Bhuj

Palaces, Hamirsar Lake and a night on the Rann

Day one, morning. Start at Hamirsar Lake while the air is cool and walk to the Kutch Museum on its bank to see the Western Satrap inscriptions and textile collections. Continue to the marble Shree Swaminarayan temple nearby.

Late morning and afternoon. Walk into the walled quarter to Darbargadh Chowk. Aaina Mahal, with its mirror hall and handicraft displays, sits in the same compound as Prag Mahal, built under Maharao Pragmalji in a Gothic style that looks oddly European in the Kutch light. Lunch on a Gujarati thali, then rest through the hottest hours.

Evening. Take an auto to the royal chhatardis, the carved cenotaphs near the lake, then climb Bhujiyo Hill for sunset over the town. Finish with dabeli on Hospital Road.

Day two. Head north with a driver. Stop at Bhujodi or another weaving village on the way, visit Kala Dungar, the highest point in Kutch, for its view across the salt, and reach the white Rann at Dhordo for late afternoon. Stay for moonrise and sleep in the tents if you can. On a third day, swing south to Mandvi's beach and shipyards.

Dabeli, thalis and buttermilk in the Kutchi bazaar

Expect vegetarian food in Bhuj; meat is mostly served in the larger hotels. The signature snack is dabeli, or double roti: a toasted bun filled with spiced potato, tamarind and date chutney, pomegranate seeds and roasted peanuts. Binharif Double Rotiwala is a long-standing name, and evening stalls along Hospital Road sell it with Gujarati snacks.

The signature snack is dabeli, which Kutchis call double roti: a soft bun filled with spiced mashed potato, tamarind and date chutney, pomegranate seeds and roasted peanuts, toasted on a griddle. It travels well as a souvenir too, since shops sell the masala mix to take home. Binharif Double Rotiwala is one long-standing name, and the evening stalls along Hospital Road serve it alongside Gujarati and South Indian snacks. Joshi, Khavda and Maharaj stalls all have local followings.

For a sit-down meal, order a Gujarati thali, a steel plate of dal, kadhi, vegetables, rotis, rice and sweets that keeps being refilled. Restaurants such as Neelam and Green Rock are popular with families.

With alcohol restricted across the state, the drink of choice is chaas, the thin salted buttermilk served with almost every lunch, and it is the best thing to have on a hot afternoon. Sweet milky chai fills the rest of the day.

Rann Utsav season and the Kutch calendar

Visit Kutch between November and February, when highs run from 28 to 33°C with almost no rain and nights on the salt flats fall to 11 to 13°C. The Rann Utsav desert festival runs through this season at the Dhordo tent city. April and May average 39°C, and July and August rains flood the Rann.

The winter season is built around the Rann Utsav, the desert festival based at a tent city in Dhordo, with music, crafts and camel rides. Its full-moon nights are the busiest, when the white crust glows under the moon.

Day trips work best in the same months. Mandvi has a sea beach, a wind farm and a traditional shipbuilding yard. Narayan Sarovar and Koteshwar sit on the far western coast, the latter a Shiva temple facing the Arabian Sea. Kera has ruined temples to Vishnu and Shiva, Mata no Madh is the shrine of the goddess Ashapura, and Haji Pir is a Sufi tomb in the north. Each is a long day by car, so pick two or three.