|
Road Review : Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow |
I am basically from Lucknow and live in Noida. Normally I board a night train to visit Lucknow. We were visiting my parents in Lucknow on new year’s weekend and this time decided to drive down because of two reasons. One, we had to pick up some stuff from my parent’s house for which we needed a vehicle. Second and more important was that, having completed the big road drive (Delhi - Jaisalmer- Jodhpur - Delhi in 4 days) on previous weekend, we were high on driving!
The distance from Delhi to Lucknow is approximately 500 kms by road. The standard route is Delhi - Hapur - Moradabad - Rampur- Bareilly - Shahjahanpur- Sitapur - Lucknow. I had been hearing about the bad road conditions on some stretch on this route. Another new route that is becoming popular is the Dellhi - Kanpur - Lucknow route. Some of my friends tried this route few months back and said that it is fast as it’s a 4 lane road but longer than the standard route by about 50 kms. We decided to take the longer and the faster one.
Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow route can be divided into 4 parts:
a. Delhi - Agra ~ 200Kms
b. Agra - Etawah ~ 125Kms
c. Etawah - Kanpur ~ 150Kms
d. Kanpur - Lucknow ~ 80 Kms
Delhi - Agra: Started early (around 5:45 am) from Noida and reached NH-2 via Kalindi Kunj. Road was clear in the morning so we covered the first 150 kms quickly. Delhi-Mathura-Agra road is an important road (because of Agra) so generally one doesn’t experience bad roads here. But this time, I guess maintenance was due and we met some rough stretches. Arrived Mathura (160 km) around 8:30 and stopped at McDonals to get fresh, but couldn’t resist the smell of fresh burgers and ended up having burger and french fries for breakfast. You can not miss this McD while driving as its huge in size and is a good place to stop for breakfast if you start early in the morning.
We continued on NH-2 and reached Agra which was around 50 km from our first stop. On this route, I was going beyond Agra for the first time, but knew that there is a flyover from where the road turning towards right leads to Agra city and the flyover continues straight for Kanpur. I did confirm with some pedestrians and continued towards Etawah-Kanpur. This straight road is supposed to be the bypass and one expects a smooth drive. Seems that this one has lost the ‘bypass’ status as people were avoiding the service road and drove across the main bypass. This was the main bottleneck on this stretch and we took some time to cross Agra.
Agra - Etawah - From Agra, we headed towards Etawah and based on our research about this road, we were on the ‘WORK IN PROGRESS’ stretch. From Agra to Tundla (some 20 odd kms) the road was quite good and I was smoothly sailing the car but after crossing Tundla, we started feeling traces of new construction. Diversions, unfinished roads, vehicles coming on wrong sides all started together. Once, near Etawah bypass, we got confused and took a newly constructed but unfinished road that was closed in between and then had to come all the way back to take the old road and ended up driving few extra kms. One must take care of this specially near Etawah.
We reached Etawah around 12 pm. Bypass was still not functional so we crossed the city and continued on road towards Kanpur. The road directions inside the city are surprisingly clear and simple.
Etawah - Kanpur: After Etawah, the road condition was awesome. We felt as if we were on Delhi-Jaipur Road. The road has 4 lanes with wide divider in between. You should take care of vehicles coming towards you in the wrong direction. Yes, people avoid taking U-turns and use wrong side and it becomes very dangerous when you are driving at 100-120 kmph on a smooth road. But since the road condition is very good, one can drive on a comfortable speed to cover this stretch.
We took a small tea break, had some snacks we were carrying from Delhi and continued towards Kanpur. We reached near Kanpur around 2 pm and then took a cut that lead to Kanpur city. I visited my college HBTI after a long time. The roads inside Kanpur are just as they were 6 years back! They are in such a bad shape that by looking at the road, one can not say whether it was ever built or not!
Kanpur - Lucknow: It was really nostalgic being in Kanpur and visiting college after so many years. Finally we had evening snacks and tea in Kanpur and headed towards Lucknow. We spent around 3 hrs in college and then hit back the road to reach Lucknow by late evening. In college days I used to drive my ‘Hero Puch’ on Kanpur-Lucknow high way and at that time it was 2-lane single road. Now it is 4-lane double road. The road quality is poor near Kanpur but it improved as we approached Lucknow. We covered this stretch of 80 kms in around 90 minutes. Entered Lucknow around 6:30 pm and reached home at 7:30 pm.
Some Tips:
* I’m sure that like me, a lot of people must be scared of driving in UP specially because of the bad roads that existed until sometime back. The new routes are well maintained and clean and a 500 km drive is very much possible.
* Delhi-Lucknow can be done comfortably in 8-10 hrs driving at a decent speed with 2 short breaks.
* Places to stop for a break/bite:
o McDonalds near Mathura
o A1 Plaza in between Mathura and Agra
o A1 Plaza in between Kanpur and Lucknow
February 12th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Succinct read. you still stop at A1 plazas :). What you wrote in the end was actually the situation few years back, it was next to impossible to imagine driving during day light in UP (I come from Bihar so I am all the more cynical), good to see that things are improving.
The same road goes all the way to Kolkata, via Dhanbad and probably some day I would go to city of joy driving. Thanks for sharing.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Yes, you caught me. I had bad experiences in Gujrat and Rajasthan but I guess UP A1 Plazas are OK :-)
February 27th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I live in mathura and work at agra so everyday i use the mathura agra NH2,within a month i used to visit lucknow by road and due to improvement in road conditions i prefer to go by road rathar then train.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Thanks Prakash for sharing your experience. The intention behind writing this post was that people can appreciate improving road conditions in UP and other thing is that even in UP, 500kms can be covered easily in 8-9 hours.
Happy driving!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Hi there,
I think the review above is excellent and installs a great deal of push for me to drive to Lucknow from NOIDA later this month. However, can you comment about the law and order on this highway around Etawah Kanpur, I have heard some concerns from the taxi drivers who have driven this route.
Will appreciate some advice.
thx
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:06 am
Hi Ravish,
Very glad to hear that you got push from this post to drive to LKO :-). About your question, I think if you choose safe timings for driving there should be no problem. We started early morning and reached LKO around 7(after spending 3 hrs in Kanpur), and did not see any thing unusual. So if you go straight with 2 to 3 short stops for lunch and Tea, You can easily reach Lucknow in 9-10 hrs. Start early and reach before dark.
Let me repeat, Do take care of vehicles coming from opposite side in your lane. Some people avoid U turns and drive in wrong side.
Wish you happy and safe drive! Share your experience after the trip.
March 4th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Thanks, Aditya.
Was wondering whether to take the Agra-Kanpur route or Bareilly one for our trip later this month. I have decided on the former after reading your article but would still like to know about the feasibility of Bareilly route as I would like to cover that area as well since its our first visit to Lucknow.
Any inputs?
Pat
March 5th, 2008 at 4:35 am
Thanks Patrick for your comments. I drove upto Moradabad on NH-24(Delhi-Moradabad- Bareilly- Lucknow) last weekend while going to Corbett National Park and found that lot of construction work in going on this road. Stretch between ‘Hapur’ and ‘Moradabad bypass’ is painful because of that. I heard about the road beyond Moradabad also that work is in progress for widening the road so I guess it will be similar stretch with some completed smooth stretches and some rough & unfinished.
Do share your review about the road and the place once you come back.
Wish you happy and safe journey!!
March 5th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Hi Aditya,
Thanks for your comments. I will surely write about my experience of driving down Delhi Kanpur lucknow route.
Ravish
March 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
You seem to be addicted to driving, Aditya (so am I but I have some constraints like little kids). Been to Corbett Park last March and enjoyed it thorougly staying at Dhikala. Fantastic place! Had to take some friends along so chartered a bus but it was real fun!!
March 6th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Thanks for compliment, Pat ;-). We could not get Dhikala Guest house bookings done this time so stayed in ‘Bijrani’ another guest house in forest. Amazing place, very different kind of experience. I heard that Dhikala region is the most beautiful part of the Park, Will cover that in my next trip. This was the short one, just one day stay there.
Why don’t you share your experience of Corbett here in a separate post, I will get some tips for the next time :-)
March 8th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Hi Aditya,
It was really nice and interesting reading your post. I am from Lucknow and would be driving down from Noida to Lucknow on 21st morning for Holi. This would be my first such long drive and hence would appreciate if you could share your number with me so that I can have certain queries clarified regarding the route.
Once again I must say that your post has lessened my anxiety to an extent and kudos to you for the same!!! Hoping to get a reply soon
March 8th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Its for Aditya to answer but if it would have been me, I would have preferred to get queries over web then giving my phone no :)
Please dont take it otherwise, its not very common to share personal nos unless you develop a comfort-factor which surely can happen in this case but not certain whether its now or a few queries later.
Just my personal 2 cents.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Gaurav, Thanks for your comments. I think we should have all interaction through this website only and and not on phone as this would also help in creating useful reading for rest of the people. You can ask you detailed queries on ‘Ask Ghumakkar’ section of this website and I will try to answer that to the best of my knowledge.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
interesting read indeed…i am from bareilly and working in mumbai…i would be reaching delhi on the 20-21 night around 1200 hrs….there is no train after that time till 9 in the morning…and buses just before holi are very difficult to get into…so Gaurav just in case if you are in need of driver..driver who would pay you…drop me a line at sameeragarwal7@rediffmail.com
thanks
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hi
I would be driving from delhi to lucknow soon.
After reading all the articles related I am confused which road to take as it is mentioned that road between agra and Etawah is not very good.
Please advise
March 24th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Yes, Agra-Etawah stretch is not very good but work was in progress. I experienced that road in starting of Jan 2008. I think road condition will be much better by now. Also there were number of stretches in between which were about to complete.
Even if you take alternate route i.e. Delhi-Moradabad-Bareilly-Sitapur-Lucknow, you will face disturbance because of construction work there also.
There are few people who have written comments in this post and were planning to visit Lucknow in march end. probably they can comment better after their visit.
Ravish, Patrick , Please put your comments after your road trip.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Sorry Aditya, our trip to Lucknow has been postponed to mid-April due to school programmes.
I am getting desperate to hit the road :-(
Pat
April 6th, 2008 at 12:14 am
The Delhi-Aligarh-Tundla- Kanpur is shorter than the Delhi-Agra-Kanpur. Can someone suggest how is the road from Delhi to Aligarh. ANd whether it is better to take the Delhi-Aligarh route or Delhi-Agra?-S Sarkar
April 7th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Thanks Mr. Sarkar for your comment. I guess Delhi-Aligarh-kanpur will be shorter(by around 40 kms) if you follow NH-91(GT Road) beyond Aligarh i.e. Etah-Mainpuri-Kannauj-Kanpur. If you go to Tundla-Etawah-Kanpur from Aligarh that will be around 15 kms longer. I checked these distances from mapmyindia.com so you can also cross check these.
I have some information from my sources that road till Aligarh is good but beyond that I am not having any latest information. But I guess this road is still 2 lane without divider.
I do not think time wise there will be any gain even if you choose NH-91 over NH-2 because of road condition.
Do let us know if you go by Delhi-Aligarh route and post your valuable feedback here.
Thanks.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Dear All,
Don’t try delhi - hapur - moradabad track its worst road strech I can’t explain in words.
Go from Delhi-agra-kanpur-lucknow track its awesome.
Thank you:-)
April 17th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Thanks for your comment Vineet.
Did you try delhi - hapur - moradabad- lucknow recently ? What’s the road condition beyond Moradabad?
May 21st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I have to go to lucknow from delhi, whcih route i prefer for bike any one can suggest me? and how long i will take to reach there.
and is it possible to reach there within 10-12 hrs.
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:29 am
Lucknow is around 500 Kms from delhi and if you can drive continuously(with less and small breaks) you can reach there in 10-12 hrs.
I believe bike riding is much more tiring than car driving because you are directly exposed to Air and dust. I have never experienced it on such a long stretch, so please check with some body else who has actually done it.
I will recommend you Delhi-Agra-Etawah-Kanpur-Lucknow route because of separate lanes and will be safer to drive at comfortable speed.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:59 am
[...] the successful post on Delhi-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow road review by Aditya, a strong need was felt on having a review of the other road which connects Delhi to [...]
June 8th, 2008 at 6:20 am
GHAZIABAD-DELHI-KANPUR-LUCKNOW
We just completed a road trip from ghaziabad to lucknow via kanpur yesterday i.e. 7th June 2008. I thought it would be useful to update all visitors about this road stretch. For your information the group was a family of four with two children and was traveling in a Santro. This may help others in calibrating their travel and stop times.
Sources of Information
The internet was the only source of information that I had. An extremely busy work schedule made it impossible to scout around for more information. A few colleagues who hailed from the cities enroute provided some information which was largely unreliable and sketchy. Aditya’s information remains till date the best information available. In addition I took along maps (Road Maps) from Wikimapia and the road map on NH2 from mapsofindia.com. They are quite accurate
The Journey
We started off at 0530 from Indirapuram Ghaziabad. Though we had planned to start at 0500 Hrs we got delayed because of the kids. I feel there is a limit to how early one can start particularly when children are involved. From Indirapuram , Ghaziabad we went via sector 62 NOIDA and then on to Badarpur via Kalindi Kunj. We had expected to make the trip in 30 min but it took us close to an hour. The main reason is the metro construction near NOIDA Golf Course. The road was pretty much congested even in these early hours. Crossing Badarpur into Faridabad seemed to be a breeze compared to the NOIDA stretch!
The stretch in Haryana is good. There is a bottle neck at Srinagar Toll booth. This is mainly due to slow processing by the authorities there. One enters into Uttar Pradesh from Kosi Kalan and as usual the trucks parked for entry block one entire lane. Traffic crawls for around 1 Km before crossing into UP after which it is smooth. There is a flyover under construction at Kosi Kalan 42 Km short of Mathura which slows down the speed as one has to take a diversion on which traffic is bi-directional.
The McDonalds at Mathura is exactly as has been described by Aditya. We lost some additional time as the kids wanted to take a ride on the toy cars kept there!!!. The flush in the ladies toilet does not work so be warned.
From Mathura to Agra road is good and traffic moves smoothly except at Sikandara 9 Km short of Agra. There is the sabzi mandi (Vegetable Market) which really slows down the traffic.
Once outside Agra, at Etmadpur there is a 750 m of stretch under construction. Onwards to Ettawah there is a flyover under construction after Shikohabad around 52 Km short of Ettawah. The road is very good and attaining speeds over 80 Kmph seems no issue. However some stretches of NH2 are closed on one side for repair/maintenance so you have traffic coming from the opposite. Just need to be careful on this count.
As you approach Ettawah, there is this very confusing stretch, which cost us a good 45 min. At the entry to Ettawah , there is a flyover on NH2. Do not go up the flyover even though there are no signages or roadblocks. If you go over you will reach a dead end. The only way out is to take the lane on the left of the flyover, go under it and enter Ettawah city. Then keep going till you hit another flyover cross it and then take a right turn to go under this flyover and keep going straight till you again meet NH2. If you do not take the right on getting down from this second flyover then you will be heading towards Gwalior. Just be careful and ask for directions very frequently.
The stretch from Ettawah to Auraiya is very good, only that you will not find good places to eat. For eating I suggest that you either have your meals before Agra or else wait till you are on the Kanpur – Lucknow stretch. At the end of Auraiya , when Kanpur Dehat (Rural Kanpur) starts there is a dhaba which seems quite frequented but offers the most insipid food I have ever tasted. I think it is called Surya Dhabha a highly avoidable one.
Once in rural kanpur you will come to Mungishpur (spelt Mugishapur in wikimapia) then akabarpur and finally Barah thereafter there is a flyover which takes you over the city. The signage is very poor. Just keep going right till you get down the flyover , ignore the signs which tell you that the U turn to Luknow and Rama Devi is just ahead. They are not there and you will waste a good 45 min to go around and return. Once you get down from the flyover (near Chakeri Industrial Area) Take a U turn and go along the same flyover without going up on it. Keep going for around 4 Km till you hit a round about. The road on your right goes to Luknow – 80 Kms.
After traveling on NH2 you will find the Kanpur Lucknow stretch quite pathetic. At least till you cross Unnao. The road quality is bad with potholes right in the middle. The only consolation is that it is divided. Once you cross Unnao then it should be smooth sailing till you reach Lucknow. We did it in 11 hours, with two breaks of 30 min each and one good hour lost due to improper signages at Ettawah and Kanpur. If you take that out it is possible to do it in 9 hours. There are four toll gates enroute and they charge from Rs. 55 to Rs 35 for a single journey by car.
Cheers.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
What a detailed note Ratnadeep. Very helpful.
I just drove the stretch today morning (June 14, 2008) and here’s some details.
1. Started at 5.30 odd from Indirapuram.
2. Was able to get past Agra by 8, mostly because I could avoid rush at Badarpur because of early hours, was lucky to find no traffic at Kosi trade tax check-point and somehow Agra-ites slept a little late today :)
3. Crossed Kanpur by 12:30. (going towards Allahabad)
Execept the Etawah flyover confusion, the complete stretch is very well laid and is highly recommended. It would take you about 8 hours to do this (I took 7 but that seems like a special case for today so dont take that as standard please).
Tips - There are no good eating joints post Agra so McD at Mathura is still the best bet though a stoppage there would cost you some extra time in Agra so take your pick.
Etawah flyover should be done in couple of months, I guess. I actually didn’t take the right under the flyover and drove about 2 odd KMs more and then went down. Anyway, better to not take flyover and ask every 250 meters.
Kanpur- Allahabad is also very good, though there are lots of small stretches which are yet to be completed. I would try to write about Kanpur - Allahabad - Varanasi in a separate post.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Thanks Nandan and Ratandeep for sharing your experiences, information and tips.
I am glad to see more and more latest information coming on this post.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
NH2 or NH24 which one do you recommend for Delhi - Lucknow.
Thanks in advance!
July 9th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Hi
Can someone tell me how long does it take from Lucknow to Bareilly by road? How is the road condition? Any other watch-outs?
Thanks and regards
July 9th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Road is very good. Its a single road all through-out, may be some small patches are double. There is lot of widening work is going on between Sitapur-Lucknow stretch. There are some small towns on the way so watch out for petty traffic there, but overall its a lovely drive.
Depending on the time of the day, it can take you from 3.5 to 4 hours. If you start early morning, it should not take more then 3.5 hours.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Ahmed - My recommendation would be to take NH2.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:35 am
Dear frnd i need some more details, after 10 days i am planning to move kanpur from mohan nagar (ghazibad) by my new bike hond unicorn, is it safe to travel on bike on such highway? second plz recommend me shortest distance. my taxi driver recommended me this route mohan nagar-lal kuon-dadri-secundrabad-nehar budh chauraha-khirja-aligardh-mainpuri-kannuaj-kanpur, i need to kanpur remote area its in between kanpur n kannauj (bilhore). plz suggest me. and at last i must say -thank u mr. aditya for this information.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:52 am
Dear frnd some one suggested mapofindia.com better go through google earth that will give best result on roads n direction
July 11th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Dilip, I’ve biked a 2-3 times from Noida to Aligarh via lal kuan, Dadri, Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr and Khurja. The familiarity with the route has made my rides quite enjoyable. On security front, as the roads are narrow and doesn’t has a divider (from Dadri to Aligarh) so it becomes a bit challenging to ride a bike on this route. You’ll find people, shops, villages, farms etc all along the route so riding will not be boring. You can easily cruise at 60 kmph.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Dilip - If you want to go to Bilhaur then it would make sense to go by GT Road (Bulandshahar - Aligarh - Kannauj), that should be much shorter then NH2.
When you do the trip, please come back and update us on what you find. There is no road review post on Delhi-Kanpur via Aligarh :) on ghumakkar as yet so your could be the first one.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
thanx ankur and nandan,
Dear nandan plz let me know more gt road, i am very new to all this, i remember last time had gone through ac bus at night from anandvihar to bilhaur, due to night i couldnt get much information about places u crossing through, but they take turn right through daubour chowk n followed high road, i request u to provide safe route and short rout to reach aligarh
July 11th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Dear ankur plz let me know how long it took u to cover this distance?
July 12th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Dilip,
I have not been on this road so really can not say for authority but I did talk to some people who have recently driven on this road and its fairly ok. I am inserting a MAP for easy reference. From ‘Mohan Nagar’ you can directly catch ‘G T Road’, just ask for the road which goes to ‘Bulandshahar’, you should be crossing NH24 underneath. After that just keep asking for places as shown in the Map.
Leave early in the morning so that you get most of day light and keep your spirits high.
View Larger Map
July 17th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Thanks Aditya for this review, I have to travel with family from Lucknow to Delhi, (Reverse of what is being described so far). Can you suggest better road i.e. via Kanpur-Agra or via Sitapur-Bareilly. Approx distance & time taken.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:53 am
HI,
I went to LKO vai faridabad-agra-Etawah-kanpur-lucknow on 5th July. As stated by some people raod conditions are awesone b/w delhi-agra & Etawah-Kanpur. Now Etawah flyover is also operational, so it saves another 45 mins as now we are not at all going inside. I left delhi at 5 PM & reached LKO at 3:30 PM with almost 2 hrs break. Only thing is that there are no good places to eat & sit b/w agra & kanpur. Only troublesome passages were:
1. Shikohabad flyover(This is still under construction) and road was bad because of rain.
2. Some patch(5 KMS) b/w Agra & Etawah.
3. Patch from kanpur to Unnao.
Also after reaching to Kanpur, one has to be careful to take the cut to enter to LKO road, else straight will go to Agra. There is one small cut on the flyover to enter into the city.
Rest journey was awsome.
While coming back from luknow, one need to be careful with raffic in firozabad & agra as one will be in these cities somewhere around 1-2 PM.
rest all is good in this route.
Once can enjoy long ride w/o much tiring.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Good, that someone has come up with the details of the trouble spots, Thanks Vishal.
It is really impressive that you could do the distance in about 10:30 hrs including 2hrs break making it 8:30hrs which means an average speed of about 65KMPH.
It is a good knews that the Etawah bypass is operational now.
I was planning to leave on the same date you left, but somehow schedules and weather conditions then prevented me.
One more thing that recently started creeping my mind that one needs cars with bigger and wider tyres for highways and not to forget long wheelbase and wide tread, and this thought also puts me off the idea of taking my vehicle with skinny wheels and economical dimensions.
Btw, in the Kanpur trap, probably you mean Allahabad (And ‘am’ elsewhere as well:-)). However, I have read in Ratandeep’s comment above that that there is a cut after the descent at Allahabad end of the flyover from where one can take a u-turn and come back beside the flyover to turn right below the flower towards the Ramadevi Chowk.
Btw, I think it would be too much of a coincidence if you were to be an IET Lko Alumnus.
Thanks
Rajeev
July 18th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Thanks CP for your comment.
I suggest you Lucknow-Kanpur-Etawah-Agra-Delhi. The reason is better road condition and when you have better roads, you can some how control travel time.
Start early and you can easily reach Delhi before dark.
happy journey! Do share your experience also.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Hi Rajeev,
You correctly remember. I am from IET Lko. I guess we met also at meets organized in delhi by Tushima & shashi Kant sir.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Thanks to everyone for posting all these details. i plan to travel from gorakhpur to delhi very soon and orginally planned to take Lucknow-Bareilly-Delhi route (NH24)..now with this information i would definately take the Lucknow-Kanpur-Agra-Delhi route (NH2).
Although a bit sceptical as how would the NH2 be post monsoon..any recent ghumakkars ?
August 18th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I drove from Gorakhpur to Delhi via Bareilly and I think it was not a good idea. Take LKO - Kanpur - Delhi only. In the comments I read a comment by Vikas on July 5th, thats not too far back.
I personally drove in 2nd week of June and the road looked good enough to sustain Monsoon. Last weekend one of my friend drove till Agra (he was going to Gwalior) and he tells me that its all fine.
Urmindra, Do come back to update on your observations after you take the journey.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Urmindra,
The NH2 is still in good shape, thanks to NHAI. I returned just yesterday from LKO and except for the already mentioned patches, it is still holding good so go ahead and enjoy.
Aditya,
Yeah, I made the trip finally and it was excellent. This is the just kind of road I would like to drive on. Monsoon gave us good company along the route falling as downpour, rain and drizzle intermittently and it was fun driving thru it. I especially love the Agra – Kanpur section, except for the bicycles/2-wheelers who love to ride on the wrong side. You might find cattle and even people lazing on the road.
Badarpur look normal with pot-holes and traffic jam. Sikandra is bad as usual, some flooding at Agra, Etawa flyover is good so no problems there. Follow Ratnadeep’s instructions to get on to the road to LKO from Kanpur flyover and go slow till Unnao. Rest everything about this route is awesome.
So things has changed much after your post. Thanks again.
August 20th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Thanks for all reviews
I drove from Gurgaon to Kanpur via Agra last weekend.
The reviews really helped and as mentioned above the NH2 is in good shape so that you can maintain speed of 120 for most of the stretch.
But still need to be bit attentive for unexpected potholes and the cuts in between.
As mentioned by Patrick, bicycles/2-wheelers love to ride on the wrong side. You might find cattle and even people lazing on the road.
This is really irritating and dangerous too, so just take extra care and be ready for anyone crossing road anytime.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Thanks kuldeep, how much time you took to reach kanpur from gurgaon? Also, advise me on the time of day, when i can avoid problems like cattle, wrongside 2wheelers on the road.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:30 am
hi
i went to lko from noida, sec 19 via nh2 on pulsar 220.
i started at 4:25am and reached Hazratganj (Lko) at 11:50am.
it was raining almost all the time may be thats why the traffic was less (mainly bi-cycles and two-wheelers)
the road is fantastic except only a few kms
i would say, don’t leave nh2 just before kanpur (as the sign board shows) but continue on it till you cross kanpur and then take the u turn, reach ramadevi chauraha and take the road to lko. this route will be about 10km extra but it will save you from traffic and numerous speed breakers…i followed the sign, got off the nh2 and wasted almost half an hour
while returning i took a left turn instead of the usual right to reach the u turn about 5 km and took the nh2, and it was totally worth it.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Hi,
This is really good timing with a start to end average speed of approx 70Kph.
The early start is always a time saver, but a cause of drowsiness after you reach the destinationand in my case the time saved goes into sleeping, with some interest. But it is alwasy better to sleep a couple of hourse extra aftereards than starting late and then driving/riding through the morning madness of citities.
Abhishek, you could have avoided the Kanpur clamour during onward journey also, had you read the Ratnadeep’s comment and the discussion afterwards on Kanpur.
Good to know that monsoon has not had a bad impact on the road conditions. Sigh….I am raring to take this road and tired of taking vicarious trips. God willing, sometime near Deepawali…
Just now I got a servicing reminder from Rohan NOIDA…
August 27th, 2008 at 10:25 am
7.5 hours on a bike, and that too with rains, I would take that as something not common.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:28 am
i need to leave for Lucknow on Saturday morning on my Bullet Thunderbird. Which route should i take?
August 28th, 2008 at 6:04 am
My suggestions would be Delhi - Kanpur - Lucknow. Ensure that you read comments from Ratandeep, Rajiv and others for the right cut at Kanpur.
And when you make it, please come back and update here on the road condition and any other general update.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:11 am
Thanks so much for the advice. I’ve got the right cut at Kanpur superscribed in my brain. Thanks a ton
September 8th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Hi All,
I travelled from Gorakhpur to Delhi last week and this 900km journey on car could be broken in two segments.
1. Gorakhpur to Lucknow
2. Lucknow to Delhi
Gorakhpur to Lucknow road is under construction for 4-laning, hence there are lot of bad stretches and diversions. But the new 4-lane road (where-ever it existed) is absolutely treat. The new road is being built on international standards using the cement concrete in place of the age old coal-tars..Neverthless i completed by 280KMs in 6 hours and stayed back for the night in Gemini Continental Hotel in Lucknow itself. This Gorakhpur-Lucknow stretch should get completed in 2009..hopefully.
Lucknow to Delhi via Kanpur-Etawah-Agra was a cakewalk. I left Lucknow at around 11am and reached Delhi by 10pm with 2 stops of 45 mins in Etawah and Agra and 1 stop for 20 mins in Kanpur. The road is absolute beauty with usual deterrents in the form of wrong side cyclewallahs and LMVs all the way. The un-avoidable stretch is Firozabad and Agra where the highway cuts across the city traffic with no bypass and you have to deal with nagging traffic and then a small diversion at Tundla where the overbridge is under-construction. The other pain point was the non existence of any decent dhabas or restaurants between Kanpur to Agra..the A1 stops have been renamed (it seems Reliance has left this business :)) and hence we avoided it. Although found a decent dhaba immediately after Etawah fly-over owned by village sarpanch..very good food.
i thank all those people who contributed with the feedback on this Lucknow-Agra-Delhi road and made me change my decision from Lucknow-Bareilly-Delhi road. This journey was much more pleasing and non-intrusive for my car !
September 8th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Thanks Umendra for your update about Gorakhpur-Lucknow and specially about the information of that Dhaba. Can you tell its name or some milestone around it? It will really help.
I am from Lucknow but not much aware about the latest developments there. Let me guess, If I am not wrong Gemini Continental Hotel is near Hazaratganj, just in front of ‘Ashok Vatika’ and ‘KD Singh Babu Stadium’.
Do share your review about the hotel with us.
Thanks!
September 10th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
That is a great update.
These opposite side vehicles need to be curtailed by the authorities. I hope that things will change once toll plaza etc start operating.
Gemini Continental is slowly turning out to be a preferred destination for business as well as pleasure travellers. It is a tough competition for Clarks.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Hi Aditya,
The dhaba is immediately on the left after the flyover bypassing Etawah town while coming from Kanpur. I really dont remember the name but it was a 2 storey colorful building.
You are right about Gemini Continental..its on Laxmi bai road near Hazratganj and opposite the stadium..it’s a decent hotel.
i am waiting for the Gorakhpur-Lucknow to stretch complete and then it will be a 14 hr drive from Gorakhpur to Delhi.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:59 am
And once complete East-West is done then Gorakhpur-Darbhanga would be 6 hours and I can do Delhi-Gorakhpur-Darbhanga with a night-stop at Kushinagar :)
September 12th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Fantastic read - I should say “Fantabulous”
My bro read this and suggested me to go through it - after having suggestions from many I was very confused about which way to choose - most of the guys told me to take Sitapur - Bareilly route - but after going through this - I got convinced. Later on confirmed from one of my friend who started at 6.30 am and reached at 3.00 pm at LKO
Will update you soon, about my trip
September 18th, 2008 at 4:39 am
hey dear members,
i would request ur views / suggessations for a small trip (around 500 Km) from Meerut to lucknow…
there are three ways of going :-
(a) NH24 (Meerut-Hapur-Moradabad-Bareilly-Sitapur-Lucknow) - the shortest one.
(b) NH2 ( Meerut-Noida outer-Faridabad - Mathura - Agra - Kanpur - Lucknow) - The longest one.
(c) Mix ( Meerut - Bulandshahr - Aligarh - Agra or Mathura - NH2)
i will be greatful if someone can please suggest the best possible route in terms of road conditions, facilities(eating / halting / servicing) and less time consuming. as i will be driving for the first time for such a long dist and wanna cover it up in one day. i’ll be the only driver in my car.
September 19th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Hi , i stay in NFC in delhi. so reaching the mathura rd was very easy and after that the double road did not end till lucknow.
i had left at 2am on the 29th of August 08 and returned on 2nd sept 08, with my wife & driver in my opel corsa.
the road is fantastic , i would suggest that you carry a flask of tea along(the route is great , so u may come across spots where u would like to stop & take a breather & of course have TEA !!)
the road from here to mathura ..agra…etawah…kanpur dehat… kanpur city…is great . kanpur to lucknow is bumpy for the first 20 kms, after that its fine.
Eating joints are readily available
Route has real less traffic
Safe for one & all
Road is Makkhan all the way. between agra & etawah ,one has to be careful of vehicles, cattle, tractor trolleys, etc coming from the wrong side + people crossing the road at the intersections in the road divider.
when one enters kanpur , there is a board that says go down from the rd , but the kanpur flyover is already complete. so pls do not follow the sign, just go on the flyover and enjoy the pleasure of by passing the kanpur city, when the flyover ends , take a u turn come to rama devi gol chakkar, take a right turn , and head towards lucknow.
rest if any one wants to ask anything specific , can ask me sinha_saurabh@yahoo.com
September 20th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Thanks Saurabh,
can some one pl put some light on the rout Meerut - Bulandshahar - Aligarh - Agra…. how r the road n traffic conditions at this stretch and generally how much time does it take…. espically in the rains..like we have now in delhi and around?????
September 25th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Really, I found all the post very good and it will really help who are going to drive between Delhi and Lucknow. I’m planning to go around Mid of October and this contents have really helped me a lot. Thanks to Aditya for starting this post and after that , a series of comments flooded on this web site. I thank to all for putting valauble information regarding Delhi-Lko trip. Once I come back, I will share my experiences.
Thanks A Ton to Everybody
September 29th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Hi,
Can anybody plz tell me the location of CNG Gas stations on the way of Delhi-Mathura-Agra-Faridabad-kanpur-Lucknow?
If anybody can provide me, then,this information will help me a lot…
Thanks in Advance..
October 9th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Hi
Let me congratulate the team at Ghumakker for a great initiative and all the members for their contributions.
I could connect straight away with the intent of your site - i take road trips as and when i can; and it always helps to get personal & genuine advice from fellow travellers.
My trip to lucknow thru NH24 (Sun 5th Oct 08) left me shocked. I had travelled on this road last year but the roads were much better then. the hapur-moradabad & sitapur- lucknow sections this time were bad esp the latter—- which is devastated after the monsoons. i took 12 hrs to reach lko!!!!
I am starting tom (Fri, 10 Oct) on my return journey with family which includes an aged mom and a 2 yr old kid.
Pl suggest which is a better route - NH2 or NH91 - esp after the rains?? what is the distance to delhi on each route?
Thanks in advance and Dussehra greetings
October 9th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Thanks Satyadeep.
Lucknow - Kanpur - Eatwah - Agra (NH2) - Aligarh - Bulandsahar - Hapur would come out to be 530 - 550 KM odd. I can vouch for the road till Agra, beyond that I would assume that it may not be the best but I heard that its good-enough.
After Agra, you can choose to remain on NH2 and drive till Delhi. At Ashram Chowk in Delhi, turn right and then turn right again at ‘Nizamuddin Mode’, you would get on to NH24. The roads all through this is cream. But it would add at least 60 odd KM to your total count.
I would suggest that you be on NH2 till Agra and then go via Aligarh. If you start early enough you can reach Agra in 6 hours, leaving you with enough of Day light time to venture through Aligarh-Bulandsahar.
Apart from distance, the other downside of coming Via Delhi is that you would get into traffic and it would take a while to get out of Delhi.
Whatever route you take, please come back here and update on your experience.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Hey, I am planning to drive down to Kanpur from Gurgaon, kindly give me the direction (the major milestone) and also wether to take the NH2 or NH24.
Thanks,
Ram
October 15th, 2008 at 5:11 am
Ram - Take NH2. Direction are very simple, just be on NH2. Probably you would need to take Faridabad-Gurgaon road to get on to NH2, after that just keep driving.
When you take the trip, please come back and update the road condition and your overall experience here.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:38 am
Diwali time and did not got reservation done. So planning to drive to Lucknow from Delhi (Karol Bagh). Some suggested me to take Muradabad- Sitapur route as it is shorter. I am new to driving on highways kindly suggest… Delhi- Agra- Ethwah-Kanpur route will be better in terms of driving comfort and distance or the other one.
Kindly update soon as i have to leave coming saturday morning…
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:36 am
Hi Adarsh,
I suggest you NH-2 i.e. Delhi- Agra- Ethwah-Kanpur route which is better in terms of road conditions
yes it is not short and around 50km longer route than the other one but more peace of mind because of 4 lanes with divider throughout the route.
I am also leaving for LKO on Saturday from Noida on same route.
Do share your views here about the road after your trip and let other people take benefit of it. Thanks.
Happy Diwali!
October 24th, 2008 at 5:11 am
I am going to Lucknow from Noida Sector-50 with family on 24th Oct(saturday) morning at 5:30AM. I plan to go via NH-91. I am planning to not over speed. Has anyone any experience via this route. Recently some people drove from Barielly to Lucknow and they reported the road condition is not good so I dnot plan via NH-24.
NH-2 is approximately 50 Kms longer if starting point is Noida. I want to know if NH-91 is safe and has good road conditions.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:19 am
In above update I plan to travel on 25th Oct(saturday)
October 24th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Aditya, Rohit I feel good as I am going to have some decent company(and decent traffic, going by the number of roadies planning ot leave tommorrow) as I am also planning to leave 25th morning via NH-2 the fourlaned great, from Inirapuram for LKO.
Except that I cancelled confirmed reservation in LKO mail for this one.
I am at 10371558, prefixing 98
October 25th, 2008 at 5:40 am
I think the time has come to get those back-glass ghumakkar car screens so that when you find one, you know that its one of us.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Yes Nandan, That would be a good idea.
Now reporting from my yesterday’s drive, we started at 4:30am from Indirapuram, were at agra at 7:30. Stopped at a relative’s place by the highway itself and started off again at about 8:45. Did not have to encounter much traffic in Agra, though witnessed a pile up at the Yamuna Bridge, as a huge crowd had gathered on both the bridges to see a ghastly site of a few bodies on the bed of river below, as informed by a bystander.
At Tundla a bridge is being constructed so only one carriageways was available. At Ferozabad also traffic was challenging due to opposite side travel-a practice prevalent almost throughout which keeps you alert and awake on otherwise a challenge-free road.
The road between Sikandara(about 70km from Kanpur) and Kanpur has been rendered almost in its entirety single carriage as the delhi bound carriageway is under repair/hold in many stretches. In such situations only the toll tax pinches.
This is really a dangerous proposition that on a double carriage highway you are subject to be shocked by an oncoming vehicle from opposite direction.
And those bikers/cyclewallas are so careless while coming into the oncoming traffic in the fast lane(inner one), why can’t they just use the outermost lane, if they have to be lazy and rulebreakers.
And here comes the clincher-the Kanpur Bypass ‘flyway’(or is it Allahabad bypass?). About 25 stones ahead of Kanpur, there was signal for Lucknow bound vehicles to take the slip road on left and the Allahabad bound to go straight. We did the latter as per the advice of Ratandeep and remained anxious through the 30 km flight above Kanpur, though eventually we found the curves as seen in Google earth and the railway bridge before Ramadevi chowk and that is when we were reassured that what we had done was right and in a short distance we will get the exit from the flyway to come back to Ramadevi chowk, but, just that the end of the flyway was another five km from the Ramadevi turn. It was some feeling flying over the mad traffic of Kanpur at speeds of expressway and the toping was that we encountered zero vehilces in our side of the flyway except for a couple of broken down ones, the sight that reassured us that the flyway is after all in operation. If you are still wondering why there was no traffic on the flyway, let me tell that it has no exit or entry points in between its ends.
We were in Kanpur at about 1:30pm. We had stopped at a trucker dhaba for lunch just ahead of Auraiya.
We eventually reached LKO at about 4:30pm. I had put a MPS limit of 85kmph.
If any one has used the Lucknow slip road please update.
anyone Q251?
November 1st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Hi,
I travelled to Lucknow from Noida via NH-24 on 25th, October . I left at 4:00 a.m. in the morning and managed to reached Lucknow (Gomti Nagar) at 8:15 p.m. only. The traffic and the roads were bad. I was stuck in traffic jams thrice which wasted almost 4 hrs.
The drive from Noida to Moradabad was good. However, things were bad from the Moradabad bypass onwards. Traffic jams stretching upto 10-12 kms delayed us and at times we managed to travel 5-8 kms in an hr.
The stretch from Sitapur was also not very good to drive due to the widening of roads.
I returned from Lucknow to Noida today (November 01, 2008) via the Kanpur-Agra route. I did not regret the decision to take this route even though it is longer than the NH-24 route. I left at 4:00 a.m. and reached Noida at 1:30 p.m.
As advised by people earlier, one should be careful of traffic coming from the opposite side. Throughout the journey, I noticed bikes, tractors, coming from the opposite side in the wrong lanes.
Apart from these problems, the route is excellent. I usually travel to Lucknow by train and this was the first time I travelled to Lucknow by road and I am seriously considering driving to Lucknow in future as I found this to be a good alternative.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:55 am
How long is the drive from Lucknow to Makanpur. I have been told to take the “KANNAUJ high way. Before 15 Kms there is a way which is known as ‘AROL MAKANPUR’. AROL is the Railway station name and makanpur is 3 Kms inside AROL”
November 6th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Hi,
After reading all 79 comments of frnds now I had made up my mind to travel to Lucknow from Vaishali (GZB) through NH-2. Thanks to aditya, nandan, ratandeep I am totally convinced of following this route. Earlier I was travelling through NH 24. I will be starting at 5.00 in morning on 26 Nov 2008 and hope to reach lucknow by 2 PM.
Can anybody tell me whether santro car is good for a ride. Is hiring a driver necessary.
This is not my first ride on highways. I had travelled many times from delhi to agra. But delhi to lucknow is first time. I had also travelled to delhi-ghaziabad-merrut-roorkee-rishikesh-hardwar-dehradoon-musoorie route by car.
Will share my experience on a different post.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Santro is a good car. All the best. Hope to hear back soon on your experience. Probably this group is responsible for increasing the road-traffic between Delhi-LKO. :)
November 11th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Well I too had travelled through this route on 25 Oct /6th Nov and found good for travel.
All other same latest updates in this route
1. In Kanpur chakeri-bhawati bypass is operational so one can cross kanpur in just 15+10 minutes. Confirm its entry point from Ramadevi square while comming from kanpur to delhi.
2. Etawah bypass is operational so it also make journey time less.
3. Total route is now four lane hi speed type with five toll gates costing you 200 bugs but is worth paying if one can compare with situation earlier
“BEWARE OF OPPOSITE SIDE TRAFFIC COMMING IN WRONG LANE IT COULD BE . . .”
and be aware that you can get this type of traffic too. check the milestone.
..
November 12th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Thanks karunesh for the latest update. I am more than happy to hear that Etawah and Kanpur bypass has opened.
Is there any good eating point between etawah and kanpur.
Also please tell me whether u drove yourself or hired a driver.
Is the journey tiring?
what should be the ideal speed limit.
November 20th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I am planning to travel from indirapuram to kanpur on 22nd Nov and by looking at the comments it seems that it will not take more than 7-8 hr to reach there.
Will update you all about the current road condition when be back on 25th Nov