I visited this Rajasthani hill station in Dec, 2007 during my Rajasthan trip. It’s also very near to Ahmedabad so lot of gujaratis travel to this place for a day trip or weekend stay.
I traveled from Bangalore by Jodhpur Exp. It stops at Abu road, which is the nearest railway station from Mount abu at about 28kms. One can hire a taxi or bus to reach Mount Abu for Rs300 at max(250 or less in off season). The road goes through a wildlife sanctuary with langoors abound, and if you are lucky, you can see some leopard or a bear at best. It’s perfectly safe to travel on this road at night and taxis etc ply from Abu Road station to Mount Abu 24 hrs a day.
If one has already traveled enough destinations already, the tendency is to compare. And at first sight, Mount Abu seems very unimpressive compared to more popular South Indian cousins like Ooty, Munnar etc more because the color of flora in Mount Abu blends so well into the rocky terrain that it seems almost barren and naked from a distance. However, as I mentioned, there is a quite dense forest out there.
Nakki lake is the center point of Mount Abu and quite a attraction. (photo attached)There are different kinds of boats available, including the not so commonly found, Shikara boat. It’s one of the most well maintained lakes surrounded by a rocky boundary. However, it’s serenity is most of the times perturbed by loud speakers in nearby restaurants and shops. Avoid going very near to the lake boundary while boating. There is a not so busy road adjoining the lake and when we went one group was drinking and made several abusive comments, that kind of spoiled all the fun.
View points are always a highlight of any hill station and Mount Abu is no exception. However, most of the view points in Mount Abu (Guru Shikhar, Honeymoon Point, Sunset point) offer similar landscape. One unique aspect of view points here is the expanse of land one can see, probably because there is no other mountain in the surrounding region to block the line of sight. From the highest point, Guru Shikhar, our guide showed some small hills close to Pakistan border some 580kms away. This is quite unlike other hill stations where one peak is usually followed by a valley and another neighboring peak limiting the view to few kms, not to say, it’s any less splendid.
From the top, if you are a hindi movie buff, your guide can show you the location where Aamir Khan and Karishma stayed in Raja Hindustani film. Also, one can see distant hills surrounded in mist offering a dreamy scenery.(photo attached).
Mount Abu is also famous for Dilwara Temples. Don’t get disheartened by the less than average exteriors of the temple complex. It’s the inside that’s interesting.
In Mount Abu, almost all the hotels(even the most expensive ones like Hillock, Hilltone) are on the same road. So to say, you are not rewarded with some splendid location if one books into a resort. So if one is looking for value for money, or budget, or if you want to save money for some other destination, one can get away very cheaply in Mount Abu with decent quality accomodation and food.
We stayed in SRP Inn run by Seth Sri Raghunath das Parihaar Dharmshala Trust and it was a steal in just 350 bucks for a room. The suite room(with a TV)costs 500. It’s very clean and well maintained, rooms are spacious and food is good. However, this hotel doesn’t allow drinking and non veg food in its premises and very strict about it (heavy penalty in case of violation) and allows only families to come in. If one is okay with these restrictions(we were), then I will definitely recommend this.
In short, I will not recommend this destination as strongly as I recommend Munnar to everyone. However, if you are around the place, it’s worth a visit.