[rkbharat]

Hee Hee hee, right ?

Originally Posted by phamilyman

rk - after this trip, you need to update that signature

Very true

Originally Posted by akhilesh51

I guess a visit to paonta sahib gurudwara is must en-route.

VCP Cancer Research Foundation
Mandir Marg, Turner Road, Clement Town, Dehradun-248002 India

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

@RK where would you be required to go in Dehradun. I just might be able to save you some time in negotiating the unruly traffic in Dehradun as well.

Thanks buddy

Originally Posted by jsrakkar

Yes Bharat, I'm pretty much sure that it is about 50kms more only, +/- 10%.

[wanderernomad]

RK then what you do is after about 2 kms of crossing the IMA gates there is a small roundabout. Turn right and follow it right till you hit a T point which is about 4-5 Kms from there. At the T point turn right again and drive for about another 3 kms Clement Town will be to your left. Once you turn into Clement Town go another 1 km and at a place where there a lot of shops turn left. Straight to your VCP.

[rkbharat]

wanderernomad, that is such a great help. Point to Point, thanks lot

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

RK then what you do is after about 2 kms of crossing the IMA gates there is a small roundabout. Turn right and follow it right till you hit a T point which is about 4-5 Kms from there. At the T point turn right again and drive for about another 3 kms Clement Town will be to your left. Once you turn into Clement Town go another 1 km and at a place where there a lot of shops turn left. Straight to your VCP.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Hey Guys,

We bunch of friends are planning a 5 day trip to the North.
We would be flying into Dlehi and then rent an SUV from Avis to (self) drive to Dehradun and Rishikesh.

Our plan is to spend 3 days in Dehradun and then proceed to Rishikesh. After spending 1 night in Rishikesh, we would drive back to Delhi.

I wanted to know the best possible route to be taken on this journey.
Also, if anyone knows the conditions of the roads, it would be a bonus.

It would also be great, if you could let me know if the roads are safe for night driving, as we plan to leave Delhi sometime in the evening.

P.S: None of us know the exact route. All we have is a faint idea of the route and our ever trustworthy road signs!

[hvkumar]

Delhi-Ghaziabad-Modinagar-Meerut-Muzaffarnagar-Roorkee-Dehra Dun

What will you do in Dehra Dun? Go to Musoorie?

Rishikesh is a short distance from Dehra Dun.

Return from Rishikesh is via Hardwar to Roorkee and then the same onward journey route.

Road in UP will be very congested by day time. Early morning (<6 am) departure from Delhi is advised.

No safety issues. Driving through the night means you can beat the traffic.
Since you are driving a taxi, check out permits issue, all commercial vehicles require permits to cross State borders. They are also a perpetual source of harassment by local cops.

Budget for 5-7 hours drive time to Dehra Dun and similar timings from Rishikesh to Delhi.

[Swanand Inamdar]

^^HVK, thanks a lot for that! Somehow knew (and honestly, expected) that you would be the first person to comment on my query .

You are right about the "To Do" part in Dehradun. To be honest, that hasnt been sorted out as yet. May be done on the fly. Mussoorie sure is on the cards.

And yes, thanks for mentioning the permits issue. One thing that slipped my mind totally.
Once again, thanks for the detailed response.

[c_trivedi]

Hello everyone

I am planning to drive down to Dehradun from Delhi during the last week of Oct 2013, and want to know about the road conditions if I take the route via Yamunanagar / Paonta Sahib.

I have driven to Dehradun via Meerut / Muzaffarnagar / Roorkee always, and the last time I took that route (Sep 2013), I found the road between Muzaffarnagar and Dehradun in a pretty bad condition. So I want to try out this new, albeit longer, route via Paonta Sahib.

Has anyone taken this route recently? I will be taking the GT Road till Pipli, then turn right towards Radaur / Yamunanagar. So I want to know the road condition from GT road (Pipli) onwards.

Looking forward to some experienced suggestions.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by c_trivedi

I will be taking the GT Road till Pipli, then turn right towards Radaur / Yamunanagar. So I want to know the road condition from GT road (Pipli) onwards.

I took this route on my way from Mussoorie to Bikaner on 14/15 Sep 2013.



The roads in Himachal Pradesh were not in good shape; but, the roads in Uttarakhand and Haryana were good. The interstate borders like HR/HP and HP/UK were very bad. Adding fuel to the fire, one has to pay up 30 while entering Himachal Pradesh.

[c_trivedi]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

The roads in Himachal Pradesh were not in good shape; but, the roads in Uttarakhand and Haryana were good. The interstate borders like HR/HP and HP/UK were very bad.

Thanks for the update.

I take it that road between Paonta Sahib and Dehradun is not in good condition then?

I was actually wondering how the road surface is specifically on the following stretch:

Radaur > Yamunanagar > Paonta Sahib

The reason why I'm interested in this particular stretch stems my memory of driving from Delhi to Saharanpur last year. From Radaur I went straight through Yamunanagar towards Saharanpur (i.e. I didn't take the left at YN towards Paonta Sahib as there was no need). The road on this entire stretch, especially around Radaur and Yamunanagar, was battered and the drive was frustratingly slow; something that I prefer not to endure again.

So, let me know if somehow you remember the specifics. (I know it's not easy!) Thanks again.

Originally Posted by c_trivedi

I take it that road between Paonta Sahib and Dehradun is not in good condition then?

After crossing to Uttarakhand, the road was good all the way to Dehradun.

Radaur > Yamunanagar > Paonta Sahib

We left Dehradun in the evening, visited Paonta Sahib and continued our journey via Yamunanagar/Kurukshetra/Hisar. I remember the roads were really bad at HP/HR border and also at the ghat sections. We were advised against taking Sahranpur route, which we had considered in the beginning in view of very bad roads and communal violence. So, we selected Paonta Sahib/Yaumunagar route, which was good except for some bad stretches in HP.

So, let me know if somehow you remember the specifics. (I know it's not easy!)

After entering Haryana from HP, the roads were good including in and around Yaumunanagar. Drive carefully at the ghat section as certain stretches were really bad.

[c_trivedi]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

After entering Haryana from HP, the roads were good including in and around Yaumunanagar. Drive carefully at the ghat section as certain stretches were really bad.

Many thanks for your suggestions. I know it's not easy to remember particular stretches of the journey, especially if you are not consciously expecting someone to inquire a month later!

I think I will try out this route (Yamunanagar > Paonta Sahib > Dehradun) and let you know how it turned out. Cheers!

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by c_trivedi

Many thanks for your suggestions. I know it's not easy to remember particular stretches of the journey, especially if you are not consciously expecting someone to inquire a month later!

I think I will try out this route (Yamunanagar > Paonta Sahib > Dehradun) and let you know how it turned out. Cheers!

You can even try this route. Continue till Ambala Cantt on the NH and at Baldev Nagar Camp turn right to Sahjadpur-Naraingarh-KalaAmb, cross into HP and continue till Paonta. Its far more scenic and if you have the time and inclination a slight detour at Kala Amb will take you to the Suketi Fossil Park as well. What car would you be driving? If its one with a high GC there is another, alebit a broken road which takes you forward from Suketi to join the road to paonta much further up.

[c_trivedi]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

You can even try this route. Continue till Ambala Cantt on the NH and at Baldev Nagar Camp turn right to Sahjadpur-Naraingarh-KalaAmb, cross into HP and continue till Paonta. Its far more scenic and if you have the time and inclination a slight detour at Kala Amb will take you to the Suketi Fossil Park as well.

Thanks Wanderernomad. I checked out the route that you mentioned, and it sure looks more scenic. The only thing is that, if I take that route, I will have to cover 350km from Delhi to reach Dehradun! The other route, through Yamunanagar, will be around 300km (which is already quite a distance considering I've always travelled to Dehradun via Meerut/Muzaffarnagar by covering 250km).

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

What car would you be driving? If its one with a high GC there is another, alebit a broken road which takes you forward from Suketi to join the road to paonta much further up.

I will be driving my Ford Ikon 1.6 Nxt. Thanks, but I'm not particularly fond of driving on broken roads! In fact, the whole point of not taking the normal route (via Meerut) is to avoid such roads.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by c_trivedi

Thanks Wanderernomad. I checked out the route that you mentioned, and it sure looks more scenic. The only thing is that, if I take that route, I will have to cover 350km from Delhi to reach Dehradun!
Thanks for your suggestions.

The time taken to cover this 350 km shall be less than your 300 kms route and almost equal to the 250 km option not to mention lesser driving fatigue.

[c_trivedi]

Okay, first of all, my sincere thanks to J.Ravi and wanderernomad for providing excellent info about the route between Delhi and Dehradun via Paonta Sahib. I just came back from Dehradun yesterday by taking this route and was surprised to see how awesome it was (having taken the usual Meerut - Muzaffarnagr - Roorkee route while going from Delhi to Dehradun). Roads were good throughout with negligibly small bad patches, and the drive was a pleasure through forests with very little traffic.

If there's anybody travelling from Delhi to Dehradun or back, I would strongly recommend to take this route, which is explained below just to be clear -

1. From Delhi, take NH1 till Kurukshetra flyover, turn right towards Radaur
2. From Radaur, continue to Jagadhri (Yamunanagar) till you reach the chowk where left turn goes to Paonta Sahib - take this left
3. Pass through Kalesar National Park and continue all the way to Dehradun (this road becomes 'Chakrata road' as you near Dehradun).