Can you drive from Hong Kong to Mumbai?

Can you drive from Hong Kong to Mumbai? - Photo of Taxi Near Buildings During Nighttime

For a Western person (say, US or European passport), not a local, is it possible / practicable these days to drive from HK to Bombay?

I guess once you get to Calcutta or Lucknow say, you're home free, but "HK to Mumbai" sounds more dramatic!

Is it actually possible to pass through the mountains in that little bit near Bhutan? Or?

Can you drive through any/all of Burma, Bangladesh, Laos these days?

Would you or can you go all the way around through Pakistan? Are there even any roads from China in to Pakistan physically?


One interesting specific question about one possibility:

Is there actually a physical road connecting these two?

enter image description here

Or is it only mountainous wastes, unpassable?


Another specific question would be, can you drive from Burma to India these days?



Best Answer

Theoretically you can, but it is very unpractical.

First off, forget about driving directly into India from China. It is simply not possible. The Sino-Indian border is subject of a lot of military tension, and the armu are guarding the border strictly on both sides. I am very sure that civilian automobiles are not allowed unless they have a very good reason. Moreover, as the Sino-Indian border is basically the Himalayas, I am not even sure that there are a lot of paved roads in the area.

Driving through Pakistan and/or disputed Jammu and Kashmir also sounds quite infeasible, given the relationship between the two countries. You might be able to enter India via Burma (Myanmar), and quite a lot of traffic go through the Sino-Burmese border everyday.

However, there are a lot of practical problems. You need a number plate (likely) for each country you drive in [EDIT: at least for China], and also a driver's license for each country [EDIT: at least for the Chinese driver's license, you must take the written test, which is offered in Chinese only. Meaning that driving through China is not an option unless you have a reasonably good command of the language]. You will pass through a lot of areas with poor road conditions and/or unrest: in the Chinese segment, there is none AFAIK, but around the Sino-Burmese border, and in parts of India, there is the problem of (1) bad infrastructure and (2) unrest. It is not necessarily safe to travel through these areas, and even if you manage to travel safely it would be a huge pain. The entire trip might take very long due to road conditions, etc.

EDIT: I am quite sure there's no direct highway from China to India. It's hard to prove a negative, but the only references I've found about highways connecting China and South Asia are the old Stilwell Road (which actually connects China and India via Burma), and the newer Sino-Nepal "Friendship Road". There are actually three stretches of the Sino-Indian border (excluding the border between China and disputed Kashmir): the Ngari-Himchal Pradesh/Uttarkhand border (where there's least tension, but still a lot), the Sikkim border (where a border standoff happened last year), and the Arunachal Pradesh border (which is subject to a bitter border dispute). The greatest problem here is that foreigners are not even allowed into these border areas in Tibet (due to the high military pressure here), so it completely rules out the possibility of driving directly from China to India. Since, as a foreigner, you'll not be allowed into the frontier zone in Tibet anyway, you can't take the Sino-Nepal Road either. Which leaves you with the only option of going through Burma.




Pictures about "Can you drive from Hong Kong to Mumbai?"

Can you drive from Hong Kong to Mumbai? - Car With Opened Door Near Road
Can you drive from Hong Kong to Mumbai? - White Car on Road
Can you drive from Hong Kong to Mumbai? - Red and White Taxi on Road



Can you drive from Hong Kong to India?

Yes, the driving distance between India to Hong Kong is 5009 km. It takes approximately 2 days 17h to drive from India to Hong Kong.

Can we go in car from India to China?

Can I drive from India to China? Yes, the driving distance between India to China is 4201 km. It takes approximately 2 days 10h to drive from India to China.

How can I go to India from Hong Kong?

Boarding a direct flight from India to Hong Kong is the quickest way to get there. Daily departures are available from major international airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Air India, Jet Airways, Cathay Pacific, IndiGo, and SpiceJet are main airlines operating flights to Hong Kong.

How many hours does it take from India to Hong Kong?

The distance between Delhi and Hong Kong is 3,750 km and it takes about 4 hours and 55 minutes of flying time to reach Hong Kong. There are about 30 flights weekly from Delhi to Hong Kong including Cathay Pacific, Jet Airways, Etihad, etc.



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Images: Aleksandar Pasaric, Athena, Jimmy Chan, Andrea Piacquadio