[icem@n]

I love to travel and prefer road trips whenever possible. But this was not something I had thought about before pandemic. This period gave me a lot of time and YouTube had many great travel stories. Our very own TeamBHP and BHPians have even more epic travelogs which I have been following since the last 8 years. This planted the seed in my mind about cross-country drives which was limited to regional ones till now. All this cumulated into me planning and executing this trip from the land of tea (my native) to the city of Nizams (my workplace).

I did this Guwahati to Hyderabad Road trip recently and wanted to log down the experience for the benefit of all. I didn’t take the costal route (WB>OD>AP>TS) primarily due to two reasons. Firstly, I have done the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh section multiple times and secondly there are reports of road widening in Odisha leading to longer travel times. Also, I wanted to explore the route suggested by google, parts of which may not have been covered here in the forum. Before embarking on this journey, I looked for information in TeamBHP but couldn’t find much. Also let me apologize for lack of pictures (I regret it now) as I was enjoying the journey and usually don’t have the habit of taking out the phone and clicking. My cousin joined me in this trip from Bagdogra and we shared driving duties.

States and Highways covered –
• Assam AS (NH27)
• West Bengal WB (NH27>NH317>NH27)
• Bihar BH (NH327>NH27>NH22>NH922>SH102>NH319>NH19/AH1)
• Uttar Pradesh UP (NH19/AH1>NH35>NH135)
• Madhya Pradesh MP (NH135>NH30)
• Maharashtra MH (NH30>NH34>NH44)
• Telangana TS (NH44)

Total Toll - Rs 3580 for 2435 Kms which comes to around Rs 1.47/km.
As noted below in details this is not uniform and some sections seemed to have higher toll than others. That said, I believe our road infrastructure has improved tremendously over the years and only going to get better in the future.

The Ride – Seltos HTK+ iMT (P)

Day 1

Guwahati to Bagdogra ~ 480 Kms.
Time taken ~ 10 hours

Tolls – Day 1 – Rs. 610/- for 480 km

• Assam [Rs. 350 for 265 Km] – NH27(Madanpur – 125, Galia – 45, Dahalapara – 85, Patgaon – 95)
• West Bengal [Rs 260 for 210 km] – NH27(Guabari – 45), NH317 (Rangalibazna – 75), NH27 (Husludanga – 60, Panikauri – 80)

The Route


Started from Guwahati (NH27, Guwahati bypass) around 7:20 am. Had tanked up the previous night. Regular early morning traffic. Made decent progress and reached Bongaigaon around 10:30. Had a 15 min break and started again. Traffic thinned (only trucks) out around Gossaigaon. Roads around the border with WB can give you nasty surprises with sudden deep potholes. I was warned before so was careful but still hit a few. Refuelled before crossing into West Bengal. The car took around 16 litres indicating around 16.28 KMPL tankful to tankful. Continued onwards bypassing Alipurduar town through the peripheries of Buxa Wildlife Sanctuary via NH317. This is one of the most beautiful drives through undivided roads. Had lunch in Madrihat near the gate of Jaldapara national park in a dhaba around 1:30 pm, which is located after the Hasimara airbase, well know now due to the presence of Rafale jets. Service was quick and food was good. Tasted the Rosogollas made of Jaggery, and they need special mention. Continued onwards and joined back NH27 in Dhupguri and reached Bagdogra via Jalpaiguri around 5:30 pm. Crossed two major rivers in the day i.e. the Mighty Brahmaputra and the Teesta. Stayed in Orbit Hotel near the airport as my cousin was arriving next morning to join me. Booked this hotel by calling directly and got it for 2300 with breakfast, which was cheaper than online. This hotel has ample private parking space which was my precondition. If you are coming from Fulbari side the location this hotel is just before the flyover ends. Had an early dinner and called it a day.


Start from Guwahati - NH27/Guwahati Bypass, Six Laning in progress.


Near Assam-West Bengal Border, need to be careful, deep potholes.


NH317 Though undivided, but very scenic route

Day 2

Bagdogra to Muzaffarpur ~ 380 Kms
Time Taken ~ 8 hours

Tolls – Day 2 – Rs 555/- for 380 Km

• West Bengal – Nil
• Bihar [Rs 555 for 350 km] – NH327 (Khaikhat – 65), NH27 (Hariabara – 130, Asanpur (after Koshi Bridge) – 100, Raje (Before Darbhanga) – 130, Maithi – 130)

The Route -


My cousin was supposed to land at Bagdogra airport at 9:30am with targeted 10 am start. As luck would have it, he landed only at 12:15pm and we could start only around 12:30 pm from airport. Took around 50 mins to cover ~30km to cross into Bihar. And this started the 100 kms of torture in NH327 which took a little more than 3 hours till Araria where we re-joined NH27. Stopped for a late lunch near Forbesganj (Vatika Restaurant). Though a little spicy they served excellent roti, dal tadka and tea. We stopped for a good 45 mins to recoup from the hellish experience. After this, the roads are in great shape, and we covered the remaining 280 kms in less than 5 hours of which the last 45 mins was spent navigating the narrow lanes of Muzaffarpur, which google took us through. We encountered a lot of fog (I would rather say smog, as our throats felt sore when we opened the sunroof to let the cool air come in, probably due to stubble burning) in the last couple of hours. We stayed in The Grand Hotel in Muzaffarpur, which is basically the top floor in a mall. Selected the place as it had covered parking with security. Again, we booked this on the go via phone call which got us a better price than online option.

Basically, before starting the journey, I had browsed hotels in probable stay locations to get an idea, which helped me call the ones in the shortlist before reaching the location. Also, since we were calling around 6pm we got good deals given that rooms are "perishable items" if you look from the hotel sales perspective. Since we were two guys, we could take the risk and we didn’t want to limit ourselves by prebooking as thing don’t go as planned in these long trips. For families with ladies and children this may not be the best option.

Initially our plan was to push till Aarah, but the delayed start made it difficult, and smog made the driving difficult/unsafe. We had checked in by 8:30 pm and called it a day after a meal at the restaurant in the mall, which was good. The hotel cost us Rs. 2500 without breakfast (which anyways they serve at 10 am from mall food court and wasn't convenient for us). We refuelled in between, around 100 kms before Muzaffarpur. The car consumed 33.76 litres after 465 kms indicating a tankful to tankful for 13.77 KMPL, mostly due to the NH327 conditions and some spirited driving to make up time later in NH27. This was the worst number in this whole trip.



NH327 in Bihar, work in progress, worst roads in the whole trip


Much Needed Break for Lunch after getting into NH27 from NH327

[icem@n]

Day 3

Muzaffarpur to Katni (MP) ~ 680 Kms
Time Taken ~ 12 hours

Tolls – Day 3 – Rs 835/- for 680 km

• Bihar [Rs 120 for ~265 km] – NH22 (Saidpur Patedha – 60), NH19/AH1 (Mohania – 60)
• UP [Rs 230 for ~160 km] - NH35 (Pratappur – 130), NH135 (Baraudha – 100)
• MP [Rs 485 for 257 Km] – NH135 (Masuriha – 60), NH30 (Jognihai – 80, Rathara(Rewa bypass) – 30, Odaki Pipkhar – 105, Kherwasani – 110)

The Route -


We started our Day 3 around 7 am but getting out of Muzaffarpur took some time and was almost 8 am by the time we hit the highway. Google routed us through Hajipur – JP Setu – Danapur route. I am not sure about the condition of NH722 via Chapra, but this route took a lot of time. First there was smog till Hajipur, we couldn’t see Ganga Ji while passing over the JP Setu due to the same. Then we got into standstill gridlock after Danapur. This wasted a lot of our time and finally we stopped somewhere after Arrah for lunch. In 4.5 hours, we had hardly covered 130 kms. Don’t have the exact location but we had roti, tadka and couple of cups of matka chai in a roadside Dhaba which was great. We left NH922 which we joined after Danapur, into State Highway 102 to join NH319 at a place call Jagdishpur. Progress was slow till we joined NH19/AH1 near Mohonia. We entered UP around 3 pm and tanked up again. The car took in 27 litres covering 415km from last tankful indicating a mileage of 15.37 KMPL. Lot of road widening work is going on in NH19/AH1 which reduces the average speed. After bypassing Mughalsarai, we took a left to join NH35. Barring some work in the initial stretch excellent roads started for us which continued till Hyderabad. Continued till Mirzapur to join NH135 after that. Crossed into MP around 6 pm after climbing the ghats before Hanumana, which I presume to be part of Vindhya Ranges. Had a 20 min break just after crossing the UP-MP border for tea. Started at 6:30 again and had dinner after crossing Rewa bypass. Again, delicious rotis and egg scramble plus tea in a road side dhaba, a 30 mins break. Reached the hotel Rishi Regency, Katni by 9:30 pm which we had booked via phone call while having dinner. Rs 2000 with breakfast and secure parking. Our goal was Jabalpur which was another 100 kms but due to the delays in the earlier part of the day we decided against pushing. Hotel felt a little old and rooms had a "circuit house/old bungalow" vibe, but overall can be opted by families. Nothing to complain. Called it a day with a plan to start by 7-7:30 am next day to cover the last 900 Kms.



Foggy Morning, the 3rd image in the collage is of JP Setu over Ganga Ji

Halted for Lunch in roadside Dhaba somewhere in NH922, before turning onto SH102

Good Roads started as soon as we got onto NH35


Into the sunset

Day 4

Katni to Hyderabad ~ 888 kms
Time Taken ~ 12 hours

Tolls – Day 4 – Rs 1,580/- for 888Kms

• MP - [Rs 470 for ~280 Kms] – NH30 (Mohtara – 115), NH34 (Bahoripar – 145), NH44 (Madai – 110, Khawasa – 100)
• MH - [Rs 505 for ~260km] – NH44 (MANSAR – 150, NAGPUR BYPASS – 145, Daroada – 110, Kelapur – 100)
• TS - [Rs 605 for ~360 Km] – NH44(Pippalwada – 90, Rolmamda – 100, Gamjal – 55, Indalwai – 80, Bhiknoor – 85, Manoharabad – 95), Hyd ORR – 100

The Route -


This was the longest part of the trip and also personally I had never covered so far in a day. But this was probably the most relaxed day and that may be a reason we didn’t know when the alarms rang in the morning. We were to start by 7:30am but were still in bed till 8 am. A phone call woke me up and we quickly got ready, but breakfast was not yet being served, and it was 9 am by the time we started. Google was saying 1 am ETA at that point of time. But since we were going to my own place, we were quite relaxed, and it was aided by the fact that Telangana has excellent roads which we would cover after evening. Crossed Jabalpur by 10:30am and got onto NH34 which continued until Lakhondon before Seoni where it merged onto NH44, which goes on till Kanyakumari. We kept a steady pace and during the whole day hardly crossed 105 Kmph. Cruise control was used to the fullest potential, and I wouldn’t be too far off to say that we were in cruise control for major part of the day. Crossed Pench National Park, which has an elevated section to isolate traffic from wildlife. I believe is an excellent initiative. Crossed into Maharashtra while being in the park. I was expecting check post from my previous experiences in Hyd-Pune sector, but there was none. This may be due to the location or being a holiday (Christmas). Stopped for Lunch after Nagpur bypass. Tanked up the car which took in 44.85 litres after 778 kms indicating a tankful to tankful of 17.35 KMPL giving the car a range of 800+ Kms which is pretty good. Continued on the beautiful roads and entered the last state of Telangana around sunset time. Stopped for a small tea break before Nizamabad. Reached the location in Hyderabad around 10:40 and after a quick dinner reached home around 11:30 pm. Not going into details on this part as there is a lot of content available. Covered around 888 kms just shy of 12 hours with a few breaks which totals to an average speed of around 75kmph, without going beyond 100 kmph. This tells a lot about the roads. Cruise control played its part to in maintaining the speed. Crossed Narmada and Godavari River systems too in the day.

To sum it up in terms of expenses, I spent around Rs 20,000 on fuel and tolls. Rs 7000 on hotels and Rs 3000 on food and snacks, 30K for “money can’t buy experience”. Avoided night drives to the extent possible as territory was unknown to me. Stuck to national highways, frequented by truckers as much as possible and used energy drinks (limited quantity) to keep sleep at bay. Stopped regularly even if for 5 mins to be alert and for stretching. There is nothing like having two drivers, doesn’t let you get fatigued, and conversations help more than songs in long drives like these.

For me this was an epic journey across half the country from the greens of Northeast and northern Bengal to farmlands in the Hindi heartland to Vindhyas to the Deccan Plateau. Crossed many major river systems and countless smaller ones. This gives you a perspective which is difficult to get via screen where we spend major part of our days today. I hope this is helpful to someone planning to take this route.


Starting from Katni

After crossing Jabalpur

Elevated section in Pench

After Nagpur there is a stretch which has lost the top layer making it bumpy and uneven, not very long though.

Hit the 2k mark in the trip after Nagpur

Somewhere in MH-TS border

Signing off with social media status put up by my cousin. This machine performed fabulously, and we hardly felt tired driving.

[Aditya]

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