Udaipur to Jaisalmer on 2012-09-26 - skipping Jodhpur?

Hello,

I shall travel to India for the first time in September 2012, as a lone woman traveller. Thanks to the helpful directions of India Mike, I have managed to book rail tickets directly with Indian Railways.

One leg of my journey is going to be from Udaipur (hopefully directly) to Jaiselmar (hopefully skipping Jodhpur). There appears no direct train between the two cities, and travelling by trains involve a long detour from Udaipur to Phulera Junction, and a mid-night change there from Phulera Junction to Jodhpur and then to Jaisalmer.

Based on the search results on this site and from googling, there appeared, a few years ago, to be an overnight non-aircon rickety bus directly from Udaipur to Jaisalmer.

Q1. I wonder if any one recently "on the ground" at Udaipur knows if the direct bus is, or is not, still running? (As I am over 40 years of age, I prefer to travel by "luxurous coaches" if possible.)

Q2. If so, how long is the travelling time?

Many thanks in advance.

A July 2011 report http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India...og-631289.html

ANS1 . yes there is direct but service from udaipur to jaisalmer , not a luxury coach , its a normal bus service run by private operator.

ANS 2. journey time is 13-14 hours

There is direct flight from udaipur to jodhpur , travel time would be around 30 minutes .
From jodhpur you can get direct train to jaisalmer.

Many thanks formefrnd. May I ask what time will the bus depart from Udaipur? Which bus station in Udaipur?

why oh why would you skip Jodpur? It is a great place to see. The Blue City. I really recommend you go for a couple days. Break up the trip between the two. It has the most beautiful, maintained fort with a very thorough audio guide and pristine views over the city.....but just wondering the town itself is where the real charm is.....GO TO JODHPUR. It is so colourful.

I think the bus timings are around 8 pm and it starts from station road.
If you want any details for bus service you can mail them on businforajasthan at gmail .

In between i will also support what urbanminimalist is saying . If you are coming for the first time you should not miss jodhpur , as the palaces and forts here are very well maintained and are the once which are still with the Maharaja , rest all forts across india are under government and not well maintained.
Also from Jodhpur you can get train and luxury bus coaches to Jaisalmer and travel time is only 5-6 hours .