Girnar Hills Itinerary- How to travel under 3000INR in 48hours: Full Guide
Let me ask you this: how many of us love offbeat places?
And among them, which one is your favorite?
Are they valleys, rivers, jungles, trekking, or something else?
But we love the mountains the most! Agree?
What’s the issue? We budget travelers prefer low-budget trips and budget travel.
And sadly, many mountain destinations aren’t suitable for budget-friendly trips.
They are either:
- Too difficult.
- Too expensive.
- Too much time-consuming.
- Need guides or teams.
- And risky sometimes.
No? Do you disagree with any mentioned points? Which mountain destination conquers all of these?
Why someone should go to Girnar Hills?
So as an average traveler, we often fail to complete such trips to mountain destinations, but what if I tell you there is a mountain destination that is:
Affordable (almost cheap: under 3k INR!)
Moderate trekking under 12 hours.
One of the highest peaks.
Much more adventurous compared to other similar treks.
Will you go? I feel yes you will!
I’m talking about Girnar Hills, located in Junagadh, Gujarat.
Interesting facts:
- Girnar Hills is believed to be older than the Himalayas.
- It’s the highest peak of Gujarat. (1070m or 3506ft)
- It’s one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in western India!
- Shockingly, Girnar is an extinct volcano, not a mountain & its formation contains basalt and other volcanic rocks!
- Although Guru Dattatreya is the main deity here, you’ll find numerous cave temples of Mahadev.
- It houses many ancient Jain temples.
How to reach Girnar Hills?
You have to reach Junagadh first, which is a not-so-metropolitical city,
So I can’t assure the transport availability from every city. But yes, almost all of the big stations of Gujarat, like Vadodara, Ahmedabad, etc are well connected with Junagadh.
Additionally, we booked sleeper tickets [costs 275INR] for Vadodara to Junagadh (on 29th July 2022), which was a mistake, thankfully, our tickets got canceled.
Why thankfully? Cause when we bought the unreserved tickets [costs 150INR] (On departure day: 5th Aug 2022), we are doubting: how will we reach Junagadh in general. As the distance from Vadodara is almost 500kms & departure was in night.
Our train [19217 Saurashtra Janta Express from Bandra Terminus to Veraval Junction, a daily train and arrives on platform no. 6 at Vadodara Junction] was delayed by 40mins.
And we are happy to see those general/unreserved coaches are almost 80% empty!
That means, we can travel with the comfort of a sleeper at the price of unreserved!
So I’ll also suggest going with general only on this train! You’ll save 125INR.
5th Aug, 08:30pm
Train journey:
- 8:30PM- departed.
- 10:35PM- Ahmedabad station arrived, an important halt on this route & you can exit the train to buy some snacks & food for dinner.
- 04:00AM- Rajkot station arrived, 2nd major halt on this route.
- 06:10AM- Junagadh, our destination arrived.
Way to Girnar Base (Girnar Taleti)
Sardar Patel Darwaja, the Gateway to Girnar
6th Aug, 06:25am
Once we arrived at the Junagadh Junction, we left the station & headed towards the Sardar Patel Darwaja, located just in front of the Junagadh railway station, you’ll see it as you exit the station.
Bhavnath Mandir, here the trek to heaven starts!
Once you arrive on the other side of the Gateway, you’ll find many autos, ask them to take you to Bhavnath Mandir, that’s 7–8kms from the Gateway & will cost 20INR per person.
(don’t pay more than that nor agree with another place even if they suggest you like Girnar Taleti, etc)
6th Aug, 06:50am
Bhavnath Mandir is one of the important Shiv temples of Junagadh, you’ll find many Dharamshalas, hotels, etc to stay here & many food stalls to eat.
As you get closer to Bhavnath, the cloudy & mesmerizing peaks of Girnar will start to appear! I spend 10mins literally just admiring those heights! And my friends said, “Somnath, let’s go, we have to climb that only, we aren’t gonna miss those peaks, lol”.
Book a stay
Now I’ll recommend booking a room in Dharamshala, enough to keep your luggage, sleep, get fresh, etc.
We were so lucky to find a Dharamshala that only cost 500 INR in total for 24hours & we were 7 in total, that’s around 70INR per person.
However, It was the bare minimum to stay in, with a small room, enough for 7 people sizewise, and many small bathrooms. But food facilities aren’t feasible for us, so we went to other places to eat, atleast our stay is now secured.
Book a room in Dharamshala only after you analyze it properly.
Eat breakfast & start the trek
Before you start to find any hotels & restaurants to get some food,
let me tell you that almost every shop and business opens after 11am but small food stalls near Bhavnath & those areas open early in morning.
I’ll suggest eating at those small stalls, don’t wait for 11am as we have to climb 10,000 steps! Yes, you heard it right, one has to climb 10,000 steps to reach the top! So it takes time.
And ropeway option is also available, costing 365INR per person, and goes upto 5000 steps, the rest 5000 steps you have to climb on your own.
But I’ll never suggest taking the ropeway as it will make your experience dull, you won’t able to experience that height, that sweat and most importantly that breathtaking views!
You can’t actually enjoy the experience without those efforts and sweating.
But if you have problems like you’re a senior citizen or have any muscle or bone problems, lungs or any heart problems then it’s completely okay to use ropeway!
Interesting facts about Girnar’s ropeway:
- It’s Asia’s 2nd longest ropeway.
- Total length is 2–3kms.
- It takes 8–10mins to cover the whole distance.
Girnar Trek, where & how to start?
Precautions & things to remember before you start the trek:
- Start as soon as possible, to complete the trek during daylight.
- Although the stairs are well-lit and properly functional at night, still you know some people are scared of heights and darkness can give wrong assumptions about heights which can be an issue, but as long as you’re in a group, you’re safe.
- And, we can’t enjoy the views much at night!
- Avoid taking a heavy breakfast as it will make you tired & exhausted too soon.
- Carry an empty lightweight backpack as heavy things can drain your energy, only a water bottle, dry fruits, or fruits to eat while trekking to keep you energized & hydrated.
Girnar Taleti, the starting point of the trek to the clouds
6th Aug, 09:00am
- Go straight on the right side road from Bhavnath Temple towards the Taleti road. (see in the image below)
- Or additionally, you can ask the people around for directions to the starting point of 10,000steps.
- You’ll keep walking for half a kilometer and reach a gateway like this: (see in the image below)
This is the point from where the 10,000 steps start! All the best!
To be honest, you’ll not feel exhausted if you embrace the environment and the views around you,
Also, there are many food stalls on side of the stairs, where you can buy snacks if you feel hungry.
We haven’t bought anything else than nimbu sharbat and water, lol.
Breathtaking views
6th Aug, 09:20am
This is the view from the 1000 steps of Girnar! Beautiful, isn’t it?
We were feeling exhausted & thinking “ki humse na hoga” until we saw this, and we gathered the energy to climb more to get better views!
Girnar Ropeway
We spotted the ropeway line in the distance as we continued to climb.
However, that ropeway gave us the reference to the size of this massive mountain & trek length!
I felt shivers to see how smaaall the ropeway looks in front of this massive volcanic giant!
While I’m writing this blog after 4 months, I’m feeling that same astonishment! Words and this explanation can’t even come closer to the actual experience & feeling in anyways.
Just look at it by yourself! Just look at this giaaant! (see in the image below)
The ropeway cabins look smaller than the ants in front of this mountain.
And if this doesn’t shock you then listen more, this is the first mountain, and we have to cross 3 of these.
Imagine your size by referring ropeway cabin which looks smaller than an ant in front of this volcanic giant! BOOM!
Getting closer to the ropeway
6th Aug, 09:30am
Now you can see the ropeway more clearer but still, it’s far away.
6th Aug, 09:50am
There are many small tents-like structures on the way where you can take breaks and enjoy the heights and views around you.
Fortunate to capture these views
And we were fortunate to have a densely cloudy day with the mild heat of the sun, making the views enchanting!
Regular days on the other hand, trekking becomes difficult because of the intense heat, so avoid going in the summer.
We went on 6th August 2022.
These are the food stalls I was talking about in the beginning. (see in the image below)
6th Aug, 10:20am
And as the altitude was increasing, the surroundings were getting colder.
Haven’t counted the steps we climbed but I took 5 minutes break on this rock & this is what my eyes saw! Purely scenic!
Entering the second range
6th Aug, 10:25am
And we entered the second peak at 4000 steps, with 6000 steps more to go!
And once you reach this point, you’ll start feeling blessed to witness these views & you will feel energized for sure, craving for more height!
Take a pause and appreciate your efforts and decision to climb this mountain.
Girnar waterfalls, nature’s blessing
6th Aug, 10:30am
Because there are many waterfalls that get filled up and flow with full force during rain & monsoon,
these small shiny lines you’re looking at are those waterfalls with very less water flow because it’s not a rainy day. These are extremely chilled, you should wash your face with some energy from this holy water.
Welcome to the final peak
6th Aug, 12:05pm
The temple you’re looking at in this image is our first big temple on the trek we noticed, yes there are many others we missed but this was our first big temple.
And this marks the 5000th step, from here the cloudy region begins, and these are the clouds making this temple hazy.
Enter the heaven
6th Aug, 12:25pm
You can see now, everything is covered in clouds, we have to go that way and visibility is low, but things get visible as we go closer!
6th Aug, 12:35pm
This is so heavenly, and the sun is not visible at all, it doesn’t even feel like afternoon, lol.
6th Aug, 01:00pm
And by now, the ground also went invisible.
After a while, some sunshine is received, and the rocks you’re seeing, are all volcanic rocks along with green moss on them as August is one of the monsoon months.
And now here I got my second out-of-the-earth experience for me, for the first time I saw clouds in motion from such a close distance.
I believe that we can only see the clouds at a such close distance from a flight window.
Here we can feel, see, and touch too, I was just mesmerized after this.
The main stairgate to Gujarat’s highest peak
The orange-colored dual stair gates you can see in the below image, that’s the point from where the main stairs lead to the Shree Dattatreya Guru Mandir’s final peak.
And look at this, witness one of the most beautiful experiences with this image! The “Beautiful” word is too small to express this view!
And that small group of buildings, that is Prasadalaya, you can eat prasad & lunch once you had a darshan of Dattatreya.
I personally loved it, tasty, delicious, and made with full of love.
It felt like all our tiredness and energy loss were recovered after having lunch and prasad here.
However, don’t overeat because you know what can happen, lol.
Shree Dattatreya Peak, the highest peak of Gujarat!
6th Aug, 01:30pm
FINALLY, we did it!
We are standing at the highest peak of the entire state,
above all the grounds, into the clouds after climbing 10,000 steps…
Yesss, finally, OMG, I still can’t believe we made it!
It is more than a world record, seriously!
I never thought that something like this I would ever do.
This is the temple I was talking about, photography isn’t allowed inside temples so I wasn’t able to capture and you guys also keep this in mind.
This is the highest peak, where our 10000 steps come to an end.
Edited image: showing the hidden temple in clouds. (see in the image below)
Now let’s get back down, 10000 steps downhill, so yes one has to travel 20,000 steps in total i.e, 10000 steps upstairs and 10000 steps downstairs.
Sophisticated ancient architecture
6th Aug, 02:48pm
The rectangle window you are looking at in this image is a big cutout in the walls of this mountain.
And when you stand closer to this, you’ll be chilled with some of the coolest winds of your life.
How this works is simply based on the pressure and temperature difference:
- That wall is like a barrier between you and the strong winds around the mountain, produced because of such height and shape of the mountain.
- This cutout behaves as a gateway for those strong winds to enter the low windy area on the other side where you’re standing.
While I don’t know what’s the purpose of this cutout;
- I think to maintain the air pressure on the other side so that it doesn’t create any disaster like giant rocks dislocating with an excessive air force,
- Or constant air punches that can make the structure unstable after a long run or something like that.
Do let me know what you think can be the purpose of these rectangle cutouts?
Nevertheless, the views from this window look truly out of the world!
6th Aug, 02:50pm
Getting back to base
6th Aug, 03:30pm
We took the ropeway to reach base, 3 out of 7 of us felt tired and our legs are little hurting so we decided to go with the ropeway after covering 15,000 steps.
And as this region is almost no movements other than these cabins, this region is fully occupied with dense clouds, with 0 visibility, scary and thrilling at the same time.
Trek ends
6th Aug, 08:25pm
And that’s how our trek was completed, reached back to our room at 6:00pm & had our dinner at 9pm, and got to sleep.
Quick recap:
- Trek started at 09:00am.
- Reached highest peak at 01:30pm.
- Reached base at 06:00pm. (the trekking time, not the ropeway time, by ropeway we reached base 2hours early)
- Total trekking time was approx 10 hours.
7th Aug, 09:50am
This is the place where we booked our stay, Here is the approx location on google maps of it, if you want to book a room here whenever you plan a trek to Girnar.
7th Aug, 09:55am
Here is the last farewell click & darshan of Bhavnath Mahadev.
How to get back from Junagadh?
Once your day one successfully ends and you wake up on day 2, here’s what you can do to make your return journey seamless:
- Do your breakfast, whatever you wnna eat.
- Get a farewell darshan of Bhavnath Mahadev.
- Pack your bags & do the formalities, whichever are needed before you leave the Dharamshala.
- Ask an autowala to drop you at Junagadh Railway Station, note that you have to reach the railway station before 11am.
By now, you must be hungry or planning for an afternoon lunch,
let me tell you almost every local business and food shop, hotel, and restaurant opens after 11am.
And there’s only one daily train that can take you back to Vadodara whose arrival time at Junagadh is 12:00pm & if you miss that train you’ll have to wait till Thursday or Sunday!
That’s a crucial thing you have to keep in mind.
And when we got to know this, we explored the town in search of good hotels or restaurants to have a good lunch before 11:30.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
And after walking and exploring different shops, we found an amazing restaurant that opens before 11am, named “Geeta Lodge”,
Here you can have the tastiest paisa vasool lunch & dinner.
You can get Unlimited Meal for 150INR per person, one thing to note, they only accept cash so first go to an ATM and withdraw some cash.
Overall, 7 of us loved the taste and quantity of this restaurant.
In the 150 price tag you’ll get unlimited:
- Roti
- 3 varieties of Sabji
- Buttermilk
- Pickle
- Salad
- & many more, and yes, everything is unlimited!
If you visit Junagadh ever, I highly recommend this place for its food quality & price. I would rate it 10/10!
7th Aug, 11:50am
After eating lunch, head to the railway station to get tickets for “19218 Saurashtra Janta Express”, which cost 150INR each.
Its arrival time at Junagadh is between 12:30–01:00pm at platform no. 1 and it will take you to Vadodara in 10hours.
So when you’re planning to go Girnar Hills?
Expenditure, time & distance summary (per person):
Vadodara to Junagadh:
- 19217 Saurashtra Janta Express (costs 150INR)
- Arrival time is 07:50pm.
- At platform no. 6 on Vadodara Junction.
- & will take you to Junagadh in 10hours.
- covering 450kms.
- 200INR expenses in train for food, snacks, etc.
Junagadh Railyway Station/ Sardar Patel Darwaja to Bhavnath mandir:
- 20INR and 20mins.
- And distance will be 7kms.
Book a Dharamshala after analyzing it properly:
- It cost us 71INR, the price can vary if you choose a different stay.
Have a little breakfast before starting the trek:
- Will cost around 100INR.
During trek:
- 100INR for water bottle, juice, etc total.
- 375INR for ropeway.
- 10hours total time.
- 10kms trek length in total.
After trek:
- Dinner for 150INR.
- Lunch for 150INR.
Bhavnath mandir to Junagadh Railway Station/ Sardar Patel Darwaja:
- 20INR and 20mins.
- And the distance will be 7kms.
Junagadh to Vadodara:
- 19218 Saurashtra Janta Express (costs 150INR).
- Arrival time is 01:00pm.
- At platform no. 1 on Junagadh.
- & will take you to Vadodara in 10hours.
- covering 450kms.
- 300INR expenses in train for food, snacks, etc.
Total
- 1786 or 1800INR roundup.
- 48hours or 2days.
- 1200kms.
7th Aug, 04:50pm
7th Aug, 10:10pm
So that’s the end of our journey, we reached back to our home, Vadodara at 10:30pm!
To be honest, this was my first long distance trip without my parents.
First time I lived in an unknown city for 24hours.
First time climbing a 10000 steps mountain without practice or experience.
First time organized a group trip.
First time witnessing such an incredible experience that I used to see on documentaries and Instagram reels but it feels beyond what I see in reels and media, looking and experiencing is completely different! There’s a huge gap!
And in these 3 days, from the 5th to the 7th of August, I filled that gap in my life, it gave me a whole new perspective on traveling & self-confidence!
I still wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t made this choice? If I had been afraid since it was my first time, I might not have been able to witness this experience, and later it might become a cause of regret!
Ok, now let me know how was the blog? I hope it helped to plan a trip to an incredible journey under a tight budget! Please mention in the comments when you’re going Girnar & anything else that you wanna say?
Please drop in comments, and see you in the next blog… until then, keep chilling!
Signing off, Content Engineer, Somnath!
