[Mustang.101]

Originally Posted by nikhileshgrover

Thanks Mustang. I thought car engines were run in and hence there was no need to be cautious about maintaining speed limits initially. I will not be able to spend time in Delhi and will have to start journey back to Bangalore immediately after delivery. What do you recommend?

Regarding the hotels, yes please do let me know.

Thanks,

Nikhil

I suggest that you do a 3 night stay strategy.

1st night -Udaipur
2nd night - Valsad
3rd night - kolhapur

This way you can drive at max speeds of 80 kmph and still have loads of fun while driving and it will be a fairly easy drive. Plenty pf hotels in these 3 places. I wont recommend you any as i stayed in himmatnagar and pune.

It will be much more comfortable for you and also for the car. Engines go through a pre run-in process but that is not necessarily sufficient for the car. Problems result only after 3-5 years of use.

[callmetarantula]

I'm relocating to Chandigarh from Bangalore. I plan to go by road from Bangalore via Kannur - Mumbai - Noida to Chandigarh.

The route I've planned is http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...00a738e9833ddc

I've done these stretches earlier. Except the Kannur - Goa bit. Staying/ driving through Goa is not a priority. From Goa/ Karwar plan to take the NH-4 rather than NH-17. Should I take the NH-17 til there or try & hit the NH-4 as soon as possible?

Thanks a lot.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by callmetarantula

I'm relocating to Chandigarh from Bangalore. I plan to go by road from Bangalore via Kannur - Mumbai - Noida to Chandigarh.

Any reasons for Kannur? (Add to it the hassle of drive on the 2L Konkan highway)
Why not take the regular NH4 all the way to Bombay?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ampere

Any reasons for Kannur? (Add to it the hassle of drive on the 2L Konkan highway)
Why not take the regular NH4 all the way to Bombay?

I agree with ampere though you might have specific reasons to do Kannur and than take the NH17.

The fastest and trouble-free would be NH4 and then NH8 from Mumbai to reach your ultimate destination.

NH-17 offers a beautiful scenic drive but yet not the safest and it is also a single lane on each side without a median which will add to the fatigue part when one needs to follow a caravan of vehicles before overtaking during many occurrences.

On NH4, you are relatively driving tension free and in a relaxed manner.

Considering the mixed road conditions prevailing on NH17, I will vote for NH4 and NH8 any day.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by callmetarantula

I'm relocating to Chandigarh from Bangalore. I plan to go by road from Bangalore via Kannur - Mumbai - Noida to Chandigarh.


I've done these stretches earlier. Except the Kannur - Goa bit. Staying/ driving through Goa is not a priority. From Goa/ Karwar plan to take the NH-4 rather than NH-17. Should I take the NH-17 til there or try & hit the NH-4 as soon as possible?

Thanks a lot.

If you do not wish to go via Goa, then you can turn off NH17 at Ankola and take NH63 to Hubli and join NH4 to get to Bombay.

On the other hand, if you intend to go coastal all the way, then the only bad section you will encounter is in the GA-MH border between Banda & Sawantwadi. I love the curvy winding roads of NH17 although the last sector between Pen & Panvel can be annoying high traffic.

YOu can check out Kannur-Bombay-Ahmedabad route plan via both Goa & Hubli here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...zJnVXdXbkpSVGc
It also has detailed instructions to bypass BOmbay

And for the rest of the route to Dehi, check out this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...Uh5MDRYaENTX1E

[callmetarantula]

Hey Ampere. Thanks a lot. You are right about the Kannur trip. Also the Bangalore - Kannur ride too is not great. But planned it as won't be driving that way for a long time after this trip.

[callmetarantula]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

The fastest and trouble-free would be NH4 and then NH8 from Mumbai to reach your ultimate destination.

On NH4, you are relatively driving tension free and in a relaxed manner.

Considering the mixed road conditions prevailing on NH17, I will vote for NH4 and NH8 any day.

I agree that the NH-17 is a painful road to drive on, given the road conditions and he rash & high-speed driving indulged in by the bus-drivers in Karnataka & Kerala.

Still not finalized whether to do this leg or just head straight to Bombay from Bangalore.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

You can check out Kannur-Bombay-Ahmedabad route plan via both Goa & Hubli here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...zJnVXdXbkpSVGc
It also has detailed instructions to bypass BOmbay

And for the rest of the route to Delhi, check out this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...Uh5MDRYaENTX1E

Hey thanks a lot. This will really come in use, as was also planning a trip to Ladakh this year from Chandigarh.

[abhjain]

Hi All, i am relocating from Bangalore to Delhi and wish to drive all the way in my Swift. Plan to do this trip in 3 days as advised by several members, any updates on the GQ route? The trip will be undertaken in March end or April beginning. Need another help, we plan to travel with our two small dogs. Any pointers on pet friendly hotels in Pune, Mumbai and Udaipur will be very helpful. We do not wish to spend our nights in the car!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by abhjain

Hi All, i am relocating from Bangalore to Delhi and wish to drive all the way in my Swift. Plan to do this trip in 3 days as advised by several members, any updates on the GQ route? The trip will be undertaken in March end or April beginning. Need another help, we plan to travel with our two small dogs. Any pointers on pet friendly hotels in Pune, Mumbai and Udaipur will be very helpful. We do not wish to spend our nights in the car!

Road is fine, except for heavy traffic in many sections.
Pet friendly hotels: I cannot think of any other than Hotel Anjali (after Ahmedabad).

[Souvik]

It is going to be a good drive. I moved from Bangalore to Delhi too and moved a lot of stuff in my Swift. Also done this stretch 4-5 times – thanks to HVK. Try and leave BLR early morning and since you are travelling with 2 small pets, you can aim to stop at Pune for the night. You can call Ginger Hotels (reasonable price) or Hotel Sayaji (costly) and find out the pet policy. The next day, you can continue to Udaipur. Hotel Florence – near the Udaipur Railway station is a good bet (around 1800 per night).

Be prepared to face heavy traffic from Jaipur to Delhi – can take up to 7-10 hours. Try not to cross Jaipur after 5PM. Cross the pink city before that.

[abhjain]

Originally Posted by Souvik

It is going to be a good drive. I moved from Bangalore to Delhi too and moved a lot of stuff in my Swift. Also done this stretch 4-5 times – thanks to HVK. Try and leave BLR early morning and since you are travelling with 2 small pets, you can aim to stop at Pune for the night. You can call Ginger Hotels (reasonable price) or Hotel Sayaji (costly) and find out the pet policy. The next day, you can continue to Udaipur. Hotel Florence – near the Udaipur Railway station is a good bet (around 1800 per night).

Be prepared to face heavy traffic from Jaipur to Delhi – can take up to 7-10 hours. Try not to cross Jaipur after 5PM. Cross the pink city before that.

Thanks a lot. Will keep you posted on how it progresses,

[addyhemmige]

Hi guys, me and a friend are planning to do a roadtrip from Bangalore to Delhi in the first week of May. The original planning for this trip started sometime early last year and we were supposed to do it in May/June 2011. But, due to unavoidable circumstances, we had to postpone the trip. Somehow, we could never find time from our professional commitments and so, postponement became regular. However, we still had that itch so we never let go of the idea and here I am asking for suggestions from T-Bhpians

We have managed to get 7 days off to do this trip and have a tentative plan drawn up. The tentative dates are the last week of April and the first week of May. Please do make suggestions and changes wherever needed. We will be taking either a Linea Multijet or a Swift Diesel for this trip.

The route:

Bangalore-Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Udaipur-Jaipur-New Delhi-Agra-Gwalior-Nagpur-Hyderabad-Bangalore

The plan:

We did not want to retrace the same route which we take for the onward journey, so the above route (circular) was chosen.

Day 1: Bangalore-Mumbai

Day 2: Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Udaipur

Day 3: Udaipur-Jaipur-New Delhi

Day 4: In New Delhi

Day 5: New Delhi-Agra-Gwalior-????

Day 6: ????-Nagpur-Hyderabad

Day 7: Hyderabad-Bangalore


Please let me know about road conditions for the above said route. I don't think the GQ route between Bangalore-Mumbai-Delhi will be a problem, but my worry is the Central India route while coming back. I have read about the bad roads in Madhya Pradesh and am wary.

For Day 5 and Day 6, I am confused as to what route to take between Gwalior and Nagpur. Google maps show the route Gwalior-Jhansi-Sagar-Seoni-Nagpur. How are the road conditions in this stretch? Are there alternatives (maybe via Bhopal or via Jabalpur)? I can decide the night stay for Day 5 depending on the route.

Please suggest good hotels for all the night stay locations.

Also, while passing Gujarat, do I need to get the yellow headlamp sticker for my car or is it okay if I don't have it?

Please feel free to suggest any other alternate routes or anything which might help me in this trip.


Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Gwalior-Jhansi-Sagar-Seoni-Nagpur. How are the road conditions in this stretch?

Very bad. My Linea did this stretch in September 2011. The ghat section between Seoni and Nagpur was the worst. Details are here.

Please suggest good hotels for all the night stay locations.

My recommendation for Nagpur: Peanut. Nagpur-Bangalore can be done in one day, I feel.

Also, while passing Gujarat, do I need to get the yellow headlamp sticker for my car or is it okay if I don't have it?

Officially, yes. But, my Linea didn't have those yellow stickers during two visits in 2010 and 2011 and didn't face any problems so far.

Please feel free to suggest any other alternate routes

Better come back by the same route, viz., NH 8/4 avoiding UP/MP! Time-wise and fuel consumption-wise, both the routes mean the same, but the former is longer, but stress-free, while the latter is shorter, but stressful.

[Ketan]

Interesting Itinerary! Are you not planning to stay somewhere for a bit longer, I guess its a bit too tiring if you dont take enough rest (assuming both of you will be driving seperate cars). If you add one more week to this, you can enjoy the highest motorable road in the world at Ladakh , just a suggestion, your route plan looks good if you have planned/organized most of the things in advance.

I dont know much about the other stuff, however get that yello sticker/strip on thr RHS headlamp on your way or from Blr itself, even a slim, yello tape would do the job, thats what these cops look at, without understanding whether it really helps or not.

I'm assuming that you will enter AMD city. As soon as you enter AMD over Baroda-AMD express way, you will see cops looking for exactly this thingy. Even if you are not entering Ahmedabad, there's no harm just sticking one while you are driving thru GJ.

[coolclouds]

MAY will be too hot in North

We too didn't find any issues with yellow sticker while going through GJ. They stopped us and checked the documents while entering GJ from RJ but didn't ask anything about the sticker at all.

I hope its easy to do the bad route onward and follow the GQ route on return peacefully.