Day 1 - Departure to Delhi
Day 2 - Arrival - Delhi, departure night train
Depending on your flight you arrive either early morning or in the evening at Delhi airport. There you will be met by the tour guide and taken to a hotel in the centre of Delhi. That same evening you board the overnight train to Bikaner.
Day 3 - Arrival - Bikaner
In the morning the train arrives in the desert city of Bikaner. Life here is very different from that in the capital Delhi. You will be picked up and taken to the hotel. The bikes are here, ready and waiting, and we take a test drive through the city in the afternoon.
Day 4 - Bikaner - Jaisalmer
Today will be a long day, in total just over 300 kilometers. We therefore have no time to take the smaller back roads for some of the route. However, the main road between Bikaner and Jaisalmer is almost deserted and any car that does pass by will probably stop immediately to take photos of the bikes. Jaisalmer is closer to Pakistan than to any Indian city. It lies in a far corner of the Thar desert, and the street scene bears witness to this. You can imagine yourself 100 years ago in times of a thousand-and-one nights. Groups of women in long colorful robes and proud men in white attire and brightly colored turbans on their heads shuffle through narrow winding streets. The Rajasthani are a very distinct people.
Day 5 - Jaisalmer - Stay
There are several things you can do today. You can wander through the streets and quietly observe street life from a rooftop terrace. You can visit the large fort on the hill. But you can also take a camel ride through the desert sands. You can watch the sunset from the sand dunes before driving back to the hotel.
Day 6 - Jaisalmer - Rohat
To start with, we again follow the same route as we did two days earlier on the way over here. This time we turn off near Pokaran, and enter a hilly landscape. Then follows a beautiful ride. All the way to the small hamlet of Rohat we use only back roads. Rohat consists of nothing more than a street with at the end of that street Rohet Garh, a fantastic palace. This is one of the best kept palace-secrets of Rajasthan. Every one of he rooms is transformed into princely accommodation. And each afternoon a high tea is organized at four o'clock on the lawn. There is a pool and a nice bar, and the prince himself often comes by to say hello.
Day 7 - Rohat - Udaipur
We follow Highway 14 for the first part of today’s journey. It’s already a lot busier than the roads around Bikaner and Jaisalmer. But by now you have also become much more used to the bike. All the same, halfway down the highway we turn off and take some narrow roads into the hills around Ranakpur. In Ranakpur you find one of the most important Jain temples in India. It is a beautiful complex and you can certainly spend quite some time just in the main temple alone. Many pilgrims have this temple as their end goal after a month’s-long walk. The Jain religion is intertwined with Hinduism with the major difference that the Jain followers are strict vegetarians and may not kill any life form, so they will not swat a fly nor crush an ant.
Then follows perhaps the best ride of the trip. The flat expanse gives way to lush mountains and beautiful valleys. You often see monkeys sitting along the road and running in and out of the dense woodland. Before we get back onto the main road again part of our route takes us through the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. Then we arrive in Udaipur, perhaps the most beautiful city in Rajasthan. Up and down the town runs an extensive network of super narrow steep streets. The streets, shops and even the hustle and bustle are somewhat reminiscent of ancient Rome.
Day 8 - Udaipur - stay
Udaipur is a fantastic city to wander around for a day, to visit the magnificent palace or spend some time on a terrace along the river. The city has also once been the set for a James Bond movie, with a leading role for the hotel district.
Day 9 - Udaipur - Pushkar
From the Aravalli mountain range, we follow Highway 8. On the way we visit the Deogarh Mahal and wind our way through the relatively green hills. Then comes the trip to the holy city of Pushkar (so no beer, and the eating of eggs is also prohibited here). It is a small village by the side of a lake. On the shore of the lake you find the holy men (sadhus) that are drawn to this place of pilgrimage. It has also become a hippie town, so the streets are full of things to see.
Day 10 - Pushkar - Jaipur
A short ride today. We leave the hilly landscape and after 30 kilometers we arrive in the city of Ajmer. A few hours later we reach the pink city. The city of the famous ‘palace of winds’. This is the biggest attraction of the city and indeed worth visiting.
Day 11 - Jaipur - Delhi
A long trip along the main road. Make sure you stay focused because especially the last stretch just before and in the city is very busy. What a difference with the empty roads of Rajasthan. And a unique way to end the tour.
Day 12 - Flight departure from Delhi
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Tourdetails
Tourcode:INRCategory:AdventureGroup size:8 - 12Days:-Price:not yet known
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Routemap