[FlashMustang]

Here's the latest update on the route conditions. Keep in mind that this is my first attempt at driving this route, so, newbie alert.

We relocated from Hyderabad to Noida. We started in the early hours from Hyderabad on March 1, 2024, and reached Noida late at night on March 2, 2024. We had pre-booked a hotel in Sagar for the first night.

The road from Hyderabad to the Telangana border remains in top shape. It was a breeze covering this section.

Upon entering Maharashtra, the road condition immediately deteriorated. There were sharp, deep potholes all along for the first 70 odd kilometers. I suffered sidewall damage to my front left tire due to one such pothole, which I completely missed while passing a truck. My tires were Continental UC6, replaced in February 2022, so they were in pretty good condition. I switched to the spare wheel and drove cautiously for the next 50 odd km to Vithal Kamats (G Point Restaurant), where we halted for breakfast. I tried identifying Continental tire dealers but finally settled with A PLUS TYRES in Nagpur, who had Bridgestone and Goodyear tires in stock for my size requirement.

Road conditions were much better until Nagpur. We spent nearly an hour getting a new Bridgestone Sturdo tire (manufactured in late December 2023) and had the wheel alignment and balancing done for all four wheels. The dealer also swapped the back wheels (both Continentals) to the front and put the Bridgestone-Continental pair from the front to the back.

This tire damage incident shook my confidence in the road conditions, and I continued driving a lot more cautiously thereafter all the way to Noida.

Road conditions were good until exiting Pench National Park in MP. The entire stretch was so scenic that I wished I was in a better state of mind to enjoy the beautiful scenery. I do not like driving on unknown stretches after sunset, so the fact that I was going to was playing on my mind.

We stopped at Cube Stop for an early dinner around 5 PM.

Road conditions again turned to uneven surfaces and bad patches after Seoni all the way to Sagar. Not the tire-damaging potholes, but manageable bad patches.

We stayed the night at Hotel Royal Palace, Sagar (Hotel Deepali was sold out). We reached around 11:00 PM. The fact that the entire stretch is quite busy with a constant flow of truck traffic was reassuring. We were never alone on any stretch, which gave us the much-needed confidence to drive to Sagar after sunset.

The next morning, we left the hotel after breakfast by 8:30 AM. Road conditions continued to be uneven with bad patches until around Jhansi. Again, no tire-damaging potholes, just annoyingly bad surface conditions.
Roads were better again after Jhansi.

Beware of the scammers at this HP petrol bunk after Jhansi. They attempted to fill my car without resetting the meter to 0 (it was around Rs.300 after filling up a bike). I called it out within the first few seconds, and the attendant nonchalantly reset to zero without even an apology and fueled up my car.

We stopped for a late lunch at Cube Stop after Gwalior.

Thereafter, we encountered very heavy traffic, with constant and crazy honking and vehicles with loud music, all the way to near Agra.

The roads leading up to the MP-Rajasthan border and the Rajasthan-UP border were choked with vehicles, and we wasted a couple of hours crossing this stretch.

Entering Agra, Google Maps routed us through a non-existent road to connect to a service road for the outer ring road. It was nearly 6 PM by the time we were there, and it was a task to hold my nerves and navigate those non-existent roads.

Thereafter, it was smooth sailing after entering the outer ring road. We stopped for dinner at Bikano Restaurant / Bikanervala on the Yamuna Expressway.

Finally, we reached Noida and checked into our hotel around 10:30 PM.

In summary, it was a tiring drive for me. If I were to do this drive again, I would definitely break the journey into 3 days, halting at Seoni, Jhansi, and finally reaching Noida on the third day.

A word of caution for anyone else driving this stretch - be extremely cautious of the first 70-80 km of roads upon entering Maharashtra. It wouldn't hurt to drive around 50 kmph until you cross this bad section. The roads are terrible and pose a real hazard to cars.

TL;DR version of the road conditions:

• Hyderabad to Telangana-Maharashtra border: excellent
• First 70-80 km of Maharashtra: hazardous. Drive around 50 kmph to avoid tire damages
• Thereafter till Seoni: smooth for the most part
• Seoni to Jhansi: uneven and with bad patches
• Jhansi to Agra: good and smooth
• Agra to Noida: excellent

[bordeaux]

It remains a mystery as to how Mr. Gadkari is building roads where none existed and nobody hoped for a road ever but his own state remains the worst in terms of quality of National Highways. The MH stretch you struggled in has been the same since 2014. It was much worse earlier but then compared to what's going in the rest of the country, it's a pathetic stretch to drive on. I try to be extra cautious while driving on this.

Also, it becomes really comfortable and enjoyable if you break the journey into 3 days. Two days is doable but you won't enjoy it at all and will have to rush needlessly.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by FlashMustang

A word of caution for anyone else driving this stretch - be extremely cautious of the first 70-80 km of roads upon entering Maharashtra. It wouldn't hurt to drive around 50 kmph until you cross this bad section. The roads are terrible and pose a real hazard to cars.

The streach from the border to Pandharkawada, MH is always in bad condition, compared to the rest of the road between Hyderabad and Nagpur.

[Dosojin]

Originally Posted by FlashMustang

Here's the latest update on the route conditions. Keep in mind that this is my first attempt at driving this route, so, newbie alert.

Hi FlashMustang,

Can you please let me know your driving times for both the days, excluding breaks and the unfortunate tire incident.

Also, what was your ride?

Thanks

[FlashMustang]

Hello Dasojin,

My driving time for the first day was somewhere around 16 hours, and around 12 hours on the second day.

My ride was a Honda City 3rd generation.

Thank you.

[Dosojin]

Hello folks,

Planning to drive to Noida from Hyderabad in 3rd week of May. Travel back planned for 1st week of June.

Please share latest update on road conditions, if you have.

Also, if you filled XP95 on this route, please share the petrol bunk locations. While I am figuring out XP95 bunks enroute via the IOCL app, I am hoping firsthand info will help identify ones which require minimum detours into towns/cities.

Thanks

[ankitsharma]

Originally Posted by Dosojin

Hello folks,

Also, if you filled XP95 on this route, please share the petrol bunk locations. While I am figuring out XP95 bunks enroute via the IOCL app, I am hoping firsthand info will help identify ones which require minimum detours into towns/cities.

Thanks

First fill , Hyderabad itself.
Second fill, Nagpur. Easily get XP95 near the main road / NH44.
Third Fill, Somewhere in MP. XP95 is very limited here. Go for Jio-BP.
Fourth Fill, Jhansi where you can get XP95 at every pump nearly.

P.S. I am assuming the car has a range of ~700 KM per tank. If it is lower stick to Jio-BP ones. The fuel is better than the regular 91 Ron and cleaner.

I usually fuel only in cities. They have XP95 availability and cleaner/authentic too.

[Dosojin]

Thanks ankitsharma.

My car will have a range of ~550KM.

Have identified IOCL bunks with XP95. Will list on the thread once I have completed the trip.

[Dosojin]

I did Hyderabad to Noida in 2.5 days starting 17th of May. Good roads except the following two sections:

1. 40 kms section after entering Maharashtra from Telangana. Need to be really careful, else a sudden pothole or undulating patch will hit you car suspension and your back
2. 40 kms before Narsinghpur till Lalitpur. Irritating drive with constant patchy surface. This is ~300kms drive

Is the alternative via Gwalior-Shivpuri-Bhopal-Betul-Nagpur significantly better surface than #2 above? Trying to figure out if I can get a better drive on way back to Noida.

[Rahkehs]

Is the alternative via Gwalior-Shivpuri-Bhopal-Betul-Nagpur significantly better surface than #2 above? Trying to figure out if I can get a better drive on way back to Noida.

Hi, did you try this route?

[Dosojin]

No, I stuck to the same route on return journey as well.

[Anisoft]

Planning a solo bike ride from Hyderabad to Noida in mid of August. Plan to do Tadoba enroute, so this is what I was thinking -

1. Hyderabad to Tadoba (Day 1 - approx 400 Kms/7-8 Hrs)
2. Tadoba - Orcha (Day 2 - approx 700 kms/12-13 hrs)
3. Orcha - Noida (Day 3 - approx 450 Kms/7-8 hrs)

Keeping the recent rainfall in mind, do you think this is a good route and are there any specific sections I need to be mindful of?

Anything else to make my trip great? Like stay options, or places to attractions etc.?

[Dosojin]

Hello all,

Has anybody recently done Hyderabad to Pench? Want to understand road conditions post the heavy monsoon rains.

Thanks

[rohitsharma359]

Below are the latest updates on the route.

This is my 5th time doing the route and the road conditions are the worst I have experienced in recent few years.

Day 1 - Hyderabad to Narsinghpur
The road from Hyderabad to the Telangana border is in good shape as usual.

Maharashatara section is patchy but easily manageable till pench. The ordeal starts when MP starts. The road is pothole ridden and reduces your speed drastically. We were not tired at all till we reached MP but the last stretch was exhausting.
To make things worse, the road conditions deteriorate even further near Narsinghpur.

We started at 5 in the morning and was at Sing Saab Nagpur by 12:45. Total drive time was 7 hour 20 minutes and distance covered was 520 kms.

We were denied sitting at the restaurant as we had a pet dog along with us. Eventually we shifted to Gabbar da Dhaba which was nearby.

The last ~290 kms took around 5 hours to cover and we were at our Hotel The Grand Shukrana (pet friendly) by 7:40. The hotel itself left a lot to be desired however their service was good. Our stay last time at Hotel Shubam Palace was much better.

Day 2

I enquired about the road conditions at the Hotel and got to know that there are 26 new Flyovers approved till Lalitpur and the work has started for them.
Therefore, as expected the road till Lalitpur had a lot of diversions. After Lalitpur the tarmac improves significantly.
After Jhansi there was heavy traffic as expected till Gurugram with 20 minutes bumper to bumper traffic in Mathura.

We started at around 4:40 AM and reached at 7:20 PM with around 770 KMs covered.

One thing which I have noticed throughout the whole journey was amount of Truck/Lorry encountered I have never seen so many of them at this route.

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by rohitsharma359

Day 2

I enquired about the road conditions at the Hotel and got to know that there are 26 new Flyovers approved till Lalitpur and the work has started for them.
Therefore, as expected the road till Lalitpur had a lot of diversions. After Lalitpur the tarmac improves significantly.

One thing which I have noticed throughout the whole journey was amount of Truck/Lorry encountered I have never seen so many of them at this route.

The flyover construction had started in June when I drove last in this section. It starts from Lakhnadon itself, almost at every insignificant intersection too. So many of them. And the "tall" speed brakers before every diversion slow down your pace considerably. It was otherwise a smooth and fast stretch to drive. Maybe in another year, most of them will be completed.

Lalitpur - Jhansi remains fast, except that in Lalitpur bypass, there is more crowd nowadays.

Truck traffic has increased by a lot in recent times. Unless railways do something to attract more frieght, it will remain same. Earlier, we used to enjoy this route with just a few trucks and almost nil car traffic. I remember once mine was the only car on the highway, for all the 400 odd kms, from Jhansi to Lakhnadon!