[ranjit]

My wife, daughter and I are planning a trip to Uttaranchal by the middle of this month (in my Safari Dicor).

The route planned is Bangalore-Hyderabad-Sagar and onward to Gwalior-Jhansi-Agra-Delhi and, after a couple of days break there, on to Chamba. Returning via Delhi-Bombay-Pune-Goa-Dharwad and Bangalore.

Would appreciate any tips from you guys regarding the route, things to do and avoid, precautions and what would be a reasonable (and safe) daily milage to cover, considering we would have about three to four weeks for the round trip.

Thanks guys!

[safari dude]

You can go to mapmyindia.com and see the routes.Google Earth is also a good place to start.In MP you should stick to National Highways and not take any shortcuts. We did this route some years ago and got lost around Laknadon in MP. Best to stick to NHs.
Regards,
Safari dude

[navpreet318]

just remember if you need anything just PM.....i'm in dehradun and would gladly help you in any need....

[nispatel]

Hi Ranjit,

I'm sure you have some form of road map. If don't, may I suggest you "Eicher Road Atlas for India" (Available in handy book form). I've this one as well as city maps of major Indian cities from Eicher. I can vouch them to be one of the finest maps available in India. The quality is so good that it could give competition to it's Europian counterpart. In one line, very usable maps. (I'm just an admirer of Eicher map quality. I don't get any commission for sale )

Cheer and wish you happy journey!

-nispatel

PS: Even with these maps, enquire about actual condition of road before venturing out.

[ranjit]

Thanks SafariDude (Great handle!!), Navpreet and nis.

Yes, I do have a copy of the Eicher road atlas...great stuff, like you mentioned. Will look up mapmyindia too...and navpreet...you just *might* get a surprise soon!!

[hvkumar]

Please avoid the Sagar route since you will go through some of the worst roads in India. Your route to Uttaranchal should be via Mumbai (Bangalore-Belgaum-Pune-Bombay) on NH4 and thereon on NH8 to Delhi (via Surat,Vadodara,Ahmedabad,Udaipur,Chittaurgarh,Jaip ur). This willgive you the advantage of fast safe roads (the GQ), and is almost entirely dual carriageway barring the few incomplete sections in the Chitradurga-Dharwad section. With the great roads, assuming you are a fats driver, you could make it to Pune easily by the end of the day, plan to touch down at Udaipur on Day 2 and comfortably reach Delhi at the end of Day 3.

From Delhi, the route will depend on where you plan to go in Uttaranchal - the Dehra Dun-Musoorie side or the Nainital side). I must caution you that the bets parts of Uttaranchal (the pilgrimmage trial) is now closed down thanks to winter and snowfall. You can still visit Corbett Park (best season), Nainital, Johimath/Auli (skiing season), Musoorie (but maybe not Dhanolti, if it is snowed down) and Rishikesh-Hardwar. Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri are now closed till April-May.

Roads leading out of Delhi (NH58 to Dehra Dun/Hardwar/Musoorie, and Nh24 to Corbett/Nainital) are in decent shape (except for some sections around Meerut on Nh58, and Hapur-Gajraula on Nh24).

If you elaborate where you wish to go to in Uttaranchal, I will happy to share with you my deatiled log books - Mumbai-Uttaranchal (4 Dhams, and also Rishikesh) in Sep 2005, and also my latest trip in Oct 2006 to Corbett/Nainital/Badrinath/Tehri/Musoorie.

For the same reasons I told you, I recommend that you return to Bangalore the same way (via Rajasthan) instead of through Madhya Pradesh. But in case you do want to go that way, I will be happy to share with you a detailed log book of my trip from Delhi to Bangalore via Agra,Gwalior, Jhansi,Sagar, Laknadon,Nagpur and Hyderabad. Since you are travelling with your family and not exactly on a rally, the Mumbai route is definitely the best. Of course, the roads are great all the way from Bangalore to Laknadon but bad for the next 300 kms till Lalitpur.

Kumar

[hvkumar]

The Eicher Road Atlas has several inaccuracies - I have already pointed out 88 serious errors to the editors and I am not sure whether that is the best map to rely on. Since you are travelling on the main roads, your best bet is to buy separate maps of South, West, North India (from TTK) and a detailed Uttaranchal Map. You can also visit the Uttaranchal ourism office (which I think is also there in Bangalore) and collect a detailed road map from them (which is accurate).

[BunnyPunia]

we on the great indian road trip (The Great Indian Roadtrip) have been using the eicher map book and yes, it is inaccurate in many areas
i would also recommend you to take the
mysore-bangalore-pune-mumbai-nh8-udaipur-chittor-ajmer-delhi route as it is almost 4 lane (visit NHAI::Welcome to NHAI for the road maps) and although it may be long, you will have a tension free ride on good roads thru safe places with lots of rel A1 on the way for stopping and resting.

you should easily be able to maintain an overall avg speed of around 75km/h till delhi (excluding breaks)

i believe mysore to bangalore is 140kms which should be possible in around 2 hrs (with a breakfast stop at ccd if you wish to).

Bangalore to Mumbai is via nh4 and is 956 of which around 50 is stil 2 lane, rest being 4 lane and Bangalore-Mumbai should be around 12 driving hours (again excluding breaks)

Mumbai-Delhi is all 4 lane via nh-8 (but remember to take the udaipur-chittor-ajmer route and not udaipur-ajmer directly). 1475kms should take you around 19 hours (excluding breaks)

[tifosikrishna]

hello hvkumar, are you the one from the indian highways yahoo group ??? just curious....

[iraghava]

Ranjit - I'm the resident Uttranchal Tourism help service here on the forum & am a resident of Delhi/UP so use the same roads daily which you intend to use to get from Delhi to Uttranchal.

You have been given advice of reaching till Delhi & after that hvkumar hass given you great advice about UP/Uttranchal too. If you want any specific information for routes/hotels/spots/bookings etc. PM or Call me & I'll more than happy to help.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by tifosikrishna

hello hvkumar, are you the one from the indian highways yahoo group ??? just curious....

Yes He is the highway guru from IndiaHighways....

Abhi

[naveendhyani]

i will try & find out the latest UTTRANCHAL road map i bought from uttranchal tourism outlet in nainital. it has decent details on it. if i find it i will scan it & send it across to u.

also it wud b a good investment to buy the entry level GPS & mark ur waypoints even before u leave ur home. i mean u can never get lost with that.

[ranjit]

Originally Posted by safari dude

You can go to mapmyindia.com and see the routes...
Regards,
Safari dude

With a fabulous moniker like yours, S.D., your tip about mapmyindia was equally great! It's quite fascinating, the details one can get out of it...now lets hope it's accurate!!

Hvkumar...would be SO glad to actually have the benefit of your log on your Delhi-Bangalore trip...yes, we plan to go via the Hyd-Sagar-Agra-Delhi route and use the Del-Jaipr-Mum-Blr route to return by - despite your advise against it! The 300 km run from Sagar-Lalitpur sounds daunting...worst roads in India?? Don't look forward to it at all!
Am also planning to join the Automobile Association of South India (AASI) to benefit from their services...be worth it, do you think?
A zillion thanks for your detailed advice...

Warmest,

Ranjit.

[suman]

Ranjit, you mentioned a couple of days in Delhi....when??? The only map I can send you at the moment is on how to reach my place for a drink & a bite

[ranjit]

Originally Posted by suman

Ranjit, ....The only map I can send you at the moment is on how to reach my place for a drink & a bite

Amen to that...and keep the ol' wine cellar stocked up!