Pune -> Pandarpur

[carboy]

- Can someone give directions for Pune to Pandarpur & back?

- How many kilometers & how much time?

- How are the roads?

- Also can this be a day trip - i.e. leave morning & come back or
better to stay overnight?

- If over night stay is required - can someone
recommend any clean hotels with cost?

- Should I plan for additional rush on Saturday or Sunday or Monday because of Dussera? What's the best of these 3 days to visit?

[ASHISHPALLOD]

1] route
pune-saswad-jejuri-nira-lonand-phaltan-velapur-pandharpur.
this is wide state highway. recent condition is bad at some stretches specially between saswad and jejuri.
2]its @210km.
3] day trip is possible but will be hectic.
4] though there will be slight rush on holidays, it is not that crowded as shirdi.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

1] route
pune-saswad-jejuri-nira-lonand-phaltan-velapur-pandharpur.
this is wide state highway. recent condition is bad at some stretches specially between saswad and jejuri.

Tx, Ashish.
Bad meaning dangerous or bad roads?
Also how many kms of bad roads?

Also which highway is it & how to get on the highway towards saswad?
I will be starting from Aundh in Pune.
Is this route on the same direction as Kolhapur - i.e. to Satara (going towards
Panchgani & further).

Ashish - it looks like you have travelled to every corner in Maharashtra :-)
You are one who always replies to every query of mine - thanks, again.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by carboy

Bad meaning dangerous or bad roads?
Also how many kms of bad roads?
Also which highway is it & how to get on the highway towards saswad?
I will be starting from Aundh in Pune.
Is this route on the same direction as Kolhapur - i.e. to Satara (going towards
Panchgani & further).

bad means not dangerous but potholed road.
the road is absolutely safe with less to medium traffic.
due to monsoon, current condition of this road is not that level of smoothness.
saswad to jejuri, 18 km is rough road and can maintain speed of 50.
again, phaltan on wards also with rough patches at some stretches. but don't worry, entire section is manageable with avg travel speed of 50km.
you can cover this road in 4.5 hours easily.
this is not satara highway. it is called pune pandharpur state highway palkhi mahamarg. the road is much wide.
from aundh its like this.
aundh-university-jangali maharaj road-swargate-seven loves chowk-AFMC-solapur highway-hadpasar-turn right toward saswad under the overbridge at hadpsar-phursungi-diveghat-saswad-onwards.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

bad means not dangerous but potholed road.
the road is absolutely safe with less to medium traffic.
due to monsoon, current condition of this road is not that level of smoothness.
saswad to jejuri, 18 km is rough road and can maintain speed of 50.
again, phaltan on wards also with rough patches at some stretches. but don't worry, entire section is manageable with avg travel speed of 50km.
you can cover this road in 4.5 hours easily.
this is not satara highway. it is called pune pandharpur state highway palkhi mahamarg. the road is much wide.
from aundh its like this.
aundh-university-jangali maharaj road-swargate-seven loves chowk-AFMC-solapur highway-hadpasar-turn right toward saswad under the overbridge at hadpsar-phursungi-diveghat-saswad-onwards.

Ashish - thanks a lot again.
If you or anyone else could give the rough no of kms for one or more of these subtrips, I would be very grateful.

pune - saswad
saswad - jejuri
jejuri - nira
nira - lonand
lonan - phaltan
phaltan - velapur
velapur - pandharpur

Sorry to be such a bother - I have no sense of direction & I get lost all the
time (anywhere I go - I usually manage either overshooting the place or
going on a wrong turn at least once) , so I ask for directions 5 times & drive once :-(

Also if anyone has any input on good rest stops, eating places, petrol pumps on the way, that would be helpful.

Plus decent places to stay overnight in Pandharpur.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by carboy

Plus decent places to stay overnight in Pandharpur.

There is an ashram built by the Gajanan Maharaj Trust for devotees.Its very clean,spic & span.Nothing fancy at all.close to the temple.

[siedo]

There is an alternate route also , reach satara highway from aund . Drive on bang highway for 50 km take left from shrwal towards lonand_ phaltan and so on . You can avoid city traffic and bad roads. Distance is exactly the same , only addition is the 45 rs toll

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by siedo

There is an alternate route also , reach satara highway from aund . Drive on bang highway for 50 km take left from shrwal towards lonand_ phaltan and so on . You can avoid city traffic and bad roads. Distance is exactly the same , only addition is the 45 rs toll

Though distance is same , potholes are also same.

on pune-saswad-lonand route,rough surface road section is 18 km saswad jejuri road.

on pune-shirwal-lonand route, rough suface road section is 27km shirwal lonand road.

on saswad -lonand route also, you have to pay rs 32 as toll.

[siedo]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Though distance is same , potholes are also same.

on pune-saswad-lonand route,rough surface road section is 18 km saswad jejuri road.

on pune-shirwal-lonand route, rough suface road section is 27km shirwal lonand road.

on saswad -lonand route also, you have to pay rs 32 as toll.

that means only saving by choosing the shirval route is no need to negotiate swargate .& hadapsar traffic

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by siedo

that means only saving by choosing the shirval route is no need to negotiate swargate .& hadapsar traffic

Yeah, you are right.
I had already stopped to use hadpasar road while coming to pune from baramati.
Now a days, i use bapdev ghat[ alternate to dive ghat] and enter in pune city at undri near katraj.

[carboy]

Went & came back. Overall 6 hours, approx including stops. Roads were really nasty though it was scenic. But really awful roads. Even in the good stretches, there are nasty holes every now & then. i.e after a 1/2 to 1 km of nice road, there will be on really nasty hole - so if you pick up speed in the good stretch, you will find it difficult to avoid the hole, so have to concentrate all through the six hours of driving. I think my car must have aged 1 year in these 2 days.

[WDM007]

Hi Carboy,

Can we have a detailed travelogue of your trip?

Even Im planning to do a trip along with Tuljapur on this route.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by WDM007

Can we have a detailed travelogue of your trip?

I went towards Hadapsar & from there to Saswad & from Saswad all the way to Pandharpur - some of the cities you pass along the way are in Ashish Pallod's post.

From home(Aundh) to Pandharpur was around 225 kms. Takes anywhere between 5 to 6 hours depending on your stops etc.

Aundh to Hadapsar took a lot of time - so if you some of the suggestions given to avoid the Pune City traffic are relevant to you, then do take it.

These were the worst roads I have travelled on for long distances - this may not mean much because most of my other trips were done on good roads (Pune - Kolhapur, Pune to Ashtavinayaks around the city, Bombay-Pune expressway etc, all of these are decent to very good roads).

You need to concentrate all the while in the Pune-Pandharpur trip because even when there are good stretches & you speed up, a bad stretch comes suddenly so you end up in the holed role at your higher speed. I think my silencer bracket came loose in this trip - just got it welded (Rs 200) last week.

Not too many good restaurants along the way, so you have to take what you get. Because of not so good food experience while going, while coming back, we ate a heavy breakfast at the ashram & decided that we will only have vadapav on the way back. Ate an absolutely super vadapav somewhere around Saswad while returning :-) - the best pav I have ever tasted in a vadapav - the pav crumbled & melted in my mouth like some fancy french pastry.

Petrol pumps not a problem - they are there all along the way.

In Pandharpur, I stayed at the Gajanan Maharaj Trust Ashram overnight - very cheap - I think Rs 150 - nothing fancy - but not dirty or anything.
There is car parking in the Ashram Grounds. They have a mess/canteen where you get decent food very cheap.

It's best probably to go directly to the Ashram, get a room, park your car & then go to to the temple - it's a 5-10 minute walk from the Ashram to
the Temple.

[gajadonga]

I had travelled from Mumbai to Hyderabad via Saswad Bharamati Indapur.On my way I could see a lot of resturants in Jejuri though I did not stop at this place.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

I had travelled from Mumbai to Hyderabad via Saswad Bharamati Indapur.On my way I could see a lot of resturants in Jejuri though I did not stop at this place.

Yes, there are restaurants - but the few I stopped at didn't look very clean or appetizing.