Textile Villages around Bhuj

Textile Villages around Bhuj

Day 1, DRIVE TO WANKANER

You break the drive from Ahmedabad or Dasada to Bhuj by staying for one night in the former princely state of Wankaner.

The most striking building in Wankaner is the Ranjit Vilas Palace. Built in 1907, the palace has the largest collection of game trophies which are displayed in the main drawing and dining rooms. One also can't afford to miss the Maharani's collection of vintage cars and native pure bred horses that roam the unkempt gardens.

As the royal family still lives in the palace, guests are accommodated in the Royal Oasis, a few kilometers away. It is the perfect place if you want to be treated as a Maharaja and just want to relax.

Day 2, WANKANER TO BHUJ

Drive to Bhuj (5 1/2 hrs), the capital of the Kutch province. On arrival you will acquire a permit to visit the villages of Banni and Bhujodi located on the outskirts of the north side of Bhuj. Bhuj is a perfect base for visiting villages in Kutch where the tribal people turn out exquisite, hand loomed woolen and cotton clothes decorated with dye or embroidery.

Stay at Hotel Prince Residency

Day 3, BHUJ TO HODKA

Morning visit to Bhujodi village, just 10 km from Bhuj. Rabari men weave thick shawls, colourful traditional blankets known as dhablas and woollen durries on pit looms dug into the floors of squat mud houses. You can buy their products from a small shop run by the Bhujodi Handweaving Co-op Society.

In the afternoon drive to a village 63 km north of Bhuj where the local people built a resort consisting of colourful, hand painted mud huts and white tents that blaze in the clear sunshine. The villagers used only local building materials and natural products used also in their own houses. A night in this village is therefore like spending the night in the local's shoes, or in this case house!

Here you can sip steaming cups of tea from earthen cups and be serenaded by the village bards under an impossibly clear, starlit sky, secure in the knowledge that you are making a direct and immediate difference to the lives of people around you.

Stay at the Shaam E Sarhad Resort

Day 4, ONWARDS FROM BHUJ

You drive back from Hodka to Bhuj where this trip ends. You can continue via Gondal to Sasangir & Palitana to see lions and hilltop temples, or return by train to Ahmedabad or Mumbai.

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