Common and favorite Road trips of India?

[Cricketics]

Sup all. What are your favorite road trips in India? This could be anything - something you do often with family/friends to visit someone or something you like doing or have done as adventure. It doesn't have to be a scenic road trip involving mountains or greenery.. But it will be also nice to hear what you enjoy during this road trips too like a particular restaurant/dhaba which you try to always stop by at etc. 

 

I know Bombay to Goa has always been very popular, and I would love to hear even more about it. Delhi to Mussorie, or Delhi to Jaipur is done a lot too for folks up north. Also we need to hear about road trips from the South and the east.

 

Share away so we can try these in the future. 

[coffee_rules]

Drive Konkan from Goa to Mangalore.. Best ever....

Such scenes are common

 

 

 

[Cricketics]

2 hours ago, coffee_rules said:

Drive Konkan from Goa to Mangalore.. Best ever....

Such scenes are common

 

 

 

These are nice man. How are highways down in South. Also what is the dhaba culture like in South? Is it similar road side dhabas there may be serving idli sambhar/vada etc?

[coffee_rules]

58 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

These are nice man. How are highways down in South. Also what is the dhaba culture like in South? Is it similar road side dhabas there may be serving idli sambhar/vada etc?

 

Yes, quite a lot, you will find all kinds of food/restaurants, resorts, temples (where we get free food). Dhabas are all over India now, serving north Indian food as well as south Indian idli, vada, dosass. I don't know about Kerala, hard to find veg restaurants there. 

[Number]

Make sure you don't meet roadblocks by protesters in North India.

[beetle]

On 04/02/2021 at 5:31 AM, Number said:

Make sure you don't meet roadblocks by protesters in North India.

The chakka jaam was a no show.

They backed out of UP, Uttakhand and Delhi.Delhi is a fort now after their back stabbing on 26th.

[Yoda-esque]

Konkan from sawantwadi to kundapur

[bharathh]

Bangalore Mysore

 

Bangalore Madras is always fun

[Cricketics]

2 hours ago, bharathh said:

Bangalore Mysore

 

Bangalore Madras is always fun

Have heard about this one. How long is the road trip this one and any recommendations of things to see in the middle or places to eat?

 

[Mariyam]

@Cricketics

How comfortable are you driving in India?

 

Driving in the US is a piece of cake, relatively speaking.

 

I would suggest the following:

Stay at Udaipur and do day trips ( on separate days) to

Ranakpur + Haldi Ghati, Chittorgarh, KumbalGarh, Ajmer/ Nathdwara ( if dargah/ mandir are on your agenda) & Mt Abu 

 

Once out of Udaipur City, the roads are empty and scenic. Especially the drive to Kumbalgarh. Preferably drive a car with a high ground clearance on these roads.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Mariyam

[bharathh]

1 hour ago, Cricketics said:

Have heard about this one. How long is the road trip this one and any recommendations of things to see in the middle or places to eat?

 

 

Mysore is typically 3-3.5 hrs.. lots of amazing places to eat esp if you like south indian food. Karnataka masala dosas are the best. There is a place near Ramnagar for Thatte idlis. The Kamats can usually be trusted on for decent food - although it's not very high brow. Adyar Anand Bhavan;s are awesome.

 

I like Rasta Cafe though on the Blr-Mysore route. There is also a wine-tasting place which has a kick ass brunch. 

 

The Madras-Blr route has a tonne of Saravana Bhavans and other darshinis that make really amazing SOuth Indian tiffins. + the road is awesome. You can average 120-130kmph. This is ~ a 5-6 hr drive.

[bharathh]

The Blr-Kerala route fun also. Lovely roads - esp in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This route is even better for foodies as you can sample 3 diff types of cuisines. + Along the way there are always stops for coconut water, cholam (roasted corn), guavas with chilli powder and more roadside delicacies

[Cricketics]

2 hours ago, Mariyam said:

@Cricketics

How comfortable are you driving in India?

 

Driving in the US is a piece of cake, relatively speaking.

 

I would suggest the following:

Stay at Udaipur and do day trips ( on separate days) to

Ranakpur + Haldi Ghati, Chittorgarh, KumbalGarh, Ajmer/ Nathdwara ( if dargah/ mandir are on your agenda) & Mt Abu 

 

Once out of Udaipur City, the roads are empty and scenic. Especially the drive to Kumbalgarh. Preferably drive a car with a high ground clearance on these roads.

 

 

Great questions. Yes, i have never driven in India and you are right about challenges of driving in India. But I feel I will spend some time and practice a bit and then venture. Might even go with my friends from India who are waiting to do road trip too first before i drive mysself.  Eventually, yes the plan is to drive myself at somepoint. 

 

That sounds a great itinerary. i will research a bit more about some of those places. Thank You :)

[Cricketics]

1 hour ago, bharathh said:

 

Mysore is typically 3-3.5 hrs.. lots of amazing places to eat esp if you like south indian food. Karnataka masala dosas are the best. There is a place near Ramnagar for Thatte idlis. The Kamats can usually be trusted on for decent food - although it's not very high brow. Adyar Anand Bhavan;s are awesome.

 

I like Rasta Cafe though on the Blr-Mysore route. There is also a wine-tasting place which has a kick ass brunch. 

 

The Madras-Blr route has a tonne of Saravana Bhavans and other darshinis that make really amazing SOuth Indian tiffins. + the road is awesome. You can average 120-130kmph. This is ~ a 5-6 hr drive.

Sarvana Bhavan :) Nice to hear that familar name. Thaks for the suggestions. Sounds fun. 

[coffee_rules]

Shared earlier, sam beach in Udipi, Kar

 

 

[sandeep]

On 2/11/2021 at 1:01 PM, Mariyam said:

@Cricketics

How comfortable are you driving in India?

 

Driving in the US is a piece of cake, relatively speaking.

 

I would suggest the following:

Stay at Udaipur and do day trips ( on separate days) to

Ranakpur + Haldi Ghati, Chittorgarh, KumbalGarh, Ajmer/ Nathdwara ( if dargah/ mandir are on your agenda) & Mt Abu 

 

Once out of Udaipur City, the roads are empty and scenic. Especially the drive to Kumbalgarh. Preferably drive a car with a high ground clearance on these roads.

My next trip to India will include Udaipur - I have relatives in Baroda/AMD, and its the shortest easiest 'travel' thing I can do in a shortish trip to India.  

 

I left India in my late teens, and have seen very little of the country - my dad hates travel, and I'm the opposite.   I have seen so little of India, want to fix that every chance Iget.

[Mariyam]

2 minutes ago, sandeep said:

My next trip to India will include Udaipur - I have relatives in Baroda/AMD, and its the shortest easiest 'travel' thing I can do in a shortish trip to India.  

 

I left India in my late teens, and have seen very little of the country - my dad hates travel, and I'm the opposite.   I have seen so little of India, want to fix that every chance Iget.

We did the trip around New Years and spent a good week there. Drove down from Mumbai. As a part of the Dream, Discover, Drive and Delight scheme.

To be honest I did more of the dreaming than the driving. 

 

But if you really like driving, you'd enjoy the drive to Jodhpur too. Or you could club Udaipur with Jaipur and do the entire Sawai Madhopur safari routine and the regular touristy stuff at Jaipur.

 

Also Rajasthan is very safe. They had the 8pm curfew when we visited, but that was mainly limited to intra-city travel.

[sandeep]

11 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

We did the trip around New Years and spent a good week there. Drove down from Mumbai. As a part of the Dream, Discover, Drive and Delight scheme.

To be honest I did more of the dreaming than the driving. 

 

But if you really like driving, you'd enjoy the drive to Jodhpur too. Or you could club Udaipur with Jaipur and do the entire Sawai Madhopur safari routine and the regular touristy stuff at Jaipur.

 

Also Rajasthan is very safe. They had the 8pm curfew when we visited, but that was mainly limited to intra-city travel.

 

IIRC even Maldives you stuck to Taj - loyal customer :)

 

Not sure if I'm necessarily a fan of long drives, especially in India.  The last major road trip I took in India was from Baroda to Ajanta/Ellora - had to do that in a weekend to accommodate a cousin who couldn't take any days off because of his new job.  Loved Ajanta/Ellora, but the Indian road trip aspect of it wasn't too pleasant. Or comfortable.  Ofcourse this was 2010, so things might have improved. 

 

Biggest constraint for road trips in India for someone like me would be time, that's the most precious currency and can't spend it stuck in traffic jams, or  bad bumpy roads with slow moving traffic and railroad crossings.  

 

My wife keeps telling me that I will love Rajasthan - I have a thing for sculpture and architecture - so definitely will be there at some point.  Its just a question of when.  Udaipur and Kumbalgarh are very tempting from the accessibility perspective, hopefully I can squeeze it in, next trip. Whenever that will be.  Now that my little monkey is in school, its likely going to be in June-Aug timeframe, and the weather is one thing I'm not looking forward to in Western India at least.  We'll see.

[coffee_rules]

8 minutes ago, sandeep said:

 

IIRC even Maldives you stuck to Taj - loyal customer :)

 

Not sure if I'm necessarily a fan of long drives, especially in India.  The last major road trip I took in India was from Baroda to Ajanta/Ellora - had to do that in a weekend to accommodate a cousin who couldn't take any days off because of his new job.  Loved Ajanta/Ellora, but the Indian road trip aspect of it wasn't too pleasant. Or comfortable.  Ofcourse this was 2010, so things might have improved. 

 

Biggest constraint for road trips in India for someone like me would be time, that's the most precious currency and can't spend it stuck in traffic jams, or  bad bumpy roads with slow moving traffic and railroad crossings.  

 

My wife keeps telling me that I will love Rajasthan - I have a thing for sculpture and architecture - so definitely will be there at some point.  Its just a question of when.  Udaipur and Kumbalgarh are very tempting from the accessibility perspective, hopefully I can squeeze it in, next trip. Whenever that will be.  Now that my little monkey is in school, its likely going to be in June-Aug timeframe, and the weather is one thing I'm not looking forward to in Western India at least.  We'll see.

 

We did the golden triangle (including Ranthambore) and the route from Bangalore to Munnar, Thekadi. We employed a driver, who would sleep in the car or nearby motels. Worked out perfect without any issues. They charge some daily-bata. Affordable. You just be careful only on references. 

[sandeep]

11 minutes ago, coffee_rules said:

 

We did the golden triangle (including Ranthambore) and the route from Bangalore to Munnar, Thekadi. We employed a driver, who would sleep in the car or nearby motels. Worked out perfect without any issues. They charge some daily-bata. Affordable. You just be careful only on references. 

yeah, drivers are a must for road trips in India, my uncle has good contacts in Baroda, so we had a good guy with us.

 

Funny story - apparently such 'tourist' vehicles require permits to operate beyond state boundaries - i.e. if you are a car rental company operating in Gujarat, you have to apply for licensing etc to conduct business in Maharashtra.  Apparently the agency we hired the  car and driver from, did not in fact, have the necessary permits for Maharashtra.

 

On the way driving back to Baroda after wrapping up our visit, a local cop in Jalgaon spotted us on the road - he was on those typical cop bikes, took one look at my face sitting next to the driver and figured out that we were 'tourists'.  Pulls us over, gets into our 'jeep', tells the driver to drive to his 'thana'.  Announcing he is seizing the vehicle, and there is a 11 pm train for AMD at jalgaon station (its a junction IIRC), and he'll put us on it.  We are all in a bit of shock as to what's going on.  The driver tries to make a call to his boss on his cellphone, he even had the phone number of a local 'higher' officer for the district, but the cop yells at him, and tells him to put his phone away.  50 yards from the police station, he commands the driver to pull over to the side.  Turns to me, and says listen, you can either deal with the inconvenience of waiting on the train station, or give me 3000 Rupees and then go on your merry way.  The sheer spectrum of emotions I experienced at that moment was memorable.  One one hand I was angry at this guy trying to shake us down and esssentially 'rob' us, but on a certain level, I was laughing a bit inside, and even felt a bit of admiration at how smoothly he executed his shtick.  Of course, those feelings were superseded by anger and irritation, along with a few sprinkles of disbelief.  My cousin (guy with the new job, early/mid twenties) tried to talk to the cop, but he had a sore throat - and the cop reacted to his tone negatively, perceived it as arrogance and responded with a threat. 

 

At that point, it was clear that all we could do is pay the guy, and he could see what we were thinking.  To soften the blow, he even told me, "this is nothing big for you, I know, its like a meal at a restaurant, don't stress over it."  So as we are about to pay him, my 19 year old cousin, she is still in college, and utterly ****-scared by the situation btw, chimes in, with a  quick, "will you please take 2000 instead".  I was so proud of her quintessential 'desi-ness' and 'courage under fire'. I mean, here she is, a young inexperienced girl, in a situation with a threatening dude away from home, and she still can't resist trying to negotiate.  In hindsight, we can all laugh about it, as it was hilarious.  

 

Anyway, long story short, we paid the  guy, he gave us a receipt and told us that if any other cops in the district stop you, show them this, and they will let you move on.  This was handy, as we actually did get another attempted stop by a couple of havaldars a bit later.  We were able to wave them off and tell them that we have already been extorted.  At that time, I was super pissed at the cop, but in hindsight, I do not blame him, not much anyway.  The car agency had violated the law, and was ultimately responsible for what we experienced.  The "bribe" was adjusted from what we paid the agency for the rental anyway, so it cost us zero.  But the feeling of having zero control over the situation, and essentially being at the mercy and 'judgment call' of a local cop, was quite unpleasant at the time, and we were quite shaken.  

 

Our driver was cryptic about it, but still filled me in on some aspects of this, on the rest of the drive.  I mean, he didn't want to spell it out that his boss was in violation of the permit rules etc, but gently reminded me that this was one of the reasons why he didn't want to cut across the Jalgaon district interior on our drive home - armed with google maps and a working phone, I overrode his objections because it would have been a 50 km detour.  

 

In hind sight, the 'shakedown' was a very interesting part of the trip, and added a great memory.  But it does highlight the potential dangers and inconveniences that you risk, when going on road trips in India.  Its not the same as driving from NJ to Niagara falls or something.  Its India, along with its unique sights, beauty, and experiences, there's some other stuff lurking as well.  Some of it benign, like making sure you don't leave valuables in sight in your car if you park somewhere etc, - some of it potentially quite dangerous.