Splendors of Gujarat: 10-Day Tour of the Rann of Kutch, Dwarka, Somnath and Gir Lions

Arrive in Ahmedabad and Sabarmati Ashram

Your driver meets you at Ahmedabad airport and takes you to your hotel. Ahmedabad was founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah, and in 2017 its walled city became the first in India to be named a UNESCO World Heritage City. Today it is a busy commercial city on the Sabarmati River, known for its textiles, its stone mosques and its vegetarian food.

In the late afternoon, visit Sabarmati Ashram on the river bank, where Mahatma Gandhi lived from 1917 to 1930 and from where he set out on the Salt March to Dandi in 1930. His simple room, spinning wheel and letters are preserved, and the museum tells the story of the independence movement. It is a quiet, shaded place; allow an hour or so, and take a moment by the river where Gandhi held his prayer meetings.

For dinner, start on Gujarati food: dhokla and khandvi, soft savoury snacks made from gram flour, and thepla flatbreads. Gujarat is a dry state; foreign visitors can get a liquor permit at licensed hotel shops by showing a passport.

• ArrivalMeet and greet at Ahmedabad airport
• Late afternoonSabarmati Ashram
• EveningGujarati dinner

OvernightAhmedabad, 1 night.

Into Kutch: the drive to Bhuj

Before leaving, stop at the Adalaj stepwell on the edge of Ahmedabad, built in 1499: five storeys of carved galleries descending to cool water. Morning light falls deep into the well, so it is a good time to visit.

Drive west across the plains and the edge of the Little Rann of Kutch, home of the Indian wild ass, into Kutch, India's largest district, a land of desert, salt flats and pastoral communities. If you prefer, we can take a longer route via the Modhera Sun Temple and the UNESCO-listed Rani ki Vav stepwell at Patan, adding about two hours.

Arrive in Bhuj, the old capital of the Kutch rulers. If there is time, see the Aina Mahal, an 18th-century palace hall of mirrors, and the Prag Mahal next door. Both were damaged in the 2001 earthquake; opening hours vary. Try a Kutchi dabeli, a spiced potato bun first made in this region.

• MorningAdalaj stepwell, then drive west
• OptionalModhera Sun Temple and Rani ki Vav
• EveningBhuj

OvernightBhuj, 1 night.

Bhujodi weavers and sunset on the White Rann

In the morning, visit Bhujodi, a weaving village just outside Bhuj, where Vankar families weave shawls and rugs on pit looms, and the nearby Ajrakhpur, home of the ajrakh block-printing tradition, with its indigo and madder dyes.

Drive north to Hodka or Dhordo on the edge of the Great Rann of Kutch and check in to your tented camp, built in the style of the local bhunga, round mud houses with conical thatched roofs.

In the late afternoon, drive out onto the salt flats. From about November to March, when the monsoon water has evaporated, the Rann becomes a crust of white salt stretching to the horizon. At sunset it turns orange and pink, and on full-moon nights it seems to glow. A permit is required to enter; we arrange it.

• MorningBhujodi weavers and Ajrakhpur block printers
• AfternoonDrive to your camp near the Rann
• SunsetThe White Rann salt flats

OvernightRann of Kutch, 2 nights, at a tented camp.

Kalo Dungar and the craft villages of Kutch

Drive to Kalo Dungar, the Black Hill, the highest point in Kutch, for a view north over the white desert towards the border with Pakistan. At the small Dattatreya temple on top, priests have fed the local jackals for centuries; if you are there at feeding time, they may come out of the scrub. Go in the morning, when the air is clearest.

Spend the rest of the day in the villages of the Banni grasslands. Each specialises in a craft: mirror embroidery in Hodka and Dhordo, lacquerware and copper bells in Nirona, where one family keeps alive the art of rogan painting with castor-oil paste, and pottery in Khavda. Buying direct from the artisans is the best way to support them. Ask before photographing people, especially women, and carry small notes for purchases.

Lunch is simple village food: bajra rotla, a thick millet flatbread, with buttermilk and vegetables. Return to the Rann for a second sunset or, on a full-moon night, a walk on the salt by moonlight.

• MorningKalo Dungar
• AfternoonCraft villages: Nirona, Khavda and Hodka
• EveningBack to the salt flats

OvernightRann of Kutch.

The long road to Dwarka

Leave at dawn for the longest drive of the trip, south out of Kutch and around the Gulf of Kutch through Jamnagar. The road crosses flat scrubland and salt pans, then runs into the farmland of Saurashtra, with stops for tea, fresh fafda and chhaas, the cool spiced buttermilk drunk across Gujarat. If you would prefer a shorter day, we can add a night in Jamnagar or Mandvi.

Jamnagar makes a natural lunch stop. If time allows, see Lakhota Lake with its small lake palace, or the Bala Hanuman Temple, where a chant has been sung without a break since the 1960s.

Arrive in Dwarka in the evening. One of the four Char Dham pilgrimage sites, it is believed to be the kingdom of Lord Krishna. Walk down to Gomti Ghat at dusk, where pilgrims bathe at the meeting of the river and the sea, and the lamps of the Dwarkadhish Temple glow above the water. The town is busiest around Janmashtami and Diwali, so expect crowds at those times.

• DayDrive around the Gulf of Kutch
• MiddayLunch stop in Jamnagar
• EveningGomti Ghat in Dwarka

OvernightDwarka, 1 night.

Bet Dwarka, Porbandar and the Somnath Temple

Visit the Dwarkadhish Temple early, when the first prayers are said. Its five-storey spire rises on 72 pillars above the sea, and the flag at the top is changed several times a day. Phones and cameras are not allowed inside.

Drive north past the Nageshwar Jyotirlinga to Okha, and cross to Bet Dwarka, an island shrine believed to be Krishna's residence, now reached by the Sudarshan Setu bridge.

Drive south along the coast through Porbandar, where Gandhi was born in 1869 (his family home, Kirti Mandir, can be visited), to Somnath. In the evening, attend the aarti at the Somnath Temple, the first of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva, destroyed and rebuilt many times and last restored in 1951. A sound and light show is held on the seafront most evenings.

• Early morningDwarkadhish Temple
• MorningBet Dwarka
• AfternoonDrive via Porbandar
• EveningSomnath Temple aarti

OvernightSomnath, 1 night.

Into the lion forest of Gir

Revisit the Somnath Temple at sunrise if you wish, then drive inland through mango orchards to Sasan Gir, the gateway to Gir National Park. Gir's kesar mangoes are among India's most prized; in May and June, stalls along the road sell them by the box.

Gir is the only place in the world where Asiatic lions live in the wild. A century ago only a few dozen survived; thanks to protection by the Nawabs of Junagadh and later the Indian government, the population had recovered to about 890 by the 2025 census, now spreading beyond the park across Saurashtra.

In the afternoon, go on your first jeep safari through Gir's dry teak forest. Besides lions, look for leopards, spotted deer, sambar, nilgai, the four-horned antelope and marsh crocodiles at Kamleshwar Dam. Safaris follow fixed routes set by the forest department, and the park closes for the monsoon from mid-June to mid-October. Carry your passport for the permit check, wear neutral colours and bring a hat and scarf against the dust.

• MorningDrive to Sasan Gir
• AfternoonFirst jeep safari in Gir National Park

OvernightGir National Park, 2 nights, at a forest lodge such as Postcard Gir.

Safaris in Gir

Start at dawn with a jeep safari, the best time to find lions on the move. Your naturalist guide follows tracks and alarm calls from deer and monkeys. Gir is also home to more than 300 bird species, including crested serpent eagles, paradise flycatchers and the rare Indian pitta in season. Winter mornings are chilly in an open jeep, so bring a fleece.

Spend the middle of the day at your lodge, when the animals rest in the shade and the heat builds. In the afternoon, take another safari, or visit a Maldhari village: these pastoral herders have shared the forest with the lions for generations, living in small settlements called nesses and raising buffalo for milk and ghee.

Your tour includes two safaris. We strongly recommend adding one or two more, as sightings are never guaranteed; permits are released in advance and sell out in peak season. For an easier option, the fenced Devalia safari park nearby gives a good chance of seeing lions in a natural setting. In the evening, try Kathiawadi dishes such as ringan no olo, a smoky aubergine mash.

• DawnJeep safari
• MiddayRest at the lodge
• AfternoonOptional second safari, Devalia, or a Maldhari village

OvernightGir National Park.

Back to Ahmedabad

Drive back to Ahmedabad through the heart of Saurashtra, stopping at Junagadh to see the Mahabat Maqbara, a fantastical 19th-century mausoleum with onion domes and spiral staircases wrapped around its minarets, if you would like a break on the way. Junagadh also has the Uparkot Fort and, at the foot of Girnar hill, a rock carrying edicts of the emperor Ashoka from the 3rd century BC.

The rest of the drive runs across the flat farmland of central Gujarat, with fields of cotton and groundnut. We stop for lunch at a highway dhaba for a Kathiawadi meal.

If you prefer a shorter day, drive to Rajkot and take a short flight to Ahmedabad or a direct flight onward to Mumbai or Delhi. Arrive in Ahmedabad in the evening and enjoy a Gujarati thali dinner, a procession of small dishes, sweet, sour and spicy, refilled until you say stop. If you have energy afterwards, take a walk along the Sabarmati Riverfront.

• MorningDrive to Junagadh: Mahabat Maqbara and the Ashokan edicts
• AfternoonDrive to Ahmedabad
• EveningGujarati thali dinner

OvernightAhmedabad, 1 night.

Old city heritage walk and departure

If your flight allows, take an early-morning heritage walk through Ahmedabad's old city, whose pols, gated neighbourhoods of carved wooden houses, temples and bird feeders, earned the city its UNESCO status. In the cool of the morning you see residents feeding pigeons at the chabutaras and shops opening their shutters. End at the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, famous for its carved stone 'tree of life' window, and the Jama Masjid. Wear modest clothing and shoes that slip off easily.

Transfer to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport for your onward or departing flight.

• Early morningOld city heritage walk
• DepartureTransfer to Ahmedabad airport