[thomvee]

My colleague is heading back to his home town in Kanpur. He is thinking of doing the entire route by car (Ford Figo TDCI -Exi). Google gives a distance of 1770 kms. He is thinking of taking the route via Hyderabad-Nagpur-Jabalpur-Kanpur. He is planning to stop over at least two places and was wondering what the best stop-by destinations along this route would be. Also, he would like to know the state of the roads along this route. Any suggestions, ideas are most welcome. Thanks.

[mayankjha1806]

Why two stops?

This could be done with one stop is my believe, although roads post Jabalpur will be bad, but if they are not very bad you could consider one stop.

Bangalore - Nagpur (~1000Kms) can be done in 12 hrs of driving.
Nagpur - Kanpur (~700 Kms) can be done in another 10-12 Hrs.

If you still feel covering 1000 Kms/day could be a problem, you could stop somewhere in between Hyderabad and Nagpur.

Bangalore - Nirmal (Night Stop)
Nirmal - Japalpur (Night Stop)
Jabalpur - Kanpur.

Bangalore Nagpur roads are very good and one can easily cruze at speeds ~100, except for a small patch of ~50 odd Kms.

[thomvee]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Why two stops?

This could be done with one stop is my believe, although roads post Jabalpur will be bad, but if they are not very bad you could consider one stop.

Bangalore - Nagpur (~1000Kms) can be done in 12 hrs of driving.
Nagpur - Kanpur (~700 Kms) can be done in another 10-12 Hrs.

If you still feel covering 1000 Kms/day could be a problem, you could stop somewhere in between Hyderabad and Nagpur.

Bangalore - Nirmal (Night Stop)
Nirmal - Japalpur (Night Stop)
Jabalpur - Kanpur.

Bangalore Nagpur roads are very good and one can easily cruze at speeds ~100, except for a small patch of ~50 odd Kms.

Thanks for the reply. He wants to take it slow and he wants to stop by and do a bit of sight seeing around the more touristy places. He wants to know if there are any must-see places along the way.

[hvkumar]

I would suggest he go via Bombay-Ahmedabad-Udaipur-Jhansi-Kanpur

[thomvee]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I would suggest he go via Bombay-Ahmedabad-Udaipur-Jhansi-Kanpur

Any particular reason for that? It is more than double the distance

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by thomvee

Any particular reason for that? It is more than double the distance

I prefer 4-laned good roads to 2-laned broken roads. Please see various updates on NH7 condition between Nagpur & Allahabad in other threads.

[ottocycle]

Road in UP in MP are in really bad condition (many places non-existent). My in-laws traveled from Varanasi to Hyderabad on NH7. Below thread might give you more info.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...derabad-2.html

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I prefer 4-laned good roads to 2-laned broken roads. Please see various updates on NH7 condition between Nagpur & Allahabad in other threads.

Wow! This would be at least 800km longer right?
But that is price I guess to be paid for non-existent roads.

@thomvee I would then recommend you to ask your friend to
add a couple of tourist locations on the way.

[sgiitk]

The central route used to be a real pain. I will also suggest heading for Belgaum and then hit NH4 (AB Road) vis NH50 at Nasik. Then at Jhansi you switch to NH2. This will be longer but much better.

[SmartCat]

Driving straight up north like the crow flies is not such a great idea - unless you are sure about the road conditions. The condition of the roads for hundreds of kilometres in MP in 2005 or 2006 -

Roads in Madhya Pradesh, India - YouTube

Madhya Pradesh Highway in 2005 - YouTube

Actually no, it was a lot worser than this. But we did not dare to get down and take videos in those stretches. We took 8 hours to travel 250 odd kms - somewhere close to Sagar I think.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Actually no, it was a lot worser than this. But we did not dare to get down and take videos in those stretches. We took 8 hours to travel 250 odd kms - somewhere close to Sagar I think.

Is that NH7/NH26 (Nagpur-Sagar)? I dont think so, i have been on NH7 to Sagar and it wasn't so bad few years back.

Till Jabalpur the road are decent, one can do consistently ~80 (if not 100), and this information is as recent as 2 months back.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Is that NH7/NH26 (Nagpur-Sagar)? I dont think so, i have been on NH7 to Sagar and it wasn't so bad few years back.

Till Jabalpur the road are decent, one can do consistently ~80 (if not 100), and this information is as recent as 2 months back.

It was definitely before Sagar & Nagpur. I don't exactly recall the names of the towns/cities on the way because we did the drive in 2005 or 2006. Now, as you mentioned, the roads could have improved a lot. Or NOT!

It's better to check and double check the road conditions, especially in MP, on such long drives.

[issigonis]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

. then hit NH4 (AB Road) vis NH50 at Nasik.

>>>

What is AB re. NH4?

Regards

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by issigonis

>>>

What is AB re. NH4?

Regards

It is short form of "Agra - Bombay Road".

[Vipin Kumar]

I have heard that NH 86 which might take you from Damoh to Kanpur is literally non-existent. An impression of this is there in the Ford Fiesta Cross Country booklet published by Autocar and supplied in isolation by the Ford dealers. Autocar Cross Country considered this as the worst road they had taken.

I too prefer the 4-lane to 2-lane highways, especially when I do long-route.

You can take the vehicle from Bangalore to Pune on day one of your driving.

Then Pune to Udaipur should be possible on day two of your driving.

Udaipur to Jhansi and Kanpur should be easily possible in a day.

I am not sure of the distance, but there is of course a lot of scope for sightseeing.

Vipin Kumar.