[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Sommos

The Govt. of Chhattisgarh had organised "Sirpur Music & Dance festival" in Jan 2013. It is somewhat in line with the "Konark Dance festival". A lot of renouned artists participated in the festival and to facilitate movement of public and VIP's the road between Arang to Saraipalli was repaired in december'12. The road is still is good shape except for one particular portion of 300/400mtrs.

Thanks Sommos for the update. I will be going to Bargarh by end of June. Hope the road is still good till then. It usually get spoiled during the rains.

[shabahmad]

Originally Posted by stringbh

Thanks. Just in case, know of any logs for this part? Do you think GPS kit will help. I am of course collecting maps. Hopefully, this part can be sorted out. I agree, Sambalpur-Amravathi done on day 2 would be good, an early start is needed.

Hi

Please go through this thread "Pune-Nagpur route Info (road condition) "; many BHPians travelled on this route.
During Return journey you can easily target Bhilai/Raipur if started early morning.
You didn't mentioned total days planned for this trip.

[stringbh]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Roughly Bhubaneshwar-Sambalpur should take 5 hours, Sambalpur-Bhilai should take another 5 hours, Bhilai-Nagpur should take 4 hours (max), Nagpur-Amravati should take 2.5 hours.

Sure Sommos, I will send you my journey details after finalizing. Only advantage of hyderabad route is I have traveled in this direction in buses and also have friends in various cities. Od-CG I have never traveled at all (I was born in your city is another matter ).

Originally Posted by shabahmad

You didn't mentioned total days planned for this trip.

Thanks. About a week is fine. Can be stretched to 9 days max.

One question: Do you guys think GPS is necessary ?

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Thanks Sommos for the update. I will be going to Bargarh by end of June. Hope the road is still good till then. It usually get spoiled during the rains.

Bargarh is in Odisha. I am talking about the road in Chhattisgarh.
Sambalpur to Attabira was full of patchwork, the rest was good.

Originally Posted by stringbh

Sure Sommos, I will send you my journey details after finalizing. Only advantage of hyderabad route is I have traveled in this direction in buses and also have friends in various cities. Od-CG I have never traveled at all (I was born in your city is another matter ).

Nice to know that you're born in Bhilai.
Would certainly like to meet you if you travel in this route anytime in the future.

I've found the GPS quite useful, specially where proper road signages are not there or where you tend to miss out the boards due to a truck parked just in front.

[stringbh]

Bumping an old thread. The drive planned last year is finally happening now with the addition of a new family member and a detour to Indore. My wife had work at Indore and I needed a reason to drive!

Thanks to suggestions from hvk sir, sommos, ashis89 and bhpians, drive went smooth. As told, saraipali to arang took some work as the road condition is bad. However, speeds of 40-50 are manageable with a few potholes here and there. I guess there is no need to take the nuapada route.

Amravati to Indore was an altogether different experience with quite good ghat section consisting of melghat tiger reserve till dharni. Then, a drive through thick forests, very nice. But, entering Indore was a pain. Last 60 kms or so took 2 hours. I thought entering Howrah was worse, which I did last week from Bhubaneswar. That was a breeze compared to entering Indore. Roads in this section were average to very good, but, two lane all through out. The entire route is safe. I traveled with wify and 10 month old son.

Due to long standing commitment, in the return trip, I am planning to visit Shirdi. If possible, I would like to cover Sula Vineyards on the same day.


1. Please suggest whether to stay overnight at Shirdi or Nashik. I am planning to stay at shirdi, finish the darshan in the morning and head over to Nashik. Is this possible in a single day?

Possible Itinerary:

December 25, 2014: Indore to Shirdi
December 26: Darshan at Shirdi + visit to Sula Vineyards. Is this possible on the same day ?
December 27: Return trip to Bhubaneswar.

2. I would much appreciate updates on the road conditions from Shirdi to Sula Vineyards/Nashik and the possible route to take.

Google shows the following route to Shirdi-Nashik: But, adds that the route has restricted usage.

[beast_within]

Bumping up the old thread. I plan to do the following route: Raipur-Shani Shignapur-Shirdi-Ujjain-Raipur. Planned start date is 21st Dec morning. The entire trip is planned to be completed in 7-8 days. I will be travelling with family and a 20 month old baby, need advice on the optimal route and stopover points.