ONE FOR THE ROAD
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| Marvanthe Beach Road, Karnataka |
High flight fares and unavailability of train tickets often dampens travel plans. However, they need not. You can choose an an option that isn't considered often - a driving itinerary.
Before we consider pluses of a driving itinerary, let's burst some myths:
- Its Dangerous: Horrific car crashes do make headlines often. However with widening and four-laning of highways over a decade, driving is relatively safe. By following some simple dos and don’ts, you can drive across India with minimum fuss.
- Driving is tiring: Don't drive nine to ten hours at a stretch. Plan it in a way that includes enough breaks and doesn't make it tiring.
- Taking a driver along is better: The joys of a driving itinerary is all about driving yourself. Taking a driver along may be less tiring but also less enjoyable.
- Kids will find it boring: Kids above six actually find spending time with parents very enjoyable especially if there are some stopovers and interesting visits planned.
- Can get lost: It’s easy to work with GPS on mobile, map and travel guides. As long as you stick mostly to expressways, national and state highways, it will be well marked or have people en-route to ask if required.
- No time for R&D: We at Nivalink would love to customise a trip for you that includes complete guidance on routing and hotel reservations.
And now the highlights!
- Family and friends’ time: Driving lets you enjoy complete friends and family time. Music, jokes, banters or enjoying cool breeze, all adds to the experience.
- Planned but not over-planned: In a driving itinerary, there is always room for spontaneity. Be it stopping at a dhaba for a cup of tea or be it luncheon stopover at a local restaurant serving ethnic cuisine. Driving through villages, countryside and getting a glimpse of cultural elements can often be fascinating.
- Off-beat and unexplored: There are beaches that aren't mentioned in state tourism brochures, there are temples that only locals know about and stays that don’t often get mentioned in planned itineraries. There is plenty to explore when it comes to off-beat and unexplored.
- Tailored to your time and taste: Driving itineraries can be just three to four day breaks and can be tailored to 15-day journeys.
- No lead time For those who aren't able to plan in advance, a driving itinerary is a great option. It may just take two or three days notice to do basic homework, do some reservations and get started.
Some of the popular driving itinerary circuits are as under:
Ex- Mumbai / Pune
Karnataka Heritage Circuit with Dandeli Rainforests - Mumbai / Pune – Bijapur – Badami – Hampi – Dandeli – Mumbai / Pune
Ex- Bangalore
Malabar Circuit – Bangalore – Coorg – Kabini / Nagarhole – Wayanad – Bangalore
Ex- Ahmedabad
Bird watching / Wildlife Circuit – Ahmedabad – Velavadar – Gir – Jamnagar – Dasada - Ahmedabad
Ex- Delhi
Rajasthan Heritage Geatways - Delhi / NCR – Bharatpur – Pushkar – Bikaner – Shekhavati – New Delhi
Ex- Chandigarh
Spiti Valley Remote Himalayan Drive – Chandigarh – Narkanda – Sangla Valley – Nako – Kaza – Manali - Chandigarh
Such endless combinations can be created ex-any city in India. Just Contact Us for a well researched driving itinerary.
Such endless combinations can be created ex-any city in India. Just Contact Us for a well researched driving itinerary.