Suggestions on Road Trip From Trivandrum to Shimla

[enygma]

A few tips

- Dont miss the food at Giani Ka Dhaba at Dharampur, between Kalka and Shimla.
- Instead of staying at Shimla, stay overnight at the less crowded and more scenic nearby places like Kasuali, Narkanda or Fagu.
- On the Delhi-Shimla stretch, watch out for small sign boards for the road to Chandigarh after Ambala. The older Ambala-Chandigarh NH is undergoing repairs currently and the diversion could cost you an additional hour or so, especially if it is rainy.

[bruty]

Yes do not forget the advice from enygma, its really worth to stop at that place. One more suggestion from my side, when you are taking so much pain and effort whay to stop at Shimla only, go beyond that , the best places are after Shimla onlt. Shimla is very much crowded. It has started raining very hard so be prepared, but do not woory the roads are good enough to drive.

[hitanshu]

Giani da Dhaba. Passable food. Bad service (to bikers). least interested even in collecting check (atleast on first floor). Only real utlity. Some of the finest eye candy of north India packed into a dhaba

Best thing ever: For some bad roads and zero traffic, at Kandaghat (~42 to shimla), take a right for Chail, then onward to Kufri. There on, move atleast to Fagu/Theog (nice PWD guesthouse), Narkanda/Haut (superb views of Himalayas, goooood altitude!)

[kpzen]

TVM- EKM roads are in bad condition at the moment after the heavy rains. I dont think u will be able to cover that distance in 3hrs in a Santro & its not a good idea to be aggressive on Kerala highways with those red buses around unless u are driving some monster Safari or a Volvo

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by kpzen

TVM- EKM roads are in bad condition at the moment after the heavy rains. I dont think u will be able to cover that distance in 3hrs in a Santro & its not a good idea to be aggressive on Kerala highways with those red buses around unless u are driving some monster Safari or a Volvo

Specially around kayamkulam, the roads are horrible with crater sized potholes. I went on a trip last weekend, and the roads were hard for the accent CRDi to take good speeds. Am sure it would be a tough ask for a Santro.

I was sitting at the rear with seat belt on, and one crater swayed the car so much, i banged my head on the side glass.

Plan around 4 hours for TVM- EKM.

[dodge3p]

Thanks a lot for pouring in these valuable opinions. Hearing all these from the fellow bhpian's I had decided to take Manglore,Mumbai,Jaipur,Delhi route. But considering the road condtions due the ongoing torrential rains, is the road conditions still good enough to take this route.

The info from thread 'Costal Karnataka National Highways' looms like a very big threat . If this is the condition persists only for very few kms, It is managable. But if this condtion streches long, I dont think its a good enough option to consider . I would like to hear from you the condtions along the route Trivandrum,Manglore,Mumbai,Jaipur,Delhi and It would be great if someone could compare it with the route Trivandrum,Banglore,Hyderabad,Nagpur,Jhansi,Agra,D elhi.

[hvkumar]

Now that monsoons have begun in right earnest all over, let me caution you on the "conventional" bad stretches:

NH4 Bangalore-Bombay
Davangere-Harihar Bypass

NH8 Bombay-Delhi
Ghodbunder-Manor, sometimes, pot-holed
Surat Bypass
Surat-Vadodara, often the worst, as monsoons progresses, total deterioration, pot holes with washed-out roads
Vadodara Bypass - can be bad, pot holed

NH17
Kasargod-Mangalore-Udupi-Kundapura
Other random stretches, all the way to Kumta

Chiplun Bypass, took a beating last week
Mahad-Pen-Panvel, already cracked up with the first rains

NH27
Laknadon-Narasingpur-Sagar-Lalitpur, terrible after the rains, rains have hit MP already

[rajeshtk]

@Dodge..

Hey there!

Did you drive your car upto delhi?
Which route did you take finally?
Can you specify major places enroute?

How many days you took to reach Delhi?
How many night stays?