Short travelogue on my recent
Pune – Noida – Delhi – Pune trip via Agra (upwards) and via Jaipur (return) respectively.
Dates:25 Jan'19 - 5th Feb 2019
Ride: Tata Tiago Diesel (85000 kms driven as on 10th Feb 2019)
Distance covered: 3500 kms approx.
Fuel efficiency:19.4 kmpl overall (70% Non Ac). Full-on luggage with 2 suitcases on roof carrier.
Plan: There was no such plan to do Pune to Delhi by road. No new assignments lined up in the office, hence apt time for outdoorsy activities.
Flight tickets are expensive on short notice, I calculated approx 11-12k for whole journey including food and taxi fare. Next option was train and tickets weren't available in the next 2-3 days or else I need to pay extra for tatkal tickets.
A colleague of mine suggested ride sharing option in BlaBla App and that worked very nicely for me. I posted Pune – Delhi ride with stopovers at Indore & Agra and within 24 hours got 2 bookings, one each for Indore and Agra. Both of them weren’t getting reasonable transport at the last moment, plus the one upto Agra had to carry a puppy which he can’t take along otherwise in First AC Coupe.
So the ride got planned on 25th Jan from Bhumkar Chowk. Fellow guys were waiting for me at Mundhwa and Kharadi respectively. But it was Friday and the Pune traffic was a nightmare. I started at 6 p.m. sharp from Talwade and reached Mundhwa by 8.45 p.m and then Kharadi at 9.30 p.m., 3 hours behind schedule. But that's how our ride begun.
Route (Upwards): Pune (Kharadi Bypass) – Ahmednagar bypass – Shirdi – Manmad – Malegaon – Indore (bypass) – Dewas – Sehore – Biaora – Guna – Shivpuri (bypass) – Gwalior (bypass) – Agra – Noida (via YEX).
Google Maps: Link Road Condition:
From kharadi bypass to Ahmednagar bypass, road is in good condition. There was congestion at Wagholi, Ranjangaon and Ahmednagar Bypass. Even though I was following interstate pvt buses, none of them took Ahmednagar bypass towards Shirdi instead all went straight to Ahmednagar City. But we took left for and after few kms road become nonexistent. Then Took right from MIDC junction via Nagapur MIDC joined Ahmednagar Shirdi highway. Refer image below
From there, within 2.5- 3 hours we crossed Shirdi, Manmad and touched NH3 at Malegaon bypass.
Kharadi – Malegaon section is toll free.
From Malegaon, NH3 is butter smooth, well surfaced upto MH-MP border at Sendhwa/Julwania. There are annoying rumble strips on every village crossing. Afterwards highway is smooth but not consistently surfaced, patch works going on in ghats, inappropriate markings, out of nowhere speed bumps. Thankfully didn’t notice stray dog/cattle/sheep and we maintained decent speeds of 80-100 kmph respectively.
By 7.45 a.m. we reached Indore Megacity Circle where I dropped first fellow and then continued towards Dewas after tea breaks.
Between Indore and Dewas NH3 is all good but 2 kms before Labour Colony Dewas, dual carriageway and flyover constructions are going on hence one has to be careful as to drive on which side of the road because inbound and outbound traffic drives on the same lane.
Then we right towards Bhopal and the good 4 lane continued upto Sehore. Originally our plan was to take Bhopal bypass but randomly we state this highway at Sehore and turned left for Biaora. It wasn’t a good decision although we touch-base NH3 in the next 2.5-3 hours as one has to be pass through Sehore and other villages.
Sehore – Shyampur section is narrow, single lane and I was considerably slowing down to let the heavy vehicles pass from the opposite direction. Dual carriageway works are going on between Shymapura and Biaora. We maintained average speed of 50 kmph. It was afternoon and the traffic volume was high. As usual no markings, diversions etc.
Sehore – Shyampur – Biaora is toll free
Biaora - Guna – Shivpuri section is amazing and scenic. But I was driving my puny 1.0 litre diesel, I couldn’t exceed 100 kph, but this section tempts you to drive hard to test your vehicle limits.
Then Shivpuri bypass was quite narrow, potholed and congested. It was evening and thankfully we spotted some bikanerwala sort of eatery. We rested for about an hour after filling our stomachs.
Then the bumpy ride continued upto 8-10 kms more.
By 10 we reached Gwalior bypass and took the usual ORR to skip Gwalior. It is a longer detour but zippy enough to reach the other side in 25-30 minutes. Gwalior to Agra section is usual 4 lane with traffic 24 by 7, patchy sections, bumps. You quit MP, enter Rajasthan and then enter UP.
By midnight we reached Dayalbagh (Agra) and dropped the other fellow and his dog. In the next 2 hours I reached Noida sector 41 via YEX.
Tolls:
From Malegaon till Agra, paid via PayTm FastTag.
From Agra to Noida, paid 415 rupees by Credit card
Journey: Nonstop (no night halts, only food breaks, dog refreshment breaks), commenced in 30 hours from Kharadi bypass.
Journey(Return): Noida Sector-41 – Delhi Ring Road – NH8 – 100 ft Ajmer Bypass Road (Jaipur) – Kishengarh – Chittorgarh (bypass) – Manpur (NH3) – Malegaon – Chandwad – Pangri – Nandur Shingote – Chakan – Pune
This is one familiar route from Delhi to Pune so I am not going to talk about this much. Just follow google maps and take care of live traffic & diversions between Delhi and Jaipur
Also note that booth operators between Chittorgarh and Manpur aren't taking FasTags and all tolls has to be paid by cash
Those heading towards Eastern Pune may take Malegaon – Shirdi – Ahmednagar route as mentioned in my onward journey.
Those heading towards Western Pune, please avoid Chandwad – Pangri – Nandur Shingote/Sinnar route as suggested by google maps, which I took.

Instead follow NH3 upto Nashik bypass and detour towards Pune.
Road condition:Excellent in Rajasthan & Maharashtra, Good in MP and Haryana, Average to nonexistent and haunted between Chandwad and Nandur Shingote
Journey: Nonstop (no night halts, only food breaks), commenced in 30 hours from Dhaula Kuan to Bhumkar Chowk.