A road trip to Jaisalmer, Sam & Longewala; Things to be aware of!

At the entrance of the Tanot temple, there is an Army outpost providing permits for visiting the Indo-Pak border.

BHPian Prash1407 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

I just finished a road trip to Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Udaipur 2 weeks ago and here are my inputs.

I first travelled from Pune to Jaisalmer and stayed at Sam Sand Dunes. There are many "Resorts" which have tents and cottages. I stayed at Oasis camp and it was around 1600 per night, booked through HDFC Smartbuy. I had selected a Tent instead of Cottage to experience the cold

The next early morning was a jeep ride to watch sunrise from Desert which is extra. I paid 1200 for it. There you can experience ATV rides and paragliding (Hope that's the right word). The balloon is fixed to a jeep and it travels for around a km and you fly up.

Post breakfast, I drove to Longewala to feel the sacrifice by our soldiers. I am still getting goosebumps while I write this. You need to experience the place. From there the temple of Tanot is around 30 kms which I visited. At the entrance of the temple, there is an Army outpost which provides permit for visiting Indo-Pak border. You just need the RC, name and Aadhaar ID of all travelling passengers. The border is around 20 kms from there. It was already evening and I returned back to Jaisalmer and stayed at Radhika International. A good hotel for a night stay and I did get a suite room. For dinner, We went to Desi aroma. Very good!!

Next morning we visited the Jaisalmer Fort and travelled to Jodhpur. Visited the Osian mata temple which is on the way. You can get Jeep rides there too for around INR 500.
Stayed at Jodhpur for 2 days looking at the Forts, shopping. Started from Jodhpur to drive to Udaipur and on the way, we went to Kumbelgarh fort, Nathdwara (stayed there a night) and to Kankroli; both of which are part of Panch Dwaraka. Stayed in Udaipur for 2 days before returning back.

Tips:

• Take a pen with you to write the details during the permit at Indo-Pak border. Hawkers sell a INR 2 pen for INR 10
• Fill your tank in Jodhpur, there is a Depot and Petrol was almost 4 INR less than Udaipur. If yours is petrol, fill in Jio-BP since they provide INR 3 discount between 10 and 5 everyday
• I did take risk of not booking any hotels except the Tent. In all cities, while driving I just looked at the hotels and if they were good, went in and enquired. I got the Suite room in Jaisalmer for a good price. The same for all other stays
• Do keep all Aadhaar just in sake. Only the driver needs to show his for the border entry
• For shopping, bedspreads and clothes are good in Jodhpur. It has a bigger market as compared to Udaipur. You can but metal art in Udaipur.
• Do carry winter clothes. Udaipur was very cold and you can feel it from 5 in evening.

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