Delhi to Kolkata Road trip .. and Back ?

750 km more? Just after 30 km this thought came to my mind, as I was crossing from Delhi to UP around 4 am !! It’s just the start of the Delhi to Kolkata Road trip and still 750+ Km to go before I reach even my mid-way night-halt for this mega drive !!. Delhi to Kolkata is about 1500 km, Varanasi almost the mid-point.

The lockdown gave me the time & idea to give this Road trip a try. I could work remotely and may not need to drive -back immediately. The news of rapidly improving road infrastructure also pushed the idea.

Research

• Checked travelers articles. Anything more than 1 or 2 years old had no relevance due to massive changes in the road infrastructure.
• Several different routes were suggested (other than the standard NH-19 route).
• Compared different routes from Team-BHP, google-map, blogs etc.
• YouTube had several videos by many car & two-wheeler travelers for this road trip.
• Finally shortlisted last 2-3 months feedback. Team-bhp.com was a good source for feedback, stay, diversions, constructions etc.

Route Summary

Two primary route options are as follows

• Delhi >> Agra (YEW) >> ALE >> Etawah (NH-19) >> Kanpur >> Prayagraj (NH-19) >> Varanasi >> Dhanbad >> Durgapur >> Kolkata

Or, you may take ..

• Delhi >> Agra (YEW) >> ALE >> Lucknow >> Raebareli (NH-30) >> Prayagraj (NH-19) >> Varanasi >> Dhanbad >> Durgapur >> Kolkata

For Kolkata to Delhi road trip, just the reverse..

Useful information:

• YEW: Yamuna Expressway (Delhi to Agra). UP state expressway.
• ALE: Agra Lucknow Expressway (Agra to Lucknow). UP state expressway.
• NH-19: National Highway-19 (Agra >> Varanasi >> Kolkata)
• Agra, Connection from YEW to ALE via a good bypass.
• Kanpur, has an old busy bypass.
• Prayagraj (Allahabad), has an excellent 80 km long bypass
• Lucknow, the route is from inside the city. So plan to avoid rush hour.

Travel Trivia

• Car used: Maruti Suzuki Baleno (Petrol).
• Delhi to Kolkata: Solo person/Driver.
• Kolkata to Delhi: 2 Adults + 1 kid.
• The primary route, NH-19, (previously NH-2 – new NH number Apr-2010) is almost parallel to the legendry G.T.Road (but not same).
• My first ultra-long drive (if we can call it that). Previous ones were in 6-8-hour range.
• I found the Durgapur expressway (NH-19) stretch most beautiful, maybe because of the greenery.
• Most of Jharkhand and Bihar had beautiful roads (NH-19).
• ALE and YEW were the fastest & easiest to drive, You will miss the traditional Indian highway with dhabas. These are UP-government expressways, not part of NH.
• On ALE, fuel/washrooms/amenities are well marked, but about 100 km apart. So, plan accordingly.
• For the under-repair bridge at the UP-Bihar border, I followed the locals for diversions (that don’t appear on google maps). Inputs from Team-BHP forums.
• The biggest risks for a road trip, as per me were stray animals. On several occasions, I saw cars/trucks suddenly avoiding a standing cow or a running dog. Observed numerous evidences (some old, some new) of animal hits on almost all the stretches of the roads.
• Take care to remain hydrated as AC/cold weather may not make you thirsty. Otherwise, you may feel lethargic.
• Carry at least 2-3 Liters of water per head, per day. Refill them during your stay to minimize plastic waste.
• The best washrooms are with petrol-pumps. Noticed that pumps away from populated areas were the cleanest.

Delhi to Kolkata road trip

Day1:
Started: Delhi (Dwarka), just before 4:00 am
Reached: Varanasi hotel at 8:00 pm
14-hour drive + 2-hour break = Total 16-hour journey time.
(~800 km Drive)

Day2:
Started: Varanasi hotel at 7:00 am
Reached: Durgapur town (Relative’s place) at 8:00 pm
11-hour drive + 2-hour break = Total 13-hour journey time.
(~500 km Drive)

Day3:
Started: Durgapur town (Relative’s place) at 10:00 am
Reached: Kolkata destination at 2:00 pm.
3.5-hour drive + 30-min break = Total 4-hour journey time.
(~200 km Drive)

Note: Drive-time is measured by the engine-running timer in the car-MID display.

Fuel

Tank-full start from Delhi, Dwarka.
Tank-full again just before Varanasi.
Reached Kolkata (and fueled up).
So, a single refuel on the entire route. Each tank-full gave ~780+ km range (with few liters remaining).

Delhi-Varanasi: 24.7 km/L (as per car-MID)
Delhi- – -Kolkata: 22.3 km/L (as per car-MID)
My observation is actual mileage is about 1km/L less than what the car-MID shows.

Complete Route Map

https://goo.gl/maps/Jv9xKJ6NsyAwPi428
Delhi >> Agra (YEW) >> ALE >> Etawah (NH-19) >> Kanpur>> Prayagraj (NH-19) >> Varanasi >> Dhanbad >> Durgapur >> Kolkata

Good ?:
Delhi >> YEW >> ALE >> Etawah >> Kanpur. Almost uninterrupted stretch.
Dhanbad >> Durgapur >> Kolkata. Smooth & green.
Most of Bihar and Jharkhand. Good roads, small hills, green fields.

Bad ?: Kanpur to Prayagraj, hundreds of construction activities. For about 4 hours, there is few mins of good road and few mins of diversion, continuously.

Ugly ?: UP-Bihar border Karmanasa bridge. Long jam for bridge-repair. Followed the locals for way-out.

NHAI is really in overdrive mode with a massive infrastructure boost. Many stretches were newly renovated and up-gradation ongoing for the rest. So maybe a year later, all this will be super smooth.

Stay:

There are almost no hotels on Highway. Few with ~5 mins detour. I also wanted to visit the Varanasi Ghats & RIver. (It was to be a late visit, as not possible to reach by Ganga-Aarati time, by starting at 4:00 am from Delhi.)

From map-study, the area between BHU and Assi-ghat, seemed a “possible zone to stay” for a road trip. Quick NH-19 entry/exit plus a short visit to the Ghats/River. The map below explains it. I selected ‘Sarweshwary hotel‘ (good parking area and easy entry/exit for NH-19). Even Radisson was available for a good deal, but it’s neither near NH-19 nor near the Ghats/river.

I reached the hotel at 8 pm. Kept luggage/changed and went out at 8:15pm to Assi ghat , 10 min walk away. Then extended the walk till the famous Dashashwamedh Ghat along the river (~2 km). It provided a fresh relief after a 16-hour drive. Also experienced a different chilled-out view of the city with groups strolling & singing songs on the well-lit ghats, buzzing river-side cafes.

The next day started at 7 am. Was out of Varanasi in 4-5 mins via Ramnagar bridge (in the map). Reached NH-19 a few km away in about 10 mins more.

Kolkata to Delhi road trip

The Kolkata Delhi Road trip was an equally enjoyable road trip.

Day 1:
Started: Kolkata at 10:00 am
Reached: Durgapur town (Relative’s place) at 2:00 pm
3.5-hour drive + 30-min break = Total 4-hour journey time.
(~200 km Drive)

Day 2:
Started: Durgapur town (Relative’s place) at 4:30 am
Reached: Varanasi hotel at 6:30 pm
11-hour drive + 3-hour break = Total 14-hour journey time.
(~500 km Drive)

Caution: Long traffic holdup at Karmanasa river for bridge repair. Followed the locals for fastest way out.

Day 3:
Started: Varanasi hotel at 6:00 am
Reached: Delhi at 12:00 midnight
14-hour drive + 4-hour break = Total 18-hour journey time.
(~800 km Drive)

(From Varanasi, we were not worried about the relatively late start + relaxed breaks, as we knew that YEW and Delhi will be easy to drive even after dark, and Delhi / NCR roads were familiar).

Stay at Varanasi:

Stayed at “Hotel Temple on Ganges“, Varanasi
This has sufficient parking of its own. About 2 mins walk from Assi Ghat.
It’s one of the very few hotels, within walking distance from the river, and with their own parking.
This time I spent 2 nights at the hotel to explore the Ganga Ghats, Vishwanath-temple, city,food, riverside-cafes, Thandai, boat-ride, and the Vibes of one of the oldest cities known to human civilization. This also provided a refreshing break for the drive.

Complete route map (Kolkata to Delhi), I followed
https://goo.gl/maps/Go8RSzxkamZ7vk8WA
Kolkata >> Durgapur (NH19) >> Dhanbad >> Varanasi >> Raebareli (NH30)>> Lucknow >> ALE >> Agra (YEW) >> Delhi

Good ?: Kolkata >> Durgapur >> Dhanbad. Excellent & continuous good roads.
Bad ?: Aurangabad >> Dehri. Occasional diversions and bad patch near Dehri bridge
Ugly ? : Mohania toll-booth with a long truck pileup. Karmanasa Bridge traffic due to ongoing repair.

Food

Like any other Indian highway, there are numerous restaurants & dhabas, big and small. Except ALE, you always get something to eat within 20-30 mins. Generally difficult to get hot breakfast before 7 or 8 am.
Some food items to spice up the Delhi Kolkata road trip are ..

• Khullad Chai at Shiva Dhaba, YEW
• Thandai at Godowlia, Varanasi
• Simple Dal-tadka & Roti at any dhaba in Bihar
• KheerMohan at Chouparan, Jharkhand
• Langcha at Shaktigarh, West Bengal

Toll Plazas & charges

Toll (Delhi to Kolkata road trip)

In this Delhi Kolkata Road trip, helped a lot to avoid queues and cash transactions. Fastag is a new adoption. Some toll lanes were slower to read, some faster. If they cannot read a valid tag, they have to let go for free. I think was not charged at one or two places 🙂

Toll (Kolkata to Delhi road trip)

YEW and Agra-bypass are not NH, but are expected to start accepting Fastag soon.

YEW Update:
As per reports, YEW is expected to take FastTag from 15-June-2021 onwards,

Overall a memorable Delhi to Kolkata Road trip by car.
3,000+ km, across 5 states.
Different roads, beautiful landscapes.
Lots of eateries & numerous memories.
Happy Travelling !!

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