[Innysta]

Hi All - I'm planning to have family trip on this itinerary: Chennai-Badrinath-Varanasi-Konark-Chennai in last week of Apr. There are information available for Meerut-Badri leg of the journey but not as comprehensive and hence this individual post. Seeking help on below specific questions:

1. Is there any workaround option to avoid Sagar-Seoni-Lalipur?
2. Which leg of the journey has the worst road?
3. Will be using Innova Crysta Diesel Manual, do i need to enable custom regen for DPF?
4. Plan to break the journey at Hyderabad, Nagpur, Jhansi, Meerut, Haridwar, Badrinath - do you have better suggestion?
5. Recommend hotels to stay as well

Thanks

[FlashMustang]

I do not have much of an idea of the route beyond Delhi, so, I'll probably make a start, and will probably hope for more experienced members to share their inputs.

I've driven Hyderabad - Chennai multiple times, and recently covered Hyderabad - Noida, so, my inputs are limited to those experiences.

Originally Posted by Innysta

1. Is there any workaround option to avoid Sagar-Seoni-Lalipur?

I'm afraid not. You could refer to the Hyderabad - Delhi thread (Hyderabad to Delhi : Route Queries) and the Bangalore - Delhi thread (Delhi to Bangalore : Route Queries). There are discussions of an alternate through Jabalpur, but, the road conditions don't sound encouraging.

Originally Posted by Innysta

1. Which leg of the journey has the worst road?

At least between Chennai and Delhi, the worst stretch is from the Telangana - Maharashtra border till around Pandharkawada (about 80 km after entering Maharashtra). The potholes are sharp and deep. I suffered a sidewall damage on this stretch when driving on March 1, 2024. Though the Seoni - Sagar - Lalitpur stretch has bad patches, they are not unmanageable, and nowhere as bad as the Maharashtra border - Pandharkawada stretch.

Originally Posted by Innysta

1. Plan to break the journey at Hyderabad, Nagpur, Jhansi, Meerut, Haridwar, Badrinath - do you have better suggestion?

Instead of breaking the journey at Nagpur, you could consider halting at Seoni. The roads till Seoni are good. It'll allow you more time to tackle the Seoni - Sagar - Lalitpur section the following day.

Originally Posted by Innysta

1. Recommend hotels to stay as well

Hyderabad has too many options to suggest.
If you choose to stay at Nagpur, again, you should have several options, but, the Le Meridien, Radisson Blu, and Center Point, should all be good options. There should be more options to choose from.
If you choose to stay at Seoni, you could consider The Grand Rajwada or Vatika Celebrations.
At Jhansi, you could consider the Lemon Tree or Nataraj Sarovar Portico.

As an alternative to this entire route, you could consider the Chennai - Bangalore - Hubli - Mumbai - Ahmedabad - Delhi route. I haven't driven this stretch yet, but, I expect better road conditions and better wayside facilities along this route. You could refer to the Bangalore - Mumbai thread (Bangalore - Pune - Mumbai : Route updates & Eateries) and Mumbai - Delhi thread (Delhi - Mumbai : Route Queries) for additional details. The central India route has too few good wayside stops.

Cheers and happy driving!

[YD14]

Originally Posted by Innysta

Hi All - I'm planning to have family trip on this itinerary: Chennai-Badrinath-Varanasi-Konark-Chennai in last week of Apr. There are information available for Meerut-Badri leg of the journey but not as comprehensive and hence this individual post.

Badrinath temple's gates (kapath) will open on 12 May, 2024; before that you cannot visit the main mandir. Hopefully you are aware of that.

Any reason to break the journey at both Meerut and Haridwar? They are very close to each other. I will advice against Haridwar to Badrinath in one day. In the last week of April you will encounter a lot of traffic in Rishikesh and above. The roads aren't in best shape from Rishikesh to Badrinath and they are not going to improve as it is still raining here in Uttarakhand. Add traffic to them and progress can be really slow. If your stars align it is certainly doable, but if they don't your sweet roadtrip will turn into a nightmare. I say take precaution and would suggest these two options:

1. Instead of Haridwar make a stay in Devprayag or Srinagar. They are just 2-3 hour drive away on a day with moderate traffic and that will help you out on the next day.
2. Make it a two day journey with stay in Rudraprayag or Karnaprayag in the middle.