[danish_c]

Hi guys....
I am planning to drive down from Bangalore to New Delhi next month, over a period of 15 days Plan to do some sightseeing along the way.
Here's my tentative route:
Bangalore-->Tumkur->Shimoga-Goa*->Ajra->Nipani->Kolhlapur->Pune->Bombay*->Daman->Surat*->Baroda->Ahmedabad*->Udaipur*->Ajmer*->Jaipur*->Delhi
Places marked with '*' = Night halts + Sightseeing

Does anybody have any updates on the highways I am planning to take. I went through some of the posts here, and then came up with this route. Would appreciate any updates/suggestions! Road conditions?Safety?Highway help?

I will be drving in a 2004 Alto Lxi, plan no night driving.

[danish_c]

I will be driving in a 2004 Alto Lxi, plan no night driving especially because there would be two girls in the car. Any non-obvious safety issues? Any routes I should avoid?

For the "just in case" cases:
I have plotted Maruti Authorised Service stations on my map (every 80-100 Kms) and also have a list of sub-divisional police stations of each district I pass all the way to Delhi

Any other ideas? Any info on Road conditions?Safety?Good eating joints? Hotels?Must visits! Info on Highway help and patrols would be of great help!

Anything guys to make my trip better !

Will post the link of the blog and Google Map when its all ready!

[khan_sultan]

Great. Best of luck & best wishes.

You will find all the info you need here.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...s-6000kms.html

Cheers,

[Taz-On-The-Road]

Originally Posted by danish_c

Hi guys....
I am planning to drive down from Bangalore to New Delhi next month, over a period of 15 days Plan to do some sightseeing along the way.
Here's my tentative route:
Bangalore-->Tumkur->Shimoga-Goa*->Ajra->Nipani->Kolhlapur->Pune->Bombay*->Daman->Surat*->Baroda->Ahmedabad*->Udaipur*->Ajmer*->Jaipur*->Delhi
Places marked with '*' = Night halts + Sightseeing

Does anybody have any updates on the highways I am planning to take. I went through some of the posts here, and then came up with this route. Would appreciate any updates/suggestions! Road conditions?Safety?Highway help?

I will be drving in a 2004 Alto Lxi, plan no night driving.

Most of the roads that u will be travelling on are a pleasure to drive on.
Bangalore-Goa via Shimoga is pretty good throughout except for a few patches near Tarikere.
Why don't you take Goa-Mumbai via Ratnagiri. Anyways, the Ajra-Amboli stretch is scenic but the road surface is a little rough. Nipani onwards is an awesome drive all the way upto Pune. Pune-Mumbai is an expressway as you might be aware.
Mumbai-Surat is a so-so drive with great stretches followed by pretty ordinary ones. Make sure you leave Mumbai early enough in the morning to avoid being stuck in the horrible truck traffic on this road.
Surat bypass is incomplete snd so are stretches around Ankleshwar and Bharuch. So it will take you some time to do the Surat-Baroda stretch.
Baroda-Ahmedabad is according to me the best expressway that exists in India right now. 105 km of ramrod straight roads and drivers with excellent traffic sense. Do not miss the drive on this road. I am getting goosebumps remembering my drive here just a week back.
Ahmedabad bypass is a 2-lane high traffic road. After this, the roads upto Udaipur are excellent 4-laned roads. Udaipur-Ajmer via Rajsamand is 2-lane but high-class tarmac and it is advisable to use this road rather than traverse the GQ through Chittorgarh that is quite a few km extra in distance.
The first 30 km of Ajmer-Jaipur is a 2-laned highway with a lot of traffic but thereafter you get to drive on another great stretch of highway that exists in India. The Jaipur-Ajmer road is 6-lane and in one word is fantabulous.
Jaipur-Delhi is also 4-laned highway which then connects to the Gurgaon-Delhi expressway.
Hope this helps.

[Drivealot]

Hi Danish , From your message I am of the impression that you are planning a holiday. If thats the case then my suggestion is as under. My reason for suggesting this is that I have driven all these stretches no of times .
Anyway here goes.
Drive from Bangalore to Mangalore and join the NH17 heading to Goa. The drive from Mangalore to Goa is stunning as you will be driving by the beach side then up& down the hill with each corner a photographic delight.
Just off Mangalore towards Goa you could stop at the Beautifull Malpe beach. Paradise Isle Beach Resort, Malpe, Udupi

There are other beautiful Resorts enroute and you can take a break anywhere.
Pls see the weblink for Resorts in Coastal Karnataka Hotels and Beach Resorts in Coastal Karnataka

Pls see the website of this resort at Gokarna Official Website: SwaSwara . Om Beach. A New Yoga destination
ITS V.good

At Karwar Estuary View Resorts

Goa is a place most people have visited in their life time but my idea of FUN is to see a lot of Off–beat destinations. Hence I would like to suggest that you skip the stopover part of Goa. Once you have stopped at any of the beach resorts in Malpe, Karwar or Gokarna you will not feel like stopping at Goa.
Continue driving on NH17 past Panjim thru Savantwadi :::::::::: Lotus Resort :::::::::: and past Kanakavali turn right towards Gaganbavda heading towards Kolhapur and then on to Pune. or take the Ajra- Nipani route
Pls note the above lotus group of hotels have some lovely resorts in Karwar , Goa, Aronda, etc. Pls see above web site.
If you really don’t mind the serpentine like Roads of NH17 then you could continue past Savantwadi on the same Road driving close to Ratnagiri KOHINOOR SAMUDRA & subsequently passing thro Sangameshwar and then Chiplun (Good resorts at Chiplun as well.) Khed ,Poladpur. If you wish to go to Mahbaleshwar (good hill station) then turn right at Poladpur. If not continue on NH17 past Mahad, then kolad.( Kolad has good Eco-camps), till you join the NH4C and then Nh4 to Mumbai. Pls don’t take the supposedly shortcut via Ghodbundar if you plan to do it during the day time. You will get stuck badly in between trucks and waste time. Hence drive right into Mumbai and at SION take a right turn towards the Mumbai airport to head out of Mubai towards Daman then Surat .
If the above interests you then i could put down an itinenary for you for the first 4 -5 days provided that you tell me how many kms you would like to drive in a day. Resorts/ hotels you choose, is based on your budget.
Pls ref the other posts in your link and they provide very good Valuable info about those stretches.
If you need any info about stops for food or any other info pls do write and I shall respond .

PS Pls keep one thing in mind . While driving on the Mumbai -Pune Expressway. DO NOT EXCEED SPEED Beyond 100 km/hr. since heat generated in the tyres on Concrete roads are higher and invariably leads to tyres bursting leading to accidents. Hence Please dont speed on the E-way.
Cheers
Happy & safe Driving
M.Narayan
09890912649



[quote=danish_c;1131333]Hi guys....
I am planning to drive down from Bangalore to New Delhi next month, over a period of 15 days Plan to do some sightseeing along the way.
Here's my tentative route:
Bangalore-->Tumkur->Shimoga-Goa*->Ajra->Nipani->Kolhlapur->Pune->Bombay*->Daman->Surat*->Baroda->Ahmedabad*->Udaipur*->Ajmer*->Jaipur*->Delhi
Places marked with '*' = Night halts + Sightseeing

Does anybody have any updates on the highways I am planning to take. I went through some of the posts here, and then came up with this route. Would appreciate any updates/suggestions! Road conditions?Safety?Highway help?

I will be drving in a 2004 Alto Lxi, plan no night driving.

[Travelbug]

Hi Danish,

You can go through this thread by me . Hope this will help.. BugBlog®- A 6692.8 kms of drive bliss (Bang- Faridabad - Saharanpur-Dehradun-Bang)

[hvkumar]

http://hvkumar.googlepages.com/BombayUdupi-Mar2007.xls
This link gives you the Bombay-Goa route on NH17

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS,*Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Drive, Dec 2008
This link gives you Bombay-Udaipur on NH8. For Daman, check out the turn off point before Vapi, on the Bombay-Manor-Vapi route.

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS North India, Apr 2000
This link gives you Udaipur-Nathdwara-Ajmer-Kishangarh route. Please note that Pushkar is 20 kms off from Ajmer

Road safety not an issue. High traffic all the way from Bombay to Baroda. Facilities good, have mentioned in my log books in some places.

[dadu]

I have always been wondering on how many days are required to drive down from bangalore to Delhi provided one drives during the day (

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by dadu

I have always been wondering on how many days are required to drive down from bangalore to Delhi provided one drives during the day (

3 days:
D1: Bangalore- Bombay, 1000 kms
D2: Bombay-Udaipur, 800 kms
D3: Udaipur-Delhi, 700 kms

[akroy]

Not more than 3 days in either of the routes via Mumbai or via Nagpur.

Originally Posted by dadu

I have always been wondering on how many days are required to drive down from bangalore to Delhi provided one drives during the day (

Any plans to take the Safari? If yes, plan to take the straight NH7/75 route via Nagpur, Lakhandon. We can also get the first hand condition of the road in MP (NS Corridor of NHAI which is under construction)

Abhi

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by akroy

Not more than 3 days in either of the routes via Mumbai or via Nagpur.


Any plans to take the Safari? If yes, plan to take the straight NH7/75 route via Nagpur, Lakhandon. We can also get the first hand condition of the road in MP (NS Corridor of NHAI which is under construction)

Abhi

For Bangaloreans, the best route would be via Bombay. The Mp route - Abhi, I think you are referring to Nh27 from Laknadon via Sagar, Lalitpur and Jhansi to Gwalior is perpetually in a bad shape with not much progress in widening. In case you must go on this route, better option would be to leave NH7 at Nagpur and go via Betul and Hoshangabad to Bhopal and from there to Biaora where you take NH3 to Agra via Guna, Shivpuri and Gwalior.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

For Bangaloreans, the best route would be via Bombay. The Mp route - Abhi, I think you are referring to Nh27 from Laknadon via Sagar, Lalitpur and Jhansi to Gwalior is perpetually in a bad shape with not much progress in widening. In case you must go on this route, better option would be to leave NH7 at Nagpur and go via Betul and Hoshangabad to Bhopal and from there to Biaora where you take NH3 to Agra via Guna, Shivpuri and Gwalior.

Yes Sir, I know that Mumbai is always better.

I suggested dadu since he owns a Safari which can make its own road and in turn give us the latest updates.
We had no updates since Biswajit travelled through that route.

Abhi

[Drivealot]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

For Bangaloreans, the best route would be via Bombay. The Mp route - Abhi, I think you are referring to Nh27 from Laknadon via Sagar, Lalitpur and Jhansi to Gwalior is perpetually in a bad shape with not much progress in widening. In case you must go on this route, better option would be to leave NH7 at Nagpur and go via Betul and Hoshangabad to Bhopal and from there to Biaora where you take NH3 to Agra via Guna, Shivpuri and Gwalior.

Boss, I agree with you 100%.
I just posted this in the other thread "Driving thro MP."
I know what you mean about MP roads. Year before last I had the misfortune of driving from Bangalore to Delhi via NH7 to Hyderabad- Nagpur- Lakhnadon then on NH26 to Narshimpur- Sagar-lalitpur- Jhansi since this is supposed to be the shortest route between the two cities
The stretch from Laknadon to Jhansi was the worst I have ever encountered in all the years I have driven. The stretch of 200kms took me 11.5 hrs in my Tata Safari. Attrocious was not the word. In anyone wishes to ruin their car then thats the road to take.
I dont have good words for the MP Roads. All that I can tell is to AVOID MP ROADS if you can.
HAS ANYONE DRIVEN ON THIS STRETCH RECENTLY?/

[dadu]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

3 days:
D1: Bangalore- Bombay, 1000 kms
D2: Bombay-Udaipur, 800 kms
D3: Udaipur-Delhi, 700 kms

Are the roads good enough to cover 1000km in single day ??, I know people struggle to reach Goa from Bangalore in 12 hrs sometimes which is apprx 750kms from bangalore.

What about decent nightout places at each stop ??

Originally Posted by akroy

Not more than 3 days in either of the routes via Mumbai or via Nagpur.


Any plans to take the Safari? If yes, plan to take the straight NH7/75 route via Nagpur, Lakhandon. We can also get the first hand condition of the road in MP (NS Corridor of NHAI which is under construction)

Abhi

No no plans yet, just in the mind.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by dadu

Are the roads good enough to cover 1000km in single day ??, I know people struggle to reach Goa from Bangalore in 12 hrs sometimes which is apprx 750kms from bangalore.

What about decent nightout places at each stop ??

Quite easy, assuming you leave Bombay early in the morning, unless you are unlucky to be jammed between Surat and Baroda, where road widening work is on. Once you cross Ahmedabad, Udaipur is a very fast 4-5 hours away, which means even the laziest of drivers can make it by 9 pm at the latest.

There are several hotels en route in case you are unable to make it to Udaipur - you have hotels at Himmatnagar, Shamlaji, Ratanpur, Khairwara, Rishabdeo and Udaipur bypass itself.

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS,*Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Drive, Dec 2008

Maybe you can use the above link to check out the route details. Hotels en route are also mentioned.