[freedom]

Originally Posted by sri1951

Hi!


We intend to drive a VW Polo.

Pune to temburni is a hoot to drive, you will enjoy it. I know this first hand.

Temburni onwards some sections are rough, bad, broken. But it's still drivable. Polo should be okay, don't worry about it. Just take the patches at a slower pace. I have not gone via this route, but heard about it from one of my family friends.
Enjoy the trip, please reply back on this thread after you are back.

[jay3sh]

Sri1951,
I am aware of the road till kurduwadi, no problem at all. In fact should be good till Barshi. Pune Tembhurni as mentioned above is brilliant to drive, I do that atleast twice a month. If you leave at 10 am, you can plan lunch at Hotel Shree which is 5 km after Barshi (100 km from Hadapsar). That is the only good hotel on this highway.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by sri1951

Hi!

My friend and I plan to drive down on 13th morning. We intend to drive a VW Polo.

Any car can do this route, absolutely no problem. There are some rough patches and thats it.
Makhkhan road till tembhurni.
Two km rough patch between Tembhurni and kurduwadi.
5 km rough patch between Kurduwadi and Barshi.
Drive through Barshi town, don't take bumpy byepass. Beware speedbreakers in Barshi town.
Barshi - kusalamb - left turn - yermala - kalamb : good road.
Kalamb - ambajogai : 7 km rough patch after kalamb.

[freedom]

Whats the parking situation at Ambejogai? How much time does it usually take for darshan?
Whats the approx time I should account for doing Latur-Ambejogai-Latur? Plan to start from Latur at 2pm and expect to be back by 630pm. Doable?

[freedom]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Any car can do this route, absolutely no problem. There are some rough patches and thats it.

@Mods apologies for posting again
@ASHISHPALLOD for Pune-Latur what will be better?
Indapur-Tembhurni-Barshi-Latur
or
Indapur-Tembhurni-Solapur-Tujapur-Latur

The advantage of option 2 is the longer run on NH9. Not sure of traffic on Tuljapur route.

The plan is to head off from Pune early morning around 530ish and reach Latur by afternoon.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by freedom

@Mods apologies for posting again
@ASHISHPALLOD for Pune-Latur what will be better?
Indapur-Tembhurni-Barshi-Latur
or
Indapur-Tembhurni-Solapur-Tujapur-Latur

Option 2 is better as far as road condition is concerned but very longer route compared to Barshi route.

Kurduwadi to Barshi was very horrible road two months back. Don't know the current situation. I will be on that route this week. Will update.

[freedom]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Option 2 is better as far as road condition is concerned but very longer route compared to Barshi route.

Kurduwadi to Barshi was very horrible road two months back. Don't know the current situation. I will be on that route this week. Will update.

ASHISHPALLOD sorry to bug you again. Any updates?
I plan to drive to Latur on Saturday.
My first halt will be Latur and driving 40-50 km more via Solapur should be OK if Solapur-Tuljapur-Latur is in good shape.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by freedom

ASHISHPALLOD sorry to bug you again. Any updates?
I plan to drive to Latur on Saturday.
My first halt will be Latur and driving 40-50 km more via Solapur should be OK if Solapur-Tuljapur-Latur is in good shape.

I will travel on that route in the next week. Solapur route is good compared to Barshi route.

[freedom]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

I will travel on that route in the next week. Solapur route is good compared to Barshi route.

Back from Pune-Latur-Pune trip with a visit to Ambejogai as well
Pune-Solapur - Super smooth road. Watch out for unmarked rumbler strips at some crossings.
Solapur-Tuljapur - 4 Laning in progress. Lots of diversions. Good road quality. Slow down at start/end of diversions. Unmarked speed breakers at these points.
Tuljapur-Latur smooth road. Light traffic. No divider.
Latur city - Bad roads. Drive carefully.
Latur-Ambejogai overall good SH quality roads with some rough and bumpy sections
It's definitely worth travelling extra 40 km and go via Solapur than take the Barshi route.

Took me 5:45 hrs for Pune Latur and 6:15 hrs for Latur Pune.

Car - Polo GT

[luvDriving]

Well I did the Pune Ambajogai trip last weekend. Here is the route that we took -

Pune - Tembhurni - Barshi - Kalam - Ambajogai and the return route -

Ambajogai - Latur - Tuljapur - Solapur (night halt) - Pune

Vehicle was a Ritz Vdi. We left Pune around 08.15 am and reached Ambajogai around 03.30 pm with 3 halts in between. The road after barshi is terrible and slows you down considerably. Hence we decided to change route while coming back to Pune.

Even though the Latur route is better than the Barshi route, the roads are very topsy turvy from Latur to Tuljapur and you are forced to keep below 60 kmph.

Stay at Ambajogai - Bhakta niwas nyaas. A/c room with good food. 1200 per night. Very close to the temple.
Stay at Solapur - Surya Executive Inn. 2000 per night. Good for one or two nights. The attached restaurant is good with complimentary breakfast and lot of options.

[padikpanther]

I did a Pune - Ambejogai - Pune round trip on 8th June. Started from Pune at 4am, reached Ambejogai at 11.45am. Started from Ambejogai at 2 pm, reached Pune at 9.30pm.
Route taken: Pune-Ahmednagar-Jamkhed-Patoda-Manjarsumba-Kej-Lokhandi Savargaon- Ambejogai and the same route while travelling back as well. Return trip was 705 kms.
Overall road condition is good except the patch between Patoda & Manjarsumba (approximately 26 odd kms). Its pathetic to put it softly..

[neoonwheels]

Originally Posted by padikpanther

I did a Pune - Ambejogai - Pune round trip on 8th June. Started from Pune at 4am, reached Ambejogai at 11.45am. Started from Ambejogai at 2 pm, reached Pune at 9.30pm.
Route taken: Pune-Ahmednagar-Jamkhed-Patoda-Manjarsumba-Kej-Lokhandi Savargaon- Ambejogai and the same route while travelling back as well. Return trip was 705 kms.
Overall road condition is good except the patch between Patoda & Manjarsumba (approximately 26 odd kms). Its pathetic to put it softly..

Is it doable in VW Jetta/any sedan? Planning to do this stretch in Nov/Dec this year.

[padikpanther]

Except for Patoda-Manjarsumba patch, Yes very much doable. Pls check for the latest road conditions on this patch. If it the situation hasn't changed, my suggestion is: No.

[Meer]

Just back from a road trip from Pune to Ambajogai. In true Team-bhp style did the thorough research and spoke to frequent travelers in Ambajogai, the consensus was Pune - Solapur - Tuljapur - Latur - Ambajogai, the route is 100 kms longer but nice road throughout. The other 2 routes through Barsi and Jamkhed were both pothole filled. I went ahead with this advice and completed the 440 odd kms from west pune to Ambejogai in 7 hours with a 25 mins stop near solapur. Started at 10 AM from Pune and reached ambejogai at 5 PM. Below is the route detail:

Pune - Solapur: Nice road throughout, some diversions after Indapur and multiple speed breakers too. Be careful at the diversions as there are bikes coming from the wrong side too. Stopped at Nisarg restaurant, had nice thali.

Solapur - Tuljapur: Best stretch of the route and the least noisy too. Though a bit winding.

Tuljapur - Ausa: Not complete yet, roadwork in progress. The diversions are jarring but no potholes as the side roads are also all leveled.

Ausa - Latur: Old style road with some single divider-less roads too.

Latur - Ambajogai: Again road work in progress, road till Renapur has diversions and steep fall on one side, so be careful. Saw a few tractors fallen. Renapur to outskirts of Ambajogai is super. Don't take the Pokhari road to Ambajogai, stick to the straight road with the marked diversions.

I was in my civic so wanted to avoid the potholed roads at all cost. Returns journey was similar, started at 2 PM and reached home at 9:30 PM as I got stuck into major traffic at hadapsar!

Thank you ASHISHPALLOD, freedom, luvDriving and padikpanther for your recent updates which helped me.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by Meer

Just back from a road trip from Pune to Ambajogai.

I did Pune to Parli last month and took Pune - Ahmednagar - Beed - Parli route. The road was completely pothole free with about 1-2 kms of broken tarmac after Beed. I guess that route might also work for Ambajogai.

Thanks though for sharing update on the alternate route via Solapur. I plan to go to Latur and totally hate bad roads of Barshi route. Would select your suggested route for peaceful drive.