[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by A.G.The Rambler

Any idea on the recent conditions of Falakata, Cooch Bihar and Tufanganj. Has anything improved in this region?
Is connecting to Cooch behar from Alipurduar a better option? I don't think we need to go through Hashimara to Alipurduar, if i am not mistaken so can avoid the bad stretch at Hashimara. Is the road conditions between Alipurduar to Cooch Behar better than the Falakata stretch?

AFAIK, currently the road condition is bad beyond Cooch Behar & especially bad in the Assam side between Ghauripur & North Salamara.

Alipurduar-Cooch behar road is fine.

[Babuda]

Hi, bumping up this thread. We're planning a trip from Kolkata to Guwahati and Shillong during the summer holidays. I'll be driving to Guwahati and Shillong after a hiatus of nearly 14 years! The Kolkata to Siliguri route will be through Dumka and Bhagalpur, the same as on our Bhutan trip during the Puja holidays last year. Suggestions for the Siliguri to Guwahati part is needed - whether to take the Malbazar - Birpara - Falakata - Cooch Behar route or would Siliguri - Maynaguri - Dhupguri - Falakata - Cooch Behar be a better option? I hope that I am not wrong in assuming that beyond Cooch Behar, Tufanganj - Boxirhat - Gauripur - North Salmara - Naranarayan Setu and onwards to Guwahati will be in common.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Babuda

Hi, bumping up this thread. We're planning a trip from Kolkata to Guwahati and Shillong during the summer holidays. I'll be driving to Guwahati and Shillong after a hiatus of nearly 14 years! The Kolkata to Siliguri route will be through Dumka and Bhagalpur, the same as on our Bhutan trip during the Puja holidays last year. Suggestions for the Siliguri to Guwahati part is needed - whether to take the Malbazar - Birpara - Falakata - Cooch Behar route or would Siliguri - Maynaguri - Dhupguri - Falakata - Cooch Behar be a better option? I hope that I am not wrong in assuming that beyond Cooch Behar, Tufanganj - Boxirhat - Gauripur - North Salmara - Naranarayan Setu and onwards to Guwahati will be in common.

Both routes are decent currently. Beyond Boxirhat, roads are fantastic

[techfreak]

I am planning a drive from Silchar to Bhubaneswar in next twenty days or so.
I am aware of the road condition from Silchar to Guwahati and Kolkata to Bhubaneswar, but am absolutely in dark about the stretch
GUWAHATI TO KOLKATA.

Can anyone give some clues as to what will be best route to take in this strech and how is the road condition?

Will be greatly thankful.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by techfreak

I am planning a drive from Silchar to Bhubaneswar in next twenty days or so.
I am aware of the road condition from Silchar to Guwahati and Kolkata to Bhubaneswar, but am absolutely in dark about the stretch
GUWAHATI TO KOLKATA.

Can anyone give some clues as to what will be best route to take in this stretch and how is the road condition?

Will be greatly thankful.

Take the Guwahati-Boko-Goalpara-North Salamara-Boxirhat-Tufanganj-Cooch Behar-Falakata-Mainaguri-Fulbari/ Siliguri route. It is great in Assam & not too bad in WB.

From Siliguri, go on the superb 4-laner till Dalkola, then avoid the direct NH34 route to Calcutta. Instead, continue on the 4-laner till Purnea, after which take the Purnea-Bhagalpur-Dumka-Jamatara-Asansol-Durgapur-Bardhaman route to Calcutta. You will face some bad roads in Bhagalpur town - and a little jam too - and also some rough roads in the JH-WB border after crossing into WB after Jamatara, but rest of the route is fast & stress-free.

[Secretariat]

Did the Siliguri - Guwahati drive yesterday through the North Bank route - Alipurdar - Bongaigaon - Nalbari.

Alipurdar onwards, they are building a dual carriageway and at least one lane is mostly complete. However there are innumerable diversions, none of which are marked. So its guesswork when to shift from one side of the carriageway to the other. Its not a good idea to do a night drive in this route, and in any case I understand it is not advisable from a safety consideration as well.

Even where both sides are completed, the traffic flows in both directions on both sides, and so it is essentially two separate single carriageways. In a very short time, I realised it is suicidal to drive like on a dual carriageway - no overtaking without extreme care as a truck/ cycle/rickshaw/hand cart/ anything at all are coming in the opposite direction all the time. I saw more than one near miss involving speeding vehicles - the situation is ripe for tragedy, alas.

Took me 9.5 hours elapsed time including a 30 minutes jam in the middle of the Saraighat bridge, on a sedate drive.

No major issues with the roads, although most diversions looked like this

[blurust]

Hey guys I'm planning to do Guwahati - Delhi, in April.
Would love to know the road conditions from Guwahati to siliguri and also the route. Last time when I did bangalore - Guwahati(2012), the roads after siliguri, cooch behar were horrible. I'm going to travel in a humble Figo.
Its only going to be me and my wife and we will be coming back in a fortnight.
Thank you.

[rahul_kej]

Hello Mates,

Just completed a road trip to Guwahati-Shillong-Cherapunjee from Siliguri and back. From Siliguri I followed Siliguri-Sevoke-Malbazar-Alipurduar-Gossaigaon-Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Boko-Guwahati. The route was superb with little bit bad patched which doesn’t mean anything.

Reached Guwahati in 8hours from Siliguri and the journey was quite enjoyable.

No need to mention about Guwahati-Shillong-Cherapunjee route, it’s like driving in heaven, specially the stretch of Shillong to Cherapunjee. The beauty is as such which can’t be explained neither the pictures can do justice to the beauty. See it live with your eyes.

[scorpio25]

Updating:

Drove from Chalsa to Guwahati on 29th September.
Route followed: Chalsa-Hasimara-Gossaigaon-Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Boko-Guwahati

Chalsa-Gossaigaon section has excellent tarmac.
Gossaigaon-Bongaigaon section has good to average concrete surface frequently interrupted by diversions for ongoing four lane construction and small stretches of absolutely broken and cratered roads rough enough to scrape the under-body of "not so careful" cars with low ground clearance.
Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Boko-Guwahati section has the perfect tarmac to enjoy your ride, aided by scenic visuals of surrounding landscape. This section is two lane though, but with sparse traffic driving is stress-free! Encountered very few lorries and trucks in this section, compared to the truck/lorry volume in NH57 till Bongaigaon.

Thanks & regards!

[Redeemer8]

Hi,

Planning to drive from Hyderabad to Shillong during May this year. Requesting for an update on the route between Siliguri to Guwahati & Guwahati to Shillong with approx travel time.

[Sheel]

I too would be watching this space as I too have a drive lined up for Guwahati this May. Any inputs are welcome. I will have senior citizens traveling with me, so would appreciate if someone can point out on places to halt/stop on way.

[Mafioso]

planning for a bike trip to North east and then head to bhutan. Wanted to know the road condition from Guwahati to Phuenstholing. Google suggests it is about 10 hour drive, how are the road conditions and what is the situation on availability of petrol stations along the way? Riding a duke so surely would need a petrol station every 200km

[rahul_kej]

Originally Posted by Mafioso

planning for a bike trip to North east and then head to bhutan. Wanted to know the road condition from Guwahati to Phuenstholing. Google suggests it is about 10 hour drive, how are the road conditions and what is the situation on availability of petrol stations along the way? Riding a duke so surely would need a petrol station every 200km

The roads are fine just with a bad stretch of approx 30 mins (just before assam bengal border) with diversions and all. It won't take your more than 7 hours from Guwahati to Phuentsoling. Follow the exact route of Google maps. Petrol pumps are not an issue at all.

[bevivek]

We had planned a Bhutan bike road trip (Siliguri - Phuentsoling - 8 day tour - exit via Sandrup Jongkhar - Guwahati) but recent reports indicate some vehicle entry permit issues with some people being turned away for what seem to be whimsical reasons.

Since we don't want our trip to depend on the mercies of a Bhutanese government official, we have decided to keep the start point of ride (Siliguri) and end point of ride (Guwahati) fixed and instead do a Sikkim ride .

Just for information, we will be sending the bikes through Gati to Siliguri on the way in and from Guwahati on way out. We will fly in and out.

To resume. Once we are done with Sikkim and reach Siliguri again we still have to find a way to Guwahati. Since we would prefer not to do boring highway mile crunching have 2 questions

a) On the Siliguri - Sevoke - Dim Dim - Alipurduar - Bongaigaon - Nalbari - Guwahati route is it worth breaking the journey at some place (for example, I see Buxa Wildlife Sanctuary which seems interesting) rather than one long ride to Guwahati?

b) Are there scenic / alternative routes from Siliguri to Guwahati which might be worth the effort?

Of course alternate suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks

[PapaBravo]

Originally Posted by bevivek

To resume. Once we are done with Sikkim and reach Siliguri again we still have to find a way to Guwahati. Since we would prefer not to do boring highway mile crunching have 2 questions

You do not need to come back to Siliguri. Just take left from Coronation bridge to proceed towards Guwahati.

a) On the Siliguri - Sevoke - Dim Dim - Alipurduar - Bongaigaon - Nalbari - Guwahati route is it worth breaking the journey at some place (for example, I see Buxa Wildlife Sanctuary which seems interesting) rather than one long ride to Guwahati?

The roads are good and can be done in a day but incase you want to stop, there are two good options. Jaldapara National Park (closer to Sikkim/Siliguri) or Manas National Park (Closer to Guwahati) Search the travelogue sub-forum with the above keywords & you will get an idea of the same.

b) Are there scenic / alternative routes from Siliguri to Guwahati which might be worth the effort?

This is the most scenic and best way.

Cheers,

Pawan