“Bangalore to Patna by Road”, a road trip that had been in my wish list from long. Due to pandemic, many are unarguably considering the self drive option as a more preferable choice over the public transport. If the above resonates with you, read along to know my drive experience from Bangalore to Patna.

To make this blog more readable and easy to navigate, have listed the most obvious questions and tried to answer the same. Hope this blog prepares you better for your road trip, if you have Bangalore to Patna by road in your mind.

What is the distance between Bangalore to Patna?

Distance between Bangalore to Patna is about 2100 kms and is around 35 to 38 hrs drive.

How is the road condition from Bangalore to Patna?

Major portion of the route from Bangalore to Patna has roads in excellent condition. Some areas will slow you down, however, others will compensate for that. We took NH44 which ensured us a smooth ride till Patna, with some exceptions here and there.

The road conditions in percentage can be shown as below for route between Bangalore to Patna:

“Bangalore to Patna by road” is a doable 3 day drive, with some fantastic drive experiences, specially when driving through Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra drive experience was good, but not excellent, due to patchy roads and heavy traffic in some areas.

For the route we chose, Bihar slowed us down quite a bit. Till Dehri, roads are in excellent conditions. However, after that it gets little patchy. The roads were single lane and traffic of heavy vehicles back to back slowed us down drastically. Need to be careful in this area and not overspeed in an attempt to overtake heavy vehicles like trucks, buses and tractors when it is risky. However, once you are about 40 to 50 kms away from Patna, roads will improve. Some maintenance work enroute, but roads are good. Little traffic depending on what time you reach this area. 

What are the different route options for travelling from Bangalore to Patna?

Route 1: BLR – HYD – NAGPUR – JABALPUR – PRAYAGRAJ – PATNA

We took NH 44 and drove from Bangalore via Hyderabad, Nagpur, Jabalpur, Rewa, Prayagraj, Mohania, Dehri, Bikram and finally Patna.

Listing the key checkpoints to ensure google does not deviate you from the main route:

Bangalore >>Anantapur >> Hyderabad >> Nizamabad >> Adilabad >> Nagpur >> Jabalpur >> Rewa >>  Prayagraj (New Yamuna Bridge Naini) >> Varanasi >> Mohania (Bihar) >> Kudra >> Sasaram >> Dehri >> Daudnagar >> Bikram >> Patna

Tips:

1. Go via Prayagraj, this will help you avoid Mirzapur single lane road NH 135. Set “New Yamuna Bridge Naini” as a stop in between your route to take the Prayagraj route. This will also help you avoid Old Bridge and some traffic in the Prayagraj city.
2. Add Mohania as a stop while setting up your route to Patna, this will help you avoid Koelwar bridge route which can slow you really down.

Note: We took route 1, other than the Bihar part for some odd 50 to 70 kms, roads and traffic conditions were a breeze. Though, major portion will be a single lane, but the roads are in excellent condition. Only the traffic of heavy vehicles is a concern in some areas. The last about 200 kms in Bihar will take around 4 hrs to cover.

Route 2: (Slight Modification in Route 1)

Bangalore >>Anantapur >> Hyderabad >> Nizamabad >> Adilabad >> Nagpur >> Jabalpur >> Rewa >>  Prayagraj (New Yamuna Bridge Naini) >> Varanasi >> Mohania (Bihar) >> Arrah-Chhapra Bridge >> via Ghazipur-Hajipur Road >> Nayagaon >> Hajipur >> Patna

Note: Add Arrah-Chhapra Bridge as a stop, this will help you avoid Koelwar bridge, which is known for high traffic jams and vehicles get stuck in jam for hours. Once in Mohania, you can consider resetting the route to Patna via Arrah-Chhapra Bridge and Hajipur. 

Avoid Koelwar bridge in all circumstances, as traffic gets really bad there and you find yourself stuck for hours.

Route 3: VIA GQ

Another route could be via GQ (Chennai >> Vishakhapatnam >> Orissa >> Hazaribagh >> Gaya)

This route will sweep 2375 km and would require 47 hrs as per google. I did not take this route as it is longer and requires more time.

What is the minimum number of recommended days required to travel from Bangalore to Patna?

With all day driving, one can easily make it to Patna from Bangalore in 3 days. One can even split the whole journey in 4 days. 

3 Days journey Stops:

Bangalore -> Hyderabad -> Jabalpur -> Patna

4 Days Journey Stops:

Bangalore – > Hyderabad – > Nagpur – > Rewa -> Patna

What places to stay while travelling from Bangalore to Patna?

Since we took Route 1, we halted at Hyderabad and Jabalpur to spend the nights. 

At Hyderabad, you can spend the night at :

1. Blueberry Service Apartment:

This will be our recommendation. 

Cost of Stay per Night: Rs. 2000/- (Check Prices at Booking.com)

Review: A good option to spend the night. Since it is a service apartment, you get a kitchen with all the basic amenities. Room is big and spacious equipped with a comfortable double bed. The care taker is courteous and will help you to transfer your luggage from Car to room. Has a lift and rooms are Air conditioned.

Various other options are available which can be searched on the net, you can explore and select the one that suits your need and budget.

2. At Jabalpur, we stayed at “The Grand Jabalpur Hotel – Lal Haveli” :

Review: The experience of stay was average, but it is ok to spend night at.

Food is tasty and price wise not too expensive.

Cleanliness: Not clean. They did not even bother to keep the bathroom cleaned before arrival. Had to request them to clean the bathroom. Linens were not clean either.

Staff: Staffs were courteous and polite and were ready to help.

Cost: Budget friendly, under Rs. 2000/-, depending on the offers available online. I booked via MakeMyTrip, link for easy ref. (The Grand Jabalpur)

Recommendation : If I had to travel again, would like to try some other place than this, as had bad experience because of cleanliness and hygiene issues. Otherwise, room is good and spacious. Ok to spend Night at, if you have got that checked in advance.

Is it safe to drive from Bangalore to Patna in own car?

Absolutely yes. It is totally safe to drive from Bangalore to Patna by own car. With amazing National Highways like NH44, drive experience from Bangalore to Patna is excellent. One can easily maintain a speed of 80 to 120, depending upon the speed limits of the roads for a major portion of the journey.

Is it safe to drive at Night?

Night driving is not recommended, however, but I have listed some experience from this route to use as a reference.

Yes for driving in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra.

No for MP, UP and Bihar.

In MP, while driving early morning, we came across some under maintenance roads, which had no proper signs of diversions. If you are in high speeds, there may be chances of accidents.

UP and Bihar are known for notorious activities. Better to avoid Night driving in these areas.

Cost of travelling from Bangalore to Patna by Road in own car?

Toll Charges: Rs. 3075 /-

Fuel Charges: Rs. 8000 /- to 12000 /-

Hotel Accommodation for 2 for 2 Night Halts: R.s 5000 /-

Total Cost: Rs. 15000/- to 20000/- 

What are some basic Do’s and Don’ts during a long drive?

• Pay attention to road signs
  • Roads signs are life savers. They help you in slowing down your vehicle on time when there is a speed breaker or dangerous turn coming up.
  • Paying special attention to speed limit signs, will prepare you better for not only traffic rule requirements, but speed limits are there for a reason. They serve a good purpose in slowing down your car to a controllable speed, when in such areas, for any unforeseen circumstances.
• Use GPS, if available
  • GPS helps not only with the route to be taken to reach destination but also to give an idea of the roads coming ahead, specially when travelling at high speeds. This will give you clear indication of any sudden curve. Often you will have traffic situations / crash info enroute which can better prepare you for what’s coming next or take any diversion if required in the worst case scenario.
• Keep enough ready to eat supplies
  • This will help you stay energetic and lively while driving. Focus on fruits, salads, etc. Avoid oily food, if you can.
• Take sufficient breaks to stretch yourself. This will help you cover the extra mile, if required.
• Try and start your journey early and retire for the day before the sunset.
• Don’t over stretch on the first day of your journey. Keep it to the minimum possible and go to bed early. This will help you kick start your remaining days early and energetic.
• Have some accessories which will make your journey comfortable. For example, Memory Foam Seat Cushions (Gi Gi Memory Faom Car Seat Cushion), Good Polarized Sunglasses, Window Shades (Riderscart Sunshade), Blind Spot Mirrors (Amper 3″ Blind Spot Mirrors), Tire Inflators, Puncture repair Kit, etc.

Would recommend to watch the Videos available at YouTube by various travelers who have shared useful insights from their travel from Bangalore to Patna. I would recommend you to checkout the videos posted by SAMARASH VLOG. Their videos helped me plan better for this trip. They have some amazing videos at their channel, I am sure you will find them useful. 

Some pics and Videos from our trip:

We had an amazing drive experience from Bangalore to Patna. Stay tuned for our Video from this travel.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you may have. If you have already travelled in this route, don’t forget to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below. 

Check my other travel blogs here.