[nilanjanray]

I have a big Corbett fan, and been wanting to visit Kaladunghi and Corbett park for quite some time now. Planning to do a road trip sometime within the next few weeks.

What is the best route for doing Bangalore - Kumaon in a SUV in winter (Dec/Jan)?

One option is to go via Mumbai - Delhi. The other is to go via Nagpur - Pench (and then which route? There are a few options, not sure which one is the best).

Small stretches of bad roads or even no roads are fine. Total time to reach (either Tanakpur or Ramnagar) is more important. Fog on the roads is also important because that will reduce driving speed.

Bangalore - Kumaon via Mumbai: This should be doable in 2.5 days I feel (unless fog is a factor). Or should I allocate 3 days?

What about via Nagpur? Which route, and how long?

I can drive in the night if roads are more or less safe i.e. no roadblocks created for mugging :-). 12-15 hours travel per day should be doable.

[Tapish]

Hi Nilanjan,

I can guide you from Delhi onwards for entire Kumaon region (I am a native of Nainital) .

From Delhi, Ramnagar is about 260 kms. Doable in 6-7 hours. You can add 2-3 hours to this figure in case of heavy fog/ jam. The best route is the NH24, it will serve you well till Moradabad. after moradabad, you will have to take the route via bajpur and Tanda to Ramnagar.

The NH24 is smooth except for some construction activity going on at a couple of places that makes it very slow for some 5km odd stretches.
Do check if the day is auspicious (some bath/chandrima/poornima etc) because if it is, you may rather postpone/prepone your drive by a day. This is basically because a huge crowd gathers at Garh (on the NH24) for a bath in the Ramganga river, and this may lead to a huge traffic jam, lasting upto 5 hours. Apart from this, there are no other pointers for this part.

The road from Moradabad to Ramnagar is a single lane jungle road that is well built but has a lot of undulating surface, because of which, speed rarely exceeds 70. Since this is a jungle road, I would advise you to take the stretch to thakurdwara, and then shift towards Ramnagar, in case you plan to drive at night. It is a state highway and is rarely crowded.

http://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr=...&via=1&t=m&z=9


Have a happy trip.

Cheers.
Tapish

[hvkumar]

The route via Nagpur would be as follows:

Bangalore-Hyderabad-Nagpur-Seoni-Laknadon-Jabalpur-Katni-Rewa-Allahabad-Sultanpur-Faizabad-Barabanki-Sitaur-Shahjahanpur-Bareilly-Rudrapur-Haldwani-Kaladhungi-Ramnagar-Corbett.

Where are the bad roads?
- NH7, between Pandharkawada & Hnganghat between ADilabad & Nagpur

- NH7 north of Nagpur through Seoni, Laknadon, Jabalpur, Katni till Rewa is very bad.

- Some small stretch around Katra in Rewa-Allahabad sector

Rest of the route is excellent.
The Allahabad-LUcknow route via Rae Bareilly is to be avoided. Better choice is the excellent route via Sultanpur. I suggest to go on to Faizabad (and not Lucknow), because at Faizabad you will hit the lovely 4-laned EW Corridor, and also because it is easier to bypass the Lucknow region from Barabaki itself.
Lucknow-Bareilly is 4-laned till Sitapur, after which widening work is on.
I have no idea about the condition of Bareilly-Rudrapur road.

Big Caution: FOG
It is terrible now. Expect it to hit you all over MP & UP. If foggy, night driving is almost impossible unless it is a 4-laned highway, not many sections of that on your route beyond Nagpur.

Safety issues - try not to drive by night beyond Nagpur.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The route via Nagpur would be as follows:

Bangalore-Hyderabad-Nagpur-Seoni-Laknadon-Jabalpur-Katni-Rewa-Allahabad-Sultanpur-Faizabad-Barabanki-Sitaur-Shahjahanpur-Bareilly-Rudrapur-Haldwani-Kaladhungi-Ramnagar-Corbett.

Where are the bad roads?
- NH7, between Pandharkawada & Hnganghat between ADilabad & Nagpur

- NH7 north of Nagpur through Seoni, Laknadon, Jabalpur, Katni till Rewa is very bad.

- Some small stretch around Katra in Rewa-Allahabad sector

Rest of the route is excellent.
The Allahabad-LUcknow route via Rae Bareilly is to be avoided. Better choice is the excellent route via Sultanpur. I suggest to go on to Faizabad (and not Lucknow), because at Faizabad you will hit the lovely 4-laned EW Corridor, and also because it is easier to bypass the Lucknow region from Barabaki itself.
Lucknow-Bareilly is 4-laned till Sitapur, after which widening work is on.
I have no idea about the condition of Bareilly-Rudrapur road.

Big Caution: FOG
It is terrible now. Expect it to hit you all over MP & UP. If foggy, night driving is almost impossible unless it is a 4-laned highway, not many sections of that on your route beyond Nagpur.

Safety issues - try not to drive by night beyond Nagpur.

Kumarji,

Which route will you recommend? I know that the via-Mumbai route has better roads, but the idea of a cross-country South-North drive is exciting.

And how much time should I allocate for each? 2.5 to 3 days given the fog?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Kumarji,

Which route will you recommend? I know that the via-Mumbai route has better roads, but the idea of a cross-country South-North drive is exciting.

And how much time should I allocate for each? 2.5 to 3 days given the fog?

I would love to go off the 4-laned roads too!
Nice to go on NH7.
To avoid some of the worst sections of NH7, you can try some good interior roads.
Turn off NH7 at Seoni bypass.
Seoni-Kanha-Mandla-Dindori-Umariya-Rewa

Fog is terrible in MP-UP belt, expect it to be dense even at 930 am, and fall as early as 6 pm.

Reaching Kumaon?
Day 1- Nagpur?
Day 2 - Allahabad?
Day 3 - Corbett?

[nilanjanray]

My end destination is Kaladunghi.

What about the Nagpur - Jabalpur - Damoh - Chhatarpur - Mahoba - Kanpur - Kannauj - Shahjahanpur - Bareilly - Rudrapur route?

Bad roads, bad people and bad traffic?

And is it possible to do Bangalore - Delhi in 2 days in winter given the fog?
* Via Mumbai
* Via Nagpur - Gwalior

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

My end destination is Kaladunghi.

What about the Nagpur - Jabalpur - Damoh - Chhatarpur - Mahoba - Kanpur - Kannauj - Shahjahanpur - Bareilly - Rudrapur route?

Bad roads, bad people and bad traffic?

And is it possible to do Bangalore - Delhi in 2 days in winter given the fog?
* Via Mumbai
* Via Nagpur - Gwalior

Jabalpur-Damoh-Kanpur route never had a reputation for being good anytime. Bad roads.

Via Bombay, doing Delhi is possible with some very high-speed no-break driving which will mean that you try to reach at least Vapi or Surat on Day 1, which would mean a 3/4 am - 10/11 pm day. The next day would be again a long day to Delhi, and if it is foggy, after Jaipur you will get delayed. I would definitely target Delhi in 2.5 days and Kaladhungi at end of 3rd day. If you go my style of driving, you can reach Delhi the same day.

Via Nagpur, it is impossible to do such speeds, but could have been done had the Nagpur-Bhopal route been better. Heavy fog is a problem through MP and UP, hence your speeds will be reduced considerably.

I still think that your fastest way to get to Kaladhungi is to go via Bombay.