Most times, people take buses and trains and wouldn’t consider hiring a car. It’s a little different in India, where car hire can be quite cheap. I once took a mountain car ride through treacherous roads for 10 hours and paid a fee of 70 bucks that I split with my friend.
You MUST hire a car from Jodhpur to Udaipur, if you’re going to do it anywhere. It’s a gorgeous drive.
Extras You’ll Get to See:
1. Kumbhalgarh Fort.
Here, you won’t want to stay the night unless you have lots of time to kill. You need about 2-3 hours to see the majority of the fort and you can hire a guide to teach you it’s history. This Mewar fortress is about 2 hours outside Udaipur (80 km). I didn’t spend time here, because Jodhpur is all about forts, and I was a little sightseeing out. There is a Hindu temple inside. It was built in the 15th century and people lived there until late in the 19th century. Pretty cool!
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2. Ranakpur Temple.
Located in Desuri Tehsil near Sadri town, in the Pali district, this temple is closed to non-Jains before noon. We got there early and had to wait. Jains are quite strict, so you can’t take in ANY leather, not even your purse. Make sure you are very covered up and leave your shoes at the door. There are some smaller temples here as well called “sun temples”.
You could stay for lunch, but you really only need an hour. This was built in the 14th century by a Jain businessman out of pure marble. There are 1444 marble pillars holding this temple up, and no two have the same design! This is known as the most spectacular Jain temple.
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3. Dilwara Temples.
Just near Ranakpur, this was very cool to see. This is a Jain temple in a small village. Prayer is important on Mondays, so it’s quite packed then. This is 2.5 km from Rajasthan’s only hill station, Mt. Abu, and is a pilgrimage for Jains. There are 5 temples here.
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4. Villages and Farms.
You’ll pass little monkeys, herds of cattle, and people is colorful saris and turbans. You can buy bananas on the side of the road and feed the animals if you wish, but the monkeys are a little feisty, especially the moms. You can also see the water-wheels drawn by horses or cows. We even saw camels walking down the road.
More Tips & Safety
Of course you need to show your driver on a map the exact places you want to stop at. The worst thing is to underestimate what the driver is worth, which will make him feel under-appreciated. If you take a long time touring temples, you need to discuss that with your driver. Keep in mind, he will be waiting outside in the heat for you! You can ask your guesthouse for help with a finding a driver.
It’s best to find a friend to share a car with. When I was getting a car from Dharmsala to Amritsar, I put up signs and got 5 phone calls with people who wanted to share rides! Saved me tons of money. This is definitely a good option to try. If you don’t want to work it out yourself, you can look for Rajasthan tour packages on various sites and do you research to see which tour you prefer.
Always make sure you let someone know if you are going alone. Call ahead to your hotel letting them know your arrival time; do this in front of your driver. He’ll know someone is waiting on you and that you have a cell phone. Sometimes if I feel uncomfortable leaving my purse, etc in the car while I tour temples I will take a photo of the driver’s license plate. I let him see me do it so that he knows I could find him if need be! If you end up taking a train or bus in India follow these safety tips.
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Why did I not do this? *Face palm* If I only would have known I totally would have hired a car and stopped along the way than taking a crazy, blaring-horn, sticky sweaty bus!
haha yeahhhh, well at least you know if you ever come back!!
Absolutely spectacular scenery – I would book a very slow car to take that trip.
It was pretty amazing :)
I really want to go to that temple! It looks stunning!
I really appreciated these ones a lot too because it was near the beginning of my trip so I wasn’t “templed out”
We did hire a car for the whole trip… and saw all these places..Ranakpur was beautiful…and kumbhalgarh fort was spectacular at night..we did stay a night there.. :) ..Having a car gives you n advantage of stopping at all the places in between… and we loved doing that .. A wonderful post :)
http://www.dwindowseat.wordpress.com
Ahhh that’s great!!
Hi Divya, Just curious…which car/taxi rental company did you hire? I am looking for a good, reliable transport company for Jaipur-Jodhpur-Jaisalmer trip. Thank you!
Hi. Rachel
Great to see your review… I stumbled upon your website when I am planing my trip to Rajasthan. Amazing idea of taking a cab from Jodhpur to Udaipur stopping at Ranakpur. Can you pls share (email me) the cab service/ agent you booked on your trip.
Thanks in advance.
Hi there, I actually met a friend and was tagging along with her, so I’m not sure where she booked- some office in Delhi, but she paid a very high rate. Better to find a cab driver in Jodhpur I think and negotiate down.
Hey!
Currently struggling to work out the jodhpur-udaipur trip then found this post! How much did you pay for the taxi?
Many thanks for your great posts!
Hi, It’s been ages – not sure. I remember one in the mountains that I paid 4,000 Rs for 8 hours so you can kind of base it off that I think :)
Rajasthan makes for nice drives, to bad your car hire has to stop at all his friends shops where they try and sell you everything .
Yeah that can be a pain, but you just have to be really stern. they won’t do it if you are – actually indian passengers would never let this happen because they are usually much more stern with drivers, while foreigners are more timid and feel bad being strict.
The Dilwara temple looks amazing, but on a map it says it’s a three hour detour off the road from Jodhpur to Udaipur. Did you just take the detour to see it?
yep!
How do you go about renting a car? Are there places in Jodhpur or Udaipur to get them ?
I second the question Jasmine asked. Also how much was it?
Hey! I honestly don’t remember it was so long ago – you can usually average about 1k Rs per one hour driving
Hi,
We are there in 4 weeks. Very excited!
Just to be clear. When you say “hire a car”, you don’t mean Budget, Alamo, Avis!?. You mean hire a driver and a car, like a cab. Is that right? I was planning to do the latter.
Yes – the latter, hiring a driver and going in his car :) You won’t find actual car rental companies here like that, except some Indian ones but I don’t recommend them
Hi! Thanks for your post. We are looking for good car rentals, with drivers, to travel from Jaipur to Jodhpur to Jaisalmer and back to Jaipur. Would you have any recommendations on good car/taxi companies? Much appreciate!
Hello, Thanks for sharing this blog !
This blog is very useful for traveling purpose.