[niladri83]

I traveled till Nagpur (from Gwalior) on 14th August.
Few notes on the above -

1. Gwalior Shivpuri is in very ordinary condition, and took me a little over 2 hours.
2. Shivpuri Jhansi is part of the EW corridor, and is in great condition.
3. Jhansi bypass is under construction, so had to enter Jhansi, and it took me 2 hours to cover from Jhansi entry to Babina exit.
4. Babina to Rajmarg (~270 km) is complete 4 laned with bypass for Lalitpur and Sagar.
5. Rajmarg to Narsinghpur (~45 km) is fully under diversion mode, and took me close to 3 hours.
6. Narsinghpur to Seoni is complete 4 laned with 3 short stretches (couple of kms each) as two laned.
7. Seoni to Nagpur - this has a stretch of 20 km in between, where there are more potholes than road. This section is the worst between New Delhi and Nagpur.

[crazydave]

Hi, my wife and I are looking to drive from Delhi to Chennai, this coming December, and then drive all the way back. We'll be going in our 110 Duster. We are not speedfreaks and do not have any deadline to reach Chennai. We would ideally like to do it within 3 days, each direction. Some key requirements are:

1. No night driving
2. Good halts for the night. Any suggestions?
3. Some good food joints to stop at - suggestions here would be great!

Google Maps suggests that we follow Delhi-Sagar, Sagar-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Chennai as a route. How would that be in reality? Any other suggestions on the route are much appreciated!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by crazydave

Hi, my wife and I are looking to drive from Delhi to Chennai, this coming December, and then drive all the way back. We'll be going in our 110 Duster. We are not speedfreaks and do not have any deadline to reach Chennai. We would ideally like to do it within 3 days, each direction. Some key requirements are:

1. No night driving
2. Good halts for the night. Any suggestions?
3. Some good food joints to stop at - suggestions here would be great!

Google Maps suggests that we follow Delhi-Sagar, Sagar-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Chennai as a route. How would that be in reality? Any other suggestions on the route are much appreciated!

Stick to the route via BOmbay instead of the Cenral India route which not only has terrible road conditions in some stretches but also has poor facilities.

You could drive as follows:

D1: Delhi-Udaipur/ Himmatnagar
D2: Udaipur/ Himmatnagar-Bombay/ Pune
D3: Bombay/ Pune-Bangalore

[crazydave]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Stick to the route via BOmbay instead of the Cenral India route which not only has terrible road conditions in some stretches but also has poor facilities.

You could drive as follows:

D1: Delhi-Udaipur/ Himmatnagar
D2: Udaipur/ Himmatnagar-Bombay/ Pune
D3: Bombay/ Pune-Bangalore

Thank you HVK-ji. Is there a routing that would make the trip possible within 3 days - if starting early and ending at evening/dusk? Is this a possible routing?
D1: Delhi-Vadodara
D2: Vadodara-Hubli
D3: Hubli-Chennai

[ampere]

Originally Posted by crazydave

Thank you HVK-ji. Is there a routing that would make the trip possible within 3 days - if starting early and ending at evening/dusk? Is this a possible routing?

Seems quite hectic at 1000km per day. Of course Duster is a great car for the highways. But do keep fatigue part in mind. You are doing near 1000 per day for three days in a row.

[crazydave]

Originally Posted by ampere

Seems quite hectic at 1000km per day. Of course Duster is a great car for the highways. But do keep fatigue part in mind. You are doing near 1000 per day for three days in a row.

You are right of course, guess I will have to change my plans to a 3.5 day drive. One more question I had was on how to avoid getting stuck in traffic at Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore on this route? Given the nearly 800-900 kms of driving per day, dont want to spend hours in a traffic jam (which I've experienced at Jaipur, Mumbai and Bangalore outskirts personally on other occasions)

[ampere]

Originally Posted by crazydave

You are right of course, guess I will have to change my plans to a 3.5 day drive. One more question I had was on how to avoid getting stuck in traffic at Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore on this route? Given the nearly 800-900 kms of driving per day, dont want to spend hours in a traffic jam (which I've experienced at Jaipur, Mumbai and Bangalore outskirts personally on other occasions)

Jaipur : No Idea
Mumbai : HVK has an amazingly detailed excel file for the same. Check with him
Pune : No issues. I think E-way to NH 4-lane GQ automatically takes care of it
Bangalore: You have NICE road (a 4-lane bypass road) that takes you from NH4 to NH7. You can see in Google maps.

[phamilyman]

I did Delhi-Jaipur (4 hours on day 0), Jaipur-Navi Mumbai (20 hours, lots of rain/bad headlights), NM-BLR (20km before NICe road entry, in 12 hours), BLR-Chennai (4-4.5 hours easy).

But day 1/2 were boring as hell. I would suggest taking 5 days if you wanna enjoy IMHO. Scenery would be crap at this time as well - far less monsoon greenery!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I would suggest taking 5 days if you wanna enjoy IMHO. Scenery would be crap at this time as well - far less monsoon greenery!

Makes sense. Take a day or two off. Visit places around Belgaum/Hubli/Kolhapur/Satara/Kaas etc. Would be really worth. There are many such places for which you may not come back to visit all the way. Kaas/Bamnoli around Satara for example even without flowers would be woth checking out.

There are many such places around Pune/Satara.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by crazydave

Thank you HVK-ji. Is there a routing that would make the trip possible within 3 days - if starting early and ending at evening/dusk? Is this a possible routing?
D1: Delhi-Vadodara
D2: Vadodara-Hubli
D3: Hubli-Chennai

Yes, that is possible. Start early by 4-5 am, but day may end at 6-8 pm.
Alternativley, D1: Udaipur, D2: Bombay, D3: Madras (extended day)

Originally Posted by ampere

Seems quite hectic at 1000km per day. Of course Duster is a great car for the highways. But do keep fatigue part in mind. You are doing near 1000 per day for three days in a row.

"Highway" lag is a big issue during such long cross-country drives. be sure you have the mental stamina to take on 3 days of continuous driving.

Originally Posted by crazydave

You are right of course, guess I will have to change my plans to a 3.5 day drive. One more question I had was on how to avoid getting stuck in traffic at Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore on this route? Given the nearly 800-900 kms of driving per day, dont want to spend hours in a traffic jam (which I've experienced at Jaipur, Mumbai and Bangalore outskirts personally on other occasions)

With an early start from Delhi, no problems with jams on Delhi-Jaipur sector.
Crossing MUmbai is peaceful except during evening peak hours. If you leave from Baroda on D2, then you will cross Bombay region during the off-hours. If you stay in Bombay region, then you can beat evening traffic & make a peaceful exit early next morning.
Pune is a bigger problem, ensure you cross it either early morning (before 8 am) or after 10 pm, at least avoid in the morning from 8 am - 10 am, and evening from 5 - 8 pm.
Bangalore is no problem at all, except during weekends or holiday season when you can expect heavy traffic in Bangalore-Hosur sector.

Originally Posted by ampere

Jaipur : No Idea
Mumbai : HVK has an amazingly detailed excel file for the same. Check with him
Pune : No issues. I think E-way to NH 4-lane GQ automatically takes care of it
Bangalore: You have NICE road (a 4-lane bypass road) that takes you from NH4 to NH7. You can see in Google maps.

Happy to share.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by crazydave

Hi, my wife and I are looking to drive from Delhi to Chennai, this coming December, and then drive all the way back. We'll be going in our 110 Duster. We are not speedfreaks and do not have any deadline to reach Chennai. We would ideally like to do it within 3 days, each direction. Some key requirements are:

1. No night driving
2. Good halts for the night. Any suggestions?
3. Some good food joints to stop at - suggestions here would be great!

Google Maps suggests that we follow Delhi-Sagar, Sagar-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Chennai as a route. How would that be in reality? Any other suggestions on the route are much appreciated!

Stick to the Madras-Bangalore-Bombay-Udaipur-Jaipur-Delhi route. Good roads. Excellent facilities. Totally safe.

Avoid the central India route which has lots of bad sections and poorest of facilities.

[crazydave]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Yes, that is possible. Start early by 4-5 am, but day may end at 6-8 pm.
Alternativley, D1: Udaipur, D2: Bombay, D3: Madras (extended day)

"Highway" lag is a big issue during such long cross-country drives. be sure you have the mental stamina to take on 3 days of continuous driving.

With an early start from Delhi, no problems with jams on Delhi-Jaipur sector.
Crossing MUmbai is peaceful except during evening peak hours. If you leave from Baroda on D2, then you will cross Bombay region during the off-hours. If you stay in Bombay region, then you can beat evening traffic & make a peaceful exit early next morning.

Pune is a bigger problem, ensure you cross it either early morning (before 8 am) or after 10 pm, at least avoid in the morning from 8 am - 10 am, and evening from 5 - 8 pm.

Bangalore is no problem at all, except during weekends or holiday season when you can expect heavy traffic in Bangalore-Hosur sector.

Happy to share.

Thanks very much HVK-ji for your detailed inputs. Since my wife will also be driving (though I will do the bulk of it), I think we should be able to manage 3-3.5 days of non-stop driving. We do have the option as well of slowing it down in the middle a bit, if we feel so too. Thanks!

[pushpender_s]

Hi
I will be doing Chennai-Delhi in 2nd week of April.
Planning to cover it via central India.
Below is the identified route.
Chennai-Hyderabad-Nagpur-Sagar-Jhansi-Agra-Delhi.
Pl suggest the road conditions and suitable places for sightseeing and overnight stays.
Planning to cover in 4 days and ride would be my Hyundai Verna with me as the sole driver along with my parents and my 1 yr old niece.

Originally Posted by pushpender_s

Chennai-Hyderabad-Nagpur-Sagar-Jhansi-Agra-Delhi.

I drove on this route in September 2014. Please click the following links for details:

Chennai to Hyderabad

Hyderabad to Delhi

Trip updates

[pushpender_s]

Hi
Can anyone suggest a suitable hotel in nagpur for 1 night stay.

Need any accommodation on my way from hyderbad to gwalior.

I will be taking a night stay on 13th april in nagpur.

Thanks