A road trip to Udaipur & Chittorgarh

Why fly when you can instead take control of the wheel and explore the world at your own pace? A road trip is that perfect opportunity to forget all your worries and make memories along the way. We planned the trip to Udaipur via Ranakpur and Kubhalgarh from Gurugram.  We also covered Chittorgarh on our way back to Gurugram from Udaipur.

Note: I have created a photoblog with the same name for the trip videos. Please do checkout. Follow me on Instagram @foodandtraveltales for more updates.

After overnight travelling, we stopped for tea break. Sunrise, highway and tea. It was so peaceful and mesmerizing.

After freshen up, we headed towards Ranakpur Jain Temple.

Ranakpur Temple is a beautiful structure carved in stone. Renowned for its fabulous architectural style, Ranakpur temple is situated in Ranakpur village that falls under Pali district of Rajasthan. For the followers of Jainism, Ranakpur temples are of great importance, as they make one of the five major pilgrimage sites.

It took around an hour to explore the temple. It was time for breakfast now. We found this amazing cafe called La Pizzeria, few kilometres from the temple.

After taking break, it was time to explore Kumbhalgarh Fort.

We took the route shown in the pic above. It was a shortcut and definitely not a good choice. The road was in very bad shape. We had to come back from half way. My advice is to take the longer route via Sayra if you're going to Kumbhalgarh Fort from Ranakpur.

Finally we reached our destination around 1pm.

Situated around 1000 metres above sea-level the Kumbhalgarh Fort dates from the 15th Century and was built by Maharana Kumbha (who was also responsible for building the great fort at Chittorgarh). Entrance to the palace itself involves a bit of a climb from the Fort's car-park - you have to go through various gates (Pols) on the way however once up there are great views of the surrounding countryside as well as various temples dotted around in the valley - enclosed within the Fort's 36 kilometres of wall there are several hundred mostly very old Hindu and Jain Temples.

Finally, we headed towards Udaipur after exploring Ranakpur Jain Temple and Kumbhalgarh Fort. Our first stay was in Zostel, Udaipur, located near Pichola Lake. Amazing place to stay. They hosted party that night. It was good experience overall.

Next day started with Jagdish Temple darshan.

After visiting the temple, we headed towards City Palace. City Palace is at walking distance from the temple.

Palace was very crowded so couldn't enjoy much.

After spending some time in Palace, we took a break at a restaurant located between Palace and Pichola lake.

We went to Pichola Lake after the short break. Lake was comparatively less crowded.

We spent some time at Pichola lake and then went to hotel to take some rest. We chose goStops for the day. It is one of the cutest stays available in Udaipur, well decorated rooms and amazing terrace cafe.

Next stop in the itenary was Sajjan Garh Fort.

Perched on top of a distant hill like a fairy-tale castle, this melancholy, neglected late-19th-century palace was constructed by Maharana Sajjan Singh. Originally an astronomical centre, it became a monsoon palace and hunting lodge. Now government owned, it’s in a sadly dilapidated state, but visitors stream up here for the marvellous views, particularly at sunset. It’s 5km west of the old city as the crow flies, about 9km by the winding road.

Plan for the day was to explore local markets and other places in Udaipur city but the area around Pichola Lake was so crowded. We skipped this plan and left for Chittorgarh. My advice is, if you're going in your own vehicle, don't book a hotel near Pichola Lake. There are high chances that you won't get parking and this becomes a headache in that case.

We reached Chittorgarh around 1pm, before checking-in into the hotel we decided to explore Chittorgarh Fort first.

Good thing about Chittorgarh fort is, it's well maintained. There are many spots in the Fort. There is single road which covers all the spots in sequence. It takes around 2-3 hours to explore the Fort. You'll find lot's of guides at the entry point. You can hire a guide in like 100 Rupees.

Finally we started our journey back to Gurugram.

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