Mathura-Vrindavan Family Car Trip | Chandigarh to Vridanvan & back in Three Days

Prem Mandir Vridavan, 17th September, 2025.

Last year, we went to Mathura-Vrindavan by car from Panchkula. It was a three-day family trip, where I acted as a car driver too.

​My son was only 3 years and 5 months old, so it was my wife who had to act as the conductor while my son was the true passenger, allowed to sleep, play, and pass smiles to the onlookers in passing vehicles.

From Panchkula to Vrindavan

​We left early morning at around 7:40 AM from Pachkula. The NH-44 (NH-1, Grand Trunk Road, the Kashmir-Kanyakumari highway are other names) was quite comfortable to drive on. We took a half-hour halt at Golden Hut Restaurant (Umri Chowk, NH1, Kurukshetra, Haryana 136131), from 9:17 AM to 9:40 AM for breakfast. I think it was quite a good experience. There were a few other shops to the right of the restaurant. Few toys caught Peeyush's eye, and I even thought of buying one for him, but then found the main glass door to be closed. The shop was closed for the day. Thankfully, he didn't throw a temper tantrum, and I negotiated with him, saying that I would buy him later in some other shop - partially a white lie because I just wanted to distract him from his current target.

To avoid Delhi's traffic, I bypassed Delhi and Noida entirely by taking the Eastern Peripheral Expressway at Rai, just past Murthal. The 135 km loop took me roughly 1.5 hours to traverse; I joined the expressway at Rai at 12:25 PM and reached the cloverleaf exit on the outskirts of Palwal by 1:55 PM.

Expressway travel requires a sufficient FASTag balance.

FASTag Top-up: Preload ₹1,500 to ensure a sufficient balance for expressway tolls.

Fuel Refill: Purchased ₹1,850 worth of petrol at the Indian Oil station (Kargil Shaheed Lakshman Balyan Filling Station) in Sonipat.

Fuel Rate: Approximately ₹95 per liter (exact price unverified).

 

As we left the expressway, Peeyush spotted a roadside diesel-powered sugarcane crusher stall. So we took another short halt.

The 6-lane expressways and then a quite good NH-44 made it easy for us to reach Vrindavan at around 4PM.

Vrindavan Stay (17th – 18th September 2025)

• Hotel: The Grand ND Resort - Kanha Tulsi Heights

• Cost: ₹2,318 per night (I actually paid that day)

• Layout & Experience: The property seems to have been originally designed as a residential apartment complex. Consequently, the units are standard 2BHK or 3BHK flats. Since I only required a single bedroom and bathroom, the staff locked the second bedroom while keeping the kitchen and hall accessible.

• Location & Proximity: Situated north of Kripalu Ji Maharaj Road and slightly northwest of Prem Mandir.

• Pro Tip: The immediate vicinity lacks adequate shops and eateries. If you stay here, it is highly recommended to stock up on water and basic food items beforehand.

The hotel, the Grand nd resort- Kanha Tulsi Heights, balcony view towards the south

A camera zooms in towards the Prem Mandir from the Hotel Grand ND Resort - Kanha Tulsi Heights.

Tried to locate the river Yamuna Ji from the balcony of Hotel Grand ND Resort - Kanha Tulsi Heights

On September 17th, 2025, to escape the lingering late-summer sun, we checked straight into the hotel room I had booked online during the journey. The property was a converted multi-story residential society—a clever move by owners looking to capitalize on Vrindavan's decade-long tourism boom. At ₹2,500 to ₹3,000 per night, a flat can easily generate ₹80,000 a month. Over an 8-month peak season, that yields upwards of ₹6 lakhs annually—an incredible return for properties that likely cost around ₹30 lakhs in the early 2010s.

The apartment layout proved to be highly comfortable and offered a view of Prem Mandir from the balcony. For the evening, I put together a quick itinerary: Banke Bihari Temple first, the Krishna Balaram (ISKCON) Temple next, and Prem Mandir as our final stop to experience it lit up at night.

Banke Bihari Temple - evening visit

There is a govt multi-level car parking on the Kripalu Maharaj Road, 500 m before the Prem Mandir. Personal vehicles are not allowed beyond. We parked the car in there, and then near the exit of the parking, the electric carts of white color were available, I guess a government-run service it was. The charges were fixed and a minor rate - I think not more than 30 rupees per person. In fifteen minutes, we reached the entry point of the Banke Bihari Temple walkway, and the time was 5:15 PM.

The white electric cart in front of the entry gate of the walkway to the Banke Bihari temple

A young girl offered us a tikka (tilak) on the street, hoping for a bit of money in return

After walking for about ten minutes, we neared the temple. 

 Within seconds of walking through the gate, Peeyush was tracking every single bright object in sight. When the entire walkway is a sea of colorful toys, trinkets, and flowers, keeping a toddler moving is a real extreme sport. 😂

Another sight of the walkway.

The local shopkeepers there are incredibly persuasive, aggressively pushing you to buy prasad and floral offerings. Personally, I don't feel these items serve a meaningful purpose inside the temple, though if someone has the deep astha and vishwas (faith and belief) that it truly reaches the Almighty, they should certainly buy them. To sweeten the deal, shopkeepers offer to look after your shoes. They sometimes falsely claim there is no government shoe-stand nearby to force a sale—a minor malpractice that has unfortunately become commonplace at major Indian pilgrimage sites, though we didn't let it spoil our mood.

Ultimately, I gave in to the persistent sales pitch and spent ₹250 on a prasad basket, which I later regretted. While I believe deeply in God, my faith is internal; I revere the Divine in my own heart and don't believe God requires material offerings. I suppose I just give in to social pressure too easily. 

Navigating the Surge at Banke Bihari

From that point, the main temple entrance was still a two-to-three-minute walk away, a distance we navigated at a snail's pace due to the massive, surging crowd. When we finally managed to reach the core temple area, we saw the police managing the crowd and separating the visitors into distinct queues for men and women. Because Nisha was holding Peeyush in her arms, a police officer kindly pulled her out of the main queue and guided her toward an expedited path to the darshan area.

On the other hand, I would have had to stay in the standard men's line. Realizing it would take me a considerable amount of time to reach the front—forcing Nisha and the baby to wait for me indefinitely on the other side—I decided it wasn't worth the logistical hassle. I stepped out of the queue entirely and found a corner to observe the crowd while waiting for Nisha to emerge. The main deity of Banke Bihari Ji (Lord Krishna) is only visible from directly inside the darshan area, but I made peace with missing it this time. Before long, Nisha returned, and we made our way through the exit walkway back toward the shop where we had left our shoes. In total, the entire process from entry to exit took us about 20 minutes.

Photography was prohibited in the Banke Bihari Temple area, so I have no photos to share of the same. 

As we exited the temple, we collected our shoes and walked towards the main road. By then, I guess my tilak couldn't withstand the steady downflow of sweat, as it had completely washed away.

We only had to wait about two to three minutes at the gate before catching an electric cart heading back in the direction of Prem Mandir.

Next Stop: The Balaram (ISKCON) Temple. 

Right next door to Prem Mandir is another gorgeous property—the ISKCON Temple (often called the Balaram Temple). Since it was right there, we got off the e-cart right at the gates and headed inside to explore

Balram Temple (ISKCON) Vrindavan, 17th September 2025

view from the road- Balram Temple (ISKCON) Vrindavan, 17th September 2025

As I have seen at the other ISKCON temples, the ISKCON temples are quite well managed. There is chaos, and no prasad-related stuff is forced upon you.. so it was quite a breather.