How to Plan a Trip to Dubai UAE

Travel trip to UAE

In this trip to UAE we visited 3 emirates out of 7 emirates:

Abu Dhabi, Dubai & Ras Al Khaimah

Planning for the visit to 7 Emirates

We started the planning at least 2-3 months before. Planning includes various things like – length of visit, what to see, which time to visit, how to arrange etc.

We checked various travel partners/websites to get the quotation for a 6N/7D itinerary for 2 Adults and 1 kid to UaE. We were getting around 2.6L to 3.2L quotations. Cost of these packages depends on type of hotel and what all things you are including in it plus your bargain skills.

Finally, we checked if we could plan ourselves and if our friends are okay with that or not. Our friends were good with planning the whole trip by ourselves and had same thought that this provided us the freedom to plan as per our requirements.

Basically, with any tour package you get less tension, but you are stuck with them, they decide what to do when to leave where to go etc. With self-planning you have the freedom to decide what to do how much time to spend what to visit etc.

So, first we finalized what all places we want to visit in UAE and what all activities we want to do. Once we have that list, we checked the ticket prices on various websites. Then we checked the cab charges, hotel prices, flight prices and after all this we compared it with packages cost, and it was coming less only as this does not include their commission.

We booked better hotel, we decided what we want to visit, we decided the time when we want to visit, we decided in our leisure time what we want to do etc.

Cost for Trip to UAE

Our trip cost was around 3.2L for 2 Adults and 1 Kid (6 years age). This includes

  • Flights, we booked Emirates were little costly than other Indian carriers
  • Hotel, we stayed in 4* Marriott property that was not too far from Downtown
  • All the attractions
  • Taxi fares
  • Food we eat
  • Shopping including Duty Free
  • Visa
  • Travel Insurance
  • International Sim
  • Cab fare from home to Airport and back in India
  • Shopping for the trip

One can save some money on hotel and attractions. Like you can book something cheaper say a 3*, we choose to go to 148 Floor of Burj Khalifa which was costly then normal ticket, we booked a private 2-hour boat ride in Marina instead you can do a smaller tour or skip it, smaller tours of Abu Dhabi which were cheaper etc.

Attractions We Visited in UAE

After a lot of research and discussions with our friends we shortlisted:

  • Burj Khalifa
  • Burj Al Arab
  • Abu Dhabi
  • Dubai Frame
  • Dolphin Show
  • Dubai Mall
  • Ponte
  • The View At the Palm
  • Old Dubai Walking Tour
  • Boat ride in Dubai Marina
  • Miracle Garden
  • Ras Al Khaimah

We didn’t do the Desert Safari had done something similar in Jaisalmer so were not too keen on doing it. Our friends did it later in there stay with some of there relatives and said it was good one-time experience, if you have never experience something like that before.

Also, we missed visiting Museum of the Future as tickets were sold out, Dubai Eye as it was under maintenance.

There are a lot of other attractions/places to see in Dubai & around but you need time, so kept them for next visit.

Visa For UAE

We applied for Visa via MMT (Make My Trip). The process was quite simple and straight forwards. You don’t have to visit any place and can apply from the comfort of your home. We took 30 days Single entry Visa.

Document required:

  • Passport Scan – Front & Back
  • Coloured Visa photo

You can use MMT App for the same. Upload all the documents on there and pay. We paid INR 19,800 around for 2 Adults and 1 Kid. MMT say it will take around 10-12 days, but it takes around 3-4 working days to get the visa.

 

Flights

Do plan your trip well in advance to save some money. We were little late in finalizing the dates and doing the booking and due to this we paid around INR 20,000 extra. Initially same flight was costing us INR 57,000 and when we booked it 3-4 days later it was INR 77,000 around.

We choose Emirates because of the experience & service, even though we travelled economy but it’s different then Indigo and SpiceJet for sure. One can save some money here as well by choosing Indian Carriers.

If you have some Credit Card/Priority Pass that offer free lounge access, then you can plan your arrival at airport accordingly. We won’t recommend anyone to do this @Mumbai Airport as the Loyalty lounge here is pathetic. It’s so claustrophobic and smells of food all the time & you will feel like coming out of it immediately.

Food was also not good; we had few things there and were out of it in around 30 min. It was much better outside then sitting there. There are other lounges but as this Airport was taken over by Adani, I think they have converted them into but for Business/First class. There are much better lounges on Domestic then on International.

Do note that you’ll need separate cards for all the passengers even for kids above 5-6 years age.

Travel Insurance

We took this from Reliance General as this was the cheapest option. It costed us INR 1000 for 3 passengers with cover of USD100,000 and some add-on features which were common across all other providers.

Stay

For this trip we booked Aloft Al Mina which is a Marriott property. It’s a 4* property and it’s good. This property is situated right on Sheikh Rashid Road and has a hospital right adjacent to it. Marriott has their Elements property as well in the same compound so, 2 hotels in same compound.

The property is nice and clean with different options to eat and party. We have booked the room with B/F and they have good vegetarian options with good Indian options as well. Food was good, staff was good and helpful. We didn’t face any issue throughout the stay. Only drawback I would say is they don’t have any free pick and drop to the airport.

They do have free pick and drop to Dubai Mall and La Mer beach but that to is quite less, I think only 3 times a day.

Rooms were quite specious and had a great view of Dubai Downtown. We could see Burk Khalifa from one window and sunset in the evening from the other.

This property is near to Airport around 16-17 Km and nearest attraction is Dubai Frame and Dolphinarium. Farthest attraction was Miracle Garden, which was around 30 Km, but the beauty of Dubai is it will only take you 25-30 min max to reach there.

Attractions

We booked the above listed attractions mostly via there official websites and few via GetYourGuide. It’s best to book the tickets from the official websites as it’s cheapest there and there is guarantee that you won’t get cheated.

Only drawback of this is that you must pay in AED which will add some additional cost to your Credit Card, but you will earn points so kind of win-win.

We choose GetYourGuide as it has good reviews and packages, like Abu Dhabi tour, boat ride, walking tour. While booking this we paid in INR only and got a coupon code which gave us 10% discount but only on there App. Using this we saved at-least INR 8,000.

Taxi

We book all our travel within Dubai via Careem, this is the cheapest and most used app for booking taxi. In non-peak hours it starts from AED 5 around and in peak time which starts from 8 AM to 11 AM & evening 5 PM to 8 PM I think it starts from AED 12.5. For the farthest i.e. Miracle Garden which was 30 KM from our hotel we paid AED 64 which is quite reasonable and something similar we paid in Mumbai for Uber Prime ride to airport.

Uber is too costly there and is not for us mostly used by Europeans and Americans etc. for example same ride in Uber would cost anything above AED 150 easily.

One point to highlight is don’t get into any Black Cabs all Black Cabs are luxury cabs and will cost you way more then Careem. We took one from Miracle Garden to Dubai Mall and it costed us AED 94 this was at-least 9 KM less than what we travelled while coming to Miracle Garden.

International Sim

We purchased Matrix International sim from Mumbai airport for INR 33oo/- after 10% discount. We opted for E sim as our phones does not have duel physical sim options and our friends choose physical sim.

E sim calls were working fine but internet connectivity was a big issue. On the other hand physical sim was working fine. Also the number provided was UK number and not of UAE so our friends & other people in UAE were not able to call us on that number.

Adding to this, whatsapp calling is not allowed in DUBAI, it worked fine in Abu Dhabi.

Don’t take Matrix sim, at the immigration they handed us 2 Du sim for free with 24. hour validity and 1 Gb data. Then we can recharge it for AED 200 I think which will give validity, talktime and data. This is much better then Matrix but not sure how long this will be provided.
Even if they stop then better to buy a sim there only.

Stay tune for more details about the daily planning and attractions details.

For more travel blogs click here

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.

Golden City of Rajasthan – Jaisalmer

After our 2 nights stay in Shekhawati Region we headed towards biggest district of Rajasthan, The Golden City – Jaisalmer.

Most of us know it is situated in the heart of Thar Desert. It got its name Golden City due to the yellow color sandstone architecture.

It’s around 9 hrs drive, 522 KM from Mandawa via NH 11.

Mandawa to Jaisalmer

We stopped @ Motel Haveli Resort for b/f and total bill was Rs 200 for veg sandwich, poha and tea. It’s a big place with stay options as well, washroom were clean and place was also clean. Food was ‘Ok’ took some time to come.

There are very less places to stop on this route so come prepared with snacks. For lunch we could not find any good place on the map then suddenly we came across a place called Hotel Shiv Villas. We asked them to pack some aloo pyaz parathas for lunch as we don’t want to waste time rather eat it while driving.

After this we directly stopped in Jaisalmer. We reached I think late afternoon.

We had planned 3 nights in Jaisalmer, I feel 3 nights are good if you want to see everything and visit Longewala.

On the first day we didn’t do much as we were little tired driving 522 KM, so we checked in into this small beautiful Boutique hotel – Garh Meera.

It’s new property, still work pending due to Covid they couldn’t complete the work. Their kitchen was also closed at that time.

It has a wonderful view of Jaisalmer Fort from the roof, which was obstructed (little bit) by a construction on the building in the front.

On this day after some relaxation we went to visit the nearby local market. We booked this place only for 1 day and rest 2 days @ Jaisalmer Marriot. After b/f we left to check in to Marriot. But our room was not ready, so we went to see original Handicraft place.

For Jaisalmer sightseeing we had booked one very experienced guide Mr. Harish Giri Ji. He is really informative and very good human being.

Mr. Harish helped us in doing all the bookings i.e.  city tour, desert safari package, taxi service etc.

So, on our second day of Golden city tour, Harish Ji took us to one genuine place to see some of most beautiful Rajasthani handicraft items.

We can definitely see the price difference as we have visited few shops before coming to this place and this place as huge price difference (it was way cheaper).

Harish ji is working as a volunteer in the co-operative place which provides ways to earn to the  women living in desert area and keep the real hand craft art alive in this machine era.

You can check the place on Instagram with name Jaisalmerhandicrafts. This shop has amazing products. This was the first time ever we did shop on our trip/holiday. Usually we buy some fridge magnets only.

After this we had some lunch/snacks at a local shop and then headed towards – Kuldhara.

Kuldhara is a haunted village which is 50 min drive i.e. 27 Km around from the main city. Roads are good, there is a diversion which is a single road but in decent condition which takes you to the village.

This village and some adjacent villages were abandoned over night for unknown reasons. As per local stories some say it was due to the persecution of Salim Singh minister of Jaisalmer state.

Before abandon Kuldhara was inhabited by ‘Paliwal Brahmins’ and it is said that they were very prosperous.

It is very fascinating to visit this village and listen to all the stories, now we can only see few feet walls of all the houses and nothing else.

Converted into a tourist spot and there is an entry fee which is Rs 20 pp and Rs 50 per vehicle.

After spending some time here max 30 min as it was hot and there is not much to see, we left for desert safari.

Ours booking was done by Harish Ji and it’s called – Desert Safari Camp Sam Sand Dunes, you can find it on Instagram as well – @desertsafarisamsanddunes

One thing I would suggest to everyone is either stay in the camp or reach little early to properly enjoy the desert.

We reached just on time to have enough time to enjoy the dune bashing by open Mahindra Thar and enjoy sun set in the desert.

After taking lot of pics we headed back to the camp on camels. It was quite thrilling going up and down on a camel. Few times I thought we will fall ?

Back at the camp we had High tea with some snacks post high tea. There was a live folk music and dance performance. We really liked the performance all the talented artists.

After all the enjoyment and fun filled day. We ended the day with a good dinner at the camp and then drive back to the city.

While driving back had amazing experience, watching clear sky full of stars & cold breeze.

This ends our 2nd day in Golden City Jaisalmer. Stay tuned for our last day in Jaisalmer.

click here to know full details of this 10 day Rajasthan road trip .

Harish Ji’s contact details –

Company name – Jaisalmer Tour Guide

Website – http://www.jaisalmertourguide.com/#services

Instagram – @jaisalmertourguide

Cell # 9414761153 & 7014396051

Shekhawati Region of Rajasthan – Nawalgarh & Mandawa

After spending amazing time in Jaipur and visiting few of the most popular places of Jaipur. On Day 3 we headed to a less explored region of Rajasthan i.e. Shekhawati region.

As mentioned in my first blog this is region is located in Northern part of Rajasthan. It consists of Jhunjhunu, Sikar & Churu district.

Places we visited came under Jhunjhunu district. As per the guides this region was founded by ‘Rao Shekha’ and named after him.

About the region

This region consists of some of the most beautiful and iconic havelis. Word haveli means big house or as per our guide “Havadaar” ghar. These havelis were build by some of the rich merchants of that time.

This region was a part of ‘Silk route’ so the merchants were quite rich. They built these havelis to show off their wealth. Few of the famous havelis are situated in Nawalgarh, Mandawa & Fatehpur.

We visited Nawalgarh on our way to Mandawa. It’s around 120 Km from Jaipur and it’s a National Highway 52 via Sikar.

The most famous haveli in this place is ‘Podar’ haveli. After restoration it was converted into a museum and now it is maintained by the Podar trust.

This place is really beautiful, with lot of frescoes. Fresco is a technique in which the painting . It is done when the plaster is wet so that the paint penetrates the plaster and becomes fixed upon drying.

There are 2 courtyards with different kind of frescos all around it.

The door that connects these 2 courtyards was(is) amongst the most beautiful gates in the country.

Podar Haveli

There are around 700+  frescos in this haveli, these frescos depict many scenes from Indian mythology as well as some modern trends like trains and dresses and also European culture. All the colors used in these frescos was obtained naturally.

There is entry ticket which is Rs 75 pp and timings are from 8 AM to 8 PM.

The museum displays the art and culture of Rajasthan,different festivals and way of celebration.

Different types of bridal costumes which brides of different sections of the society wear.

There is a section which displays different turbans which holds specific significance and are wore on different occasions .

In the marble art section, there is this beautiful artifact of a Rajasthani women. Build out of single piece of marble.

There was a school at this place which was converted into a museum. To accommodate the kids, they constructed few rooms on the first floor.

The caretaker/manager of this place showed us the Haveli and informed us each and every detail about the place plus. He helped us in clicking some good pics as well ?.

After completing our tour and taking a lot of pictures, we continued with rest of the Journey towards Mandawa which another 30 Km. We booked the stay a place which was 9-10 km before Mandawa city.

Mandawa is 236 KM from Delhi.

On the way we stopped at a hotel and to our surprise it was one of the most cleaned and hygienic and modern roadside hotel/property. It has auto on lights in bathroom with contact less flush etc.

We had tea here and it was really good. Place name is – Hotel Om, Sikar Road. You can see it on the left side while coming from Jaipur and going towards Mandawa.

We stayed @The Desert Resort which is part of WelcomHeritage hotels. It’s design replicate the rural culture. It has mud houses/huts of different sizes.

The Desert Camp
Desert Camp main entrance

This was the second time we didn’t find the service up to the mark as per 5* standards(First one was with Sofitel BKC Mumbai which is one of the worst service we ever had)

So, there was a film crew who has occupied most of the resort and we were given choice of 2 rooms, one in each category and the rooms were not cleaned at all.

The covers of sitting area was dirty there was dirt on the floor on the table, we called multiple times for all this.

Also not sure if there was shortage of staff but as there was a bottle kept outside of room which was there when we arrived and was still there when we were checking out.

Another thing is there was garbage left by guest in the main garden area right in front of reception and few of the housekeeping members pass by but no one picked it

Overall their attitude was not at all good which is totally opposite of the people of this region. We booked this place for 2 days but moved out after one day to a different property.

And  this was one of the best decisions as we got the chance to stay in one of the original heritage property more than 100 year old Haveli – Vivaana Culture Hotel

Vivaana

Day we reached Desert resort we relaxed as we were tired of walking a lot in Jaipur and explored the property itself.

The property is good with some activities as well(which are very costly like Rs 1500-2000 per activity) we didn’t do any activity as most of these activities we were going to do in our next destination.

In Mandawa city there is a lot to see and can be covered in half day or max a day’s time. All the tours are done walking only. The guides here knows multiple languages as before pandemic most of the tourists were foreigners.

Fun Fact 1 – our guide asked us which language we prefer we said Hindi then he said he is not comfortable in Hindi as their native language is marwadi and after that he can talk in English, German, French etc.

Fun Fact 2 – Bajrangi Bhai Jaan wash shot in Mandawa (Pakistan part)

Frescos inspired from different historical events

There is a fort in Mandawa which is now a hotel and there is entry fee and as per the guide it was not worth.

There was this one golden room and the ticket price of that was 100 pp and that was not worth at all. So, you can avoid that and can save some money. Why not worth as the room was not maintained at all the family living there have stored all the crap and the walls and ceiling was not maintained.

After completing our tour of Mandawa we came back to the Haveli where we were staying and had a tour of that as well.

Vivaana
Vivaana @night

They also do village walk but not sure if it was due to pandemic or we were Indian tourist the person was not at all interested in taking us for a walk, so we did that by ourselves.

You will see a lot of cows and bulls and cute little kids playing in the evening, we went to a vendor who make Bangles but we were little late as they have already turned off the furnace(small one to make bangles).

He didn’t even showed his own property(he works there was customer relationship manager at the property) with any enthusiasm or interest.

The Maze waterway in the middle of the courtyard is a tribute to the amazing human ability to negotiate problems and came out free at the other end.

Vivaana
Maze courtyard

We gave the same review in their feedback book and to our surprise the owner does check that, and we got a WhatsApp message from the owner Mr. Atul Khanna very next day when we were on rout to our next destination. He apologized for that person’s behavior and informed us that there CRM is very enthusiastic.

There are different category room starting from Deluxe, Luxury and Royal. We got the opportunity to stay in Royal room which was quite amazing and weird as well.

Beautiful Royal room

Weird in the sense that the bathroom of this room was on the first floor and it’s an open bathroom.

The room is very beautiful with frescos all over the room. This property has 2 blocks, basically they acquired the haveli adjacent to theirs and combined it.

Original and working Rolls Royce

The Luxury rooms with frescos are there in second block and on low occupancy they close that block to save some money.

Overall with mixed experience we enjoyed our stay in Mandawa and will definitely recommend it to everyone.

Day 2 in Jaipur also knows as Pink City of India

Day 2 in Jaipur Pink City of India

After exploring the magnificent forts of Jaipur we started our second day after heavy b/f. For this day we have planned to visit the Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Amer Fort & Jal Mahal.

We started with Jantar Mantar as it’s totally open space with no shade, so if it’s hot then we have to bear the heat. In Jantar Mantar there are more than 15 astronomical instruments which were built by Sawai Jai Singh 2.

Jantar Mantar Jaipur
Worlds Largest working Sun Dial

Jantar Mantar is situated right beside City Palace and Hawa Mahal. The instruments created here allowed the astrologers to see the astronomical positions of different planets and stars with naked eyes. This was built by the king as he has keen interest in astrology, he used all the knowledge while constructing the Pink City.

There is a sun dials which tells the local time in which we need to add I think 38 min to get the IST. The biggest sun dial(vrihat Samrat yantra) in world shows the time to a precision of a second.

Witnessing all this live was an amazing experience and to know this all was created 200+ years ago by our astrologers and craftsman. Overall time spent here was maximum 1 hour. Ticket price is Rs 50 pp and car parking is of Rs 80.

From here we went to City Palace which is situated right next to it. Ticket price is Rs 200 pp. There are other tickets as well like the one where you can visit it at night and then there is package in which you can even visit the place where the current royal family lives, as I remember the price of this ticket was Rs 3000 +.

City Palace Jaipur

City Palace was created at the same time as the Pink city itself. It consists of Museum and a part where the royal family lives. This palace houses many courtyards, buildings and pavilions and the most prominent are Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal.

There are many entry points to the palace, one is reserved for Royal Family i.e. Tripolia gate. Visitors can enter via Udai Pol and one other.

Mubarak Mahal was built as a guest house for foreign guests which is now converted to a museum. Chandra Mahal is one of the oldest building in the palace and has several floors.

Then there is a place which was used as a Diwan-e-khas, it’s an open hall which is now used by royal family to celebrate important festivals. There are 2 big Silver vessels kept on either side and these vessels hold the Guinness World Record as well.

City Palace Jaipur
Silver Vessel

These vessels are the largest silver vessels with height of 5.2 ft weighing 340 Ks and has a capacity of around 4000 liters. These vessels are used by the king Sawai Madho Singh 2 to carry Ganga Jal when he went to London for some function/play.

Another special thing about these vessels are they are created without any joint or soldering. It was a wonderful experience knowing our history and seeing how skillful our artisan were. We spent around 1.30 hr here.

From here we went straight to Amer(Amber) Palace. This is situated in the Amer town and was build by Man Singh and later by Sawai Jai Singh. It situated on the foot of Jaigarh Fort. Ticket price is Rs 100 pp and parking charges for car is Rs 50.

Amer Jaipur

There are many options to reach the palace one of which is your own vehicle. There are electric vehicles which will take you right inside the palace and charges Rs 80 pp after your own vehicle this is the most economical and affordable option.

Amer Jaipur
Electric vehicle

There is one main attraction here to reach the top is elephants, but they are there till 11 AM only after that you have rest of the options till 5 PM.

From down to the full tour it will be around 3 Km of walk. The fort is laid out in 4 levels starting from Diwan-e-aam which was used for public celebration, Diwan-e-khas used by King and his special council, Sheesh Mahal and finally the Sukh Niwas.

Amer Palace Jaipur

This palace and Jaigarh fort are situated in one complex as there is a passage which connects both and was used in case of war. This enables royal family to shift to the Fort which is situated on a height and much more secure.

Amber Palace

In Jalebi chowk there is Ganesh pol/gate which is very beautiful. It leads us to the private palace of the Maharaja. Beside this gate there are steps which directly leads to the temple of ‘Sila Devi’ which was worshipped by the Maharajas.

Going up from here comes the Diwan-e-aam, this was used to address common public. Going further up comes the third level. This is the courtyard where the Maharaja his queens and attendants used to live. There are rooms for all.

There is a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ and a beautiful garden as well in this courtyard.

Sheesh Mahal and beautiful garden in front of it

Final courtyard is where the queens used to live. The king had 12 queens, so he constructed 12 rooms and there is a staircase which is connected to the Maharaj’s room, but the queens are not allowed to go up.

All the rooms open to a common area which has a Baradari in the middle. It is said that if any queen does some mistake then the king gives them the punishment and make them sit in this baradari which is then covered by curtains and the queen will do some hard work like ‘Chakki peesna’.

In front of this Palace situated a lake know as Maota Lake and in middle of it situated a garden also known as Kesar kyari(garden) and as informed it was built to harvest Kesar.

Amer Jaipur
Kesar Kyari

In the Amer town situated Jhodha Bai ki Haveli which is not maintained at all and no once can access it, we can only see it from the Palace or the Fort.

After this we stopped on the way to click some pics of Jal Mahal. It is situated in the middle of the lake ‘Man Sagar’

Jal Mahal Jaipur

It is said that it was given on lease to someone big company to renovate it and make hotel in it like what we have in Udaipur. Someone said that there is a stay on the construction/renovation.

Jal Mahal Jaipur

This Mahal is a 5 storied building of which 2-3 floors remain submerged all the time and when the lake is full 4 floors are submerged. The situation on the shore is not good, so much of garbage was present in the water that it was stinking.

This ends our second and final day in the Pink city. From here we went to the less explored region of Rajasthan which houses some of the most beautiful Havelis.

Patrika Gate Jaipur
Patrika Gate

Do check my next blog for more details about this place.

A day in Vadodara(Baroda)

After our visit to Statue of Unity we planned to explore Baroda or say Vadodara. It was a leisure day excursion, so basically we want to visit few places but don’t want to cover the full list mentioned on many websites.

We stayed in Eastine Residences. Will share the detailed review in my next blog.

Our day didn’t start early :), we left for sightseeing at around 11 AM.

We didn’t plan much to see, 2 main places that we want to cover were Zoo and Palace. Both had there reasons over any other place and those were we want to show animals to our little one and the Place looks really beautiful in the pics and had a lot of 5* reviews.

We started with Sayaji Baug Zoo, it’s quite big garden with a Zoo, a train and big garden inside. Ticket cost is Rs 20 pp. There is a museum as well in the same campus not sure abut the ticket price as we didn’t visit.

Renovation work was going on when we visited, I think they are building new and bigger cages for the wild animals and might bring more animals as well. I didn’t see any proper parking place outside the Garden.

Whole place is nicely maintained other then few old and small bird cages for small birds, many of bird cages were even empty. There are a lot of different varieties of birds.

The zoo is divided into different sections like one for birds, one for other animals like Rhino, Leopards, monkeys etc. and one for the King of the Jungle.

Our daughter really enjoyed here, you can even take stroller as the area is quite big and kids might create fuss after sometime.

Another attraction here was the train, yes you read it right. There is a toy train which runs inside the park and shows you different parts or the park.

You can take the ride at the start to check what all sections are there or afterwards to relax a bit. We took it afterwards. There is condition of minimum number of passengers then only it will play. The ticket price is Rs 50.

Do not forgot to take your shades and water bottles and if it’s bright sunny day then suns cream.

So, after all the strolling we were hungry and want some good Gujarati food. After searching and reading lot of review we went to Sasumaa Gujarati Thali.

I think it is the most famous place to have Gujarati thali and they do have branches in other cities in Gujarat as well. The thali was big as usual like other thalis with many items.

Taste wise it was good, they did prepared some Jain dishes fresh on request as my mom do not eat onion, garlic and many other things 🙂

This place was walking distance form our hotel, after lunch we went to see the Palace.

Laxmi Vilas Palace is huge palace and hug garden cum golf course. The palace is beautiful from outside as from inside there is not much to see, as the decedents of Maharajah Sayajirao Gaekwad III lives there.

Laxmi Vilas Palace

We were really disappointed with this place, we have visited so many palaces much more beautiful then this that to w/o any restrictions.

Garden plus Golf course

They don’t even allow to take pic of palace from outside with a SLR or digital camera, only mobile is allowed outside and inside no pics at all.

Entry after ticket check

This place has so many restrictions and after paying a lot for tickets what you see is just 2-3 rooms and one big empty hall. One room is armory and other has old broken crap of there family.

I really mean crap as it was in worst condition and even for that they want us to remove our shoes outside. The hall has some paintings and some sculptures that’s it.

For all this you need to pay a whopping Rs 225. Before this palace recently we have visited City Palace of Udaipur it’s ticket is also costly i.e. Rs 300 but as compared to this that was huge and a lot to see and much more beautiful then this.

They do give audio guide and it has voice of current owners of the Palace. There are issues with the guide and after sometime we turned it off due to the issues. The person is explaining a lot about his personal life in the palace which makes it slow is not useful.

Due to this it takes more then an hour to complete the visit otherwise as I said there is nothing to see.

Forgot to mention above there is one more restriction i.e. you have to keep your mobile on silent.

I won’t recommend anyone to visit this place, you will find a lot of 5* reviews for this place on Google and TripAdvisor but after visiting this I won’t give it anything more then 1*.

We gave the same review to a family who were thinking to purchase the ticket.

This completed our Baroda’s sightseeing. Stay tuned for next blog which will be about our stay in Baroda.

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Glamping @Nayalap Uttrakhand

It’s been so long that we have witness a proper cold climate, this time in January we got the opportunity to witness the same that too in beautiful Uttarakhand, India at Nayalap.

We wanted some relaxing holiday far from all the tourist place, to enjoy best of nature and get some mesmerizing view of mighty Himalayan range. For this we searched for a place on the hills and found an amazingly luxurious camp site in Shitlakhet.

Morning view from Nayalap

Nayalap Rural Himalayan Glamping was a beautiful find. It is charming and boutique home/ retreat consisting of 4 luxurious tents, spread out from each other for privacy of the guests.

Our luxurious tent at Nayalap

We have to attained one wedding in Delhi and my wife was going to her mom’s place in Agra for her cousins wedding, so we converted this opportunity in a relaxing glamping holiday ?.

We booked trains this time as from past so many years we have not travelled by train as from Bangalore it was too much time consuming. We booked August Kranti Rajdhani from Mumbai Central to H. Nizamuddin Delhi.

The train left around 4 PM and reached at 11 AM, as it’s a Rajdhani so no trouble for food on train. Due to more stops it took 2-2.30 hr more than Rajdhani.

Trains now a days are quite clean, and facilities have also improved, like cleanliness, seat cover in western toilets etc.

We stayed for a day in Delhi for a wedding. There are 2 good options to reach Nayalap, one is Ranikhet express which leaves from Delhi at around 10 PM and reach Kathgodam 5 AM, other is Shatabdi early in the morning at 6 AM and arrives 11 AM at Kathgodam which is the last station for this area.

We got down at Haldwani which is second last stop where our driver, Heera Singh was waiting for us. Tanuja the owner of Nayalap helped us in booking the cab. You can either ask her to book it for you, it will cost you around Rs 2500.

Kathgodam is the place where plains end and Mountain region begins. It is a 3.5 hours drive from Haldwani to Shitlakhe. As you leave the plains and drive up the hills, the drives becomes beautiful with the mountain vistas, terraced fields and beautiful villages.

We reached Nayalap at around 3 PM, there our host Tanuja was waiting to welcome us with warm herbal drink. She showed us the property and introduced us with the wonderful staff of Nayalap – Prem, Chandan and the cook Basant.

Nayalap is located on Hill slope on a land that was used for farming long time back. We came to know that now a day’s people are migrating from hills to plains in search for better life, education and career opportunities. The name Nayalap is a reverse of ‘Palayan’ meaning migration in Hindi.

Tanuja’s thought was to give back to the people of hills and provide them a better opportunity in their native land, instead of moving to the cities at least a few people can work near their home and can stay with their family which is simply amazing thought and she executed it as well by building ‘Nayalap’. All the staff who helps to make your stay happy are local peoples from the nearby village.

This place has 4 luxurious tents with amazing view of the Garhwal & Kumaon side of Himalayan range. All the necessary amenities are present in the tents and they have private and quite spacious bathrooms with geysers, handmade soap with all-natural ingredients, a shampoo and a body lotion.

There were super clean towels, a dinning table to seat 4, a small 2-seater sofa, a chair and a king size bed with clean and soft sheets with hand woven sheep’s wool blanket and electric heaters to keep you warm in cold winters.

Instead of stone flooring in the tents, Tanuja has done it with mud which helps in keeping the temperature little warm during winters and cold during summers. The mud floors are covered with dry grass floor mats which are hand made by locals.

The property is adjacent to the main road and has enough parking space. One tent is adjacent to parking but far enough to avoid any disturbance from parking and then when we walk down, we have another tent and their kitchen. Then wakling further down the hill, we have 2 more tents.

Out of 4 tents the 2 new one has wooden doors and the initial 2 has a zip to close the tent will gives little more feel of living in a tent. There is an open dining area, covered from the top and then we have a fireplace right adjacent to the dinning space to enjoy the bon fire during winters.

You can enjoy your morning tea with view of the Himalayas facing the mighty Trishul, Nanda Devi peaks, and listening to the chirping of the birds around. We really enjoyed our stay here, we did some reading, played with our little one in open ground, she liked exploring the ground on her own, climbing up and down, touching different plants, dried grass, wood etc.

This will really help the kids living in big cities to know the wilderness up close and experience the nature. We went to a local house and introduced our little one to rabbits, cow and baby goat (kids). She really enjoyed feeding them and was not ready to leave from there.

As this place is quite far from any of the major cities so you won’t find any restaurants nearby which a plus point is again as in this way you can taste the local specialties and all the ingredients are sourced from locals.

The food here really tastes good and homely and another amazing thing which we have not seen this till now is they do prepare dishes as per your request which is great hospitality.
We really enjoyed our stay here, the cold weather, mesmerizing view, great food it was such a relaxing trip, what else does one want in life ?

Other then relaxing and enjoying nature, one can go for a 5 km long treck to hilltop, which we could not do due to our daughter as we won’t be able to carry her, and we didn’t bring her baby carrier. Then you can do a village walk which is not that long but a nice experience to have.

Kosi Dam

If you want to do more touristy things then you do excursions from Nayalap to Kasar Devi, Almora, Ranikhet, Katarmal Sun temple which are about 1 hours drive one –way each from the camp. Tanuja can help you plan your visits according to your interest and time. You can visit Kosi dam built on Kosi river, also you can visit a beautiful small stream and enjoy the fresh cold water.

We visited Kasardevi temple which is an ancient temple and well known with the nature seekers, yoga practitioners and it is said be one of the three places in the earth where magnetic fields are the strongest.

We had a beautiful stay at Nayalap and enjoyed every bit of our vacation in the hills, exploring this wonderful corner of the world, where only the lucky ones tread. We are glad we were lucky to be there and experience the joy of glamping in the beautiful foothills of Kumaon.

You can also enjoy here, book your stay at Nayalap by using my code BABYNMOMMY20 and get 20% off on your booking.

Florence & Vatican City

Florence & Vatican City

After all the thrill to catch the train experiencing Paris evening traffic and finally finding that it is cancelled, we reached Florence. Do ready my previous blog about the journey here.

View from train

This blog is about a day in Florence, don’t be shocked I know its way… way… to less and a day in Vatican which is a country.

After reaching the Florence station which is called as ‘Firenze Santa Maria Novella’ we tried to figure out how to reach our guest house ‘Affittacamere Benedetta’. It was Just 1 Km walking and 10 min via Tram, there is stop just outside the main station and the stop to get down is next one named ‘Porta Al Prato’ and from there it is around 300 mts.

We got little confused due to Google Maps directions and took us some time and few calls to reach there but we finally managed to reach.

It’s a small guest house which I think has around 4 rooms and our room was the last one and was quite specious or say huge as per normal room standards we have seen in India. It has all the basic facilities and as the owner did not provide any b/f he has arranged some ready to eat stuff which was complimentary ? and such a nice gesture.

Even though room was big but there was only one source of natural light and that was also covered with heavy grill and room was very dimly lit. Over all only drawback in this room was the bathroom and light, light I have already mentioned and bathroom was way too small. Just to compare we use to have bigger bathroom in our flat in Mumbai.

As we travelled for more than 10 hrs. (Bus + Train), so we decided to take some rest and then go out to explore. As this place is in the city so it is near to all the tourist places and market. He suggested one place to eat and that was good and not too costly was not a tourist trap.

Our luck was not that great as first we missed to book the ticket for the Dome which is top of Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore. It has specific timing and slots as it’s a small space on the top and as per the pics the view is Amazing. Other thing that happened that day was rain.

As soon as we reach the main area of the Cathedral it started raining and we didn’t have any umbrella or rain coat, so after taking shelter in front of some shop for some time we finally return to our guest house and it continued to rain for rest of the day.

So, in all we stayed in our room and didn’t see much in Florence ☹ but what ever we saw was beautiful and we need to go again to explore more.

Next morning, we had a train to catch to reach Rome. Rome was 2-day trip and my brother in law and his family also joined us there. This was the first time we had planned something together and it was fun with all the kids.

They were supposed to come by evening, and we reached in the morning. Here we have booked an Airbnb. It was a 1 BHK flat with 2 beds, sofa, kitchen with utensils a washing machine etc. It was a good place with few drawbacks. This place was little far from the center, but tram/bus station was near by.

After taking the keys of the flat and fresh up we stepped out to go to Vatican via Bus. In Paris and here as well there is one good thing about the bus is there is space to park your stroller.

It was amazing seeing live what we have seen only in TV. Once again, we missed the opportunity to book the fast access tickets and on the spot were way to high to visit the museum and basilica ☹. For Basilica there was a huge line to enter and with my little one it was quite difficult to stand in one place for that long.

So, guys do book your tickets early and be there on time as everything work as per slots.

There were so many people that I was afraid to handle her alone otherwise we could have thought of standing one by one. So finally, we just clicked pics from outside and had some snacks at one of the local stalls then went back as my brother in law was about to reach the flat and we only had 1 key.

Rest of the day we spent with family chitchatting and relaxing as we were meeting after a long time.

This is how our first day ends in Rome.

Stay tuned for last 3 days of our trip, in which we covered Rome, Venice & Amsterdam.

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa. You can read my other articles for this #MyFriendAlexa campaign here #forbabynmommyblogs.

Road trip Bangalore to Mumbai

Road trip to Bangalore to Mumbai

This blog is about our journey when we left Bangalore and shifted to Mumbai…. again ?

We had given lot of thought for choosing the best way to travel with our little one, considering the cost and time. After considering all the options like transporting the car through packers and then coming via flight or train or bus, I had good experience via bus from Bangalore to Mumbai, I have jotted it do read it here.

We finalized traveling around 1000 Km via road. This was due to 2 main reason first being safety of our vehicle as we have heard few bad instances with car transporting through packers. Second I love driving and finally cost as there was not much overall difference in transporting it or driving it.

Route – it’s a straight road means NH 48 via
Tumkur – Hubli – Belgaum – Kolhapur – Satara – Pune and then Mumbai.

After doing a lot of research, going through lot of travel logs of different people (on TeamBHP) we came to know that it is good to leave Bangalore as early as possible so that we can get ahead of all the heavy traffic and cover more distance. So, we decided to leave around 5 AM or before that.

As we are traveling with kid and we has never driven this long in a single day, so we decided to make it a break journey. We finalized Belgaum for our stay as we got a 5* property at a very good price and Belgaum is mid-way for this journey.

Our first stop was Shree Ratnam at Nelamangala at around 7 AM. It was around 1 hr 30 min drive from Bangalore, here had our b/f and it was cheap and good. Washrooms were also clean. Then we continued with our journey. We didn’t take many stops as our thought was to reach the hotel as early as possible and then rest as we didn’t have good sleep the night before due to packing.

In total we stopped 3 time till we reach Belgaum, our second stop was at some CCD and then finally we stopped for Lunch before Belgaum. For lunch we stopped at this place named Hotel The Cult

After traveling for around 500 Km and eating at all those different places we reached our hotel UK 27 The Fern. It’s a 5-star property and the check in was easy and completed timely. The room was quite big with all the facilities. We didn’t try the food here instead went to a place nearby, but yes, they have 2 restaurants right next to reception area which is quite big and nice.

The place we went was walking distance from the hotel named Wild Sugar. It’s a nice small shop with sitting inside and outside, the only drawback of outside sitting is people smoking there. The food was quite good, and we really liked the food, we had Veg pasta, tandoori momos(veg), and there most famous dish i.e. paneer stuffed kulcha.

After having a good night sleep and freshen up we started our rest of the journey towards Mumbai – City of Dreams ?. We started at around 6.30 AM again we want to beat all the bus and truck traffic on the highway.

This time we stopped just once for b/f at Hotel Amar and then directly in Pune at cousin house. We reached Pune at around lunch time i.e. 12.30 to 1 PM. Our initial thought was to directly go to Mumbai but then we thought to stop at there place and enjoy some time with them, also her daughter is of same age as of our daughter, so they enjoy playing with each other.

Overall it was a nice pleasant and memorable journey, one could complete it in a single day also in around 14-16hrs but if you have time then it’s always better to take rest.

Roads throughout the journey was amazing, just few diversions as they are creating some bridge’s/flyovers to bypass the diversion/traffic of small towns on the highway.

Mumbai Pune Highway

One main thing to tell about the rout is that – as you get such a nice highway to be prepared to pay heavy toll charges. In all there were 16 toll booths on this route, and we paid a total of Rs 1,185 as toll, this includes the Mumbai – Pune express way toll as well.

It took around one and half tank of fuel to reach Mumbai, ours is a diesel car so it was little cheap and good on mileage. Total fuel cost was around
Rs 4,000.

Total cost of trip –
Hotel – 3662
Fuel – 4000
Toll tax – 1185
Food – 1550
, Total would be around Rs 10,500 with some misc. amount.

But yes, we had freedom to stop anywhere, take pics, enjoy the natural scenery on the way ? We really enjoyed this road trip.

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa. You can read my other articles for this #MyFriendAlexa campaign here #forbabynmommyblogs.

Paris To Florence Italy

This is 4th evening of our small 9 days 🙂 Europe holiday, do check my previous post. On our last day in Paris we need to board a train to Milan & from there to Florence Italy.

This was the first time my husband forgot’s the departure time and also didn’t thought about the evening traffic. Our train was scheduled to depart at 7.10 PM from Paris-Gare-De-Lyon station and we left the hotel at 6.20 PM.

Ticket cost was Euro 196 for 2 berth in 4 berth couchette and Euro 66 for Milan to Florence in Thello Premium.

We didn’t book flight as the airports were far from Paris city and Florence and also we want to experience the sleeper trains of Italy. There are different categories and early you book cheaper it will be.

Different categories with prices.

There are 6 berth couchette, 4 berth and then business class where it is 2 or 1 berth and in that you will get bedding and other perks. Then there are option to select if you want to book in mix, only women or only men couchette.

We didn’t took the metro because Paris metro is not at all stroller friendly and with luggage and a small kids it will be too difficult if you are short of time.

First there was issue with Uber, the first diver was taking too much time and then cancelled the ride which again wasted some time. Finally we left and there was bumper to bumper traffic in most of the way till the station.

Due to the tension of missing the train and ruin further bookings and plan we were not able to enjoy our luxury ride, can you believe it was Mercedes as our Uber cab.

Finally we reached the station quite late, trying to figure out where to find the Thello authorities. While looking for help, help found us 🙂

As we were on holiday so didn’t check the news. Our luck was on full swing that day, there was strike of workers due to issues related to salary etc.

Because of the strike all the trains were cancelled. So we actually didn’t miss the train :). Thello has arranged buses for all the passengers and were looking for last passengers by carrying small hoardings on the platform.

When we came to know about all this then we got little relaxed. We were the last passengers so in a full 40-50 seat bus we were the only passenger, other than us there were 2 Thello officials.

They arranged for some food and drinks as complimentary due to the inconvenience caused. It was a 2×2 semi sleeper bus. We are not used to travel in bus and with small kid it was quite difficult.

Some how we managed to get few hours of sleep and reached Milan. As it was via road and bus left little late, we reached the Milan station late and due to this the connecting train to Florence was missed.

On the Way from Milan to Florence

As it was not our mistake the officials arranged the seats in the next available train ours was in Premium, they were not able to provide the same sitting but it was same category.

Price of different categories

From Milan to Florence it was Frecciarossa. There are mainly 3 categories –
1. Standard – very basic with no additional perks
2. Premium – additional perks like better seats, welcome drink and snacks
3. Business & Business Quite – here seats are more comfortable and wider as it is 2×1 arrangement.

Finally we reached Florence the capital city of Tuscany region of Italy.

This is for all the people reading this and planing a vacation abroad please double check the scheduled departure time of the trains and buses. Also consider the time you will spend in traffic.

We really appreciate how Thello management took the responsibility of there passengers and managed everything.

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Last day in Paris

After amazing day 1 & 2 in Paris, we were getting use to the things here like travel, food, walking etc. Day 3 starts with visit to Notre Dame roof. We missed our timeslot due to the huge line to enter the cathedral and confusion, assuming the entry to roof will be from inside. But … Continue reading “Last day in Paris”

After amazing day 1 & 2 in Paris, we were getting use to the things here like travel, food, walking etc.

Day 3 starts with visit to Notre Dame roof. We missed our timeslot due to the huge line to enter the cathedral and confusion, assuming the entry to roof will be from inside. But it was from outside.

Notre dame
View of Paris from top of Notre Dame

After we missed our first slot (check detail here) we booked it for the next day and made sure this time we are on time else our 10 ticket will be waste. We checked with the Paris tourism office from where we got the ticket that if we can exchange it with some other place, but they refused.

Notre Dame, Paris
One of the tower of Notre Dame view from the top

After seeing the city from Eiffel tower, you won’t be able to justify the view from here, it’s beautiful but can’t be compared to Eiffel. So, our conclusion is you can exclude this from your list, and you can invest the money purchasing ticket of someplace else or eating something good or enjoying French wine ?.

Notre Dame, Paris
Mommy Baby enjoying there time

There are lot of stairs to climb and the space is very little. The stairs are in spiral shape and quite steep. After climbing all the stairs, we were feeling so hot that we had to remove our jackets. It windy on top.

Notre Dame, Paris
One of the bells of Note Dame

There are multiple levels here like Eiffel but in this case it’s only 2, Eiffel has 3. One can spend limited time on the roof as there are fixed number of people per slot and there are continues slots. So, they even ask you to hurry up and start your decent.

You will climb through the left tower (if you are facing the cathedral) and come down through right one.

View from Notre Dame, Paris
Beautiful sky & Eiffel at the back

After this we went to see one of the most beautiful Opera house in the world – Palais Garnier.

If you want to walk, then it’s around 3 Km from Notre Dame else you can take a metro station name is Opera.

Opera Garnier, Paris
Front Side of Opera, there are lot of sculptures made on this side

We were very exited to visit this place as we have heard a lot from our friends and family who have visited it. But our bad luck it was already closed for the day.

As it’s a working Opera so continues shows keep happening here. Before planning your visit here do check the schedule on their web site.

So, we just took some pics from the outside and left for lunch. We went to some falafel place which was suggested by one my husbands’ friend. And trust me it was simply amazing.

The falafel was so amazing and tasty and fulfilling. It’s a take away place and there is line in front to place order.

There staff will be on the street to help you decide with your order. It’s located on a small street with very less traffic.

Seine River, Paris
Climbing Back…

Then we just relaxed a bit strolling on the banks of Seine river. It was amazing, cold breeze, calm.

After some relaxation we wen to place which is one of the most famous and important thing to do in Paris. This place is even featured in some movies i.e.  Louvre Museum.

Louvre Museum, Paris
One of the part of Louvre after closing

This museum is one of the biggest and will take a lot of time and walking to explore. It’s located in Louvre Palace and the famous glass pyramid is right in the centre of the palace ground. This place contains antiques from all over the world and one of the most famous possession of this place is – Mona Lisa.

Louvre Museum, Paris
Famous Glass Pyramid

Ticket price starts from €15 and then we have skip the line, guided tours, audio guide tour. So, decide carefully which one you want.

Louvre Museum, Paris
Enjoying my time

It has all sorts of things in the display like art, paintings, sculptures, prints & drawings. If one has interest in museums & history then this place is like temple for them. So much of history and beauty to admire.

Louvre Museum, Paris
Louvre Palace

As this place took a lot of time, rest of the evening we spent just strolling on the banks of Seine, it’s nice just to walk on the banks, it’s in the middle of the city but still quiet.

This ends out 3rd day in Paris. Paris has a lot to see and one would at least need a weeks’ time to visit Paris alone. It should not be like this is on your bucket list, so you planned and spent just 1-2 nights and visit 2-3 places in a hurry.

We stayed here for 4 days and still it was not enough.On our final day we really want to see Opera, this was one of the top priorities. We have already checked the visiting hours on their web site.

As usual there are different kinds of tickets available starting from €12 which is an independent visit ticket. You can check the prices here, this is from where we bought ours.

Stroller can be taken inside, but you need to leave it just before you enter the main area as there are a lot of stairs. So, better take Baby carrier also with you if you have small kids.

Paris
Random Click

This place is mesmerizing. It’s beautiful, you will be lost in its beauty. It is beautiful inside out. There are many sculptures on the out side on the Principle Facade.

One of the ramp through which King use to come

There are 2 pavillon one is on west side which has 2 ramps and it was the entrance for the king, now a day this is used to enter visitors. Second one is on the east side that was designed for rest of the public.

The interior has many corridors, stairwells and huge place for people to socialize. 3 main things to see inside –

  1. Grand Staircase
  2. Grand Foyer
  3. Auditorium
Opera Garnier, Paris
Stairs towards Grand Stairs
Grand Staircase Opera Garnier, Paris
Grand Staircase

Grand Staircase – as the name say these are grand, white marble staircase which divides into 2 & leads to the Grand Foyer. These staircase is decorated with female sculpture holding torches. Hence sudden royal feeling will come when you climb these staircase ?.

Opera Garnier, Paris
Opera
Inside Grand Foyer

 Grand Foyer – this is a long hall with very high ceiling. This is 154 mtr long, 18 mtr high and 13 mtr wide.

Grand Foyer,Opera Garnier, Paris
Beautiful ceiling of Grand Foyer

The ceiling is painted and represent various historic moments in the field of music.

Amazing Art work

This place was used to socialize and enjoy some drinks.

Opera, Paris
Hall ceiling

Both the ends of the Foyer have halls with beautiful painted ceilings.

Auditorium, Opera Garnier, Paris
Main Auditorium

Auditorium – this is traditional horseshoe shape sitting with a capacity of nearly 2000 people.

Auditorium Opera Garnier, Paris
Beautiful Ceiling of Auditorium

The stage is largest in Europe. The main ceiling area which surrounds the chandelier is beautifully painted & it depicts scenes from opera of 14 different composers.

Mirror..Mirror on the wall…

The min chandelier was designed by Garnier him self and is very heavy and made from bronze and crystal.

Such a big seat to watch the show

Grand Vestibule, this is from where you will exit, it contains the statues of four composers: Rameau, Lulli, Gluck and Haendel.

Grand Vestibule Opera Garnier, Paris
Grand Vestibule

There is a small museum inside which displays stage sets, photographs, drawings & paintings. Besides that there is a library with huge number of books.

One of the beautiful hall

After spending some quality time, we went out had our lunch and then headed to Luxembourg Garden.

This was our final stop in Paris as after this we had to catch train to Italy?

Luxembourg Garden, Paris
Our doll enjoying some time before the rain

Luxembourg Garden is huge spread in more than 20 hectares. It was constructed in 1612. The beautiful gardens are the part of Palace – Luxembourg Palace which is now owned by French Senate. Gardens are known for its lawns, flowerbeds & fountains.

Luxembourg Garden, Paris
She really enjoyed..

Again, it was our bad luck as soon as we reach and decided to relax for a bit it started to rain. We thought it will stop in some time and waited for it to stop under a shed, but it didn’t and finally we decided to leave as we have a train to catch.

This place has covered sitting area, metal chairs in front of the palace near to the pond. What ever time we spent here it was good and relaxing. You can spend some quality time with friends and family here.

Information about Paris Pass

Paris Pass, it’s a card where you pay one time and it gives you access to certain number of attractions as per the pass. You can buy pass starting from 2 days to 6 days.

This Pass includes travel card with which you can travel unlimited times in central Paris in metro, RER, bus and is valid as per your pass validity.

As per me it is useful and cost effective for those who want to cover maximum in the given period. We didn’t want to rush things get most out of the Pass.

There is a lot more to see like – Palace of Versailles which will take one full day, Disney Land again will take one full day, Montmartre to name which are not to be missed and many more museums if you are a museum fan.

Paris to Milan Bus
Good Bye Paris, beautiful final evening Of Paris

Our Paris trip ends with a twist which is related to our journey to Florence, Italy which I’ll tell in my next blog so stay tuned for it.