Mathura to Delhi Road Distance: 180 km · 2.5-3 hours · Cab from ₹3,300

Delhi to Mathura is a Yamuna Expressway job from the first kilometre: out through Noida, past Pari Chowk at Greater Noida, and then a dead-straight run with nothing to do but hold the lane. The Jewar plaza is the only toll gate before the Mathura exit, and the food plaza in the middle section is where our drivers pull in for a chai and a clean washroom, because there is no dhaba culture on this road the way there is on the GT Road. The expressway rewards discipline. It is smooth enough to tempt a heavy foot, and in December and January the morning fog sits on the flat Yamuna floodplain so thick that we hold a steady, slow speed with the hazard lamps on until it lifts around ten. Take the Mathura exit rather than running on towards Agra, and be ready for narrow, crowded lanes into the Janmabhoomi area. In the week of Holi, and again around Janmashtami, the last five kilometres take longer than the whole expressway.