.

Day Date Plan for the day
1 21 Krishnagiri to Pune
2 22 Pune to Udaipur
3 23 Udaipur sightseeing
4 24 Excursion near Udaipur
5 25 Udaipur sightseeing; Udaipur to Jodhpur; via Ranakpur
6 26 Jodhpur sightseeing
7 27 Jodhpur to Jaisalmer; via Osian
8 28 Jaisalmer sightseeing & Sam
9 29 Jaisalmer to Patan;
10 30 Patan to Rann of Kutch to Bhachau
11 31 Bhachau to Pune
12 1 Pune to Krishnagiri

Day 1 Krishnagiri near Pune
Started at 5:30 AM; reached Pune at 7:00 PM. Check HVK forum for Bangalore-Pune road condition. It was spot-on w.r.t road condition and speed breaker info.
I encountered traffic beyond belgavi. It got worst after Kolapur and Satara. Lot of diversions in Satara - Pune road. Speedbreakers at each diversion and toll queue will slow you down.
Food & Stay
Breakfast: Sri Kamadhenu before Dabaspete; great south Indian Veg breakfast (LHS of road)
Lunch: Kamat, IOC annexe, RHS of road, after Dharwad. Thali was very good; fueled car in the petrol bunk.
Dinner: small veg hotel at Rameshwar Petrol bunk opposite Amruta Hotel Sarole; great vada pav and dosa.
Vishal Lodge, Shindewadi (before Sarole), near Pune, Rs 1000 with extra bed; good room + secure car park





Day 2 Pune to near Udaipur
Started at 5:30 AM; reached Udaipur at 8:00 PM.
Did a super quick run in expressway, we were slow in food court. As a result, we got stuck in Mumbai traffic jam.
Good road and sparse traffic beyond Mumbai till Navsari. There was traffic beyond Navsari & Surat. There was traffic jam at Narmada crossing at Bharuch. Luckily it was not a total stoppage. The queue kept moving slowly.
Did a quick run beyond Bharuch to Vadodara. Did a super quick run on Vadodara Expressway.
I was stopped by Ahmedabad traffic police in the ring road. Harassed for 30 minutes; they started from Rs3000 and finally wanted atleast Rs100. I did not budge. I had all the docs in place; including the yellow sticker. Only mistake, there were two black suction cup sunscreen on the windows, which I promptly removed. Finally they told that I was not wearing shoes and asked to pay Rs100. LOL for which I got some gaalli. Gave them piece of my mind and walked away.
There is a 10 km two lane road from Ahmedabad to Udaipur, beyond that 4 lane starts. But the two lane road had atleast 3 accident vehicles enroute which reminder me to drive safe. Good 4 lane road till Udaipur. But there are many stretches where road is very rough and bumpy. Traffic was sparse. Watch out for Tropic of Cancer board.
Breakfast: Expressway Food Plaza: went inside one of the Restaurants. Very good food but slow service. Better to opt for quick bite shops in the food plaza.
Lunch: Hare Krishna near Navsari. Fantastic Thali. Relished it.
Dinner: Krishna Lila Restaurant. Average food
Krishna Lila Regency, Udaipur; Rs 1500 per night with extra bed. Very good room. Parking was a big problem.



Day 3 Udaipur sightseeing
Places visited: Folk Musuem, Sukhadia circle, Saheliyon ke Bari, Fateh Sagar Lake & Nehru park, Rana Pratap Memorial, City Palace.
Took a full day autoride for Rs 600. 9AM to 5 PM. Prefer auto ride so that headache of driving and parking in congested city is avoided.
Breakfast at road side Parata stall opposite Vintage car museum: fantastic Aloo Paratas.
Lunch: at small eatery near Rana Pratap Memorial. Nothing great except Chaas.
Dinner: Rose Garden near Vintage car museum. Very good food.
Stay at Krishna Lila Regency.

Day 4 Udaipur excursion
Drive to Eklingji and Sas Bahu temple: Two lane and four lane road, Ghat roads are patchy. Watch out for speed breakers; it was a 30 to 40 minute drive.
Jagat: More than one hour drive in single lane road. The temple is good but not worth such a long drive. It can be skipped.
In Udaipur:
Rope car ride to Karni Mata temple: great night view of the city.
Jagdish temple; very good place. Road to this place is crowded so we went by Auto; don’t venture in your car.
Breakfast at road side Parata stall opposite Vintage car museum:
Lunch: at small eatery near Hotel Shubham, Railway Colony Udaipur. The Thali was fantastic.
Dinner: It was a late lunch so we had Kachoris and Samosa for dinner.
Stay at Krishna Lila Regency.

Day 5 Udaipur sightseeing; Udaipur to Jodhpur; via Ranakpur
Places visited: Jag Mandir, Fateh Prakash Palace, Ranakpur
Boad ride + Jag Mandir was fantastic. Lucky I did not miss it.
Drive to Ranakpur: Udaipur to Gogunda is beautiful 4 lane. Do not miss to admire the beautiful hilly views; they are full of water falls during monsoon. Please check youtube for video on the same.
Few Kms after Gogunda take the right turn. It became a 2 lane road; but excellent road. After Sayra, the road is patchy and single road.
From Ranakpur to Jodhpur: via Sadri, Sanderao. Ranakpur to Sadri was patchy. Road to Sanderao was good. From Sanderao it was good 4 lane toll road. Take left before Pali, via Rohat. It is good 4 lane toll road. As you near Jodhpur, 4 lane work is still in progress, so watch out for diversions.
Breakfast: Poha at small shop near the hotel.
Lunch: Hot kachoris and samosas near city palace entrance, Udaipur
Dinner: at Krishna restaurant, 12th road circle, Jodhpur. Average quality of food. We found it hard to get the right restaurant during our entire stay in Jodhpur.
Hotel Shivalaya International, Jodhpur, Rs 1500 per night with extra bed (very average hotel); comfortable parking in front of the hotel.

Day 6 Jodhpur sightseeing
I took auto in Jodhpur. But we can drive around. The roads are wide and parking is easy.
First we went to Mehrangarh Fort. Great views from the fort; Fort museum was fantastic. Overall it needs half day to fully explore all the places in the Fort. Part of the walk is steep. There is a manual lift available but it had a long queue.
Next we went to Umaid bhavan. We were bit disappointed because you can see only a small part of the entire palace. Even before we knew the tour was completed and we came out. Then we saw the Vintage car show in Umaid bhavan. It had couple of Rolls Royce, Packard and Morris Manor.
By 3 PM, we were back in the hotel. So took a drive to Mandor. The park, cenotaphs and temples are very good. But we could not see the fort as it was closed by 5:00 PM. The place is filled with large Langurs.
Breakfast: Bread Jam & Banana!!
Lunch: early lunch at the café inside Mehrangarh fort. Had samosas, sandwich, panini and lassi.
Dinner: chat items and roti at Mandor junction.
Stay at Hotel Shivalaya international.

Day 7 Jodhpur to Jaisalmer; via Osian
Great 2 lane road to Jaisalmer. Via Osian, Phalodi, Ramdevra, Pokhran; sparse traffic, straight road. Though it is a two lane we can cruise above 120 kmph, but did a safe speed of 100 kmph.
We visited Sachi mata temple and Jain temple in Osian. We reached Jaisalmer around 4 PM.
Took a walk to Patwan ki haveli after checking into hotel.
Breakfast: Good roadside Dhabha after Mandore.
Lunch: at Ramdevra bypass junction. It was average looking restaurant. But the roti, side dish and chaas were great. There are many more restaurants near Pokhran.
Dinner: Rajasthani Thali at Chandan Sree, opposite Jaisalmer fort gate. Too good! The quantity was too much to eat.
Hotel Giriraj Palace, Jaisalmer, near Fort entrance. Rs 1000 per night for 4 bedded room. Heritage building, Good ambience. Good proximity. Car parked on road side, but no issues.

Day 8 Jaisalmer sightseeing
It was Sunday and all the places were crowded. We visited the Fort museum, then the Jain temple.
After lunch we took off to Sam. Enroute we visited Ludhrawa Jain temple and Kuldhara ghost town. The road was excellent till Sam. The road to Kuldhara is a single lane road it become bad as you near Kuldhara.
And finally Sam, went for a two hour camel ride circling the less crowded sand dunes.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner at Chandan Sree. Compensated for the average food we had in Jodhpur.
Stay at Hotel Giriraj Palace.

Day 9 Jaisalmer to Patan
Started at 7:30 AM from Jaisalmer to Patan. The temparature was 5C. There was very little traffic so we made quick advance. We reached Sanchore around 11 AM. The road from Jaisalmer to Sanchore was fantastic and beautiful.
We took the Dhanera, Deesa route. The road was good for most part. There were occasional bad patches. There was traffic plus lunch stop delayed us and we reach Patan around 3 PM.
After checking into hotel we visited Rani ki vav and sun temple. Both were open till 6 PM.
Breakfast: Bread Jam Sauce
Lunch: Hotel choudhary near Deesa. Average food.
Dinner: at Tulasi restaurant. Very good food. Great ambience.
Hotel Tulasi. Patan. Rs 1200 per night with extra bed. Good room with secure car park.

Day 10 Patan to Rann of Kutch to Bhachau
We started at 7:00 AM from Patan to Rann of Kutch Via Radhanpur & Bhuj.
Patan to Radhanpur: It was a mix of very good roads and dirty tracks passing via small towns.
From Radhanpur it was 4 lane till Bhachau. Very scenic ride.
From Bhachau, we took the Dudhai route. For first 15~20 kms the road is bad. Be careful to avoid the potholes. Gradually the road becomes very good till Bhuj.
The road from Bhuj to Dhorbo is very good. The winding road gradually becomes a straight road. We could do good speed till the checkpost.
At checkpost, we got the pass in another 15-20 minutes. We headed for white desert. We were enchanted by the white desert that we spent lot of time there and decided not to try Kala Dungar.
From there, we started from around 5:00 PM, did some window shopping at Rann Utsav. We reached Bhachau around 7:30 PM.
Breakfast: Bad luck. We could not find a good road side hotel. We became desperate and stopped at an average hotel. We had methi pakodas. After breakfast we started; in another 15~20 kms we found couple of good hotels.
Lunch: Bad luck again. When we got hungry we were nowhere near any hotel. We saw few road side eateries before the checkpost. There was no pure veg hotel serving rotis. Only pakodas were available. We did not want pakodas for lunch also. So we got some bananas and carrots.
After checkpost, towards white Rann there was one good restaurant, Desert King. The food was very good. But we had to wait for 30 minutes. On the whole we lost 1 hour searching and waiting for food.
Dinner: Fine dining at Shiv International. Great food. Great restaurant.
Stay at Hotel Shiv International, Bhachau, Rs 1200 for Triple Bed room; as good as a star hotel.

Day 11 Bhachau to Pune
Started at 5:00 AM. It was a long drive back home!!
The road between Samkhiyali and Khirai was patchy and full of heavy vehicle traffic. We need to be patient till Khirai, because after that if was very good road, sparse traffic to Ahmedabad.
Stopped by Traffic police while entering Vadodara expressway. They skimmed through all the docs and let me go.
It was traffic all the way from Ahmedabad till Surat. It was slow traffic at Narmada Bridge at Bharuch.
Beyond Surat, the traffic was moderate till we started nearing Mumbai.
We crossed Mumbai in 45 minutes. But the Mumbai expressway was very crowded. And we got stuck in a Traffic Jam in Pune. We took nearly 30 minutes to cross a small stretch of 2 kms.
Food & Stay
Had very good hot tea near Dhrangadara rail crossing. Breakfast at Hotel Asopalav on Vriramgam Bypass. At last, had Idli for breakfast!! The food was good.
Lunch: Hare Krishna, Navsari. Again very good.
Dinner & stay: somewhere in Ramnagar Pune; missed the hotel name.

Day 12 Pune to Krishnagiri
Again started a 5:00 AM. Very little traffic, we quickly reached Satara.
Sparse traffic through out the journey till Krishnagiri. We reached at 6:00 PM.
Breakfast: Hotel Sai International on NH47 between Karad and Kolhapur. Excellent food.
Lunch: Aditya Midway Plaza. Horrible food.
Dinner: Krishnagiri, at in-law's place smile emoticon

The 100+ hours ride in Tjet gave us immense joy. I got an overall FE of 13.5 kmpl.
At the end it was 6000 kms, 12 days, 5 states, crossing major cities like Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, diverse people, culture and food. It was a great learning experience.

People in all the places showed great hospitality throughout the trip.

Udaipur Palace








On the way to Jagat


Jagat

Night view from Karni mata temple Udaipur


On the way to Jagat


Lake Pichola Udaipur




Jag Mandir


on the way to Ranakpur






on the way to Ranakpur

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 20, 2015 ---

Update on Wolf Remap on Fiat Linea Tjet during the 6000 kms drive to Rajasthan & Gujarat.

Ran on stock for 50%; another 30% on Map1 and 20% on Map2.

Map2: Switched to Map 2 in all the 6-8 lane roads. Walajah to Krishnagiri, Nice Road (Hosur end) to Chitradurga, Mumbai – Pune expressway, Vadodara Expressway; includes return journey on these roads. It was addictive and making me run at higher triple digit speeds. Since traffic was medium to low; I got a good FE of 11.5. In stock, I would have got similar FE for such high speed runs. If traffic became heavier I found that I always accelerated more than I wanted and ended up braking behind slow moving vehicles and the FE drops.
But honestly, there is no point discussing on FE because the fun quotient was way higher!! The only way not to drive fast was not to be on map 2; then I switch over to map 1 or stock.

Map1: switched to map 1 for most of the traffic situations and city driving. Gave me better drivability, more power than stock and also more linear, but saner than map 2. Got an average FE of 13 kmph.

Stock: switched to stock whenever it was plain straight forward cruising on empty stretches. Mostly it was a steady speed of 100 kmph, + or –20 kmph. Under such conditions, stock gave the best FE (18~19 kmpl).

Overall FE for the trip was 13.5 kmpl.

Before the drive, I changed the front tires to Michelin Primacy 3ST from GY NCT5. And it immediately made a difference. The comfort has greatly improved, noise has reduced. But the torque has reduced; there was much better bite with GY. I think the soft walls of Michelin made the good and the bad difference.

 

@vanandwiz

Superb travelogue. Great pics. Truly a long travelogue and successfully done without a single incident to self or the car. Did you drive alone or had someone to help you out. How much kms did you totally cover?

Thanks a ton for the excel attachment, goes to show the planning done prior to the trip. Appreciate it a lot man.

 

The pictures tell the story. (I haven't yet read the log, sorry!)
My query is about Kumbhalgarh. Planning to visit on Feb 15-16 from Indore. Apparently, the route is via Ratlam-Banswara-Udaipur.
Is this a 4-lane all through? Appears to be a 6-7 hours' drive. I need to reach Indore on Feb 17 before 1600 hrs.Any suggestions / advice?

 

@ghodlur Thanks. . I was the only driver, covered 6000 kms.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 20, 2015 ---

@Ravi_M
Beyond Udaipur, 4 lane till Gogunda, few kms after Gogunda take right to Kumbalgarh. Till Sayra, it is 2 lane road. The road is very good. Beyond that I took left to Ranakpur and it was a single lane road. At Sayra, you have to take a right to Kumbalgarh. I am not too sure about the road condition.

Search HVK forum in facebook. You might get full route info.

One advice, sleep early and start early. It is the best way to beat traffic and also beat fatigue.

I think you should be able to comfortably make it back on Feb 17, 16:00 hrs.

 

Great to read your express travelogue, that was as fast as a remapped T - jet. Thanks for the wealth of info shared.

 

Nice share and pics. Using the details mentioner here to plan trip from Gurgaon. Currently torn between Rajasthan vs Gujarat for a 9 day trip in 3rd week of Feb...

 

T jet average 13.5 ... great ..wonderful machine ..

Passionate about Cars and long drives..
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Fiat linea 1.3 mutlijet emotion 2015
TATA safari 3L
Ford Fiesta 1.4exi
Fiat Palio
Maruthi esteem
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Excellent travel log and nice pictures. This tempts me to make a trip to Rajasthan, will plan soon .

 

More Photos......

Ranakpur


Jodhpur - Fort


Jodhpur - Umaid Bhavan


Mandor - near Jodhpur


Jodhpur to Jaisalmer via Osian


Jaisalmer


Kuldhara (ghost town near Jaisalmer)






Near Kuldhara - on the way to Sam Sand Dunes

Rani Ki Vav - Gujarat


Sun Temple Modhera - Gujarat



On the way to Rann of Kutch




Panoramic view of White desert

 

@vanandwiz, awesome man! This would have been an amazing journey for you covering 6000 Kms, mind boggling!
You made a bit jealous buddy. I was planning for a Udaipur-NCR trip in December last week but had to cancel it due to extremely foggy conditions in NCR. I am sure your trip and pics would get me going sometime soon.