Weekend Getaways near Khambhat

Mount Abu, the 1st destination of the journey, at the lake, it was cold and beautiful. Dogs, streetlights, benches, water and stars. The lake is lifeline of the city, for stoners, loners, families, and ice cream parties, full with people, bubbles flowing around and the market filled with fancy Rajasthani art and crafts.

I started off from Nagpur in train to Ahmedabad, then onto Abu road. From Abu road, I took a shared taxi directly to Mount Abu. On reaching, I enquired about the rates to cover the places and was delighted to know of a package, which covered 8 major points before dropping back at Nakki lake. I covered Dilwara temple, Guru Shikhar, Achalgarh village, Toad rock, Arbuda Devi, Somnath temple, Shooting point, Honeymoon point, Om Shanti Bhawan/ Pandav Bhawan, before being dropped off at Nakki Lake to enjoy the fireworks [I had been on Diwali]. I missed out on Trevors Tank in Abu.

MOUNT ABU WINTER FESTIVALMoving a bit earlier won’t cost you much. Let’s start with the end of December celebrating the grand New Year at the small hill station of Rajasthan, Mount Abu. The winter fest is a tribute to the rich culture and tradition of Rajasthan. The two to three days event in Mount Abu invites the folk performers and other artists from every part of India.The vibrancy of culture, aromatic taste of food and the folk art lures the heart of every passerby, creating magic in the scenic ambiance. Not only the cultural events, but many sports event such as cricket matches, kite flying and rowing competitions are also organized during the festival.

Mt.Abu decides to show us some Rain and Cold in the morning, we start early, back to Ahmedabad where we are supposed to meet up Shreejith. It’s a 250+ km drive back to Ahmedabad, Mt.Abu brings in a lot of crowd across the state border for obvious reasons, since Gujarat is a dry State. All along the trip, the NHAI and the required authorities deserve a clap, since the Tarmac is really commendable and we are rethinking and missing our Motorcycles which are resting back at home.

Again, the photo-frenzy begins, with wide-angles, macro, PhotoSpheres, mono, panoramas not to belittle the unprecedented DPs !! While the hunger hit us as we had missed our breakfast( lets not count the 400gms worth Paapdi which was had at a road-side dhaba at 5am) we were driving towards Mt.Abu our destination for the day. The Aravalli’s had arrived, the flat landscape of Gujrat gave way to the Northward and the Oldest Mountain Ranges (of India )standing tall boasting its Basaltic ( subject to correction ) surfaces and ginormous rocks. A small glitch as Kantibhai had some trouble entering the Rajasthan Border due to some paperwork for the vehicle getting misplaced. A few phone calls, A fine and we were through. Next stop was for some internal cooling for both the men (Shikanzi water) and the machine before the 30 odd km upwards ghat drive to Mt. Abu. A mad number of motorcycle devotees descending the ghats, with their flashy flags, chanting, not-following a number of rules of the road and with minimal road sense crossed us while we ascended ever-watchful of the recent landslides due to rains which had drained some dangerous sections of asphalt. Mt.Abu welcomes us with a nice greys, some much awaited cloud cover after a Sunny Gujarat. The temperature was pleasant, the entry to the hill station easy, considering this is the highest in the Aravallis ( Guru Shikhar being the tallest peak, approx. 1722 m. above MSL). With the N-number of devices on-charge back in our hotel room, we hog at Jodhpur Bhojanalay, a local joint, which was recommended to us by one of our contacts in Mt. Abu who also got us a good deal for our accommodation at Hotel Aravalli. The food some of us enjoyed, the DaalBati, a local delicacy, is a personal choice, some of us did not enjoy it including me. Raw Balls of Wheat!! We decide to give Kantibhai a break and leave for a short tour of Mt.Abu to check out the Dilwara Temples, but the site is a typical Tourist/Devotees mad house with a trust (with our experience of such trusts only ruining the character of these places with a host of shops, a lot of worthless memorabilia that gets the locals some chance to make quick bucks, which can be invested in producing unique goods, which may not necessarily be useful to the tourists, anyway that’s a totally different topic). So we decided not to visit the temple premise, and head back via Nakki Lake and other local hotspots back to our hotel for a quick powernap. The powernap ends up in a set of long discussions while few of us are lost in slumber, some food, some music and off to sleep for a long day ahead. We sleep early and we plan to start early.

Talking about the boarding cost, it is a little dearer as compared to the places of Himachal or call it just the long weekend be the reason for the tariffs soaring up. Also, this is the only hill station nearing the cities of Rajasthan and Gujarat which might be keeping the cost escalated. Leave the cost aside, we had real tough time nestling at the place as there were very few rooms at Abu due to sudden rush of long weekend. After relentless hunting for 1 hours in two groups we finally managed to get a decent accommodation. Talking about the amenities of the property, our hotel had a balcony, a beautiful lawn area and a lovely pet- Stella! We got ready in no time and had the mouth watering Shev bhaji, what’s kind of a synonym of food in Rajasthan for me. We have only this day for visiting places and had only half of it left after lunch. We hurried to the top most peak of the place, which they call Guru shikhar and spent some half an hour there by clicking amazing photographs.

After this we went to Mount Abu. It’s around 3 hour ride from Udaipur. We had hired a cab online for the entire mount Abu Trip at 4000 bucks and we were very fortunate to have got a really nice and chill driver who even gave us his car to drive. We left from Udaipur at 2 in the noon and reached Mount Abu at around 5.

On the first day we explored the local markets and checked out some jewelry shops that were actually cool, please do bargain as the locals here are always ready to rip you off. In the evening you can visit the famous Nakki Lake, and while you are there please do try out the soft serve ice cream cone shops that you can find almost everywhere in the market area. It is a heaven for ice-cream fanatics like myself, you can find a variety of flavours and even larger variety of toppings there.

Day 1 Mount AbuMount Abu is the only hill station in Rajasthan situated at an average height of 1,219 mtr's above sea level is the oasis in the deserted land of Rajasthan The famous tourist destination is known for its Delwara Jain temples and natural beauty world over, situated amidst lush green forested hills on the highest peak in the Aravali range is also the summer capital for the Indian state of Rajasthan The nearest railhead is Abu Road, about 25 kms away, in the lowlands. Abu Road is on the railway line from Ahmedabad to Marwar Junction. 9am we reached to mount abu it was very difficult to drive in the city because of too much fog we can’t see anything but keep moving slowly and reached to hotel dumped the bags and rushed to get fresh there is lots of budget hotels and guest house is available in mount abu. Mount abu is not much developed as compare to mahableswar and Panchgani. After getting fresh we headed to Guru Shikar. Guru Shikhar, a peak in the Arbuda Mountains of Rajasthan, is the highest point of the Aravalli Range Located at a height of 1,722 metres, it has some 300-400 steps, to the top, which is a bit tough, but the views from the top are just awesome. The views makes it worth climbing those steps. There’s also a Dattatreya temple at the top from the top you can see the whole Abu Road you can click the picture there is also shop and tea stalls easily u can get the water, juice and snacks. You can reach Guru Shikhar by bike or Car (Note: please be careful while riding on this road its narrow and zigzag road rainy season it’s became worst) after Guru shikar we headed to Dilwara temple.

The only hill station in Rajasthan, Mount Abu is one of the ideal places to visit in India in May. Mount Abu is perched atop a peak made of granite and is wrapped around a lush green forests of the Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary, with a rich reserve of exotic flora and fauna. The hill town is a refreshing rescue from the scorching summer sun of the dry north-west India and also is quite popular with foreign travelers. Harboring over 80 intricately carved ancient temples, along with the admirable Jain temples of Delwara, Mount Abu is a holy place for the Jains as well as the Hindus. The Nakki Lake adds an aesthetic charm to the place.How to get there: Abu Road is the nearest railway station. It is well-connected by roads with state transport buses at regular intervals.