The first day of journey was concluded at Lalitpur and after having sound sleep at the hotel, I got ready early in the morning around 5:30 and checked out from the hotel. It was still dark outside but to my relief the fog was not there. I started the journey with doubt as how to reach Nagpur via Chindwara or via Seoni, so I headed towards the bus stand and thought of asking the drivers for the route.
I met a friendly cleaner and asked him about the route, who confirmed that the Seoni route is OK and the road is more or less complete.
I took straight from there to the highway and started my next phase of the journey. Driving down from Lalitpur to Seoni was breeze and road conditions were very smooth. The fresh roads were laid recently and was ornamented by reflectors, which gave a feeling of driving on a runway !!
There were some ghat sections before Seoni but the roads were good and I was enjoying the drive.
Early morning
Seoni Toll
Once we cross Seoni and enter the protected forest area, the roads become single lane. Upto MP border the roads though single lane but they are relatively smooth. It was a welcome change for the trip as I was now driving on single lane roads in Pench National Park instead of the 4 lane highways. To be true, I was liking it as it has now broken the monotony of the straight line highway and I was now driving the car instead of just cruising.
Mowgly
Pench
Once you cross the MP border and enter Maharashtra, the real pain begins. The border was a stretch of non existent roads with craters all over it. To add more to misery, there was a RTO checkpost which was checking the trucks and had created a huge Jam at this place.
After crossing the border, roads were bad, though there was tar on top but sudden potholes do surprise you and take a hit on your suspension.
After around 30 Kms from there, 4 lane road started which took me straight to Nagpur byepass. Paid my toll @ Mansar, and drove down the Nagpur byepass. I had initial plan of taking a stoppage at Nagpur and then start afresh from there, but never found any boards inviting me inside Nagpur, and I reached the next toll gate which was outside Nagpur. Now I had covered more than 250 Kms and wanted to have some rest but there were no dhabas or motels available.
I had a tank full yesterday night before Narsinghpur and had a gut feeling that I won’t be finding many filling stations on the road to Hyderabad so wanted to get the tank filled up at the first available bunk. I had already left Nagpur and crossed Daroda and was still not able to find any good bunk.
Eventually I found a HP company owned petrol bunk @ Jamb, which was on the otherside of road, I took a diversion and got the tank filled and took a little rest.
After taking a rest of 10 mints I started again and hot the road. Now I was able to find the milestones talking about Hyderabad. It was a mix of roads till Hinganghat, after which the bad roads started and for next 60 Kms I was driving on bad roads.
It had now taken a toll on my speed and now I was having fatigue as I had been driving since yesterday. The sun was at its peak and driving on these hot conditions was making me sleepy.
I found a small dhaba at road side and took some rest there. After having my lunch and a power nap of 15 mints I was again ready to go.
So after driving these treacherous roads for 60 Kms, I was welcomed by 4 lane roads again at Kelapur and from there it was a smooth road till Hyderabad.
As I was driving south and during afternoon the sun also starts setting so for next four hours I had to bear the fierce heat on my head, and then it started giving me a severe headache. I took a towel and hung it on the window but still the sun rays were coming from the wind screen. It was now intolerable to drive, and there were no dhabas or motels on the road. I eventually stopped at a lay bye cleansed my head with water, which gave me some relief.
After taking some rest I started the journey again and found that Hyderabad is now under 100 Kms. This added a new zeal in me and I cruised off. Paid the final toll of Rs 105 @ Mandhara and entered Hyderabad at around 5:00 PM.
It was a long and tiring day and I had covered around 780 Kms in under 12 hours of driving to reach Hyderabad.
A day well spent and a journey to remember for a lifetime.
Loaded Wagon
I had travelled 1564 Kms in two days wherein I had driven for 14 hours on day one and around 11+ hours on the second Day. Which means covering the complete distance in effectively 25 hours. Roughly translating the average speed maintained was around 60 KMPH.
Covering seven states : Delhi>Haryana>Uttar Pradesh>Rajsthan>Madhya Pradesh>Maharashtra>Andhra Pradesh. It was like travelling through heart of India, where the soil changes every 100 Kms and language in 50.
Total fuel consumed by my car was :
Rs. 1700 @ Delhi 25.16 Lts
Rs. 1700 @ Jhansi 23.4 Lts
Rs. 1700 @ Narshingpur 23.61 Lts
Rs. 1275 @ Jamb Nagpur 17.18 Lts
Which is around 89.36 liters, out of this there was around 8-10 lts of fuel left in the car, so effectively total fuel consumed was around 87 liters making an average of whooping 17.7 KMPL which is great for a car.
I have also made a list of all the tolls that I had paid during the Journey :
Total Toll paid was Rs 827.
| Delhi to Hyderabad – Toll Details | |||
| Toll Barrier | State | Road | Amount |
| Badarpur | Haryana | Delhi Faridabad |
22 |
| Srinagar Plaza | Haryana | Delhi Agra |
80 |
| Mahuwan Plaza | UP | Delhi Agra |
80 |
| Baretha Toll | Rajasthan | Agra Dholpur |
25 |
| Choundha Toll | MP | Morena Gwalior |
25 |
| Vgakhet | UP | Jhansi Latitpur |
50 |
| Titarpani | MP | Lalitpur Sagar |
40 |
| Allonia | MP | Narsinghpur-Seoni |
55 |
| Mansar | Maharashtra | Nagpur Bypass |
80 |
| Nagpur BP | Maharashtra | Nagpur Bypass |
75 |
| Daroda | Maharashtra | Nagpur Hyderabad |
50 |
| Kelapur | Maharashtra | Nagpur Hyderabad |
25 |
| Pipalwada | Andhra Pradesh | MH/AP Border |
55 |
| RollmandA | Andhra Pradesh | Nirmal Hyderabad |
30 |
| Gamjal Village | Andhra Pradesh | Nirmal Hyderabad |
30 |
| Mandhara | Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad |
105 |
Cheers !!!
If end is well, all is well ! It is great on your part to provide details of fuel cost and toll payments for the benefit of many young people who would feel inspired to undertake similar trips.
Well, it is not that I have any issues with long drives. I do love driving and often dream of undertaking an All India Tour with my wife and children but I prefer enjoyable, leisurely, carefree car rides where there are no deadlines and there are no potholed roads. It may mean spending 15 days on roads while undertaking a journey of 1500 km but that’s what my heart craves for!
complete informative post.
I am with you Sushant.
IB – Kudos. Doing it solo is tough and it needs a LOT of mental strength. For sun, was the visor (right on top of wind screen, inside the cabin) not useful. In Wagon-R, you can also swivel the visor to save from window-glass-sun.
Many thanks for details around the Toll and Fuel. And finally please sign-up for a profile pic by registering oyur email at http://www.gravatar.com
Hi IB. Loved reading your 2-part account of the road trip from Delhi to Hyderabad. Like the proverbial curate’s egg, the “highway” is good in parts. Driving through the badlands of central India is certainly an ordeal and it is surprising that the governments do nothing about improving the road conditions in spite of collecting hundreds of crores of rupees for developing these roads.
What I hate more than diriving at night is driving during the afternoons,especially after a lunch break. If the drive is unavoidable, I don a baseball cap with its brim pulled low over my face to shield my eyes from the sun. Trust me, it works just fine, much better than the sun visor which sort of obstructs the vision.
Excellent trip and very nice road review.
It refreshed my memory about my solo drive from Delhi to Kolkata few years back and with my family last June. Fortunately, the NH-2 is silky smooth throughout. We are now planning to leave for Kolkata this year either on 17th or 25th of May, depending on which day my son’s summer vacation will start. Though train tickets booked for both the dates, which may cancel eventually.
Happy driving & biking,
Hi IronButt,
I plan to drive Delhi -Bangaore on 1 July, 2013, following the same route as you.
I’m considering avoiding Gwalior-Jhansi leg by going via Shivpuri. Can you give me any advice based on your trip?
Thanks,
Anshul
Thanks for sharing your experience…planning to go hyderabad this weekend and it experience will be very helpful
Can you let me know the place to stay in lalitpur
Hi Sundar,
I don’t remember the name of the hotel where I stayed in Lalitpur, but it was in main city.
Something like Prakash or Pratap..
Cheers !!!
IB
This topic is widely searched but no new review is available, so decided to travel and post first hand experience. Drove from Delhi to Hyderabad in my Car Maruti Dzire on 13 Nov 15.
First take DND toll road and reach Greater Noida from Delhi, continue on this road and join Yamuna Expressway. You can cover distance in easy 2 1/2hr. Be careful on your Tyre pressure, and follow the lane driving. Moment you hit agra, take second left before entering town road going towards Gwalior. It takes you directly out of town and you can zip on Gwalior highway. Both roads are good.
Before entering Gwalior take Bypass road towards Jhansi, the road is bad (tolerable). Your speed goes down and no good eating joint.
From Jhansi to Nagpur again you can zip, the road is good, take new road NH547 SH 46 as called just before kareli its a right turn don’t get into flyover. The road is scenic drive with excellent road sign and almost NIL traffic. You reach nagpur and take airport road, as there are no signboard showing Hyderabad. The road from Nagpur to Adlibad (upto Andhra Border) is real bad, you wonder is there any one who is looking after this road. Once you hit Andhra border the road is good and you can catch up the speed.
Total distance is 1548Kms, with two tank full of fuel(diesel), I got average of 22Km in my VDI. Did one night halt on the way in small motel roadside. Did every day 800 km, advice if you are single driver start early morning around 5 am and halt at Sagar and second at Nagpur.
Carry water, snacks with you while you drive. Have safe journey and feel free to seek clarification.
HI, I am planning a Delhi to Hyderabad trip my my Alto K10 (Auto Gear) in Feb 2017.
DO get in touch through message/ whatsapp if you’d like to join…. 9999345585.
Regards,
Abhijeet
planning amritsar to hyderabad in first week of January 2018 in Innova,anyone interested whatsapp 9465049012.
I recently did the delhi /Hyderabad circuit in a wagon r which is a 2005 model, and I can say that the trip was the most enjoyable one that I have experienced till date in my life in India.
except for the irritation of toll plaza’s by NHAI at every 90-100 kms on the Yamuna expressway, though I must admit the roads were to international standards surprisingly, off course sans the electrification all across the highway.
the total taxes collected enroute are to the tune of 1640 rupees right uptil entering telengana and onwards to Hyderabad, starting from the Jewar toll in UP which starts at 415 rupees and then takes you right up to agra city , following which you end up at Gwalior.
fortunately the gps takes you via most cities bypassing them except agra.
the Nagpur section of the drive is a spectacular one on the hills with ultra smooth roads.fuel stations are available easily but still would recommend having the tank topped up at 1/4th level at the first chance. midway stopping after 10-12 hrs of driving for an overnight rest can be done at sagar in MP at the Vardaan hotel, which fortunately is not expensive and well maintained especially allowing pets if you are travelling with them…basically a per friendly hotel as the owner himself has a 1.5 years old labrador -alas feeds him only curd rice.
starting from delhi at 630 am one can reach agra by 1100 ars approx and crossing gwalior by 1230-1300 hrs via the bypass.
all this while i kept a constant speed of 80 kms with the ac on and reached sagar by 200 hrs to a welcome shower and rest and leaving the next day in the morning at 0830 hrs and reaching hyderabad by 2200 hrs.
the best part of the drive being after getting down from nagpur wherein i was touching 90-100 kms without and traffic and smooth straight roads.
all in all an experience to be taken as shortly i will be leaving back for delhi again by road , but before that make sure that i do visit the southern state cities especially – bangalore,cochin,vizag,chennai, pondicherry etc before heading back via goa and bombay….