[ACMerchant]

Originally Posted by sinharishi

Any latest update on NH48 condition between Vadodra and Mumbai?

I went to Mumbai from Surat and just returned from Mumbai and roads @ 85% good took about 5.30 hrs with halt home to home.

[sahil624]

Originally Posted by sinharishi

Any latest update on NH48 condition between Vadodra and Mumbai?

I did this route yesterday. I have updated on following link

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post5607959 (Delhi - Mumbai : Route Queries)

[RJ2285]

Any latest update on road condition between Mumbai and Ahmedabad? Travelling to watch the India-Pak clash at Motera Stadium. I am expecting a lot of traffic, but an update on road condition will be helpful.

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by RJ2285

Any latest update on road condition between Mumbai and Ahmedabad? Travelling to watch the India-Pak clash at Motera Stadium. I am expecting a lot of traffic, but an update on road condition will be helpful.

The stretch from ghodbunder till Virar toll plaza is a mess. too many undulations and the "new" bridge over ghodbunder creek is full of patch works which makes this stretch a pain. The left most lane is full of muck thus treat this stretch as a 2 lane highway only. Roads open up after you cross the virar toll. look out for potholes that spring up unannounced especially on the fast lane.

moving ahead, the flyovers around vapi also have worn out surface. The stretch from navsari to surat was also painful with too many wrong side drivers especially once you start approaching Surat.

Surat - Bharuch - Vadodara - NE1 to ahmedabad should be a breeze. expect 9 hours of driving time. You can save time if you leave early morning, else you will end up playing the old tetris game with the unruly truckers. They have no sense of where they are driving and change lanes without any notice.

I am not sure whether you have done this stretch before but my rule of thumb on this stretch is to never exceed 80 kmph and avoid night driving on this highway. There is no middle buffer between up and down lanes and the high beam headlights from oncoming traffic is a big pain and very risky.

Food options are aplenty , the sugar and spice chain at valsad and khodiyar at bharuch are my preferred stop points.

Regards
Diesel

[efgritesh]

Any latest update on road condition between Pune and Ahmedabad? Planning a trip towards winter school break in the month of Dec. What time one must start to reach comfortably by 6 PM in the evening, including 2 hrs total for breaks. I will be travelling with kids hence would need regular breaks.

Also, any recommendations for budget accommodations in Ahmedabad for 2 nights stay? My next stop will be Somnath from Ahmedabad and purpose of stay in Ahmedabad is to see places and explore food.

[streetfighter]

Roads are fairly good overall, you will encounter heavy to very heavy traffic while crossing Thane and Fountain (depending on the time of your travel). Otherwise, roads are good from thereon. Google is fairly accurate these days in traffic prediction, I'd account approx 12 hours of drive time. So I guess you should leave home between 4am-5am. This will help you dodge the Thane & Fountain traffic to some extent.

During my last trip, I stayed at Keys Select Hotel - https://maps.app.goo.gl/EzXmx1iHobntNYiK6. It is near to the Gandhi Ashram, Sabarmati Riverfront. Akshardham is not too far either. There are other good budget hotels too, check Ginger Ahmedabad, RTO Circle - https://maps.app.goo.gl/aRxkPiKuXLswmrgU8

Originally Posted by efgritesh

Any latest update on road condition between Pune and Ahmedabad? Planning a trip towards winter school break in the month of Dec. What time one must start to reach comfortably by 6 PM in the evening, including 2 hrs total for breaks. I will be travelling with kids hence would need regular breaks.

Also, any recommendations for budget accommodations in Ahmedabad for 2 nights stay? My next stop will be Somnath from Ahmedabad and purpose of stay in Ahmedabad is to see places and explore food.

[ramjiramu]

Hello Everyone,
I am looking for some route and trip advices in Gujarat.

I am finalizing a 10 day family road trip from Pune to Kutch - Rann starting on 23rd Dec.
This will be my first road trip towards western part of India and hence any suggestions are most welcome.

About me:
- I have nearly 1L km driving experience which is mostly done in the East and South parts of India. Never ventured into West & North parts of India.
- I will be driving my Black Beauty 2022 Safari for this trip.

I am planning to cover below places in this trip.
1. Stay in Ahmedabad for ~5 days - cover places around like local city tour, Rani ki Vav, Adalaj, Statue of Unity
2. Stay in Bhuj or Rann for ~3 days - visit Rann, Dholavira, Mandvi


Please suggest:
1. Good stop overs along route for quality food and decent washrooms. My plan is to take NH48 from Pune via Mumbai.
2. Good or preferred refueling stations?
3. What are the speed limits and how is the driving discipline or road rages in Gujarat?
4. How do you rate star hotels vs airbnb stays across Gujarat.
5. Any tourist places to avoid?

Thanks in advance

[gurminder_81]

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

Hello Everyone,
I am looking for some route and trip advices in Gujarat.

I am finalizing a 10 day family road trip from Pune to Kutch - Rann starting on 23rd Dec.

I have an almost similar plan starting from BLR on 22nd, effectively starting on 23rd from Pune, but we are changing our base on daily basis to optimise on driving time and be closer to places of interest.

Here's a snapshot:
22nd Dec: Late start in the day around 8 AM: BLR->Satara(stay)->Dandi->Navsari(stay)->Vadodara-> Ahmedabad(stay)->Lothal->Junagadh->Sasan Gir(stay)->Somnath(stay)->Dwarka->Morbi(stay)->Bhujodi->Bhuj->Dhordo-Tent-City(stay)->Kalo Dunger->Dholavira->Patan(stay)->Modhera->Champaner-Pavgadh->Surat(stay)->Nanded(stay)->Hyderabad->BLR on 1st Jan

We have only booked hotels by examining google reviews, their 360 degree street views, mostly looked for branded chains like VITS and Fern and avoided AirBnBs as we are constantly changing places of stay every night.

Have used Indian Oil's SWAGAT pump locator using: https://www.iocl.com/swagat-retail-outlets

In addition to the above, we have planned to fill the diesel in major cities where local folks go.

Good luck with your trip. Hope to cross our paths somewhere on the trip.

[Dieseltuned]

I did a same day return trip between Mumbai and Surat and the NH 48 in Maharashtra is in shambles.

The authorities have started concreting the road and the diversions as usual are very poorly managed especially on the return journey from Mumbai. The trouble portion is between Vasai and Virar. This section is currently being picked up for concreting and sees massive traffic snarls. This section took us almost 1hr 45 mins to cover which in normal circumstances should not be more than 20-25 minutes. All users travelling by this road please do plan accordingly.

Regards
Diesel

[pariwar]

Hi Segment Travellers!

Am planning to do the sector Lokhandwala-Ankleshwar with a departure of 5 a.m. Planned stop at Ahura on the highway. Since this is the first time on this segment what can i expect in terms of road conditions, traffic snarls, low speed segments and higher speed segments. Have to reach Ankleshwar by 11.30 a.m. Are the timings compatible?

Any inputs, highly appreciated.

[savirbajaj]

Originally Posted by pariwar

Hi Segment Travellers!

Am planning to do the sector Lokhandwala-Ankleshwar with a departure of 5 a.m. Planned stop at Ahura on the highway. Since this is the first time on this segment what can i expect in terms of road conditions, traffic snarls, low speed segments and higher speed segments. Have to reach Ankleshwar by 11.30 a.m. Are the timings compatible?

Any inputs, highly appreciated.

Well currently the road conditions are pretty bad as due to concreting there are lot of places where you take close to an hour to just take diversions as the lane changes from 3 to a single lane and this starts from Virar going upto nearly Talasari it’s taking people close to 5 hours just to reach Vapi so please plan accordingly would advise if you could take trains instead as the traffic conditions are pretty bad

[pariwar]

Wow! What a driving nightmare it was. Completed the Lokhandwala to Ankleshwar drive a couple of days ago and the return trip from statue of unity to CSMIA yesterday. A few pointers on the onward and return journeys.

Lokhandwala to Ankleshwar

• Left Lokhandwala at 5.20 a.m. Trafficky but manageable drive upto Kashimira
  -Heavy traffic with quite a few jams after Fountain Hotel/Ghodbunder Road junction & upto Charoti Toll Plaza. The fast lane is being concreted on this long stretch, some parts on the onward and other parts on the return stretch. Many a time there was only one lane (left most) available and this was a huge mobile parking lot.
  -On some stretches where the other side is not being concreted, the fast lane was segregated for onward/against vehicle traffic movement. However, it was very dicey driving on these stretches, especially if there are no vehicles in front of yours, as the vehicles from the opposite side were regularly encroaching on to this segregated segment.
  -Cars & even trucks were driving quite fast on top of the unopened/sort of complete concrete stretches. When encountering the construction barricade they would put down rocks & other road material to jump off the concrete stretch, to the below tar roads. Opportunistic & Ingenuity at its best.
  -A couple of accidents on either side, further exasperated the experience and in some stretches the left most lane resembled a mobile parking lot.
  -Was able to move to the above mentioned segregated stretches in some segments and hence covered some reasonable stretches slightly quicker.
  -Took a breakfast break at Hotel Ahura for about 35 minutes.
  -Stretch after Ahura was construction free and on entering Gujarat, sensible speeds could be undertaken.
  -Amazed at the number of trucks & other vehicles on this entire segment (having driven mostly on Bengaluru-Kerala, Bengaluru-Hyderabad, Benglaru- Chennai & Bengaluru-North Karnataka/Goa stretches).
  -Was targeting to reach Ankleshwar by 11.30 a.m. but reached only at 2.00 p.m. Luckily the event was running late so did not miss out much.
  -Another attending vehicle had left Mumbai at 4.00 a.m. and reached the venue only at 2.30 p.m.

Ankleshwar to Statue of Unity

• Left at around 6.15 p.m. and reached around 8 p.m.
  -Some road construction and broken roads encountered after Bharuch towards Rajpipla, but later on fairly decent.
  -Google Maps says it is about 2 hours drive.
  -A few wayward potholes and patched up roads meant that it was a sedate and bumpy ride especially since it was after nightfall

Statue of Unity to Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal 2 (next day)

• Left Statue of Unity at 10.20 a.m.
  -Drive was fast and good (other than the short construction section) upto Bharuch Highway, took 1hr 15 minutes
  -As expected, overall heavy traffic on the Bharuch-Mumbai highway. Lunch halt at Babubhai Umbadiyu, just before Valsad at about 1.45 p.m. Break for about 45 minutes. Feasted on Umbadiyu & Ponkh with the customary buttermilk as the downer. Highly recommend for the experience.
  -Sensible speeds continued till just after Maharashtra border. A mix of slow moving traffic and the proverbial jams upto Ghodbunder Road intersection.
  -Was targeting to reach airport by 7.00 p.m. for a 8.20 p.m. flight departure. Luckily, the flight was delayed to 9.30 p.m. due to airport congestion in Mumbai.
  -At Chinchoti junction, Google Maps identified an internal road that would shave off 45 minutes or so and took us (quite a few others who were using Google Maps followed) on a completely kachha village road for about 8 or 9 kms. Trust quotient with respect to blindly following Google Maps diminished by many a point.
  -Nevertheless, reached Andheri East by 7.00 p.m. and stopped for a light dinner before being dropped off at Terminal 2

Corollary: Harrowing drive experience but the company was lovely and hence enjoyed the experience. Thankfully, the car was an automatic so the left leg did not strain itself. In my limited knowledge, I am guessing that the status of this road will not improve for the next five to six months or so.

[dvl666]

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

Hello Everyone,
I am looking for some route and trip advices in Gujarat.

I am finalizing a 10 day family road trip from Pune to Kutch - Rann starting on 23rd Dec.

Please suggest:
1. Good stop overs along route for quality food and decent washrooms. My plan is to take NH48 from Pune via Mumbai.
2. Good or preferred refueling stations?
3. What are the speed limits and how is the driving discipline or road rages in Gujarat?
4. How do you rate star hotels vs airbnb stays across Gujarat.
5. Any tourist places to avoid?

Thanks in advance

Hi
Did you do your trip?
How was the experience?
Can you suggest answers to what you had asked.

I plan to leave for Statue of Unity tomorrow, followed by Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar and Dwarka. Maybe take a ferry to Surat in the return leg of our journey. If time doesnt match we could drive all the way there but a stopover in Surat and back to Bbay.
Total 12-14 day trip

Thanks

[AJ_RedDevils10]

Hi Team,

I will be doing Ahm-Mumbai (Dombivali) in mid April '24.
Planning to start early 5/5:30 am to beat traffic.
Any suggestions?

Should I take the NE-4 section between Vadodara--Baruch or continue on NH48?

Thanks,
Ajit Nair

[Kar_Om]

I am planning to do trip to SOU from Mumbai next month. Considering the NH 48 traffic conditions from Vasai-Virar onwards, anyone has tried alternate route from Mumbai like taking Bhiwandi - Wada road and then joining NH 48 at Manor or Charoti?