Ayodhya to Lucknow Road Distance: 135 km · 2.5-3 hours · Cab from ₹3,300

Out of Lucknow the road to Ayodhya is NH-27, the Gorakhpur highway, leaving the city through Chinhat and settling into four flat lanes through Awadh farmland. Barabanki comes up after half an hour and is the one sensible halt, with a dhaba row for breakfast, because after it the highway runs straight through Rudauli to Faizabad. There is no climb and no ghat on this run, so the only things that slow it are the tractor trolleys that pull out from the fields onto the shoulder, and the winter fog that hangs over the low Saryu country in December and January and cuts visibility to a few car lengths till mid morning. From Faizabad into Ayodhya the road is new and wide, but the last stretch to the Ram Mandir is under constant rework and the diversions change with the crowds; on Ram Navami and during Deepotsav we plan for the town to take as long as the highway did. In the monsoon the Saryu comes up and the low ghat roads can flood, though the highway stays clear.