To begin with my first post, I am expressing my sincere thanks to Nandan and team Ghumakkar for motivating me to drive this long. It has been a long time to complete this tour, but I think it will be worth writing my experience of driving to eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, to our hometown Gorakhpur.
It was October 2008 when I first visited www.ghumakkar.com, and read one of the most interesting post Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow trip. Since then my wife and I started planning to drive to Gorakhpur, keeping Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow road review as our bible for road reference. My son was about 6 months old and we knew that it is going to be difficult to manage and drive to that far, so I managed to convince one of my friend to come along. Our decision was never welcomed until we covered the journey successfully. To add, I was the only one to drive among all the passengers.
One very interesting fact about eastern UP is, most of the people don’t like to drive, especially to Gorakhpur. There have been couples of reasons with this. First, Gorakhpur is very well connected with Indian Railways (having HQ of NER), and the second reason, due to very bad road conditions.
Anyway, to make this post readable enough, I will further break my journey in two parts:
1. Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow ~550 kms (Day 1)
2. Lucknow-Gorakhpur ~300 kms (Day 2)
Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow
On one fine day of November, we started from West Delhi early morning (with wife and a 6 months old child, it surely is an early morning). It was about 5:30 AM when I started engine of my car. We were four in the cabin, me, my wife, my son, and my dear friend D. P. Crossing Badarpur in the next 45 mins was my first target, and we achieved that well within time.
We quickly reached to Mathura and then we stopped at McDonalds near Mathura refinery, as Aditya already have mentioned in his post that there is no other good place for refreshment on this road. Thanks to Aditya, and I agree with him that if you miss this place, you have to drive dry for the whole way.
We tried to leave McD early but it took us about 50 mins to start again, but thankfully we got the speed and momentum quickly. I have had a bad traffic experience earlier when I was driving to Agra, where one cycle rider took 90 degree right turn and about to come down to my car. Thank God I saved him, and us too :)
Realizing the traffic fact in the Mathura-Agra zone, I kept myself calm this time by keeping my speedometer to 60-70 kmph only. Sorry……I missed…..I managed average speed of 90-100 from Delhi till McD Mathura Refinery, as in early morning you really don’t find much traffic.
Agra bypass is not really a bypass and it is now an accepted fact. It took us sometime to get out of the city traffic and it was 10 AM. After Agra we found some broken road which took us about 15 mins to get out of that few hundred meters patch. Anyway, now we were on the right track with right momentum again. Between Agra to Etawah, it was a fantastic journey with clear road except some traffic in Firozabad, but that too didn’t take much time. As Aditya mentioned in his post about the “WORK IN PROGRESS”, it was completed by the time. Bypass near Etawah is functional now and one can drive smoothly now.
After Etawah it was even better road and I was high on driving. Obviously how often you see such wonderful road without traffic, and that too in Uttar Pradesh ….hahaha (laugh). Atmosphere in the car cabin was great. We didn’t stop in between as my intension was to quickly reach to Kanpur and have lunch there. Also, we really couldn’t find any good place to stop in between, so I kept driving. It was a wonderful experience to drive on this road with some ups and downs, made this journey memorable.
Caution: You have to be careful while driving on this road as it was mentioned in the earlier posts also, you will frequently find traffic coming from wrong side on this road.
Our journey was quite comfortable and as planned till Kanpur. We reached Kanpur by 2 PM and then faced a difficult situation. Despite of earlier readings and people’s suggestions, I thought that in Kanpur it should not be very difficult to find Kanpur-Lucknow road, and there I made a mistake. I took the bypass and didn’t come down where it was required to take left. We spent 1 hour extra to get out of the city and come to the right track, to Lucknow road. By the time it was 3PM and we realized that finding a proper restaurant for lunch is difficult. I stopped my car on Kanpur-Lucknow before Unnav road side for some quick snacks in place of lunch and we had some samosa, pakora and chai. Continued to Lucknow and we completed the patch in 1:45 hrs as there were some construction going on the road.
We planned to stay overnight to our relative’s place, as it was more like a family strategic decision and it was very much required for the trip passengers too. Though my idea was to complete the trip as quickly as possible, but as after Lucknow it was quite an unknown road route for me also, I agreed to restart the journey next day morning.
Lucknow-Gorakhpur
I knew it was never going to be so easy to drive from Lucknow to Gorakhpur, as this is probably the most densed part of the country and road is not wide enough. Work in progess for road widening was another topping added to my dring trouble. Anyway, even I tried it very hard to start early, we could start only after 7AM, and it took us 1 hr to come out from the city. I wonder polytecnic chowk is still a bottleneck for highway traffic?
It was only 30-40 kmph till we crossed Barakanki, mainly due to traffic and the two lane road does not have divider on it. It is probably the worst traffic in country, even worse than Delhi where people were trying to use all the road for overtaking. After Barabanki it was a breeze. Though you can find road widening work everywhere but because there was almost no traffic on the road we managed to maintain 70 kmph easily. Till holy city Ayodhya it was really good even with the road without traffic separator. It was 9:30 AM when we crossed Ayodhya, and by that time we had covered around 150 KMs from Lucknow. After 30 mins I stopped at a fuel pump station in Basti district for breakfast etc. I must admit here that the route has extremely good refreshment stops, which I never expected.
I instructed everyone to move quickly, but with the good food and good mood, we couldnt make it to start quickly. It took us more than 1 hr ro start again and it was 11 AM when we started again. I thought of reaching Gorakhpur in another 2 hours beacause it was only about 150 kms left. We started and we reached GIDA (Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority) area well within time frame, and then we felt the worst part of the whole trip. Before Gorakhpur, road was broken between GIDA and Gorakhpur city, and it was so bad that it took us more than 1 hr to complete 10 km road. Finally we reached Gorakhpur city by 1 PM at noon and it took us another 30-40 mins to reach home where we had our delicious lunch together with family.
I coudn’t take any photograph during my trip as I was driving whole way and thought of completing the journey as quickly as possible. Therefore I am not able to put any photo with this post. I extremely apologies and promise to write with photos going forward.
Welcome aboard Amit. Glad that Ghumakkar was of help to you.
I did Gorakhpur-Delhi last year, June end. East-West Corridor is coming up very well. I am sure things would have improved in last one year. We did one big mistakt and that was to leave Gorakhpur-Lucknow road someplace after Barabanki (something like aonta / aenta or some such name). The idea was to hop on to NH24 thus avoiding Lucknow but once I left Barabanki-LKO road, I knew what I was on.
That stretch simply drained us and took quite a time.
I guess, 2-3 years from now, once the East-West Corridor is done (EW would meet NH2 somewhere after Etawah and you avoid LKO as well as you cut on some distance), it would be pretty easy to do Delhi-Gorakhpur in one go.
I am waiting to drive again that way, since last time I just went past Ayodhya/Faizabad quickly, would want to at least make a quick stop over.
Write more.
Thanks Nandan. I read your post on Kushinagar. Though I have been to Kushinagar so many times, but never knew that much, and I was surprise after reading your post that the place has so many beautiful things.
EW corridor is going well and I expect that road to be in very good shape soon. Thanks to planning people behind that corridor.
I am planning to drive again on this road…may be again in November. Will surely write my experiences this time.
Next time when you drive, think about Magahar and Shravasti also.
I will write my experiences on the other tours also, and obviously need your comments on that too.
Many thanks again.
I simply loved the post, I am planning to travel by road to gorakhpur…on 16th….i am getting lots of push back from family but its hard to get train ticket this time and I would hate to do a break journey Delhi – LKW – GKP.
Would you be able to recommend the best route for me..or should I follow your path.
Dear Manish,
Thanks for the appreciation. I understand family reaction and push not to drive in UP roads, specially when it comes to a long drive like this.
I personally love drive to Gorakhpur than going by train atleast now. There are couple of reasons behind this: first, you dont get train ticket if you dont get it booked 2 months before, and second, even you have a ticket, you cannot avoid station rush.
If you want a driving pleasure, and stress free journey, you must choose the same path I have followed. Start early morning, eg. 5 AM, reach Kanpur by 1 PM, reach Lucknow 3 PM, dont stop if more than one person can drive, you can easily reach Gorakhpur by 8-9 PM same day. Roads are comfortable, but you dont get good food, not even water. So keep enough food and drinks in the cabin.
Enjoy your journey and please share your experience.
Best wishes.
Thanks for your reply Amit…I am sure I am going drive this time. I am the single driver, my wife and younger brother would be along with me.
Planning to take off on 16th morning, can you provide the best direction..i mean route to follow.
Dear Manish,
Take Delhi-Faridabad-Mathura-Agra-Etawa-Kanpur-Lucknow-Faizabad-Gorakhpur route. Try crossing Badarpur border before 6 AM so that you reach cross Agra by or before 9 AM. I am sure you can reach Kanpur by 1 PM and have lunch there itself. You can reach Lucknow by 4 PM and then after you can decide to move forward or night halt at Lucknow. May be to avoid fatigue, you can choose to spend a night at Lucknow, otherwise if you continue driving, you will reach Gorakhpur by 8:30 – 9:00 PM same day.
Dear Manish,
I am also planning to drive down to Gorakhpur from Delhi on 16/Sep with family. I would also like to reach GKP the same day. Where abouts in Delhi do you live? I am based in Gzb.
Rgds,
Hi All,
Thanks for your fantastic comments on your journey…Well i have also planned to visit Basti and after reading your comments i will definetly take Agra Mathura highway as i am residing at Badarpur New Delhi..I’ll definetly post my comments with pictures (the latest ones)…
Rgds,
Amit
hi friends,
Carefully read all the comments/information. i am going to basti on route i.e. agra-kanpur-lucknow-faizabad-basti with my alto in the first week of may.
Any one can guide about road direction after sikandra (just before agra). Also hardly see any post about delhik-khruja-bulandshar-badaun-kanpur route i.e. old g.t. road.
thanks & regards
Due to format issue above trip details is posted again:
FARIDABAD (DELHI) KANPUR LUCKNOW GORAKHPUR GOPLAGANJ MOTIHARI (RUPANI) ROAD TRIP (1025 KM)
DATE OF JOURNEY: NOVEMBER 06, 2010
NAME: DR PRAMOD KUMAR PANDEY, PhD, CHEMISTRY
This year we decided to celebrate chhath pooja at my native place Rupani which is at 30 km far from Motihari. Due to heavy rush we did not get train ticket and hence after discussion with wife I decided to go via road with my I10 car. I collected a lot of information and trip experiences through internet especially from side http://www.ghumkar.com about Delhi Kanpur Lucknow trip. Myself Pramod , my wife Nandita, my son Peeyush and my daughter Prerana are in my family but I only one who drive among all the passengers. Based on my principle nothing is impossible I decided to complete the journey.
I decided to complete the journey in two parts:
1. On November 06, I decided to cover journey up to Garakhpur via Faridabad Agra Itawa Kanpur Lucknow Faizabad Gorakhpur (815 km).
2. On November 07, I decided to cover journey up to Motihari (Rupani) via Kasiya Gopalganj Motihari Rupani (210 km).
FARIDABAD AGRRA ITAWA KANPUR FAIZABAD- GORAKHPUR (DAY-1, ON NOVEMBER 06, 2010
On November 06, I started engine of my car at 5.05 AM from my residence B-223, Green Field colony, Faridabad we reached NH-2 road at NHPC chock and the moved toward Agra. Since one day before on November 05, 2010 there was Diwali pooja and hence road was almot empty. The car was running between 60 to 120 KM/hours and we reached Agra at 7.05 A.M. At Agra suddenly a person with his Maruti 800without giving any horn or indicator about to come in front of my car through T – crossing but it was managed easily. There were a lot of edible items likes sweets, namkeen, mathari, Dried fruits, Orbits, Cardamom, Cumin seeds, Chocklets with us and we were enjoying the journey. The environment of the cabin was very pleasant and now and then we all were also taking sweets/Namkeen/Biscuits/dried foods/mathari/Moong dal Kachauri. The NH-2 road after Agra was really excellent and 2 to 3 times odometer reading went up to 146km/hour. We reached Firozabad at 7.45 AM and continue the journey. We crossed the Itawa and reached nearby Kanpur bypass 23 km bridge and took the petrol at 9.40AM. After taking short break and refreshment of 25 minutes we started the journey. The Kanpur by pass bridge is very good but one has to take special attention to come on the bridge other wise he would enter in Kanpur city. We crossed the bridge and took right U turn towards the bridge to come at Ramadevi crossing. We move towards Lucknow from Ramadevi crossing but road was single and bad up to 7 km and that was the reason car was running between 30 to 60km/hour. After 10 km condition of road was not bad and hence car was running between 60 to 110km/h. Due to construction work we got several diversions but condition of road was good. We reached Lucknow at 12.0PM and continued the journey through Lucknow City. We reached Barabanki at 2.15 PM. We stopped the car for 40 minutes and took home-made lunch. Again started the journey. Although road was under construction and there were many diversions but speed was manageable between 60 to 110km/h. We reached Firozabad (near holly city Ayodhya) at 2.55 pm. We took small break of about 25 minutes to take the petrol. After Firozabad also road was very good and speed was managable between 70 to 110km/h. We reached Gorakhpur at 6.10 PM and saw vendors were selling all the items which require in Chhath pooja. My experience about Gorakhpur city was not good since hotels were located in narrow city and very costly. There was also not proper parking facility. Since I was new for Gorakhpur and hence I took about 1.30 hour for hotel search. Finally due to proper guidance of one police man I got hotel (Anamika place) near railway station and we stayed there at night.
DIRECTION, TIME AND DISTANCE DETAILS
Faridabad (journey started at 5.05 AM) to Agara (at 7.05 AM, 190 KM) to Kanpur bypass bridge (at 9.40 AM) to Lucknow (12.0 PM, 345KM) to (Faizabad at 2.55 PM, 140KM) to Gorakhpur (at 6.10 PM, 140KM)
Total distance: about 815 KM
PRECAUTIONS;
1. After Agra I found traffic coming from wrong side (opposite sides) at several points and hence be careful to avoid any accident.
2. Be careful to come at Kanpur 23 km bypass bridge to avoid Kanpur city other wise a lot of time will wasted.
3. Although I did not note down any emergency number one can see emergency number on NH-2 in my opinion one should note down.
4. One should keep enough edible items.
5. One can get total 6 tolls between Faridabad to Lucknow
GORAKHPUR- MOTIHARI/RUPANI (DAY-2, ON NOVEMBER 07
On November 07, checked out the hotel and took breakfast and tea at Chaurasiaa jalpan grih and started the journey at 7.15 AM. The road was single and not smooth up to 30km and hence speed was manageable between 40 to 80 km/h. After that although there were several diversions due to construction work but rod was good and hence odometer of my car was between 50 to 110 km/h. We reached Bihar boarder via Kasiya at 9.0AM and continue the driving. I found a truck was coming from opposite side but he lost his side and came towards my car. I gave many times deeper but it was still coming towards my car. I thought truck driver might have slept and I gave many strong horns and then truck driver suddenly move the truck towards other side of the road. Thanks God we prevented from any accident. I recommend to careful especially from truck driver sine they are also napping during driving. But after crossing Gopalganj we stopped the car for 40 minutes at small place and took teak and breakfast at Maha Durga mistan bhandar and again started the journey via Pipra kothi. We reached near Motihari at 11AM. The road between Sankar-Sarian bypass chock and up to Chhatauani chock was very bad. We took break for 2 hours for marketing work at Motihari and again started the journey for Rupani via Madhubani, Pakaridayal and Shekhpurwa. Finally we reached my destination point at Rupani at 1.45PM.
DIRECTION , TIME AND DISTANCE DETAILS
Gorakhpur (Via NH-28, journey started at 7.15 AM) to Gopalganj (at 7.05 AM via Kasiya, 120 KM) to Motihari (at 11.0 AM, 60KM) to Rupani (1.30 PM, 30KM after 2 hours break at Motihari).
Total distance: 210 KM
PRECAUTIONS;
6. After Gorakhpur there was lack of road/side direction boards.
7. I found a lot of construction work and hence one can get single as well as double road with several diversions. Particularly be careful with truck driver since some time they are napping during driving.
8. The NH-28 road at Motihari between Sankar Sariyan chocks and Chhatauni chock was very bad.
9. There were not any toll between Gorakhpur and Motihari.
PICTURES
Experiences and conclusions: It was really enjoyable road journey of my life and it all possible due to better co-operation of my wife and my kids. One can choose above road trip with proper planning. Now my family insists to again go via road.
Note: We adopted same route to come Faridabad on November 13, 2010. We stayed at Faizabad in Hotel Tirupati. Hotel was not good and there were a lot of mosquitoes who disturbed us in night. We reached Faridabad on November 14, 2010 at night at 9.55 PM. More details of the return journey can be provided on request.
For more clarification about above my road trip one can contact me at my mail:
pkp19672001@yahoo.com or pkp19672001@gmail.com
I am planing to go Delhi to Siwan by my i10 on 17th of Nov 12,
I’ll keep in mind your great exp… thanks man.
:) – manish
hey manish could you please update on road condition for gorakhpur siwan …ia ma also going from delhi to siwan..delhi to gorakhpur i knownthat road is good ..just wanted to know about gorakhpur to siwan
Great Sir, I am from Motihari and planning to travel on 9th July 2016. Great tip for a better journey by my 5 years older car New Wagon R – CNG.
Hi Dr. Pramod,
Your road trip experince exited me. Now I am lso planning to go Gpalganj on December 25, 2010 via same route by my car. I will also share my experince.
Best regards
Satish
Dear Pramod,
Your road trip experince is very informative. First time I got such road trip information up to Motihari. I also belong to Motihari. Now I am also planning to go Motihari via my Alto car.
Regards.
Arun
Dear Pramod,
Hope u catch this on time.
I am planing for a trip to gorakhpur on my bike (Pulsar 150CC), hoping this will be faster then going by Car. I understand the route, Delhi-Faridabad-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Basti-Gorakhpu (correct me if i m wrong). As per ur driving experience, what do u suggest shuld I take this risk and would able to make it in 13 hours if start by 5 in the morning??
Please reply as early as pssible, as i am leaving tomorrow morning.
Regrds,
Abdul
Hi this is abhishek bernwal ,
I want to say that how was your journey and how much did it cost till Gorakhpur and did you ride continuously? Because I also have to go but I have no idea what we have to take with us while leaving the house. So plese guide to me briefly .
thanking you,
Hi
anyone here, can help me with my query?
Dear Mr. Abdul,
Thanks a lot for contacting me.Please follow the route as prescribed by me in Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow-Gorakhpur road trip. In my opinion enjoy the journey and don’t be in hurry.Don’t forget to take readymade edible items. I will also suggest go with your friend who also know bike driving so that you may experince uniqness of the journey.
Wish you a very happy and enjyable journey.
Best regards.
Dr. Pramod
Sir
I m planning to go to Gorakhapur by tomorrow. as tmrow is holiday due to Balmiki Jyanti so i would like to ask any suggestion for road Guide. as i m living in Vaishali Ghaziabad (NCR). Pls suggest me friend as soon as possible. I my Grand mother and my dady and uncle will go to this trip to leave my Grand mother at uncle’s home at Gorakhpur. as he is working in Railways so he doesnot have time to come and pick his mother so i have to drop him. and my grand mother is not able to do any work as daily routine by herself so we have to do her all work like for toilet she doesnot go to toilet we made a chair cutted and under the chair we keep a bucket then we made her sitted at the chair then she does toilet. pls suggest what would be the best route for going to gorakhpur from Vaishali Ghaziabad.
and what time will be best to leave the home.
I went to gorakhpur in Nov 2011 with my Hoda city car. I was accompanied with my brother, wife, my 6 year old son and my 11 year old daughter . I started from Faridabad around 6 AM and zoom to Agra within 2.30 Hours. I reached Agra 8:30 AM. took home made refreshment and tea in the car at petrol pump. I made paln to reach Kanpur by 12:30 PM and I croosed Kanpur By pass by 12: 15. I was continuous driving at a speed of 100 to 120.My wife took a lot of edible items likes sweets, namkeen, mathari, Dried fruits, Chocklets and we were enjoying the journey. The environment of the car was very pleasant. We ate all the way fruit, snacks etc. After driving down Kanpur bypass flyover, there was huge jam due to construction of road and flyover. One truck take sudden left turn due to police barricade and scratched boot of my car. I was very upset but no choice. I decided to to take lunch at lucknow. So without taking any rest, I was continuously driving towards gorakhpur. Unfortunately due to rally of Mayawati at lucknow, I caught at jam in Lucknow. It took two hours to come out from Jam. FInally I took Lunch at Baranki around 4:00 PM. After half an hour break, I again start my car and without any break at a speed of 100-120 I reached Gorakhpur around 8:30 PM.
After one week, we returned back to Faridabad. Over all it was a pleasent journey. Road from Faridabad to Gorakhpur is excellent. In some place in between Lucknow to Gorakhpur road was under construction. Now Badarpur border to Agra proposed to make six lane and non stop. Bid already awarded to reliance infra.
I WANT TO GO LUCKNOW FROM DELHI BY VEHICLE PULSAR WITH MY FAMILY
PLEASE ADVISE ME
THANKS
RAJ KAPOOR
Thanks !!! nice details.
Add me as a friend on face book se we can chat and get more information DELHI to GORAKHPUR
I am leaving tonight at 8 pm for Gorakhpur in my SX-4, I had traveled earlier in 2013, till gorakhpur and thereafter till Pokhra(Nepal) it was a wonderful tour. This time I will be back from Gorakhpur next day, I Mean I have to travel more than 1700 Kms in about 36 hrs at my disposal. My SX-4 VDI has already traveled long distance, but this is a winter season, hope will be more exciting.
gkp
Planning to visit Kathmandu with family on my Innova on a 7 day tour. Do share the road condition and also advise if we can drive an indian vehicle in Nepal.
And you can drive Indian vehicle too!!!
Dear Madhu
There is a better road operational now, you should take Delhi – Agra Taj Expressway and continue from Agra – Lucknow on newly built expressway, which is more like extension of Taj expressway but even better road. It should take 6 hours to reach Lucknow. After reaching lucknow, use GPS to cross Lucknow either via VIP road or Shaheed Path and then continue to Gorakhpur, that should take another 5 hours including crossing city time.
Ideally you should halt in Gorakhpur and then drive to Sonali next day, which should be another 3 hours and then about 4 hours to Kathmandu.
I frequent to thia road till Gorakhpur and the road is well built. I was told by Friends and other people that Kathmandu road is also ok, barring that it may be without dividers, most part of Nepal. Please do write your experience once you do this stretch.
Have a memorable and safe journey!!