Idar is a small town in the state of Gujarat. Idariyo Gadh is the highest Hill in Idar. The Palace of Idar named Daulat Mahal was built by Maharaja Daulat Singhji on the highest hill in the town of Idar. The view of the complete town from the hill is very mesmerizing. But you will have to keep watching back from the Hill for the best view of the Idar town while climbing, because you never know when the fog will start covering the town from your view. The hill also provides an awesome sunrise view. The Hill provides you the feeling of being on a hill-station. The fog at the hill takes us to a different World.

We had reached at the Idariyo Gadh at 5.00 am in the morning. We were supposed to reach to the topmost point on the Hill before sunrise. We had heard a lot about the awesome sunrise view but could not catch up. A single hill has around 15 different ancient locations to be visited. We had stopped at a few stops while climbing up the hill to reach to the Daulat Mahal. The rest of the places can be visited by going through the Daulat Mahal.

The path till the Daulat Mahal had stairs to be climbed. The entrance of the Daulat Mahal had a few arches in line with each other. Slowly it started becoming dark. Thankfully we had our torches with us to help us find our way out. The dark way again led to the balcony full of beautiful surroundings. Then we went on the upper floor of the Daulat Mahal. The walls of the upper floor even had some paint still retained on it. We were feeling very bad for the ancient architecture.

There was a specific reason for calling it an ancient architecture and not a Palace here. Some careless tourists had already ruined the beauty of the Palace. The scribbling made on the walls and the floor was showing the illiterate behavior of the literate people. The value of such Ancient Architecture is priceless which is to be understood by all of the people visiting such Ancient Beauties covered or not covered under ASI. We have been to many such ancient places which have not been covered under ASI and hence people have got all the rights to ruin them. After spending some time there, we moved further from within the Mahal itself.

This was the start of the real trekking, because there were no stairs ahead. We now only had stones and rocks to be climbed to reach to our next destinations. The path was filled with some steep rocks and some slippery rocks which altogether were quite stubborn Granite Rocks to be climbed upon. We also had to cross a Long ridge in the Granite Rocks which had a narrow passage. We had to reach to the topmost point of the Hill. Jharneshwar Mahadev Temple, Mahakali Temple, Panchmukhi (Five faced / With Five Faces) Mahadev Temple, Digambar Jain Temple, Shwetambar Jain Temple, Hingraj Temple, a cave and many more worth visiting places.

Slowly and gradually, jumping and struggling with the rocks, we finally reached on the topmost point of the Hill. That point is popularly known as the “Rutheli Rani nu Madiyu”(which the Angry Queen’s Palace). We now started noticing the wonderful surrounding. We suddenly started feeling as if we were on some hill station, completely foggy. Forgetting our tiredness and pains that we got while climbing up, we just got lost in the atmosphere. Nothing was visible, not even our way down the hill. We spend there a peaceful and relaxing half an hour. We started getting calls and reminders from our instructors to start our descend on the Hill. So unwillingly, we started our journey, obviously we were the last ones in our group to come down. We were so much in love with the atmosphere. Soon we were out of the magical world created by the foggy atmosphere. And the path again reminded us that we were on an adventurous camp and not on a romantic date. So our speed increased and we crossed many of our co-participants and started exploring the Hill again.

Visiting Idariyo Gadh was the starting of our adventurous trip to Polo Forest – An experience of Nature, Heritage and Adventure in its Real Version.

Read Also : A complete two days itinerary of an adventurous trip to Polo Forest.

Important Notes :

Best time to visit : Any time of the year but preferably early mornings

Entry Fees : No entry fees

Photography : Allowed

Food Availability : Packets and water bottles available on the stalls at the feet of the Hill.