[suchetd]

Read various posts on Mumbai-Delhi route. As the Covid-19 situation is dynamic, is not clear if at state entry, any test reports are checked/and if RT-PCR negative report mandatory at Gujarat and Rajasthan borders?
If there is double vaccination certificate available, can that be used to avoid RT-PCR test report?
Thanks

[VT-RNS]

Originally Posted by suchetd

any test reports are checked/and if RT-PCR negative report mandatory at Gujarat and Rajasthan borders?
If there is double vaccination certificate available, can that be used to avoid RT-PCR test report?
Thanks

My parents are on their way to Delhi right now from Mumbai.
They stayed at Abu Road last night, and mentioned no checks were done, either on MH/GJ border or on GJ/RJ border.

They are fully vaccinated, so carrying that certificate just in case its asked.

Hope this helps,
Cheers!

[msonwheels]

Originally Posted by suchetd

Read various posts on Mumbai-Delhi route. As the Covid-19 situation is dynamic, is not clear if at state entry, any test reports are checked/and if RT-PCR negative report mandatory at Gujarat and Rajasthan borders?
If there is double vaccination certificate available, can that be used to avoid RT-PCR test report?
Thanks

I have just driven from Agra to Navi Mumbai on 08th August via Jaipur-Ajmer-Udaipur-Modassa-Godhra-Halol-Vadodara-Surat-Mumbai. Although I was carrying Negative RT-PCR report with me but there was no checking at all at
any border be it UP-RJ Border or RJ-GJ border or GJ-MH border.
No issues at all.

[suchetd]

Originally Posted by msonwheels

I have just driven from Agra to Navi Mumbai on 08th August via Jaipur-Ajmer-Udaipur-Modassa-Godhra-Halol-Vadodara-Surat-Mumbai. Although I was carrying Negative RT-PCR report with me but there was no checking at all at
any border be it UP-RJ Border or RJ-GJ border or GJ-MH border.
No issues at all.

Thsnks. IS the road from Modassa to Vadodara in good condition? How long does that stretch take? There is a alternative shown in Google which is slightly longer /time consuming (by 30 mins) but recommended by some - Modassa-Ring road of Ahmedabad-Vadodara. Is that a better road in terms of condition of the road/less traffic etc?

[msonwheels]

Originally Posted by suchetd

Thsnks. IS the road from Modassa to Vadodara in good condition? How long does that stretch take? There is a alternative shown in Google which is slightly longer /time consuming (by 30 mins) but recommended by some - Modassa-Ring road of Ahmedabad-Vadodara. Is that a better road in terms of condition of the road/less traffic etc?

hello dear, From Modassa to Halol, this route will be a smooth ride but from Halol to Vadodara, it's a bit crowdy. Road tarmac is good and you can complete your journey from Shamala ji to Vadodara in 3:30 Hrs.
Enjoy the time on wheels. Have a safe journey.

[suchetd]

Originally Posted by msonwheels

hello dear, From Modassa to Halol, this route will be a smooth ride but from Halol to Vadodara, it's a bit crowdy. Road tarmac is good and you can complete your journey from Shamala ji to Vadodara in 3:30 Hrs.
Enjoy the time on wheels. Have a safe journey.

Thanks

we will take a overnight halt at Nadiad enroute Udaipur. Which road will be better?

1. Nadiad-KApadvanj-Modasa-Udaipur or
2. Nadiad-Ahmedabad bypass-Modasa-Udaipur?

[Totoro11]

Is the route blockage at HR-RJ border still there? I passed from Haryana to Rajasthan on 14th Aug and the road going to wards Delhi looked a mess with long queue of trucks. I'm dreading the return journey. If any members here have made the trip recently, please update.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Totoro11

Is the route blockage at HR-RJ border … the road going to wards Delhi looked a mess with long queue of trucks..

Usually some cops are there so they allow smaller vehicles from the wrong side. Better cross in daylight. Many months ago, I had to go via interiors in the night. But recently a known came via wrong side in morning time.

[VT-RNS]

As some of you might have read from above posts, my parents were driving to Delhi last week, and I had the same worry for the RJ-HR border crossing.

However, for private cars, its exactly as BHPian Turbanator mentioned in prior post --> the cops ask you to drive on the wrong side. So it was a breeze going into HR. And best to do it in the daylight.

Cheers!

[surjaonwheelz]

Huge traffic jam at HR-RJ border today. 5km stretch from border is all packed going out of HR. Everyone told going out there will be no issues but we're stuck for two hours and with no idea when we will get moving!

Avoid this patch and get some intel and share alternate route here for others.

[VT-RNS]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Huge traffic jam at HR-RJ border today. 5km stretch from border is all packed going out of HR.

That sucks! sorry to hear that, Surjaonwheelz!

It is definitely a gamble. As I mentioned on above post, my parents did finally take the same route to enter HR from RJ on way to Delhi, and had expected traffic at the border with HR, but it was mid-day and turned out to be smooth sailing (police asked them to drive on wrong side). But my uncle went through an hour's traffic on Friday, so things do change and its not easy to predict.

Moreover, what other options do we really have? (would love to get other BHPian's feedback)

To add, my parents returned from Delhi to Mumbai yesterday.
Their route was Delhi --> Agra (to visit some relatives) --> Kota (relatives again) --> Udaipur --> Modassa --> Halol --> Baroda --> Mumbai

Throughout, it was smooth sailing. They did stopovers in Agra, Kota & Halol. Highly recommend Hotel Sarvottam at Halol for night stay.

Road quality is solid all around. They were especially happy to see the road is proper 4 lane (except couple of patches) from Agra --> Dausa --> Kota --> Udaipur ; is smooth with barely any traffic. They said there were more cows than vehicles, and was good green cover throughout. Not that they had any incident, but they felt it was better to drive during the day than nights on this route, given the thin traffic.

Thank you to BHPians who helped with their inputs & making this journey comfortable for my parents. Truly appreciate the forum

[sinharishi]

That's an interesting option.

I will give it a try, will be doing Bom Del sometime next week. I have given up on Jaipur Delhi highway, even with heavy cop presence, crossing the protest patch is a real pain.

I travel to either Greater Noida or Ghaziabad, the agra route takes just one hour extra compared to Jaipur Delhi route on a open day, with protests it takes equal time. Thanks to Yamuna Expressway.

[suchetd]

As scheduled we completed Pune-Udaipur-Pune journey a couple of days back. Following is a short description of the same.

We started Pune at 8.30 am and travelled to Ghodbundar road in Thane via Airoli toll plaza, Mulund toll plaza. Google shows road through Kalwa bridge but from my experience, that's a very crowded area and hence inspite of paying double toll at Airoli and Mulund, I prefer this route to reach Ghodbundar Road. This is one of the busiest roads in Thane and the road condition is bad with many pot holes till we reach Fountain Hotel square joining NH48.

From there on, the road was smooth, very less traffic on Sunday and we reached Vapi by 1.30 pm. We had lunch and a break at friend's place. We started again at 3 pm and reached Vadodara at 7 pm. There was truck traffic near Bharuch, Ankaleshwar stretch. Trucks don't follow the traffic discipline and drive in all 3 lanes. That makes driving a little tricky as you have to continuously change lanes to overtake them through small gaps.

There are many options for a bio/tea break along the way - Sugar n Spice, McDonalds or other local restaurants.

We took an overnight halt in Vadodara and started our journey next day after B/F. Halol-Godhra bypass to Modasa (SH 5) is a 4 lane road, and just at the junction of NH48 and SH5, we were stopped by Traffic cops. One of them said our number plate is not as per HSRP standards. Inspite of telling him that we are passing through GJ and our number plate was as per MH RTO standards (Vehicle purchased in 2018), he warned us that it has to be changed whenever we get a chance. He finally let us go. I am not sure if the number plate needs a change in MH also for the old vehicles before such a rule was introduced.

There was not much traffic (Except at small towns on the way), the road condition was good and after a short break at Modasa, we rejoined NH 48. The next 115 km is on NH48 again (6 lane road). Its a newly built stretch and some work is still going on - but it was smooth as silk, with thin traffic and good scenic hills on both sides of road. Hence the last 330 km from Vadodara to Udaipur were covered just in 4.5 hours.

After enjoying our visit to Udaipur, our return journey was uneventful till we reached Vadodara where we took our overnight break again. As we found out next day, one of the tyres had a tyre pressure of only 0.9 (as against normal reading of 2.2) and I suspected puncture. We searched for a tyre shop but most were closed. After searching spending 45 minutes, we found one shop open and the fellow said that only air needs refilling - the tyre was ok. Since we had not much choice, we proceeded towards Mumbai/Pune but continuosly watched Tyre pressure which kept on reducing very slowly. Since the tyres were RFT, we could drive quite a distance before the pressure reduced to below recommended levels. Finally we found a good tyre shop on highway after Bharuch and did the repair work of puncture removal. One point I would like to highlight is that of BMW tyres which are not very good for Indian roads which are full of pot holes even on Highways. I am told that the specs of 225/50 which BMW uses on X1 or 3 Series have this problem and instead 225/55 needs to be used so that the thickness improves and shocks can be better absorbed by tyres when vehicle hits potholes.

With intermittent rains and heavy traffic at Thane (and stops due to tyre problems), our journey was 2 hours longer on return from Vadodara to Pune.
But for these problems, we had a fantastic road trip covering about 1800km.

[Totoro11]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Usually some cops are there so they allow smaller vehicles from the wrong side. Better cross in daylight. Many months ago, I had to go via interiors in the night. But recently a known came via wrong side in morning time.

Originally Posted by VT-RNS

However, for private cars, its exactly as BHPian Turbanator mentioned in prior post --> the cops ask you to drive on the wrong side. So it was a breeze going into HR. And best to do it in the daylight.

They were doing the same yesterday. People were crossing the highway to go on to the right side service lane (the one going towards Jaipur)

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Huge traffic jam at HR-RJ border today. 5km stretch from border is all packed going out of HR. Everyone told going out there will be no issues but we're stuck for two hours and with no idea when we will get moving!

Avoid this patch and get some intel and share alternate route here for others.

'Vinash kaale vipreet buddhi'
While a lot of vehicles decided to take the wrong side service lane option, i had heard of a short detour that lands you back at NH right after the protest site. Since traffic was moving in the service lane, i decided to take this option of service lane going towards Gurgaon. However due to the recent rains, there was space only for one truck and one car side by side on the service lane. A third car/truck can pass from the left if they are brave enough to cross craters and thick mud. I didnt take the hint from the vehicles ahead of me taking a u-turn

After going ahead for 250m, traffic came to a standstill and trucks lined up behind us (so no way back either). We started taking an inventory of the food, water and fuel, preparing for a long haul. After waiting 10 mins, i decided to take the road less traveled, engaged the traction mode to 'mud'. The truckers were kind enough to move couple of feet front and back to give me space and i was on the left dirt track. Moved another 150m and saw a swift dzire stuck in the mud with wheels spinning. Hurriedly returned to the right lane. Waited patiently for another 15mins chatting up with the truck drivers who had been there since morning.
After a while traffic starting inching forward and there were a couple of close shaves where i had to fold ORVMs and pray to god while squeezing between trucks.

Another few meters ahead of the ayur & UB factories, there was a left turn and i saw a RJ govt. bus and a few cars going there. Decided to ride my luck and followed them. The junction is shown below for reference:


From there you are in for a scenic but bumpy drive through Khandora and Jaisinghpur Khera, made worse due to recent rains and passage of heavy vehicles. Villagers as well as tuckers are very helpful if you ask for directions. The village also proclaims that it is a Village of patriots who don't block roads. I think the govt should run some additional welfare/development schemes there to thank them for all the trouble they are going through. A pic of the village road:


Here is the route i took:


In summary, it is a gamble. If you are able to reach the junction for taking a left turn, it is smooth sailing. Else it is better to follow the crowd towards the wrong side service lane. Either ways, factor in an additional hour in your travel plans.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by VT-RNS

That sucks! sorry to hear that, Surjaonwheelz!

We had to spend 4 hours to cross the 5 kms stretch!

Originally Posted by sinharishi

I have given up on Jaipur Delhi highway, even with heavy cop presence, crossing the protest patch is a real pain.

You're an wise man, it's a pain in the wrong place!

Originally Posted by suchetd

As scheduled we completed Pune-Udaipur-Pune journey a couple of days back.

We took an overnight halt in Vadodara and started our journey next day after B/F. Halol-Godhra bypass to Modasa (SH 5) is a 4 lane road, and just at the junction of NH48 and SH5, we were stopped by Traffic cops. One of them said our number plate is not as per HSRP standards. Inspite of telling him that we are passing through GJ and our number plate was as per MH RTO standards (Vehicle purchased in 2018), he warned us that it has to be changed whenever we get a chance. He finally let us go. I am not sure if the number plate needs a change in MH also for the old vehicles before such a rule was introduced.

There was not much traffic (Except at small towns on the way), the road condition was good and after a short break at Modasa, we rejoined NH 48. The next 115 km is on NH48 again (6 lane road). Its a newly built stretch and some work is still going on - but it was smooth as silk, with thin traffic and good scenic hills on both sides of road. Hence the last 330 km from Vadodara to Udaipur were covered just in 4.5 hours.

Agree with your observations. We had old plates too, not stopped anywhere. In addition, are the famous GJ yellow headlight sticker rule changed for non GJ vehicles?

Originally Posted by Totoro11

In summary, it is a gamble. If you are able to reach the junction for taking a left turn, it is smooth sailing. Else it is better to follow the crowd towards the wrong side service lane. Either ways, factor in an additional hour in your travel plans.

We're badly stuck in our Brio in the main highway. Why the vehicles towards Jaipur was blocked we couldn't figure it out. Some told there was an accident but we didn't see any such vehicle being cleared from the sight.

This is bad, means real sad! Ladies couldn't take a bio break, the adjacent Petrol bunks had washrooms but for that you had to brave the craters on the service road and the muck before the entry of the bunk. Still some families had to take the beaten path on foot! Most irritating was the huge posters of our Hon'ble PM at the bunks, "Vaccines for all, vaccines for free"

Only feasible option we missed was jumping the median to go over to the wrong side from where an Audi A4 jumped (that's right) But when we moved to the 1st lane, we missed the spot by 10 meters and we were truck locked.

Anyways, this simply added 4 hours to our ETA and we reached Udaipur post 11pm instead of 7pm and ruined our experience on Day 1.

Okay, let's get back to our plan:

Day1: Faridabad >> Udaipur
Stay: Hotel Paras Mahal
VT-RNS, I owe you a meal, thanks for the recommendation. Superb location for, entry and exit from Udaipur. In addition, for sight seeing this location is just perfect. This hotel should be made TBHP verified.

We had our brunch at Neemrana after the border ordeal. Then made brisk movement and drove continuously post Ajmer where we stopped for tea break and change drivers. The Ajmer >> Beawar >> Udaipur single lane route which we were supposed to cross in daylight now was to be covered at night now. Given an option we should have taken the Bhilawar route via NH48. No?
The single lane mountain roads were great but we missed the views. It was pitch dark and you could see the stars if you switch off the headlights! It was spooky to stop at any place. At around 8:30 pm we stopped for dinner with 160 kms to go. It was a quick dal-roti dinner and we were back on the road and I was back behind the wheel. This was an exciting stretch. The road surface was great, reflectors, road markings were spot on. Other states, specially MH should learn something. We're not used to night driving, more of a Sunrise to Sunset type drivers except for the darkness before and after. And this was unexplored territory but as they say there's always a first time! It was a great experience nonetheless. Roads approaching Udaipur were in super shape and we reached city limits by 11:30pm and the hotel by 11:45pm. Long and tiring day. There was night curfew in Udaipur so the city slept early. No checks whatsoever on the entire route.

Day2: Udaipur sight seeing
City Palace
Lake Pichola boat ride to Jag Mandir
City Palace Museum tour
Fateh Sagar lake sunset veiw (cancelled by our daughter)

We did all the touristy things, nothing to write about here. We took the cab to the City Palace, costed less than 50 bucks a side!

Day 3: Udaipur >> Nashik (via Saputara)
Stay: Hotel Triton (Booked online when we were crossing Bharuch, not much options left. It was a nice small hotel for a over nighter)

This is an odd route but we took it for the twisties around Saputara
Now we were very skeptical of the Mumbai traffic and the Fountain hotel chaos and there seemed no point in staying at Mumbai or Vapi. So we took the Nashik route. We had two options via Valsad or via Saputara and we took the later.

Same experience as others on NH48, exiting Udaipur has great roads. Modasa and SH-5 same as any other state highway. Vadodara onward, keep playing overtake-overtake with trucks and dodge potholes!

We left NH48 post Navsari and took SH-360 till Saputara. Not a fast route but Gmaps was showing longer time through Valsad >> Nashik. We enjoyed the twisties and our Brio was in its elements. Saputara is a mini Mahabi (Mahabaleshwar) type hill station!

Day 4: Nashik >> Pune
When in Nashik you must have Misal Pav for breakfast and we went for Jhatka Misal at Grape Embassy.
Followed by a relaxing drive to Pune non-stop!


But this route is NOT advisable for fast movement as NH60 slows you down at towns and can't be compared to Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Sorry for the long post and all text. Let me know if you need any route, toll, stops or any related info.

Given an option, Pune <<>> Nashik <<>> Indore <<>> Gwalior <<>> Agra <<>> Faridabad will be our preferred route.

Drive safe,
surjaonwheelz