Planning a road trip: Pune to Hyderabad

[camry93]

Hi BHPians,

I'll be making a road trip from Pune to Hyderabad on the Christmas weekend. I will be taking the Petra. Yes! this will be the first time I'll be taking the car out on such a long drive after having bought it in May. Criminal, criminal waste of time!

Has anyone made a similar trip in the past? I would like to know what kind of road to expect, info on refueling locations, food joints, scenic spots along the way etc.

And calling all Hyderabadis:
(1) What are some of the better restaurants in the city?
(2) Where can we let our hair loose and dance the night away?

[RX135]

I have not gone upto Hyderbad, but I have travelled till Solapur and while coming back, from Umraga - Solapur - Pune. (I remember, Techno has done a trip to Hyderabad on his ZMA). (Been to Hyderabad 3-4 years back, but it may not be relevant now).

The road is decent but not really as good as NH4. In fact, there are rough patches in between, where you dont want to drive more than 80-90. Road from Solapur to Umraga is much better and probably same till Hyderabad.

You are advised caution near Bhigwan area (~2 hours from Pune), which is notorious for dacoits.

There are ample of fuel pumps on the road till Solapur. I guess, there is one BP company operated pump around 30-40 km prior to Solapur.

I strongly recommend you to use Google Earth. It has quite detailed map of Hyderabad.

[camry93]

Thanks RX. I'll look up Google Earth.

I remember last year I had been to Bhigwan. Its a bird sanctuary of sorts - noted for its flamingoes. The village is a few kilometres from Ujni dam (on which entire Solapur subsists). Rains had been so plentiful (even last year, remember?) that the waters had reached the outskirts of the village. Didnt know it was a hotspot for jailbirds too!

I wonder what the status of the multi lane expressway between Pune and Solapur is. I know the road is quite wonderful for about 20 kms from Hadapsar.

[RX135]

Oh yes. There is a bird sanctuary. I was going to write it but somehow it skipped my mind. The 4 lane road is only for 20-25 kms from Pune. No 4 lane after that. Be extra careful on that 4 lane road. There are frequent breaks in the divider for vehicles to take U turns. With Villagers crossing across those breaks, you have to be ultra-careful. You can see the Ujani dam from the highway itself.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by camry93

Hi BHPians,

I'll be making a road trip from Pune to Hyderabad on the Christmas weekend. I will be taking the Petra. Yes! this will be the first time I'll be taking the car out on such a long drive after having bought it in May. Criminal, criminal waste of time!

Has anyone made a similar trip in the past? I would like to know what kind of road to expect, info on refueling locations, food joints, scenic spots along the way etc.

And calling all Hyderabadis:
(1) What are some of the better restaurants in the city?
(2) Where can we let our hair loose and dance the night away?

Welcome in advance to the City of Nawabs and of course Pearls

Talking about restaurants and pubs, well... you will be happy to say the least. This is one city that loves to eat, and drink In fact when in Hyderabad do not forget to try out the Hyderabadi Biriyani. Are you a Non-Veggie? If so be doubly pleased. Try out the special Chicken and Mutton biriyanis, Haleems and Shorba. Places like Paradise, Bawarchi come to mind. You can even try out Hyderabad House. Everywhere there is a subtle difference in the taste but they all taste great! The regulars can tell you the origin of the Biriyani just by the flavor.

Otherwise, in terms of restaurants and eating places you can try out Ohris (both Banjara and Basheerbagh... Jeeva if you are a veggie), Green Park, Our Place (if you want to enjoy open air eating place with live ghazals, ducks roaming around waterfalls etc). If you want to try some local fares go to Southern Spice, Chutneys etc. If you feel like trying out the exotics you may check out Fusion9, Cinnebar Red.

Basically there is no dearth of eating places. Similarly Hyderabad also has some real nice Pubs.

[burjiis]

Hey Camry 93,
I am doing a trip to Bombay via Pune from Hyderabad too on the 23rd of this month. I have done a trip on this road before in August and it is a pretty good road. You will have to handle minimal oncoming traffic. The roads are purely straight with gentle ups and downs. The surface is very good. It only gets very bad as you approach Pune. As regards to refuelling locations, don't bother, I am sure your Petra can stretch it up all the way on a full tank from Hyderabad to Pune. Just don't be too lead footed, that's all. I managed a 75k average in my Baleno with a 14.5 kmpl average.
Your Petra is a diesel or a petrol?
Regarding restaurants, wrong guy to answer, I hate stopping on the way, just love driving continuously, though I had to stop a couple of times to let my two doggies pee. Happy driving!!!

[camry93]

Thanks Zappo, burjiis

Those biryanis sound lip smacking good right now!! I'll have to watch the intake of spicy food though ... not really very good for your health is it? I'll note down all the restaurants - I'll make it a point to visit at least one.

My Petra is a petrol version. I figure it'll go the entire distance if I top it off while starting from Pune. My idea is that I'll have to make a pitstop somewhere near Solapur for food anyways. I can also refuel there. That way I won't be starting my journey with a heavy tank.

[nitrous]

Camry, I would strongly suggest u to refuel only if u can find a major town with a reputed fuel pump. If its hard to find, u can just refuel with around 10 litres so that u can rest assured that u wont go empty.MPFi cars are sensitive to fuel quality. Another option is to have a 5 or 10 litre container to carry extra fuel when u are starting from pune.

[rahulv]

Hi,

if there are Reliance fule pumps on the way, you can trust any of them.

i have used at least 20 Reliance pumps on the highway and all of them mentain good fule and service quality.

[nitrous]

Thats right, rahul. Since burjiis is taking the trip from hyd to pune before camry, he must be able to tell the locations of the reliance pumps enroute.

[RX135]

There is one reliance petrol pump around 25 km from Pune, but it has only 1 vending (?) machine which caters to 2 wheelers and 4wheelers, making it painly long to wait for. (Rest of them are Diesel only).

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by RX135

There is one reliance petrol pump around 25 km from Pune, but it has only 1 vending (?) machine which caters to 2 wheelers and 4wheelers, making it painly long to wait for. (Rest of them are Diesel only).

Hmmm... that makes me wonder. Somehow it seems like the Reliance guys are more biased towards Diesel. I was in Kolkata last month and did some long highway travels. I filled up at a few Reliance pumps at different places. The story was invariably the same. They all had only Diesel dispensers. Why so?!! I had no problem as the Indica we were travelling in was happy sipping diesel, but nontheless...

Now that I think about it probably it is because most of the Reliance pumps are on the highway where the major business is by selling to the truckers. I also found another unique thing in these pumps. Their billing system is pretty innovative. They punch the sell quantity and fuel type etc in a hand-held device which apparently connects to a central system in Mumbai or somewhere. After a brief pause the machine gets the "Ok" and it starts printing out the bill!!! Pretty innovative and also smart. Someone sitting in one of those posh Reliance office can keep track of the national sale figures, trends etc...

[RX135]

I filled up at a few Reliance pumps at different places. The story was invariably the same. They all had only Diesel dispensers.

I noticed in couple other Reliance petrol pumps and I agree with you.

Originally Posted by Zappo

Their billing system is pretty innovative. They punch the sell quantity and fuel type etc in a hand-held device which apparently connects to a central system in Mumbai or somewhere. After a brief pause the machine gets the "Ok" and it starts printing out the bill!

Ohh. I thought it communicated with the dispenser. I had seen it and was surprised, but didn't know it connects to central system.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by RX135

I noticed in couple other Reliance petrol pumps and I agree with you.

Ohh. I thought it communicated with the dispenser. I had seen it and was surprised, but didn't know it connects to central system.

Hmmm... and I had no idea of anything of any sort. But a friend who seemingly knew this told me so when we entered the pump.

And later when after filling the cashier punched in the details and was waiting for something to happen and nothing was coming out (and probably saw me fretting and looking inquisitively towards him) that he told me how at times it takes a while for the system to respond back during the day times as the "traffic" is more from across india and his pump being in a remote place etc. and hence the delay. By this time the machine started printing out the bill.

[haryan]

hi Camry 93 .. i have been to Pune twice till now in my car ..
Road is good through out but there will be traffic in some parts .. Just be careful at Culverts and blind crests and corners ,.. there are many of them towards Solapur ... Best time to start is around 6 or 7 am .. and you will have a clean run .. both the times i came to Pune ,I hit the highway at 7 AM and was in Pune by 2 PM ..
there are lots of food joints .. ethnic Hyderabadi food joints in OldCity , Paradise , Hyderabad House .. Lots of Good Restaurants .. and of course to loosen your hair out and dance away, Hyd has some of the best pubs .. partying at TEN DOWNING STREET is a must to experience hyd night life.. , you can also let your hair down at Touch, Dublin , Underdeck, Liquids, Bottles and Chimney , Sparks , Outswinger and Escape ..