[jacobsam]

Hi, will be travelling from Sendhwa to Surat in next few days. Can anyone guide me with the road conditions and the preferred route options.

[Bijoy&Indu]

Dear Team BHPians,

We are planning a drive to Sikkim from Cochin, Kerala. We are two drivers and a kid and we are used to long drives doing 1000+ kms in a day. We have come up with a plan and a rough route map. We are specific about accommodation and has selected the halts based on the availability of good hotels.

Please go through our route plan and give your valuable feedback on:

1. Better routes available or any routes to avoid

2. We prefer to start early and avoid night drives. Does any of these days seem impossible to do in a day?

3. Traffic or road conditions to be careful about

Thanks in advance !

[ssjr0498]

Apart from the northeast, the only place where the road aren't that great is the Varanasi to Pench and some places between Pench to Nagpur.. The road has melted due to heat and you cant maintain a constant decent speed. Rest all is in good shape!

Originally Posted by Bijoy&Indu

Dear Team BHPians,

We are planning a drive to Sikkim from Cochin, Kerala. We are two drivers and a kid and we are used to long drives doing 1000+ kms in a day. We have come up with a plan and a rough route map. We are specific about accommodation and has selected the halts based on the availability of good hotels.

Please go through our route plan and give your valuable feedback on:

1. Better routes available or any routes to avoid

2. We prefer to start early and avoid night drives. Does any of these days seem impossible to do in a day?

3. Traffic or road conditions to be careful about

Thanks in advance !

[autoweirdo]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

Apart from the northeast, the only place where the road aren't that great is the Varanasi to Pench and some places between Pench to Nagpur.. The road has melted due to heat and you cant maintain a constant decent speed. Rest all is in good shape!

I did Patna Pune in first week of May. Varanasi to Pench has been relayed at sections which melted. Only issue is Rewa bypass and Katni bypass which are not in good condition and has multiple diversion.

[pushpender_s]

Hello All
I am planning a trip to Meghalaya from Noida in August month.
The Route Planned is as below.
1. Day: 1 --> Noida - Agra - Lucknow - Buxar (All Expressway Route)
2. Day: 2 --> Buxar - Arrah - Patna - Begusarai - Khagaria - Purnia - Siliguri or
Buxar - Arrah - Chapra - Muzaffarpur - Darbhanga - Araria - Bahadurganj - Siliguri (Confused which one is better)
3. Day: 3 --> Siliguri - Alipurduar - Bongaigaon - Guwahati - Shillong

Can someone enlighten me about the current road situation for this route?
Needless to say, that trip will materialize considering the flood situation at that time.

[javageek]

Dear Pushpender,

On Day 1 you could easily plan for stop over either in Arrah or some where in West Patna instead of stopping in Buxar.

If you stop over in West Patna you could have easy exit through JP Setu early morning and get on to Patna Muzaffarpur Highway / Expressway quickly.

Route via Muzaffarpur -Darbhanga is preferable as compared to the route via Begusarai -Khagaria one, as it’s relatively fast and better maintained.

Again from Araria, it is better to run along the GQ instead of diverting towards Bahadurganj, which means taking longer route via Purina but definitely more predictable in terms of driving.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Javageek

[channelv]

has anyone recently done Betul Bhopal stretch. I did it in October 2023 and road widening/improvement was still going on. took me close to 2.5hrs than.
Will appreciate any newer views.

Also, i believe Betul - Indore stretch is still bad. In case you have any update on that, please share.

Plan to do Hyderabad to Indore in mid August.

Also, w.r.t speed limits on NH, is it still 80 or they have made it 100?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by channelv

has anyone recently done Betul Bhopal stretch.

I too did in December. There was no work happening in the ghat or forest sections. Apart from these about 15 km of bad roads south of Bhimbetka, which might be done now.

MPT Obaidullaganj to Haldirams on the north end of Nagpur took about 4 hrs.

Betul - Indore

The Harda route estimate was showing more than going via Bhopal. Although Indore-Bhopal itself is a pain with all sort of miscellaneous traffic.
--
Now that HCVs are off Kannad for more than a year. Isn't it better to go via Aurangabad-Dhule. Most recent updates were all quoting 6 hr drive from Aurangabad to Indore.

[channelv]

Originally Posted by narayans80

--
Now that HCVs are off Kannad for more than a year. Isn't it better to go via Aurangabad-Dhule. Most recent updates were all quoting 6 hr drive from Aurangabad to Indore.

Don't have color on that route. the maps does show it to be about 3 hrs lesser. If the speed limit allowed is 100. Roads are almost very good till Betul from Hyderabad. Not sure if they are still enforced at 80

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by channelv

If the speed limit allowed is 100. Roads are almost very good till Betul from Hyderabad. Not sure if they are still enforced at 80

Only Telangana was booking for speed limits. Last time around it was 90 I think, don't remember 100. There is none in MH or MP.

Even Betul-Bhopal was largely good. Only about 20-25 km is still 2-lane or WIP and all bypasses are done.

[channelv]

Originally Posted by channelv

Don't have color on that route. the maps does show it to be about 3 hrs lesser. If the speed limit allowed is 100. Roads are almost very good till Betul from Hyderabad. Not sure if they are still enforced at 80

Did Hyd to Indore via Aurangabad Dhule route on Aug 13. Stated at 4.45AM and were home in Indore at 9PM. Was stopped 4 times by police for documents.
Roads are mostly good.

Drove back to Hyd from Bhopal on Aug 18. Started at 5.30 AM and reached Hyd by 8 PM. Bhopal Betul road is mostly done except for few small patches.

Separately, this can be a welcome change in properly fixing speed limits and avoiding unnecessary challans on NHs

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../112633270.cms

[blitzkrieg]

I did a trip from Manali to Leh in July this year. Took some time to process the videos from my dashcam and upload. It's finally out.

This is a real time recording of the entire drive on NH3, from Manali to Leh, divided into two days.

Day 1 - Manali to Jispa
Day 2 - Jispa to Leh

Shared a brief write up on the experience in the video descriptions (on youtube).

The idea behind sharing the entire length of video is for people to get a sense of what they should expect along the route.

https://youtu.be/6VMJR2b-SZM

https://youtu.be/DhSE00qPFFE

[VtechSupreme]

Last 2 times I have been on the Jaipur Delhi Expressway, I have come across obstacles on the road with no reflectors, warnings, nothing at all in complete darkness. One time it was random barricades, the other time there was a mountain of bricks and other stuff on a lane. This is highly dangerous for a highway with a speed limit of 120 km/h and no lights.

[sudanmohit]

Hi Friends

I need your help to plan a trip. We're planning a small trip from Chittorgarh to Harihar fort (near Nasik) to Ellora caves and back around mid January.

Plan is as follows -
Day 1 :Chittorgarh to Harihar fort near Nasik

Day 2 : exploring the fort and temple and then driving to Ellora caves by evening

Day 3 : exploring the caves and surrounding area and if time allows driving a bit towards Chittorgarh

Day 4 : drive back to Chittorgarh

Points to consider:
1.Car: my gajraj (xuv700).
2.No. of people (3-4).
3.Age group mid forties young.
4.Planning to avoid driving at night unless unavoidable.
4.Planning to start early morning around 6-7am on day1
5.I'm someone who avoids using too much of brake and accelerator. My idea of driving is using cruise control at 80 kmph. I've experience of few trips upto 1200 km at stretch (15-17hrs) but that was few years and few kilograms ago when I was younger (read reckless and foolish) . But I still believe, I can do 700 kms in a day easily. Moreover all the passengers are good drivers hence driving won't be an issue. Now about the queries.


1. My main query is regarding the road conditions from Indore to Nasik (or Harihar fort). I've driven multiple times from Chittorgarh to indore and the roads are good. But I've no idea about Dhule to Nasik part though I've heard that some repair work is going on. I don't know how bad it is especially because we would mostly cover it during evening.

2. How good/bad is Harihar fort to Ellora caves road and how much time it should take. Is it safe to drive after dark if required?

3. Should we stay near Harihar fort or at Nasik (please note that we'll be going to hotel only for sleeping as all of us believe in exploring the area where we're going so we're not looking for luxury resorts).

4. Is there any other location we can add to the trip (except Shirdi and Ajanta) which can be covered in same time frame?

5. Should I keep physical copies of documents like RC etc or digilocker is enough (considering that car is Rajasthan registered)?

6. Anything else which I couldn't think of ?


Inputs from bhp family members are welcome and thank you in advance

Happy driving