[mo1]

I am driving to Ambajogai from Pune, this weekend. Google maps shows 3 routes:
1. Pune - Ahmednagar - Jamkhed - Ambajogai
2. Pune - Ahmednagar - Beed - Ambajogai
3. Pune - Indapur - Barshi - Ambajogai

Planning to take the Pune-Indapur-Barshi-Ambajogai as I know Pune to Indapur is in great condition.

Please suggest the best route. Thanks and Appreciate your inputs.

[pushkark]

Originally Posted by mo1

I am driving to Ambajogai from Pune, this weekend. Google maps shows 3 routes:
1. Pune - Ahmednagar - Jamkhed - Ambajogai
2. Pune - Ahmednagar - Beed - Ambajogai
3. Pune - Indapur - Barshi - Ambajogai

Planning to take the Pune-Indapur-Barshi-Ambajogai as I know Pune to Indapur is in great condition.

Please suggest the best route. Thanks and Appreciate your inputs.

Take "3. Pune - Indapur - Barshi - Ambajogai" route, have done the route many times, quite safe and well maintained. Just watch out for the tractors carrying sugarcane having improper/poor/no lights. Rest all is fine.
By any chance are you going for darshan of Ambajogai Devi? If yes, is that your family godess?

[mo1]

Originally Posted by pushkark

Take "3. Pune - Indapur - Barshi - Ambajogai" route, have done the route many times, quite safe and well maintained. Just watch out for the tractors carrying sugarcane having improper/poor/no lights. Rest all is fine.
By any chance are you going for darshan of Ambajogai Devi? If yes, is that your family godess?

Thanks a lot for quick reply @pushkark I will indeed take the Indapur-Barshi route.
Any good hotels you recommend, on the way(for food) and also in Ambajogai(for one night family stay)?

[vikrantj]

Originally Posted by mo1

Thanks a lot for quick reply @pushkark I will indeed take the Indapur-Barshi route.
Any good hotels you recommend, on the way(for food) and also in Ambajogai(for one night family stay)?

Please update the road condition after you have been there. I would be doing the route in coming weeks. So any pointers from you would be helpful.

[mo1]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

Please update the road condition after you have been there. I would be doing the route in coming weeks. So any pointers from you would be helpful.

Okay...here is the latest update(as of 12-Jan-2014):
1. Pune to Ambajogai via Barshi
Pune(Swargate) - Tembhurni - 160km - Solapur highway - excellent condition - ~Rs. 150 Toll
Tembhurni to Barshi - 50km - Small road - Mostly good - Few rough patches - No toll
Barshi - Kalamb - 45kms - Small road - few rough patches - some very bad(~5kms) - No toll
Kalamb - Ambajogai - 45kms - Good road - few rough patches - no toll
Overall good road but few patches around Barshi and few around Kalamb slow you down.
Actual Driving time(Punto MID) - 5.5 Hours
Hotel on the way - Hotel Shree Veg. is right after Bhigvan(~1.5/2 hours from Pune) Very good hotel.

2. Ambajogai to Pune via A'nagar
Ambajogai - Kej - 37 kms - Wide road but with few rough patches - no toll
Kej - Manjarsumbha - 40kms - Good wide road - no toll
Manjarsumbha - Ahmednagar - 135ksm - 10kms till Patoda is broken - slows you down to 40-50kmph - But after that very good road
Ahmednagar - Pune - 120kms - Excellent - ~Rs.120 toll
Actual driving time - 6.5 Hours
Hotel on the way - Hotel Raghunandan ~2km before Jamkhed. Lunch was good. Clean toilets.

I am really not sure which is the best route since both are sort of okayish roads but I would recommend going via A'nagar. Except the 10km patch near Manjarsumha/Pasaod, rest of the road is wide and in good condition.
When going via Barshi, there are many rough patches between Tembhurni till Kalamb and the road is narrower than via A'nagar. Even if time needed via A'hmednagar is more there are many good hotels on the way. While between Tembhurni till Ambajogai - there are very few options.

Places to stay in Ambajogai:
Yogeshwari Yatri Niwas - 02446-244559 - Right next to the temple - I did not stay here but looks well managed. They have AC rooms as well.
Hotel Krishnai - 02446-245266 - Did not stay here but looked very descent.
Santosh Palace - 02446-246056,244656 - I stayed here.Descent hotel for a night stay.
Suggest you to book hotels in advance especially on weekends/holidays.

Disclaimer: I am not related in any way, to any of the hotels mentioned above.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Avoid to travel after sunset on manjarsumba to Ahmednagar road. It is not safe route.

[luvDriving]

I am planning to drive to Ambejogai this weekend using the info given above. Any updates on these routes ? Road conditions / hotels on the way because I will be travelling with family including my 3 year old daughter.

Any inputs/suggestions will be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

[jayeshdamle]

Hello All, I am planning to travel from Mumbai to Ambajogai by November end, any updates on this route would be helpful. From the previous posts looks like the Barshi route is a better one. I would be travelling with my Family (wife and 2 kids) also any decent hotel suggestions at Ambajogai would be helpful.

If not at Ambajogai I was planning to stay overnight at Latur.

[freedom]

Originally Posted by luvDriving

I am planning to drive to Ambejogai this weekend using the info given above. Any updates on these routes ? Road conditions / hotels on the way because I will be travelling with family including my 3 year old daughter.

Originally Posted by jayeshdamle

Hello All, I am planning to travel from Mumbai to Ambajogai by November end

Please update the thread if you get any information. I too want to plan for this trip some time this winter

[JitendraK78]

Originally Posted by jayeshdamle

Hello All, I am planning to travel from Mumbai to Ambajogai by November end, any updates on this route would be helpful. From the previous posts looks like the Barshi route is a better one. I would be travelling with my Family (wife and 2 kids) also any decent hotel suggestions at Ambajogai would be helpful.

If not at Ambajogai I was planning to stay overnight at Latur.

Hello,
All the hotel available in Ambajogai are very shabby. I recommend to check the option of staying at the Bhakta Nivas next to the Yogeshwari temple.

My parents frequently visit Ambajogai and stay at the Bhakta Nivas. It is very neat place to stay and they have some airconditioned rooms also.

[jayeshdamle]

Originally Posted by JitendraK78

Hello,
All the hotel available in Ambajogai are very shabby. I recommend to check the option of staying at the Bhakta Nivas next to the Yogeshwari temple.

My parents frequently visit Ambajogai and stay at the Bhakta Nivas. It is very neat place to stay and they have some airconditioned rooms also.

Hi Jitendra, thanks for the reply, even I had stayed a couple of time in Bhakta niwas, its not that clean but is OK for 1 night. I just saw hotel Sai Palace in Ambejogai and has got some decent reviews on Trip advisor. Has anyone tried this one, its just for a night as long as it a decent family hotel.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Currently, Pune - NH9 - tembhurni - kurduwadi - barshi - kusalamb - yermala - kalamb - ambajogai is good route. Between tembhurni and barshi, you may face bad patches couple of times. Take barshi town road rather than bumpy byepass to cross barshi. Between kalamb and ambajogai, again you may face bad patch of road for 5 km and thats it. After Tembhurni, there are hardly any good restaurant till ambajogai, so be prepared.
There are couple of good hotels after ambajogai bus stand on parali road.
During Nov end, various sugar mills along this route will be started, so sugarcane carts and trailor traffic will be there, be cautious after Bhigwan till Barshi.

[bmanoj]

In March 2015, we stayed at newly constructed "Shri Ambejogai Bhakta Niwas Nyaas", it's not as close as bhakta niwas but certainly walkable distance from main Yogeshwari temple.
Their phone number is 02446 - 206308. Clean rooms with good food.

Regards,
Manoj

[luvDriving]

Well we are back from our trip to Ambajogai. We travelled by MSRTC 'laal dabba' and what a journey it was with people sleeping on the floor, denying seats to reserved passengers and all !

The routes the ST bus took were -

Pune to Ambajogai: Pune - Ranjangaon - Ahmednagar - Kada - Ashti - Jamkhed - Patoda - Kaij - Ambajogai.

This is a bad route with horrible roads which was more accentuated by the rattling ST bus stopping at every small village. The total journey took 9 hours, departing Pune at 11am and arriving in Ambajogai at 08 pm.

We had prebooked a room at the new Bhakta Niwas Nyaas. Good clean rooms at nominal rates. They have a caterer serving lunch and dinner. We had a very good abhishek and darshan and returned the next day via the 04 PM ST bus.

Ambajogai to Pune: Ambajogai - Barshi - Indapur - Pune (Swargate).

This was a much better journey with good roads, less stops and once we hit Solapur highway (toll road) at Tembhurni, it was smooth all the way to Pune. The bus started at 04.30pm and reached Pune at 12.30am next day.

No good hotels on the onward route but the one dhaba on solapur - pune highway was good with good food.

[sri1951]

Hi!

My friend and I plan to drive down on 13th morning. We intend to drive a VW Polo. Leaving from Shivajinagar at 10 am.

I read in the following post that there are bad patches in some places. Can we drive VW-Polo or should we take a bigger vehicle? How should we plan for a lunch/tea stop? Any tolls?

Thanks
Sriganesh
===

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Currently, Pune - NH9 - tembhurni - kurduwadi - barshi - kusalamb - yermala - kalamb - ambajogai is good route. Between tembhurni and barshi, you may face bad patches couple of times. Take barshi town road rather than bumpy byepass to cross barshi. Between kalamb and ambajogai, again you may face bad patch of road for 5 km and thats it. After Tembhurni, there are hardly any good restaurant till ambajogai, so be prepared.
There are couple of good hotels after ambajogai bus stand on parali road.
During Nov end, various sugar mills along this route will be started, so sugarcane carts and trailor traffic will be there, be cautious after Bhigwan till Barshi.