Delhi to Bangalore Road Trip 2016

Instead of sending my Swift via Movers and Packers, I paid the respect that it deserved. I drove it down to Bangalore from Delhi, covering a distance of little under 2500 km spread over 5 days and 4 nights and across 6 Indian states. The only time I had travelled across these many states in a single trip was when I was in an airplane.

The fastest and shortest route to Bangalore from Delhi would have been using NH 44 passing through Mathura, Gwalior, Jhansi, Nagpur and Hyderabad. But, I chose to travel using Golden Quadrilateral’s west leg as I had prior experience of driving on good roads of NH 8 as compared to very little experience with NH 44 till Agra only. It is an Industrial corridor, so I thought roads will be in good condition, plenty of restaurants will be there and most importantly there will be no deserted stretches of roads, hence safe to travel. As per google maps, NH 44 would have been shorter by 250 km and 5 hours. Both of these dimensions were not a problem for me as it was a diesel car and I had experience of watching so many F1 races that I knew where to cut corners to make up for lost time.

Reason for all this madness? Glad you asked. I didn't get time to plan for my honeymoon trip and who in their sane mind will live in Bangalore and not drive down to so many beautiful places in Southern India.

Here is the link to the route taken by us during the whole journey. It also contains placemarks for all the places we visited, stayed, had meals etc. Delhi to Bangalore Road Trip 2016 Route Map

Day 1 - 11th May 2016 Wednesday

8:30 am (0.0 km), Unlike earlier road trips, we started late from the house to bid proper adieu to family members and have home cooked breakfast to save time on the road. NH 8 is in good condition in Delhi and Gurgaon. Road widening and other construction activities were mainly happening after you cross Manesar. You will also get to see lots of Aravallis while on NH8.

1:35 pm (282.4 km), We stopped at Hotel Highway King for lunch. There are lots of restaurants of the same name on NH 8. Some of them are just namesakes and others are from the actual restaurant chain. Do your due diligence while identifying one of them, we visited the one at Bagru.

3:57 pm (376.6 km), We kept Day 1 travelling to the minimum, our plan was to start small for this long journey. Retired for the day at Country Inn Suites at Ajmer. For dinner, we grabbed quick bites at McDonalds just adjacent to the hotel.

• Distance: 376.6 km
• Time: 5h 37m
• States: 3

Day 2 - 12th May 2016 Thursday

8:18 am (377.2 km), After the novelty of Day 1 of the road trip, this one was a quiet and peaceful day for us. We were driving through the vastness of the Thar desert. Okay, we were not. The Great Indian desert was far away in the west from NH 8. We were driving along the Aravalli range and in the summer of May, it felt like travelling in Death Valley of India. Okay, that was also an exaggeration. The Aravalli range doesn't get as hot as The Death Valley. We stopped at Hotel Ashirwad, Sheoganj for an early lunch at 12:22 pm (659.9 km).

3:15 pm (797.8 km), Finally something new on Day 2. This was the first time we were in the state of Gujarat, the land where Iron Man and Father of India were born. We were on our way to Ahmedabad and wanted to have some tea and snacks as it was that time of the day when you feel that ‘talab’. To our surprise, many places we stopped at were serving Gujrati Namkeens and no one had Tea and Samosas. We had to go without our tea for that day.

6:07 pm (953.0), Checked-in to our shelter for the night, Hotel Armoise at Navrangpura. We ate our dinner at Havmor restaurant adjacent to our hotel. Their sizzlers and ice-creams were very good, I would highly recommend them.

• Distance: 575.8 km
• Time: 8h 9m
• States: 2

Day 3 - 13th May 2016 Friday

8:20 am (953.1 km), We travelled via National Expressway 1 connecting Ahmedabad to Vadodara. It was the first Expressway in India. Now, we were travelling through greenery as opposed to the arid Aravalli range which accompanied us in the first two days of the trip. Again we stopped for an early lunch at Sugar N Spice Restaurant, Kamrej at 12:16 pm (1199.3 km). It was a Haldiram style restaurant and the food was good.

3:14 pm (1356.1 km), Another first for us, Maharashtra.

5:40 pm (1490.5 km), Checked-in to Hotel Royal Orchid Central Grazia at Navi Mumbai for the night and had our dinner at a nearby restaurant called Amar Fast Food.

• Distance: 537.4 km
• Time: 7h 47m
• States: 2

Day 4 - 14th May 2016 Saturday

8:38 am (1490.5 km), We were excited today because we will be driving on the famous Mumbai-Pune expressway. And we were not disappointed. It was a cloudy day and there was a slight drizzle. This added to the beauty of the Western Ghats’ lush green forests all along the expressway. It was a perfect ambiance for tea and pakoras. Unfortunately we did not stop anywhere to capture the beauty of this expressway.

1:07 pm (1730 km), We were approaching our destination state, so decided to have a last meal in Maharashtra. We were searching for a decent looking restaurant and had to settle for Vithal Kamat at Satara. But, they say don’t judge a restaurant by its facade. Surely they have never been to this restaurant. The items on the menu that we wanted to have were not available and what we had was something forgettable. So my advice would be to have something in Pune or leave enough time for yourself to search for a good restaurant once you have crossed Pune.

4:00 pm (1874.6), Entered Karnataka. Still a long way to home.

6:58 pm (2055 km), Checked-in to President Hotel at Hubli. I double-checked my booking as usually I do not book such expensive looking hotels. We had dinner at the in-house restaurant called Gufha. It’s a jungle themed rooftop restaurant with good food.

• Distance: 564.5 km
• Time: 8h 26m
• States: 2

Day 5 - 15th May 2016 Sunday

8:52 am (2055.1 km), Finally that day had arrived which will not end in a hotel room. We had a comparatively relaxed start as our long journey was soon going to be completed. We were also happy for the authentic Idlis, Dosa, Filter Coffee we were going to get now that we were officially in the southern part of India. Although, I am a Tea person.

11:32 am (2247.7 km), We had an early lunch at a nondescript restaurant, Hotel Evergreen at Kasavanahalli. I’ll not recommend it.

2:36 pm (2445.6 km), Entered Bangalore through Navyug Bengaluru Toll Road.

3:00 pm (2466.8 km), We solved the curious case of tummy sounds at tried and tested Shiv Bhoj restaurant at Yeshwantpur. There were no Haldirams or Bikanervalas in Bangalore, Shiv Bhoj was a close match to them in terms of items on the menu and self-service style.

4:58 pm (2492 km), Doddanekundi, Bengaluru. We reached the place called Home Sweet Second Home. We were so happy and relieved that we had successfully completed such a long road trip safely. Being on the road for 5 straight days was not an easy task by any means, and we accomplished it.

I will consider it as a great start to our married life and cheers to many more upcoming road trips together.

• Distance: 436.9 km
• Time: 6h 26m
• States: 1

Journey Statistics

• Total distance covered: 2492 km
• Total man-hours of driving: 36 hours 25 minutes
• Average speed: 68.4 km/h
• Total toll tax: Rs. 2443
• Fuel cost: Rs. 6586.04
• States travelled: 6

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