[NowNew7]

Originally Posted by shantanumishra

Thanks, but I really need to completed this trip in 3 days flat, no choice of extension, so cant be adventurous for now. Maybe some other time.

Pls suggest some Pitstops considering increased Covid cases

I did BLR-LKO in Sep, Then LKO-BLR early Dec and then back BLR-LKO end of Dec, so my info could be a bit out of date.

Do check if the Nagpur Bypass-Lakhnadon section is fully operative, as we had to take detour via Chindwara-Narsinghpur due to one ghat section being incomplete on the same.

We did it in 36 hours of driving (spouse and self changing over every 3-4 hours) and for pit stop just stopped at the nearest toll gate wherever that was at the time we wanted to stop, as every toll has large crowds, good lighting, tea and food stops and restrooms. We literally overnighted in the car across all the 3 trips as my young daughter was accompanying us.

Stay safe!

[NowNew7]

Originally Posted by NowNew7

Do check if the Nagpur Bypass-Lakhnadon section is fully operative, as we had to take detour via Chindwara-Narsinghpur due to one ghat section being incomplete on the same.

Update on this section: going by needmorebhp's update in a different thread, it seems that the stretch is complete and it would be pretty much 4 lane NH44 right from Jhansi to Bengaluru.

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

My route was Nagpur-Kamptee-Seoni-Chhapara-Lakhnadon-Narsinghpur-Kareli-Deori-Sagar. No offroading was involved, so I am assuming the route, which you had found under construction, is open now and it was all 4 lane and 6 lanes in curves in ghat section.

[realcoolhand]

Planning to do a Lucknow - Nagpur - Hyderabad route this weekend. What would be the best route? Should I take the one via Prayagraj or the one via Fatehpur. There's one via Jhansi as well. Want to stick to NHs mostly. I know Nagpur to Hyderabad is a breeze.

[shantanumishra]

Originally Posted by realcoolhand

Planning to do a Lucknow - Nagpur - Hyderabad route this weekend. What would be the best route? Should I take the one via Prayagraj or the one via Fatehpur. There's one via Jhansi as well. Want to stick to NHs mostly. I know Nagpur to Hyderabad is a breeze.

I used the following route -

Day 1
Lucknow - Allahabad - Jabalapur - Nagpur - Adilabad (stayed there overnight)

Day 2
Adilabad - Hyderabad - Bangalore - Reached home by 9 PM.


Start early from Lucknow, possibly 4-5 AM and target Adilabad, its roughly 1100 kms and doable in 1 day.

Avoid Fatehpur, its a single road until Satna and you would connect the main NH near Jabalpur itself, so not worth.

[realcoolhand]

Originally Posted by shantanumishra

I used the following route -

Day 1
Lucknow - Allahabad - Jabalapur - Nagpur - Adilabad (stayed there overnight)

Thanks for the update. How's the road condition of Lko to Nagpur that you took. Are there decent places to eat and rest (not stay)?

[shantanumishra]

Originally Posted by realcoolhand

Thanks for the update. How's the road condition of Lko to Nagpur that you took. Are there decent places to eat and rest (not stay)?

I travelled during Covid times and we had packed all the food with us to last 1 day (dry rations, packed Juices and water), so didnt stop anywhere.

From Allahabad to Nagpur, road is excellent and you can easily do 100 kmph, just be wary of the stray animals on the road, specially in MP.

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by realcoolhand

Thanks for the update. How's the road condition of Lko to Nagpur that you took. Are there decent places to eat and rest (not stay)?

I drove from Lucknow to Bangalore and Mysore in the last month. I took the Lucknow - Jhansi - Lakhnadon route and it is good all through. The only section with dense traffic is Lucknow - Kanpur.

Between Jhansi and Seoni, for about 460 kms, there was very little car traffic. In this long section, I was almost the only player on the highway

The roads from Hinganghat to Pipparwada near Adilabad have potholes. So, be mindful.

There are good and decent places on the way to stop for refreshments, washrooms, etc, throughout.

[TorqueConverted]

Hello all! This is my first post on the forum, so I just want to say that I'm very happy to be here. I've learned so much over the years just from being a passive observer, so now I'm very enthusiastic to finally be a member of the community!

Coming to the matter at hand, I am set to travel from Bengaluru to Lucknow between the 8th and 11th of this month. We have kept a time of 4 days for the entire journey. Here is my question:

This is going to be a partly practical but also partly leisure drive, so the intention is to stay at scenic/picturesque places to the extent possible, rather than purely practical halts. As far as possible, we would like to stay away from staying at the big cities. On the flip-side, I suppose it's probably also best not to stray too far away from the NHs. So with that in mind, does anyone have any ideas as to what a possible route might look like?? Also, any general info about road conditions and such (given that we're in the middle of the monsoon!) would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by TorqueConverted

I am set to travel from Bengaluru to Lucknow between the 8th and 11th of this month. We have kept a time of 4 days for the entire journey. Here is my question:

This is going to be a partly practical but also partly leisure drive, so the intention is to stay at scenic/picturesque places to the extent possible, rather than purely practical halts. As far as possible, we would like to stay away from staying at the big cities. On the flip-side, I suppose it's probably also best not to stray too far away from the NHs. So with that in mind, does anyone have any ideas as to what a possible route might look like?? Also, any general info about road conditions and such (given that we're in the middle of the monsoon!) would be much appreciated.

I saw your post today only. You must be already on the way to Lucknow.

Roads are mostly great, as you must have seen.
For stay, you have a couple of places in Pench, etc, if you want to stay in some forest resorts (MPTDC Bison Highway Treat in Rukhad near Seoni, for instance). Then again in Sagar and Jhansi. It is actually better not to stray far from NHs. The main route itself, in Monsoon, is beautiful enough.

Have a great drive and give us updates.

[TorqueConverted]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

I saw your post today only. You must be already on the way to Lucknow.

Roads are mostly great, as you must have seen.
For stay, you have a couple of places in Pench, etc, if you want to stay in some forest resorts (MPTDC Bison Highway Treat in Rukhad near Seoni, for instance). Then again in Sagar and Jhansi. It is actually better not to stray far from NHs. The main route itself, in Monsoon, is beautiful enough.

Have a great drive and give us updates.

Many thanks for your reply! Yes, we were already on the road when I received your message; at that precise moment we were in fact trying to decide between going through Lakhnadon to Jhansi, or instead going from Lakhnadon to Jabalpur, and from there to Lucknow via Rewa/Katni and other places. Ultimately we ended up going towards Jhansi, and making a two day halt at Orchha

Quick report on the roads:
The stretches in Karnataka, Telangana and AP were all great, with perhaps the best being those in Telangana and AP. The first leg of the journey went by without a single hitch.

As soon as we crossed the border into Maharashtra, the roads became TERRIBLE for a distance of ~100 kms (more or less until we got till within striking distance of Nagpur.) There were huge potholes that looked like they would swallow up the entire car, and in fact we did bottom out terribly once on the highway. Coupled with that there was this curious incident: as I mentioned, the roads were terrible for most of the way from the state border to Nagpur. There was, however one small stretch of maybe 3-5 kms in between, where the road surface was surprisingly good and the markings seemed to have been recently done. This patch also had a marked downhill section. After crawling for a good 60 kms, the car picked up a little speed as we went downhill, may have been ~90 km/h, when I saw a police van with a speed gun by the side of the road. I immediately knew that I was going to get a ticket for this. And then, not more than 2 or 3 kms later, the road was rotten again. The sheer bad faith of the horrible road, coupled with the policeman poised precisely to take advantage of the natural speed increase on the one decent patch, made me feel pretty livid, tbh.

Nagpur to Jhansi/Orchha was done including a visit to Ramtek: roads were good throughout, except for the stray cattle, which required us to be quite alert the whole way. Side note: after dark, we were doing a steady 80-90 on this stretch, being wary of cattle, when we were blown past by a convoy of 1 Fortuner and 3 Endeavours, which would have been doing at least 110 if not more, on a dark road with cattle at many places. Made me wonder at the skill (and guts/foolhardiness?) of some of those drivers.

Orchha/Jhansi to Lucknow was pretty straightforward. However, another side note: when we were approaching the turn off from NH 27 onto the Bundelkhand expressway, Google Maps was estimating the same travel time by both the Orai-Kanpur route, as well as going on the Bundelkhand Expressway and joining the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. I.e., it was estimating the same travel time for an additional distance of 100 kms. We didn't take the expressways though, stayed on NH-27 and reached Lucknow in good time.

[NowNew7]

Happy driving fellow traveler! I have been exclusively driving this route instead of flying since 2020 and have driven multiple times since then! Fully committed to continue in the future because it allows me a break, lets me travel as per my wish and whimsy, no weight limit, good family time and it's just great fun!

Originally Posted by TorqueConverted

we were in fact trying to decide between going through Lakhnadon to Jhansi, or instead going from Lakhnadon to Jabalpur

During my 6 drives till now, I have always ended up going via Jhansi, including the couple of initial drives when the Lakhnadon section was still under construction and a diversion via Narsinghpur-Chinddwara had to be taken.

Originally Posted by TorqueConverted

the roads became TERRIBLE for a distance of ~100 kms (more or less until we got till within striking distance of Nagpur.)

The Post Adilabad-Pre Nagpur stretch has been the only bad patch ever since I have been taking NH44 and it just doesn't seem they have any will to repair. Easily adds an hour or more on what otherwise is a breeze.

Originally Posted by TorqueConverted

small stretch of maybe 3-5 kms in between, where the road surface was surprisingly good and the markings seemed to have been recently done.
...when I saw a police van with a speed gun by the side of the road.

That's pretty sneaky. Thanks for the heads up. Will attempt to remember the next time.

Originally Posted by TorqueConverted

on a dark road with cattle at many places.

The cattle after Sagar and the bad patch between Adilabad-Nagpur are the only issues... oh except ensuring that you bypass Jhansi, else Jhansi cantt and city easily can add an hour or more of painful driving. The next painful bit is Kanpur-Lucknow where the width of the road and quadrupling of the traffic makes it fun, starting right from the bypass and before Gangaji bridge.

Originally Posted by TorqueConverted

Google Maps was estimating the same travel time by both the Orai-Kanpur route, as well as going on the Bundelkhand Expressway and joining the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. I.e., it was estimating the same travel time for an additional distance of 100 kms. We didn't take the expressways though, stayed on NH-27 and reached Lucknow in good time.

Good call, there's no value add in this additional step, though on the earlier section I have preferred the additional couple of hundred kms yet easier driving on the continuous 4 lane NH44 instead of going via Jabalpur.

Since you've already done this on the way out I can just give my recommendation for the way back - you can do this in 4 days comfortably by stretching a bit on Day 1 and taking a 1 day break on Day 2 at Pench. Day 3 overnight at Hyderabad and Day 4 you're back in Bengaluru.

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by NowNew7

During my 6 drives till now, I have always ended up going via Jhansi, including the couple of initial drives when the Lakhnadon section was still under construction and a diversion via Narsinghpur-Chinddwara had to be taken.

The Post Adilabad-Pre Nagpur stretch has been the only bad patch ever since I have been taking NH44 and it just doesn't seem they have any will to repair. Easily adds an hour or more on what otherwise is a breeze.

The next painful bit is Kanpur-Lucknow where the width of the road and quadrupling of the traffic makes it fun, starting right from the bypass and before Gangaji bridge.

Good call, there's no value add in this additional step, though on the earlier section I have preferred the additional couple of hundred kms yet easier driving on the continuous 4 lane NH44 instead of going via Jabalpur.

Since you've already done this on the way out I can just give my recommendation for the way back - you can do this in 4 days comfortably by stretching a bit on Day 1 and taking a 1 day break on Day 2 at Pench. Day 3 overnight at Hyderabad and Day 4 you're back in Bengaluru.

Driving via Jhansi is always a better bet. Crossing Jhansi is yet better than crossing all of Naini and Allahabad and taking the single carriageway till Raibareilly. One can do so if one has lot of time.

When I drove in February, the Jam (post Nagpur) - Adilabad section was still okay though had potholes here and there. Is it that bad now...?

The section from Kanpur Dehat to Lucknow is really bad with mad traffic. In fact, the truck traffic is the issue. The trucks parked on one side of the road occupy an entire lane and leaves only one lane for traffic. This slows you down considerably. Taking this into account in some hours, the four hours E-Way route from Orai to Lucknow will be very relaxing.

I drove in an afternoon from Lucknow to Jhansi on day 1, from Jhansi to Nagpur on day 2, and from Nagpur to Mysore on day 3. There was time constraint. My division was actually not good. Generally, I followed another plan whenever I drove in this route.

[TorqueConverted]

Originally Posted by NowNew7

Happy driving fellow traveler! I have been exclusively driving this route instead of flying since 2020 and have driven multiple times since then! Fully committed to continue in the future because it allows me a break, lets me travel as per my wish and whimsy, no weight limit, good family time and it's just great fun!

Thanks for the reply! Yes, the drive altogether was enjoyable, interesting, and we got to cover a fair swathe of places we wouldn't otherwise visit, especially Orchha. On the way back down south though, I'm tentatively considering some other route, just for variety. Open to all manner of suggestions!

Originally Posted by NowNew7

The next painful bit is Kanpur-Lucknow where the width of the road and quadrupling of the traffic makes it fun, starting right from the bypass and before Gangaji bridge.

Yes, thankfully luck was in our favour this time. If I'm not mistaken there's a 4 lane flyover that goes straight through most of Kanpur, with very few exits? When we were on it, there was a jam stretching at least 3-4 kms in the opposite 2 lanes. Really counted our blessings that we were not on that that side.

Originally Posted by NowNew7

Since you've already done this on the way out I can just give my recommendation for the way back - you can do this in 4 days comfortably by stretching a bit on Day 1 and taking a 1 day break on Day 2 at Pench. Day 3 overnight at Hyderabad and Day 4 you're back in Bengaluru.

Yes, this is also a good idea. On this drive itself, we were wondering if we made a mistake by not staying over at Pench. If I do take this route again, most likely in December, Pench will definitely be on the agenda!

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

When I drove in February, the Jam (post Nagpur) - Adilabad section was still okay though had potholes here and there. Is it that bad now...?

Might be a matter of perception, but I really do think the potholes on that section were quite terrible. Whatever rain there has been since February must have taken its 'toll' (). The car fully bottomed out on one occasion, and there were multiple occasions where we had to slow down to a crawl to avoid the same eventuality. Reminded me of another terrible road: Shiradi Ghat on the way to Mangaluru, but that is another story!

[NowNew7]

Folks, it's time for me to take another drive down from the 'uru to the city of nawabs

I have previously always driven via Jhansi-Kanpur, and this time wanted to check on the feedback for the Jabalpur-Satna-Raebareli section, as it's about 150 kms and (as per google) 1 hour shorter.

Despite the additional distance/time estimate I have previously avoided this, as the quality of the 4 lane NH44 right till Jhansi is pretty reliable, and I had heard that the Jabalpur-Satna section has some 2 lane stretches which typically I wanted to avoid.

Has anyone travelled recently or earlier and can comment? Specifically on 2-lane/4-lane topics apart from the general conditions?

[shantanumishra]

Originally Posted by NowNew7

Folks, it's time for me to take another drive down from the 'uru to the city of nawabs

I have previously always driven via Jhansi-Kanpur, and this time wanted to check on the feedback for the Jabalpur-Satna-Raebareli section, as it's about 150 kms and (as per google) 1 hour shorter.

Despite the additional distance/time estimate I have previously avoided this, as the quality of the 4 lane NH44 right till Jhansi is pretty reliable, and I had heard that the Jabalpur-Satna section has some 2 lane stretches which typically I wanted to avoid.

Has anyone travelled recently or earlier and can comment? Specifically on 2-lane/4-lane topics apart from the general conditions?

I did this section twice in 2021, once from Bangalore to Lucknow and second time, on the return journey.

My suggestion would be go further towards Allahabad via Jabalpur and then take a left towards Rae Bareli, eventually reaching Lucknow.


If you take a detour from Satna, drive until Rewa and then turn towards Satna, from there on, you will encounter 2 section undivided roads passing through small towns and villages and the only possible route is . You would eventually have to cross both Yamuna and Ganga river (unless taking the Allahabad route)

The route you should follow here should be Jabalpur - Rewa - Satna - Chitrakoot - Banda - Fatehpur - Lalganj - Bachrawan - Lucknow


My next trip from Lucknow to Bangalore is planned for Jan 1st or 2nd week...keeping my fingers crossed for yet another great ride