[ntomer]

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

@ntOMER
i will be gng in my safari so bad roads are still fine and can u plz suggest any gud place/facilities for staying in dhanulti rather than mussoorie

The Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Guest House in Dhanauli is pretty good, you can get the booking from their Delhi offices. You will get the contact details from Gmvnl.com

Cheers

Nitin

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by dadu

Having travelled on those routes extensively for many years and having myself escaped facing armed dacoits on a Delhi-Mussorie trip.

We were in a group and the bus driver saw them on a jeep approacing, armed and had to reverse the bus for quite some distance in the dead of the night till we met few other buses and everyone stopped there, until escorted by a police jeep.

You havent experienced it does not mean it doesnt happen. Better to be safe than sorry.

Hi Dadu,

I belong to Bulandshahar, one of more notorious towns in Western UP, and am currently based in Delhi/Noida for 10 years (of 29 years on my existence on Mother Earth). I travel regularly to my home town at odd hours, with my wife and kid, and believe me never had any reason to be afraid of.

About the incident you had, it is hard to believe for me. The road you are talking about is NH-58, which is very busy at all hours. Or did you take the Loni short-cut, which sure is un-safe at night.

Cheers

Nitin

[dadu]

I agree Bulandshahar is also notorious and it was personally experienced by me, so believe ot or not, it was on NH-58, many cars/buses stopped at that time, since everyone was alarmed.

I am not saying that you should be afraid, lots of people travel at night on those roads but its better to avoid if you can.

I have travelled in the heart of Punjab Villages during the peak of terrorism without fear, in my family car but people having no work usually avoided it, not that I am comparing the two situations here.

Originally Posted by ntomer

Hi Dadu,

I belong to Bulandshahar, one of more notorious towns in Western UP, and am currently based in Delhi/Noida for 10 years (of 29 years on my existence on Mother Earth). I travel regularly to my home town at odd hours, with my wife and kid, and believe me never had any reason to be afraid of.

About the incident you had, it is hard to believe for me. The road you are talking about is NH-58, which is very busy at all hours. Or did you take the Loni short-cut, which sure is un-safe at night.

Cheers

Nitin

[Shankyz]

Hang on guys, why debate on it ?

I have travelled on Delhi - Roorkee route extensively for 3 years , almost on every weekend, initially all roadways buses leaving after 10 PM used to wait at Merrut (While going from Delhi - Haridwar) or Roorkee (While coming from Haridwar - Delhi). A convoy was formed of almost 10 buses and they will start only after that, no bus will speed and go ahead etc, they will move in group till we reach Mujaffarnagar and sometimes Merrut.

Some of my friends were looted when the roadways bus they were travelling in was hijacked , taken off the highway and every one was made to part from the cash, jewellery, mobile phones etc etc.

It doesn't mean that everyone who travels at night on Delhi - Haridwar route is looted but it is risky since some incidents have happened, so why take risk when it can be avoided ?

I guess some places, routes are relatively safer than others, and if one can gain little more safety and peace of mind by taking few precautions, it is best.

Anyways, from driving perspective too, Delhi - Haridwar route is not very good at night due to the poor conditions of roads etc.

my 2 cents....

Lets put the debate to rest now and give Sunny some more suggestions, like good places to visit, hotels to stay or avoid :-)

[vkochar]

Well I have been staying in UP for the last 14 years now. Things used to be bad at one time a decade back but these last 3 - 4 years things have drastically improved.

I know people who only travel at nights when going to Haridwar / Rishikesh / Doon / Mussoorie.

Of course one has to be careful when travelling at night. The only thing you should be careful is not to stop anywhere, only at places like cheetal & A1 plazas.

BUT if you are in a Safari - Sweat not !! No one dare touch you !!!

[vkochar]

Well coming back to the actual thread - Hotels in Mussoorie.

What is yr budget Sunny ? If around the 10,000 Budget - go for the Claridges Nabha Palace - Old World Charm at its luxurious best !!!

I stayed there with wifey , took along a bottle of Absolut .. hmmm.. I so wish I could be back there.

Another good thing about Claridges is that when you want to go to the market - they have shuttles available - you can leave yr car in the hotel - their qualis / innova drops you and pick you up free !! Good thing considering their market is so packed that you cannot take yr car inside.

Another very good option is Avalon resorts !! But its location is right in the middle of Mall road, so getting your car / truck in there can be a quite a task !!

Check out - Nabha Palace Mussoorie: Best Hotel in Mussoorie, Luxury Resort in Mussoorie

[simply_sunny001]

Thanks guys

i checked out the web for Avalon Resorts and its looks fine to me
problem is i like staying at calm places but GF likes to stay somewhere near to Mall

will decide after reaching there but have few options in mind,lets see what she agrees to

[iraghava]

Frankly, I think the UP road situation has been exaggerated way out of proportion. It is certainly not as bad as some people are making it out to be. I travel on UP highways every week & have been doing so for the past 15 years and have not faced a problem till now, even though I travel at all kinds of times.

Only thing is you got to be a little careful & aware of your surroundings. And yes, this stuff used to be a major problem till the late-90's but nowadays these incidents are unheard of.

A few tips for travellers on the dreaded UP roads:

1. Fill fuel from good pumps in major towns.
2. Don't stop for food/convenience etc. in the middle of nowhere, prefer to stop at places which are crowded or within a major town (especially if you're traveling at night).
3. Don't stop to help people on the highways unless they are known to you.
4. Be aware of animals/villagers/jaywalkers/cyclists/tractors using the road as their personal fiefdom.
5. Get used to being blinded by high beams on all vehicles.

And, please only travel at night if you know for sure that you have a reliable car. Help points on the highways are few and far, better not to risk it.

[cutdcrap]

@simply sunny001:

I have been to Mussoorie recently, and would say:

Ghaziabad --->Merrut --->Muzzaffarnagar --->Roorkee --->Dehradun --->Mussoorie

It is the best route, but note that after Roorkee you have the option to bypass Haridwar enroute Mussoorie.If you decide to visit Haridwar, then you can reach Dehradun via Rishikesh. The route via Rishikesh is more scenic than bypassing Haridwar. Choice is yours.

From Noida, travel through Shopprix Mall, if coming from Sector 18, travel towards Fortis Hospital and merge on the road that goes from Shipra Mall to Ghaziabad. Then take a left turn from Lal Kuan and cross Ghaziabad to reach Meerut highway.

1. The roads are fine, not the quality of Delhi-Chandigarh or Delhi-Jaipur. After Meerut bypass, you will majorly have narrow roads, I mean the ones without dividers. After Meerut, road constructions are on full swing and you may occassionally be driving/trailing vehicles on wrong side. All this will, needless to say, slow your speed.
2. Please do not travel in this route at night. Its not safe, and with GF, dont even think about it!!!
3. First ideal stop should be Cheetal, as vkochar correctly pointed. Then depending if you want to bypass Haridwar or not, next stop should be Haridwar/Rishikesh, or Dehradun.
Tank up at Dehradun; Uttaranchal and Delhi prices are not much varied. Take a food halt at Pizza Hut. I suggest before you start for Mussoorie, try a place in Dehradun called Sahastradhara. It is a lovely stream of water, now commercialised, but the drive towards it is lovely with the mountains in the backdrop. Enjoy some time in cool waters with GF, click some pics and cool off..
Mussoorie is roughly 30-35kms from Dehradun, so it makes sense to enjoy Sahastradhara.
4. Frankly, Mussoorie is nothing but crap, and there isnt much to do except pay 100bucks every time you enter with your car on Mall road. My suggestion would be to bypass Mussoorie on the ascend from Dehradun and take the diversion towards Dhanaulti. It is an extremely quiet place, the one that you would cherish with your GF, IMO.But then, your GF wants to stay near the mall...Your call again..Not much to do again, but you can hear the silence and the peace there is so invigorating. Hotels are quite cheap..Would recommend staying overnight at Dhanaulti, doing a small trek in evening at having Maggi at the only stall that opens till late evening. By that time, you would want to sleep.

If you start at 5-ish on Saturday morning, you will reach 12 at Roorkee and around 2 at Dehradun..Sahastradhara should take another 2-3 hrs and by 5 you should start ascending..Around 7-ish you should be in Dhanaulti, but beware, the road towards Dhanaulti is much narrow and slightly broken.These are my estimates and your timings may vary.

Second day, start around 8 from Dhanaulti towards Mussoorie and enjoy the mall road, which should have open shops by 9-9.30am. Then travel towards Kempty Falls, but beware that weekends will mean less parking space and lots of crowd. I dont know if its my luck or what, but I have managed to always find loafers and unwanted idiots at Kempty Falls..At afternoon, the place will be very humid, so be prepared for it especially after the cold night at Dhanaulti..

Start the descend and head for Noida again.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your drive!!!

Its not the destination, but the journey that counts

[lordofgondor]

@simply sunny001:

The drive from Noida to Dhanaulti (310 Km) is pretty comfortable if you start early, say around 5 AM. I'd gone there in the last week of July and it took me around 8 hours with stops for breakfast, beers and lunch. The route was same the one as pointed by cutdcrap. There's very little traffic early morning so you can just zip through Ghaziabad --->Merrut --->Muzzaffarnagar --->Roorkee but are gonna hit some crawling traffic in Dehradun. Do try and take the shortcut near the Doon Bus Depo which leads you straight to the Rajpura road, and you might avoid the traffic substantially. There're plenty of good lunching options at Rajpura road, from Fast food joints, to pizzas to family restaurants. After that it's the climb to Mussorie, which IMHO is better avoided, Dhanaulti being a lot better. If you decide to go to Dhanaulti, stay at Apple Orchid Resorts (1st choice) or the GMVN tourist house and if you like Italian cuisine, a visit to Andiji's Cafe is recommended but do watch out for his 2 pet dogs which tend to be over friendly to strangers! Also do watch out for rains and driving through clouds, which make it real foggy, but the drive is pretty scenic. Also if you stay in Dhanaulti, I recommend taking the drive to Chamba, but avoiding entering the town as it tends to be crowded. Do take care to tank up in Dehradun.

[wanderernomad]

Guys I dont know if any of you have ever tried the route I am going to detail below. It is a mite longer but then you save on a lot of things like fuel temper,bad roads, unruly people, fear and the time taken is almost equal.
Take the Delhi Chandigarh Highway till Sahabad. After crossing the Markanda river bridge take a right turn after about 700 mts and continue till Sahzadpur. Just before Sahzadpur take a right towards Naraingarh and continue straight till Kala Amb. There enter Himachal and go to Paunta Sahib, cross the yamuna and go to Herbertpur. From here there are two choices if you want to touch Dehradun go straight ahead or if you are more adventorous sort take a left turn towards Dakpathar and continue towards Yamuna Pull. From there take a right to Mussorie.
Benefits:-
1. Good roads.
2. More places to see enroute..the historic gurudwara @ Paonta Sahib, Barrage across the Yamuna @ Dakpathar, Campty falls enroute to Mussoorie, excellent drive in the hills between Kala Amb-Paonta and then between Dakpathar-Mussoorie.
Time required : Delhi-Shahbad 3.5 hrs, Shahbad-KalaAmb 1 hr, KalaAmb-Paonta 1 hr, Paonta-Dak pathar 30 mins, DakPathar-Yamuna Pull 45 mins, YamunaPull-Mussoorie 1 hr: Total time about 7.45 hrs. All you ahve to avoid is not making the Paonta-Dakpathar stretch after say 10 pm thats all.
If it sounds interesting PM me for the other details.

[architect]

Reviving an old thread.

I have an early morning appointment at Dehra Dun on a Sunday Morning in April. Before people suggest I drive (actually in my case, walk) across to Nizamuddin station and take the 11.00 p.m. train to Dehradun, let me explain the catch: I have to be in Delhi by evening after my appointment, for which timing there are no trains. So because of my return schedule, I have to take my Palio.

Can anyone offer any advice / information about the following programme?

1. Leaving Delhi for Dehradun on Sunday early morning is not really feasible and cutting it too fine. So I intend to drive down on Saturday afternoon and spend the night in Dehradun. Realistically speaking, what time should I leave Delhi in order to cross Roorkee (basically cross infamous U.P. roads) by dusk and reach Dehradun by 8.00 pm or so?

2. I know Delhi-Meerut would take 2-2.5 hours. How long would it take from Meerut to Dehradun? I know its about 170 kms.

3. Any pointers in terms of routes and by-passes? I am taking the Delhi - Mohan Nagar - Ghaziabad - Modinagar - Meerut (by-pass) - Muzaffarnagar - Roorkee - Chhutmalpur - Dehradun route. Is there a by-pass for Muzaffarnagar?

4. How are the roads after Meerut? I am familiar with Delhi-Meerut. I believe it's similar ahead except for being undivided. Is it much worse than that?

Thanks in advance.

[gd1418]

Take the 11 pm train to Doon on Saturday and return next day evening by the Shatabdi.

Originally Posted by architect

Reviving an old thread.

I have an early morning appointment at Dehra Dun on a Sunday Morning in April. Before people suggest I drive (actually in my case, walk) across to Nizamuddin station and take the 11.00 p.m. train to Dehradun, let me explain the catch: I have to be in Delhi by evening after my appointment,
Thanks in advance.

[architect]

gd sir jee

That's the whole point in taking the car. The Shatabdi will reach Delhi back at night. My work in DDN will be over by 11.00 AM-12.00 Noon and I have to be in Delhi by evening.

[Parm]

its better if you go to Simla than massoorie!

4 hrs to Chd and another 2 hrs to simla! we always did that starting from NOIDA.

better roads, safer roads, better night stay options, better places to visit besides simla!

much safer with a female companion!