In the month of April, we (me, husband and brother) took a much needed break from our busy schedules (after all we had not traveled at all in the 1st quarter of 2013) and went for an extended weekend holiday to Bhimtal in Uttarakhand. The road trip from Delhi (where we live) to Bhimtal was as exciting as our stay. So, as I sat down to pen my experience of the Bhimtal Holiday, I felt I really had to share the exciting, back breaking (literally) and adventurous road trip from Delhi to Bhimtal.
We started off early in the morning, trying to avoid the long weekend traveler rush; not successful as we encountered a jam going out of Delhi Border. However, the road ahead became relatively free of traffic.
The Delhi to Bhimtal route is via National Highway 24 and 87 in Uttar Pradesh. While National Highway 24 is in relatively fine shape, the other highway (NH 87) in Uttar Pradesh is in bad shape; full of cracks & potholes and it was a bumpy ride as soon as we hit NH 87.
Our 1st pit stop was at Gajraula, where we stopped to refill air in our car tires, have breakfast & a loo break.
We hit the road again and post Gajraula (in the road stretch from Rampur to Rudrapur in Uttar Pradesh) the road became worse, there were so many bumps that I (who was sitting in the backseat) got a backache. However, there were some interesting photo opportunities too and I clicked what I could riding the bumpy road.
This milk truck must have been a regular on this route as it knew all the potholes and slowed down at the appropriate places. After a while, we started following it to avoid the potholes 🙂
The scenery on both sides of the road was interesting and we passed through large fields, canals and a river.
The google map says that it takes 5-6 hours to reach Bhimtal from Delhi, however, in reality, due to the bad road condition, it takes around 9-10 hours. We reached Kathgodam, which marks the beginning of the hilly road section of the trip, around noon. We were really hungry as our original guess was that we would reach Bhimtal by lunch!!
We had a light lunch at Udupiwala, which turned out to popular pit stop for travelers on this route of Uttarakhand. The food is good and hygienic, I particularly loved the coconut Uttapam.
Driving past Kathgodam, we soon saw the sign board which told us that Bhimtal was only 17 km away. We were happy!!!
The hills roads to Bhimtal were green and enchanting as they always are. The drive had turned pleasurable.
Soon we came to Bhimtal lake, which is the most popular attraction of Bhimtal. We stopped for a few minutes here and then drove the road higher above, as our accommodation for the holiday was located at a remote place and we still had another hour of drive.
As we drove to higher altitude, the views got prettier and prettier 🙂
We finally reached our destination in Bhimtal around late noon and were ready to crash. however, the beautiful views kept us awake for some longer time.
The road trip from Delhi to Bhimtal taught us the importance of not taking the time lines in google maps not seriously!! However, it was also another adventurous experience in our now increasing list of road trips to Uttarakhand.
The road trip from Delhi to Bhimtal taught us the importance of not taking the time lines in google maps not seriously!! However, it was also another adventurous experience in our now increasing list of road trips to Uttarakhand.
How was our stay at Bhimtal?? That’s coming in the next post 🙂
Get a Wildcard entry to Nano Drive with MTV at BlogAdda.com
I was looking for road journey experiences from Delhi to Bhimtal and see Google directed me to the right place. So this is like an 8 hours road trip… not bad. Thanks for the post.
It's always fun to get out on a road trip. The lake and scenery is lovely.
That awesome red building really caught my attention!
I enjoyed seeing your countryside, it's so beautiful. Your journey sounds interesting, long but interesting and you captured it magnificently.
Have a wonderful day!
Exciting road trip and awesome photos!
Great pics..:)
Looks like a fun trip to a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing..Have a great day!
Shantana
Wonderful captures from your road trip,
Last year we visited the place, I really enjoy the memories revisited.
Looks like a nice scenic drive. Too bad the potholes made you spend so much extra time on the roads.
Loved reading about your adventure..
Bhimtal looks beautiful!
http://www.thetimesofmanyphases.blogspot.com
Rampur to Rudrapur stretch used to be a smooth ride a decade ago. And it becomes really lovely beyond Kathgodam. This post reminds me of college. I graduated from GB Pant University, Pantnagar.
You seem to have had an exciting drive. Nice captures.
http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/05/haziness.html
Bhimtal is a preferred birding destination of the region. Interesting photographs.
wow …..such bful pics explaining everything abt your exp 🙂
u r a pro in road trip 🙂
Serene place indeed though the journey is rough!
Road trips are always fun. BTW, google map/timelines are not for Indian roads.
Beautiful shots too 🙂