Sheer drive to Rajasthan: Jodhpur,Udaipur & Jaisalmer in 4 days

Well…!!! Following different travelogues from a long time for routes & planning but decided to write own this time. Long awaited 15th Aug 2014 finally came up….We were excited to see more of Rajasthan this time. Initial thought was for Udaipur & Mount Abu, which was extended by me till Jaisalmer & Jodhpur. A lot of research done before by my side including alternative trip of Manali> Dharmshala> Delhausi in 4 days, which was thumbed down because of rainy season.

Day1: Gurgaon to Jodhpur:
GURGAON>NEEMRANA>SAHPURA>AJMERBYPASS>BEAWAR>PALI ROAD>JODHPUR (580 KM)10 HRS
On 15th morning with my wife, 2 yr old kid, friend Abhinav & 2 other colleagues departed from Gurgaon at 5:15 AM for Udaipur. Tanked up Abhinav’s Skoda Fabia near Manesar & reached Jaipur Bypass around 9’o clock. Due to empty stomach everyone was asking for food now .We found a Dhaba, had some Parathas & moved on.

Halt time: – approx 1hrs.

Now the real fun was there for the drivers, creamy roads without much traffic. I would suggest for a break try to stop before Ajmer bypass diversion. There are few restaurants on the roadside.
Before kishangarh I proposed for Jodhpur which was not in our itinerary & no one had visited earlier, so everyone got agreed.We continued on NH8, left kishangarh bypass & followed NH8 till Beawer.
Now we took turn towards pali around 1:30.Roads wasn’t not that good now, due to which we were unable to gain momentum. Reached Jodhpur around 4 o’ Clock & within couple of moments we were inside Umaid Bhawan Palace.

Umaid bhawan model inside museum

umaid palace

Personally I was more interested in Vintage Cars but got little bit disappointed as being a heritage property these could have been more maintained .Watching them behind the glasses was a bit weird.

Royal Vintage Cars

After clicking some snaps we headed for Mehrangarh fort, when inquired from locals, they told us that closing time is 5 P.M. We had 25 minutes only to reach there, but we were in front of fort within 15 minutes because of Abhinav. Pretty quick indeed…!!

Mehrangarh fort

When I saw the view from roof of the fort then I came to know why this is called a Blue City. View revealing itself.

City view from fort

Another view from terrace of fort

Still we had enough time so gave a thought for Udaipur now in evening. Everyone suggested for planning during food intake. Ultimately this was saving some time for us.
we wasted 20-25 mins in search of a good restaurant in city than decided that we will have food on the way .Just 10 mins later found a restaurant luckily. We were having our lunch cum dinner @ 6:30 PM. We hadn’t booked our hotel anywhere in the trip so tried to book hotel in Udaipur. Another 5-6hrs journey was still pending & it was a big risk to search hotel in midnight with family. When inquired in 5-6 hotels none of a single room was available. Local contacts tried but all went in vain.
Oh God….left the luck behind!! was everyone celebrating independence day in Udaipur or everyone was utilizing this weekend with another holiday of 15th Aug. By the way it was 8 ‘o clock & we were still in Jodhpur.

Avoiding risk of late night journey & no hotel availability in Udaipur we decided to stay in Jodhpur & depart for Udaipur in early morning. It was a hotel’s restaurant, got 2 rooms easily .We had enough spare time now, so utilized for our party.

DAY 2: Jodhpur To Udaipur:
JODHPUR>PALI>HALDIGHATI >EKLINGI>UDAIPUR (480 KM) 6-7 HRS

Next morning refreshed ourselves, refueled car & our tummies as well. Departed for Udaipur at 9 am.
By mistake we had taken a long route almost 30 km towards pali & road conditions were not good enough. Peacocks on the roads were a common sight on this way…

Peacocks on the way

After crossing Pali only we gained some speed . Climate was soothing, felt like we were heading towards hill station rather than typical deserts of Rajasthan. Halted for few moments in b/w for quick clicks.
We managed to enter Udaipur at 3:30 PM. Had burgers in Mac’d @ Centurian Mall & decided to book hotel near Pichola Lake. Visited saheliyon ki baadi on the way & moved towards lake..Google baba was guiding us.

Saheliyon ki baadi

Hell….road was getting down narrower & narrower like a street now with busy traffic towards Pichola. Google ended us in front of City Palace , where parking space in another big problem…

City palace

It was closing time of museum so we didn’t get entry, when further enquired we got parking ticket inside City Palace on behalf of light & sound show . City Palace is divided into three parts just like Umaid Bhawan in Jodhpur one for the Hotel, one as the residence for Royal family and one as museum
We parked car & explore city palace from outside, boating was also closed till now so enjoyed serenic view of Taj Palace & Jagnmandir from Pichola Bank. All were getting more beautiful with the dawn.

Lake palace

Jagmandir

Show started at due time, it was a majestic feel to be seated in city Palace & witnessing history of brave Chittor & Mewar in cloudy eve. Soon it became monotonous for us as expectations were high from our side, I opted to spend some quality time in bank of Pichola lonely. We left the show in b/w

While having dinner my mind clicked that we had covered all major parts in Udaipur & we were not interested in visiting forts, so proposed to skip mount Abu & overnight drive to Jaisalmer.Everyone agreed we departed for Jaisalmer at 11 PM through Sirohi Road.

DAY 3 ::>> UDAIPUR TO JAISALMER:
Udaipur> sirohi Road> Barmer> Jaisalmer (490 km) 8-10 hrs
Roads were creamy till mount Abu Check post, where we left NH & getting worsen afterwards. Somewhere I was thinking about my decision of overnight journey. Suddenly a caravan of 7-8 trucks came in full speed in a full patchy road ,negative vibes tickled my mind but we continued without changing the gears. After 30 mins we reached a crossing with barrier closed. A trolley was behind us with 8-10 persons & a jeep was in opposite side without any number plate. We were ready to tackle anything.

When I asked guard to open barrier he refused as signal was green till now & train was supposed to come in 2-3 minutes. Finally trains passed after 10-15 mins we crossed barrier & relaxed.
At 5 am Abhinav halted for tea break, he was also feeling sleepy by the time. All get refreshed by little drizzle, which was just started.

Visibility was clear now & we were near Barmer. I asked Abhinav for change but he declined & continued. We were in the long awaited stretch now, where terrain was pretty good & one can gear up to 150 kph easily. We stopped for some quick snaps then I took the charge till Jaisalmer. We reached jaisalmer around 10 a.m.

Abhinav on Jaisalmer Highway

Now begin the hotel search which took another 1hr.All were getting annoyed due to overnight fatigue ,specially my 2 yr old kid Dhawal was bit more restless now. A big relief for all of us when found 2 decent rooms in Hotel Lalgarh Fort.

After having breakfast we headed for local sightseeing, no one was interested in fort visit so visited BaraBagh. In a sunny day it was very uncomfortable & further visit to Gadisar Lake was more disappointing. Didn’t bother to take a single snap & returned to hotel immediately. It was 1 pm by then.

Barabagh

Decided to take some rest & Sam visit in the evening. When we woke up it was s already 5 o clock & sun was about to set. Sam was about 50km from hotel, so again we were out of time by 1 hrs approx.
Abhinav speeded up & reached at Sam dunes at 7 pm. After some bargaining we got package of camel ride + dance /folk show + dinner at 1500 rs for all 5 persons. Not a bad deal…….Quickly we took camel ride, clicked some snaps & moved for the oasis camp.

Folk show already started by now. We had welcome tea & Poha . After half an hour I noticed there is a facility of having booze also while enjoying the show. Though charges were almost double but considering the situation it was worth. By now everyone was enjoying & dancing with the local dancers. My kid was enjoying that moment utmost. Great experience that was for all of us……….!!!!!

Dancing with Folk artists at SAM

It was about 9:30 PM. We had our dinner which was not that good & paid to the dealer .Reached @ hotel about 11 pm & slept as an early depart was necessary for Gurgaon.

DAY4:>> Jaisalmer to Gurgaon
Jaisalmer > falodi>Bikaner>Fatehpur>Jhunjhunu>Narnaul>Rewari>Gurgaon(780 km) 13 hrs.
In morning we left Jaisalmer @ 7am after refilling the tank. Halted near falodi for breakfast & wasted almost 90 mins yet by noon we were in Bikaner. Amazing roads for speedsters .I was interested in Junagarh fort but everyone declined so moved on. Halted for some quick snaps on the way near Bikaner thinking engine ‘ll also have some rest.

Abhinav took the charge for driving seat from here & everything was going good till now but after fatehpur suddenly AC stopped working. It was around 2 PM & half day travel was still there, so decided to have lunch. If the reason ll be overheating it ll be fine till then. After lunch I pour 1 bucket of water inside bonnet of car.

Started again for final destination, AC worked….WOW… Reached Narnaul around 5 PM .Had dinner @ rewari @ 9pm & we were in Gurgaon @ 10.30pm.

What a tight but amazing journey that was…2500 km in 4 days. Cherishing the memories of Royal Blue city Jodhpur, pictorious Lake City Udaipur & Golden desert city Jaisalmer.

After visiting I realized we would have covered mount abu also with boating in pichola Lake within same timeline in case of prior knowledge of routes & road conditions .
Few suggestions for readers:-
➢ Trip should have started through Udaipur or Jaisalmer. Try to be there before 4PM to visit museum or Sunset. Entry is up to 5PM for most of the museums & forts in Rajasthan.
➢ Jaisalmer is only 250 km from Jodhpur so it can be the midpoint & one can cover mount Abu also for short duration trip.
➢ Refill fuel Tanks at major cities before departure as there are very less petrol pumps in b/w. Keep water bottles also.
➢ One can use his army Identity card for toll redemption. We didn’t paid toll during entire journey as one colleague had ex army card.