I believe I have travelled extensively in India but somehow had never been to ‘the heart of incredible India’ – Madhya Pradesh (MP).
And this coming from a person who has visited Goa about 30 times.
Somehow MP had never been high on my India ‘places to visit’ list. Probably because I always associated it with temples and history; which is not my favorite travel genre.
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Where To Go?
In Nov 2021, my mom had a craving for an adventure. We considered a lot of places: the usual suspects: Varanasi, Rishikesh, Jaipur, Udaipur, Uttarakhand, Amritsar, Himachal.
MP did not feature on either of our lists.
While we were discussing this, I saw a reel of Bhedaghat on my Instagram. Just my kind of place with the ferocious Dhuandhar waterfalls and marble rocks.
My proposal for an MP roadtrip was initially met with a lot of reluctance.
- “It’s too far”
- “It’s known for dacoity”
- “Is it safe for women”
- “It’s a totally unknown area for us”
- “Covid is still around – what if we fall sick that far away from home”
Some of the concerns were definitely valid.
Where I failed in convincing my mom, one of her friend’s simple statement stating “oh Bhedaghat is beautiful, the Dhuadhar falls there are like the Niagara falls” did the trick.
By the way, that aunty herself had never been to Bhedaghat.
Read about my other roadtrips with my mom:
The Plan : Tentative Itinerary
We had about 7-10 days with us and the one place we both wanted to visit was Bhedaghat.
I started working an itinerary around it. Bhedaghat was around 15 hours from Delhi so the plan was to take at least two overnight stops on our way.
I wanted to plan in such a way that I could do a round trip so that we could take a different road on our way back.
There were quite a few options of cities that I wanted to check out in MP: Gwalior, Orchha, Khajuraho, Pachmarhi, Kanha, Bhandavgarh, Bhopal, Jhansi, Sanchi, Indore, Pench, Bhimbetka, Shivpuri, Mandu and Hanuwantiya (especially as the Jal Mahotsav was ongoing at that time).
Given our duration, we obviously could not visit all the places.
We decided to start with Gwalior and stay there for two nights and then probably head towards Orchha via Jhansi.
Delhi to Gwalior
Possible Routes
There were two route options to Gwalior
- One was via KMP expressway (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway). Since we were starting from Gurgaon, KMP was much shorter and I have already been on that route on my last roadtrip to Agra so I could vouch for the amazing road condition.
- Via Yamuna expressway till Agra. This route is in extremely good condition but is more suitable for someone travelling from Noida or that side of Delhi
The map showed a total journey time of 6 hours by either route which seemed perfect for a days drive.
The Journey
As with all our roadtrips, we started in the morning at 6AM. It was definitely cold but thankfully it wasn’t foggy.
As expected, the drive was extremely smooth. We got onto the KMP expressway after Sohna and then moved to NH19 at Palwal.
We took our first stop for breakfast as soon as we touched NH19. There were multiple restaurant options on this highway.
A smooth highway with hardly any traffic and a bit scenic too. At Agra we refueled as we were only a few kms away from MP and there would be a difference of over 10 INR/litre between UP and Rajasthan/MP.
We filled petrol and picked up coffee from a McDonalds next to the petrol pump. Ek stop-do kaam.
Note: If you want to halt for a day or two and if you have never been to Agra, it should be included in your list. The Taj Mahal is definitely worth a visit. And if you have time, include Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur bird sanctuary in your itinerary.
We took the Agra bypass and got onto AH43 followed by NH44.
The stretch before Chambal bridge was beautiful with Chambal ghati and Chambal river for company.
The only issue after crossing Agra bypass was the lack of restaurants. Having eaten a very early breakfast, we were famished by noon but could not find a decent stop.
After crossing the Morena toll, we found a small restaurant called ‘Bhai Dhaba’. Not a typical highway dhaba, but we were too famished and also needed to stop to figure out if we wanted to take a slight diversion and visit Chausath Yogini temple in Mitaoli which was a circular temple said to have inspired the design of Parliament building of India.
It wasn’t really about the temple for me but more for the fact that I wanted to take the diversion and get off the NH44. Visiting Mitaoli temple would mean that we would take internal roads to reach Gwalior and that usually is a more scenic drive.
The food took quite some time which was fine with me as I needed time to figure out the route to Mitaoli temple.
While I was doing that, mom started speaking to the restaurant guys about the dhaba and the surrounding area. She mentioned that we might go to the Mitaoli temple and wanted to know if it was worth it.
The guys already seemed to be in shock when they saw us enter the dhaba (Two women on the highway wala shock) and after knowing the fact that we were planning to visit Mitaoli temple, they seemed genuinely worried.
They kept saying it wasn’t safe at all especially for women as the area is quite secluded and is known for dacoits. Moreover it was a weekday so there would hardly be any tourist crowd.
I was taken aback by their vehement response and they all seemed genuinely concerned. The restaurant owner advised us to not tell anyone that we were tourists and instead state that we were locals coming to the temple for darshan.
I started reconsidering.
I had read about Morena area being notorious for dacoits but I believed it was a thing of the past.
We ate our food while I researched on the safety aspect of this route while mom tried to get information on the dough that was used for our rotis – according to her it was different and very good.
I was too absorbed in my planning to notice the difference.
Mom was definitely apprehensive – I was on the fence. The adventure streak in me wanted to take the Mitaoli route while my practical streak was not in favour.
Mom left it up to me. We had about 10km of journey before the Mitaoli route diversion. So I started driving and decided to take a call when we reached there.
That 10 km stretch was somehow a little unusual. There was a little traffic on that stretch and it seemed that quite a few people were turning back to look at us.
Two guys on a bike actually did a 180 degree turn to look at us. And one of them was the rider.
Two women driving on the highway is definitely not a common sight in India (yet!), but this time it felt different. Thankfully it was broad daylight, so we did not feel unsafe on the highway at least.
Although I am adventurous and love challenges, I am not the kind who would ‘throw caution to the wind’. So NH44 it was.
Mom heaved a sigh of relief.
The rest of the route was unadventurous. Once we crossed Morena area, the vibes were back to normal.
Stay in Gwalior
Stay
We had not booked any accommodation in Gwalior although we had shortlisted a few. My only concern was that I did not want to stay in a crowded market place kind of an area where parking and driving could be a challenge.
We finally settled on Ambience hotel which was near the station. The room was priced at about 2500 INR/per night which was decent for that room.
Another hotel which was near our hotel was ‘Hotel Landmark’ which also seemed decent and was priced on similar lines.
Shop and Eat
Bada market is the most famous market area of Gwalior. The only thing on my list though was to try the street food while mom didn’t have anything specific in mind except to buy the famous Morena gajak.
Definitely try the poha in Gwalior. We had it at Maa Pitambra centre and that was delicious. Very different from the Maharashtrian poha that I am used to.
To See
- Jai Vilas palace: Most of the palace is now a museum which is open to visitors (INR 300/person).
- Gwalior Fort: A definite must see when in Gwalior. Do keep at least 4-5 hours to visit the entire fort complex as it has many monuments. Ample parking is available so it is advisable to take your car up till the entrance. Entry tickets are priced at about 35 INR per head.
Gwalior to Orchha
Next morning we left at about 530AM and our plan was to explore Jhansi fort on the way to Orchha.
We got onto Jhansi road and after a short drive on it, we were on NH44 just in time to catch a spectacular sunrise. The roads were in a very good condition and with hardly any traffic.
It was a breezy drive for sure.
After a breakfast stop, we reached Jhansi fort at about 9:00. We explored the fort for about 2 hours and then headed towards Orchha which was only 30 minutes away.
One discovery I made on this trip was to realise that Jhansi was actually in UP and not MP.
As soon as I realised that, I added petrol pump stop at Jhansi on my map!
The stretch from Jhansi to Orchha was not in the best condition, but it was thankfully short.
Stay in Orchha
We reached Orchha by about noon and checked into our hotel.
After a quick change, we headed out to explore the town.
Orchha is a small town built by Rudra Pratap Singh and is famous for its brilliant architecture in palaces, temples and royal chhatris (cenotaphs).
It is a really small town and all the monuments are within walking distance.
We started with a darshan at the famous Raja Ram temple followed by a much needed lunch at Indiana Restaurant. Good food had us pumped up for a visit to the Orchha fort within which the Raja Ram palace and Jehangir palace were situated.
I will be frank – My mom and I are not the kind of people who understand architecture or have any interest in it. So our tour of the two palaces was rather fast tracked.
After that we walked around the town and went to Betwa ghat. River and ghat is more my kind of scene and the beautiful chhatris next to it added to the beauty of the place.
After a quick good dinner at ‘Open Sky Restaurant’, we called it a night. The idea was to sleep well and be prepared for our long drive to Bhedaghat the next day.
Orchha to Bhedaghat
At a drive time of about 7 hours, this was supposed to be our longest driving stretch on our MP roadtrip.
We had two route options for this stretch. One was via NH44 (slightly longer but faster) and the second was via NH539. We had only planned a one night stay in Bhedaghat and that is why we chose the faster route (NH44).
As we had slept early, we woke up early and were on the road at 5AM.
The narrow bypass road to get onto NH44 was not the best especially given the pitch dark and foggy early morning condition. Thankfully, it was only 12 km long.
The route took us through the excellent NH44 till Sagar followed by SH 15A. The SH was narrow but mostly in good condition.
By the time we reached Bhedaghat, it was about 2PM.
For the next part of our journey, click below:
Women’s Madhya Pradesh Roadtrip Part 2: Bhedaghat, Bhopal
Women’s Madhya Pradesh Roadtrip Part 3: Bhopal – Sanchi – Shivpuri – Delhi