[msbehave]

Hello,

I'm eager to hear about the road-trip! I am planning a drive from Machilipatnam to Hyderabad - Mumbai in May. In case you stayed in Machilipatnam, is there a hotel you can recommend? Many Thanks!

[mittal_v2002]

I am planning to do Hyderabad-Pune (Hinjewadi, to be precise) in the coming week. Could not find any recent post providing the condition of roads after monsoon on the route.

Has anyone travelled recently on the route and can suggest the road condition and appropriate stops en-route.

TIA.
VM

[ranjitp1]

Roads are fairly good till Solapur.Some rough gravel near Humnabad for around 18kms.But otherwise very good.Doesnt look like the area has got a lot of rain.

Just some pointers:

1.Keep originals of documents alongwith copies.You are sure to be stopped by Solapur Traffic Police at the Solapur Bypass.If you speak Marathi,stick to Marathi

2.There are a couple of good restaurants after the bypass towards Pune on the HIghway.We stop at a place called Aviraj,by and far clean n excellent food.Dont expect anything snazzy and upmarket on this stretch(in case you are doing it the 1st time).

3.You do have the option of not going into Pune.Pune town is quite messy and narrow roads.After Loni,you would reach Hadapsar.Do not take the Hadapsar flyover.Keep below the flyover and turn left.You would see a pointer saying Mumbai.It quite a messy place near the flyover.Once you take the left its a straight forward road to Katraj.There is a toll over a railway line on this road.No traffic and its approximately 20mins to Katraj(20kms).From Katraj you enter the 4Lane-Pune-Mumbai Bypass which takes you directly to the Expressway.

4.Also do try the vada paavs & vadas at Joshi Wadevale who has opened another branch @ hadapsar.you could stock up on the pavs and vadas.

PM me incase you need some more pointers/info on the route.By the way we (wifey/me/lil lady)wud be off to Mumbai again during the week of August 24,so in case you intend on driving around that time, we could do the drive.An early morning dep @ hyd @ 3am wud help you reach Pune for lunch @ 1330.

[ranjitp1]

Oops sorry..I missed the part that you are only going till Pune .Pls ignore directions of Hadapsar to Katraj

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

3.You do have the option of not going into Pune.Pune town is quite messy and narrow roads.After Loni,you would reach Hadapsar.Do not take the Hadapsar flyover.Keep below the flyover and turn left.You would see a pointer saying Mumbai.It quite a messy place near the flyover.Once you take the left its a straight forward road to Katraj.There is a toll over a railway line on this road.No traffic and its approximately 20mins to Katraj(20kms).From Katraj you enter the 4Lane-Pune-Mumbai Bypass which takes you directly to the Expressway.

This seems to be a useful diversion---I faced hell going through Pune. But how much longer is this route? Of course, if one gains in time, it is worthwhile.
Further, do you need to turn left or right to merge with the Pune-Mumbai bypass at Katraj?

[ranjitp1]

This diversion is bliss.Infact this has been brought about by the NHAI to decongest Pune city.earlier,one had to go into Pune,via AFMC,Swargate,Katraj to reach the Bypass.The only drawback now is that one tends to miss the direction board which is placed below the flyover.

Distance wise its the same to Katraj-via this new divesion as well via Swargate.Both are approx 20-22kms.However the time saved is huge.Earlier when I used to travel via swargate it used to take me around 2hours to navigate pune city as i generally tend to enter pune arnd 4-5pm.Peak hours.

Via the new route it takes about 20-25 mins to reach Katraj.Atleast thats wht it takes for me in my M800

@katraj,the road from Hadapsar enters onto Satara Road.From the junction of the Hadapsar rd & satara road you take a right and immediate left to merge with the Pune-Mumbai Bypass.All this is at the Katraj Bustand.

[mittal_v2002]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Oops sorry..I missed the part that you are only going till Pune .Pls ignore directions of Hadapsar to Katraj

Thanks Ranjitp1. As I have to go till Hinjewadi/Wakad, so I guess I will have to go via Katraj and take this route only to minimize the time.

Also, are there any hotels around Solapur where I can do a night stay. I may be leaving Hyderabad only late afternoon and don't want to do too much of a late night drive, so looking for a option of staying in the night at a hotel on the way (anywhere between 200-300 km from Hyderabad), and starting early morning to Pune again.

Any recommendations/warnings for any particular hotels on the way.

TIA
VM

[ASHISHPALLOD]

[quote]

Originally Posted by mittal_v2002

Thanks Ranjitp1. As I have to go till Hinjewadi/Wakad, so I guess I will have to go via Katraj and take this route only to minimize the time.

Also, are there any hotels around Solapur where I can do a night stay. /quote]

1] route via hadpasar-left turn-phursungi toll naka-undri-pisoli-katraj-chandani chowk-hinjwadi is neither short cut nor less time consuming though traffic is less. the road between phursungi toll naka to katraj is nightmare. that is my regular route to enter in pune from baramati while going toward kothrud. i suggest you that if you really want to skip some traffic forgetting about time and distance and road condition, then only you take this route. otherwise
i suggest
hyd-solapur-indapur-left turn-baramati-jejuri-saswad-left turn-kapurhole-right turn-join 4 lane nh4-shindewadi tunnel-continue on 4 lane katraj dehuroad byepass-chandani chowk-hinjwadi.
though the suggested route is 10 km extra in entire route, you will almost skip pune traffic and reach hinjwadi without any fatigue.

2] people travelling from hyderabad to goa or pune often take halt at ''HOTEL SURYA INTERNATIONAL'' near solapur bus stand. mobike008 may have contact number of that hotel.

[mobike008]

[quote=ASHISHPALLOD;1420699]

people travelling from hyderabad to goa or pune often take halt at ''HOTEL SURYA INTERNATIONAL'' near solapur bus stand. mobike008 may have contact number of that hotel.

True. Please PM me for Surya International's number. It has decent rooms for 1K/Night

[ranjitp1]

Hotel Surya Internationa

Hotel Pratham

Hotel Srikamal

These are some of the better hotels.

[ranjitp1]

Hey Ashish,

This is an interesting route that you have thrown up.Could you kindly advise some more details about the route:

1.Where do I take the left turn @ Indapur?Does this road have a name or any other reference?

2.How is the road from Indapur to NH-4.Road conditions?

3.How long does it take to reach NH-4 from Indapur via this route?

I wud be travelling to Mumbai in the next couple of weeks wid wife & our little one,so if this route is gud,then I should be taking this

OT:Are you in Baramati?

Thanx



[quote=ASHISHPALLOD;1420699]

1] route via hadpasar-left turn-phursungi toll naka-undri-pisoli-katraj-chandani chowk-hinjwadi is neither short cut nor less time consuming though traffic is less. the road between phursungi toll naka to katraj is nightmare. that is my regular route to enter in pune from baramati while going toward kothrud. i suggest you that if you really want to skip some traffic forgetting about time and distance and road condition, then only you take this route. otherwise
i suggest
hyd-solapur-indapur-left turn-baramati-jejuri-saswad-left turn-kapurhole-right turn-join 4 lane nh4-shindewadi tunnel-continue on 4 lane katraj dehuroad byepass-chandani chowk-hinjwadi.
though the suggested route is 10 km extra in entire route, you will almost skip pune traffic and reach hinjwadi without any fatigue.

2] people travelling from hyderabad to goa or pune often take halt at ''HOTEL SURYA INTERNATIONAL'' near solapur bus stand. mobike008 may have contact number of that hotel.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

[quote]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Hey Ashish,

This is an interesting route that you have thrown up.Could you kindly advise some more details about the route:

1.Where do I take the left turn @ Indapur?Does this road have a name or any other reference?

2.How is the road from Indapur to NH-4.Road conditions?

3.How long does it take to reach NH-4 from Indapur via this route?

I wud be travelling to Mumbai in the next couple of weeks wid wife & our little one,so if this route is gud,then I should be taking this

OT:Are you in Baramati?

yeah,
i am in baramati.
1]travel 1 more km toward pune from indapur bus stand, there will be left turn indicating direction of akluj, baramati. take that road and travel 1 more km. one t point will come. straight goes to akluj, right goes to baramati. just ask anyone about baramati road via junction. otherwise you will get directions for baramati via bhigwan.
2]indapur to junction-25 km mixed road good for 60-80 speed.
junction-baramati-jejuri 75 km good road for 80-100 speed.
jejuri-saswad-18 km patchy wide road for speed of 60-80.
saswad-kapurhole-17 km good road, twists good for speed of 80.

3] look at the traffic on nh9 between solapur to pune.
from indapur to pune, traffic doubles with heavy trucks. you can not maintain speed, overtaking is big problem. but taking route suggested by me, you can speed up your car and very less traffic compared to nh9.
pune police also recommending this route for car traveler. on the route suggested by me, you can take darshan at morgaon[ one of ashtvinayak], jejuri[ khandoba-very famous temple], narayanpur[ famous temple of datta], kapurhole[ balaji temple, replica of tirupati temple].

[ranjitp1]

Did the Hyd-Mumbai drive on the 22nd,Aug.Did an early morning start.Departure from Defence Colony,Sec-Bad @ 0345.

Took the route via hitec city,madhapur onto Old Mumbai road and then to Miyapur and onto NH-9.Preferred this route as this is in a far better shape and could maintain speeds of 80-100 in the early morning.The usual route that we take is via kukatpally but the road conditions are bad and can never avg more than 60 so it takes a long time to reach Patancheru.

The exit out of Hyd has all been done up and is in excellent condition.4laning complete and its a toll road now.Reached Sangareddy in less than an hour's time.

Solapur Bypass @ 0830.NH-9 is in excellent shape now between Solapur & Hyderabad.The best condition its been in for the past 3-4 years now.The bad patchy stretch around Homnabad has been relaid now.Maintained speeds of 90-100kmph.

The Solapur cops have disappeared from the bypass.Not sure if its a TBHP discussion effectbut havent seen them for the past many instances.I had approached the BP turning with all my documents out for inspection,but surprisingly no police

After Solapur,lost time thanx to a truck overturn.Lost almost 2-3 hours at the jam.Traffic density also increased after Solapur.

Left Solapur bypass & outskirts at 0945.Did a brief 10mins stop to get the tyre pressure checked at a Kerala Tyres(been my regular stop for some years now)The kerala brotherhood-dom also helps as I always indulge in small talk with the tyre guy(Not sure what is it,but 90% of the highway tyre shops would be run by a "Tyre-wallah Anna" as they are fondly called(doesnt matter that Anna is not malayalam)).Surprisingly i find that the trye pressure was below the limits.Fill it up and proceed to refuel at the BP COCO Pump on the right.As per the tyre guy,its the only pump that sells unadulterated and correct measurement fuel in the vicinity.

On the fuel front,just some interesting input that I managed to gather,most or all of the fuel pumps in the city limits shortfill the customers by filling well below the prescribed limits.A one liter fuel is almost always only filled for 0.87-0.94 L,and as per the petrol pump owners thats their only means of survival(i dont buy that though,imagine the profits thats being made,but this was something that I gathered from a petrol pump owner friend!!).The only pumps who dont shortfill are the Shell Pumps apparently.Anywys I have been a Shell loyal from the time it opened in Hyderabad and it definitely does make a difference in perfomance(just a personal view)

Reached Indapur turn off @ 1215.This time round decided to take a new route as suggested by Ashish Pallod earlier in this thread.Left turn after Indapur bus stand and right turn towards Baramati via Junction.Reached Baramati at 1330.Lost almost 2-3hrs thanx to the jam.Met up with Ashish.We had decided to meet up at the entry to the town.A brief 10 mins hi /hello and Ashish guided us on the next course.It was the most interesting part of the trip.Scenic sights and impressive roads.A big huge thank you to Ashish for showing us this route,it was indeed a revelation

Left Baramati at 1430.From Baramati went off towards Jejuri(via Morgaon-we did see the huge Ganpati temple(Mayureshwar temple) which is a part of the Ashtvinayaks).Wide roads,no traffic,excellent condition.Covered almost close to 60kms in 45mins in a maruti 800At Jejuri we saw the imposing Khandoba temple at a distance with Jai Malhari inscribed on the walls.The temple is atop a hill(Jejurigad).Jejuri-Saswad is a patchy road thanx to the monsoons.Cannot go beyond 40-50kmph,until Saswad.From Saswad,take the first left towards Narayanpur.Dont let the 1st 200meters put you off as its through a narrow temple road.After that the road widens.We passed through the Saswad temple(not sure if it was the Sangameshwar temple,but whichever it was, it looked serene and beautiful and it was the confluence of two rivers).From Saswad to Narayanpur,roads are wide and good.We passed by the Datta temple at Narayanpur.From Narayanpur the ghat section begins and lasts for about 8kms till we reached the Balaji temple at Ketkawale in Kapurhole.Just for some background info,this Balaji temple is an exact replica of the Tirupati temple and this one has been built by the Venkys group(Venkateshwara Hatcheries).It is believed that there are around 5 hotlines also set up between this place and Tirupati so that none of the procedures and processes are different from the original.Its an exact replica of the main temple,took around 6 years to build and costed them around 5MUSD.

After this we entered NH-4 and took a right turn towards Pune.We saw a signboard which said 200kms to Mumbai.

Baramati-Jejuri=55kms: 45mins---->Excellent road
Jejuri-Saswad=18kms: 40mins---->Bad patchy road
Saswad-Narayanpur:9kms 15mins---->Good Road
Narayanpur-Kapurhole:8kms 15mins---->Ghat section,excellent road

Stopped at Joshi Wadevale for wadapaavs,kandha bhajjis & misal paavs.Piping Hot ones.Reached Joshi's at 1645.

Continued further on the 4L highway,took Shindewadi tunnel and entered the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass crossing the Katraj Ghat Viaduct.Luckily no traffic absolutely on the bypass.Stopped to refuel at Shell Pump opposite DY Patil Institute.Refuel & washroom stopClean washrooms.I would recommend the Expressway users to use the Shell pumps for refuel & washrooms as the ones on the EW are extremely dirty

Got onto the expressway at 1745 and reached Panvel by 1945,thereafter Mumbai peak hour traffic got to us(add to that,it being the eve of Ganpaty did not help either)Finally reached Borivli at 2130.

To sum it up:

HYD-SOLAPUR:Excellent conditions
Solapur-Indapur:Very good in patches,dense truck traffic
For people who have to bypass Pune town especially towards the IT Corridor at Hinjewadi etc & for Mumbai travellers,Baramati-Jejuri-Kapurhol option is a very good one.Scenic drive,cool temperatures & advantage of getting onto 4l highway early.

Total Distance from Secbad-IC Colony,Bvli:770KMS
Time taken:approx 16hrs (with cumulative 2hrs break) with an avg speed of 80-90kmph

PS:I know this looks more like a T-Logue but I dont have pictures so decided not to post this one there

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[mittal_v2002]

Finally, I have got a go ahead from my comapny HR to travel/move to Pune. I am travelling on 05-Sep. Not taking my wifey and the little one to Pune. As I am still scared of the SF virus. A colleague is also going along with me, so I hope that 10-12 hrs drive will not be that boring.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Baramati-Jejuri=55kms: 45mins---->Excellent road
Jejuri-Saswad=18kms: 40mins---->Bad patchy road
Saswad-Narayanpur:9kms 15mins---->Good Road
Narayanpur-Kapurhole:8kms 15mins---->Ghat section,excellent road

Thanks Ranjit for the detailed writeup. I will be taking the same route as you. Was not very sure earlier, but after reading Ashish and your feedback about the diversion from Indapur, I am inclined to take this route.

I am planning to start at 5 AM from Kondapur-Hyderabad. Will update with my trip details sometime next week.

Cheers
VM

[vnabhi]

ranjitp1 and Asish---thanks for sharing info on this wonderful alternate road to Pune and Mumbai.
How much longer is it compared to the normal route to Pune? It may be worthwhile as I do remember the big nuisance of truck traffic till Pune