Rajasthan, 7 to 10 days tour?

diasal

h folks, this is my first post on this site (just found it)me and my partner want to organise our own trip to india ,we would like to travel by car and by train if possible?we have about 7/8 days for the tour,the places we wish to visit are mumbai,udaipur,jodhpur,ajmer,j aipur and maybe ratlam,not in this order.Any advice on organising this trip please thanks.

shashank.aggarwal

Here comes the first advice...

Please cut it down..7/8 days would be be good to see...but not good enough to absorb or enjoy all these places...!!

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matt_the_hat_82

I have to agree with Shashank - you may be underestimating the size and ethos of India. What takes 2 hours in the UK takes 14 hours in India and can't be arranged on the day!!

My advice - to properly absorb India either spend longer or visit fewer places. By all means do you're own thing but best not to copy a travel brocure tour for timings as they run around and neer really get chance to understand the country.

I'm sure you'll have a wicked time - indian trains are ace but book well in advance and if you hire a car, hire a car AND driver - it'll be about 200Rs - 300Rs a day extra and means you have no liability and don't need to scare yourself silly!!

Enjoy

diasal

Hi,we are in india for a week to ten days prior to two weeks in goa feb 2008 and would like to visit specific places,Udaipur,Jodhpur,Jaisalm er,Ajmer,pushkar,and any other places to makeup a tour,we have already done the golden triangle tour.Now we dont know how to put it all together ,internal flights ,tour(car and driver,hotels,trains)we have looked at some tour agencys but was wondering could we organize the hotels ourself with transport or is this to difficult?: Any advice please would be gratefull thanks

Skuz

Hi,

First, lemme assume that you would be coming through Delhi. First place you can go to is Jaisalmer. An overnight bus/train journey should do good from Delhi. Once you reach Jaisalmer, spend some 2-3 days there. Sams Dunes and the old city might prove interesting to you, eventhough it is getting a little too crowded now a days.
From Jaisalmer, catch an Innova - 5 seater or & seater as the case may be. They typically charge around 7 rs/km and is quite confortable.
Jaisalmer to Jodhpur is about 250-300 kms and you would be able to travel that much distance in about 3-4 hours. In Jodhpur, the Mehrnghat fort, Umaid Bhavan etc are some of the must sees. However, 1-2 days would be enough for Jodhpur.
From Jodhpur you can proceed to Pushkar and Ajmer. Later, from Ajmer, move on to Udaipur - 1-2 days stay would be good..and then from udaipur u may either go straight to ahmedabad or go to mount abu(a hill station) and then go to ahmedabad - would take around 4 hours..to the ahmedabad airport

from ahmedabad airport, catch a flite to goa.

Hope this helps...pls revert for any more info

diasal

Hello,we are going to india end of march and we have 8 days to fill in india before we go to goa for two weeks,now we have already done the golden triangle tour so we want to see specific places such has AJMER,PUSHKAR,JODHPUR,UDAIPUR may be AGRA and jaipur,we have contacted tour operators but they seem to be offering the places we have seen already,for the golden triangle tour we had a driver and car,we dont mind the same but would like to travel by train has well,could someone advise us of a itinery to include the places mentioned also we would need internal flight to goa.thanks

karuna

Most car tour companies will also make you a tailor-made tour if you tell them where you want to go.

You can't fly to Goa direct from anywhere in Rajasthan apart from Jaipur. You can fly from Delhi, or indirectly from Udaipur via Mumbai.

I wonder whether you could do the cities by car (Delhi - (Jaipur?) - Pushkar - Jodhpur - Udaipur) and then take a flight from Udaipur to Mumbai and a connecting flight to Goa from there?

You can easily do a stretch by train and then pick up a car from your hotel for the next bit- you'll need a car for Jodhpur to Udaipur.

HTH

Aishah

I would do Delhi - Jaipur by train or bus. Bus is quicker, and leaves from Bikaner House - the buses are very comfortable.
Jaipur to Pushkar can also be done by bus, as well as Pushkar -Jodhpur. These are all not long journeys and perfectly comfortable by bus.Hire your car in Jodhpur for Udaipur so you can see Khumbalgarh Fort and Ranakpur on the way. Then onto Goa as suggested by Karuna.
This will be much cheaper than hiring a car - however with your short time schedule you may prefer the car from Delhi. Don't do it via a tour company - when you arrive in Delhi I would have the people where you are staying (if it's a reputable place) recommend a good driver and taxi. There is a thread here with hiring cars and driver in Delhi information.

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desertrose

Khamaghani,
Your ITY looks very much in order, the only thing out of the way is Ratlam in MadhyaPradesh.I would suggest it this way.
Delhi-Ratlam by train.
Ratlam-Ajmer(I read from you, that you have allready been and done Agra and Jaipur on your earlier trip to India)
Ajmer train station - Pushkar(local Jeep Taxi+Tourist Tax)
Pushkar -Jodhpur(taxi or bus)Taxi is faster,a Indica taxi for two is 4rps a kilometer, wont require aircon.ask your driver to drive from villaes then highway, through Merta village etc, through villages it is less traffic and more sightseeing.
Jodhpur-Ranakpur(if time allows Kumbalgarh)-Udaipur, a taxi ride is lot easier for this part of your journey, from Udaipur there is a flight everyday to Mumbai from there you can have connecting source to reach goa in time, if you spend 2 days in one place and over night train journeys you can easily cover a lot of the ITY you wanted to do.
Please do not hesitate to ask me for more information and details from places.
Happy Travels.

EOS

Planning a road trip to Rajasthan from bhopal by our own car with wife and kid . The dates are 24th Dec 08 to 4th Jan 09. I have finalised following plan. Your suggestions required in the areas of sight seeing, What route to take between cities and hotel accomodation.

Day1 24th Dec. Bhopal to Kota (Distance 350kms)Night
stay at relatives house

Day2 25th Dec Kota to Udaipur (disatnce 285 Kms via
Chittorgarh)

Day3 26th Udaipur
Day4 27th Udaipur
Day5 28th Udaipur-Ranakpur-Udaipur

Day6 29th Udaipur to Mt.Abu (Distance 161 Kms )
Day7 30th Mount Abu

Day8 31st Abu to Jaisalmer (434km via Barmer)

Day9 1st Jan Jaisalmer
Day10 2nd Jaisalmer

Day11 3rd Jaisalmer to Bundi via Jodhpur
(Don't want to stay in relatives house
on return so decided for Bundi as stop)

Day12 4th Bundi to Bhopal


Querry : Road conditon between Kota to Udaipur and driving time ??
Querry : Atfirst thought of staying on Lalghat. Mewar haveli is already booked for the dates. Jaiwana Haveli (earlier Caravan Serai) has availability but at Rs 2400 a bit outside the budget. Plus the problem of car park. A car park is a must since i will be travelling by own car. As i have read that it will be difficult to take car in the lalghat area. Hence contemplating on Hotel Mahendra Prakash or Rang Niwas Palace. Both appear to be walkable distance from Pichola lake. Any other suggestion in this regard...?? Any other hotel..??

Querry: Road condition between Udaipur to Abu and driving time
Querry: Hotel suggestion required in the range Rs. 1000-1500 at ABU. checking couple of them mentioned in hotels section but have'nt finalised yet.

Querry : Road condition between Abu to Jaisalmer especially the patch between Abu and Snachor. What route should i take and how much time will it take to reach Jaisalmer
Querry :Hotel recommendation required in the range 1000-1500 at Jaisalmer. Have mailed to Fifu and Shahi Palace and so far received a rather ridiculous response from shahi palace. Will try giving Fifu a ring. Any other recommendation..??

Querry : Whats the route to be taken after Jodhpur to reach Bundi
Querry : How much time will it take from Jaisalmer to Bundi if I start at 7:00 in the morning. ( I have driven longer distances at a stretch so no issues on that )

waiting for your responses..

Thanks...

Aishah

Checking my Rajasthan map - from Jodhpur you take Ajmer Road - go Ajmer - Nasirabad -Sarwar -Kekri - Devli -Bundi. It is a long drive, but you say you don't mind. I think road is generally good most of the way. I'd get a good map of Rajasthan if you haven't got one already - even better the Eicher-Goodearth Road Maps book is well worth the money.
As you probably realize these are the peak times for bookings in Udaipur, Jaisalmer etc. so definitely make your reservations well ahead of time.

EOS

Thanks Aishah

Yes i had also zeroed in on the route you have suggested. Yes i am looking for a good road map of Rajasthan. So far not found one. Relying on mapmyindia.com.

As for Udaipur i have finalised on Rang Niwas. Giving them a confirmatory mail right now. But they are wanting advance..
Is it a practice ... Never taken this route of pre-booking..

For Jaisalmer
Fifu is booked for 31st. But they have room for 1st and 2nd.
Shahi Palace gave me a response which indirectly said "Indians not welcome"

Can you suggest something in the budget 1000-1500 apart from these two with a view of the fort.

Mount Abu...I think i am not too late in terms of hotel booking. confident of finding something there.

EOS

Aishah

For Jaisalmer -take a look at the hotels section here - there are also a couple of new hotels built in the Dibba Para area immediately below the Fort - one is called Gorakh Haveli and the other Hotel Royale. I am not sure of their rates, but they look quite good and should not be as expensive in the New Year time as many others might be.
Also looking my Eicher - it seems you could bypass Ajmer either at Beamer - Bandawara -Goyala, or closer to Ajmer at Mangaliyawas - Nasirabad. But I have no idea of the condition of the roads. Sometimes it's better to stay with the main Highways - once we went what we thought was a shortcut way to Jalore instead of going from Barmer via Balotra which was the good road. It looked shorter on the map but took us at least 2 hours longer because of the road condition.
Yes, Christmas New Year is definitely a time when hoteliers in popular places will ask for an advance. Particularly here in Jaisalmer - rooms are at a premium, and they won't hold them for you unless you send an advance. I think Mt Abu may be less popular because it's winter time and you should find something - Mr K and I were there once in Dec. close to Christmas and plenty of rooms were available.

EOS

Thanks Aishah

I could not find any referrnce of Gorakh Haveli or Hotel Royale. It seems both don't have their own website and since they are new i could'nt locate their phone nos. also.

Meanwhile i have changed the plan a bit. I realised that it would be new year eve on 31st in Jaisalmer. The idea of a sunset camel safari and spending new year eve in a tented accomodation at SAM is appealing to both me and wife. Though we are perfectly aware that it would be very touristy there...but with a 5 year old kid can't go out in a cold dessert to sleep on dunes.

Hence did a preliminay check and got a quote from Hotel Priya for their tents on SAM. They have given me a qoute of Rs.4000 which includes a sunset safari, evening entertainment and dinner, night stay in tents, morning breakfast.
It does not include transportation to and fro to SAM. I can try to negotiate a bit but i am not good at it..
It seems a bit expensive to me. Normally we don't splurge on 4000 a night hotels. However its new year eve so thought of making it special.
Is this the going rate especially if its new year eve..?? And any idea about this Hotel Priya...could not find any review of it..
Any other option for New Year Eve in Jaisalmer..??

Meanwhile checked RTDC website and found that they too have tented acco. at SAM by the name SAM Dhani. And the rates looked very very reasonable Rs 1225 on MAP basis. Whats the catch ....??
Tried contacting them on mail but mails to all ids bounced. Will try by phone. Any idea about their establishment?? Their evening entertainment program at SAM was highly recommended by one poster in an another forum.
Also one of the poster said that they jackup rates 2-3 times on new year...??
Their online booking system also does'nt work. Put any date and it says no hotels...??

For the remaining days 1st and 2nd still hotel confusion persists. How are these Hotel Panihari, Hotel Jaisal palace...??
if these are in some by lanes then they are a no no for me since i need a place to park the car.

Or just get out of the confusion and go for RTDC Moomal. I will be having a vehicle of my own so transportation won't be a issue.... but just wanted to stay close to fort..

As per Day 8 of my original plan i was going to Jaisalmer from Abu via Sanchor-Barmer (440Km). But if i have to go to SAM for a safari and night stay then i have to reach there latest by 3 or 4 in afternoon. This will become too hectic. So on Day 7 i'll leave Abu by 3 in the afternoon and go to Jodhpur. Plan to reach there by 9 in night.
Next day Jodhpur to Jaisalmer should not be difficult in 5 hrs. No sightseeing in Jodhpur since i already have been there once.

Hope i am doing right...

PS: Booked hotel rang niwas in udaipur. so that front is closed.

Aishah

I would go for RTDC Moomal - I think their camp and culture programme would be quite good too. It's fairly reliable - I don't think the rooms are super flash, but I think clean and adequate. Also be sure to book well ahead. Here is a phone no. for Hotel Royale ( easy for parking there and close to Fort)New rooms which I've seen and are quite nice.02992 -252601.
Priya, Panihari, are pretty ordinary - Jaisal Palace is in a very awkward narrow lane - some parking around there though. I think that one would be better as a hotel than the other two. (I have driven my Alto around those narrow streets and it is possible).
Prices are astronomical out at Sam over New Year - but ring Moomal and see what they are. One of the reasons so expensive is that camels, musicians, and jeeps are all hiked up just for those days because so much in demand.
If I go out tonight will take a look at Gorakh Haveli and get some details for you.
btw a really nice halfway stop between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer is Manvar Resort - they do have a website and you could take a look at that. Now there would be the best place of the lot for your overnight safari - but I think it will be very costly. I always stop there when I drive between Jod. and home - it has nice toilets!! and good food, chai etc. Their restaurant is open to public.