Query approved and Moved

If you're intending just RJ, you can even reach to Mumbai in one day; think about it

Start by 4:00 in the morning to avoid Mumbai's traffic

As said above; start by 4:00 AM OR best option is to reach Mumbai on first day itself.

Like what? Its off season at RJ now; book any RTDC & ask for 10% standard discount, BFast complimentary included.

Pune-Lonavala-Mumbai

Manor(MH)-Surat(GJ)-Valsad(GJ)-Ankaleshwar(GJ)-Vadodara(GJ)-Halol(GJ)-Shamlaji(RJ) - All are superb 4-6 lane highway. Instead of Udaipur, if I may suggest to stay at Rishabdeo, 30 Km before Udaipur, you can get excellent service & food at almost half the price of what they charge in Udaipur + the hotel is located bang on the highway, no detour required.

In terms of?

For Pune Mumbai by Bike, you will have to take the Old Highway ie. NH4 section.
after Pune Hinjewadi, you keep going straight.. there is a marked diversion on the left to take the Express Hwy. Once on the old NH4, you will go all the way upto Lonavala. After Lonavala, keep riding and soon for a few Km's you will be merged with the Express Hwy. After a long tunnel, you will be presented with an exit on the left to Khopoli. Take that exit and you will be back on the Old NH4. Continue straight to Mumbai.

Hope this helps, if now PM me and I can show you exactly on google maps.

Good luck and ride safe!

With keeping the days that you have in hand, the time of the year/female companion I suggest you to follow this route:

Day 1: Udaipur local sight seeing (Lots of places of interest Sajjangarh Fort, City Palace, Lake Palace, Fatehsagar Lake to name a few)
Day 2. Ranakpur-Kumbhalgarh: Stay at Kumbhalgarh,
Day 3. Pushkar-Sambhar Lake-Jaipur:You can chose to skip Sambhar, Stay at Jaipur
Day 4: Jaipur Local
Day 5: Chittorgarh-Udaipur: Stay at Udaipur.

As this is off season, you should get very good rates on hotels.

IMHO, avoid Jaipur & move to Jodhpur or Jaisalmer even better. Except for friends, there's nothing much exciting that I found in Jaipur.

He he...Ganesh....there are lots n lots which you can see in Jaipur...possibly not well maintained (Unlike Jodhpur or Udaipur)

Yes, I think so; except Bangarh, I don't regret missing anything at Jaipur. Oh!!! yes, the food at a certain hotel (forgot the name...sorry DJ) at Johari Bazaar, fabulous.

Bhangarh, Nahargarh, Amber Fort, jaigarh, City Palace

All these are really unique & all are in a close radius... the wonder of architecture...but nothing maintained well and also our public spoils these like anything

Nahargagh is one beauty & unbelievable structure, but now one side of the palace is used for all illegal activities & stinks that side, one part is dumped with all waste which is thrown by the so called tourists. Our people needs policing every where else they take it for granted.

On the other day when I went there, a family of well educated people (thats what they looked like) in a Audi & one of the kids wanted to go to toilet, the mother (wearing ultra modern dresses) made the kid just pee there in front of the palace, possibly near to the wall & they just moved off as if its none of their business.

I dint have the courage to just go stand in front of the car and ask them to clean it up.... there was no security atall in any of the places around.

That the respect our people give to these kind of places...

Rajasthan has too many forts & palaces most of which most of them are in the dying stage or dead by now.

Thanks all,

I'm planning to fly to Rajasthan and ship bike there.
[Day -1] Aug 9 : Send off bike to Rajasthan (Jaipur)
[Day 0] Aug 10 : Take flight to Rajasthan (Jaipur)
[Day 1] Aug 11 : Collect bike (Jaipur)
[Day 1 - 7] Aug 11 - 17 : Explore Rajasthan
[Day 9] Aug 18: Rajasthan (Udaipur?) to Mumbai / Pune
[Day 10] Aug 19: Mumbai / Pune to Bangalore

I'm planning to cover Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jaipur, Ranthambore. Hopefully all of them or should I skip some?
Since I'll land in Jaipur can someone suggest the best path to traverse to all these places.

Also, I have a TN registered bike, will indian railway create an issue when I try to ship it from Bangalore to Jaipur?

On a side note I'm planning to get Panniers fit on my bull. Does anyone know a place in Bangalore where I can buy / get made a Pannier. I found a shop in JC road (towards urvashi theatre), but the length of pannier (the slot to put bag) was very less. I need a longer pannier.

NoobGeek - See this thread - http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/touring-...tml#post697853

I rode all the way from Chennai to RJ; also I heard it takes nearly 2 days of travel by train from Chennai to Baroda, so RJ might take even longer. So, think about the backup.

You really don't need long panniers for the trip; all you need is just saddle bag; infact on my last 8 day planned trip, I only used a 30 liter tail bag that was more than sufficient. Don't waste space by carrying water etc, those can be found anywhere along the way. Just carry whatever is most important.

Ideally, if you start from Jaipur & considering the last day you want to ride from Udaipur to Pune, the route would be counter clock wise starting from Jaipur, Bikaner-Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Ajmer-Vadodara-Surat-Mumbai-Pune.

PM or seek JD666's inputs on finding some interesting places between Jaipur-Bikaner-Jaisalmer route.

If you're planning to book on the fly or in advance, choose Hotel Moomal in Jaisalmer; DO NOT GO BY ANY AGENTS on booking accommodation. RTDC IS THE WAY to go in RJ.

Thanks aargee, I'll be travelling from Bangalore, not chennai . I saw Rajasthan in 9 days and hence was planning to use Jaipur express (Bangalore to Jaipur) (leaves Bangalore on Thu, Reached Sat morning by 6am) to ship my bike. It would have saved me 2 days.

About the panniers, I considered all other options but nothing beats panniers. There's 2 of us so can't use rear seat either.

Ok...so didn't get the point

Ok

Ok, up to you; but a saddle bag is more than sufficient for such trips. Visit Cramster & get one for the trip; will cost you less than 3K & will be extremely easy to move around.

you mentioned the long time taken by train
Any idea if railways will create a problem since I have a TN registered bike and I'll be shipping it from Bangalore?

Ok


Don't think so; why should they care? Besides Railways are not RTO