Pune to Rajasthan and back in my Kushaq - 14 days & 3594 kms of Fun

Visiting Longewala was the best experience for me. Felt very proud of our soldiers at the border.

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Hello Friends,

Want to share my recent road trip from Pune to Rajasthan with an intention to help others who are planning similar trip.

Christmas and new year time always brings some excitement as it's holiday time for both of us (me and wife) and kids also get winter vacation. So we decided to make full use of it and what better way than to have a road trip with our Skoda Kushaq 1.5 Automatic petrol.

Many plans were chalked out and travel to south was almost finalized but weather conditions played spoilsport and even 1 week before starting vacation, weather app didn't show sunny days in most of the places that we were planning to visit. So wife suggested not to take any risk and plan an alternative. Cancelled all our hotel bookings. Thankfully all were refundable so it didn’t make a dent in the pocket.

We agreed on Rajasthan as it was in our mind for quite some time. I had worked near Udaipur in my initial career days but didn't really explore the places that time so it was always in the wish list.
First target was achieved - finalizing the places. we decided to visit Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.

Then came the planning part.

I was the only driver and I don’t prefer to drive during night or late evenings so we had to decide on places with this restriction in mind and also to ensure that any day, we don’t have to stretch more than what would be comfortable for our family of four. We have two kids. 10 year old daughter and 5 year old Son.

This was the plan that was finalized to drive and stay.

Before starting the journey, got the Kushaq check-up done to ensure that we don’t face any obvious issue during the trip. Booking was done for most of the places via MMT/Booking.com, petrol tank was full, packing was done and we were all set to embark on this journey.

Friday, we finished work and tried to sleep early but the excitement of trip is the enemy of sleep. Got up early in the morning, managed to get kids out of bed, had tea and all sat comfortably in Kushaq. Engine started at 5am.

Google map showed the way via Mumbai (NH48) but our last experience through that route was horrible. We had travelled to Daman and 5 hour journey turned into a nightmare of 10 hours due to congestion of trucks at Maharashtra Gujrat border specially at Vasai creek. We didn’t want to go through the same torture again so decided to take Nashik route via NH60 and it turned out to be a great decision.
Since we left early in morning, we could avoid most of the traffic at Chakan and Rajgurunagar. Speed breakers on nh60 till Nashik is a turn off but manageable.

We continued to drive for 3-4 hours straight and reached Nashik for quick breakfast, then moved forward. we entered Gujrat border. Thorough checking was done due to alcohol ban in Gujrat. we passed through Saputara and decided that while coming back, we will stay here for one night. Saputara is the only hill station of Gujrat and it looked like a quiet and serene place.

Rest of the drive was also peaceful. Road was good and with 2-3 more breaks for lunch/tea/kids requirements, we reached Vadodara at 6pm. Google map had showed 12 hours for this route but it took 10.5 hrs of driving only since road conditions were good. I missed to take NE4 from Bharuch till Vadodara. Later I realized that I could have saved some more time.

We had booked our accommodation at the highway so that we don’t have to deal with city traffic. I try to follow this rule for most of the hotels that I book.

Near the hotel, there was a restaurant in shape of aeroplane and they have a boarding pass to enter the plane, cabin crew, pilot and all to give it a feel of real aeroplane. We decided to explore it and it was a nice experience. Kids also enjoyed there.

Next morning 8am after breakfast, we started our journey to Udaipur. Vadodara to Ahmedabad via NE1 and then smooth NH48 drive without any hassle. Took couple of breaks including lunch break at Rawla Ratanpur. We reached our hotel in Udaipur by 3:30pm.

3 days in Udaipur was very relaxing. We kept our car parked in hotel and used auto to visit places in city. This way, I don’t need to worry about parking space, city traffic uncertainty etc. City palace was too crowded due to vacation time but other places were not so crowded. Auto walla guy also took us to an authentic restaurant "Krishna restaurant" which served dal-bati-churma and it was simply great. I would recommend this to anyone visiting Udaipur.

I personally liked ghat areas of Lake Pichola. Charm of narrow lanes in old city is unmatched. Weather was pleasant and lots of walking didn’t make us tiring at all. Even the kids didn’t complain. We also did a little tracking to reach bahubali hills. It's a hidden gem of Udaipur. View from the top is worth the effort of tracking.

There are 3-4 lakes in Udaipur and all have been kept really clean. No wonder they call it "Venice of east"

We left Udaipur with a desire to re-visit. Journey to Jaipur via NH48 completed in 6 hours. Our stay was on the highway itself. Again it turned out to be a good decision when next day we encountered traffic in Jaipur, especially in the pink city. I even enquired with cab driver if this traffic was due to vacation season and he said that it is usually this crowded and traffic remains there due to it being the main market area.
One day, we visited the famous hawa mahal, Jantar Mantar, Albert hall Museam and city palace. I would recommend hiring a tour guide mainly for Jantar Mantar. Again lot of city walk. Witnessing pink city is a great experience in itself. Most of the tourist attraction points are in this area and one can cover them by walking or by hiring auto. Jaipur street food is delicious and we enjoyed it to the fullest.
Next day, weather showed warnings of heavy rain. But still, we decided to visit Amer and Nahargarh fort.

With slight drizzling, we visited Amer and the overall view of this fort is mesmerizing, palaces inside fort, stories of history associated and architecture is worth. Few people used elephant ride to reach at the top. We opted to walk but witnessing so many elephants was fun.

While going towards Nahargarh, rain started to increase and lot of traffic jam was also there as the hilly road is not so wide to accommodate two way traffic. Cab guy still managed to reach there in reasonable time.
Top view of the city from Nahargarh fort is really impressive but we couldn’t see it for as long as we would have liked to, since the cloud had taken over and heavy rain also started.
Experience in Jaipur was great but I must say that traffic situation in Jaipur is worse that I have seen anywhere. May be it was the vacation period but I wish if it can improve.

Jaipur to Jodhpur - Visited Mehrangarh fort and Jaswant Thada there. We had started our journey bit early to ensure that we reach on time as these places allow entry till 5pm only.
Mehrangarh fort is huge and provides a very nice view of the blue city.

We stayed only 1 day in Jodhpur and moved to Sand dunes next day. I had seen some videos on you tube that people stop tourists on the way, come in front of the car and causes problems etc, however we didn’t encounter any such problem. Journey was smooth, roads were in good condition, no interruption at all.

We had booked a cottage there. Parked our car near the cottage itself so no need to carry all the luggage to the room, we could access it per our convenience.  Sunset at dunes has an amazingly beautiful view and one must not miss it. Did some photography there and came back to our resort for cultural programs and dinner. It was quite cold there specially during night and facilities in tent or cottages are minimum. Thankfully we were carrying winter jackets, scarfs, caps so that helped.

I was very excited for next morning as we planned to visit Longewala and Tanot. Morning was bit foggy and cold. Resort guy delivered tea at doorstep which was a relief. We had a quick breakfast and started our journey ahead. Road conditions to Longewala and Tanot are excellent and the visuals on both sides of the road are of the desert. You don’t see anybody for miles, encounter some sheeps, camels and ruins of villages. Best visual experience that I had in Rajasthan trip.

Visiting Longewala was the best experience for me. Felt very proud of our soldiers at the border. Read the stories of their bravery during 1971 war with Pakistan. War-place keeps playing audios from movie "border" and that gives goose bumps.

Tanot temple is 35 km from Longewala and again the road conditions are similar. You can see the bombs that didn’t explode at the temple during 1965 as well as in 1971 war. BSF takes care of this temple.

We then decided to move to Jaisalmer. On the way, my son demanded to stay for a while as he wanted to drive his toy car in sand dunes. Thankfully we found a perfect stop with breath-taking view of thar desert.
We did camel ride and son enjoyed his toy jeep safari.

Earlier plan was to visit Kuldhara village too but we were getting late to Jaisalmer so we decided to skip Kuldhara and reached Jaisalmer hotel.  After a quick check in and snacks break, we headed towards Jaisalmer fort. It's a living fort means people are actually staying inside fort. We talked to few residents there and they explained that King had asked his soldiers and other ministers to build houses there and their generations are staying there. Most of them also have started some business in front of their home like selling souvenirs, or having a restaurant or a hotel. There are roughly 40 hotels in the fort.
I found it very happening. It was refreshing to talk to the people there. They were welcoming and open to share their stories.

After roaming around, we had our dinner in the fort itself. Dal-bati changes its shape and taste throughout Rajasthan. Every place has a different way of preparing this authentic dish and I must say that all of them are delicious.

With a content heart, we left Jaisalmer and started our journey to back home.

We left at 9am and drove for 9 hours to reach Ahmedabad around 7pm. Roads in Rajasthan were excellent but then driving on Gujarat roads didn’t feel so great. Traffic in Ahmedabad was worse. Nobody follows traffic rules. In fact, there was no signal. Not sure if it was that particular day or it's a norm. by the way, it was 31st of Dec so we welcomed new year in Ahmedabad.

Next day, we visited Sabarmati Ashram, Science city and Atal bridge in the evening. Kids were amazed to see science city. I would definitely recommend to visit this place if you are in Ahmedabad.

As decided earlier, we took one last stop in Saputara. Spent quality time in the only hill station of Gujarat. Kids enjoyed strawberry picking.

Next morning after breakfast, we left for Pune and it was an uneventful journey back home with lots of great memories and discussions about another plan of next road trip.

Thank you for reading.

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