Hyderabad to Vijayawada Taxi

Toll plazas on NH65 and what to expect

There are three toll plazas between Hyderabad and Vijayawada on NH65: Pantangi near Choutuppal, Korlapahad in Nalgonda district, and Chillakallu just across the Andhra Pradesh border. For a car the three together come to around ₹300 one way at current rates, collected by FASTag and charged to you as actuals on top of the fare — the driver pays at the gate and the amount appears in your bill exactly as incurred, nothing added.

The plazas are also useful waypoints: Pantangi means you have finally cleared the Hyderabad sprawl, and Chillakallu means Vijayawada is about an hour away. Rates on this stretch were actually trimmed slightly in 2025 after a public push, which almost never happens on Indian highways, so the figure above errs on the safe side rather than the frightening one. NH65 itself is divided four-lane carriageway the whole distance — this is the trunk road between the two capitals of the Telugu states, and it is maintained like one.

Where to eat on the Vijayawada highway

The natural meal stop is around Suryapet, roughly midway, where the highway restaurants and food courts stay open late and a car can be parked without fuss; Kodad, a little further on, is the usual second option. This is the edge of proper Andhra food country — the Krishna and Guntur districts you are driving into grow the chillies that made Guntur the chilli capital of India, and the roadside meals get hotter and better as you go east. Order the full Andhra meals at the Suryapet halt and it arrives the proper way — rice, a fierce pachadi, sambar, a curry or two and curd to put the fire out — and it costs less than the toll you just paid.

If you can hold out until the city itself, Vijayawada rewards it. The old-school eating houses of the city are famous across both Telugu states — Babai Hotel, serving since the 1940s, is known for little more than idli with ghee and a pat of butter, and people cross town for it. Ask the driver to finish the trip there rather than at a highway food court; it is a better end to the journey.

Cab to Vijayawada airport or the railway junction

A large share of drops on this route end not in the city but at its transport hubs. Vijayawada airport at Gannavaram sits about 20 km beyond the city on the Eluru side, so if you are catching a flight, say so at booking — the drop continues past the city on NH16 and the timing is planned against your departure, not against a city-centre arrival. The reverse works the same way: for a pickup at Gannavaram arrivals, the driver stands at the exit with a name board, and if the flight runs late the waiting costs nothing, because the arrival time is tracked rather than the booked time.

Vijayawada Junction is the other common endpoint. It is one of the busiest railway junctions in the country — the Chennai–Howrah and Chennai–Delhi trunk lines meet here — and a cab from Hyderabad timed to an onward express is a normal way of joining a long-distance train that does not start from Hyderabad. Give the train number when you book and the departure time is treated the same way as a flight.

Onward to Amaravati, Guntur and Machilipatnam

Vijayawada is the gateway to a cluster of places a taxi can continue to within the same drop. Amaravati, the capital region and the site of the ancient Buddhist stupa, lies across the Krishna about an hour away. Guntur is roughly 35 km to the south-west, a common extension for business travellers. Machilipatnam on the coast, the old port town known for Kalamkari work, is about 70 km further east. Naming the true final destination at booking keeps it one car, one driver and one fare — cheaper and simpler than a second cab from Vijayawada.

Vijayawada is also where NH65 hands over to NH16, the Chennai–Kolkata coastal trunk road, so drops that continue to Eluru, Rajahmundry or further into coastal Andhra pass through here naturally. If your journey is really Hyderabad to the Godavari districts, quote that at booking and the Vijayawada stop becomes a tea break rather than a destination.

When to leave Hyderabad

The slowest kilometres of this journey are the first ones. NH65 leaves Hyderabad through LB Nagar and Hayathnagar, and on a weekday morning that crawl can add an hour before the highway opens up. Leaving before 7 am avoids most of it; if you are starting from the western side of the city — Hitec City, Gachibowli, Kukatpally — the Outer Ring Road carries you around the mess and drops you onto NH65 near Pedda Amberpet.

Evening departures out of Hyderabad between 5 and 8 pm face the same stretch at its worst. Many travellers simply go later: a 9 or 10 pm start runs the highway empty and reaches Vijayawada in the small hours, which suits anyone connecting to an early train at the Junction.

For a morning meeting in Vijayawada the arithmetic is simple: a 5.30 am pickup clears LB Nagar before it thickens, puts breakfast at Suryapet around 7.30, and has you at a Benz Circle office comfortably before 11. It is earlier than anyone enjoys waking, and it is still gentler than the alternative versions of the same morning.

Cab or train between Hyderabad and Vijayawada

The rail line between the two cities is quick — the faster expresses manage it in around five hours station to station — so the honest comparison is about ends, not middles. The train requires reaching Secunderabad, Nampally or Kacheguda with your luggage, matching a fixed departure, and arranging transport again at the far end; the cab from Hyderabad to Vijayawada leaves from your own door at the hour you choose and finishes at an exact address in the city, at Gannavaram airport or anywhere en route. For one traveller on a flexible day the train wins on cost. For a family with luggage, a business traveller working through the drive, or anyone landing at odd hours, the five hours of NH65 door to door is usually the faster and calmer of the two.

There is also the simple matter of seats. This corridor's trains carry enormous through-traffic bound for Chennai, Visakhapatnam and beyond, so short-notice confirmed tickets are never a certainty, particularly around Sankranti when the whole Andhra diaspora of Hyderabad moves at once. A cab booked the evening before travels the next morning regardless.

Vijayawada to Hyderabad: the same drop in reverse

Everything on this page runs equally well backwards, and a good share of bookings do: a cab from Vijayawada to Hyderabad for a Shamshabad flight, a hospital visit, or the Monday return after a family weekend in the delta. The one-way logic is identical — you pay for the 275 km travelled, not for any empty return — and the timing advice simply mirrors: leave Vijayawada before 7 am or after 9 pm, and allow extra for the crawl into Hyderabad past Hayathnagar at peak hours. For airport runs, quote the departure time and the pickup is worked backwards from it with a margin, so the highway's one slow stretch is already priced into the plan.