My intention behind writing road-reviews have been to provide necessary information to fellow travelers (read drivers) who wish to undertake that journey. With that thought, probably New Delhi to Patna by road, doesn’t make the cut, since not many would be traveling (read driving) such a long stretch. Patna is not a hot tourist place and neither is it close enough to let people choose the tar instead of routine rail or expensive air. So the only real reason I think would be then to use this is to get and feel high, since I did it, just the last week. I drove all the way to Darbhanga (200 Km further to Patna) from Delhi. May be 10 years down the line when I read this again, I would feel young (and stupid), so here it is Delhi Patna Road Review.
Delhi – Patna can be divided into following stretches.
Delhi to Patna Distance – 1050 – 1100 KMs , Time – 32 hours with a 12 hour night stop at Allahabad or Banaras. 20-22 hours non-stop with 2 meal breaks and 2 tea breaks.
1. Delhi – Agra – Etawah
2. Etawah – Kanpur
3. Kanpur – Allahabad
4. Allahabad – Banaras
5. Banaras – Patna
Delhi to Patna Road Map
1. Delhi – Agra – Etawah Distance
Distance – 320 KM , Time – 5 hours including a 20 minutes stop at McDonalds, Mathura.
You need to get on NH2 which is more popularly known as Mathura Road. The road exits Delhi from the south so depending upon your point of stay in Delhi, you need to plan an early exit. Ask for ‘Ashram’, its on Ring Road, and then take Mathura Road. Stick to it and cross Badarpur on the way. Badarpur has the reputation of snarling traffic so try to cross that before 6 AM else you would lose some precious time. Keep going straight and cross Palwal. The quality of the road is fantastic and you can easily clock an avg of 65-70 an hour. The traffic would slow down at Kosi trade tax barrier. Again, if you can get past Badarpur by 6, you would be able to avoid this mini-jam. The directions are a no brainer since it’s the same NH2 all the way till Banaras (or Mohania to be precise). Apart from the good tar, there is nothing else great to look at so have some good music and conversation within the cabin. As you approach Mathura, look for that huge M sign of McDonalds. It’s the only decent place to stop for a quick grab but be alert on the time spent as it can eat your valuable minutes without anyone realizing it. Also, if you are leaving early, then its a good stop to relieve yourself and get some clean-hot snacks to fill your belly.
The above pic is from Aditya’s post on Delhi-Agra-Kanpur, which now seems like the most reliable and detailed post on internet. I was so busy driving that I actually missed it.
As you cross Mathura, you would shortly get into Agra madness. Keep your patience and drive safe. There is a lot of petty traffic and some of it can get aggressive very easily so resist your set-the-world-right temptations and allow the wrong-side traffic to carry on with this business-es. If you are not very un-lucky, it should not take lot of time, 30 minutes to cross Agra. If you care and have time, then you can stop for few minutes and watch Sikandra fort. Its right there on the road, on the left.
Once you are out of Agra, the road gets a little better and traffic reduces. Press the pedal and hit Firozabad. This is the first city (after Agra) where you would start to feel the Mughal Era. Some of the old buildings could be still seen, the city is known for its bangles and glass work. There are these big tempting bangles showrooms which you need to pass quickly else a female fellow traveler’s urge makes you stop. After Firozabad, you have Shikohabad and finally Etawah. The roads are really good and you should be able to do an average of 65 (if not 70). This road falls under ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ and NHAI is currently finishing the road in Etawah, so you would need to take a detour. It should be done shortly, most of it is done.
2. Etawah – Kanpur
Distance – 150 KM. Time – 2 hours non-stop
In this stretch you do nothing but just drive quick. Very sparse in terms of traffic and the road is new. The only but very critical and important thing which you need to be aware is that you would find oncoming traffic on the wrong side of road at full speed. It’s a double road so while you think that you can drive at 100 KMph on the right lane of the left road, in practice you can’t do that. This is something which you will see for almost rest of NH2, more when you get out of big cities and are in vicinity of small towns. There is no point in spoiling your drive by getting into the blame game so as I said before, resist the temptation of setting-the-world-right and give these guys their way and forget about it. Since the visibility is good because of no distractions like polls, posters, hoardings, trees, road being straight, it’s not too difficult to spot these wrong-side-right-fellas so just let them go. You can actually do this stretch in less than 2 hours.
3. Kanpur – Allahabad
Distance – 200 KM, Time – 4 hours since the by-pass is not yet done
Most of the road within the Kanpur city is an elevated road, so that takes you away from city traffic. You need to keep on NH2 and should not be taking any left exits, which go to the city. The landscape (and the social-scape) would now begin to change. We are now starting to get into Eastern UP and as you travel more towards East, the poverty would start to hit you. It’s not very visible since you are still on a big-side road but as your cross small towns, you would start to see it. The shops in these towns are more like the assembled contraption of wood-and-aluminium (from vanaspati ghee tins) and it’s not un-common to find small kids relieving themselves in open along the road.
The road is all the same, quick and clean with very minimum traffic. About 60 Km after Kanpur, look for a big BP petrol pump on your right, its in Malwa and is a COCO (Company Owned Company Operated). Its time to re-fuel (assuming that you started with a full-tank) and get some fresh air. There is a small tea shop where you can have tea and snacks. There are swings and some green area to relax. Loos are clean though not too great. It seemed like a nice-clean and big place to have some quick bites and get enough energy to hit Prayag, the Sangam city.
Allahabad is about 140 KM from this place, you would pass many small towns and finally you would reach a point, from where it appeared to me that NH2 is making a by-pass. Its not yet ready and didn’t seem like it would be done shortly. In any case, we had decided to stay put in Allahabad (a quick story on that later) so we went in. You would pass a town called Lukarganj. The road suddenly gets narrow and some of the stetches are actually stone-paved, with so much of petty traffic and narrow-potholed roads because of rain, you wonder whether you would ever make it to Prayag. Sustain all that and find a good place to stay. I stayed at Kanha Shyam which I think is incorrectly rated (high) and has lived its life. I looked at Map and it shows a by-pass kind of thing. Anyway.
4. Allahabad – Banaras
Distance – 120 KMs, Time – 2.5 Hours (if you are coming from city, once by-pass is there, it would be less than 2 hours)
I think I started to write about the social side but didn’t elaborate much. Now you are in true Eastern UP. While the quality of the roads remain same, the infrastructure seems to have taken a beating. The houses wont have plasters on the outer walls in small towns, the shops have no spank and the landscape looks more rural. There are less tractors in the fields and there are more people with bare chests and worn-out dhotis. Even though it would look more like apna-desh, it may not be necessarily pleasant. Almost everyone would be chewing pan or a gutkha, from toll man to rick puller to khaki clad police wallahs. There is definitely much less rush and there is more time per transaction but it can get a little depressing at times, especially for spoil-ed metropolitans. I noticed more of this since I stayed at Prayag and had to really pass through couple of small towns. I think one of them was Hanuman-Ganj (what a hindu-muslim solidarity name of a place, hanuman and ganj) but most of you would avoid this if you don’t chose to stay at Allahabad.
Anyway, I would come back and rather focus on road, since we have a long way to go. We stayed at Banaras but if you don’t then that’s much better since Banaras is not on NH2. You spend a lot of time going in the city and coming out (that has its own charm but can be avoided at least in one of the to or fro trip).
5. Banaras – Patna
Distance – 250 KM, Time – 5 hours
Eastern UP is gradually getting over. While you can survive the chaos and sheer variety of Banaras by being more patient, we were preparing ourselves to enter Bihar which over time has lost its reputation of being a hub of culture-education and power. Since we were in the city, we headed towards Mughal Sarai to get to other side of Ganga. Mughal Sarai used to be a big hub for Indian Railways at one point of time, it even is today, to a great extent but development over time has acted as a great leveler, and for the same reasons it’s fairly big and the urban sprawl goes on for a while. I still remember the times, when the loco of our train would be changed, from Diesel to Electric or vice-versa, depending upon which side you are going to. Banaras and Mughalsarai is divided by a bridge. After crossing Mughalsarai, we joined NH2 and it was again 6 lane high-speed drive till Mohania.
From Mohania, you can either go all the way down to Kolkata or take a left to reach Patna via Ara. As we took the left, the landscape suddenly changed. From a double road highway, we were on a single two lane road but very well tar-red. On both sides we had long stretches of fields. Since it was June, the rice has not yet made in and there was nothing on the fields at most of the places.
I realize that a lot of people are not reading the comments. Well things change so do read the comments for latest. As of now, do NOT take the exit at Mohania, instead go a little further till Sasarem and then head towards Ara. Mohania-Ara is being re-built from the scratch so hopefully when its done it would be a breeze but till then, go via Sasarem.
We crossed numerous small towns on the way, we were able to get past quick because there was hardly any traffic. The occasional bus or even less occasional tractor was what we needed to maneuver. We drove past Buxar (remember the battle of Buxar) and were heading to one of the big political and historical marvels of all times. This part of Bihar is a little better-off in terms of overall development, employment, money, at least till Ara. The distance of 150 KM from Mohania to Ara was spent in less than 3 hours. We had not planned to break till Patna so we kept going.
At Ara, we had a one hour stop at a railway crossing. As many as five trains passed while the barriers were down. This simply killed the good time we had saved but anyway. From Ara, the road quality takes a hit, especially as you reach Danapur, even though Danapur is a cantonment area.
One interesting ride which I should share with all of you is this real long road bridge, after Arrah. As we were approaching the bridge, we noticed that the traffic has gradually started to drift towards right and there is this serpentine line which seemed to be heading at some barrier. We suspected a railway crossing, being ignorant we kept on our left and after passing all the waiting trucks (which were now on our right), we discovered that there is this long road/rail bridge. So we reached to the head of the queue, may be the make of the car did it or what, we were not looked at with contempt by the few police-men who were controlling the entry to the bridge. After a while, we were asked to move in and boy what a view. Try to imagine a narrow real long straight bridge which is double-decker, since the rail bridge is on first floor, is old, the color if the iron has gone rust-colored, you look down and you see Ganga and there are not many cars in front, infact none for us. The bridge is so long that you can’t see the other end and I didn’t meter it but it must be more than a KM. If someone from that area is reading this then we would really benefit from some more details. It was one damn different experience.
Ok, So it’s already past noon. Enter Danapur, remember to take a right (so keep asking) else you would get into something which you would regret (we almost did). Get off Danapur and you are at Patna. You are still at the out-skirt but you could sense that this once has been one of the greatest cities of all times, the patliputra, a city which has seen the only golden era of Indian History. So much for drive and for the adrenaline, we were finally there.
I was to drive beyond Patna (200 KMs further towards North) but I would save you further fatigue. Its been a really really long journey. We crossed the longest bridge on Ganga (5 odd KM), Mahatma Gandhi Setu, which was not in a good condition. Some pics before I close.
Mahatma Gandhi Setu
Keep going
We could see the mammoth Ganga in its full glory and as we looked up, the astonishing skyscape was even more grand. Being humbled by both, we clicked some pics, thanked our stars , while still driving and carried on.
Hello Nandan,
It’s me Ashish again. i enquired you about my proposed plan to visit Ranchi from delhi. Last weekend was long weekends becuase of Ramnavmi falling on friday. So i alongwith 2 frinds went to Rishikesh. I went to Rishikesh from Delhi via Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Haridwar. We left delhi at 5:45 am and reached Rishikesh by 1:00 pm. I found very less traffic at that time. We had taken small breaks in between for tea/coffee. The road was preety ok. On the way back we left Rishikesh at 10:00 am and reached Delhi at 8:30 pm (with 1/2 hr break at haridwar) because of heavy traffic jams at Meerut, Ghaziabad, Modinagar. In nutshell i covered 260 Kms distance in 10 hrs 30mins because of this pathetic traffic situation. As you know that i am planning to go to Ranchi by road and now i am bit tensed. Just want to know is the traffic situation is same on NH2 as well as it was on way to from rishikesh to Delhi. Though i realsied that my timing was wrong to leave from Rishikesh as it was peak traffic time. I am quite exicted to go ranchi by car and i don’t want to cancel my trip. It would be great if you can give few tips for my trip which will make my journey comfortable and hassle free. My target it to stay night at varanasi which is around 800 kms fromd Delhi.
Hi Ashish,
If you leave Delhi by 4.30 ish then you can make it to Varanasi before it gets too dark. Delhi-Allahabad is very quick. I guess Allahabad bypass is not yet done so you would have to go through the city and that would eat time.
Varanasi is not on NH2, you have to leave NH2 and depending upon your hotel it might take more time.
But its doable :). All the best.
as per google map the road in front of varanasi railway station is NH2.the road continues to malaviya bridge and to mughal serai.pls comment.
Hi Nandan
Very nice to read your travelogue and thanks for the info. I am from Ara (Arrah). The road/rail bridge you encountered after Ara (~14 kms) is very famous and a historical landmark. The bridge is on the river “Sone” on Delhi-Patna-Kolkata mainline, the delhi side of the bridge coincides with the Koilwar railway station. The bridge was constructed by British in 1900 (most prob. first road/rail bridge in india) and spans ~1.6 km. It is simply amazing that the bridge is still serving , a remarkable feat by the British engineers.
The bridge is now named after Abdul Bari (no idea if British had any name for it) , a freedom fighter/politician from the region. You can see a famous footage of the bridge in the film Gandhi.
The long serpentine queue you encountered is unfortunately a regular feature. Although the bridge has two lanes, some precautions are maintained considering old age. Heavy vehicles, consisting a large number of trucks transporting sand mined from the Sone river bed, are allowed to go only in some sort of queue. As the bridge also serve as border between Ara and Patna district, a police check post (in their zeal to check and collect legal and illegal revenues) makes the condition worst.
Thats all! And once again thanks for the nice review.
Thanks Suprit. Your comment made me remember it again. Going through that bridge really felt like traveling in time. May be thats the beauty of travel :)
I am a great fan of ‘Gandhi’ film, when I get to see it next time, I would try to find the bridge.
As I write this, I am getting tempted to take the car out and do it all over again.
Hi Nandan,
We meet on many occasions at Kidzee, Noida but never knew about your passion for extensive travel and motoring. Anyway ghumakkar has disclosed our common traits.
I really wonder and feel happy to see people driving through roads in eastern belt with praises. I remember my first self driven car journey around 11 years back (1998). I drove from Purnea (Northern dist in Bihar) to Ramgarh (now in Jharkhand) on Nh31/Nh33 a distance of 500 Kms in 15 hrs (0600 to 2100 hrs) in my dads 800; pathetic avg of 35 km/hr.
Once the east-west corridor is completed (Nh28 and 57), next summer I am planning to motor up to Purnea (my home town) from Delhi about 1300 kms one way. I guess east west corridor will be remarkably faster compare to route Delhi-Patna-Purnea route.
Do make ghumakkars feel on road with your descriptive narration.
Tanays father!
Thanks Mr. Singh. What a pleasant surprise to find you here. :-)
On my way back, I took East-West (Darbhanga – Muzaffarpur – Gorakhpur – Barabanki) and then I hopped on to NH24. Once the whole thing is done, Delhi – Purnea should be easily doable with a night halt (to avoid night driving).
Great to see you at Ghumakkar.
Thanks Nandan. I am also at Indirapuram and would be leaving for Purnea my hometown on 27th May. I will be traveling further to Gangtok before heading back.
I was wondering if Golden quadrilateral till Banaras and then further patna to Purnea would be better or North East corridor. I have my doubts that kosi might have eaten up roads previous year.
I am planning a halt at Patna or Banaras, though my first preference would be Patna.
You have put an excellent travelogue.
regards
Rahul
I am planning to go to siliguri from patna .Which road should i take . I would also appreciate comments on roads .And in this climate and condition spl. after Alia it is safe to visit Darjeeling ?
I would appreciate comments about road quality from Patna to Siliguri And whether its safe after Alia to go to Darjeeling?
The double decker bridge is not on Ganga.
It is rather on river Son and is called Koilvar Bridge.
:P
Do not take East West Corridor. too much of work still going on. Is shorter by approx 200 kms but it is crazy.
After Patna the road are bad till you cross Naughachia. Bihar has changed. It was the best place and most beautiful place in the entire route…
thanks for posting the real experiences of delhi-patna….
i m also planning to go patna by Maruti swift…
cud u share few tips/advise to be taken before planning, during journey, and all the way till one is back to delhi….??
amitshankar
amit77shankar@gmail.com
Amit – If you have specific queries then that would help to give you a better answer.
General tips
1. Be careful about traffic coming from opposite direction.
2. Be cool and stay away from road rage. Even if you get into a situation where you are not at fault, try to get out of it. Its not worth it.
3. Avoid driving in nights, more for road safety reasons then security issues.
And enjoy the drive, not sure who all are accompanying you but its really bliss to be in a captive company of family-n-friends for these large distance.
All the best.
Dear Nandan
it was nice following your path till dharbhanga i am from your place only kindly let me know the road condition via lucknow to samastipur we are in the mood of trying this.
help required………….
Hi.. all ….
I am thinking to go delhi-patna this diwali by road….I wanted to know about the road conditions and the best route???Can i cover it in one day….me and my father will drive….both us fairly new in driving…will it be safe???Pl help
Pranshu – Best route is Delhi – Agra – Etawah- Kanpur – Allahabad – Mohania (so far its all NH2). From Mohania you take a left and then drive towards Ara and then Patna.
I wont suggest that you do it one day. Break your journey at Allahabad. Take a good night’s rest. Start for Patna after a good heavy early breakfast after visiting Anand Bhawan . You should be able to reach Patna for a late lunch.
DEAR NANDAN,
DURING MY RECENT VISIT FROM DELHI TO PATNA I WITH MY FAMILY ENJOYED THE RIDE BY WAGON R.THANKS A LOT FOR UR STORY.
SINCE I USED THE ROAD RECENTLY I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT THE ROAD IS LITERALLY SUPERB TILL MOHANIA AFTER THAT BUMPY RIDE(SPEED 30-40KM/HR) FOR APPROXIMATELY 55-60KM .ONCE U CROSS ROHTAS DISTRICT THE ROAD AGAIN BECOME VERY GOOD DUE TO MR. NITISH KUMAR’S EFFORT.DEFINITELY TRAFFIC FROM OPPOSITE DIRECTION MAKES UR SPEED SLOWER.
THANKS A LOT……….
KEEP EXPLORING……
KEEP UPDATING……..
KEEP INFORMING….
THANKS A LOT.
SANJAY K THAKUR
SARISAB-PAHI
MADHUBANI
Glad that this review was helpful to you. Reading ‘Sarisab-Pahi’ makes me nostalgic , can’t forget the singaras and ram…. (I forget the name of the sweet) …… I am already itching to go down all the way again.
hi nandan
i am planning to visit patna by road. i found that all the bypasses are already made by nhai now what you think how much time will take to to visit there esp. if i have a car like honda city.
Himanshu – 16-18 hours total time. I would suggest that you break for a halt around Mohania, get some good sleep and reach Patna for an early lunch next day.
thanx nandan thank u very much
Thanks for the info till Patna.
I am planning from Jaipur to Darjeeling in May…I guess there are 3 routes. 1. Jaipur-Varanasi-Calcutta-Siliguri-Darjeeling…
2. Jaipur-Varanasi-Patna-Muzzafarpur-purnea-Kishanganj-Siliguir-Darjeeling…
3Jaipur-Varanasi-darjeeling More-durgapur-siliguri
Would request to pls suggest which one would be the best, How are the road conditions post patna if I opt for route-2…I guess NH57 (East west corridor) work is ongoing.
And what are major irritants and dangers on this track
Regards
Hemant – Take 1. 1 is still being done while 2 has been around for a while. I am not updated about 3.
If you do take 2, then roads till 250 KM ahead of Patna are fine. “East West corridor’ only starts from Muzzafarpur (its coming from Gorakhpur) and from what I have heard after you cross ‘Darbhanga’, things are still being done. I am guessing that roads beyond Purnea would be ok.
On the other hand, Varanasi Kolkata is a marvelous road.
Thanks Nandan. However is the route 2 safe, just in case I decide on this…any precautions I need to take since I have heard that post sun set the route is not safe…Also I heard that this route ws badly damaged during Kosi flood…wht is the situation now…
Rgds
Hemant – Whatever little I know of this route, I dont think its done yet. I am not sure about safety. In general its not a great idea to drive in these hinterlands in night.
Thanks…I will prefer to go by your advice and will take route-1.
Rgds
Hi Nandan,
Its really been a pleasure reading the entire mail trail. Starting from your review till the last message. I am travelling down to patna this may to get my Santro from patna. I will be coming with my parents. I do not want to take a halt at any point. What do you say? Can I make it in a day if I start my journey early in the morning at/around 6. I have reasonably a decent driving skill, Do I still need an assistant driver?? Please advise..And also, there is a route from patna to aurangabad to varanasi..How about it.any idea?? If you suggest I can take Mohania wala route only..
Thanks in advance, Your input is highly appreciable.
Hi Sameer – Thanks for liking the story.
I am not sure on your past experience around taking long drives (500KM +) so let me be more towards caution.
1. I would suggest that you take Mohania route.
2. Start early, say by 4.30 or 5.00.
3. Do not take too many breaks, drive steady.
4. When you cross Allahabad by-pass, look at time. If you still have 4-5 hours of sun light and enough energy, then keep driving and re-assess the situation at Agra. If you do not have, then in my opinion, take a break at Kanpur.
All the best.
Thanks a ton
I would certainly go as suggested by you, however I have been to jim corbett, Nainital, Chandigarh and few more places driving standalone. Still, Patna-Delhi strech is too much even for people who are professional drivers.
I also went through the email that you sent and its really helpful. I think with some more practice, I can start writing. I would still bother you as an when required. Please bear with me.
And yes, I read Vibha’s blog where she has guided how to upload your photo. I did the same but cant see it displaying on the page. Not sure if it requires scrutiny by the editors.
Sameerkumarsharma
Dear Ashish, Would be interest in the details of Delhi – Ranchi which I plan to undertake in Oct (Dussera & Diwali). Please do post abt the VNS to RNC road conditions as I have done DEL-ALLDand am aware abt the rd conditions. On the good friday weekend we were had gone to Rishikesh it took us 13 hrs either way due to the same jams you spoke about. But going to Ranchi is a dream hopefully you’ll provide with the key intel for planning my trip.
i’m editor of a literary magazine The Milestone. I like your travelogue and want to publish it on my literary magazine. Please let me know if you wish it.
regards,
Koushik.
Name of the bridge is Koilwar bridge and river is not Ganga. Its Sone.
Dear Aashish,
This may be a bit off topic, but i am planning a BIKE TRIP on my Royal Enfield..
Would love to hear your feedback, as i believe you are familiar with the roads in and around Bihar.
My tentative plan is as follows:
Bangalore to Ara (near Patna) Ara is my home town.
Ara to Bhagalpur ( to meet relatives)
Bhagalpur to Jamshedpur ( to meet sister)
Jamshedpur to Calcutta ( to meet in laws)
Paln to send the bike by Train from Calcutta to Bangalore.
I have done quite a few long haul Bike trips around the south of India. This would be the first time that i am attempting a ride backhome from Bangalore. I am not too familiar with the conditions around MP, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand. Also i would be traveling alone.
DO let me know your thoughts on the following:
* best route possible.
* the road conditions
* safety wrt to travelling alone on bike in the bihar jharkhand region?
* Dos and Donts
* any other considerations??
Thanks in advance.
Hi, Any feedback on road from Patna to Bhagalpur?
Nasir – I am really sorry, I wont have much details of these routes. I am feeling bad for not being able to help since you took all the effort of writing, let me wish you a great trip instead.
I would suggest that you post the above query at our facebook page. I am sure there would be people from this part of India there, who could possibly help.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwghumakkarcom/176758507906
Thanks Nandan..
Shall post it on FB as suggested and see if someone could help with insights. :)
Hi everyone,
I am manish kumar a lawyer by profession practicing at Delhi. I also do lot of travelling by road. my first visit to bhagalpur via patna was by a fiat car in 2001. I did delhi-allahabad in 14 hours non-stop.
but between Mohania to patna was very painful.
I recenlty (14th May) visited bagdogra airport (near siliguri) from patna, the road condition is excellent. For those who wants to do dargeeling from delhi. the road condition from patna to siliguri is excellent except 10-15 kms stretch near pasraha near bihpur. it takes 2 -3 hours to reach purnea from pasraha. Execept that bridge on kosi river near kursaila the overall road condition is ok. from purnea you again hit golden quadilateral and it takes just two hours drive from purnea to reach siliguri. You can drive between 70-80kmph.
From siliguri to dargeeling as well as siliguri to gangtok the road condition is ok. I had visited both dargeeling and gangtok last year.
After one hour drive from purnea you will have on both your sides lovely tea gardens and you will be tempted to stop and take photograhs. You will also find pinapple cultivated both sides. Do stop for fresh pineapple fresh juice which is at a very less price available on both sides of the highway. On way to Siliguri you can stop at Islampur and can get good snacks and sweets.
My best wishes to friends travelling on this route.
Last but not leat nandan its a great way to unite us. My nanihal is at Darbhanga at Mishratola.
bye
Manish – Glad to hear from you. It might be worthwhile to write a separate review for ‘Patna to Darjeeling/Gangtok’.
hi nanadan,
I am need of some help,that how can i go gurgaon to madhubani by bike,so please kindly give me some instructions that which route will helpfull fo me
Hello Vicky – You can take the same route as in this post.
Last Year 2009 (26th May), i went to patna with my brothers with my own car. It was really a excelled adventure journey for me. From Delhi I started my journey at 11.30pm & reached Panta on 27th May around 5.00pm. Around 6.00 am we crossed Kanpur & at 9.00 am we were in Allahabad.
Driving speed in night was around 110 to 120 km/hr.
Hi Nandan,
I went through the same route till Janakpur via my village Hissar Deorhi in 2008. That time I was looking for some help regarding the route on google and incidentally I was routed to Ghummkar and since then I am the fan of Ghummkar. I have been to different places by road and have made lots of road trips across country from New Delhi (Delhi Cantt). I am planning to share all my trips with fellow Ghummakkars but life of a Software Engineer gives hardly any time to write…..but some day I would definitely post my Road Reviews.
Thanks & Regards,
Roshan Pratihast
Roshan – Glad to hear :-)
If you are able to find time for those long road trips, try to steal some time for writing them as well :-) please. Its very rewarding when someone reads your stuff and comments. It would be worth it, try please.
Hello Nandan,
Greetings
I am planning to drive in my Esteem1995 from Gurgaon to Patna on the 13th of Oct 2010. Have driven earlier in my Fiat 1100 D 1967 model from Cuttack to Delhi. The road was not as good as described by you but still good by those days standards. Any one driven on Delhi-Patna route recently can update me.
Thanks a ton.
Shiva
I am also planning a trip from Gurgaon to Bhagalpur on 8th, as per feedback from my friends in Bihar, Road till Patna is MAKKHAN :) ( Use allahabad bypass which is ready now) but not sure about Patna to Bhagalpur condition….
I travelled Gurgaon – Agra ( Via Sohna Road) – Allahabad – Mohania – Patna – Barauni- Khagaria-Bhagalpur-Mahgama and while returning i have taken NH 31 from Bhakhtiyarpur – Bihar Sharif -Jhumari Tillaya touching NH2 at Barhi instead for Patna Mohania road..
Entire trip was excellent with very good road condition including Bihar roads across…. highly impressed with Road development in Bihar… Mohania – Patna – Bhagalpur road is single but good condition except few patch and sudden bump on the road… and NH 31 was excellent till Barhi and then NH2 till Palwal..but this one is little longer route but excellent single wide road …
Just need to careful when driving at above 100 and suddenly you get bad bump or small bad patch and your car is shaken :))
Highlights of the trip was Kanpur bypass ( excellent way to cross kanpur without trouble), Allahabad bypass ( touched 150Kmph), surprise to see bihar road conditiona.. you can actually go anywhere in Bihar now by road… and Agra – Allahabad in 5 hours… not bad..
and lowlights… well too crowded road till Agra ( guess everybody travel by road), Policemen at Kanpur bypass to collect TOLL :)) , Varansi bypass ( typical banarsi ) very bad road condition and JAM across… and Aarah railway crossing…and disappointment to see Jharkhand roads
we took a journey from gurgaon to purnea by sx4 on 12th june. it took us around 28 long hours to reach purnea. it would have taken around 4 hrs less if we wouldn’t have been stuck in a major traffic jam at mohania. overall it was an adventurous journey and a completely new experience. the major part of this journey was that it was a continuous drive.
We took a journey from Purnea to Gurgaon by sx4 on 23th june. it took us 25 long hours to reach Gurgaon which was 1359 Kms. Overall it was an adventurous journey and a completely new experience. The major part of this journey was that it was a continuous drive done by myself.
I started at 4:00 AM from Laxmi Nagar, Delhi and took Agra-Etawah-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi Road.
I reached Mohania at 6:00 PM with four breaks (including an one hour break before Allahabad). I had a night stay at Mohania, as local people advised not to drive after evening.
Next day, I headed f0r Darbhanga. There was a bad traffic Jam in Arrah Railway crossing, Patna, Hajipur, and Muzaffarpur. It took me 14 hours to cover 840 Kms till Mohania, and it took another 10 hours to cover only 300 Kms from Mohania to Darbhanga. The cops started troubling us in Bihar asking for some NOC paper, and certain other things I never heard about..
I am planning to go back on Monday 22 nd NOv, and I am planning to use east west corridor this time.. what say???
Delhi – Mohania from 4 AM to 6 PM is really great.
I also wasted close to 2 hours at Ara Railway crossing. Sorry to hear that it took you so long post Mohania.
Try East-West, just one word of caution. After Barabanki do not hop on to NH24 , rather drive all the way till Lucknow and then take the usual Lucknow – Kanpur – Agra – Delhi route.
all the best Kundan.
Thanks Nandan
I could not make it today, but will start early morning tomorrow. I was also trying to avoid Darbhanga-Patna Road, as Jams are common everyday here. It takes 7-8 Long hours to reach Patna from Darbhanga.
I have one question, which I forgot in my last post. How long it takes to reach Delhi Via Lucknow, and how are the roads? Is it also like NH2?
Driving on NH2 was really great, except vehicles coming from wrong side. As it was Sunday that day and too early in the morning, I found very few vehicles running on road.
Please advise … :)
Regards
Hi Kundan – When I drove, East-West Corridor was not completely done so try to get some local information once you are close to ‘Barabanki’ (this is before Lucknow). If there is more progress on East-West then you may not have to go all the way till Lucknow and you can cross over to NH2 and join it somewhere between Kanpur and Delhi.
From Lucknow, there are two connections to Delhi
1. NH24 (Lucknow, Sitapur, Rampur, Moradabad, Hapur, Ghaziabad, Delhi) – AVOID THIS
2. NH25 (Lucknow – Kanpur) and then NH2 (Kanpur – Delhi). TAKE this
Thanks once again Nandan.. how long it takes till Delhi? and where should I take a night stay?
I took a break at Gorakhpur since I wanted to spend some time at Kushinagar. I believe if you start early, say 4 AM then you can reach Lucknow before it gets too dark. That way, the next day drive would be easier/simpler.