What Road Conditions are Really Like on an India Road Trip

Alright, so the idea of a road trip through India sounds dreamy at first. Like, think about it for just a moment, there’s the colourful towns, long stretches of road, cute little snack stops, and that feeling of just drifting from one place to another with no rush. Honestly, there’s plenty of Indian tourist spots that have to be on your bucket list, and what better way to see them, right?

Now, all of this sounds amazing. But the roads themselves aren’t the same. Well, it’s like that for every country, every region, town, you name it. Just in general, when it comes to road trips, road conditions can be pretty unpredictable. But it does help to get a general idea of road conditions, though, so you can ideally be prepared for whatever happens. 

Potholes and those Surprise Speed Breakers

Yes! This one needs to be the start! But yeah, this is the thing almost everyone warns about, but the way they say it never matches reality. Because it’s not just “a few bumps here and there.” Nope, far from it. Actually, it’s more like the road will be perfectly smooth, and then there’s one pothole that’s been waiting for its moment. 

Well, in all honesty, it’s no different for speed breakers. Some are tiny, some are tall, some are obvious, and some blend into the road so well that the car only realises it’s there at the very last second. Basically, you can’t zone out while you’re driving because of these; that’s the whole point of this paragraph. 

There’s Going to be Tolls 

Well, there’s nothing new about toll roads; basically, every country in the world has them, and before the internet, when going on road trips, it wasn't like you’d necessarily know which roads are toll roads (so you’d have to hope you had money for it). But anyway, tolls show up pretty regularly across Indian highways. FASTag handles most of that automatically, which means less waiting around and fewer surprises. So, without it, people usually end up in longer lines or paying a bit extra, and that just slows the whole day down. 

All Routes Feel Completely Different

Well, they feel different, operate differently, have different road conditions, and so on. This is exactly why it’s probably going to be for the best to look into the right car (if you’re not renting). You could ideally look into SEAT dealers since those cars can usually handle a variety of different terrain (just nothing too extreme, like off-road driving, of course). 

But anyways, city roads come with constant movement (or lack thereof due to traffic), the highway feels mostly free (when theres no traffic), mountain roads are a whole other thing in itself, the same can be said in Rajasthan with the narrow village roads there. But as you can see, each area has its own driving experience. So again, no zoning out, a nd you need to be prepared. 

Mixed Traffic Sort of Works in its Own Way

Honestly, the traffic alone here is pretty amazing because of how mixed it all is. While it’s a giant mix,  strangely enough, it all flows. It looks busy at first glance, but once the car’s been on the road for a bit, it starts to make sense. But of course, you’re still having to drive slowly.