[nishantbhatia84]

Hello fellow TBhpians!

I hope everyone reading this is keeping well and safe.

Now that things are (gradually) opening up, and interstate travel is allowed without any e-pass or covid19 negative certificate (in most states I guess?), it's time for me to address the road trip itch! Something that I have been longing to do since a long time now.

I am an early planner and like to research/take suggestions/tips about the entire trip, the route, etc as much possible. (the more info I get it gets better!)

So here I am, with my interim plan of this road trip. Please share your feedback/suggestions/recommendations/experiences, as they will all help me plan and execute a smooth trip.
Let’s get started!!

The car: Ford EcoSport AT (2015), done 80k recently serviced, will be getting a preventive check-up before the trip
The drivers: Me and the wife
The time: Starting 19th December 2020 till 3rd Jan 2021
The destination: McLeodganj
The base: Mumbai

Itinerary #1:

• Day 1: Saturday, December 19, 2020, 04:00hrs: Depart from Mumbai, drive 735kms to Udaipur. Should take 12-14hrs IMO (with breaks). Halt at Udaipur overnight.

• Day 2: Sunday, December 20, 2020, 06:00hrs: Depart from Udaipur, drive 624kms to Gurgaon. Should take about 14hrs I guess. Overnight halt at Gurgaon.

• Day 3: Monday, December 21, 2020, 05:00hrs: Depart from Gurgaon, drive 512kms to McLeodganj, should take about 12hrs or more. Stay 3 nights at McLeodganj.

• Day 6: December 24, 2020, 08:00hrs: Depart from McLeodganj and drive 43kms to Palanpur, about 3hrs max. Stay 3 nights at Palanpur, with day trips to Bir-Biling and surroundings.

• Day 9: December 27, 2020, 06:00hrs: Depart from Palanpur, drive 166kms to Manikaran which should take about 8-9hrs. Stay 2 nights at Manikaran.

• Day 12: December 29, 2020, 05:00hrs: Depart from Manikaran, drive 316kms to Ambala which is estimated to take about 12hrs. Stay overnight at Ambala.

• Day 13: December 30, 2020, 21:00hrs: Depart from Ambala, drive 855kms thru the night to Udaipur – aiming to reach there by 14:00-15:00hrs. Overnight stay at Udaipur. (Might even halt at Jaipur if the drive gets too tiring)

• Day 14: Jan 1, 2021, 07:00-08:00hrs: Depart from Udaipur, drive 735kms to Mumbai; if we halt at Jaipur, we shall drive till Ahmedabad or Vadodara and leave from there on 2nd Jan, 2021.

This how my itinerary #1 has panned out. As I said earlier, any, and all suggestions are welcome!

Itinerary #2: (I am only mentioning the outbound plan for this one as the return plan is the same as with itinerary #1)

• Day 1: Saturday, December 19, 2020, 04:00hrs: Depart from Mumbai, drive 393kms to Vadodara. Should take 8-9hrs IMO (with breaks). Check-in to a proper hotel and get good rest.

• Day 1 & 2: Saturday, December 19, 2020, 22:00hrs: Depart from Vadodara, drive 739kms overnight to Jaipur reaching on Sunday, December 20, 2020. Should take about 14-15hrs I guess. Overnight halt at Jaipur.

• Day 3: Monday, December 21, 2020, 05:00hrs: Depart from Jaipur, drive 523kms to Chandigarh which should take about 10-12hrs. Overnight stay at Chandigarh.

• Day 4: Tuesday: December 22, 2020, 05:00hrs: Depart from Chandigarh, drive 244kms to McLeodganj (should take about 8-9hrs?)

Both these plans are at a very early stage and I have full flexibility to make as many amends I want, considering I have sufficient time at hand.
Please note that I have considered the fact that it shall be extremely cold in the mountains during December, but we are fine with that.
In my past road trips I have always done overnight drives, as I find those extremely peaceful and time-saving. I’m cautious this time considering there might be a lot of fog on the Jaipur-Delhi route, hence switching to the day drive on Itinerary #2.

Thanks for all the help, in advance!

Take care and stay safe!

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread moved to the route & travel queries section!

[//M]

While roads are mostly fine with enough amenities like roadside eateries and fuel stations alongwith comfortable hotels and resorts, I'm very sceptical of your itinerary on Day 3 and Day 13. You have not factored in the insane North Indian foggy winters. The cold is manageable but the fog can be very nasty on some days during late December, till mid January.

This itinerary looks great on a normal day but might look a little stretched on couple of days if we factor in the fog and it's intensity. On some days, you cannot even judge lane markers on the road till almost 10 AM, making driving on highways extremely unsafe till almost 11-11:30 AM. Fog is surely uncertain and unpredictable so nobody can assure you the occurrence of fog on a specific day but it will be wise to factor in the possibility of intense fog on a cold morning and plan your drives accordingly, not only the Jaipur - Delhi section but all highways runs in Haryana as well as Punjab.

[Cessna182]

Just a suggestion- do visit the palace in Vadodara and the Gandhi Ahdram, Riverfront in Ahmedabad. If you like food, the Patang restaurant in Ahmedabad is also recommended. That restaurant is the only revolving one I know of in India (correct me if I am wrong) and if there's water in the Sabarmati, it is a good experience. Best wishes for the trip. Carry basic pain relief medicines like Paracetamol, food supplies like readymade vegetables etc and buy an altitude sickness kit from the stores in the hills (mostly they sell refundable kits that you can get your money back for if you don't use them). Saying this because once we got stuck on the Udaipur Ahmedabad highway because of a landslide, and another time a family member faced issues in the hills and we had to stop the journey. Thanks.

[nishantbhatia84]

Originally Posted by //M

The cold is manageable but the fog can be very nasty on some days during late December, till mid January.

Thanks for the heads-up! I have been made aware of the fog situation and have factored in an extra day in case it impacts the distance I am able to drive on a particular day.
For Day 3: I think it will be fine even if we are forced to leave a bit late in the morning, as it does not matter to me at what time we reach McLeod.
For Day 13: Again, have factored-in an extra day in case fog impacts the distance we are able to cover.

Originally Posted by Cessna182

Just a suggestion- do visit the palace in Vadodara and the Gandhi Ashram, Riverfront in Ahmedabad.

Thanks for the suggestions, however this time I won't have the bandwidth to cover these places. Will keep them on my visit list though!

[2000rpm]

Palampur is a small town, wont need 3 days of stay there. Mcleodganj, you should extend and add Triund to the itinerary (if not included already)

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

It is going to be chilling and snowing during December.

Please search for travelogues by HVKumar (Mumbai - Delhi - HP) and mod tsk and another from Kanyakumari.

Edit - links below.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...la-manali.html (Snow Hunt -Bombay to Dalhousie, Dharamasala, Amritsar, Bhakra-Nangal, Shimla & Manali)


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/186323-8597-kms-drive-exploring-himachal-amritsar-khajjiar-dalhousie-dharamshala-manali-chail.html (8597 Kms Drive - Exploring Himachal! Amritsar – Khajjiar – Dalhousie – Dharamshala – Manali - Chail)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/124360-crusoe-climbs-new-heights-kalatop-khajjiar-mcleodganj-dharmshala-4-days.html (Crusoe climbs new heights – Kalatop, Khajjiar, Mcleodganj and Dharmshala in 4 days)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ht=dharamshala (Palampur, Mcleodganj,Dharamshala travelogue)

[nitishk]

Driving though North India in winters, you have to factor for Fog related delays. That one can get really ugly.

[Vinod_nair]

As many have suggested to factor in the Dec Jan fog, which can get severe in the hills.

Try and get yourself a LED bar fog light, something as below.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...ml#post4898022 (Auxiliary Lamps)
All the best

[nishantbhatia84]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Palampur is a small town, wont need 3 days of stay there.

Reason being 24th I'll be exploring around Palanpur and 25th we're planning Bir-Biling. 26th is my wedding anniversary so the day is reserved for time with the wife!

Originally Posted by nitishk

Driving though North India in winters, you have to factor for Fog related delays. That one can get really ugly.

Originally Posted by Vinod_nair

As many have suggested to factor in the Dec Jan fog, which can get severe in the hills.

Have factored in the fog but now starting to get worried about it impairing the entire trip! Will do some more research on this since I have enough time at hand.
Meanwhile, please keep the suggestions coming as they are extremely helpful!

[88_TANK_88]

Originally Posted by //M

While roads are mostly fine with enough amenities like roadside eateries and fuel stations alongwith comfortable hotels and resorts, I'm very sceptical of your itinerary on Day 3 and Day 13.

This itinerary looks great on a normal day but might look a little stretched on couple of days if we factor in the fog and it's intensity. On some days, you cannot even judge lane markers on the road till almost 10 AM, making driving on highways extremely unsafe till almost 11-11:30 AM.

Day 3 & 13 do raise doubts. Fog would be a big issue definitely along with reduced duration of daylight, specially in hills. IMO try to add more breaks in between.

[rdst_1]

IMO, you guys shouldn't be stopping at Palampur at all. It isn't a tourist town and I don't know what you guys have planned there for 3 days. You should plan on coming straight to Bir from Mcleodganj which will only take you 2 hours. Bir is a proper tourist town with many cafes dotted around town and with many beautiful views and small hikes one can go on.

[MadinMumbai]

Last few year advent of fog over north India is getting later and later. December is by and large clear in the plains. I don’t know if fog is as much of an issue in the hills unless it is accompanied by rain, in which case all bets are off.

[nishantbhatia84]

Originally Posted by 88_TANK_88

Fog would be a big issue definitely along with reduced duration of daylight

As I mentioned in the previous posts, I've kept a couple of days as buffer in case the distance I can cover gets severely impacted by fog.

Originally Posted by rdst_1

IMO, you guys shouldn't be stopping at Palampur at all.

The reason for staying at Palanpur is because it has a good hotel we prefer. But as you said, I might keep Palanpur for just my anniversary day and instead stay at McLeod or maybe even Bir.

Originally Posted by MadinMumbai

Last few year advent of fog over north India is getting later and later.

That's a relief! Last evening I spoke with a couple of people who stay at Delhi and have done extensive road trips from there, and they all said that whilst fog is unpredictable, it is highly unlikely that my trip would get severely hampered. Worst case scenario I might lose about 12-14hrs due to fog.

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by nishantbhatia84

The reason for staying at Palanpur is because it has a good hotel we prefer. But as you said, I might keep Palanpur for just my anniversary day and instead stay at McLeod or maybe even Bir.

If that's the case, then even McLeodganj has a Hyatt. But trust me on this, when you are visiting Himachal, you should be more excited about the views outside your room than what's inside the room. Having said that, having Palampur (not Palanpur as you keep saying) as a base can actually be a good decision as well,because both Bir and McLeodganj are an hour away from Palampur and you can easily visit any of them daily and still stay in Palampur.