[Rangy62]

Dear All,

I plan to be in Bangalore post Dussera till Diwali this year and have finalized a road trip during this time. I will be driving with my wife in our XL6. I have planned as mentioned below and would welcome any suggestions on routes, hotels etc to improve my journey.

13th Oct- Day 1: Bangalore to Rajahmundry, Night halt at Manjeera Sarovar.
14th Oct- Day 2: Rajahmundry to Puri, stay at Hotel Golden Palace Rivera.
15th Oct- Day 3: visit to Sri Jaganath Temple, stay in Puri.
16th Oct- Day 4: Puri to Jamshedpur, original plan to drive to Gaya but decided to break journey, Hotel Ginger.
17th Oct-Day 5: Jamshedpur to Gaya, still looking at suitable hotels
18th Oct- Day 6: Perform Gaya Shradh and stay in Gaya.
19th Oct- Day 7: Gaya to Sitamarhi, still looking at a suitable hotel.
20th Oct- Day 8: Sitamarhi to Janakpuri Nepal and return by cab.
21st Oct- Day 9: Sitamarhi to Ayodhya, stay at Hotel Kronosco.
22nd Oct- Day 10: visit Temples in Ayodhya and stay in Ayodhya,
23rd Oct- Day 11: Ayodhya to Naimisha Aranyaka Theerth, stay for about an hour and continue to Prayagraj, stay at Hotel Kanha Sham.
24th Oct- Day 12: Visit Triveni Sangam and drive to Varnasi, still looking at a suitable hotel. Visit temples in Varnasi in the evening.
25th Oct- Day 13: Varnasi to Jabalpur or further down to Pench, stay in Pench.
26th Oct- Day 14: Jabalpur/Pench to Tadoba, stay at MTDC Tadoba.
27th & 28th Oct- Day 15&16: safaris in Tadoba
29th Oct- Day 17: Tadoba to Hyderabad, stay in Hyderabad looking for a suitable hotel.
30th Oct- Day 18: visit Ramanuja statue and drive back to Bangalore.

Whew! That’s it.

My vehicle is 2022 model and run about 12000kms. These kilometers were clocked on my visits to India. The vehicle is parked and a brief run once in a while is done. Wondering if I should change the tyres as the vehicle is standing still for a long time and I will be driving around 5600 Kms on this trip.

Ranganath

[krishbvmk]

13th October being Dussehra period, you can expect heavy traffic in AP state. Better take a break at Vijayawada or Eluru

[Rangy62]

Thank you for your input, last day of dussera being 12th Oct, I planned to leave on 13th. Will keep my options open. Any hotel suggestions at Elluru and Vijaywada closer to the highway.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Rangy62

23rd Oct- Day 11: Ayodhya to Naimisha Aranyaka Theerth, stay for about an hour and continue to Prayagraj, stay at Hotel Kanha Sham.
24th Oct- Day 12: Visit Triveni Sangam and drive to Varnasi, still looking at a suitable hotel. Visit temples in Varnasi in the evening.
25th Oct- Day 13: Varnasi to Jabalpur or further down to Pench, stay in Pench.

For Prayagraj, Varanasi and Jabalpur, you may refer to my report from last year. We spent a couple of days in Jabalpur, four in Varanasi and then two in Prayagraj.

As for hotels,

Jabalpur: Shawn Elizey is a really good property. It is right by the highway so you don't have to enter the city. It is also a short drive from Bhedaghat.

Varanasi: you can choose to stay close to the ghats at the expense of having to navigate through the massive chaos of city traffic and also have challenges with regards to parking / quality of the hotel, or you can stay on the other side of the Ganga and take an auto/taxi to the ghats. We chose the latter and stayed at the Ramada in Katesar. Took us about 20min to the ghats.

Prayagraj: we stayed at the WelcomHeritage Badi Kothi, that is quite a nice property and close to Triveni Sangam. Only drawback is, it is located in the heart of a neighbourhood so quite narrow lanes to get to it.

The roads in MP and UP are stunning, so you'll enjoy driving through the states.

[Rangy62]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

For Prayagraj, Varanasi and Jabalpur, you may refer

Thank you Libran. Apologies for the delay as I was traveling.

Any suggestions for hotels in Puri and Gaya. Browsing through various websites but not very happy with the choices. I don’t mind furnished apartments too. Thanks in advance.

[A_Basu]

I too am looking for hotel options in Gaya because I need to go there for pinda-daan, but from the information I gathered, it seems like the only viable option in Gaya is at the dharmashala of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha. I've been advised to stay over at Bodh Gaya (which has better hotels) and drive over to Gaya (~20 kms) for the rituals.

I've stayed over at Marasa Sarovar in Bodh Gaya more than once. It's a nice property, but the last 200 meters approach road is horrible. I plan to check out Royal Residency or the Bodhi Palace Resort on my next visit.

Hope this helps.

[Rangy62]

Originally Posted by A_Basu

I too am looking for hotel options in Gaya

Hello, I have been researching a bit and found this homestay Dwarka Homestay. This place has some very good reviews. They have onsite parking as well. Hope this helps you.

[Rangy62]

Appreciate inputs! With the travel dates very close now, I am all set for our drive starting this weekend. The route for Bengaluru to Puri is clear. I was looking at best options for driving from Puri to Jamshedpur. Any tips on routes and road conditions will be very helpful.
Many thanks in advance

[A_Basu]

Originally Posted by Rangy62

I was looking at best options for driving from Puri to Jamshedpur. Any tips on routes and road conditions will be very helpful.

Last week, I drove from Bhubaneswar to Gaya. I did not take the Jamshedpur route. Instead, I chose to take the Bbsr - Kharagpur - Durgapur - Dobhi - Gaya route (with a night halt at Durgapur to break the journey). This route is NH-16, NH-14, and NH-19 till Dobhi; thereafter, the Dobhi-Gaya highway. By-and-large okay. Jharkhand roads are the best. Bihar has a couple of diversions, but these diversions are also paved (and not mud tracks like in Odisha and Bengal). Odisha, the rightmost lanes have (i) deep ruts of truck tyres (ii) cattle. Bengal roads have barriers and rumble strips and oftentimes, narrow single carriageway passing through bazaars in villages. Speeds in Bengal will have to be low. Sedate speeds in Odisha due to cattle, diversions, and ruts. Best speeds in Jharkhand and also in Bihar to a large extent.

I avoided the Jamshedpur route because I wasn't sure of road conditions post monsoons, and that route has some slopes too.

For the shraddha rituals at Gaya, you might find this post of mine useful: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post5854705 (Gaya/ Bodhgaya)

Originally Posted by Rangy62

Any suggestions for hotels in Puri and Gaya.

For Puri, I'd recco Hotel Victoria Club (but they might be booked full for the Dusshera period) or Sonar Bangla. Or, you could try Toshali Sands, which is a little way away from Puri.

For Gaya, I suggest staying at Bodh Gaya. I've stayed at these two places, and both are good, but the Sarovar property has a horrible approach road: Marasa Sarovar and The Bodhi Palace Resort. The second hotel is closer to Bodh Gaya.

[Rangy62]

I have already booked hotels in Jamshedpur, so I guess it’s a bit late to make changes. The route which I am being shown is Puri, BBSR, Cuttack on NH 16 and further up turn on NH20 to Jamshedpur. Hope this route is good. It also borders the Similipal National park. The time taken on this route is around 9 hours as per google maps. Thank you A_Basu for your inputs.