8 of India’s Most Scenic Drives to the Edge of the Country

India’s road network covers over 6.3 million kilometres, making it one of the largest in the world. But most of that length is functional rather than scenic, built to move goods and people rather than to show the country at its best. There are, however, eight routes that are both practical roads that also happen to follow coastlines, cross high Himalayan passes, run the length of the country’s western shore, or cut through deep forested northeast corridors toward borders that most people never see. These are the best road trips in India by car, the ones where the journey itself is the point rather than a means to an end.

Quick answer: The 8 best places for road trip in India that take drivers to the country’s edge include the Delhi to Leh Ladakh road trip via Manali, the Guwahati to Tawang road trip through Arunachal Pradesh, the Mangalore to Gokarna coastal drive, the Puri to Konark marine drive, the Chennai to Pondicherry ECR drive, the Kochi to Kovalam coastal road trip, the Rann of Kutch road trip from Ahmedabad, and the Bangalore to Kerala road trip through the Nilgiris. Most are best driven between October and March.

1. Delhi to Leh Ladakh Road Trip: Across Five Passes to the Roof of India

The Delhi to Leh Ladakh road trip is the most ambitious drive in India by most measures. The standard route from Delhi to Leh covers approximately 1,000 km via Manali and typically takes four to five days to drive safely with proper acclimatisation stops. The route crosses five high-altitude passes: Rohtang La at 3,978 metres, Baralacha La at 4,890 metres, Lachung La at 5,079 metres, Naki La at 4,739 metres, and Tanglang La at 5,328 metres, which was for many years considered the world’s second-highest motorable pass.

Things to do in Leh beyond the drive include the Hemis Monastery, Pangong Lake, the Magnetic Hill on the Leh-Kargil highway, and the Stok Kangri base camp walk. The best time for the Delhi to Leh Ladakh road trip is June to September. The route is closed from November to May due to snowfall.

A bike road trip on this route has a specific culture: Royal Enfield riders from across the country converge on Manali in June each year for the season’s opening, making it the largest annual motorcycle gathering in India by default. The best car for long road trips in India on this route is a high-clearance 4×4 or a well-maintained SUV; sedan cars manage the lower passes but struggle on the unpaved sections near Baralacha La and Lachung La.

2. Guwahati to Tawang Road Trip: To the Monastery at the Edge of Tibet

The Guwahati to Tawang road trip covers approximately 550 km through Arunachal Pradesh and takes two days to drive at a comfortable pace, with a night halt in Dirang or Bomdila. The route passes through Bhalukpong at the Assam-Arunachal border, climbs through Bomdila at 2,400 metres, drops into the Dirang Valley with its kiwi orchards, and then crosses the Sela Pass at 4,170 metres, one of India’s highest motorable passes, before descending into the Tawang Valley.

The Sela Pass has a small glacial lake at its summit that rarely freezes completely even in winter. The stretch between Sela and Tawang passes through the Jaswant Garh War Memorial, dedicated to Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat, who, according to military records, held Chinese forces at bay for 72 hours alone during the 1962 war. Tawang Monastery, at the end of the road, was founded in 1680 and is the largest Buddhist monastery in India, with a main assembly hall that can accommodate 1,000 monks simultaneously. The Tawang valley also has the Bumla Pass at 4,500 metres, the active India-China border crossing, accessible with a Protected Area Permit. Things to do in Tawang include the monastery, Madhuri Lake at 4,100 metres, the Nuranang Waterfall, and the Tawang War Memorial. An Inner Line Permit is required for all visitors entering Arunachal Pradesh.

3. Rann of Kutch Road Trip: Across the World’s Largest Salt Marsh

The Rann of Kutch road trip from Ahmedabad to Dhordo covers approximately 380 km and takes around five hours by road. The route passes through Bhuj, about 80 km from Dhordo, where the drive shifts from a standard Gujarat highway to the flat, open terrain that characterises the approach to the Rann. The Kalo Dungar, the Black Hill at 462 metres and the highest point in Kutch district, gives a view across the white salt flat that stretches to the Pakistani border on the horizon.

A specific piece of information most road trip blogs miss: the Rann of Kutch is not always white. In the monsoon months, the Great Rann is partially flooded by seawater from the Arabian Sea, and the flamingos that breed here during this period make it one of the largest flamingo breeding grounds in the world. By October, the water has evaporated and left the crystallised salt crust that produces the famous white desert. The Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary within the Little Rann, about 120 km from Ahmedabad, protects the last surviving population of the Indian wild ass, a species found nowhere else on earth. Things to do in the Rann of Kutch include the Dhordo tented camp, the Rann Utsav festival between November and February, the Kalo Dungar sunrise, and the Aina Mahal in Bhuj. A villa in Dhordo during the Rann Utsav is typically a heritage tent with a private courtyard, accessible for a night under the open sky of the salt flat.

4. Puri to Konark Marine Drive: Odisha’s Coastal Road to a UNESCO Temple

The Puri to Konark Marine Drive is 35 km of coastal highway along the Bay of Bengal between two of Odisha’s most significant towns. The road runs through the Balukhand-Konark Wildlife Sanctuary for most of its length, which means the inland side of the road is forested rather than developed. The stone carvers who sit at roadside stalls along this stretch are the documented descendants of the craftsmen of King Narasimhadeva I, who built the Konark Sun Temple in the 13th century. Some of their stonework sells for as little as Rs 30 and some for millions of rupees; both extremes are genuine.

The Konark Sun Temple, at the end of the drive, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site designed as a chariot of the sun god Surya, with 24 stone wheels and seven stone horses at the base. The temple is oriented so that the first light of sunrise hits the sanctum entrance directly, a precise astronomical alignment achieved in the 13th century without any electronic tools. Chandrabhaga Beach, 3 km from the temple, is one of the few beaches in Odisha where dolphins are commonly spotted from the shore in the morning hours. Things to do in Konark include the Sun Temple visit at dawn, the Chandrabhaga Beach walk, and the Konark Dance Festival held annually in December. This is one of the best road trips from Kolkata for those wanting coast, heritage, and an easy overnight distance (500 km).

5. Chennai to Pondicherry ECR Drive: South India’s Most Civilised Road Trip

The Chennai to Pondicherry ECR drive along the East Coast Road covers approximately 150 km and is widely considered among the best road trips in South India for its ease, its visual quality, and the range of stops it passes. The ECR runs parallel to the Bay of Bengal for most of its length, with access roads to the beach every few kilometres. The road passes Mahabalipuram, whose Shore Temple and Pancha Rathas are among the oldest stone temples on the Indian coast, dating to the Pallava period of the 7th century, and continues south through Auroville, an international township founded in 1968 that is home to over 3,000 permanent residents from 60 countries.

Pondicherry itself has two distinct characters: the Tamil Quarter west of the canal, which looks like any other South Indian town, and the French Quarter east of it, with its grid of named streets, yellow painted walls, Catholic churches, and a waterfront promenade. This is among the most accessible road trips from Bangalore, with Bangalore to Pondicherry via the ECR being a standard two-day drive. Things to do in Pondicherry include the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the Auroville Matri Mandir, the French Quarter promenade walk, and the Bharati Park.

6. Mangalore to Gokarna Coastal Drive: The Konkani Coast at Its Most Intact

The Mangalore to Gokarna coastal drive covers approximately 160 km and takes around three to four hours without stops, though the stops are what make it worth doing. The route passes through Udupi, home to the Krishna Matha temple founded in the 13th century by the philosopher Madhvacharya, and continues north through Maravanthe, where the Arabian Sea runs on the road’s left and the Souparnika River runs on its right simultaneously, making it one of the few roads in India where ocean and river flank both sides. Murudeshwar, visible from the main highway by the 20-storey gopura visible from 5 km away, has a Shiva statue at 123 feet and a temple directly on the Arabian Sea. Gokarna, at the northern end, has five beaches accessible only on foot or by boat, making it the most intact stretch of Konkani coastline remaining in Karnataka. This is one of the best road trips from Mumbai for those who prefer the Konkan over Goa for character and quiet.

7. Kochi to Kovalam Coastal Road Trip: Kerala’s Backwater Shore

The Kochi to Kovalam coastal road trip covers approximately 220 km through the Kerala coastline and is best done as a two-day drive with a night halt at Alappuzha or Kollam. The road passes through the backwater towns of the Kuttanad region, where the paddy fields sit below sea level and are protected by a network of embankments and bunds. Alappuzha (Alleppey), midway on the route, has a canal network that was compared to Venice by British administrators and gave the town the name the Venice of the East. Kollam at the southern end has the Ashtamudi Lake, from where the 8-hour backwater ferry to Alappuzha departs. Kovalam, the final point, has a lighthouse at the southern end of its main beach that was built by the Travancore royal family in 1932. Things to do in Kovalam include the lighthouse viewpoint, the Vizhinjam Mosque (one of the oldest in Kerala), and the nearby Padmanabhapuram Palace, a 16th-century wooden palace of the Travancore kings.

8. Bangalore to Kerala Road Trip: Through the Nilgiri Hills and Down to the Coast

The Bangalore to Kerala road trip is typically driven via Mysuru and Wayanad, covering approximately 350 km to Calicut or Kochi depending on the destination. The Wayanad section of the route, through the Western Ghats on the Calicut-Mysuru highway, passes through the Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary and the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary, and elephant crossings on the road are common enough that signs warn drivers at multiple points. The descent from the Ghats into the Malabar coast at Calicut, where the road drops nearly 900 metres in altitude over 50 km, gives a view of the Arabian Sea from the mountain crest that most drivers stop specifically to photograph. This is consistently rated among the best road trips in South India by those who have driven all the major South Indian routes.

Every Road Has an Edge

The eight routes above cover India from the Pakistan border at the Rann of Kutch to the Tibet border at Tawang, from the Bay of Bengal at Konark to the Arabian Sea at Gokarna. Put together on an all-India road trip map, they would trace an almost complete circuit of the country’s outermost accessible edges. Each of them can be driven in a standard car, and most of them are best done in two days rather than one. The best car for long road trips in India for the mountain routes is a high-clearance SUV; for the coastal routes, any comfortable car with good air conditioning works perfectly. The most important thing any of these drives require is time: starting early, stopping often, and not treating the road as a problem to be solved rather than the destination itself.

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Written by: Ruben Saha