How to plan a road trip
By Ganesh ·
How to plan a road trip in India. Choosing the route, a sensible daily driving limit, mapping the days and drive times, fuel, tolls and stops, car and documents, offline prep, and a sample 5-day Bengaluru–Chikmagalur–Coorg–Mysuru loop.
The short answer: to plan a road trip, pick a realistic loop or one-way route, cap your driving at about 4–6 hours a day (less in the mountains), book the nights where you'll arrive late or that sell out, and plan fuel, tolls, food and rest stops along the way. Build the route day by day on a map so you can see the real drive times, keep one easy day for every few driving days, and share the plan with your co-travellers. Below is a step-by-step method and a sample 5-day South India road trip planned in Sancharees.
Distances and drive times below are approximate. Traffic, ghat roads and weather change them.
Step 1: Choose the route shape
- Loop: start and end at home. No one-way car-rental fees, easy to adjust.
- One-way: fly or take a train back; covers more ground (common for Manali–Leh or a coastal run).
- Hub and spoke: stay in one or two bases and do day drives, best with children or older parents.
Step 2: Set a daily driving limit
The most common mistake is too much driving. A good rule of thumb for Indian roads: 250–350 km a day on highways and expressways, 120–200 km in the hills, and fewer kilometres again on ghat roads or in the monsoon. Add time for meals, photo stops and traffic in and out of cities. Start early (the first hours after sunrise are the easiest driving of the day) and avoid driving on unfamiliar hill roads after dark.
Step 3: Build the route on a map
In Sancharees, create a trip with your dates, then add each day's stops in order, with the travel mode set to Drive between them. The map draws the road route and the day shows estimated driving time. If a day has too much travel or too many stops, it is flagged as a packed day ("Long travel day" once driving alone passes about seven hours), so you can split it or move a stop.
Add your nightly stays: the timeline then includes the drive from last night's hotel to the first stop and on to tonight's hotel, so the day's real length is visible.
Step 4: Plan the stops between the big sights
- Fuel: fill up before long stretches through forests, ghats and remote areas; carry a little cash for pumps that don't take cards or UPI.
- Tolls: make sure your FASTag is active and topped up; Google Maps can show estimated tolls on many routes.
- Food: note a good breakfast place an hour into each day and a lunch stop around the midpoint.
- Rest: plan a short break every two hours of driving, and swap drivers if you can.
Step 5: Prepare the car and documents
- Get the car serviced; check tyres (including the spare), brakes, lights, wipers and coolant.
- Carry your driving licence, registration certificate, insurance and PUC certificate. DigiLocker or mParivahan copies are accepted for many documents.
- For a rental car, read the kilometre limits, inter-state permits and damage terms.
- Pack a first-aid kit, phone chargers, a torch, drinking water and snacks.
Step 6: Book what matters, keep the rest flexible
Book the nights where you'll arrive after dark, popular weekend stays and anywhere with few hotels. Leave a day or two open if you like to wander. Forward each hotel confirmation to your Sancharees forwarding address and it lands on the right night of the trip.
Step 7: Get ready for no signal
- Download offline Google Maps for the region before you leave.
- Install Sancharees on your phone and open the trip, the last version you opened stays readable offline, view-only.
- Open each day's route in Google Maps for turn-by-turn navigation, or export the whole trip as a KML for Google My Maps.
- Share an Unlisted trip link with family at home so they can see where you'll be each night.
Sample: a 5-day South India road trip from Bengaluru
| Day | Route | Approx. drive | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bengaluru → Chikmagalur | ~245 km, 5 h | Coffee estates; sunset at Mullayanagiri |
| 2 | Around Chikmagalur | ~60 km | Baba Budangiri, Hebbe or Jhari falls, an estate walk |
| 3 | Chikmagalur → Madikeri (Coorg) | ~140 km, 3.5–4 h | Belur temple on the way (short detour), Raja's Seat at sunset |
| 4 | Coorg → Mysuru | ~120 km, 3 h | Dubare elephant camp or Namdroling monastery at Bylakuppe; Mysore Palace lit up (on illumination evenings) |
| 5 | Mysuru → Bengaluru | ~145 km, 2.5–3 h | Chamundi Hills in the morning, Srirangapatna on the way back |
That's around 700 km over five days, with no day over about five hours of driving, a comfortable pace for a family.
FAQ
How many kilometres should I drive in a day?
About 250–350 km on highways or 120–200 km in the hills, with breaks. Less if you're with children or driving alone.
Is it safe to drive at night in India?
Highways at night carry trucks and poorly lit obstacles; on hill and forest roads it's best avoided. Some forest roads are closed at night anyway.
What's the best app to plan a road trip?
Use Google Maps or Mappls for navigation, and a trip planner such as Sancharees to plan the days, stays and bookings and share them with your group.
Photo: A Road To Heaven (234761269) by Mann Mishra, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
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