[sinharishi]

Did Bom to NCR over the weekend. It was a relaxed trip with a detour to Agra.

Day-1: Started a bit late at 5am than the usual 3am. Got stuck at fountain for an hour. It was around 7am when we crossed Versova bridge. Heavy rains till GJ slowed down the progress further. Stopped for breakfast at Sugar N spice ahead of Vapi (on the right side). Took a break again at McDonald's, Bharuch for coffee. Lunch stop was at Modassa, this time at the new place, some food court. Started raining heavily after we crossed into RJ. Stayed the night at The Cavalry at Abhay Niwas, Udaipur. Highly recommended. Been trying on budget hotels for overnight stays, this has to be the best one followed by TMG, Nathdwara.

Day-2: Left Udaipur at 9am, joined a friend for lunch at Handi, Jaipur. After a break of 3 hrs at Jaipur, continued towards Agra. Reached Agra by 8pm. Stayed at Holiday Inn, Sanjay Place.

Day-3: After visiting Dayal Bagh and doing the rituals, left for NCR at 7:30pm, reached G.Noida at 9:30pm. Fastag is now operational on YEW.

Route taken: Mumbai-Surat-Vadodra-Godhra Bypass-Modassa-Shamlaji-Udaipur-Kishangarh-Jaipur-Dausa-Fatehpur Sikri-Agra-YEW-G.Noida.

[kdp]

Thank you all for the recent updates.

Planning a thane - Gurgaon trip. My almost beyond a teenager son and I. We are shifting so some luggage as well. (And ferrying of the car without the mishandling of th packers and movers)

Some quick questions -

1. are RT-PCR tests needed anywhere en-route? Both of us have had both vaccinations.

2. Is this doable in a single drive with adequate bio breaks? There will be only one person driving.

3. If we take a break:To reach Gurgaon by no later than 3pm the next day, which place is best to stop? And any hotel recommendations?


Thank you

kdp

[sinharishi]

Originally Posted by kdp

1. are RT-PCR tests needed anywhere en-route? Both of us have had both vaccinations.

2. Is this doable in a single drive with adequate bio breaks? There will be only one person driving.

3. If we take a break:To reach Gurgaon by no later than 3pm the next day, which place is best to stop? And any hotel recommendations?

1. Not required.

2. If you have done 20+ hrs nonstop drives before, yes, very much doable. Just that do not plan to drive thru RJ in dark.

3. Udaipur. If you start from Udaipur at 5am, you can make to Gurgaon by 2pm. Since you will be traveling with luggage, I would suggest a secure parking space. I recently stayed at a BnB (mentioned above) but my recommendation will be justa Rajputana.

[surjaonwheelz]

Pune - Indore - Faridabad Drive in a Honda Brio

Our about to be 4 years old daughter, wife and I drove to Faridabad in our Honda Brio over two days. My wife can drive so we shared the journey behind the wheel.

Day 1: Pune to Indore, Friday 30th July, 2021
Departure time: 5:30 am
Route: Pune - Nashik - Dhule - Indore

Stops:
Breakfast: Kamat, post Alephata on Nashik Highway
Lunch: Orchid, Dhule
Tea break: Panchwati, near Gujri, MP

Hotel: Effotel by Sayaji, Indore

Arrival time: 7:30 pm
Travel time: 14 hours
Behind the wheel: 12 hours

Lunch break to tea break driven by wife.

Kms: 648 km
Tolls: Rs. 812


Day 1 breakfast


Day 1 lunch


Day 1 tea


Natrax, was calling!

Tips:
- Exit Pune - Chakan MIDC area before day break, as company bus movements start early in industrial areas
- Don't take the route suggested by Google maps to avoid Nashik, after Sangamner to Chandwad. We were advised prior, it's a single lane state highway, might slow you down.
- Traversing through Nashik city can be tricky for first timers like us but follow Google maps and Highway sign boards for effective movement
- A flyover construction is in progress while entering Nashik.
- MP border check post is well marked for private and commercial vehicles, just follow the yellow lane, no stopping.
- Indore city service roads has crater like pot holes and the evening traffic was crazy in Indore city. From NH52 to hotel took 30 mins, seemed even longer after the highway run!
- Petrol in MP is costlier, Rs. 111 compared to Rs. 107 in MH on the same day

Day 2: Indore to Faridabad, Saturday 31st, July 2021

Departure time: 5:30 am
Route: Indore - Guna - Gwalior - Agra - Mathura - Faridabad

Stops:
Breakfast: Hotel Simla, post Sarangpur on Agra Highway
Lunch: We skipped, did a hot swap near Gwalior and a Tea break at a random Dhaba in between Guna & Gwalior as it was raining heavily
Tea & snacks break: Sainik Family restaurant, post Agra-NH2 bypass

Destination: Faridabad
Arrival time: 10:10 pm
Travel time: 16:40 hours
Behind the wheel: 14 hours

Breakfast break to Guna and Gwalior to Agra (tea break) driven by wife.

Kms: 824 km
Tolls: Rs. 1,155

Tips:
- Exit Indore via NH52, Agra highway, Google maps suggested the AB Road exit and we took it, early morning was not an issue
- NH52 is cement road from Indore
- Plenty of cows on this route
- Don't take the route suggested by Google maps to avoid Guna town, the bypass is filled with craters. Single lane and construction in progress. One heavy vehicle breakdown causes traffic jams. Go through Guna town. (This reminded us of Ahmednagar bypass)
- The Gwalior bypass seemed never ending and the pot holes got deeper. I'm not sure if we should have taken the the town itself.
- Gwalior to Agra stretch was the worst in the journey, rowdy drivers including truck drivers with air horns. Intersections, motorcyclists, markets and everything you don't expect on National highways were present in this stretch!
- You cross RJ border check post and then UP check post, no stopping for private vehicles.

- We took the Mathura road as our destination was in Faridabad. It's in very good state, recommended.
- The night stretch, Agra - Faridabad was fine except the Haryana border check post which was a mess. The private vehicles had to filter though the heavy vehicles which occupied all the lanes. Thanks to some stewards who braved to stand in front of the trucks to stop them!
- Palwal town was the last hurdle, bypass construction is in progress and you need to cautiously go through the town.


Day 2 breakfast


The Doctor's Highway!


Views entering Gwalior. Post Gwalior the scenic views ended, we missed the ghats!


The worst patch, Gwalior to Agra. If you're the only driver suggest to take a break before you enter this stretch

Common:
- We had a kid and lady along so all stops above had decent washrooms
- I'm pure veg only on the highways
- The 1st lane (right most) has more potholes all along, preferred the 2nd lane
- NO CHECKING OF RT-PCR or anything else experienced. Only trucks were stopped at Police border check points.
- The rains were constant and good to keep the temperatures down and the car dirty!
- Post Gwalior, there was no long spells of rains but some stretches the road was wet and mucky.
- Those without rear wash & wiper in their cars like us, be prepared to clean the rear glass in breaks
- All tolls had Fastag
- We are spoiled in MH with better food plazas, not much options here, mostly truck wala style dhabas and the ones nearing Delhi, the Gulshans!
- More than on road time if you can control your break times your journey time would be effective. It was challenging for us with a kid.
- Breaks are important and if you have a co-driver then it's a bonus!
- We're still not sure if we would take the same route for the return journey
- This post has details for first timer long road trippers like us, pros can ignore


Mighty impressed with the big hearted Brio and it's dynamics!
We were pretty relaxed and had a full day in reserve as we were not sure of our capabilities and limits! But all of us did it without breaking a sweat.
I kept updating my status and location with fellow bhpian sukiwa and another friend. It was great to log this post as it has all the details. They were on standby if we needed any rain or road update. Luckily we needed none except the Mathura road status update which sukiwa got from this forum itself.


Traveling is the best experience, experience is the best teacher! No experience can match the behind the wheel experience, those who're in doubt, hit the road, it's satisfying!

Love & respect to all BHPians who do it regularly

Drive safe,
surjaonwheelz

[kdp]

Originally Posted by sinharishi

1. Not required.

2. If you have done 20+ hrs nonstop drives before, yes, very much doable. Just that do not plan to drive thru RJ in dark.

3. Udaipur. If you start from Udaipur at 5am, you can make to Gurgaon by 2pm. Since you will be traveling with luggage, I would suggest a secure parking space. I recently stayed at a BnB (mentioned above) but my recommendation will be justa Rajputana.

Thank you for the info.

What’s the specific issue with RJ in the dark?. ( I had done the trip In reverse over a decade ago (del- mum) and could do it in one shot. However, it seems unlikely that I will be able to avoid RJ night time driving going the reverse way.

[sinharishi]

Originally Posted by kdp

Thank you for the info.

What’s the specific issue with RJ in the dark?. ( I had done the trip In reverse over a decade ago (del- mum) and could do it in one shot. However, it seems unlikely that I will be able to avoid RJ night time driving going the reverse way.

We were attacked between Ratanpur and Udaipur around 730pm, something (probably a stone) came flying out of nowhere and then I saw a bike chasing us. This was in 2016 on one of the Bom Del trips. It is safe till Ajmer cut-off, time your drive in such a way where you reach the spot by dawn.

[VT-RNS]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Pune - Indore - Faridabad Drive in a Honda Brio

Stops:
Lunch: Orchid, Dhule
Tea break: Panchwati, near Gujri, MP

Hotel: Effotel by Sayaji, Indore


Common:
- We had a kid and lady along so all stops above had decent washrooms
- The 1st lane (right most) has more potholes all along, preferred the 2nd lane
- We are spoiled in MH with better food plazas, not much options here, mostly truck wala style dhabas and the ones nearing Delhi, the Gulshans!
- We're still not sure if we would take the same route for the return journey
- This post has details for first timer long road trippers like us, pros can ignore

Drive safe,
surjaonwheelz

Thanks for the detailed note, Surjaonwheelz!

Just some thoughts on the above:
1) Wholly agree that getting good restaurants/stops on Mumbai-Agra road is not easy.
We had our lunch & tea at the same spots (Orchid & Panchwati) as you mentioned during our drive to Bhopal from Mumbai.

2) With cities like Indore, best to avoid going into the city. There are some good places on the bypass, (including from Sayaji group) so recommend you choose one.
Alternatively, once I choose to stay in Dewas instead of Indore to avoid the rush of Indore city.
The same holds true for Udaipur, which is often a good stopover (I'll talk about it in the next point)

3) For return, why don't you try the Faridabad - Jaipur - Udaipur - Baroda - Mumbai - Pune route?
The facilities are better on the highway, and its great to drive (though stretches till Jaipur and then Baroda - Mumbai - Pune will be busy, more than the route you took earlier)
In this case, best to stay on the highway circling Udaipur to avoid going deeper into the town. Multiple options available. I personally stayed at Paras Mahal in Nov last year.

What might be tricky is doing Udaipur - Pune in One day. For that, you can take an additional break at Statue of Unity (if you want to make a visit out of it) or come till Vapi and then do the remaining stretch early morning to beat the Fountain - Navi Mumbai rush on way to Pune.

Cheers!

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Pune - Indore - Faridabad Drive

Looks like a nice drive!

When I was moving out of Bangalore in 2012, my Corsa had to be sent back to Gurgaon and naturally, my mum and I decided to drive down, rather than ship it. Since we had already done a road trip Pune - Baroda - Ahmedabad - Jaipur - Gurgaon earlier, we chose the Bangalore - Pune - Indore - Gwalior - Gurgaon route this time. Your experience seems to be quite in line with ours so looks like not a lot has changed in all these years.

We stopped in Aurangabad to meet family and spent the night there. Started the next day post lunch, took a detour to Amalner to meet family and then reached Indore by night. The next day, a leisurely drive to Gwalior. The third, back to Gurgaon. This was late June, we faced heavy rains around Indore and Gwalior.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by VT-RNS

3) For return, why don't you try the Faridabad - Jaipur - Udaipur - Baroda - Mumbai - Pune route?
The facilities are better on the highway, and its great to drive (though stretches till Jaipur and then Baroda - Mumbai - Pune will be busy, more than the route you took earlier)
In this case, best to stay on the highway circling Udaipur to avoid going deeper into the town. Multiple options available. I personally stayed at Paras Mahal in Nov last year.

What might be tricky is doing Udaipur - Pune in One day. For that, you can take an additional break at Statue of Unity (if you want to make a visit out of it) or come till Vapi and then do the remaining stretch early morning to beat the Fountain - Navi Mumbai rush on way to Pune.

Thanks for the suggestion, we are already considering it. We will check on the number of days available for the return leg and plan the stops.

We had plenty of fluids and snacks in the car to consume for the long stretches. The lack of food plazas was a boon as we stopped less and continued driving.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

When I was moving out of Bangalore in 2012, my Corsa had to be sent back to Gurgaon and naturally, my mum and I decided to drive down, rather than ship it.

Your experience seems to be quite in line with ours so looks like not a lot has changed in all these years.

Good to know. There were not much private cars on this stretch till Gwalior, like in other highways. Initially, we thought we would halt at Agra but when we reached, I was fresh for the home run drive and continued!

In all we spotted 3 bikers on a Mojo, Himalayan & INT650. The Mojo & Himalayan were together and were seen on both days, may be they were riding to the mountains.

Cheers,
surjaonwheelz

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Pune - Indore - Faridabad Drive in a Honda Brio

Kms: 648 km
Tolls: Rs. 812

Kms: 824 km
Tolls: Rs. 1,155

Road trips - I love them.

So for Pune Dilli road trip, we have to add ~4000 rupees (toll) to the fuel costs!

In my 2019 trip, I also noticed potholes are deeper and more frequest in the right most lane!!

Absolutely love the dirty car

Enjoy the trip!
Cheers!!

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Pune - Indore - Faridabad Drive in a Honda Brio

Our about to be 4 years old daughter, wife and I drove to Faridabad in our Honda Brio over two days. My wife can drive so we shared the journey behind the wheel.

Mighty impressed with the big hearted Brio and it's dynamics!

Good write up. Wanted to ask since I have done the same trip (Gurgaon - Mumbai) multiple times and I’ve used the same car (almost), a petrol auto Amaze twice and it felt severely underpowered, had to floor the pedal to overtake buses doing 100-110. Did you feel power lacking at higher speeds? Also I find the road noise very intrusive, I’m running ContiComfort CC5’s, stock specs (175/65 R14). What tyres are you running? Given that the brio has the exact same engine and ecu, is your car also limited to 145?

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

So for Pune Dilli road trip, we have to add ~4000 rupees (toll) to the fuel costs!

Absolutely love the dirty car

Even more if you take the Yamuna Expressway. But it seems the tolls are not filling the potholes.

The dirty car became the talk of the town (parking) Got it washed the very next day!

Originally Posted by AJ56

Wanted to ask since I have done the same trip (Gurgaon - Mumbai) multiple times and I’ve used the same car (almost), a petrol auto Amaze twice and it felt severely underpowered, had to floor the pedal to overtake buses doing 100-110. Did you feel power lacking at higher speeds?

Also I find the road noise very intrusive, I’m running ContiComfort CC5’s, stock specs (175/65 R14). What tyres are you running? Given that the brio has the exact same engine and ecu, is your car also limited to 145?

Our Brio is MT (Manual Transmission). We never felt the Brio to be under powered any time. A 100kmph cruise is at 3000 rpm in top gear. To overtake a fast moving vehicle all you need is a downshift! I've not driven the AT Amaze.

We're running the same brand and spec tyres (you can see them in the pics)

For road noise you can go for the 3M underbody (anti-rust) coating or from any reputed one. We did it at the time of 1st free service under some offer with Honda and 3M, we opted for the 5 year warranty one. We felt better road noise dampening immediately. It's been 7 years since and we've never looked back (down)!

We've never done such speeds to feel any limitations. It's not a sprint it's a marathon!

Cheers,
surjaonwheelz

[VT-RNS]

Hello All,

Would love to get your inputs for the upcoming drive from Mumbai to Delhi NCR (Noida/Ghaziabad).

Background:
Last year, we did the trip as family (parents included) and took the Mumbai - Baroda - Godhra- Modasa - Udaipur - Beawar - Jaipur - Gurgaon - East Delhi.
We did the trip over 2 days, with night stay in Udaipur. I drove throughout, and it was a comfortable journey (as comfy as it can get).

Upcoming trip:
This time around, it is just parents, which means Dad will be the solo driver. Thus, driving distance per day will not be long. Further, they have two confirmed locations to stopover in: Baroda & Jodhpur.
Thus, the routing needs to be different and I was hoping to get your feedback on what itinerary works best.

Below is what I have roughly planned:

Day 1: Mumbai to Vadodara
Distance: 400 kms
This section is fairly straight-forward.

Day 2: Vadodara to Jodhpur
Distance: 550 kms
This is the tricky bit. Almost 10 hours of driving, which my Dad is also not keen on. We are thinking of splitting it up.

Option 1: Vadodara to Mehsana (there is a hotel opp to Shanku's water park which was a regular for us when Dad was based in the region). This would be approx 200 kms, and they can leave Baroda at a leisurely time and spend some extra hours with their friends.
From Mehsana, it would be approx 400 kms to Jodhpur the next day, which should be easily doable, as the roads are largely fine now (or are there any watch-outs?)

Option 2: Any other location that would work as a better stopover instead of Mehsana? Don't need super fancy locations, just a good, clean rest for the night.

Overall, looking for the best route between Baroda & Jodhpur with a possible night-stay, good roads & safety.

Day 3/4/5: Arrive into Jodhpur, and probably take an extra rest day to relax with friends

Day 6: Jodhpur to East Delhi / Ghaziabad
Distance: 600 kms

Here again, need your advise. Which route should parents take, since driving 600 kms in a day might be too much for dad and we'll prefer to take rest overnight?

Option 1: Jodhpur - Jaipur - Gurgaon - Noida/Ghaziabad
Issues here are:
a) What is the impact of farmers protest on road blockade? (and where is it exactly located)
b) Would taking the peripheral expressway avoid the road blockade? Last year, the entry to the peripheral expressway from the Gurgaon-Jaipur highway was not cleanly marked/visible, hopefully its proper now.
c) Any other recommendation to stay, other than Jaipur. Someone mentioned Neemrana, but I have no knowledge of the place.

Option 2: Jodhpur - Nagaur - Jhunjhunu - Bhiwani - Rohtak - Peripheral Expressway - Noida/Ghaziabad
Issues here are:
a) How is the road quality on this route?
b) What is a good night-stay option and any specific hotel recommendation?


I understand this is a long post, and while Delhi-Mumbai is a very standard route, given parents will be traveling alone for such a long distance, and with the route deviations planned, I thought of getting the best inputs from the forum.

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

Cheers!

[sinharishi]

Originally Posted by VT-RNS

Option 2: Any other location that would work as a better stopover instead of Mehsana? Don't need super fancy locations, just a good, clean rest for the night.

Hotel Srijan Inn, Abu road. Have stopped here couple of times. Neat clean rooms, right on the highway. Should take 5 hours to reach from Vadodra.

Here again, need your advise. Which route should parents take, since driving 600 kms in a day might be too much for dad and we'll prefer to take rest overnight?

Option 1: Jodhpur - Jaipur - Gurgaon - Noida/Ghaziabad
Issues here are:
a) What is the impact of farmers protest on road blockade? (and where is it exactly located)
b) Would taking the peripheral expressway avoid the road blockade? Last year, the entry to the peripheral expressway from the Gurgaon-Jaipur highway was not cleanly marked/visible, hopefully its proper now.
c) Any other recommendation to stay, other than Jaipur. Someone mentioned Neemrana, but I have no knowledge of the place.

Cheers!

A. Below is the exact location and diversion in place on Jaipur-Delhi Highway. Mind you, the 3 lanes merge into 1 service lane from where you turn left. I was stuck here for an hour almost earlier this year.



B. No, the blockade is much before EPE/WPE.

C. Neemrana via Jaipur will be 8+ hours.

[suchetd]

We plan to travel to Udaipur from Pune around end of August 21. I want to know the options with better road conditions. While Pune to Vadodara is straight forward, the onward journey has a few options. Also we may stay overnight at Vadodara or NAdiad. So options are (As shown by Google maps)

1. Vadodara -Godhra bypass -Modasa -Udaipur (5 hour 53 minutes)
2. Vadodara - Ahmedabad bypass (ring road) - Modasa -Udaipur (6 hr 11 min)
3. Vadodara - Outskirts of Anand by expressway - SH 188 -SH 59 to Modasa -Udaipur (5 hr 45 mins - shortest)

And similarly if we stop overnight in NAdiad

4. NAdiad - SH 59 to Modasa - Udaipur (5 hr 15 mins)
5. NAdiad- Ahmedabad bypass -Modasa - Udaipur (5 hr 33 mins)

Which option is better in terms of road conditions and comfortable drive? We would prefer to stop at Vadodara as I have travelled there many times but NAdiad is also fine. Many in the forum seem to have taken option 1 above -but I hope the road condition is fine after heavy monsoons in July. Also please suggest stopovers with good /clean toilets (Ladies) along this route.

Thanks.