In this journey, we were going to go through six states: UP – MP – Maharashtra – Telangana – Andhra – Karnataka.
BHPian adityaprasoon recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I had always wanted to do a road trip covering the expanse of this country but didn’t know I would do it with short planning.
This all started when a friend of mine began planning to buy a car. The shortlisting, test drives, comparisons and finalizing deserve another thread of its own as it was quite a long process. Skipping all that for now, he finally purchased Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Zeta Petrol.
He wanted to get a BH series registration but during our visits to several showrooms of different companies in Bangalore, we learnt that RTOs in Karnataka are not giving BH numbers to employees of private companies. Relevant discussion here.
So after talking to some people in his hometown of Raebareli, UP he found out that not only can he get BH registration but the waiting time for his preferred variant was also very less there. Almost instantly we decided to do it. We were three friends going to do a ~2k km long road trip to bring the car from Raebareli to Bangalore with a month’s notice. It was decided that we will let the car get its first servicing (which is due in 30 days) and then bring it to Bangalore. With some effort, we were able to get leaves approved and began planning.
From Google Maps
- Total distance – 1850 km
- Expected driving time – 35 Hrs
We were going to go through six states: UP – MP – Maharashtra – Telangana – Andhra – Karnataka. The route we decided to take is straightforward: Raebareli – Prayagraj – Rewa – Jabalpur – Nagpur – Hyderabad – Bangalore. There is some information about this route here.
We planned to do the journey over 3 days. Our night halt was going to be in Nagpur and Anantapur. Bangalore is ~200kms from Anantapur and we planned to do it leisurely on the third day. Our tight schedule prevented us from deviating for sightseeing along the way nevertheless I was excited to go through a variety of landscapes in a short duration of 3 days.
On 19th May we flew to Lucknow from Bangalore. Raebareli is 1.5 Hrs drive from there. We reached Raebareli in the late afternoon. We spend the rest of the day checking out the city and having some much-missed north Indian snacks. In the evening we took the Grand Vitara for a small spin and then slept with an alarm set for 4 AM. We wanted to leave early to beat the morning traffic in Prayagraj.
Day 1 Leg 1 – Raebareli to Prayagraj
- Distance – 121 km
- Time of travel – 0530 Hrs
- Expected time – 2 hrs 40 mins
- Actual time taken – 2 hrs 40 mins
- Route – Raebareli – Unchahar – Manikpur – Kunda – Phaphamau – Prayagraj
The road is quite good but it’s a two-lane single-carriageway all the way and it passes through many small towns. Safe speed is below 80 kmph so it takes more than 2.5 hours.
Some pictures
Somewhere en route to Prayagraj
Crossing Ganga before entering Pryagraj
We took a 50 mins break at Prayagraj as my friend had to visit some relatives. We had a light breakfast and left sharp at 9AM. Our next stop was going to be at Jabalpur.
Day 1 Leg 2 – Prayagraj to Jabalpur
- Distance – 365 km
- Time of travel – 0900 Hrs
- Expected time – 6 hrs 50 mins
- Actual time taken – 6 Hrs 40 mins with lunch halt
- Route – Prayagraj – Reva – Katni – Jabalpur, (NH 30)
We had initially planned to stop at Jabalpur but around noon we got hungry and stopped at a dhaba after crossing Reva.
Some pictures
Crossing Yamuna over Hanging Bridge, while leaving Prayagraj
View of Yamuna from the bridge
Wide and desolate road after entering MP
Landscape changed from the plains to the first sight of a plateau
Stopped at a roadside dhaba. We insisted to eat on the cot for some authentic feel. Food was good.
Grand Vitara resting as we had our lunch. It was difficult to find shade with very few trees beside the highway.
Front view
Soon we were over concrete roads. Concrete road continued for most of the highway in MP. The tyre noise increase on these roads but the Grand Vitara is noticeably quiet on the inside.
It was a bright sunny day and sunglass was a must to prevent eye strain
Most of eastern MP is thinly populated
We found a small stretch of green land almost like an oasis in a desert
There are many places of sightseeing along the way but we could not visit any as we wanted to reach Nagpur before dusk. Khajuraho is around 170kms west of Rewa and near Jabalpur is Bedaghat, famous for Narmada passing though it’s marble rocks.
Day 1 Leg 3 – Jabalpur to Nagpur
- Distance – 272 km
- Time of travel – 1500 Hrs
- Expected time – 5 hrs
- Actual time taken – ~4 hrs
- Route – Jabalpur – Seoni – Mansar – Nagpur
Crossed the Pench National Park.
Barrier is erected on both sides of the road, supposedly to keep animals away from the highway. Some monkeys were seen sitting on the fence.
We reached Nagpur just when the sun was going down. It was a long day. We started looking for a hotel.
We bypassed Nagpur and found an OYO just on the outskirts. It was right by the highway. It was almost 7PM and we decided to call it a day.
The hotel was in the middle of nowhere. But it had covered parking and after a long day, all we needed was a cold shower and an AC room. Booked two rooms for a total of Rs 1800.
After we settled in the hotel we started to look for some place to eat. We thought we would have to go inside Nagpur city but surprisingly found a restaurant nearby on google maps. It was called Hungry House Garden Restaurant and hungry we were.
Didn’t click many pictures in the restaurant but it was a really well-put-together outdoor dining. Apparently, Nagpur people come for a drive and have dinner here.
Keyword: Lucknow to Bangalore in 2 days: Road trip in a Maruti Grand Vitara