[rulerofsun]

Hi,

I am planning a trip in my small car to Indore and Ujjain during the Christmas week. I need information before I discuss this with my wife .

Could some one tell me about the road status and also stopovers enroute? I was also thinking if it would be a good idea to start after office hours (1800 hours) and do a night halt somewhere enroute.

Regards
RoS

[MX6]

I'd suggest start early the next day. With most of the crowd leaving for the weekend, you'd be stuck in NH3 till Nasik.

Thane to Indore route is ok with road widening work going on around Nasik. If you can leave Thane around 4 am, then it would be good time to cross Nasik before people wake up and get on the roads. Based on your drive capability and penchance for long drives, I'd suggest go all the way to Indore and stay there for the night.
I stayed in hotel silver oak which was easy to reach from NH3 and also easy to get on to statehighway 27 which took me to Ujjain in 40 mins from there.

22.683024,75.858514 - Google Maps

That's a map showing the place I stayed.

There was a hotel called Rasraj or something like that near Dhule, where food was excellent. Need to find out that from my archives.

Here's a log of my trip (albeit from pune) last year which may be of use to you.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ng-my-way.html

[mm403]

I have done Pune - Indore -Ujjain couple of times. Best time to start is early morning. If one starts from Pune around 5 in the morning , one reaches Indore by 5 in the evening. If you take NH3 ( no idea till Nashik) but after Malegaon its smooth till Dhule. After Dhule between Shirpur to Bijasun there is construction going on so expect some slow movement. After Bijasen all the way to Indore is smooth road.. On reaching Indore , dont enter the city near Rau, continue on bypass to Dewas. There will be number of exits to Indore. Take the one which takes you to Sayaji Hotel. Go past Sayaji , you will be again be on a bypass after crossing a flyover. Couple of kms after flyover take a left on Indore Ujjain road. This stretch can be covered in 45 min.

For Food there is a restaurant called Foodie on your left after after you cross Narmada. Very good place

[faustus77]

Ruler ofsun
Hi
In case you stay the night at indore do visit the Sarafa bazaar after 9pm.Great street food.You can see photographs in Fauji's TL
Regards

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by rulerofsun

Hi,

I am planning a trip in my small car to Indore and Ujjain during the Christmas week. I need information before I discuss this with my wife .

Could some one tell me about the road status and also stopovers enroute? I was also thinking if it would be a good idea to start after office hours (1800 hours) and do a night halt somewhere enroute.

Regards
RoS

No second thought about the roads, four laned till Ujjian! Excellent roads in short. I am from Indore, do contact me when you reach here.

Do visit a few more places:

1) Omkareshwar
2) Maheshwar
3) Chintman in Ujjain
4) Kaal Bhairav in Ujjain
5) Gad-Kalika in Ujjain
6) Mangal nath in Ujjain
7) Sadipani Ashram in Ujjain (Lord Krishna's School where he took his education)
8) Mahankal (which ofcourse you would be already visiting)

In Indore:

1) Sarafa Bazaar (Lovely food!)
2) Rajwada Palace
3) Chhapan (Known for Chaat)

You could do a route planning as below:

Mumbai-Indore (Halt, @1st day)- Ujjain-Omkareshwar-Maheshwar (Halt, 2nd day if you don't wish to see places in Indore)-Mumbai.

[rulerofsun]

Thanks Guys, Your inputs are extremely valuable. I have done long drive a couple of times 500Km + in a day. Your inputs are encouraging me do the drive on my own. The idea is to visit Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar during the drive.

[satrab]

Originally Posted by mercedised

No second thought about the roads, four laned till Ujjian! Excellent roads in short. I am from Indore, do contact me when you reach here.

================
Mumbai-Indore (Halt, @1st day)- Ujjain-Omkareshwar-Maheshwar (Halt, 2nd day if you don't wish to see places in Indore)-Mumbai.

Thanks mercedised. I plan to travel to Indore from Mumbai next weekend. Was wondering if I could do both Ujjain as well as Omkareshwar on one day, keeping one day to drive to Bhopal/Ujjain. Alternately could one do Omkar on the way back to Nasik?

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by rulerofsun

Hi,

I am planning a trip in my small car to Indore and Ujjain during the Christmas week. I need information before I discuss this with my wife .

Could some one tell me about the road status and also stopovers enroute? I was also thinking if it would be a good idea to start after office hours (1800 hours) and do a night halt somewhere enroute.

Regards
RoS

Originally Posted by MX6

I'd suggest start early the next day. With most of the crowd leaving for the weekend, you'd be stuck in NH3 till Nasik.


l

Originally Posted by mm403

I have done Pune - Indore -Ujjain couple of times.

Originally Posted by faustus77

Ruler ofsun
Hi
In case you stay the night at indore do visit the Sarafa bazaar after 9pm.Great street food.You can see photographs in Fauji's TL
Regards

Originally Posted by mercedised

No second thought about the roads, four laned till Ujjian! Excellent roads in short. I am from Indore, do contact me when you reach here.

Originally Posted by rulerofsun

Thanks Guys, Your inputs are extremely valuable. I have done long drive a couple of times 500Km + in a day. Your inputs are encouraging me do the drive on my own. The idea is to visit Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar during the drive.

Originally Posted by satrab

Thanks mercedised. I plan to travel to Indore from Mumbai next weekend. Was wondering if I could do both Ujjain as well as Omkareshwar on one day, keeping one day to drive to Bhopal/Ujjain. Alternately could one do Omkar on the way back to Nasik?

Guys,

You can take a look at my TL wherein i have covered Indore/Ujjain and surroundings in detail.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...r-pradesh.html

Ideally you need minimum 3 days to do justice making Indore as base and doing all as day trips.

Day 1 - Indore/Ujjain (try out bhang mixed thandai in Ujjain)
Day 2 - Mandu
Day 3 - Maheshwar/Omkareshwar

Keep all evenings for culinary adventure in Indore!!

Mercedised, did not know you earlier. Otherwise we could have met you in Inodre

[satrab]

Thanks - read the TL, I would love to do the foodie thing. Plan to stay in Indore fr 3 nights. Would love to do Mandu. Would like your suggestions on if its possible to do Ujjain, Omkar/Maheswar and Mandu in 2 days, even if it means I do part of the trip on the way back to Nasik where I plan to stay a night.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by satrab

Thanks - read the TL, I would love to do the foodie thing. Plan to stay in Indore fr 3 nights. Would love to do Mandu. Would like your suggestions on if its possible to do Ujjain, Omkar/Maheswar and Mandu in 2 days, even if it means I do part of the trip on the way back to Nasik where I plan to stay a night.

Thanks and hope you liked it

Yes, you can do it.

Day 1 - Indore - Ujjain - Omkareshwar - Maheshwar - Indore. Excellent roads. Leave early and have breakfast in Ujjain after Darshan. Come back by 6 PM

Day 2 - Leave after early breakfast so as to reach Mandu by 10 AM. Road is not great but doable. Get a guide in Mandu and strictly tell him you dont want to hear stories which guides are fond of and go around the places and come back by 4 PM

On both days you still have evenings to enjoy the treats in Indore!!

[mercedised]

@satrab: You could do Ujjain at a day and leave for Omkareshwar the same day. Halt at Omkareshwar and then proceed for Nasik\Mumbai via Maheshwar.

@fauji: Next time, for sure we will meet!

[Fauji]

That's is a good suggestion to either stay in Omkareshwar or Maheswar. I would recommend you to nstay in MTDC resort in Maheshwar and proceed to Mumbai. Located next to the river it offers great views and you can also see nice sun set or Sunrise as the case may be.

[satrab]

Hi, hear some horror stories about the road to Mandu. Can I do it in a Yeti? or should I just hire a car from Indore?

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by satrab

Hi, hear some horror stories about the road to Mandu. Can I do it in a Yeti? or should I just hire a car from Indore?

To some extenet true. But not that bad. The road from Indore to Dhar has some potholes. Easily doable in Yeti. No need to hire any cab.

[satrab]

Hi, Just got back after doing the Mumbai-Indore-Nashik-Shirdi-Mumbai trip.

Did the trip in my Skoda Yeti. Was absolutely amazing.

Started on Saturday, December 17 @ 5.30 am from Parel. Reached Ambad (Nasik) at 7.45 am. Roads till there were great. Colleagues in Nashik had suggested I avoid the Ghoti bypass from late evening to early morning. Roads till Ambad were great, with the newly laid highway being an absolute breeze to drive on. Amazing experience. Smooth roads, great car, good traffic and wonderful music by Ravi Shankar.

After Ambad the road was pretty bad, as there is a lot of construction on. However was still able to make good going as it was still fairly early in the morning.

Stopped just after Pimpalgaon for tea. Fueled at a BPCL COCO at Lalung Village, which is just before the toll point for Dhule.

Roads after Dhule were again very good. The National Highway in MP was also great. Took the Indore bypass from Rau. A word of caution here: Sections of the Indore bypass have been closed off as they are increasing the width of the road, so one needs to go through the city in places. And traffic in Indore in scary.

Reached the Radisson at 4 pm.

In the evening took Fauji's advice partially. Went to Sarafa, but didn't take an auto. Took my car. Was able to park with some amount of excitement. Reached without any hassle, completely thanks to the Mapmyindia GPS device that I bought just before the trip.

And then, gorged on the food. Fauji, thanks a ton for the suggestion. Had bhutte ki kees, kachoris, dahi vada, garadu (garalu?), moong dal halwa, malpua with rabri. Amazing stuff.

Went there every evening that I was in Indore.

Did Ujjain, Omkar and Maheswar on Sundar and went to Mandu on Monday. On the way up, went by the Dhamnod road. A five kilometer section was bad. Otherwise ok roads. On the way down, the locals suggested we take the Manpur road. Learnt a huge lesson. Do not listen to locals. The road was terrible.

Over all a great trip.

Thanks Fauji. Thanks Mercedised for the all the suggestions.