Team-BHP - The Best Roads In India

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenx (Post 582867)

In terms of a combination of speed and cornering, Bangalore - Mysore is very very good. Mysore - Madikeri adds gradient to it too, but is not as smooth a surface.

Mysore - Madikeri is very scenic but at the moment its not the best road to drive on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpzen (Post 582964)

Mysore - Madikeri is very scenic but at the moment its not the best road to drive on.

Beyond Periyapatna thats true - but upto there its freshly laid, and very little traffic on it. Its a really fun drive/ride, especially in a light shower.
OTOH, I havent been on it after the recent rounds of rains - dunno if its deteriorated since my last drive to Coorg in mid June.

Some of the best roads I have travelled

For scenic beauty
Hassan - Mudigere - Kalasa - Kudremukh - Karkala
Any road around Moonar , for all the Tea estates

Toughest Road
Manali - Leh
Leh - Pengong tso
Leh - Kardung

The best road
Nubra valley with its huge valleys, massive ice covered mountains, river, sand dunes, paddy fields. I think this is the only place in the world where you can see all the above.

I'm fond of this route I take to go to shirdi through a certain village and then theres like a beautiful stretch of road on the way to bhandar dara its the highest peak in maharashtra and is the place to chill out if youre up for a few drink by the dam wall...if youve seen the shot in the movie AKS its taken there.

Ratangad Trek and Bhandardara: Beautiful surroundings: heres a link

Just back from a Hampi ride over the weekend. Took an alternative route from Bangalore - turn right before Hiriyur - nh19 methinks - towards Chellakere - Bellary. The Chellakere-Bellary stretch has to be the best maintained SH I've ever seen. Perffectly banked, mindlowingly scenic, perfect tarmac, signs for everything. The rumbler strips are a little bit of an irritant, but they really make it safer for you as well as the inhabitation they let you know about - well designed.
Ooooh - the feeling of taking a bike up through the gears through a curve and hitting 3 digits while in total peace vis-a-vis grip/traffic/safety.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenx (Post 638764)

Hiriyur - nh19 methinks - towards Chellakere - Bellary. The Chellakere-Bellary stretch has to be the best maintained SH I've ever seen. Perffectly banked, mindlowingly scenic, perfect tarmac, signs for everything. The rumbler strips are a little bit of an irritant, but they really make it safer for you as well as the inhabitation they let you know about - well designed.

Thats a nice update. Can you post a pic of the stretch. If it is that great it can be a nice alternate route to hampi.

Abhi

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenx (Post 638764)

Try the Chikamagalur/Tarikere route. I have to pinch myself to believe its a state highway and not a NH.
Of course, the scenery adds to it as well. Nice to see that SHs in Karnataka competing on quality with NHs.

VBV

Quote:

Originally Posted by akroy (Post 638816)

Thats a nice update. Can you post a pic of the stretch. If it is that great it can be a nice alternate route to hampi.

Abhi

Nothing that really captures the best parts - was too engrossed to think of pics.
Picasa Web Albums - Sameer - Hampi 2007 Bi...
The next 4-5 pix indicate the surface quality, and to a lesser extent, how beautiful the route was.

From Bellary the road's pretty bad - propah offroading experience - but after about 15-18kms (dont rber exactly) there's a fork - take the right and the backroads to Hampi are decent, if narrow, and v v scenic. The left fork continues straight on a wider, but for the most part broken road, and there's a right turn (again, dont rber the place of the name) after another 20something kms - after which the roads wide, smooth enough, and very pretty.

Just before Bellary you take a "bypass" - says "Hospet" road - cross the railway tracks and avoid the town. Lotsa dust from here on.

But the Chellakere-Bellary stretch - ooooh. Will do that again as soon as the next excuse presents itself.

And oh - Bellary is supposed to be a major moneybags place - evidence presented itself in the Audis, Safaris Scorpios that zipped past. And there was very little other traffic! All new, all zipping, all in terrific condition.

Excellent update zenx, and the tarmac reminded of the Putalapattu - Tirupati - Naidupet (SH61) where you can easily do 100-120kmph.

This route can be very handy for people doing Hampi trip since NH13 is not in the best of shape. How is the NH63 between Hospet - Bellary? You are telling it is dusty but is it potholed as well. How much time can you on expect to cover this stretch?
What was the total distance from Bangalore?

Abhi

Like I mentioned in my introduction I drove a mammoth 4300 kms recently across five states namely Maharashtra, MP, UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat...

Some of the road sections worth mentioning here are:

1. NH - 76 and NH - 74 in Rajasthan ... looks like newly constructed ... 4 - lane highways starting just outside Ajmer and culminating in the beautiful city of Udaipur ... I could easily do a 120-130 run for most part of these highways ... the occasional stray dog or rogue driver can be seen ... devoid of potholes/puddles ... absolute pleasure to drive

2. GT road ... perhaps the best road I have ever driven on ... the stretch from Kanpur to Etawah is must-drive for car and bike enthusiasts ... very scenic punctuated by green plains on both sides ... 170 odd kms of stretch ... can be done quite comfortably in less than 2 hrs with adequate breaks, if reqd

3. A newly constructed by-pass for Nagpur from Jalna (via Wardha) ... a 2-lane beauty ... very sparse traffic, makes it easy to drive even in the nights

4. from Surat to the entry point of Mumbai city ... by far the best stretch of NH-4 I encountered

5. Ahmedabad - Vadodara Expressway ... dead straight ... super-fast highway ... 90kms flat out in 40 mins is easy!