[ramanak]

Hi Friends,

We have planned a trip to Gir national park followed by visit to Somnath,Dwarka and Palitana Jain temple.We are driving down from Bangalore starting on 5th June 3 AM.Since I am travelling with my wife and 75 year old parents, am looking forward to your suggestions on route, stop overs along the way, road conditions, traffic bottlenecks near cities/Bypasses etc.

I have driven non stop for long distances several times from Bangalore to Pune, Bangalore to Nagpur etc before but this time the distance is going to be roughly double (of bangalore-Pune) plus we have a couple of old folks on board.

We need to reach Gir by 6 th Morning 8 AM so we would like to spend as less a time as is possible on stop overs in between.Other trips can have a relaxed schedule since there is no pressure on return date.During return,we would also be spending a few days in Mumbai.

Thanks.

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by ramanak

Hi Friends,

We have planned a trip to Gir national park followed by visit to Somnath,Dwarka and Palitana Jain temple.We are driving down from Bangalore starting on 5th June 3 AM.Since I am travelling with my wife and 75 year old parents, am looking forward to your suggestions on route, stop overs along the way, road conditions, traffic bottlenecks near cities/Bypasses etc.

I have driven non stop for long distances several times from Bangalore to Pune, Bangalore to Nagpur etc before but this time the distance is going to be roughly double (of bangalore-Pune) plus we have a couple of old folks on board.

We need to reach Gir by 6 th Morning 8 AM so we would like to spend as less a time as is possible on stop overs in between.Other trips can have a relaxed schedule since there is no pressure on return date.During return,we would also be spending a few days in Mumbai.

Thanks.

Man !!! Are you kidding me

The distance between Bangalore and Gir Forest is nearly 2000kms (1800 kms).

No way you can do 2000 kms in 24 hrs even if you drive non-stop with change of drivers.

2000/24 = 84 km driven per hour

10% Breaks = 76 km covered per hour

to average 75 per hour, you need to drive as 120 kmph constantly. Trust me dont drive at this speed for 24 hrs. Its risky that too with 75 year old parents.

try to do it in 2-3 days else take a flight. Personally speaking - dont attempt to drive 2000 kms in 24 hrs.

Route:

Bangalore - Pune - Dombivali - Vasai - Navsari - Baroda - Anand - Gir

Traffic will be heavy in Pune & Mumbai. Roads are excellent all the way upto Gir. By-Pass available for almost all major traffic prone cities. Accommodation is available in all major cities that you encounter along your route.

[hvkumar]

D1: Bangalore-Pune-Bombay-Vapi (at least till Pune), at least 15-16 hours
D2: Vapi-Surat-Ankleshwar-Bharuch-Baroda-Ahmedabad-Bagodara-Limdi-Rajkot-Gondal-Jetpur-Junagadh-Gir, at least 12-14 hours
D3: Gir
D4+: Gir-Veraval-Somnath-Veraval-Porbandar-Dwaraka, excluding temple halt time, drive will be at least 5 hours
D5+: Dwaraka-Jamnagar-Rajkot-Gondal-Amreli-Palitana, 6-8 hours
D6+: Palitana-Bhavnagar-Vataman-Tarapur-Borsad-Vasad-Baroda-Bharuch-Ankleshwar-Surat-Vapi-Bombay, 14-16 hours+ breaks
D7+: Bombay-Pune-Kolhapur-Hubli-Bangalore

These is an indicative drive schedule. You will have to advise what limitations your parents may face. The above drive schedules assume at least 12 hours of driving every day + breaks.
All roads are excellent.
You could stop over at Rajkot in case you find the drive from Bombay too long, and proceed to Gir the next morning (should take you under 4 hours from Rajkot)
Palitana will take a full day to climb up and down, so do not plan any drive that day.
Each day's drive is long, so if you can indicate how much time you could be on the road, these can be changed accordingly.

[ramanak]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

D1: Bangalore-Pune-Bombay-Vapi (at least till Pune), at least 15-16 hours
D2: Vapi-Surat-Ankleshwar-Bharuch-Baroda-Ahmedabad-Bagodara-Limdi-Rajkot-Gondal-Jetpur-Junagadh-Gir, at least 12-14 hours
D3: Gir
D4+: Gir-Veraval-Somnath-Veraval-Porbandar-Dwaraka, excluding temple halt time, drive will be at least 5 hours
D5+: Dwaraka-Jamnagar-Rajkot-Gondal-Amreli-Palitana, 6-8 hours
D6+: Palitana-Bhavnagar-Vataman-Tarapur-Borsad-Vasad-Baroda-Bharuch-Ankleshwar-Surat-Vapi-Bombay, 14-16 hours+ breaks
D7+: Bombay-Pune-Kolhapur-Hubli-Bangalore

Thanks Kumar Sir.We are planning to Bangalore -Gir with 2 breaks 1st one at Pune (Satara) and 2nd at Rajkot.We will drive down to Gir in the morning from Rajkot.We are spending 6th and 7th in Gir.Rest we will plan later.We are mostly likely to follow D4,D5,D6 exactly as suggested.

2 questions- (1) Is there a bypass to avoid getting into Pune to proceed to Mumbai and then in Mumbai to proceed to Ahmedabad

(2) After Mumbai,I know Mumbai Ahmedabad is a expressway (which means atleast 4 lanes).What about after Ahmedabad till Rajkot -Gir.Are these roads 4 Lane or 2 Lane without divider?

Could you please suggest any good hotels in Rajkot which is not located too much into the city?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ramanak

2 questions- (1) Is there a bypass to avoid getting into Pune to proceed to Mumbai and then in Mumbai to proceed to Ahmedabad

Yes, when you are coming on NH4 from Bangalore, it automatically becomes the bypass for Pune and exits onto the expressway to Bombay. NO turns anywhere, except into the expressway. Signages excellent.

Bombay does not have a true bypass - and the one indicated in maps is not to be followed - but you can easily cross Bombay from expressway to NH8. Please follow this guide I have prepared:
https://sites.google.com/site/hvkuma...bypass---south

(2) After Mumbai,I know Mumbai Ahmedabad is a expressway (which means atleast 4 lanes).What about after Ahmedabad till Rajkot -Gir.Are these roads 4 Lane or 2 Lane without divider?

No, that is not true. NH8 from Bombay (Ghodbunder) is 6-laned, but not an expressway. The expressway is between Baroda & Ahmedabad.

Precautions:
- Ankleshwar-Bharuch NH8 bypass always sees 5 km+ traffic jams, hence take the road going through the 2 towns
- Remember to take exit from the Braoda-Ahmedabad expressway at the pen-ultimate exit (and not the final one, which goes into Ahmedabad city) onto the Sardar Patel Ring Road 88 kms after the first toll gate, where sign boards indicate Rajkot/Sarkhej.

Could you please suggest any good hotels in Rajkot which is not located too much into the city?

I am afraid I have not seen any hotels on Rajkot bypass which goes towards Gondal/Junagadh (your route). You will have to enter Rajkot city through the Ring Road.

I am attaching a route plan that I have prepared for someone driving from Bombay to Sasan Gir/ Somnath/ Dwaraka on the route indicated by me. Please refer it. The Palitana sector is not indicated there, but I can help you do the detailing if you wish.

I am also attaching another file which will help you drive from Bangalore to Bombay (and bypass it).

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by ramanak

Could you please suggest any good hotels in Rajkot which is not located too much into the city?

You can try this hotel : Hotel Krishna Park Rajkot | A Premium Hotel of Rajkot welcomes you
It is on the highway, just 500 m after exiting Rajkot(towards Junagadh).Its a decent enough hotel to stay for one night. The landmark for this hotel is a cluster of car showrooms- Hyundai, VW,Nissan, Honda. The hotel will be on your right side( while travelling from Rajkot towards Junagadh). So you will have to take the service road to get to the hotel. Check for room availability well in advance.

Veraval-Porbandar-Dwarka-Okha(Bet Dwarka) will take atleast 4.5 hours. Refer to my thread here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...arka-okha.html.

Originally Posted by ramanak

What about after Ahmedabad till Rajkot -Gir.Are these roads 4 Lane or 2 Lane without divider?

The road from Ahmedabad, Rajkot uptil a place called Jetpur is four laned. Roads are excellent.
At Jetpur, you will have take a left just before an overbridge, to go to Junagadh. From Jetpur onwards(to Junagadh), the road is two laned. Roads are ok on this stretch .

[GTO]

Here's a Bangalore-Gir travelogue which might be of help too : Link

[v&v]

Originally Posted by ramanak

Hi Friends,

We have planned a trip to Gir national park followed by visit to Somnath,Dwarka and Palitana Jain temple.We are driving down from Bangalore starting on 5th June 3 AM.Since I am travelling with my wife and 75 year old parents, am looking forward to your suggestions on route, stop overs along the way, road conditions, traffic bottlenecks near cities/Bypasses etc.

Thanks Kumar Sir.We are planning to Bangalore -Gir with 2 breaks 1st one at Pune (Satara) and 2nd at Rajkot.We will drive down to Gir in the morning from Rajkot.We are spending 6th and 7th in Gir.Rest we will plan later.We are mostly likely to follow D4,D5,D6 exactly as suggested.

Thanks.

If you can extend your drive and its ok with your parents, then you should take first stop in Mumbai and if you start early you can easily reach Sasan Gir on day 2. Stopping over at Satara then on day 2 you will hit Mumbai at peak office hrs time. You will loose good amount of time bypassing Mumbai.

After Ahmadabad 8A-8B are in good condition. Even if you cant make it all the way to Gir you can always stop over at Junagadh. Junagadh - Gir road was bad and undivided.

Here the link of My TL which we did last October.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...1-3500kms.html

[Ketan]

Ramanak,

I see that you are planning to leave early in the morning, I would suggest that you take your first stop at Vapi (or something beyond Mumbai). The idea is to cross Mumbai during night hours or off the rush hours so that you dont spend much time in the mumbai city traffic. Next morning when you start from Vapi, it should be less distance for you to get to Gir. There are some decent hotels on the Vapi highway, right under the flyover on NH8. Hotel Krishna park is a good option and right there on the Junagadh highway which is the one you are going to take for Gir.
Even while returning, try to pass Mumbai during early morning or late night to save sometime unless you have a plan to stay.

[ramanak]

Originally Posted by Ketan

Ramanak,

I see that you are planning to leave early in the morning, I would suggest that you take your first stop at Vapi (or something beyond Mumbai). The idea is to cross Mumbai during night hours or off the rush hours so that you dont spend much time in the mumbai city traffic.

Thanks V&V and Ketan for your suggestion.

How about a break at Palghar?Would that be a good option? Place looks scenic.Worth spending a few hours in the morning in Palghar perhaps?

One more question I had is regarding safety (in terms of theft /robberies) of night driving in Gujarat/Maharashtra. Are there
any issues on that front between Mumbai-Vapi-Rajkot-Junagadh?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ramanak

Thanks V&V and Ketan for your suggestion.

How about a break at Palghar?Would that be a good option? Place looks scenic.Worth spending a few hours in the morning in Palghar perhaps?

One more question I had is regarding safety (in terms of theft /robberies) of night driving in Gujarat/Maharashtra. Are there
any issues on that front between Mumbai-Vapi-Rajkot-Junagadh?

Palghar is off the NH8. After a long day's drive, will you have the zest and energy to take a narrow 2-laned highway just to go stay a night, especially when you know you will not reach before it is late evening or night?

Instead of Palghar, I would suggest either Dahanu ( turn off at Charoty) or Bordi (turn off at Talasari)

NO safety issues.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by ramanak

Are there
any issues on that front between Mumbai-Vapi-Rajkot-Junagadh?

I can confirm that in the Rajkot-Junagadh-Veraval section, it is very safe. I have driven on this section many times, sometime quite late in the night. I have never come across any incident of highway robberies.

Only issue you may face on the two laned highway on the Jetpur-Junagadh-Veraval section is that if you are passing though this section at night, drivers driving with their headlights on full beam may be troublesome for you. They have the least regard for oncoming drivers. It can be blinding at times and if there are vehicles(specially trucks/rickshaws and "chakkdaas") going ahead of you without working tail lamps, it can be dangerous as well.

In the 90s, my dad had a major accident on this section when he was blinded by a foolish trucker driving at full beam, it was too late for him to see a truck which had broken down (with no tail lamps/parking lights). He ended up braking too late and hit the truck. Luckily for him, the Tata Estate's bonnet took the brunt of the impact. Neither road conditions not driver etiquette have changed much since then.

Roads are bad at some places too and you could end up getting surprised going over a large pothole at high speeds. Advice you to drive cautiously on this section at night.

[ramanak]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Only issue you may face on the two laned highway on the Jetpur-Junagadh-Veraval section is that if you are passing though this section at night
Roads are bad at some places too and you could end up getting surprised going over a large pothole at high speeds. Advice you to drive cautiously on this section at night.

Thanks.

I intend to cover Rajkot-Sasan Gir stretch early in morning between 6 AM-9 AM after resting in Rajkot in the night.

[paragsachania]

Few cents from my side:

With lots of breaks and comfortable cruising speeds, I was easily able to do Bangalore-Surat City (1250Kms) in a single day.

Till then I have been usually doing Bangalore-Pune and Bangalore-Pune-Aurangabad in a single day.

I started from Bangalore at 4-30am and reached my Surat destination at 11-30pm. I was driving my WagonR with my parents and this was in Oct 2011 on a Saturday.

I had taken super long breaks at Shiggaon for breakfast (1H20M), Twice for Refueling (20M), Lunch at Pune (1H) , 10 Minutes meeting HVK in Mumbai and a dinner break lasting an hour at Charoti.

The catch here is to be able to manage reach Mumbai before peak hour evening traffic. You don't want to crawl through the traffic due to flyover work in city limits (and usual evening traffic) and then drive further after such a tiring drive.

I had reached Panvel around 5-30pm and was at Ghorbunder Junction (NH8) at 7-45pm and hence you can imagine that I bypassed Mumbai under peak traffic.

The last I drove on NH8 was a couple of weeks before during my GQ Drive and I can say that there has been tremendous improvements in Road conditions after Thane (NH8 Highway) since most of the bridge work on the highway has been completed and one need not take deviations which earlier were bottlenecks that slowed down your pace considerably.

And as HVK mentions, it makes perfect sense to simply get into Ankleshwar town, cross over Narmada via Golden Bridge and reach Bharuch and rejoin the main highway. It definitely saves time from that epic jam on the main bridge.

[Ketan]

^ Good one, doable! Not so experienced folks like me go thru some endurance test on such. I had a full day drive previous day till late night when we reached Vapi, had a very good night sleep all the way till 1030am, had heavy breakfast and started at around 12 noon from Vapi, spent about 2 and half hours in Mumbai traffic, with some long breaks (1h) for meals ahead and later close to the destination was taking very short breaks at 2-3 hours. We made it to Bangalore by 6.30-7AM. Thats when I realize why HVK was telling me to cross mumbai during night or early morning, that may help you save at least an hour and half I guess.