Behind the wheel & Contributor

Dusshera holidays, hills will be crowded so this time we plan the sand dunes. One day in Bikaner and two days in Jaisalmer....

Day 1
Route - Delhi - Shahpura - Ajeetgarh - Fatehpur - Bikaner
Distance - 686kms
Time - 9hrs

Day 2
Route - Bikaner - deshnok - Nokha - Sarunda - Moriya - Mool Sagar - Kanoi (Jaisalmer)
Distance - 416kms
Time 7.5hrs

Day 3
Route - Jaisalmer - Longewala - Tanot - Kuldhara

Day 4
Jaisalmer - Kichan - Karnu - Deh - Daulatpura - Sigrawat - Udaipurwati - Kotputli - Delhi
Distance - 802kms
Time - 14hrs

We start after 12 owing to PTM at school. Our halt for the day was Heritage Resort in Bikaner. After 9 hrs drive we reach the resort at 9pm. This is just on the Jaipur highway, with a huge parking area. The pool is big, as it is the main attraction even on their site. The food is good. The cottages are neat and well done. The property being on 11 acres one can have a small walk around the pathed way. We were just there for the night as we were leaving for Jaisalmer the next day.

Pics of Heritage resort in Bikaner










Next day at 10am after breakfast we leave for Jaisalmer. The route was under construction as 4 laning work was on. By 5:30 we reach Le Royale camps in Kanoi village. The camps are good, the hospitality loved the most. The staff very cordial and helpful. It is with their guidance we take our car to the sand dunes for desert safari, and viewing the sunset. The evening was quite lively with tea snacks and the Rajasthani ghoomar dance and songs.

Enroute Jaisalmer




Lunch break


Sand duning in the evening






Rajasthani dance and songs




The next day early morning we leave for Longewala. As its more than a 100km drive, the Manager Poonam Singh advised us to start early. Early breakfast and by 7:30 again on road. By 9:30 we were in Longewala, a border town in the Thar very close to Pakistan border. The 1971 war is still remembered with museums, tanks, memorials etc. The movie border was also inspired by the war.

Enroute Longewala


















From Longewala, Tanot is 40kms, and not to miss its the most beautiful roads to drive in. The sand dunes, camels, cattle, the blue horizon, arid scrubs, the windmills, artifical reservoirs and the checkposts enhance the beauty of Thar many many times. Its a beautiful experience to see nature as it is unexploited and untouched.

Enroute Tanot








Tanot has the Devi temple, It is said that during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Pakistani Army dropped over 3000 bombs targeting the temple but not even one exploded. Managed by Army, the temple is too close to the border. Being Dusshera time there was special puja and havan going on by the BSF and the villagers in the temple.

Entry of Tanot devi temple


From Tanot we start to have lunch all the way to Gajis restaurant in Jaisalmer. We just picked it up from trip advisor seeing the enormous ratings given to it. Well its proved true as the food was excellent and so was the ambience having lunch with the view of the entire jaisalmer fort was truly captivating.

Drive back to Jaisalmer


Gaji's restaurant


View of Jaisalmer fort from Gaji's restaurant


From Jaisalmer we visited Kuldhara, the haunted village. Just ruins around, some restoration work and development of pathways are on. Spent some time there and returned back. The same entertainment program was on so we decided to give it a miss and have a late dinner. The next morning we had to drive around 800 plus kms back to Delhi.

Kuldhara