Kolkata to Delhi by car

Does anybody has any experience?

Fantastic Road , 4 lanes express highway , only
problem is Allahabad Bypass is still not completed,
you have to drive though the city which is bit
congested .

You can aim for 48 hours drive with a overnight
stopover at Varanasi .

I have driven couple of times , no problem
at All.

Cheers

Thanks for your advice. Any other suggestions?

Pretend your name is Kim and take the Grand Trunk Road.

Why? I could not really folow you.

Better to Drive in an Indian Registered Vehicle,
In Current security scenario I can foresee problems
with Bangladeshi Number plate.So far I have seen
only one car with BD number plate in Kolkata after
1971.

cheers

Chief: Some detailed info on the route, more possible stopovers and security tips for the Naxal prone areas would be great!

p.S. I want to ride a motorcycle back home from Delhi!

Cheers,
Shamik

My suggestion is to drive during daytime, Naxalite does
not make problems to a common motorist not even inside
deep orissa or Andhra, My Suggestion is to start from
Kolkata by early morning , by late afternoon or early
evening you will reach Varanasi , Take a rest overnight
at Varanasi, start early morning from Varanasi , by evening
you should be at Delhi, for Lunch you can stop at Mathura
or Agra, Road good Throughout the Route.

Please note you will be driving all through om NH2 (National
Highway 2 ) not GT Road ( Grand trank Road ) , GT road is
an old defunct road , which merges in some places with NH2,
Some of the popular Map books showed NH2 and GT Road is
same, but in practical these are two different Road.

You will enjoy True India while Driving.

Cheers

Hello Nasim,
Your feedback on your planned trip is not found. Do let us know about your experiences.
I had undertaken this journey along with my wife and 2 year old daughter from Kolkata to Delhi this April and did this distance in about 31 hours with planned stoppages at Shantiniketan (on family demand), Allahabad (my in-laws place) and Aligarh (my last posting). One can complete the trip in lesser time by following the NH-2. I had taken NH-91 from Kanpur to Aligarh as I intended to spend a day therein.
The only major problem faced by me was that I couldn't locate a decent restaurant anywhere in Jharkhand or Bihar area where I can enter with my family. Further, the quality of fuel was better in West Bengal and Jharkhand than what it was in Bihar and U.P. While my Wagon-R gave an average of about 18.5 in W.B., the same dropped to about 14 in U.P.
The road condition till about Allahabad is very good, except for the traffic coming on the wrong side of the road. The drive was better in Jharkhand and Bihar area than in U.P due to the increased number of deviders in U.P. resulting in higher traffic disturbances. Almost the entire district of Allahabad was a bad drive as the NH-2 is not done up here as yet. Kanpur district onwards was a great drive on NH-2. NH-91 is a very bad road to drive on and will not advice anyone to even try it .

Want to travel on 18th December 09 to Delhi by car with my wife and will be back by 28 December. Want to in detail about the road condition, security issues, and any other place that I can visit from Delhi. Looking forward for some valuable information and suggestion.

Please be aware of the fact that it might get foggy during the period in discussion, I'ld advice you not to take the roads especially during early morning or late evenings. Further, plan yourself not to stop anywhere in Bihar and Jharkhand (atleast that's what I did). Plan yourself to cross the Koderma area in the first half of the day, if you start early from a place like Durgapur or Asansol you'll be able to reach Varanasi or Allahabad by evening.
There are a number of place you can drive down to from Delhi like Agra, Shimla, Chandigarh, Bharatpur, Sariska, Nainital, Dehradun, Haridwar, Mussourie and so on. It will depend on your itinerary and your choice of places. You may like to have a look at the weekend getaways from Delhi on http://www.arounddelhi.com.
Hope I've been able to address to your query.

Regards,
Abhijit

Thanks a ton for your reply....

Now Allahabad bypass is also completed, only few KM stretches
near Bengal - Jharkhand border is under construction otherwise
complete stretch of this GQ is operational now. I drove kolkata
-Delhi - Jammu - Ladakh - Kolkata during end september , the
road was quite okay no problems whatsoever.

Cheers

@chief61

Would like to know your driving experience in Jammu-Ladakh section.Must have been a lifetime experience.

http://groups.google.com/group/hvkumar/web/GQ-6D.xls

You can trace the Delhi-Calcutta route in the above link, which is the detailed log book of our drive on the Golden Quadrilateral in Dec 08. Since then, apart from the Allahabad bypass being opened, there is no change.

You can do the drive in 2 days, with the ideal Day 1 halt would be Allahabad. Facilities are very bad in Jharkand, Bihar and UP. There are no safety concerns, but as a measure of abundant caution, I would avoid the Asanasol-Barhi-Varanasi sector in the night.