U Turn Eco Tourism Point
Above the Gira river's full hairpin bend on the Girmal approach, a forest-department deck. The interior drive's classic tea-and-view halt.
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- Best months
- Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov
- Time needed
- 30 min
- Entry
- Free
- Hours
- 08:00–18:00
- Effort
- Easy
A few kilometres before Girmal falls, the Gira river swings through a complete U-turn in its forested valley, and the forest department has built the viewpoint exactly above the bend. The geometry is the show: the river arrives, wraps around a wooded spur and leaves the way it came, with ridgelines stacking behind it, in monsoon the whole loop runs brown-white under moving cloud, and Gujarat Tourism's own material rates the spot a highlight of the Dangs.
It has grown into the interior loop's natural halt. An Eco-Development Committee restaurant serves food through the peak monsoon season (tea and coffee only in the off months), and the small Girli Lodges next to it offer four basic rooms with attached bathrooms at around ₹500 a night: worth knowing if you want to sleep beside the bend rather than drive back to Ahwa.
Come en route Girmal rather than as a destination in itself: ten minutes for the view and chai, longer if the cloud theatre is running. The deck is railed and easy for all ages.
Highlights
- ◆Full U-turn of the Gira river seen from directly above
- ◆Eco-Development Committee restaurant in season
- ◆Girli Lodges, four basic rooms by the viewpoint
- ◆The natural halt on the Girmal falls approach
Traveller tips
- →Do it as the pause on the Girmal run: falls first if light matters to you, chai here after
- →Girli Lodges' four rooms make an offbeat overnight if Mahal campsite is full
Safety
- ⚠Stay behind the railing: the drop to the river bend is sheer
- ⚠The approach road is single-lane; park fully off the carriageway
Where it is
Area-level pin, somewhere in the circle; ask locally · 20.9500, 73.7100
Directions to U ↗Getting there
Road · On the Girmal approach: Ahwa to Subir, on to Nishana check-post, then the Girmal village road. The viewpoint comes before the falls
Rail · Waghai (heritage narrow gauge); Bilimora Jn for broad gauge
Air · Surat (~160 km)
Last stretch · Roadside viewpoint, steps from parking to the railed deck
Practical detail
- The road
- Single-lane forest road with rough patches after the check-post
- Parking
- Roadside pull-off at the deck
- Season
- Monsoon for the full river loop and cloud; the bend still reads well into early winter, thin by summer.
- Visiting
- The restaurant runs full service in peak monsoon and tea/coffee only off-season.
- Photography
- Wide frames take the whole hairpin; monsoon mist opens and closes the view in minutes, wait it out with chai.
- Food
- Eco-Development Committee restaurant at the deck, meals in peak monsoon, tea/coffee otherwise
- Toilets
- basic
- Guides
- Not needed
Where to sleep
Ahwa & Waghai Basic Hotels (various)
Function over charm. These towns are the practical overnights for waterfall-circuit and Ramayana-trail days that outgrow a Saputara base.
Simple lodges and guesthouses in both towns; walk-in or phone booking. Ahwa's matter for interior-circuit overnights, Waghai's for early ghat starts. Named alternatives now have their own records: see Pravasi Gruh in Ahwa and the government circuit house below.
Devinamal Eco Campsite, Ahwa
The Forest Department's own bed nearest to Ahwa, 7 km out on the Saputara road and 3 km off it, ringed by forest above the Khapri. Cheapest roofed night in interior Dang, and the closest thing to a base for the Ahwa-side waterfalls.
Forest Department portal lists cottage rooms from ₹800 and wooden rooms from ₹2000 a night; run by the local Eco Tourism Committee, so meals are arranged rather than ordered.
Don Village Homestays (informal)
The only way to catch Don's dawn without the pre-sunrise interior drive. Expect village hospitality, not hotel service: carry cash, water and flexibility.
Informal village arrangements, a few families host visitors and cook meals; nothing is listed online. Ask at the village or via Ahwa contacts, and confirm before building a plan around an overnight
Maa Shabari Farm House & Resort, Subir
The practical bed on the Subir side, which otherwise has none, it puts the Ramayana-trail sites and the Purna sanctuary gate within a short morning drive instead of an hour from Ahwa.
Phone booking; food and accommodation both. Numbers come from a traveller writeup rather than an official listing, so confirm before building a plan around it.
Data confidence: Researched · facts last verified 2026-08-09 · 3 field(s) awaiting verification
- Gujarat Tourism. 'The point where river Gira takes a complete U-turn enroute Girmal Waterfall', Gujarat Tourism (official, X)
- Girmal Waterfalls, Dangs & U Point, route, restaurant and Girli Lodges details, darpan.blog
- U Turn Eco Tourism Point, listing, wanderlog.com