[King_Shobhit]

Hi friends, I am planning a bike trip from Delhi to Mumbai in the month of March. I will be traveling via NH8 and coming back via NH3-NH2. I am using the MapMyIndia site as the reference for roads etc. In this regard, I have a few questions:-

1.
What is the best way of reaching Udaipur from Delhi?
I have two options:-
(A) Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Udaipur (NH8).
(B) Delhi-Jaipur-Kishangarh-Chittaurgarh-Udaipur (NH8-NH79-NH8).

(A) Is shorter but the site of MapMyIndia shows the Ajmer-Udaipur stretch on NH8 as a National Highway and the Kishangarh-Chittaurgarh-Udaipur stretch as an Express Highway. Which one should I choose? If anyone has travelled on these 2 roads, please tell me if would I gain anything by taking (B) since (B) is longer than (A) by about 35 kms but the road may be much better (4 lane vs. 2 lane etc.)

2.
What is the present status of the Ahemedabad-Vadodara-Surat stretch of NH8?
Till Sep last year, work was still on there. Has it finished now? How much hours should I allocate to this stretch?

3.
What are the chief bottleneck parts of NH8 that I should try to cross in the off-peak hours? Would I benefit by taking some detours in Gujarat or should I stick to NH8 faithfully?

4.
Any other important thing or any useful trivia is most welcome and desirable.

5.
What is the de-facto state of NH3? Can it be compared to NH8? I have driven to Gwalior from Delhi and till there, NH3 is awesome but how is it from Mumbai till Gwalior?

I would really really appreciate any tips given.
Thanks,
Shobhit

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by King_Shobhit

1.
What is the best way of reaching Udaipur from Delhi?
I have two options:-
(A) Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Udaipur (NH8).
(B) Delhi-Jaipur-Kishangarh-Chittaurgarh-Udaipur (NH8-NH79-NH8).

(A) Is shorter but the site of MapMyIndia shows the Ajmer-Udaipur stretch on NH8 as a National Highway and the Kishangarh-Chittaurgarh-Udaipur stretch as an Express Highway. Which one should I choose? If anyone has travelled on these 2 roads, please tell me if would I gain anything by taking (B) since (B) is longer than (A) by about 35 kms but the road may be much better (4 lane vs. 2 lane etc.)

Take Route 2, which is the GQ, and 4-lane roads all the way. NH8 between Kishangarh and Udaipur is 2-lane, and has heavy truck traffic till Beawar. The Kishangarh-Bhilwara-Chittorgarh (NH79)-Udaipur (NH76) is extremely fast and an excellent drive, will reach you at least 1 hour faster despite the longer distance.

2.
What is the present status of the Ahemedabad-Vadodara-Surat stretch of NH8?
Till Sep last year, work was still on there. Has it finished now? How much hours should I allocate to this stretch?

Getting over, but still an unpleasant ride. 7 Flyovers under construction in Baroda bypass, 3 in Surat bypass, 2 in Ankleshwar town, and lots of switchovers, and 2-lane traffic. Can take anywhere between 2-6 hours, depending on your driving skills and luck. My recipe is always to take the Baroda-Surat leg early in the morning (5 am at Baroda)

3.
What are the chief bottleneck parts of NH8 that I should try to cross in the off-peak hours? Would I benefit by taking some detours in Gujarat or should I stick to NH8 faithfully?

Stick to NH8. Traffic is light only in early morning hours between Baroda and Surat. Worst bottleneck is Ankleshwar town. Boldly ride on road shoulders and wrong side of the road, keeping up with the Joneses. Stick to NH8, none of the parallel detours are great.

5.
What is the de-facto state of NH3? Can it be compared to NH8? I have driven to Gwalior from Delhi and till there, NH3 is awesome but how is it from Mumbai till Gwalior?

NH3 is avoidable - 4 lane roads till Gwalior but..... (a) painful experience navigating Agra City, and the Agra City bypass is even worse, and (b) 2 lane roads after Gwalior.

Road condition is not great, and worsens as you near Indore, especially after crossing Biaora. Road construction work between Indore and Dhulia, and some congested roads nearing Nashik. Lots of barren stretches with poor facilities, roads avoidable after dark, and unpleasant truck traffic. Ghat sections aplenty - after Indore, after Dhulia, before Nashik and after Igatpuri.

Difference in distance is hardly 50 kms between NH8 and Nh3 routes, but time durations are at least 5-7 hours more in Nh3 route.


Please check out my log books of the route:

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS,*Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Drive, Dec 2008
Drive on GQ, this was a slow drive to Delhi.

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS North India, Dec 2007
This was a 19-hour drive to Delhi

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS Uttaranchal, North India, Oct 2006
...and this was theoretically a 17-hour drive to Delhi.

[ntomer]

Hi,

I am planning a Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi drive in year-end. The plan is to take different routes while going to returning. The tentative itinerary is:

24th Dec: Leave Delhi by early evening. Reach Ajmer, stay there.
25th Dec: Spend some time in Pushkar. Drive to Mount Abu. Explore Abu.
26th Dec: Spend morning in Abu. Drive to Surat.
27th Dec: Drive to Mumbai, spend some time in Udvada.

28th Dec to 01st Jan, I will be in Mumbai.

01st Jan: Leave by 12 PM. Drive to Vadodara, stay there overnight.
02nd Jan: Drive to Udaipur, stay there overnight.
03rd Jan: Leave Udaipur vy 12:00 PM. Reach Jaipur, stay there overnight.
04th Jan: Leave by 6:00 AM. Reach Delhi by late morning, rush to work.

How does this sound? Feasible? Too relaxed?

And one more important query, can I carry liquor while driving through Gujrat or will it get me into trouble?

Thanks

Nitin

[nitinralli]

Hi Guys, I am planning to drive from Delhi to Mumbai coming 1st oct. My aim is to reach Mumbai as early as possible so that i can spend more time there, rather than on road as i would be with my family.

I was thinking of stopping for the night somewhere in between maybe Udaipur or Vadodara (if feasible). My aim though would be to cover as much distance as possible in the first day so that i can reach Mumbai early next day.

Now the question is:
1. What time do i start from Delhi so that i don't get notorious traffic on Delhi-Jaipur road.
2. Is it possible to reach Vadodara in one day? I can hand over my car to my wife as she can drive too so it would be 2 drivers.
3. Which route should i take? Kishangarh-Chittorgarh-Udaipur or Kishangarh-Beawar-Udaipur?
4. Any hotel recommendations which on the highway on route?
5. Lastly, my Hotel is in Parel so how much time should i expect once i touch Mumbai, to reach hotel? Any specific route to follow once inside Mumbai to avoid traffic?

Looking forward to your advice guys.
Thanks.

[sinharishi]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Now the question is:
1. What time do i start from Delhi so that i don't get notorious traffic on Delhi-Jaipur road.

Earlier the better. I usually start at 4am when I drive to Jaipur. On my last trip to Udaipur I left from West Delhi at 7am and got stuck at Hero Honda Chowk, Manesar and Dharuhera and lost good 3 hours.

Kishangarh-Chittorgarh-Udaipur

You will make fast progress if you take this route. The road has 4-lanes throughout. The only place I got stuck was a small town after chittorgarh from where you make a right turn towards Udaipur.

NH-79(now NH-48):

Kishangarh - Beawar - Udaipur

I took this route during my return journey. The roads are good for the most part. It is a mix of 2 lane and 4 lane roads. This route passes through a lot of small towns. Road widening work still going on some stretches. Not to many descent restaurants on this route, however if you decide to take this route you can stop at Hotel Mewar for food which is 76 kms from Beawar.

NH-8(now NH-58):



Please do update the thread as I will be driving down to Mumbai this December.

[nitinralli]

Thanks for the info.

Since you have traveled this route before, do you know the bridge that comes in route to Surat which is know to cause Big traffic jams? I read somewhere but now not able to find it. People say everyday there's jam at this bridge as long as 4/5 kms. They did suggest an alternate route to avoid this bridge but cant seem find it now.
Do you know which one is this and whats the solution to it?

Once again thanks for your input.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Thanks for the info.

Since you have traveled this route before, do you know the bridge that comes in route to Surat which is know to cause Big traffic jams?

I crossed the Baruch bridge on Narmada River this Sunday at around 8:00 PM IST while coming from Kota. It did not take more than fifteen minutes to cross the bridge; though there was really heavy truck traffic.

The key is to keep on the left most lane. The traffic police there keeps the old bridge open only for LMV. Be careful while on the bridge as there are cars coming from the opposite direction too.

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Thanks for the info.



Since you have traveled this route before, do you know the bridge that comes in route to Surat which is know to cause Big traffic jams? I read somewhere but now not able to find it. People say everyday there's jam at this bridge as long as 4/5 kms. They did suggest an alternate route to avoid this bridge but cant seem find it now.

Do you know which one is this and whats the solution to it?



Once again thanks for your input.

You might also want to consider the Delhi - Jaipur- Chittorgarh - Ratlam - Dhule - Nasik - Mumbai route. Did this on the other way round last month and it's super roads all through with no such jams etc ..

[varunsangal]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

5. Lastly, my Hotel is in Parel so how much time should i expect once i touch Mumbai, to reach hotel? Any specific route to follow once inside Mumbai to avoid traffic?

Arrival in Mumbai is usually taken as reaching Fountain Hotel (A popular eatery just before BMC city limits and the junction of Mumbai/Thane turn-off. Parel would be ~40kms from the Fountain Hotel.

The last 40 kms is <rant> a function of time of the day, the day of the week, amount of rain and progress of the metro work and x (x being a series of unknown factors) </rant>

Given you aim to arrive early on 2nd October (Sunday), you should be able to just breeze through to Parel. Just keep straight on WEH through to Bandra Worli sea link, Worli sea face, Mahalaxmi race course and Chinchpokli. Try to avoid arriving on a weekday morning (daily commuters heading into Mumbai).

[lHarpreetl]

Year back on September 23 I travelled from Delhi to Pune with family and I followed Jaipur - bhilwara-udaipur-ahemdabad-pune. There were good roads all the way apart from some rough patches before entering Gujrat. Since I was the only one driving I took a halt at Ahemdabad. Booked a hotel via Oyo rooms. And left next day to reach Pune.

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by varunsangal

Arrival in Mumbai is usually taken as reaching Fountain Hotel (A popular eatery just before BMC city limits and the junction of Mumbai/Thane turn-off. Parel would be ~40kms from the Fountain Hotel.

The last 40 kms is <rant> a function of time of the day, the day of the week, amount of rain and progress of the metro work and x (x being a series of unknown factors) </rant>

Given you aim to arrive early on 2nd October (Sunday), you should be able to just breeze through to Parel. Just keep straight on WEH through to Bandra Worli sea link, Worli sea face, Mahalaxmi race course and Chinchpokli. Try to avoid arriving on a weekday morning (daily commuters heading into Mumbai).

Thanks a lot. Just one small correction. I would be reaching Mumbai on 1st oct (Saturday) so i hope road situation remains the same as Sunday.

[varunsangal]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Thanks a lot. Just one small correction. I would be reaching Mumbai on 1st oct (Saturday) so i hope road situation remains the same as Sunday.

Saturday is a 50:50. Usually good all day till evening (6 PM Saturday onward there are a load of people heading out for the evening), so might be an issue.

Would suggest you plan to cross Virar / Nala Sopara by ~2PM, add ~1 hour to reach fountain hotel (there is a particularly bad patch on a bridge over a creek ~1 kms before Fountain hotel which given rise to a huge line of slow moving traffic), and then 1-1.5 hrs to Parel (again number of bad patches and huge potholes on WEH).

PS: Would be looking at doing Bombay-Delhi in end October, so an account of road conditions etc post your trip would be most helpful.

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by varunsangal

Saturday is a 50:50. Usually good all day till evening (6 PM Saturday onward there are a load of people heading out for the evening), so might be an issue.

Would suggest you plan to cross Virar / Nala Sopara by ~2PM, add ~1 hour to reach fountain hotel (there is a particularly bad patch on a bridge over a creek ~1 kms before Fountain hotel which given rise to a huge line of slow moving traffic), and then 1-1.5 hrs to Parel (again number of bad patches and huge potholes on WEH).

PS: Would be looking at doing Bombay-Delhi in end October, so an account of road conditions etc post your trip would be most helpful.

My aim is to reach mumbai hotel latest by 12/1PM hence i would be driving more on day 1 (30th sep). Plan is to start from Delhi 4/5 AM and reach Godhra or Vadodara so that next day i can start early again.

Only issue is that i am not sure i would be able to reach my destination on day1.

And yes, will update here once i am back

[varunsangal]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

My aim is to reach mumbai hotel latest by 12/1PM hence i would be driving more on day 1 (30th sep). Plan is to start from Delhi 4/5 AM and reach Godhra or Vadodara so that next day i can start early again.

Only issue is that i am not sure i would be able to reach my destination on day1...

Delhi - Godhra is >900 kms. A bit of a stretch, but doable. Should be ~16-18 hours worth of drive, factoring in at least 2 meal breaks and a couple of logistical ones. Some serious groups do the entire Delhi - Mumbai in 18-20 hrs flat (3-4 drivers).

I personally try to contain driving to <700 kms in a day especially if I don't have a replacement driver, leaves me enough energy to carry on the next day.

You could look at an alternative configuration, Delhi - Udaipur, Udaipur - Bombay. Almost equally divided, but you can start really early on both days and finish by ~5PM.

[neoonwheels]

Wow, just when i was about to put up a query on RJ, this thread showed up .

I would be travelling from Pune and will be covering Jodhpur-Jaipur-Udaipur this November. As suggested by people, would take Kishengarh - Chittorgarh - Udaipur route.

Also could you guys let me know if the below route looks good (and Safe for a family)?

1. Ahmedabad - Palanpur - Sirohi - Pali - Jodhpur

2. Jodhpur - Binawas - Bhilara - Jaitaran - Beawar - Kishengarh - Jaipur