49 Shekawati

I have been wanting to see the painted havelis of Shekawati region for last 2 years but could not find time to do it. Finally, did it in Nov-2012; in conjunction with Pushkar Camel Fair Mela on the return trip.

This was a solo, self-driving tour from Thane in my Indica-V2; a friend who was to join me on this trip and share the driving had to drop-out due to some personal reason.

Overall Itinerary and details of the Drive:

Day-1 16-Nov-2012 Left 5:00AM from Thane and stopped at Hotel Best Western Takshila (N/H) at 2:30PM on Ahemdabad SP Ring Road (518KM)

Day-2 17-Nov-2012 Start 8:00AM and halted at Chittorgarh at 2:30PM at Hotel Sreeji near Rly. Stn. Visited Chittorgarh Fort sights in the evening 4 to 6 PM (397KM).

Day-3 18-Nov-2012 Started 8:15AM on NH79 to Kishangarh and changed to Mega H/way there, planning to reach Shekawat area via Kuchaman, Didwana and Ratangarh.

At Kuchaman, by mistake entered the city instead of keeping to H/way via BP and ended being guided by locals to take the direct shortcut to Sikar. That turned out to be a bumpy single lane rural road for about 30-40 Kms before joining the road from Jaipur to Sikar. Reached Sikar at 4:30PM and took room in Hotel Vinayak in market area. (368KM)

Day-4 19-Nov-2012 9:00AM check-out and first halt of 2 Hrs at Fatehpur to visit 4-5 Havelis. By 12:30PM reached Manadawa and took a room in Hotel Shahi Place (very nice hotel) for N/H in Mandawa. Lunch and Rest. Then 4 to 6PM local sight seeing and visited 3-4 painted Havelis.

Day-5 20-Nov-2012 Left Mandawa at 9:00AM and went first to Ramgarh 10:00AM. Halted 1.5 Hrs visiting several Havelis & Chhatris and then on to Mahansar (Noon) halt for 1 Hour visiting Raghunath Temple and the painted “Sona Dukan”.

Then on to Jhunjhunu (via Bisau) to reach Sati Mata Temple at 1:30PM. Inside sanctoram was closed till 3PM, so just saw from outside, had lunch at the Temple canteen and left by 2:00PM. Next Mukandgarh Fort (closed) but got some glimpse with watchman’s help from the Gate.

Then on to Dundlod at 3:30PM visiting Goenka Haveli & Museum and the Fort. Finally reached Nawalgarh 5:00PM and took a room in a simple Hotel Nawal on highway just outside town (138KM).

Day-6 21-Nov-2012 8:30AM went in a share-auto into Nawalgarh bazaar area visiting first the Ramnath Podar Haveli & Museum, next Dwarkanath Temple and finally the Morarka Haveli.

Back to Hotel Nawal and checkout at Noon. Drive to Ajmer via Sikar, and Jaipur BP. Reached Ajmer 5:45PM and took a room in Hotel Samrat near Rly Stn for night. (270KM)

For further details of Ajmer & Pushkar Tour-50

For Stories of each places see subpages: