10 Days Trip To Gujarat And Diu

A painting on the wall of one of the Dwarka Temples

The trip destinations

State of Gujarat districts

Day 1

We flew to Ahmedabad on the first day. At Ahmedabad airport, we hired a car with a driver for our road trip to Dwarka. We reached Dwarka around late evening.

Day 2

The second day started early. We went to the Dwarkadhish temple first. Then to the Pandava wells and the beach. After lunch, we took a boat ride from Okha to Beyt Dwarka. On the way back to the hotel, we visited some other popular temples in Dwarka. 

Places of interest in Dwarka

On the way to Dwarka

Dwarkadheesh Temple

Beyt Dwarka

Nageshwar Jyotirling

Nageshwar Jyotirlinga Temple

Day 3

On the third day, we went to Nageshwar temple Jyotirling in the morning and then after lunch, we headed towards Porbandar. We reached Porbandar around 5:00 p.m. So, we decided to just relax at the beach in the evening.

Places of interest in Porbandar

Mahatma Gandhi's birth home

Sunset at Porbandar beach

Huzoor Palace

Day 4

On the fourth day, we went to Mahatma Gandhi's birth home, Kirti Mandir which is now a museum. After Kirti Mandir, we toured around the other popular tourist attractions in Porbandar.

Places of interest in Somnath

Somnath Temple from the beach

Somnath temple in the evening

Day 5

On the fifth day, we drove down to Somnath early in the morning. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed for Somnath Temple. From Somnath, we went to the beach and other popular tourist attractions in the city. In the evening we came back to the Somnath temple for the light and sound show.

Day 6

On the sixth day, we drove down to Diu. We had a beachfront hotel at Nagao Beach, so we spent the day at the beach. There were quite many beach activities. In the afternoon we went to Gangeshwar Mahadev and Sunset Point at the Chakratirtha beach

Banana boat rides at Nagao Beach

Gangeshwar Mahadev

Watching the sunset from Chakratirth Beach

A sea (Gulf of Khambat) viewpoint near Gangeshwar Mahadev

Day 7

On the seventh day, we toured around Diu in the first half and in the late afternoon headed for Gir National Park.

Places of interest in Diu

Diu Fort

Pani Kotha Jail

Diu Museum

St Paul's Church

Old City Gate Diu

Day 8

On the eighth day, we went for the jungle safari early in the morning and went to one of the wildlife sanctuaries in the afternoon.

Early morning at Kamleshwar Dam

Watching the sunrise from the watch tower

Sasan Gir National Park is surrounded by Gir Wildlife Sanctuaries. There are some lakes and temples within the Park area. Our Safari route took us through Sasan - Khokhra - Shirvan - Dev Dungar - Shirvan - Khokhra - Vawalwala Chowk - Kamleshwar Dam - Kankai Check post - Sasan

National Parks (NP) and Wildlife Sanctuaries (WS) in the state of Gujarat

The dark brown part is the national park area - Our safari route covered the western periphery of the park from Kankai to Devadungar

Barking Deer or Indian Muntjac

Blackbuck - The endangered Indian Antelope 

Peacock without tail. At the end of the mating season, most peacocks shed their tail feathers. The tail grows back again before the next mating season

Nilgai or Blue Bull

Spotted Deer or Chital

Chinkara or Indian Gazelle

A camouflaged Jungle Cat. These are currently among the critically endangered species

Lions at Devalia Park - we didn't see any lions on the morning safari so we decided to go for an afternoon safari at the park which is kind of a reserve

Day 9 

On the ninth day, we headed for Junagadh early in the morning. Our plan was to cover some of the popular tourist destinations in the city and go directly to Ahmedabad. It was a little hectic plan and I later felt we should have stayed back at Junagadh for a day. We reached Ahmedabad close to midnight and were completely exhausted.

Places of interest in Junagadh

Junagadh Fort / Uperkot Fort

Adi Kadi Vav (Stepwell)

Junagadh Fort

Buddha Caves at the fort

Day 10

On the tenth day, we went to the Sabarmati riverfront and the Gandhi Ashram first. Since we had a long day the day before, we woke up pretty late that day. We had plans for Patan, Modhera, and Adlaj but canceled all of that. It would have become another hectic squeezed breathless trip. We decided to do Ahmedabad and the sites close to Ahmedabad the next time. We had an early morning flight the next day.

Places of interest close to Ahmedabad 

Places of interest in Ahmedabad

Sabarmati Ashram

Hazrat Bai Harir Vav (Stepwell)

Lothal, Ruins of the Harappan Civilization

Rani ka Vav (Stepwell), Patan

Modhera Sun Temple

Adlaj, Stepwell

Statue of Unity

Chitrakote Falls - Asia's Widest Waterfall

I went to Chitrakote Falls a very long time ago in the late 1990's probably around 1996. It was a forest area and there was no road to the falls. We parked our car on the nearest road available which was about an hour's walk from the falls. Our driver who was a native of Bastar, requested some Adivasis who lived in the forests around to lead us to the falls. Initially, the tribesmen didn't like the idea cause they felt we were intruding into their homeland but after some requests, they agreed and one of them led us to falls through the forest. There was no road, it was a forest path. It took us about 30-40 minutes or more to reach the waterfalls. The area around the falls was rocky with scarce vegetation. Since it was not the monsoons, the falls were not in their maximum flow but still grand as could be. It was even more exotic at that time cause it was unexplored and the stories the Adivasi told us through the forest trek were enlightening. He showed us his hunting weapons and showed us many trees and plants that had medicinal properties. Unfortunately, I lost most of my photographs taken before 2005. 

The waterfall area was developed into a tourist spot post-2003. I feel it was a lot better when it was hidden and unexplored. I guess the Adivasi were displaced too when the area was developed. Sometimes, I feel the Adivasis were right when they refused us at first. we did intrude into their homeland and uprooted them from their roots.

Considered Asia's widest waterfall

The falls is located on the Indravati River. River Indravati is a tributary of Godavari

10 Days Trip To Gangtok And Darjeeling

Day 1: Drive to Siliguri. Stayed over at Siliguri that day. Just relaxed and did nothing post the very long drive.
 

Day 2: Started out for Darjeeling in the afternoon. Didnt want to make things hectic. It was vacation after all. After reaching and freshening up, we just hung around the mall road. Luckily the weather overall was good and the Kanchenjunga range was in full all three days we were there.

We were lucky to see Kanchenjunga the entire day in Darjeeling

Day 3: We headed for Tiger Hill. It is said that Mount Everest can be seen from the viewpoint if one is lucky. We got to see some mountain ranges but were not sure about Mount Everest.

Maybe Mount Everest ?!! We do see some peaks and mountains from Tiger Hill. Not sure which is what!

Day 4: We took the train ride. Went to nearby tourist destinations like Ghoom Monastery and tea estates. Basically just enjoyed the pleasant weather of Darjeeling.

Ghoom Monastery

Day 5: We drove down to Gangtok in the morning. There were some pretty steep roads. One was almost perpendicular.

Day 6: We went to Rumtek Monastery.

Rumtek Monastery

Day 7: We went to Changu Lake and Nathu La Pass.

Changu Lake / Tsongmo Lake is a glacial lake and is considered to have healing properties

At Nathu La (La is pass in Bodhi / Tibetan). Nathu La is one of the three open trading border posts

 of India. The other two are Shipkila, Himachal Pradesh, and Lipulekh, Uttarakhand.

Day 8: We toured Gangtok and close by tourist destinations

Day 9: We drove down to Mirik. It was late afternoon when we reached Mirik. We just relaxed around the lake since we had a long drive back the next morning.

Mirik Lake / Sumendu Lake is an artificial lake

Day 10: We drove back to Asansol. It took us about 15 hours with two stops in between. A stayover somewhere midway would have worked better.