In mid December 2023, my cousin was to get married in Jodhpur – it was a destination wedding spread over 3 days with multiple events. And I should add, this was my first destination wedding.

Since it was spread over three days, requiring that many attires and matching shoes etc, we decided to drive down to Jodhpur from Gurgaon to avoid the 15kg baggage limit and the stress associated with it.

So, on 12 December 2023, my Mom and I set out from Gurgaon to Jodhpur.

I had previously done a Rajasthan roadtrip with my Mom and cousin in November 2020 (between the first and second Covid waves). Read about that trip here.

The two take aways we had from that particular roadtrip were:

1. Rajasthan roads are amazing
2. Since we would be driving towards the west, the sun would be in front of us for most part of the journey. Not a pleasant experience for the driver or the co-passenger.

My mom was definitely dreading the second point.

The Preparation

Since my car was about 8 years old, I decided to get the tyres of my car changed to give it a fresh life. One day before the trip, we changed to MRF tyres which costed us 7,000 per tyre.

We then got our car full tanked since Haryana petrol rate was nearly INR 10/litre cheaper than the rate in Rajasthan.

We were then all set to leave at dawn the next day.

The Route

From Gurgaon to Jodhpur, we had three route options:

1) Mumbai Expressway (NE 4)

This route would go through Sohna – onto the expressway and from there you would take the Dausa exit and head towards Jaipur bypass. From there the route would combine with the second one mentioned below.

I had recently been on this route in March 2023 when it had just been inaugurated. Read about my experience here: Delhi to Kishangarh

The issue with this route was that there were not many restaurant options as most of the rest stops were not yet functional.

2) NH48 (Previously referred to as NH8)

This was the traditional route and goes through NH48 till near Ajmer and then moves to NH58 followed by NH25. The issue with this route is that at multiple places there is construction/renovation happening due to which there would be a few diversions.

Also, this route is always predominantly teeming with trucks – which is not that much fun from a drive point of view.

3) Via Rohtak – Nagaur

I had been on this route during my drive from Bikaner to Delhi – Read about that roadtrip here: Bikaner to Delhi.

The road is more scenic than NH8; however the roads were quite narrow from what I remember and also traversed through a few populated villages.

Our goal this time was to reach before sunset as the roads near Jodhpur do get quite deserted at night.

I finally chose NH48 and the decision maker may or may not have been the scrumptious dhaba parathas that I would surely get on this highway.

Delhi to Jaipur

We started at about 7AM and since it was really early, we reached the highway in no time.

I had requested my car wash guy to come in at 6AM that morning so that we could drive in a clean car. However, before we even reached the highway, my car was loaded with dust – thanks to the South Peripheral Road (SPR) in Gurgaon.

As expected, NH48 had quite a few diversions due to the renovation and thankfully my map would warn us about those diversions well in advance. After going through 1-2 of those, we quickly learnt to be on the service road or the left most lane before the diversions – those were the fastest lanes.

Despite the diversions, we made it to Hotel Highway King by 9:30AM – our breakfast stop.

We ordered the usual Gobi and Mooli Paratha to split between us. I think more than the dhaba parathas, its the fresh white butter that makes it an experience!

The parathas were so huge that we could not finish them and packed quarter pieces of the parathas.

Beautiful chill in the air, excitement in our heads due to the wedding and the tantalizing aroma of the packed Parathas in the car – Our roadtrip had started on a very good note.

Little did we know that our journey would take an unexpected turn when our car would test our sense of adventure.

Issue creeps in

About half an hour after resuming our journey, I felt that my car was emitting some weird sound.

It was a loud grinding sound – so loud that I could not hear the music in my car.

The time was about 11:AM and the sound was now getting louder and louder.

There was definitely an issue which we had to get checked by a mechanic. Turned out that the issue was with the wheel bearing of my front right wheel.

At this point we had just crossed the Jaipur bypass and were in a small town named Bhankrota. Although the mechanic here identified the problem, he did not have the part needed to be replaced and advised us to go to the next town of Bagru (20 km ahead).

We took his advice and went to Bagru only to find that the entire town seemed unusually quiet. We later found out that most shops here were closed due to Amavasya.

By now it was nearly noon and my car noise had become unbearably loud.

We finally found a Hyundai showroom and asked them for help. Although they also did not have the particular part, they made a few calls and confirmed that the service centre in Bhankrota (the previous town where the issue was identified!) can help us.

Having no other option, we drove back to Bhankrota at a slow speed of 40 kmph.

We also had to cross the ‘Jaipur Plaza’ toll again. Usually, there is a concession on a return journey; however, this particular toll did not have it. It just said N/A.

Hyundai Service Centre

By the time we arrived at the service centre, it was 3PM.

The staff at this particular centre was very efficient. They immediately took my car in for the repair, made us sit in a comfortable waiting room and served us some coffee.

The repair finally took about 2 hours and costed us INR 2200 which is the initial time and money estimate give to us by the centre.

Our car was handed back to us at 5PM and by now at least mom had her wish of not having the afternoon sun in front for the drive!

Read about the detailed experience here: Car Failure on Highway

Jaipur to Jodhpur

This was to be about 6 hours and about 350 km.

Mom did suggest that we should probably take an overnight halt at Ajmer, but I did not want to do that.

Night driving is definitely not an ideal situation and that is why we had left from Gurgaon at dawn hoping to make it to Jodhpur by sunset.

However, the car failure had set us back by near 5-6 hours.

We set off at 5PM driving into the beautiful sunset. The NH48 roads after Jaipur were in a good condition with very few diversions.

After Ajmer we moved to NH58 which was also in a good condition. By now it was pitch dark, however, night driving was not an issue as the roads were wide enough with some traffic.

We drove continuously for 3 hours and then decided to stop for dinner. More than being hungry, I wanted to stretch my legs.

Usually my mom drives for a bit which gives me some kind of a break, but this time, my mom had just recovered from a fracture on her left foot which was making it difficult for her to use the clutch.

So we stopped at a small dhaba near Beawar for that washroom, dinner and stretching break.

The dhaba was called ‘Jeevan Shree Hotel’.

Initially we were a bit skeptical about that stop because there was no one in that dhaba, but it turned out to be a decent stop.

The food was quite delicious, though very oily. In that cold weather though, the oil didn’t matter. Decent washroom, decent food and good service.

After that, we had to get on to NH65A which was quite a lonely road with no street lights.

My mom immediately rechecked to make sure her location was being shared with family and actually called my uncle in Jodhpur to keep a track on our location.

The road condition though was amazing – but we could not enjoy the drive because it was pitch dark. To add to that my mom was mentioning some dacoity incidents that she had heard of. The road also had quite many speed breakers which were a little hard to spot with no light and the high speed.

Thankfully that stretch was only about 30 km after which we were on NH25.

Rest of the journey was smooth with no further adventures.

Arrival At Jodhpur

We finally reached Jodhpur resort at 11PM.

The good part is that by the time we crossed Jodhpur city to get to the resort, there was no traffic in the city.

We were on the road for nearly 17 hours, and since I was the only driver this time, I could barely feel my feet by the time we arrived.

We checked into the room, and slept straight for 12 hours. The next morning though, we were in full wedding mood.

Bring on the glamour and the dhols!

Tolls

We paid a total toll of 755 INR through this route. If we had taken the Mumbai expressway till Jaipur, we would have had to pay a toll of INR 940.

Below are the toll details. I had to pay the Jaipur plaza toll thrice due to the car issue, hence I calculated the total amount (INR 755) excluding the highlighted rows.

Also, I started from Gurgaon SPR and hence I did not cross Manesar toll which you may need to cross depending on your starting point. That would be an additional INR 80.

Possible stops on Delhi – Jodhpur route

Since this is a nearly 11 hour roadtrip, it would make sense to take an overnight stop especially if there is a city enroute which you have not visited. Some possible stops are mentioned in the below link

Possible stops

Click this link for Part 2 of the journey: Jodhpur to Kumbhalgarh roadtrip