Diu / Palitina to Vadodara

chappal

Looking for suggestions for travelling from Diu to Vadodara.
I would especially like a route going via the Jain temples in Palitina.

I'm looking at the simple map in DK Eyewitness India guide and see roads going from Diu to Bhavnagar near the Gulf of Khambhat. The roads resume at Bharuch on the other side of the Gulf. Any chance of a ferry going across there?

Are there any other routes by road that don't require going all the way up to Ahmedabad?

Ahmedabad is the only routing I see mentioned in other threads on getting to/fro Diu:
from Udaipur
Ahmedabad to Vereval
Dehli to Diu

SHIMLA

Do not know about the ferry, but the LP's "Gujarat" section does show a road route from Palitana to Vadodara via Sihor, Lothal, Bagodara and Nadiad, without touching Ahmedabad. I believe the ruins at Lothal are worth a visit too.

However, you have to check whether there are regular buses plying this route and what are the halting and resting facilities. A hop, skip and jump affair on interior Indian roads with poor supporting tourist infrastructure can be quite a painful experience !

__________________
Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !

Baldy

Lothal is worth a couple of hours - there is no town - just the footings of an old 4000 years port settlement, even though now nowhere near the sea, and a museum (15rp) with artifacts etc. Off the beaten track but worth a look - you will need your own transport, rural area and about 4km from the nearest road serviced by buses.

Baldy

chappal

Thank you for the info and suggestions! A month later (and a month to go!!) we still don't have this segment planned, so I am just bringing this back up in case anyone has more details about transport.

I did a lot of web searching. It seems for bus schedules we will have to call locally in Gujarat, perhaps the Gujarat Tourism office. I turned up many websites offering tour packages on one of those luxury trains (Royal Orient) which include Sasan Gir, Diu, and Palitina in their destinations. This makes me think that there must be other trains plying the same rails. However, I've had no luck finding trains on Indian Railways. I guess I could ask Gujarat Tourism about that too, but I have been hesitant that might just suggest we go with a tour package. I have no specific reason to think this except that they do advertise some tour packages on their site. Is there a better place to look into this?

steven_ber

I've not got much info, but here goes.

This part of Gujarat used to be dominated by metre gauge railways; Gauge conversion is underway but has closed down lots of lines.

You should be able to get a Bhavnagar bus from Diu, from looking at the map I would say you need to get off at Talaja (30 km from Palitana), there should be busses from there, though you may have to get a taxi.

I have attached a map, if you look at the train lines west of the Gulf of Cambay, there are only 2 of them working at the moment, the line from Bhavnagar (Broad gauge) goes up via Wadhwan then to Ahmedabad, half way along this line (just above the 'A' on the map) is a town called Botad, a Metre gauge line runs north east via Dholka to Ahmedabad.

There is no timetable for the line to Palitana, so Sihor Junction will be the closest station.

There is a direct train from Sihor Jn to Vadodara, but it's not timed well.

Train 9272 departs Bhavnagar daily at 18:25, then it gets to Sihor Jn at 18:46, then goes via Ahmedabad (23:30-23:55) and arrives at Vadodara at 02:00 in the morning.

Prices from Bhavnagar to Vadodara.

2A = Rs 758
3A = Rs 488
SL = Rs 184

There is another train in the timetable to Ahmedabad, but the main Indian Railways site says the train doesn't exist, (the local timetables are more accurate I think).

Train 9274 departs Bhavnagar daily at 10:00, then it gets to Sihor Jn at 10:25, (this train stops at Surendranagar Jn from 13:05 till 13:40) then gets to Ahmedabad at 16:40, there are loads of trains from Ahmedabad to Vadodara. (I can't find out what classes of accommodation train 9274 has, though it is an 'intercity express' and these normally have CC & II)
______________________________ _________________________


I've looked at a few maps because the road across the top of the Gulf of Cambay doesn't appear on my 'Lonely Planet road atlas of India & Bangladesh', yet it appears on the 'Nelles Western India' map, I think the road does exist, the map link below has VERY detailed maps from about 50 years ago, if you look click on 'nf43_5 you can see most of the road.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/india/250k.html

A Gujarati friend told me that you could get a bus from Bhavnagar to Petlad, if you do this you could then get a bus to Vadodara, but I would suggest a different route.

Train 046 departs Petlad Jn (not Sundays) at 15:50 and gets to Nadiad at 17:35, there are loads of trains from Nadiad to Vadodara (about 75 minute journey time).

Train 046 is a narrow gauge train, I was on this train in April, it was a great experience (see photo below).

BTW, if you ask anyone for directions or a ticket to Vadodara, ask for Baroda, or they may not know where you're talking about.

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
.
How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.


Train information.


RAC & Waitlists explained.

chappal

LOL, not much info??! Just a few amazing maps, a train tidbit, and suggestions about busses. What amazingly detailed maps! All those roads are very reassuring! There must be a way, and what fun it looks to explore. (Looks like you had a good time. You say you took the train from Petlad, but how did you get to Petlad?)

Time is a concern though. We have a maximum of 6 days to go from Vadodara to Somnath/Junagadh to Sasan Gir to Diu to Palitana and back to Vadodara. Would be good to visit Lothal along the way too. However, I am trying to convince my motherIL to come with us, so I may have to make it shorter and more comfortable. I definitely appreciate the train info. I fear long and uncertain segments on the bus won't be too convincing! If I can get enough idea about the transport, I can look into hotels accordingly. Hopefully that will help!

No worries about me getting lost. I am doing the planning, but I won't be in charge of implementation or speaking.

Baldy

Palitana is a hard walk - 3200 steps about 2 hours. However older and feeble can be carried up by bearers on sling and poles

If pressed for time I would skip Dui, a low key seaside resort town - comfy but dull ...

chappal

Hmm.. well my motherIL is not feeble, but 2 hours uphill is a long walk. No area to stop for tea, I suppose? If not, I will tell DH to start lifting weights in preparation. Seriously though, my case is getting more and more difficult for persuasion...

Baldy

chappal ... no refreshments along the way, you must take water and your own food ... be sensitive about eating once in the temple area though - seem to recall this was not on ... of course you can stop and rest on way ..

steven_ber

I took the train from Nadiad to Pij (10 kms from Nadiad) only, I arrived in Nadiad from Jabalpur and departed to Ahmedabad.

6 Days...plus how to persuade mum? Hire a car and driver from Vadodara for the 6 days, it would solve all your problems.

tstan

When I caught the tram into the centre of Sydney to collect our passports last week from the consulate - a most pleasant walk across Darling Harbour (one of the many coves of Sydney Harbour) - there was an unexpectedly large number of people there. Last time I was there, a few weeks after 9/11 there were only two NRIs!

For Sydney travellers, don't forget to take 2 photographs and a copy of your itinerary. That caused me bit of strife because I had booked my tickets on-line. What they meant was a copy of the travel plan from where you leave to your arrival point in India and the departure point from India to the next place. Fortunately the office was not closing for another half hour so I could go to an internet cafe and download a copy of our "itinerary" in time to get back. Collection was 2 days later. Check out the "indian high commission australia visa" on your search engine and print a copy of the visa application form. Read the fine print!

The reason for this message? While I was waiting, I met a delightful Gujarati family of NRIs while I was waiting. The father of a 3 generation family of Australian NRIs was so pleased when I told him that we were spending a couple of weeks in Gujarat that he invited the Memsahib and I to stay with his family.

What a terrific antidote to all the madness and intolerance in the world today!

chappal

Tstan, Great story! Gujuratis seem to be very hospitable! I am really looking forward to this segment of our travel. I have to admit that I can't quite imagine making the same offer to a stranger I met abroad. You must have made a good impression.

Steven, Good idea about the car! It crossed my mind early on, but I ruled it out for the expense. DH and I have no idea how much a car and driver go for, but I think if it convinces her to come then it could be worth it.
I am also thinking that if we do this plan in reverse, starting from Vadodara, that it might be easier because there will be less uncertainty about availability and timing of transportation. Getting home from Junagadh (after Diu), we can be less worried about availability of trains and busses.

Baldy

another historic feature of Lothal

The perusal of literature brings home the fact that we have only fragmentary information on the subject of toilet as a private secluded place to help the body relieve its waste. Sitting type toilets in human history appeared quite early.

In the remains of Harappa civilisation in India, at a place called Lothal (62 Kilometers from the city of Ahmedabad in Western India) and in the year 2500 BC, the people had water borne toilets in each house and which was linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. To facilitate operations and maintenance, it had man-hole covers, chambers etc. It was the finest form of sanitary engineering. But with the decline of Indus valley civilisation, the science of sanitary engineering disappeared from India. From then on, the toilets in India remained primitive and open defecation became rampant.
Baldy

chappal

Interesting info! Wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to work toilet humor into my future India tales, would I?

chappal

A quick update of what we ended up doing...

We did rent a car with driver from Vadodara.
First day, we drove to Palitina, stopping in Lothal along the way. I thought we would be driving via Anand or Petlad, but actually our driver knew some slightly shorter routes which cut 30+km before Anand. Lothal was a sleeply place with a small, but very interesting museum. The artifacts were nicely labelled and explained, which helped a lot when we got to the ruins themselves. A man volunteered to guide us around, but I received the info through translation, so I missed a lot of info there, and the museum background was helpful for interpreting the ruins. Some of the roads were good, but many section were quite bumpy too.

On the second day, we rose at 4:30 to join the pilgrims on the hike up to the Jain temples at Palitina. They were spectacular and I was glad to have gotten up early to enjoy them at sunrise. By 11am we were on the road to Diu, which was a good thing because we arove around sunset. The road was very bumpy for much of the way.

On the third day, we drove to Sasan gir. This was a beautiful drive, but took nearly 5 hours, as contrasted to the 1-2 hour train journey. This was a bit of a mistake since hubby had a fever the night before, and we underestimated the journey involved. So his fever relapsed and we did not get to go out on morning safari. This turned to our fortune in the afternoon, when we saw a lioness and cubs. The rest of the time we spent relaxing amidst the mango groves.

We stayed in Sasan gir for two nights, then of the fifth day, drove back via Junagadh and Rajkot to Vadodara.