I have travelled on this route to Nainital, Bhowali, Mukteshwar a few times but didnt get a proper road review for latest trip.
Anyway heres one for someone planning to take this route to Uttarakhand..
Delhi to Hapur is peach.. takes around 1-1.5 hours for the 50 km ride.. pretty decent road and negligible traffic if you leave early. Then the under construction roads and flyovers begin.. its frustrating and sheer madness as due to the incomplete(in many places just 10% complete) flyovers leads to huge traffic blocks.. bt the real trouble starts around gajraula-brajghat area.. I was stuck for 3 hours in which i cud move just about 9 km as the roads being broadened but is messy with both ways traffic on one road. Imagine what happens with large trucks in the route.. I think traffic so bad that one should avoid this route altogether even as most of this road is much better than the Meerut route. The traffic will only get crazy with rains. I was lucky in sneaking past many vehicles through the bumpy side road..I heard later many ppl from Delhi coming to Ranikhet had to stop at Halwani for the night as they were too late to make it to the mountains..
By mistake I took the left u-turn aroudn Moradabad a bit early.. so landed up in Moradabad city and had to brace a bit of local traffic. For those confused on this.. one needs to go a long way towards Rampur almost parellel to Moradabad city before you see a large headboard that leads towards Kashipur/Corbett.
So Delhi to Moradabad is around 150 km from my place in East Delhi(the time taken depends on traffic condition and I wud say typically takes about 3 hours with ‘normal’ traffic). I took the Tanda-Bajpur-Kaladhungi road.. which is a bit bumpy not because of holes but due to the road not being levelled properly..surely there are a few bad patches but those are not long… But this route is still better I believe as it has much less traffic than Rampur side..particularly around Kaladhungi the road is through the forest and is a decent drive… Haldwani through this route is around 100-110 km from Moradabad.. so takes about 1.5-3 hours depending on how fast you wanna drive. Haldwani to Ranikhet is around 80-85 km and takes around 3 hours given the mountain road whose condition is pretty fine for an area which is also prone to landslides.
Overall road condition Delhi-Ranikhet is pretty decent if only you forget about the brajghat-hapur intermittent traffic which saps the mind of all energy.
Delhi – Ranikhet road review June 2010
Hi Vivek,
Thanks for the precise road review.
I feel that the mere idea of crossing Brajghat-hapur patch puts a damper on Kumaon plans. Hope they take care of it sooner than later.
Auro.
Yes you are correct….. The best & shortest route from Moradabad to Haldwani is Tanda-Bajpur-Haldwani. And for Nainital you have to turn from Kaladhungi…. No need to go Haldwani.
Hi Vivek ,
I personally donot like this highway mainly because of the traffic jams. Couple of months ago I was stuck at the traffic jam at Garh Mukteshwar for 5hrs at night. My experience on this highjway many times is bad.
Sahil
The route is quite good. Just 1 peice of advice, in case you are going with a kid, do take your paediatrician’s no. My child fell ill suddenly and I did not have the doctor’s no. but then recollected and got it from net www.mydoctorsdirectory.com.
Hi – I am planning to take a trip to Ranikhet from Gurgaon with Family. Can anyone advise on the road condition please? Specifically – the level crossing en route to Brajghat(?) , and the road condition from Bhawali to Ranikhet in particular? I drove to Nainital in Dec 2011 and these two patches were particularly painful at that time.
Hi All,
I am planning to visit Nainital with my family on 7th March weekend (returning on 10th, Holi). Can anyone suggest if its good time to visit around Holi? I don’t want to go there to find most things shut due to holi as this trip will force me to skip my holi at home this time. Also, is it good weather there these days? Hence asking for advise. I am based in NOIDA.
Since I am from the Kumaon Regiment, the Kumaon Hills are my weaknesses. Nainital is beautiful for visit round the year. Kumaoni Holi is very popular, so it is ideal to visit the lake city notwithstanding the Coronavirus fears!