On our road trip across Madhya Pradesh, all the way from Bangalore, Orchha was one destination where we spent a week. Actually, we worked from Orchha during our stay there. And also explored the Orchha Fort and other places of interest. Come next weekend and we moved further on our Orchha Bhopal road trip via the Great Stupas of Sanchi, Vidisha and Raisen. Let us take you through the glimpses of this day.
Orchha to Bhopal distance driven : ~360km
Route taken:
Starting on our Orchha Bhopal road trip
Post breakfast, we started from our hotel in Orchha around 9:30am. I will advise you to start a little earlier on your Orchha Bhopal road trip. With kids, we got a little delayed. Our target was to start by 8:00am or max 8:30am. Nevertheless, initial one hour, google navigated us through really narrow village roads, at some places the roads almost didn’t exist. Sometimes, we almost wondered if our vehicle could really pass through those narrow lanes. However, by God’s grace, we were able to make it through multiple villages – navigating broken roads, kaccha roads , mud roads and sometimes no roads 🙂 Finally, we climbed onto NH44 through a steep and narrow village road. And sighed relief! By the way, you can also take an Orchha to Bhopal train if you prefer to travel via this mode.
Driving through NH44 on the Orchha Bhopal road trip
We were really relieved when google map suggested that we drive through the NH44 for straight 200km before getting onto the state highways. This stretch of the route was the best in terms of road condition. For most part, it was a 6 lane road with proper divider and in excellent condition.
We also stopped midway for a late breakfast as we had got our breakfast packed from our hotel.Then we continued further on NH44.
Driving through the state highways to reach Vidisha
From NH44, finally we came onto the state highways. For a stretch of almost 20-30km the drive was pathetic. After every 3-4 km came a patch of very rough road, completely broken and in very bad condition. After this, the state highway was more or less in ok condition. Finally, we reached NH146, the one which leads to Vidisha. Our target was to reach Udayagiri caves by 2:00pm and we looked right on time. Until…google made us enter the town of Vidisha.
Driving through the town of Vidisha
As we entered the town of Vidisha, hoping for some by-pass road or hoping of soon crossing the town and reaching Udayagiri caves, none of these possibilities seemed anywhere near to true. It was the day of Karvachauth. And as a result, the already congested town of Vidisha seemed even more chaotic. Certain routes had been blocked by administration to manage the crowd. The streets went on to become so narrow that it looked impossible for our car to pass through them. Finally, fade up of this ordeal and not able to take the chaos anymore, we rerouted our map to take us back to NH146.
Once we approached NH146, we put Udayagiri Caves on the map. And we were able to smoothly drive through the NH to SH and finally reached Udayagiri Caves in another 10 minutes, without having to even enter the town once. It will remain a mystery for the rest of our lives why google ever made us enter the town of Vidisha!! For you, we strongly suggest, don’t get inside the town if you ever do this trip. From the highway, google might show alternate way to reach Udayagiri without having to navigate through the town. Or, ask locals for proper direction. But, don’t enter into the town plz, particularly if you have a bigger 4 wheeler.
Udayagiri Caves
Finally, we reached our first stop, Udayagiri caves by 3:00pm, almost 35-40mins later than our targeted time. None of us had lunch. But, we still had the parathas packed from our resort in Orchha for breakfast. So, we each had some of those. And then we went on to explore the Udayagiri Caves.
Coming Soon : De-mystifying the Udayagiri Caves
We returned back to the parking spot by 3:45 pm, and then immediately started for the Great Stupa of Sanchi
Great Stupa of Sanchi
From Udayagiri Caves, we started around 3:45pm for the Great Stupa of Sanchi. They are located very close by. And it took us only around half an hour to reach there. That also, courtesy a railway crossing where 3 trains crossed while we waited patiently. Otherwise, we could have saved an extra 10-12 minutes. Nevertheless, we reached the Sanchi Stupa in time. The stupa complex closes for public by 5:30pm. So, we had more than an hour to explore here.
We swiftly parked our vehicle and got our tickets from the ticket counter. Then we went inside. We roamed around, saw the different places of interest in the complex and also enjoyed the views of the valley from here. Finally, around 5:00pm, we started from here for our resort – MPT Kerwa Resort in Bhopal.
Sanchi to Bhopal via Raisen
The road from Sanchi to Bhopal passes through the town of Raisen. It was the most scenic drive of our day. Given the road condition was excellent, although it was hardly a two lane road. But it had beautiful ghat sections. And the views of the evening sun through the hills made the drive even more pleasant.I had initially thought if time permits, I will visit the fort of Raisen. That was a distant possibility now. But, I was pleasantly surprised to catch a clear view of the Raisen Fort from the road. It is a very massive fort. The glimpses of this fort immediately reminded me of the fort of Chittorgarh and the massive fort of Kumbhalgarh.
Finally comes…Bhopal
The sun had set by the time we reached Bhopal. Once inside the city, we stopped for buying a few essentials. Actually, our resort was located across the city. Finally, navigating through the maze of the city lanes we reached on the other end of the city. I was surprised to find that there are hardly any traffic signals in Bhopal. And out of those which are there, hardly any are followed!
Finally we crossed the city and once again navigated through some very patchy non existent patch on the highway where road construction is going on. After this, we drove through some dark forest lanes to finally reach our resort , right besides the Kerwa Dam. By the time we reached here, it was 7:30pm. If you are looking to book a hotel or resort in Bhopal, you can use this link to book one.
We swiftly checked in, ordered dinner and then retied to bed. Since we had more driving to do the next day on our trip from Bhopal to Pachmarhi.
Conclusion
Overall, driving condition wise the trip was bitter sweet. But, the visit to Udayagiri Caves and the Great Stupa of Sanchi more than made up for that. Both the places were very unique and very refreshing. And in fact, they turned out to be much more beautiful and amazing than what I had thought.
A recap of our MP road trip so far
Day 1 & 2 : Bangalore – Hyderabad drive & Hyderabad – Nagpur drive
Day 3: Nagpur – Jabalpur road trip & a visit to Bhedaghat and other attractions near Jabalpur
Day 4 & 5: Jabalpur to Bandhavgarh road trip & Tiger Safari at Bandhavgarh National Park
Day 6 & 7: Bandhavgarh to Khajuraho road trip & visiting the Khajuraho group of temples
Day 8 – 16 : Khajuraho to Orchha Road trip, Visiting the Orchha Fort and other attractions, Working from Orchha through the week
Day 17: Orchha Bhopal road trip via Vidisha, Sanchi, Udayagiri and Raisen
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