Gujarat Road Trip

We started our journey from Delhi and next day our train (Porbandar express) reached to Jamnagar. It was ~24 hours journey.

After getting down at Jamnagar, we spent some time in that city and book a car for us. Since we were only 4 members so we booked Maruti-Swift. It is saying that "Without darshan of Ashapura Mata temple, visit Dwarkashish pilgrimage would be incomplete."

After traveling ~3hours, we reached Dwarkadhish (~8pm). Road connectivity from Jamnagar to Dwarkadhish is very nice. It was single lane but with less traffic and smooth road make your experience good. On the way, we see Reliance Refinery and Salt Processing unit. I booked Dwarka Residency online and experience with it was really bad. Since next day was Holi, so some program were happening in around area.

Due to Holi, there was a lot of crowds. I was expecting some colorful day, like North India, but here I got disappointed. People were calm and just gathered to visit the temple. Anyway, we first went to temple and then roamed around the area.

After that, we visited Nageshwar Jyothirling which were just ~30min distance. There we did Rudra Abhishek pooja. It was a very rejuvenating moment for me when I touched Jyothirling. In evening, we decided, instead of staying in Dwarka better would be to leave for Porbandar.

After ~2hour travel, we reached Porbandar and booked a hotel online. My decision was right in terms of stay, hotel cost, and food perspective.

Next day, we roamed around into city and did shopping from Khadi Ashram shop (recommended and cheap). In noon, we started for Somnath.

On the way to Somnath, there is an amazing beach and spent some time over there with Family. After ~5 hours (included stay in between), we reached Somnath. First, we did Somnath temple darshan and see the sunset from temple back side. Feel to see sunset nowhere in the world (very much recommended). Also, in evening there is a musical show inside temple campus but we missed that. In Somnath temple, purse and mobile are not allowed but they provide locker at a minimal charge. We had our dinner near the temple. Then we started for our hotel which was in Veraval and just 20min far away.

We woke up early morning and first went for darshan into Somnath temple and did pooja. So finally we got free around 11 am.

I didn't plan this place as I was not aware that Diu is so close to Somnath. In last moment, we thought let's go to Diu and must say that this was a surprise & awesome decision. Before heading toward Diu, I did my basic calculation what time we will reach and what time we need to start from there to catch our night train. After ~2:30 hr traveling, we reached Diu beach. Diu having some good beaches and having water sports activity. Since alcohol is banned in Gujarat so people come here to enjoy :). Diu having an airport so people can plan to come here directly and visit the place in reverse order what I traveled.

In evening, we came back to Veraval from Diu and catch the train for Ahmedabad.

Another recommended places near to Somnath is Junagadh & Gir national park, although we were not able to make it due to time.

Early morning (~4 am), we reached Ahmedabad and after came out from station I booked a car from OLA. We rest for some hours and then see place around in Ahmedabad. Also, travel using OLA was cost effective. For more detail about around places please refer here. In evening, we visit the Kankaria Lake (recommended).

Full Journey map on Google Map.