Dwarka to Veraval Taxi Fare & Car Rental Guide
Veraval sits about 220-225 km south-east of Dwarka — four and a half to five hours on the NH51 coast road through Porbandar — with a sedan one-way at Rs.3,200-4,900, an Ertiga at Rs.4,500-6,200, and an Innova Crysta at Rs.7,000-9,200. This is the same temple corridor that ends at Somnath, one harbour town short: the Char Dham start at Dwarkadhish, the fishing harbour and railhead at Veraval, and the Somnath turn-off waiting 7-8 km beyond it. Time the exit off the darshan clock, not the hotel checkout — check Dwarkadhish Temple darshan timings, take the mid-morning slot, and roll out of Dwarka by 12:30 after the Rajbhog with Porbandar arriving around 2:30. If Prabhas Patan is the actual target rather than the harbour town, the full-length version of this run is covered in our Dwarka to Somnath car rental guide — this article covers the drop that stops first.
What changes here is the destination, not the market. Veraval is a working port and district town, so drops price four ways — Veraval Junction (VRL), city centre, harbour side, or the Somnath-road bypass — and the difference between “Veraval” on a quote and your actual gate can be Rs.200-500. The billing maths stays the Somnath-corridor maths: operators still bill a 225-250 km minimum against a 220-225 km actual, three to five FASTag gates split the coast, and the Porbandar halt sits free on the road at the 105 km mark. There is no border to cross and no ferry to catch — one coastal highway, and the only real variable is what time you clear the Dwarkadhish lanes.
Route Overview – Dwarka to Veraval by Car
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Distance | ~220-225 km gate-to-gate on the coastal line (Dwarka → Porbandar ~108 km → Madhavpur ~145 km → Mangrol ~158 km → Veraval ~220-225 km); 225 km on the interior line, 230-245 km on the Dhoraji–Junagadh sweep |
| Travel Time | 4.5 to 5 hours nonstop on the coast road; 5 to 5.5 hours with the Porbandar halt; add 30-45 minutes for Veraval market traffic on the last 10 km |
| Route A (Coastal NH51) | Dwarka → Bhogat → Porbandar → Madhavpur → Mangrol → Veraval — the dispatcher’s default; the Somnath turn-off branches east 7-8 km beyond the drop |
| Route B (Interior Line) | Dwarka → Khambhalia → Bhanvad → Keshod → Veraval — ~225 km but patchier 2-lane sections; the long inland sweep via Dhoraji and Junagadh (230-245 km) matters only when Gir joins the plan |
| Highway Notes | 4-lane concrete on the Dwarka–Porbandar section, then NH51 mostly 4-lane with sea crosswind and two town cuts (Porbandar, Veraval); the final approach runs through Veraval’s truck belt and market crossings |
| Toll Estimate | Rs.150-350 combined across the gates on either line — FASTag standard on every registered cab; app quotes often show toll included |
| Airports on the Map | PBD Porbandar sits at the 108 km mark on Route A; Keshod (IXK) lies ~48-50 km north of Veraval with Alliance Air links to Ahmedabad, Diu, Mumbai and Porbandar three days a week; Diu (via Kodinar and Una, ~85-90 km south-east) and Rajkot Hirasar cover the rest — each prices as its own drop sector |
The run starts in Dwarka’s temple-town traffic and turns south onto the coast highway. The first 35-45 km run along the sea-facing belt past the Bhogat crossing — pilgrim buses pulling out of temple-town stands, cattle on the shoulder at dusk, good surface but narrow overtaking room where the road hugs the shore. Beyond that the landscape settles into salt flats and groundnut, drivers hold 70-80 kmph on the bypass stretches, and the first natural halt arrives on schedule at Porbandar — 105-108 km, about two hours out.
At the Porbandar junction you decide how the day runs. Stay on the coastal line and the halt costs nothing in kilometres: Sudama Temple Porbandar and Kirti Mandir sit inside the town your cab was driving through anyway, and a 45-60 minute stop still puts you into Veraval with daylight to spare. Switch to the interior line for lighter traffic and no town cuts — but you lose the halt and gain little in distance. Whichever line you book, hold it from the junction — a mid-run “shortcut” means padded kilometres.
Veraval announces itself before the drop: the truck belt on the town edge, market crossings that force the cab to walking pace, fuel and pharmacy on every second corner, and — if you look west — the harbour cranes that make this Saurashtra’s largest fishing port. Then the question becomes which Veraval you booked: the station forecourt, the city hotels, the harbour side, or the bypass that carries on toward Somnath. Name that before you leave Dwarka, get it on the slip, and the last 10 km stop being a negotiation in the market traffic.
Taxi Fare Breakdown – What You Actually Pay
Below are standard one-way fares for the Dwarka to Veraval drop in 2026 — quoted as the Dwarka to Veraval taxi fare, since Veraval prices by drop point, not by pin. The actual run is 220-225 km on the coast road, but operators on this sector bill a 225-250 km minimum: you are paying for the driver’s empty ~225 km back to Dwarka, which is why the sedan sits above a raw 225 km × rate calculation. City-centre, VRL station and lodge drops are standard; harbour edge, outskirt lodges and any PBD, IXK or Diu airport sector are quoted separately:
| Vehicle Type | Models | Capacity | Luggage | One-Way Fare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sedan | Swift Dzire, Etios | 4 seater AC | 2 bags | Rs.3,200-4,900 |
| SUV | Ertiga | 6 seater AC | 2 bags | Rs.4,500-6,200 |
| SUV (Premium) | Innova Crysta | 6 seater AC | 4 bags | Rs.7,000-9,200 |
| Tempo Traveller | 12 Seater | 12 seater AC | 8 bags | Rs.8,000-10,500 |
| Tempo Traveller | 17 Seater | 17 seater AC | 10 bags | Rs.10,500-13,500 |
| Drop Add-on | All types | — | — | + Rs.200-500 for harbour-side or outskirt lodge drops over the city-centre rate |
Published rates on this corridor run about Rs.12-18 per km — Dzire class near Rs.12-13, Innova Rs.14-18 — so 225 km at the sedan rate looks like Rs.2,700-2,900 on paper. The one-way quote lands higher: portals start this drop around Rs.4,200 all-in, shrine-gate touts in Dwarka open at Rs.2,500-3,000 before toll and sometimes before bata, and the gap between them is the empty return plus the 225-250 km minimum. Fares swing Rs.300-700 by weekend and again in the Janmashtami and Maha Shivratri weeks. Ask for the breakup slip — 225 km × rate + driver bata Rs.250-350 + GST — and confirm out loud: “Is a Veraval city drop included, or is harbour side / outskirt extra?”
The CNG Luggage Warning
Dzires and Ertigas in the Dwarka fleet run CNG. Cylinder in the boot. Two medium bags fit — the third rides on the back seat with someone’s knees. A harbour-town run means suitcases, fish-boxes sent as gifts and prasad bags — that is already three bags. An overhead carrier for Ertiga/Innova costs ₹300–₹400 extra — essential for 3+ bags in CNG cars and must be confirmed at booking in Dwarka, not asked for en route. On a 225 km run there is no convenient point to fit a frame: Porbandar’s halts are fuel stops and shopfronts, and Veraval’s market has no fleet workshop on your clock. Innova Crysta carries 4 large bags without the frame. Count bags before the driver leaves your lodge.
What’s Included vs. What’s Extra
What’s included: Fuel, driver allowance (bata Rs.250-350 for this sector), GST on aggregator bills, 60 minutes of free waiting at the Veraval drop. What’s extra: Highway toll — Rs.150-350 combined across the gates on either line, and FASTag is standard for cabs, so the plazas read the tag electronically with no cash stop and operators add the total to the slip; harbour-side or outskirt drop add-on Rs.200-500; night charge Rs.200-300 (10 PM-6 AM); waiting Rs.100 per hour after the first free hour; and town parking Rs.50-100 at the station or market end.
No border tax — intra-Gujarat all the way. The surprise on this route is the drop-point gap: a bypass drop and a city-market drop are different products — the NH51 bypass quote runs cheaper but leaves you 2-4 km short of your address, and some operators stop there “on the way to Somnath” and charge the last stretch as waiting-time extra when your booking said the market gate. Ask the number before you sit down and confirm: “Is the exact drop included — VRL station, city hotels, harbour side, or the Somnath-road bypass?” Write it on the slip.
Why Round Trips Are Cheaper on This Run
One-way Rs.4,000 bakes in an empty return — 225 km down, 225 km back empty. Same-day return (440-450 km total) runs Rs.5,200-6,800 sedan, Rs.6,000-7,000 Ertiga, Rs.8,500-10,000 Crysta. Per-km drops from about Rs.16 to Rs.13. The pattern that makes round trips win here is the harbour-and-Somnath combo: drop at VRL, the car waits through the station work and the 7 km hop to the aarti, and drives back the same night instead of re-pricing two separate drops. One thing to settle before you leave Dwarka: on an 8-10 hour round-trip day, driver bata covers one meal — most operators expect you to either buy the driver’s lunch at the Porbandar halt or add Rs.100-150 meal money to the slip.
Car Rental Options from Dwarka
Four booking channels cover this run, and they do not price the same. The lodge desk books through a Porbandar or Rajkot fleet and adds a small commission — convenient, but the driver is often someone else’s. The Dwarkadhish temple gate stands are useful for same-day renegotiation but weak on paperwork, and they quote hardest to out-of-state plates. Aggregator apps give a fixed upfront price — GoZo lists this drop from Rs.4,228, ClearCarRental and Reke quote Rs.12-13 per km for a sedan — yet on a 225 km pilgrimage outstation they load driver bata and GST late, and the exact Veraval drop point is usually excluded from the quoted fare. Direct fleet operators on WhatsApp give the best rate for this distance — sedan from Rs.3,200, Ertiga from Rs.4,500 — but you must send your own slip: lodge name and gate time, exact drop, vehicle model, toll treatment, roof-rack need, and whether the harbour or the station counts as the drop.
Whatever channel you pick, ask the same five questions before paying a token: Is the drop VRL station, city centre, harbour side or the Somnath-road bypass? Is toll included or extra? Is driver bata inside the quote? Is FASTag active on this vehicle? How many bags fit with the CNG cylinder in the boot? On this length the spread between the cheapest and dearest sedan quote runs Rs.1,000-1,700 — the questions cost two minutes and settle most of it.
Coastal NH51 vs Interior Line
One useful fact first: the fare sits inside the same 225-250 km billing minimum either way, so choosing is about road standard, halt value and arrival hour, not price:
| Factor | Route A – Coastal NH51 | Route B – Interior Line |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | ~220-225 km via Bhogat, Porbandar, Madhavpur and Mangrol | ~225 km via Khambhalia, Bhanvad and Keshod; 230-245 km via Dhoraji and Junagadh |
| Time | 4.5 to 5 hours nonstop; 5 to 5.5 with the Porbandar halt | 4.5 to 5 hours |
| Road Standard | 4-lane concrete Porbandar–Dwarka expressway, then NH51 mostly 4-lane; two town cuts (Porbandar, Veraval) | Patchier 2-lane sections past Bhanvad; lighter through traffic |
| Best For | The default run — a Porbandar halt, first-timers, arrivals before the Veraval market peak | No-town-cut preference, or chaining Dwarka with the Gir circuit through Dhoraji and Junagadh |
| Watch-outs | Porbandar and Veraval market traffic, sea crosswind on open stretches, festival weeks clogging the town edge | Fewer fuel and facility halts, slower averages where the surface breaks up |
| Halts | Bhogat tea point, Porbandar (45-60 min), Madhavpur, Mangrol | Village tea halts only — no landmark stop worth a slip amendment |
En Route Stops and Breaks
Distances below are cumulative from the Dwarka gate, at a realistic driver pace of 55-60 kmph plus halts. The decision that matters is when to stop — the harbour end has no second chance if the Porbandar halt runs long:
| Stop | From Gate | Why Stop |
|---|---|---|
| Bhogat Crossing | ~35-45 km, 40-50 minutes | First tea and fuel on NH51; the last easy halt before the expressway push to Porbandar |
| Porbandar | ~105-108 km, 2-2.5 hours | The natural half-way halt: Kirti Mandir and Sudama Temple in the town you drive through anyway, plus full lunch options and fuel — 45-60 minutes still reaches Veraval in daylight |
| Madhavpur Ghat | ~145-150 km, 3 hours | Beach halt at the Krishna–Rukmini marriage site — rough sea and strong undercurrents, so a photo stop only, never a swim; chai stalls and restrooms |
| Mangrol | ~158-162 km, 3-3.5 hours | Fishing-town lunch option if you skipped Porbandar; large fuel stations on the bypass |
| Veraval Bypass Junction | ~210-215 km, 4.25-4.75 hours | Last reconfirmation point: city, VRL station, harbour or the Somnath road — decide here, not in the market |
| Veraval Drop | 220-225 km, 4.5-5 hours | End — VRL station, city centre, harbour side or outskirt lodge, as written on the slip |
Two patterns hold for every itinerary on this route. First, break at Porbandar, not at two hours: full-service restaurants with clean washrooms thin out fast after the Porbandar bypass — the Madhavpur hotel strip is what is left — and a 45-60 minute halt at the 105 km mark keeps the driver alert for the Veraval approach, which is the most demanding hour of the run. Second, lock the drop zone while you still have phone signal at the Veraval bypass junction — once the driver is committed to the market lanes, changing to VRL or the harbour mid-traffic costs you the waiting time and the Rs.200-500 difference.
Dwarka Pickup Points
Dwarka prices pickups by how close the cab can get to the Dwarkadhish temple lanes. Lodge-side and temple-gate pickups are standard for stays inside the old grid — but the lanes are narrow, processions close them without notice, and a big car will wait at the main-road gate instead of your door. Say “nearest main-road gate” at booking if your lodge sits inside the temple grid. The Dwarka bus stand and the main road stands quote freely, and the highway-bypass pickup (the NH51 exit toward Porbandar) usually saves 15-20 minutes of temple-town reversing — worth choosing if you have bags loaded and a 12:30 exit to protect.
Two airport notes for this side. PBD Porbandar sits at the 108 km mark on your own road — a flight in or out there is a sector on the route, not a detour, and it quotes as its own drop/pickup (Rs.500-800 over a city point). Dwarka railway station (DWK) handles the temple-town trains — including the overnight Okha–Somnath Express that also runs this corridor by rail — and sits a short hop from the lodge cluster. A station pickup is standard; an airport pickup on this end is not.
Veraval Drop Points – Station, City, Harbour, Bypass
Veraval’s drops split five ways, and they sit 2-5 km apart — small distances that price differently: private drivers also push hard to set you down at the Somnath-road bypass junction instead of running the market road to your address, because the bypass is on their exit lane. Your lodge door is not the junction — write the door on the slip in Dwarka:
| Drop Zone | Typical Landing Point | Fare Impact | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veraval Junction (VRL) | Station forecourt, platform road side | Standard city drop, included | The railhead for this whole coast — free waiting runs 60 minutes, enough for an off-load or a ticket-window queue |
| City Centre | Hotel doors in the market grid | Usually included | The default for overnight stays; agree a walk-up point if your lodge sits inside the one-way market lanes |
| Harbour Side | Veraval fishing harbour road | + Rs.200-500 | Saurashtra’s largest fishing port — tourist cars stop at the harbour gate or approach road, never on the wet trawler wharves; crates and trawler traffic on the western edge, worth it only for harbour-side stays |
| Somnath-Road Bypass | NH51 junction continuing east | Often quoted as standard | Drivers love it because it is their exit lane; a bypass stop is not a market address — agree the walk-up point or the last 2 km in Dwarka |
| Outskirt / Diu Road | Lodges on the Una and Keshod exits | + Rs.200-500 | The quiet-end drops; drivers accept them gladly once named — they are on the way out of town anyway |
Two clocks shape every Veraval drop. The morning one: the daily Okha–Somnath Express lands at 5:15 AM, streets empty and check-in usually not open — tell the driver your drop is a lounge drop, not a door check-in, or you will pay waiting time against a locked reception. The evening one: market crossings force the cab to walking pace between 4 and 7 PM, and the same 2 km that takes four minutes at 10 AM takes twenty at dusk. And if Veraval is only the railhead on a Somnath plan, remember the shrine sits 7-8 km east — a local auto covers the hop for about Rs.150-250, a taxi for Rs.300-500: road travellers splitting the leg use our Veraval to Somnath taxi guide for last-leg fares, while darshan windows, aarti timings and the temple layout sit in the Somnath Temple complete guide.
Before You Book – The Darshan Clock Checklist
Darshan Timing Sets Your Exit Hour
The Veraval run is decided the night before, at the Dwarkadhish darshan counter. Take the morning darshan, be out by 12:30-1:00 PM after the Rajbhog, and the day runs itself: Porbandar halt by 2:30, Mangrol by 4:00, and the Veraval bypass junction by 5:00-5:30 — ahead of the market close and with the lodge office still staffed. Book the evening darshan instead and the sequence inverts: you leave Dwarka around 6-7 PM on night-charge rules and arrive after 11, when every drop zone except the station has gone quiet. On Janmashtami and Maha Shivratri weeks the temple lanes close earlier — settle both the slot and the exit time with your driver the evening before. The full slot mechanics live in our Dwarkadhish Temple darshan timings guide; the rule for this route is one line: morning darshan, afternoon on the road.
Write the Slip Fields Before the Driver Leaves
Six fields, all on paper before the car exits the Dwarka gate: pickup lodge name and gate time (or “bypass pickup, lodge name”); vehicle model and registration number; driver mobile number; exact drop — VRL station, city centre, harbour side, bypass junction or outskirt lodge; whether toll and driver bata sit inside or outside the quote; and whether an overhead rack was fitted in Dwarka. Photograph the slip. Buying dried fish at the harbour market? Processed stock travels fine — but only in leak-proof sealed packing before it goes anywhere near the boot; fresh catch fouls the CNG cylinder space and drivers refuse it at the gate. Phones, smartwatches and leather belts are not allowed inside the Dwarkadhish temple, so whatever stays with you at the gate also stays in the cab boot during the Porbandar halt. On this route the disputes that reach the phone are almost never about the fare — they are about a drop zone that was never named and a driver stopping at the bypass when the booking said the lodge door.
Money, FASTag and Night Rules
Aggregator bookings are card-and-UPI clear; direct fleet bookings usually take a small token and the balance in cash or UPI at the Veraval drop — agree which at booking. Carry Rs.500-600 in small change even on a prepaid cab: on outstation trips some operators hand the toll to the passenger at the gate instead of running their FASTag. Every gate that runs your driver’s tag goes on the slip as a line item; if a tag fails and he pays cash, keep the receipt and match it against the Rs.150-350 estimate.
Two time-window rules apply after 10 PM: the night charge of Rs.200-300 becomes legitimate, and drivers start negotiating the last stretch — some will suggest leaving you at the bypass “for an auto into town”. Settle it at booking: “If we arrive after 10 PM, you complete the drop to the door, night charge included.”
Veraval to Dwarka – The Return Run
The reverse run prices a notch under the Dwarka side — one-way sedan Rs.3,400-5,100 into Dwarka — because harbour-town quotes start from a smaller fleet, not a bigger one. The clock is what changes: leave Veraval between 7:00 and 8:00 AM and you clear the truck belt before it thickens, take the Porbandar halt around 10:30, and reach the Dwarkadhish lanes by early afternoon with the evening darshan window still open. Leaving after 10 AM walks you straight into the market crossings, and a 4 PM harbour exit lands you at the Porbandar bypass in the dark. Say “Dwarka drop: temple-side or bypass, lodge name on the slip” — drivers know the cluster but not which lane you are in, and the wrong gate costs 15 minutes of reversing against festival traffic.
| Option | Door-to-Door Time | Cost Band | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-way sedan (either direction) | 4.5-5 hours | Rs.3,200-5,100 | Fixed plans, rail connections on one end, one bag-light car per leg |
| Same-day round trip | 4.5-5 hours each way plus wait | Rs.5,200-6,800 sedan | Darshan-both-ends days, the harbour-and-Somnath combo, no re-negotiation at either temple |
| Direct overnight train (19252/19251) | ~8.5 hours | Rail Rs.250-400 + cab Rs.200-400 | Budget night travellers — Dwarka ~8:45 PM → Veraval 5:15 AM, no change; the 19251 runs back from 11:05 PM |
| GSRTC bus | 5-6 hours plus waits | Rs.250-400 per seat | Solo light travellers with no darshan deadline — no door drop at either end |
The rail option on this corridor is unusually good: the daily Okha–Somnath Express needs no change between Dwarka and Veraval in either direction — it is the rare Saurashtra pair where the train beats the taxi on price and loses only on sleep. And if the plan runs the other way round, the reverse corridor has its own published fares in our Veraval to Dwarka car rental guide — same coast road, same billing minimums, different drop discipline at the temple end. What does not work is a same-day round trip with both darshans bolted on: two drives of 4.5-5 hours plus two temple queues runs 12-14 hours. Split it across a night, or hold the car as a waiting vehicle on a fixed idle price instead of meter-watching in the harbour road.
Best Time to Drive & Road Conditions
October through March gives the cleanest run on the coast — dry surface, cool mornings, drivers holding 70-80 kmph on the bypass stretches between Bhogat and Porbandar. In the monsoon (June-September) coastal squalls and crosswind slow the open sections and the salt-flats stretches hold water at the edges, so add 30-45 minutes to the 4.5-5 hour window and hold the driver to the mainline rather than the shoulder. In December and January, sea fog sits on the belt before sunrise — the first hour belongs to the driver at 40-50 kmph, and a 9:30-10:00 gate exit is safer than a pre-dawn start. Around Janmashtami and Maha Shivratri, the Dwarka lodge cluster fills and Veraval’s hotels follow the temple crowd: book the car a day ahead, and if you have a fixed train — the 19252 fills first — keep one spare hour in the window.
FAQs: Dwarka to Veraval Car Rental
What is the distance from Dwarka to Veraval by car?
About 220-225 km on the coastal NH51 line — Dwarka → Bhogat → Porbandar → Mangrol → Veraval — taking 4.5 to 5 hours nonstop. The interior line via Keshod runs about 225 km. Porbandar sits at the 105-108 km mark, and the Somnath turn-off branches east 7-8 km beyond the Veraval drop.
How much does a taxi cost from Dwarka to Veraval?
One-way sedan Rs.3,200-4,900, Ertiga Rs.4,500-6,200, Innova Crysta Rs.7,000-9,200, 12-seater tempo Rs.8,000-10,500. Operators bill a 225-250 km minimum against the 220-225 km actual, and portals open this drop around Rs.4,200 all-in. Weekend and festival weeks move fares Rs.300-700.
Which route is better — via Porbandar or the interior line?
Via Porbandar on NH51 — it is the default: 4-lane concrete on the Dwarka–Porbandar section and Porbandar’s halt on the road you drive anyway. The interior line via Khambhalia, Bhanvad and Keshod suits only travellers chaining Dwarka with the Gir circuit through Dhoraji and Junagadh, or anyone avoiding town cuts entirely.
How long does it take to reach Veraval from Dwarka?
4.5 to 5 hours nonstop on the coast road, about 4.5 on the interior line. Add 45-60 minutes for the Porbandar halt and 30-45 for Veraval market traffic on the last 10 km. A 9:30-10:00 AM Dwarka exit reaches the bypass junction by 2:30-3:30 PM.
Is Porbandar a detour on this route?
No — Porbandar sits on the road either way. Kirti Mandir and Sudama Temple are inside the town your cab was driving through anyway, so a 45-60 minute halt costs you time in town, not kilometres on the route: 105-108 km from Dwarka, with Veraval still comfortably ahead of dusk.
Is there a direct train from Dwarka to Veraval?
Yes — the daily Okha–Somnath Express (19252) runs direct from Dwarka to Veraval Junction: about 8:45 PM departure, 5:15 AM arrival, no change. The return 19251 leaves Veraval at 11:05 PM. Sleeper fares run roughly Rs.250-400; the taxi wins on time (4.5-5 hours), the train wins on price and sleep.
Are tolls included in the fare?
Usually extra: budget Rs.150-350 combined across the gates on either line. Registered cabs run FASTag, so plazas read the tag with no cash stop and operators add the total to the slip. Portal quotes sometimes fold toll in — confirm in writing before you pay the token.
What are the drop options inside Veraval?
Five zones: VRL station forecourt, city-centre hotels, harbour side, the Somnath-road bypass junction, and outskirt lodges on the Una and Keshod exits. Station and city drops are standard; harbour-side and outskirt adds Rs.200-500. Get the zone — and the door, not the junction — on the slip in Dwarka.
Is night driving safe on this route?
Avoid after 9 PM. The coast belt is unlit with village crossings and cattle on the shoulder, the Porbandar and Veraval town cuts are unpredictable in headlights, and the market lanes are the worst last-2 km on the coast. If you must, stay on the NH51 mainline and pay the Rs.200-300 night charge with the full-door completion clause already on the slip.
Is a round trip cheaper than two one-ways?
Almost always. A same-day sedan round trip runs Rs.5,200-6,800 against two one-ways of Rs.6,400-9,800, because the return leg stops billing as an empty run. Per-kilometre cost drops from about Rs.16 to Rs.13, and the car waits with you through the station work and the 7 km hop to the Somnath aarti.
