[dmplog]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Dude! Us family travellers don't do package tours, why would you do as a solo traveller on a bike?

You can look at the bhunga stay in Shaam e Sarhad. Suhas's travelogue (Wanderlust Traveller: Bangalore to the western frontier - White Rann, Vigakot, Lakhpat & Dholavira) is an excellent reference for planning. Your travel is overlapping with Republic Day, so please plan your stay ahead especially if its for Bhuj/Hodka.

My visit was day before Xmas in evening for Dwarka. If you are visiting off peak, it might be better. If you are not religiously inclined, you could skip it.

Shaam-e-Sarhad would likely to be booked. You can try Banni Village Stay at Hodka. I recently stayed there and have a great feedback.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Dude! Us family travellers don't do package tours, why would you do as a solo traveller on a bike?

You can look at the bhunga stay in Shaam e Sarhad. Suhas's travelogue (Wanderlust Traveller: Bangalore to the western frontier - White Rann, Vigakot, Lakhpat & Dholavira) is an excellent reference for planning. Your travel is overlapping with Republic Day, so please plan your stay ahead especially if its for Bhuj/Hodka.

My visit was day before Xmas in evening for Dwarka. If you are visiting off peak, it might be better. If you are not religiously inclined, you could skip it.

I'm not riding solo, there is an another biker. Opting for package gives us the liberty to rest our vehicle at the campsite and use their vehicles for nearby excursions/visit, plus food & cultural programmes (if any) are also taken care of.

Originally Posted by dmplog

Shaam-e-Sarhad would likely to be booked. You can try Banni Village Stay at Hodka. I recently stayed there and have a great feedback.

Thanks. Shaam-e-Sarhad would be tough to get it seems.

[Sail]

Hi guys, need your advice / suggestions on my first ever Gujrat trip.

Below plan is on drawing board and need to finalize the hotels & book them too.
I know I am missing out few places, but let it be for my next time / trip.

Any places to be seen en-route destinations.
My total days are fix (Dep & Arr).

D1/26 Mar: Travel to Ahmedabad from Gurugram, via Jaipur-Ajmer-Beawar-Pali-Sirohi-Abu Road-Palanpur-Mehsana-AMD. Goggle maps indicating 15 hrs drive / 905 kms, a bit high-ambitious, but I think I can do it as I am a regular long-distance traveller (in fact Delhi – Kolkata).

Any good B&B at Ashram Road ?

D2/27 Mar: Travel to SOU and come back Ahmedabad hotel at night – by car hire

D3/28 Mar: Travel from Ahmedabad to Dwarka via Rajkot

D4/29 mar: Morning Bet Dwarka, Puja & sight-seeing at Dwarka.

D5/30 Mar: Travel to Somnath via Porbandar, evening aarti darshan at temple

D6/31 Mar: Morning puja at temple / Noon – Travel: Somnath to Gir / Evening safari at Gir

D7/01 Apr: Morning: One more trip at Gir (if missed out last evening) / Noon: Travel to Diu.

D8/02 Apr: Staying at Diu / Water sports

D9/03 Apr: Travel from Diu to Ahmedabad – suggestion on route to be taken … please.

D10/04 Apr: Local Sight-seeing at AMD

D11/05 Apr: Start early morning - Return Gurugram.

Appreciate if any members know any particular route / sections having poor road conditions, or any other issues. Just to be on safer side, will put yellow strips on car headlight.

Cheers,
Sail

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by Sail

D4/29 mar: Morning Bet Dwarka, Puja & sight-seeing at Dwarka.

D5/30 Mar: Travel to Somnath via Porbandar, evening aarti darshan at temple

D8/02 Apr: Staying at Diu / Water sports



Just to be on safer side, will put yellow strips on car headlight.

Cheers,
Sail

Recently did a road trip on a bike.

Haripad > Coimbatore > Davanagere > Nashik > Ahmedabad > Sasan Gir > Somnath(day Visit) > Sasan Gir > Diu > Dwaraka > Rann of Kutch > Ahmedabad > Vadodara > Statue of Unity > Vadodara > Satara > Hosur > Haripad

Road from Dwaraka to Porbandar, 4 laning is going on.

Porbandar to Somnath, some stretches are pretty bad.

Four laning is going on the Somnath to Diu stretch also.

Road between Somnath to Sasan Gir and Sasan Gir to Diu is pretty narrow and two lane only.

Rest of the roads in Gujarat are quite good. Yes, you need to watch out for speed breakers, pretty big.

Ahmedabad to Statue of Unity would be almost 3 hours drive. So plan accordingly. Book your tickets online.

Hotels I opted :

Ginger Vastrapur @ Ahmedabad

The Fern @ Dwaraka

Gir Jungle Lodge @ Gir

The Grand Highness @ Diu

[dmplog]

Originally Posted by Sail

Hi guys, need your advice / suggestions on my first ever Gujrat trip.

D4/29 mar: Morning Bet Dwarka, Puja & sight-seeing at Dwarka.

D5/30 Mar: Travel to Somnath via Porbandar, evening aarti darshan at temple

D6/31 Mar: Morning puja at temple / Noon – Travel: Somnath to Gir / Evening safari at Gir

D7/01 Apr: Morning: One more trip at Gir (if missed out last evening) / Noon: Travel to Diu.

D9/03 Apr: Travel from Diu to Ahmedabad – suggestion on route to be taken … please.

D10/04 Apr: Local Sight-seeing at AMD

Appreciate if any members know any particular route / sections having poor road conditions, or any other issues.

At Bet Dwaraka, keep around 5-6 hours. The Ferry system is very poorly managed and the Parking is a bit of walk from the the Ferry terminal.

Porbandar - see if you want to cover Kirti Mandir (MK Gandhi's birthplace) and Sudama Mandir.

Porbandar - Somnath route: Avoid coastal road. Instead take this route via Ranakadorma, Manavadar, Keshod bypass.

At Somnath, just after evening Arati, do watch the Light and Sound Show (Hindi at 7:45pm and English later). It's a 30 min show and nicely done. Tickets sold separately in the Temple premises. While going to temple, avoid carrying Electronic gadgets and wallets, etc as much as possible. The security is very strict and the baggage storage counters can have queues on a busy day. There are separate counters for normal baggage and mobiles (2 2 different queues).

BTW, I recently did a week in Gujarat. You may refer to it here (Week-long family driving trip to Gujarat : A Travelogue / Photologue)

Have a safe trip!

[vyasachetan]

Hi,
I am planning a 10 day road trip to Gujarat in the first week of May 2020 in my BMW 3 series from Bangalore.
Keen on visiting SOU, Gir, Somnath and any other places that can been seen in the month of May.

Will the climate be too hot to manage?
Is Kutch even an option?

Look forward...

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by vyasachetan

Hi,
I am planning a 10 day road trip to Gujarat ... May ..from Bangalore.
Keen on visiting SOU, Gir, Somnath and any other places that can been seen in the month of May.

Will the climate be too hot to manage?
Is Kutch even an option?

Look forward...

The following travelogue which I had penned may be a useful reference.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ujarat-me.html (A road trip to Gujarat - Kuch din to gujaro Gujarat me)

10 days looks very tight to cover Kutch. You may need to plan for 14 days.
The whole area is mostly arid and will be too hot in the month of May, should be manageable given that there is AC everywhere.

[ampere]

Agree with @for_cars1

Originally Posted by vyasachetan

Hi,
I am planning a 10 day road trip to Gujarat in the first week of May 2020 in my BMW 3 series from Bangalore.
Keen on visiting SOU, Gir, Somnath and any other places that can been seen in the month of May.

• For to/fro : 2 days each (Halt at Puine and reach Ahmedabad late next day.So 4 days gone.
• That apart: Ahemdabad - Rajkot - Dwarka : Half day gone
• 2 night in Dwarka
• Drive down to Somnath via Porabandar : A day gone with evening darshan at Somnath
• A night Somnath
• A couple of nights in Gir
• Option: Visit Junagarh or Bhvanagar (if interested) : 1/2 Nights
• Return to Ahemdabad : A day gone driving back.
• 2/3 nights in Ahmedabad for sightseeing
• Drive back

Gives you 4 days of drive to/from Gujarat to Bangalore and 10 days driving/sightseeing in Gujarat.

But all said and done May is not the time. Will be too hot to see anyplace.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vyasachetan

Will the climate be too hot to manage?
Is Kutch even an option?

My usual drives to Gujarat have been more in the month of May than any other and from my personal experience, I would say avoid it if you are planning it as a Tourist.

The temperatures will be easily above 40 Degrees in most of the places and you may really need to plan visiting each of these places either early mornings or after 5PM stealing from you good part from the rest of the entire day!

Even when I visit for social reasons, we would never step out during the day and would head out only post dinner because summers makes night more active here due to plethora of options available to eat out but not as a tourist.

You may want to reconsider shifting your plan to October or at least after July.

As others have mentioned, 10 days is tight since you will need 4 full days to travel to Gujarat (Ahmedabad) and back to Bangalore. So you will be left with only 6 days and so much to see. Hence, you either need to increase the numbers of days from your plan or cut short your itinerary by knocking off few POIs from that list.

At many a places like Dwarka or Gir, you really don't need to stay for 2 nights and still visit all the places.

And lastly, latest road conditions matter a lot because things don't remain the same:

Bangalore to Pune : Roadworks between Chitradurga and Hubli will slow you down unless you travel on a weekday and start super early. Further, Kolhapur - Pune - Mumbai gets very dense on a normal day, denser on weekends and take away a lot of time

Ahmedabad to Rajkot : 6 lane expansion work is in progress and roads remain rough at most of the sections (Mainly Rajkot Ahmedabad direction) all the way till Rajkot. This won't add significant time to your travel but you need to be aware of the latest conditions too.

[earthian]

Originally Posted by vyasachetan

Hi,
Will the climate be too hot to manage?
Is Kutch even an option?

Yes, it would be hot, in fact, blistering hot. Expect temperatures to be at least 44 C and up. No kidding. I would not do a leisure holiday in Kutch and Saurashtra at these times.

On a positive note, chances of lion sightings are high since the pride comes to the water bodies to drink twice a day and relaxes in the sparse shade there for some time. Secondly, it is so hot that traffic is quite minimal on the roads at Ahmedabad and most cities due to two reasons. Gujjus (like me) are fond of travelling and take advantage of the school holidays and hot weather to move outside the State. I am contemplating going to Uttarakhand. The other reason is that the heat desists one from moving outside the house/office during the daytime-and so traffic is sparse.

[TROOPER]

Me and my Dad wish to make a trip to Dwarka and Somnath, from Mumbai, starting 16th March.

Route taken would be Mumbai-Nadiad-Rajkot-Dwarka-Somnath-Rajkot-Mumbai

Currently, only hiccup is the coronavirus scare all around. Wondering whether to carry out this trip or not.

Any idea if Dwarka and Somnath is frequented by foreign tourists?

Also how are the road conditions for this route?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by TROOPER

Any idea if Dwarka and Somnath is frequented by foreign tourists?

NRI Gujaratis are very regular at both of these locations. But given the present scare due to corona virus, travels have reduced.

Also how are the road conditions for this route?

Nothing that you need to be worrying about. Overall the conditions are favourable with roads.

[TROOPER]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

NRI Gujaratis are very regular at both of these locations. But given the present scare due to corona virus, travels have reduced.

In that case, I guess it's better for us to be prudent and avoid the trip. The cases seem to be climbing up in India too now.

[vyasachetan]

Thank you all for the suggestions.
May is holiday season, hence planning it this time of the year.
Tentatively I was planning
Day1(Afternoon departure): stay in Hubli
Day 2 & Day 3 l: stay in Lonavla
Day 4: Lonavla to Ahmedabad
Day 5: Ahmedabad sightseeing
Day 6: drive to Dwarka
Day 7: Dwaraka
Day 8: Gir
Day 9: Gir
Day 10: Gir to Vadodara
Day 11: Vadodara to Kolhapur
Day 12: Kolhapur to Banglore

Need suggestions if the above plan is feasible, where can I squeeze in Somnath and Porbandar?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vyasachetan

Day 11: Vadodara to Kolhapur

Try this with an early morning start from Vadodara and you are assured that you will need between 6.6-7 hours to reach Thane and cross Thane - Belapur - Vashi around noon which remains the bestest time.

This will also ensure you have a smooth passage between Vashi - Pune - Kolhapur. Avoid crossing Mumbai/Pune around evenings which will significantly add to your overall timings and affect the itinerary (applicable in both directions).

It was quite easy for me when I started from Ahmedabad in the morning (0700) and was in Thane by 1430.

where can I squeeze in Somnath and Porbandar?

Ieally you cannot unless the circuit is something like this:

Ahmedabad - Rajkot - Junagadh - Gir - Somnath - Porbandar - Dwarka - Jamnagar - Ahmedabad.

• Ahmedabad - Gir : Stay (1N)
• Gir - Somnath - Porbandar - Dwarka : Stay (2N)
• Dwarka - Jamnagar - Ahmedabad - Vadodara : Stay (1N
• Vadodara - Kolhapur : Stay (1N)
• Kolhapur - Bangalore : Stay (1N)

Based on this, you can plan how you want to reach Ahmedabad (via Lonavala etc).

Take into account the timings for Darshan at Temple and Safari timing at Gir and other places and then decide if you need a night extra anywhere based on this and the travel times on particular days.