[Sutripta]

^^^
The attractions that side (at least for city dwellers) are the forests and tea estates. Other than that, I cant think of anything.

Enjoy your trip.

Regards
Sutripta

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Enjoy your trip.

Regards
Sutripta

Can Kolkata-Siliguri be done in a single day?
We have a KA registered Safari and plan to leave Kolkata by 4AM in this route.
Jamtara-Bhagalpur-Naughachia-Dalkhola (640Kms).

Also beyond Siliguri can we drive to Tezpur in Assam in one day(530kms)? (again early departure planned)

[pyrodrive]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Yups I think that can be done for sure.

Meanwhile, Need suggestions on the following, especially from the bhpians from Guwahati.

For going to North Salmara instead of following the NH37 all the way through Guwahati, can this be opted for, instead?
Turn left on the Namghar Path, Garchuk after the ISBT flyover and continue through Maghoapara, Boragaon; Borjhar and then turn Right on the Guwahati-Accoland-Rani road to join NH 37 again at Azara. This route is basically the southern bank of the Deepor Beel Birds Sanctuary.

Yes. This road byepasses the traffic jam at the jalukbari-saraighat section. Good roads except for a little hillock after crossing deepor beel. I often use this route for commuting to and from the airport. The only problem is that the bridge near the DPS school is being repaired. But there is another road just by the front of the school which joins the main road.
When are you planning to go? I am also planning a guwahati-phuentsholing- paro- thimphu - guwahati drive. Tentative starting date is 25th november.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Can Kolkata-Siliguri be done in a single day?
We have a KA registered Safari and plan to leave Kolkata by 4AM in this route.
Jamtara-Bhagalpur-Naughachia-Dalkhola (640Kms).

Yes, no problems. I use a slightly different approach to Dumka. Barddhaman - Bolpur - Siuri - Massanjore - Dumka. No information about Jamtara.

Also beyond Siliguri can we drive to Tezpur in Assam in one day(530kms)? (again early departure planned)

Though possible (if everything falls into place) a lot depends on where you actually want to go. I mean, is Tezpur just a night halt?

Regards
Sutripta

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Though possible (if everything falls into place) a lot depends on where you actually want to go. I mean, is Tezpur just a night halt?

Regards
Sutripta

Yes tezpur is just a night halt. We want to go to namdapha national park after tezpur

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Yes. This road byepasses the traffic jam at the jalukbari-saraighat section. Good roads except for a little hillock after crossing deepor beel. I often use this route for commuting to and from the airport. The only problem is that the bridge near the DPS school is being repaired. But there is another road just by the front of the school which joins the main road.
When are you planning to go? I am also planning a guwahati-phuentsholing- paro- thimphu - guwahati drive. Tentative starting date is 25th november.

Just came back last night from the trip. Tlog coming up real soon. Had I read this post of yours earlier, I would have saved a lot of trouble yesterday. I reached Mirza on the outskirts around 1600 hrs and could only reach Batistha Crossing by 1900 hrs. Imagine!! I had started from Thimpu in the morning and could reach Jorhat only by 2300 thanks to the mess around Jalukbari that passes off as byepass traffic.

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

We have a KA registered Safari and plan to leave Kolkata by 4AM in this route.

Also beyond Siliguri can we drive to Tezpur in Assam in one day(530kms)? (again early departure planned)

Very much doable. In May I did Siliguri- Jorhat in a single day. The roads till Srirampur are an absolute joy. Beyond that, well the road is broken in patches and it is very tiring till Rangia. Beyond that the roads are not broken but not even either. The north bank road is narrow and has some slow moving traffic but nothing that your safari cannot handle. Conservatively if you start around 6 AM from Siliguri you should be comfortably in Tejpur by 1700.

[pushkark]

Planning to drive to Bhutan in a car from Mumbai. Exploring the route options please help me with the route with the cities enroute and approximate time.
Anyone who has driven on this route?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by pushkark

Planning to drive to Bhutan in a car from Mumbai. Exploring the route options please help me with the route with the cities enroute and approximate time.
Anyone who has driven on this route?

Wrong time of the year. Rains have already started. Ideal time is Mar/ Apr. Another period is perhaps Oct-Nov, but not the best time.

Budget for 8 days to & fro from Bombay to reach the border, and 7 days in Bhutan

[pushkark]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Wrong time of the year. Rains have already started. Ideal time is Mar/ Apr. Another period is perhaps Oct-Nov, but not the best time.

Budget for 8 days to & fro from Bombay to reach the border, and 7 days in Bhutan

Sirji,

Planning for October 2014. Have budgeted for 15 days. Want to know the route as few people are expected to join midway. Also, any specific disadvantages/challenges for traveling in Oct-Nov?
Another question to be asked - can ford figo and i10 make it?

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by pushkark

Planning to drive to Bhutan in a car from Mumbai. Exploring the route options please help me with the route with the cities enroute and approximate time.
Anyone who has driven on this route?

Depends on what all you want to see. If you stick to just the regulars- Paro and Thimpu, Bhutan will be very enjoyable during rains.Ok just saw that you are doing it in October. Well it will start getting colder and there would be snow on the higher fringes. If you are lucky you may encounter snow at Chelela. HV can give you directions from Mumbai onwards but reach Bhagalpur-Islampur-Siliguri-Hashimara-Jaigon-Pheuntsholing-Paro-Thimpu.
So if you are planning for people to join you then wont you ahve to plan according to where people will join you? Yes easily doable in the cars that you mentioned. PM me if you need any details for accommodation etc at Thimpu.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by pushkark

Sirji,

Planning for October 2014. Have budgeted for 15 days. Want to know the route as few people are expected to join midway. Also, any specific disadvantages/challenges for traveling in Oct-Nov?
Another question to be asked - can ford figo and i10 make it?

Any vehicle can make it, excellent roads in Bhutan. Issue is only some bad roads in Bengal.

You have multiple route options from Bombay. The one I will suggest is as follows:

Option 1 (recommended):
D1: Bombay-Nashik-Dhule-Dhamnod-Ratlam-Nemmuch-Chittorgarh-Kota
D2: Kota-Jhansi-Kanpur-LucknowAyodhya-Gorakhpur
D3: Gorakhpur-Gopalganj-Muzaffarpur-Purnea-Sliguri

Option 2:
D1: Bombay-Nashik-Dhule-Jalgaon-Khamgaon-Akola-Amravati
D2: Amravati-Nagpur-Bhandara-Bhilai-Raipur-Sambalpur
D3: Sambalpur-Keonjhar/Angul-Jashpur/Cuttack-Kharagpur-Calcutta-Bardhaman-Asansol
D4: Asansol-Dumka-Bhagalpur-Purnea-Siliguri

Oct is best avoided during Dussera since Bhutan will be filled with Bengali tourists. Towards Nov, landscape becomes winter-barren and it gets very cold.

Mar/Apr is very green & lots of water bodies.

[pushkark]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Any vehicle can make it, excellent roads in Bhutan. Issue is only some bad roads in Bengal.

You have multiple route options from Bombay. The one I will suggest is as follows:

Option 1 (recommended):
D1: Bombay-Nashik-Dhule-Dhamnod-Ratlam-Nemmuch-Chittorgarh-Kota
D2: Kota-Jhansi-Kanpur-LucknowAyodhya-Gorakhpur
D3: Gorakhpur-Gopalganj-Muzaffarpur-Purnea-Sliguri

Option 2:
D1: Bombay-Nashik-Dhule-Jalgaon-Khamgaon-Akola-Amravati
D2: Amravati-Nagpur-Bhandara-Bhilai-Raipur-Sambalpur
D3: Sambalpur-Keonjhar/Angul-Jashpur/Cuttack-Kharagpur-Calcutta-Bardhaman-Asansol
D4: Asansol-Dumka-Bhagalpur-Purnea-Siliguri

Oct is best avoided during Dussera since Bhutan will be filled with Bengali tourists. Towards Nov, landscape becomes winter-barren and it gets very cold.

Mar/Apr is very green & lots of water bodies.

The route 1 mentioned by you is 2615 kms from Mumbai to Siliguri, whereas the route 2 is 2286 kms. Would traveling additional 330kms more than compensate the extra time required due to the road conditions on route 2?
Also as I checked the google maps (Route 3), it is suggesting an route as Mumbai- Indore - Sagar - Allahabad - Varanasi - Patna - Siliguri which is 2286 kms. A bit confused due to the various options being thrown up.
Are are all these routes from the point of view of security and safety?

[motomaverick]

Hi folks wanted to check on road conditions in lower Assam mainly around Goalpara. Will be doing a trip from Guwahati to Goalpara on 24th Oct, since after the recent floods the usual NH37 was viand broken. How are the roads via Bijni & Abhayapuri?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Hi folks wanted to check on road conditions in lower Assam mainly around Goalpara. Will be doing a trip from Guwahati to Goalpara on 24th Oct, since after the recent floods the usual NH37 was viand broken. How are the roads via Bijni & Abhayapuri?

Roads are open, no serious damage to roads. Stick to the Guwahati-Ghauripur- Goalpara-Ccoch Behar-Siliguri route