[pramodpk]

Hi,

I am planning a road trip to Kolkata from my home town Vaikom near Kochi.
Travellers - Myself, Wife and 13 year old daughter.
Drivers - Myself an wife
Car - 2010 Ford Fiesta SXi Petrol

Below is the trip plan that we thought of.



I have checked the following threads for road conditions.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ueries-18.html (Bangalore - Kolkata : Route Queries)


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ueries-64.html (Bangalore - Vijayawada - Vizag - Bhubaneswar : Route Queries)


I have chosen the route via Chennai to avoid the under construction roads between Tirupati and Naidupeta.

My Queries.

1. What would be the ideal place to stay in Chennai during Onward and return Journeys

2. What would be the ideal place to stay in Visakhapatnam during onward and return Journeys

3. General road conditions.

4. Anything to be careful about while driving in Kolkata


Plan would be start between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM on all days.

We are used to driving long trips. Our last long drive was to Madhya Pradesh last year. Here is the travelogue (Kochi to Khajuraho | A 10 Day Road Trip to the Heart of India, Madhya Pradesh).

Please let me know your inputs.

Thanks in advance.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

1. What would be the ideal place to stay in Chennai during Onward and return Journeys

My suggestion would be anywhere between Vandalur to SP Koil, for example Kalyan Grand at Vandalur or Sera Grand at MM Nagar, Mahindra City Fairfield. You can get in/out through Outer Ring Road. The only place that can get messy would be SP Koil in the turn leading into Oragadam/Sriperumbudur during morning and evening peak hour. That too would not affect all lanes.

If you are driving, you can visit a lot more places like Chilka, Bhitarkanika for example.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Hi,

Below is the trip plan that we thought of.

Attachment 2536379

I have chosen the route via Chennai to avoid the under construction roads between Tirupati and Naidupeta.

My Queries.

1. What would be the ideal place to stay in Chennai during Onward and return Journeys

2. What would be the ideal place to stay in Visakhapatnam during onward and return Journeys

3. General road conditions.

4. Anything to be careful about while driving in Kolkata

Plan would be start between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM on all days.

Please let me know your inputs.

Thanks in advance.

Hello,
As a regular on the Chennai - Kolkata route, thought of sharing my two cents. ( https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...i-kolkata.html (Kolkata - Chennai - Kolkata))

1. If you are meeting someone or have to stay back in Chennai it is a different issue, otherwise I would suggest you push a bit further and stay overnight at SRI-CITY / Tada. That is the TN-AP border. There are quite a few neat and clean hotels available there. Check MakeMyTrip.

2. Chennai (or Sri-City) to Vizag is a comfortable 14 hour drive. Roads are excellent throughout. Lunch stop can be at Vijaywada. Good veg options are Hotel D.V. Manor. Non-Veg: Taj Vivanta Vijaywada, The Hyatt Place.

3. Don't miss the Vizag entry left-loop alongside the new Vizag Bypass approach flyover. Stick to the left. Lots of stay option at Vizag. Depends on your budget. Best-Western Ramachandra off Gajuwaka junction is reasonably priced and good business hotel to stay. If you want to keep the Miss'us happy, ITC Devee Grand Bay has lovely views of Vizag harbour. For ITC you will have to "enter" Vizag city but it will not add too much to your time.

4. For sightseeing purposes if you want to stay at Konark its ok. Not very many good options at Konark. Maybe you can amble down to Puri for an overnighter. Otherwise you can stay at Chilika Lake. SWOSTI Chilika Resort is very nice and relaxing.

5. Kolkata - Vizag at one shot will be strenuous. However early or late you leave Kolkata, you will get stuck at this infamous stampede known as "Santragachhi jam". Dial in 20 minutes for this. This jam is plain irritating, man-made by over zealous cops and successfully screws up your nice, early morning highway drive mental state . Also from this week onwards, couple of lanes of the Vidyasagar Setu,(or second hooghly bridge), will be closed to traffic for brodge repair-work and may potentially prove to be disruptive. But i would still suggest you take Vidyasagar because the alternative route is too far off and as all the trucks will be diverted to the alternative route, chances of a logjam there are higher.
I suggest you break journey at Bhubaneswar. And the next day cover Bhubaneswar - Vijaywada direct. You can comfortably do it in 14 hours.

6. Bhubaneswar - Kolkata: there are some minor diversions. Nothing to fret over.

7. Before and after Behrampore and in and around Balugaon in Orissa, please be careful of stray cattle. Villagers deliberately prod them onto the highway from the median, in the hope that you knock the bovine down and then they can siphon you off your money. Stick to the middle lane.

Please carry essential spares of your Fiesta as its a defunct model. The Orissa,(Bhubaneswar),Ford dealer is not a very pleasant chap. The Kolkata Ford dealer is more or less ok.

All the best & wish you a great drive!

Best wishes

[ssjr0498]

Originally Posted by arjab

3. Don't miss the Vizag entry left-loop alongside the new Vizag Bypass approach flyover. Stick to the left. Lots of stay option at Vizag. Depends on your budget. Best-Western Ramachandra off Gajuwaka junction is reasonably priced and good business hotel to stay. If you want to keep the Miss'us happy, ITC Devee Grand Bay has lovely views of Vizag harbour. For ITC you will have to "enter" Vizag city but it will not add too much to your time.

4. For sightseeing purposes if you want to stay at Konark its ok. Not very many good options at Konark. Maybe you can amble down to Puri for an overnighter. Otherwise you can stay at Chilika Lake. SWOSTI Chilika Resort is very nice and relaxing.

5. Kolkata - Vizag at one shot will be strenuous. However early or late you leave Kolkata, you will get stuck at this infamous stampede known as "Santragachhi jam". Dial in 20 minutes for this. This jam is plain irritating, man-made by over zealous cops and successfully screws up your nice, early morning highway drive mental state . Also from this week onwards, couple of lanes of the Vidyasagar Setu,(or second hooghly bridge), will be closed to traffic for brodge repair-work and may potentially prove to be disruptive. But i would still suggest you take Vidyasagar because the alternative route is too far off and as all the trucks will be diverted to the alternative route, chances of a logjam there are higher.
I suggest you break journey at Bhubaneswar. And the next day cover Bhubaneswar - Vijaywada direct. You can comfortably do it in 14 hours.

6. Bhubaneswar - Kolkata: there are some minor diversions. Nothing to fret over.

7. Before and after Behrampore and in and around Balugaon in Orissa, please be careful of stray cattle. Villagers deliberately prod them onto the highway from the median, in the hope that you knock the bovine down and then they can siphon you off your money. Stick to the middle lane.

Please carry essential spares of your Fiesta as its a defunct model. The Orissa,(Bhubaneswar),Ford dealer is not a very pleasant chap. The Kolkata Ford dealer is more or less ok.

All the best & wish you a great drive!

Best wishes

In addition to the above, you could also look at the following

Vizag
1. Stay in Vizag at the "Fairfield by Marriott", its on the highway when entering vizag and a) you will not have to take any diversions while leaving the next day and b) not much traffic as you are pretty much exiting the city from that highway post breakfast! They have a huge spread for dinner and breakfast along with good ala-carte' options.
2. If you want a good scenery in the morning while having breakfast, you could stay at the "Gateway", good food and is right next to the beach.

Puri ( Not good options in Konark)

Dont miss the drive along the beach from Konark to Puri, it is very beautiful and definitely worth a drive.
In Puri, you could stay at the Sterling Resort, its right on the beach and has access to it from the resort itself. Food is kickass!

Normally, I do Blr-ccu runs in 2 days with a night halt at Vizag, so if you can leave Vizag by 8am'ish, you will be in Kolkata by around 9pm if you maintain a decent speed (and by 6-7ish if you're a regular "read expert" on that route and maintain good speeds!).

Word of caution: On the way back, when you enter Orissa, please be careful as the speed limit is 100! Those guys hide in places where you cant see a speed limit for ten's of km's together. So, try sticking to 100 till you reach Bhubhaneshwar! Post that its cool. On the way to Kol, they are not bothered much.

My two cents.. enjoy your drive!

PS: For any car related issues in Kolkata, reach out to Alok Automobiles and speak to Mr. Suman ( normally referred to as Suman da!).

[ABHI_1512]

Most of the queries have been answered by Arjab above and being a regular on the route, he is best equipped with his own experiences. Regarding the Santragachi jam and the bridge repair part, just keeping to the left lane while entering Santragachi helps tackling the jams. Small cars are allowed through the dedicated left lane and this helps is avoiding the truck traffic. Also, while the bridge repair will start in some time, the authorities have brought a circular which states that only small cars will be allowed to take the bridge during repair so as to avoid any major gridlock.

Please be mindful of the speed limits after entering Odisha. After crossing Bhubaneswar from Chennai side, the speed limits keep changing from as low as 55 km/hr to 65 km/hr through the Bhubaneahwar- Balasore section. This speed limit thing continues till Balasore and after which it becomes cool somewhat till Calcutta.

Rest ia all good and there might be chance that we might bump into each other on the road during your travel.

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by narayans80

My suggestion would be anywhere between Vandalur to SP Koil, for example Kalyan Grand

Originally Posted by arjab

Hello,
As a regular on the Chennai - Kolkata route, thought of sharing my two cents.

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

My two cents.. enjoy your drive!

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Based on all of your inputs, we have changed our plan as follows.



Day 1 : Chose to stay in Chennai as we could not find any family friendly places near Tada. Hope we can reach Vizag comfortably.

Day 2 : Best-Western Ramachandra was fully booked and ITC Devee Grand Bay was way above our budget. So booked Fairfield by Marriott.

Day 3 : As per your suggestion, booked accommodation in Puri. Most hotels were fully booked as it was Dec 24th.

Day 4 - Plan to Visit Konark Sun temple and proceed to Kolkata. Plan to reach the Hotel in Kolkata by 8:30 PM. Would this be OK?

Hope the current Cyclone related issues won't affect our travel plans.

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Rest is all good and there might be chance that we might bump into each other on the road during your travel.

- When are you planning to drive?

[narayans80]

Vijayawada-Salem should be over 800 km. It is doable. You should expect a 6 am-10 pm drive including breaks. Similar story with Madras-Vizag too. In both cases 14 hours would be driving time alone.

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by narayans80

In both cases 14 hours would be driving time alone.

Thanks. How is the flood situation in Chennai. Hope you are safe.

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by narayans80

My suggestion would be anywhere between Vandalur to SP Koil

Originally Posted by arjab

Hello,
As a regular on the Chennai - Kolkata route, thought of sharing my two cents.

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

In addition to the above, you could also look at the following

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Rest is all good and there might be chance that we might bump into each other on the road during your travel.

Thanks a lot for your inputs. Had a nice trip to Kolkata. Here is a brief travelogue.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ion-drive.html (Kochi to Kolkata - 11 Days Christmas vacation drive)