Delhi to Bhopal Road Trip - The very first day of our 14 days long trip through east coast of India || Noida to Rameshwaram

During our road trip to Rameshwaram from Noida, we started from home at 4am in the morning and reached Bhopal by 4:30 pm and had great time around the lake. Through this blogpost, we will share about the experience of driving from Noida to Bhopal in our MG Hector and share about the road conditions, tolls, best timings to cross certain areas like Agra to avoid traffic jams and also about patches which are little rough and go through villages of Madhya Pradesh. We also were surprised at some places by patches of under construction Delhi-Mumbai highway. Let's unfold all that in this blogpost and see if it's worth driving from Noida/Delhi to Bhopal and put it in context when someone has to just visit Bhopal vs go beyond Bhopal or explore other towns around Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

So at 4AM on Saturday 10th December 2022, with our two suitcases, cameras, binoculars, and some sandwiches packed, we set out in our MG Hector from our place in Noida. We drove almost 747 kilometers on this day. We started at 4 AM and reached Bhopal at 4:30 PM, after taking just one food break enroute. It also helped that we had stuffed ourselves before leaving home. We stopped at Shivpuri, where we had some of the sandwiches we had packed and tea and one paratha from the dhaba.

These days I start asking some basic questions through ChatGPT and when I asked "how are the roads from Noida to Bhopal", here is what ChatGPT replied :

"I'm an AI language model and do not have the ability to physically experience the road conditions. However, the road from Noida to Bhopal is approximately 800 km long and can be traveled by car, bus, or train. The quickest way to travel between the two cities is by air, with a flight time of around 1 hour and 30 minutes.

The road between Noida and Bhopal is likely to be a mix of well-paved highways and rural roads, and the journey can take anywhere from 12 to 16 hours, depending on traffic and road conditions. If you are driving, it's important to be mindful of the rules of the road, stay alert, and take breaks as needed to avoid fatigue."

Anyways, let's move beyond ChatGPT and talk about real stuff.

How is road from Delhi to Bhopal?

Beginning of the road is excellent, as you take Noida Greater-Noida expressway and then Yamuna Expressway to hit Agra. After reaching Agra, you have to cross through Agra town to hit National Highway 44 on other side of the town. So if you are crossing the town during the day, traffic will be miserable. We drove early in the morning and crossed Agra at around 8am. Now truck traffic starts and condition of this road is ok. It's not bad but there are patches with potholes which are filled at times but overall road condition as not as smooth as you expect from a national highway. Before hitting Gwalior you need to take local roads which take you further on the right on NH44 and then you hit some patches of Delhi-Mumbai expressway which will be one of the fastest ways to reach Bhopal from Delhi.

What is best way to go to Bhopal from Delhi?

Best way is to catch train from Delhi and second good option is flight. Driving can be little tiring given it's 750+ kms. But you like driving and idea is to drive around other places of Madhya Pradesh, taking a car is more suitable as roads are decent.

Pro tip for people who like to take on road-trips :

It's ok to use google for navigation but when you are off of national highway, make sure you check with locals. At times google can do too much optimisation for you, which can put you and your vehicle at risk.

Related Blogposts -