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-   -   LUDHIANA to MUMBAI via NH3 or NH8??? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/44979-ludhiana-mumbai-via-nh3-nh8.html)

Guys! I am planning a trip with my wife and 4 year old son on my car. We are shifting to Mumbai. I was just wondering how safe is to drive by my car (an Accent CRDi) through which route?

Ludhiana to Delhi on NH1 is ok. But after Delhi to Mumbai some of my friends are asking me to go through Indore i.e. on NH3 and the other option is NH8 via Ahmedabad/Vadodara.(which is now on high alert areas)

Some Factors come in mind: How much time/days will it take? Conditions of Roads? Where to stay/stops? and most of all Is It safe???

Please suggest, i am planning to leave next week!

Thanks in advance!

High alert? What for? Didn't hear anything of this sort. People like HVK have done it in 17.5 hrs flat. But I suggest, since you are with family take it easy. NH8 is what I recommend you. Great roads. Total distance from Gurgaon is 1450 kms. From gurgaon drive to Udaipur and take a night stop.

Leave next day morning and reach Mumbai by evening. If you want to look around Udaipur and other places then the time will increase. If you start from Ludhiana at 4 am, then you can make it to Udaipur by evening. It is entirely safe on NH8 unless you have some very very bad luck and an angry Murphy against you...:)

Please do not take Nh3 - perpetual disaster. As Guru mentioned, it is NH8. If you leave early from Ludhiana (say, 4 am), you will lose some time navigating Delhi in peak hour traffic (8-9ish). Reaching Udaipur is posisble but that will mean some stubborn fast driving, with limited/ without any serious halts. You can halt at Bhilwara, Chittorgarh or Udaipur, depending on how you do that day. Day 2 is quite OK, and even the South Gujarat (Baroda-Surat) have improved somewhat (a friend drove from Surat to Baroda without too much of delay today morning). No safety issues. Hotels inside Bhilwara town, Chittorgarh town (Hotel Padmini, RTDC Hotel Panna) and Udaipur bypass.

In case you want details of the route, please read the following link which has my log books of the Ludhiana-Bombay route:

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS North India, Dec 2007
Please read up Bombay-Ludhiana route. Bombay-Delhi took 19 hours (thanks to delays in South Gujarat, against an earlier best time of 17 hours), and drive from Delhi-Ludhiana was troubled by heavy zero-visibility December fog (average speed less than 30 kmph, plus unscheduled halts).

High alert? Ahmedabad and Baroda are as safe as any other city.
Incidentally, both cities have beautiful bypasses, you don't go anywhere near the cities.

As HVK and Guru said, DON'T take NH3, it a plan that would take min 3 full days of aggressive driving. NH8 is much better in average speeds and 4 tracked almost all the way.

No alterts NOW between Baroda and Surat, the alert was, I guess, due to the floods. As of yesterday evening the section is smoother, a friend did Ahmedabad - Ankleswar in 4 hours, so you should plan for 5 hours minimum from Ahmedabad to Surat and ideally a cushion of 2/3 hours for bottlenecks in this section.

Hapy Driving,

--Ramky

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Last year I had used both the routes, and observed the following.
Overall route:I started from Delhi and went to Bhuj. From Bhuj I went to Mumbai via Ahmedabad. From Mumbai I drove down to Kapurthala via Indore, Gwalior and Delhi.
Veh used: Honda City 2004.
Drive: Solo from Delhi/Noida to Bhuj. Car packed with household stuff.
With my wife and 2 year old son from Bhuj to Mumbai and Kapurthala.
Leg 1: Started from Noida at 1530h and reached Jaipur Cantonment at 1900h. I had planned a stay at Jaipur, that is why I started late from Noida. No comments about this beautiful span of tarmac barring that Peepul tree in the middle of the road when nearing Jaipur.
If one is not planning a stay in Jaipur, then a bypass which is around 15 kms away from Jaipur off the main highway will take you around the city and save around 40 minutes.
Leg 2: A eight lane toll road(read runway) lead you to Udaipur. I averaged 130kms in an hour on this road. (OT. I got impressed with a DICOR Safari ahead of me whom I could not overtake even after floorin my gas pedal and pushing the car to 160!)
This is a place where you travell very fast.
I made it straight to Bhuj on the same day after starting from Jaipur.
Leg 3: The toll road ends after Udaipur, but it is fairly good till the border of Gujarat. Abu Road strech slows you down in comparison to the earlier timings achieved.
Leg 4: Ahmedabad to Mumbai has the worst road on the entire route. The traffic is heavy and there are a lot of truckers lined up on it. The conditon of the road is also not appreciable compared when coming from Punjab.One must plan to leave Ahmedamad in the morning for going towards Mumbai taking into consideration the above factors.
Negotiating Mumbai was also time taking as I had to drive uptill Colaba.

Leg 5: Mumbai to Indore has bad roads which led my silencer to slip out from its' montings as the underbody touched the road a many occasions. I also lost a brand new tyre due to a cut because of the jagged stones strewn on the road. The ghat section near Mhow is really bad and even the truckers find it difficult to negotiate. You will find plenty of them stranded in the middle of the road due to mechanical failure and help far off. I could not get my car fixed till the time I reached Mhow(30 kms before Indore.
Leg 6: Indore - Gwalior is afairly good strech compared to Leg 5 above. However there are few eating joints and repair and recovery places.
Leg 7: Gwalior - Delhi run is very smooth as far as roads are conpared to the earlier roads. One has to keep his eyes open for the Agra bypass if the city is to be avoided.

Additional Notes.
1. The route Delhi - Udaipur - Mumbai is shorter as compared to Delhi - Indore - Mumbai.
2. More family oriented eating joints and also more like minded traffic on Delhi - Udaipur - Mumbai route.

we have done this trip quite many times now ..

NH8 route is fine , roads are awesome and safe .There is no problem of food , hotels and petrol station ( but don't let your car go below half tank)!!!

You can reach mumbai in 2 days flat but you have young son with you so better is to do this trip in 3 days !!