Jaipur-Bikaner-Amritsar-Ambala-Garhwal trip

cdrsreeram

Hi friends.
This is my first post.
While I was in Delhi, we (me, wife, and two kids of 9 and 5 yrs) made several trips in our Maruti car to Kullu Manali, Shimla-Dehradun-Massourie-Rishikesh-Haridwar, Kumaoun-Jim Corbett, etc.
But now, we are in Hyderabad. In May 2008, we plan to start from Hyderabad (in the same maruti) and go the following way(tentative):-
Hyd-Nagpur-Bhopal-Kota-Jaipur-Bikaner-Amritsar-Ambala- and then....confusion!!
We have not yet seen Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath. We have also not seen the entire Garhwal area. Further, the kids (and me too) are interested in seeing tiger reserves.
We have a total of abt 20 days, out of which, the stay in jaipur is required for 3 full days (official purpose).
Could anyone suggest a better itinerary, keeping the above in view??
Regards,
Sreeram

capt_mahajan

Some first off thoughts:

Interesting trip.

Too much travel off the National Highways. In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, some of the smaller roads can be bad. Also don't know how the road from Bikaner to Amritsar would be.

If you want a relaxed journey all the way, sightseeing en route (Nagpur Gandhi ashram?Bhopal? Sanchi? go via jabalpur and Kanha? Marble Rocks-Bhedaghat?), I have a feeling you will run short of time, given the drive and the 3 days in Jaipur. Presume the 20 days is for a return trip, and so a return via Gwalior/Jhansi would be interesting too. Lots to see.

After Ambala, I guess you would have to go via Roorkee to Garhwal.

cdrsreeram

Thanx a ton.
Actually I wanted some opinion, if I could ignore some out of the four 'Dhams'. Secondly, with small kids along, it may be taxing. So do we even skip Amritsar and go directly towards Garhwal region from Bikaner? If so, what would be the route? Actually I'm a bit confused for the moment

capt_mahajan

Sorry, wrong person about the 'Dhams' even though Uttaranchal is a favourite.

Yes, had your kids in mind. They will get fed up with daily long drives, unless you involve them in the planning, brush up their history and give them a map

Bikaner/Garhwal should be not too much of detour via Delhi, I think. Else you will probably have to go via Hisar, and Rohtak/Panipat, heading generally for Muzaffarnagar/Roorkee.

Edit: Just checked a bit. Via Delhi is not a good idea, you have to go close to Hisar anyway.

Aishah

I would leave out Bikaner and Amritsar altogether. May is terribly hot to be travelling in these areas. From Jaipur I would go directly to Garwhal in shortest possible direction. Since I haven't my Eicher Road Maps with me, can't help you there, but you may even be able to bypass Delhi as you head to the east from Jaipur. Leave Bikaner and Amritsar for a winter's holiday tour another time.
You need a really good road map cdrsreeram - Eicher Good Earth book of Road Maps is excellent and costs around 350 rupees if I remember rightly.

__________________
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

cdrsreeram

Thanx Aishah.