Trip to Rajasthan - Advice Needed

Four college student are headed on a India trip. Could you please give some advice regarding following trip?

day 1: Arrive in Udaipur from Mumbai by air in the evening.

Place to stay: Is udai kothi good? or any other good suggestions pls?

Day2: Hire car and do day trip to Mt. Abu and back( leave early and come back late)

Day 3: Spend time in udaipur and leave for jaipur by the superfast express at night

Day 4: Qualis from Jaipur to Bharatpur(not spending that much time in jaipur). Visit kaladeo bird sanctuary for sometime and end the night at Fatehpur sikri.
Any suggestions for hotels at fatehpur sikri??

Day 5: Spend time in sikri and head on to Agra. Taj mahal, Agra Fort..and head to delhi that night.

We realise that we are going to be travelling really fast through the cities. But we don't have much time.

Our car guy is charging 8rs per km for a toyota qualis. Is that reasonable?

Thanks IM members.

Udai Kothi is super- but has become quite pricey since the renovation.
A day trip to Mt Abu is going to be taxing - about 8 hrs on road . Also the road passes through some 'Bheel' forests, and most of taxi drivers won't drive through after dark - pls do check with your travel agent. Otherwise 8/- per Km is fine for a Qualis.
Kaladeo bird sanctuary has little water this year and very few birds - can find more info about this on the forum here. maybe you could spend that much extra time in Jaipur.

Your schedule does seem a little hectic. I'll agree with Rajeev on the Mt. Abu trip - it will indeed be taxing. If you are from Mumbai, then Mt. Abu is not too different from any of the hill stations in the sahyadris - except of course the Dilwara temples. I suggest you could rather spend time in Udaipur and maybe make a day trip to Ranakpur / Kumbalgarh or Chittorgarh.

hey i think u can skip Mt. Abu, nothing much there & the roads to the place are very bad. I went to rajasthan last december, 4 of us v paid Rs5/km for indica & that too only cos of peak season otherwise just Rs4, dunno abt Qualis.

Instead of Mt.Abu if u r interested u can make a day trip by taxi to Kumbalgarh and Chittorgarh forts around Udaipur, pretty gud i heard but v missed out.

also if u have time try to visit Ranthambhore tiger reserve near Jaipur, gud one.

Thanks for the replies guys. Sounds like we should skip Mt.Abu...so we will take your advice and instead go to Ranakpur / Kumbalgarh or Chittorgarh.

Can someone suggest something about Bharatpur? Is the baagh a good place to stay??

Bharatpur has quite a few hotels close to the Park. You can easily take a round in hlaf an hour and choose what you like - no need to pre book.
BTW, Udaipur itself, has lots to see and do - as we found on our 4 day trip there last march.

Thanks Rajeev, I read your wonderful trip report to Udaipur, we are planning four days there in November this year and you have given me lots of interesting information.

I also followed your site and read your report on Diu, is it possible to get there from Udaipur?

Thanks for your kind words.

There are sleeper Volvo buses from Ahemadabad to Diu that take about 9-10 hours for the 475 km journey. From udaipur, Ahemadabad is about 5-6 hrs by road. Or if you go via Mt. Abu, its about 3 hrs from there. Diu would be really lovely in Nov. You could also consider going to Gir National park from there .

Hi again Rajeev,

Sorry to bother you with more questions, but I am relatively new to this forum and am really looking for information on Diu - not much available when you do a search.

We are planning our first trip to India in November (see my original post 'Goa, Diu or Kochi'. My husband's birthday also falls during our visit and I am looking for a romantic destination to spend 3-4 days. I have really decided not to go to Goa and am now looking at Kochi - found a place at Kumarakom called Coconut Island which is an island just for two people.

But Diu is also very interesting seeing we are going to finish up our Rajasthan section in Udaipur. We could travel from Udaipur and overnight at Mt Abu and then move down to Diu. It would save the flight all the way south, and we could then plan a separate South India trip.

I would really appreciate your views.

Hi,

I can very well understand the frustration about not finding enough info about Diu. In fact we did not come to know about the overnight sleeper buses from Ahemadabad to Diu, and instead took a 10 hr train to Veraval - that is nearly 90 Km's (2 hrs by road) away from Diu.
Some useful info can be found at the Diu travle site.

IMO, Diu is perfect for spending relaxed, quiet time with oneself (or twoselves). Its not too touristy and is pretty inexpensive. As you say you aren't too far from there anyway, But it does involve one long journey either by road or train from Ahemadabad. Going out, you could take the flight to Mumbai.

I found Mr. Aditya, owner of the resort Hoka, to be very helpful and knowledgable. You could call him up to get info (like about Sea food, any recommended bus operator.....). His number is on his website (rsorthoka.com i think).

havea great time in Rajasthan and Diu or Kochi.

Thanks Rajeev, In your previous post you mentioned that Diu was a Or if you go via Mt. Abu, its about 3 hrs from there. This is quite doable rather than going to Ahemadabad which I am not interested in. What do you think?

I am sorry for the confusion. Ahemadabad (and not Diu) is about 3 hrs from Mt Abu.