Type of visit: Natural Scenery, peace of mind, Family vacation, Mini Holiday
Time required/recommended: 2 Days
I visited: 29th Sept to 1st Oct 2017
Tips: Best in Monsoon, Self Drive
Review:
Roaming may be bad for our mobile networks and we would not like to get charged for it, but life loves roaming. Whenever I get a nick of time in busy professional schedule, I take on roaming to get charged. It was a mini holiday of Dussera and we had 3 days off. Silvasa was not new to me, as I had visited Vapi-Silvasa-Khanvel many times for official tours. On those trips with white collar and formal shoes, I had decided that these beautiful places do need a free roam in t-shirt and slippers. I love driving on beautiful roads, and so took my car and embarked on yet another road trip to Silvasa.
Day-1: 29.09.2017: We left for Silvasa early morning after breakfast by 8.30AM. The route was Vadodara-Surat-Vapi-Silvasa-Khanvel. On the route, we stopped at Surat, and visited Jagdish Chandra Aquarium. Its nicely maintained large Aquarium completely AC for visitors. You can find various species of fish put for exhibition. You can spend around 1hr and enjoy watching. It’s a good relaxation to mind.
After a quick visit to Surat, we continued to drive towards our ultimate holiday destination. From Vadodara, Surat-Vapi are well connected via NH-8 and you can easily drive at 100-120KMPH. However toll booth seemed very frequent. At least 3-4 toll booths will take total around 305/- INR to reach Vapi. We reached at Khanvel at around 2:00PM. I had booked “Golden Pond Resort” at Khanvel from Goibibo at 2570/- for stay from 29.09.2017 to 01.10.2017. The resort is just at bank of a small river with waterfall. This makes the location very beautiful.
After having lunch at resort and after a quick rest, we went on evening walk on the green covered roads of Khanvel. Major tourist destinations in Silvasa are Lion Safari, Deer park, Few gardens and museums and of course Doodhni lake. Butterfly park is just 250mtr from our resort. It’s a small garden with rich plantation and well maintained. Sitting alone, thinking of some old memories, in the lap of nature, will surely make your trip. It depends on person to person, how they need to get relaxed in tours. For some, these may be just another gardens, and for some, these may be means of relaxation.
In front of Butterfly Park, there is a Nature exhibition, which is worth of your 10 mins time.
As it was already late evening and parks do close down at 6 to 7.30PM, we decided to just sit at bank of river near our resort and enjoyed relaxing with natural flowing water.
Day-2: 30.09.2017: As scheduled, we left early in the morning by 6.00AM to Daman, to enjoy some sea-shore. Driving in the down, through the dense forest area and through the beautiful curvy roads of Silvasa-Dadara-Nagar Haveli is amazing. It takes 1hr to reach Daman from Khanvel. Daman is well planned town with proper roads and sign boards. Tourist spots are well indicated on roads. I loved driving in Daman. Jampore and Devka are two beaches, you can enjoy. But the water is not so clean and we avoided taking dip. You can just sit and relax at the shore.
On return to Silvasa, we had few gardens and Lion Safari in mind. But on reaching to Lion Safari we came to know that both, Lion Safari and Deer Parks were closed till 05.10.2017. Do remember that gardens at Silvasa, opens at 11.00AM only and not at 9.00 or 10.00AM as indicated on Google. We also visited Silvasa tribal museum.
In the evening, it was time for some boating. Dhudhni Lake is just 19KM from the resort. We started by 4.30PM from resort. The road towards Dudhni is amazing, even beautiful than Silvasa-Khanvel road. I wished that this road should never end. I never felt like driving, I just felt that I was flying over the lush green nature. But the road do end at Dudhni Lake. It is a reservoir (Madhuban Dam). Water is clean and place is well maintained. We took Shikara boat ride. It’s just 250/- for 30 mins for 4 person. For 1 Hr. boating with island garden, they charge 300/-INR. Enjoy relaxing on this boat ride. On return the road journey even becomes beautiful in the dusk.
Day-3: 01.10.2017: After checkout from the resort and paying bill of 1163/- only for food, we started return journey to home. But as usual, I never keep a day only for driving back to home. On return, I had Tithal Beach on my list. The left out wish of dip at Daman Jampore beach was to be fulfilled at Tithal beach. It is at Valsad. The beach is cleaner in comparison to Daman and water is cleaner comparatively.
After filling our wish tank with sea shore beauty, we returned back to home, making the trip memorable. As this was half fulfilled trip and two major attractions were closed, It does require a second chance, of-course.