[ashtrix]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

Hi,

kindly share updates for Mumbai - Lucknow best route. thanks.

I recently travelled to Lucknow from Mumbai. I took Mumbai - Nashik - Dhule - Indore route up to Indore and then after night halt at Indore took Dewas - Bhopal - Sanchi - Vidisha - Sagar - Chhatarpur - Mahoba - Kanpur - Lucknow route.

Mumbai to Indore is all 4 lane and takes about 10 hours to cover approx 600 kms. Indore to Lucknow it took me about 14 hours to cover nearly 800 + kms. Indore Bhopal road is good and after that from Bhopal to Kanpur its single/double lane without divider with some bad patches. But there is very little traffic in MP so its a cruise. Only thing is that you don't get any proper eateries / toilets on the route and its advisable to stop in cities like Vidisha, Sagar or Chhatarpur. Good thing is that there is no toll between Bhopal and Mahoba.

On return, I took Lucknow - Kanpur - Jhansi - Shivpuri - Baran - Jhalawar - Ujjain - Indore route which is much faster that Bhopal - Mahoba - Kanpur route. Lucknow to Baran its NH-27 so you can cruise but from Baran to Ujjain its Single/double lane road without divider but you still pay tolls. I paid about Rs.1650/- as toll on this route and while going I had to shell out about 1050/- as toll. Lucknow to Indore via Rajasthan is about 900 kms but it took us only 13 hours.

However the best route to Lucknow from Mumbai is via Surat - Baroda - Udaipur - Chittorgarh - Kota - Jhansi - Kanpur. You drive NH-27 which is part of East - West corridor from Lucknow to Udaipur and then you join Jaipur - Mumbai Road. This route may be a little longer but you get to drive on 4 lane and better road.

[ashtrix]

Also just for information Diesel is most expensive in Madhya Pradesh. Its about Rs. 65/- per liter in MP while in UP it was about Rs.58/- per liter. In Maharashtra it was about 60 or 61 rupees a liter. So plan accordingly. Best wishes!

[sidm]

Planning a drive soon and after conversations with multiple people it appears that the best route for the Indore-Jhansi leg is now via Devas - Shajapur - Biaora - Guna. The road is almost entirely multi lane with a proper median/divider in place, except a small stretch after Guna. Someone I know told me he drove from Navi Mumbai - Kanpur on this route in mid July and then drove back in first week of August. Drove without overnight stop both times and took only about 19 hours either way (in a Celerio). Also said did not find much rain damage on the roads, with only very minor stretches in bad shape.

[ashtrix]

Indore - Biaora - Guna - Shivpuri is part of Bombay - Agra NH - 3. When I drove last on this patch in 2015 it was a single lane, full of truck traffic and pot holes. There was no sign of four laning anywhere. I really hope this patch has been converted into 4 lane as its the shortest route between Mumbai and Lucknow. Please do update your experience when you do this. Happy motoring.

[sidm]

Reached Kanpur yesterday. Took same route as described above (Mostly Mumbai-Agra highway) :
Mumbai->Nashik->Malegaon->Dhule->Sendhwa->Indore->Dewas->Biaora->Shivpuri->Jhansi->Orai->Kalpi->Kanpur. This was the same route as one shown by Google Maps by default.

Vehicle used : Skoda Octavia MY2019.

Day 1 (Mumbai to Indore):
Toll collected : Rs 740
Driving time : approx 9h
Breaks : approx 1h

Started from home in Mumbai at 0456h in the dark, so as to keep sufficient margin in order to reach Indore by dusk in case of any checkpoints or other delays (there were none). Drove over an hour in darkness waving in and out of truck traffic through potholed roads in Mumbai, Thane and a little beyond, with constant glare of high beams from traffic on the opposite side of the median. In hindsight, would avoid this due to multiple factors - high beam glare, unable to avoid bad potholes as well as most importantly - lack of sleep (see PS #1). Reached Nashik in just under 3 hours. The latter stage of the bypass is under construction so exiting the city took a while, driving through potholed service roads next to the under construction flyover, with fair amount of city traffic for company. Post this the drive was fairly uneventful till MP. Possibly had the worst pothole hit a 100km or so before MP with a nice thud with the suspension bottoming out at a speed of about 80-100kmph. Another gripe through Maharashtra was the speed bumps/rumble strips at every U turn, which were mostly without any road signs announcing their presence so requiring me to break within a 50m or so, usually not able to slow down sufficiently when at triple digit speeds. That and the potholes.

Entering MP was a pleasant surprise. Scientifically designed U turns (yay to no speed bumps), always announced by signage. And the roads were either newly laid and even otherwise well maintained with proper signage and pothole free, at worst minor patches. Refueled a little before Indore with 50km range left. Entered Indore by 1500h and reached the hotel (Mariott) by 1515h. Overall took less than 1 hour of breaks for roadside nature calls (no public loos given the infection threat) and streching/snacking. The hotel had proper protocols in place and had advertised contact free checkin but govt regulation required me to submit our ID and the card used for booking. Took the half-board staycation package and stayed indoors for the next 1.5 days. Got our meals delivered to the room after some insisting. Overall, took just a bit over 10h for this leg which was good as we were expecting 12h-14h based on earlier experiences of Google Maps ETAs. I guess bare minimum breaks and low traffic helped.


Day 2 :
Spent in R&R helped by great food in room service, escaping the rigours of 'Atma Nirbhar' daily life during the pandemic.

Day 3 :
Toll collected : Rs 910
Driving time : approx 10h
Breaks : approx 1h

Started from the hotel at dawn, 0610h. Got out of the city in 10-15 mins and reached Dewas soon after. This appears to be a sort of satellite industrial town which has developed enough to require a bypass, but our navigation overlords from Mountain View did not suggest any, so I left it at that. Spent some 20 minutes going through the semi-urban traffic on somewhat satisfactory roads, finally entering the toll road. As per the earlier posts in this thread, the Indore-Dewas-Guna-Shivpuri-Jhansi stretch was not advised due to sans-median single lane roads, I only considered this route upon insistence of our aforementioned navigation overlords and some HUMINT gathered over several phone calls. And boy was I in for some surprise! The Dewas-Guna stretch looked like a brand-new highway, 4 laned the entire way with buttery smooth surface. The only way I realized I was well into the triple zone was with the incessant beeping which I could not figure out how to modify even after reading the entire manual (advice on how to dial the needle up a bit welcome in replies or PM).

*start of rant*
But of course, when the supreme overlord giveth some, *insert appropriate pronoun* cannot help taketh something else away. The triple zone could be only ventured upon on clear line of sight as the Toll Road operators for reasons of economy (or ideological) decided to plant the medians with the choicest greens, resulting in the motorists having to share this otherwise fantastic stretch of tarmac with the morning buffet rush of certain motherly animals, who were either queued up partaking the aforesaid greens upon or next to the median, or enjoying a postprandial stroll or liedown upon the aforesaid tarmac, possibly indulging in some literal chewing of the cud, at times leaving barely half a lane for the originally intended use of the tarmac. I personally would have preferred sitting upon the aforesaid greens, either on the median, or on either side of the tarmac, but then again, I don't sit upon the leftovers after a hearty meal do I, silly me! One could only slow down to a crawl, pay due respects and get a move on, avoiding any display of political incorrectness to avoid getting physically corrected later, this being aforesaid motherly animal's belt after all.
*end of rant*

Things went slightly haywire after Guna, with the only encountered sufficiently long sans-median stretch of highway which lasted about 15km and 25-30mins with fair number of trucks in either direction (there was one more stretch, when leaving the Mumbai-Agra highway for Kanpur, soon after Jhansi but that was quite short). Elsewhere on the interwebs I was warned to avoid the Shivpuri bypass due to some lunar-crater scale potholes. However, someone else on the same part of interwebs covered the same stretch just a couple of weeks ago on a fully laden City (having driven one for years I was well aware of its lack of ability on such stretches), I was a bit more confident of overcoming it. That and the navigation overlords insisting that the alternate route through town would take 37mins more for a 7km extra journey. Eventually it was do-able, and the really bad part was barely a few hundred mts, but its upto you to choose your poison depending upon your vehicle, your vehicle's class, its general sense of well-being and your general sense of affection towards it, not to forget, giving this bypass a wide pass after any kind of rain in the recent past unless you are of the adventurous kind, driving a vehicle capable of such bouts of ill-advised adventure, and driving without any passenger(s) who does/do not quite have the same zeal for adventure.

Having passed this barely passable bypass, I was advised to be careful on the subsequent stretch of 100km pre and post Jhansi (essentially Bundelkhand), to avoid stopping for breaks/fuel if possible and certainly avoid it at night. It certainly was a bit on the desolate side, with dense foliage on either side of the road not giving much idea of what laid beyond. Anyways, this was around noon, and I managed to pass Jhansi soon after 1300h, finally leaving the Mumbai-Agra highway and getting on the highway to Kanpur after a minor sans-median interconnecting stretch between toll roads. Also, there was a fair stretch of continuous potholed road soon after Jhansi, looking as if someone ploughed the road with his tractor after a bout of moonshine enabled merrymaking. And soon after that, an impatient trucker possibly heading for such a bout appeared to have driven through a not freshly (but not yet stale) laid stretch of road, leaving grooves deep enough to enforce lane discipline on otherwise wayward two wheel motorists, but thankfully not deep enough to enforce any such discipline on their 4 wheeled compatriots. Passed Orai without event, unfortunately Kalpi insisted upon a longer stay, enforced by an under construction bypass flyover which left barely single laned space, on what could barely be called a road, with dense rural UP traffic for company, with the foot traffic easily bypassing the vehicular traffic passing the not quite there yet bypass. This must have taken a good 20-30 mins.

Rest of the journey to our destination in Kanpur was uneventful, passing through the industrial areas outside Kanpur so a fair amount of traffic however this appeared to be a signal free bypass and one could maintain good speed in between the pockets of traffic. We must have entered Kanpur about 1700h and reached our destination about 1720h.

Having bought this car only end Jan, and it having been driven only a little over 1500km due to a timely taken vacation in the forests and hills of Uttarakhand beginning march, this was the first drive where I even went above 80kmph (as evident by the first encounter of the initial speed warning), it was a pleasant departure from earlier highway trips on our previous car (City), which did not inspire much confidence in the triple zone, not to forget the dreaded rubberbanding effect of the CVT when overtaking. Also this trip was far longer than any I have attempted in India so far (longest being trips to Mahabaleshwar) but the car made it comfortable and enjoyable, and inspiring me and the missus to go on longer trips in the future once we get through whatever we are trying to get through but not quite being able to get through so far.

PS
Apologies for overindulgent keyboard use at times. Blame it on the fresh memory and current reading list.

#1 I had to wake up at 0330h to prep everything. If one is used to sleeping at 2300h and waking between 0600h-0700h, not possible to change habit all of a sudden, which resulted in a bad night of sleep. For sleep-ignorant folk would recommend to read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, an eye opening book. See Bill Gates review - https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Why-We-Sleep

[bj96]

Originally Posted by sidm

... Took same route as described above (Mostly Mumbai-Agra highway) :
Mumbai->Nashik->Malegaon->Dhule->Sendhwa->Indore->Dewas->Biaora->Shivpuri->Jhansi->Orai->Kalpi->Kanpur. This was the same route as one shown by Google Maps by default...

Thanks for sharing the route update. I am riding same route from Pune, in about 10d from now. Planning to stay overnight at Biora, beyond Indore. Is this section safe post sunset and after Indore. Next day planning to touch Lucknow. I will be riding my Harley. From your recent experience do you see any challenge in this plan?

Thanks in advance,
-BJ

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by bj96

Thanks for sharing the route update. I am riding same route from Pune, in about 10d from now. Planning to stay overnight at Biora, beyond Indore. Is this section safe post sunset and after Indore. Next day planning to touch Lucknow. I will be riding my Harley. From your recent experience do you see any challenge in this plan?

Thanks in advance,
-BJ

Try to not stay on the 2 lane sections after dark. Truckies try to murder 2-wheeler riders by acting as if they don't exist. It is expected that you will go off the road in order to save yourself even if you are traveling at 100+.

From what I remember, Biora is too small a town to have decent stay options during Covid times. Guna could be a better bet.

All the best, ride safe.

[sidm]

Originally Posted by bj96

Thanks for sharing the route update. I am riding same route from Pune, in about 10d from now. Planning to stay overnight at Biora, beyond Indore. Is this section safe post sunset and after Indore. Next day planning to touch Lucknow. I will be riding my Harley. From your recent experience do you see any challenge in this plan?

Thanks in advance,
-BJ

What I have heard is that about 100km +- Jhansi (Bundelkhand region in MP/UP) is a bit tricky. I felt the same when driving through this area as with the dense foliage right next to the road on both sides, some mischief-monger could suddenly appear out of nowhere. So best to cover this region during daylight hours, which should not be an issue for you if taking a break in Biaora. I started from Indore about 0615h and passed Jhansi about 1330h. I hope you have done your research regarding proper stay options in Biaora though.

[bj96]

Thanks for the revert guys.

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Try to not stay on the 2 lane sections after dark

Which sections are two lanes? My understanding is Indore -> Dewas -> Biora is all four lane.

Originally Posted by antz.bin

From what I remember, Biora is too small a town to have decent stay options... Guna could be a better bet...

Originally Posted by sidm

... 100km +- Jhansi (Bundelkhand region in MP/UP) is a bit tricky .... region during daylight hours, which should not be an issue for you if taking a break in Biaora. ... research regarding proper stay options in Biaora though.

Thanks for the heads-up. Guna will be too far from Pune for the night halt, I guess. How long did it take you to cross Biora and Guna from Indore?

There is a MPTDC Highway Motel in Biora which has good recent reviews online. I am aiming for an accommodation there.

As alternative, how is Indore ->Dewas ->Bhopal ->Sagar ->Lalitpur ->Jhansi option presently? I had travelled this route 2 years ago and it was lonely 2-lane SH for most part after Bhopal to Jhansi.

Tia,
-BJ

[ShankarG]

Originally Posted by bj96

Thanks for sharing the route update. I am riding same route from Pune, in about 10d from now. Planning to stay overnight at Biora, beyond Indore. Is this section safe post sunset and after Indore. Next day planning to touch Lucknow. I will be riding my Harley. From your recent experience do you see any challenge in this plan?

Thanks in advance,
-BJ

Hi. I did the Noida- Indore - Noida round trip and returned only yesterday. I would recommend you to take a halt at Indore if possible. Biora is an isolated stretch and I don't think it is a good idea. Other details of the route I have posted in the Indore route thread. Thanks

[sidm]

Originally Posted by bj96

Thanks for the revert guys.

Which sections are two lanes? My understanding is Indore -> Dewas -> Biora is all four lane.

Thanks for the heads-up. Guna will be too far from Pune for the night halt, I guess. How long did it take you to cross Biora and Guna from Indore?

There is a MPTDC Highway Motel in Biora which has good recent reviews online. I am aiming for an accommodation there.

As alternative, how is Indore ->Dewas ->Bhopal ->Sagar ->Lalitpur ->Jhansi option presently? I had travelled this route 2 years ago and it was lonely 2-lane SH for most part after Bhopal to Jhansi.

Tia,
-BJ

There are at least two median free two lane stretches (one lane each way) from what I recall. There is one right after Guna, which is about 15-20km. Then one again after Jhansi which is the interconnecting stretch between Mumbai-Agra and Jhansi-Kanpur highways and is a bit shorter, maybe 5-10km. Both had heavy truck traffic in both directions.

It took me about an hour to cross Dewas after leaving Indore at 0615h as I had to pass through the town with its narrower roads and traffic. But once through that, the highway between Dewas and Guna is nearly brand new and very well designed (no sharp turns and well marked exits/U turns) and by far the best stretch of highway in the entire journey from Mumbai to Kanpur. I was cruising at low triple digits and easily going faster in the straighter stretches. The only danger was loitering cattle which certainly was a major issue so one has to take care to slow down anywhere without clear line of sight. As far as I remember I must have crossed the Dewas-Guna stretch easily in about 3-3.5 hours with 1 quick break.

If I were you, would take a break in Indore (which I did in my trip). Important to stay in a place which is following proper protocols which I doubt any MPTDC place in a Tier 3 town in MP would. I made multiple calls to clarify things to my hotel in Indore before I finalized my trip. If you start at day break on both days should easily reach destination by late afternoon or dusk at latest. A friend took the same route I did in reverse earlier this week and is going to do the same on his way back. He had the same experience as I did.

[Rohit Tripathi]

Hi All,

I am planning to leave Lucknow at 10 pm to arrive at Indore in the afternoon. Checking if Kanpur to Shivpuri via Jhansi safe to cover at night?
Or should I take the Agra expressway and come through Gwalior to Shivpuri?

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by Rohit Tripathi

I am planning to leave Lucknow at 10 pm to arrive at Indore in the afternoon. Checking if Kanpur to Shivpuri via Jhansi safe to cover at night?
Or should I take the Agra expressway and come through Gwalior to Shivpuri?

There is no need to go via Agra Expressway and travel via Gwalior. The Kanpur - Jhansi - Shivpuri section is currently in very good condition. Only issue is the truck traffic till you cross Barajore in Kanpur Dehat.

Unless you have some work in Indore in the afternoon, you can perhaps start very early in the morning and reach Indore by evening. Kanpur Dehat to Shivpuri in that night needn't be that advisable. If you start early and reach Shivpuri by 12.30 (which is possible even if you leave Lucknow by 5.30), rest is easy.

Happy journey

[sidm]

Originally Posted by Rohit Tripathi

Hi All,

I am planning to leave Lucknow at 10 pm to arrive at Indore in the afternoon. Checking if Kanpur to Shivpuri via Jhansi safe to cover at night?
Or should I take the Agra expressway and come through Gwalior to Shivpuri?

When I did my Mumbai > Kanpur journey, I was advised by people to not drive via Bundelkhand region at night as its not safe. Roads are fine. Just did a road trip there a month ago Kanpur > Orchha > Gwalior > Kanpur. Road quality in MP is especially very good.

[gpagedar]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

There is no need to go via Agra Expressway and travel via Gwalior. The Kanpur - Jhansi - Shivpuri section is currently in very good condition. Only issue is the truck traffic till you cross Barajore in Kanpur Dehat.

Am planning to travel from Lucknow to Indore on 16th April. Plan to start at 6am. What would be the best route to take? By what time can I expect to reach Indore if I travel at 100 kmph max?

Any suggestions would be appreciated since I am unfamiliar with the area as well as the roads.

Regards