[StreetRider]

As all good thing happen, a chain of events triggered my visit to the MahaKumbh 2025. The same chain of events had set in motion that this will be a Road Trip.. Road Trip from Pune to Pragyaraj.

While i have driven long distance nothing close to this distance, but then this time i have my XUV7OO next to me. It certainly gave me all the confidence i needed. Some quick search on the net and forums including fellow BHPians got the required details around road conditions. and we had set this in motion in one days' time. Evening 7:00 booked the place where we will stay at Pragyaraj and we were all set, rest of the bookings we decide to to it dynamically based on the progress we make with the drive.

Started with a plan of Pune > Nagpur (stay) > Pragyaraj (stay) > Nagpur (stay) > Pune, so this was supposed to be a quick visit, Thursday to Sunday.

Those getting on this trip all set, me, wify, brother-in-law (BIL) and his spouse

Took care of office stuff and decided to carry it along just incase

Route Plan: Pune> Chakan> Sinnar> Samruddhi Expressway > Nagpur > Jabalpur > Rewa > Pragyaraj

Day 1 : Thursday
Started from Pune at 06:50. Pune to Chakan was breeze and without any major traffic issues crossed notorious Chakan.

Road till Samruddhi Expressway is mix bag, but by and large no major issues. There is work that is in progress on the highway so do lookout for the diversions

Had breakfast before entering the expressway (Saiprasad Restaurant) given that the expressway is known to not have many options. Hit the express way by around 10:15

Samruddhi is fantastic as so many have claimed and mentioned. Given that this was my first drive on Samruddhi it certainly made a fantastic impressive as you join the expressway.

As has been the feedback, Samriddhi can be too monotonous and boring, you should keep yourself active with regular breaks, conversations, music and observing things around. Fueling stations at regular intervals offer facilities of washroom and quick tea/ coffee.

We refueled at BPCL (Shree Ram Corporation) had a quick filter coffee and moved ahead from there. A couple of breaks along the way and exited Expressway approx. 15:45. Transferred control to the XUV7OO to my BIL somewhere along the way and took the co-passenger seat.

After commuting with the Nagpur bypass, which is a huge one and navigating through not the best roads we were on our way to Jabalpur. but before a pitstop for refueling.

MP Roads are nice and a pleasure to drive, OfCourse some maintenance work along the way, but not much to complaint. Unlike Maharashtra roads which are quite busy, MP roads offer a largely peaceful drive. Encountered multiple tolls along the way and will give details later on.


The highway gave a glimpse of Pench, inviting us to spend more time there, but time was not on our side. On our way, after some though of breaking at Jabalpur or Rewa, we decided to break at Jabalpur. Booked a hotel as we travelled towards Jabalpur - Hotel Onyx Inn Zero Degree. Nothing fancy, very basic place, to crash for the night. Settled on this place after checking a few places ad ruled out as they had some wedding functions planned.

Had dinner at a place Badkul - Jabalpur, as recommended to us. Turned out to be a good place.

Day 2: Friday
- As had decided the day before we started early from Jabalpur. Before started happned to interact with a family from Gujrat, who had stayed at the same place and were returning back after visiting Pragyaraj (MahaKunbh). Brief feedback, gave a very positive review of the overall experience and the roads.
Started from Jabalpur at around 06:20. As we progressed we encountered some fog, but not dense/ thick enough to stop the travel. Road condition was good with a few exceptions.

Had breakfast at GuruKripa Dhaba at around 08:00 and then continued ahead.

Entereed Pragyaraj at around 11:00 and then after some struggle with the maps reached our resort by 11:30.

Living Greens is a wonderful place, we liked the setup and the vibe in general. My earlier interactions with the owner were positive and then with the hotel staff was equally warm.

After quick refreshments, we immediately decided to take the plunge and headed for the Arial Ghat as was recommended to us by the staff. Along the way we saw a lot of designated parking spots which were quite some distance away from the ghat. These areas served as the parking areas during the peak dates and were all vacant when we crossed them.

Wonderful vibe, setup and arrangement. we could see a lot of cops and support staff everywhere. We were already informed that since we are not on a peak date, we will be luck and can take the vehicle very close to the ghat. We fumbled a bit, but then a traffic cop advised us route and suggested that we should take the car close down and there is enough parking there (as it was not a peak date).


After a bit of bargaining, we settled on 1300 Rs for the 4 of us to the Sangam, at Sangam another 200 Rs for using the place. While the official ratecard mentioned 75 per person, I doubt if that is being adhered to.

At the Sangam, being well prepared with dry fit clothes made things easier. For the ladies we did not opt to use the make shift setup at the platform and preferred to be back and the banks. The banks has ample changing room provisions in place and best to get changed there.

Once in dry clothes we decided to explore the Killa Ghat and Akhar fort area. A short 30 min painful (traffic) drive and we parked our vehicle at the designated parking spot, paid 50Rs for the parking and we were on foot exploring the place and the divinity.

Spent time at Killa Ghat and continued our walk along the sangam banks. Wonderful vibe, energy and atmosphere. Long queue at the "Bade HAnuman" meant that we had to skip and decided to explore around. Decided to head back to our place after the respective better halfs were satisfied.


Day 3: Saturday
After an early morning tea at 06:10 we decided to make the move and started at around 06:25. This time around we had thicker fog than before and this slowed us down.

Continued through the fog at safe speed. Refueled at a BPCL - COCO in UP after 30 odd mins. This was a good pump with elaborate setup for refreshing (including bathing). Fuel prices in UP were cheap by ~3 Rs as against those in Maharashtra, got the tank full done that will take us through till Nagpur and beyond.

After contemplating if we should go beyond Nagpur, we decided to stay at Nagpur along our route, but decided to add Bhedaghat to our itinerary.

This was a good addition to the trip. Enroute had breakfast at Wayside Restaurant - Katni (before Katni) on the other side of our travel. Very good place, neat and clean. Food was also wonderful.

Reached Bhedaghat Boating point ~12:30. Paid for the list to the boating point and this also gave us the parking spot. Wonderful to see the Marbel rock faces and the wonderful narration by the guide as well. Paid the official charges of 800 Rs. and then later the additional tip.

As was the template, we had booked a hotel at Nagpur as we were travelling. Highway Relax Inn would be our place to crash. Again nothing fancy, we wanted a place that would not need a detour.

Day 4: Sunday
Started our last leg back to Pune at 06:10. Refueled, incidentally another BPCL pump. This one on the highway was not so well maintained, specifically the washrooms. Quick Tea/ coffee/ snax and off we go.

sparse traffic on the expressway, as we crossed Ch. Sambhajinagar, the number of vehicles improved. Couple of breaks along the stretch and we were through the expressway.

Had lunch at Akshay Family Garden Restaurant and that would see us though in the last leg till Pune. This time as well we got lucky to not experience the Chakan traffic (may be the visit to Kumbhmela is playing a role here ) and till reaching home around 16:00

Note: Consider the recent news on massive traffic jam along the MP - UP roads leading to Pragyaraj, Do validate the latest when you plan.