[hserus]

Originally Posted by vdi

Flying is not an option as they have some other plans too after reaching Shirdi. Anyway thanks hserus. Hopefully someone might have used this road to give an update.

I used to live in Bidar for years and keep going back. Those roads aren't going to improve very much, and there is heavy truck traffic given the number of sugar factories in the area.

Till you're on NH65 (Mumbai highway) you're ok. And once you hit the Ahmednagar road you're ok till the last 20 odd km. It is the roads in between them - in and around Solapur - that will give you pure hell.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by hserus

Fly to Pune and rent a car there.

How about flying to Aurangabad (http://www.trujet.com/) and then its just 100 Km, how about this option?
PS: I have no idea of the airline nor of the route. I had considered flying to Aurangabad instead of Pune, but couldn't find suitable flight options to Aurangabad from Bangalore.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by msdivy

How about flying to Aurangabad (http://www.trujet.com/) and then its just 100 Km, how about this option?
PS: I have no idea of the airline nor of the route. I had considered flying to Aurangabad instead of Pune, but couldn't find suitable flight options to Aurangabad from Bangalore.

Tiny airline, small fleet. Such airlines come and go at very short notice.

And if any of their planes has a mechanical issue or is repossessed by the leasors to recover debt / unpaid lease dues etc - well, you are stuck without darshan.

Pune has several other options available from major airlines. And it isn't all that far plus has better roads towards Shirdi.

[mobike008]

Any latest updates on the Hyderabad to Shirdi route?

I'm planning to drive this weekend and request route guidance and also the condition of the routes along with typical time it might take me on this route with info of any facilities that are available on the proposed route?

Thanks in advance folks

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Any latest updates on the Hyderabad to Shirdi route?

I'm planning to drive this weekend and request route guidance and also the condition of the routes along with typical time it might take me on this route with info of any facilities that are available on the proposed route?

Thanks in advance folks

Try going via Parigi-Gulbarga-Aland-Akkalkot-Solapur-Karmala-Shirdi.Road widening etc still going on,once you leave Tembhurni.Keep a lookout for the point where you need to leave the 4laned Pune highway and go in towards Temburni and onwards to Karmala.With the new 4 laned highway,you would easily miss that out.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Try going via Parigi-Gulbarga-Aland-Akkalkot-Solapur-Karmala-Shirdi.Road widening etc still going on,once you leave Tembhurni.Keep a lookout for the point where you need to leave the 4laned Pune highway and go in towards Temburni and onwards to Karmala.With the new 4 laned highway,you would easily miss that out.

I am planning to take the following route for enroute :

Hyderabad-Parigi-Gulbarga-Aland-Akkalkot-Solapur-Karmala-Shirdi

Hope the road conditions for above is alright? Also, what would be the approximate distance?

Also, I dont see Ahmednagar on this route? Is that normal

Some friends were also suggesting a longer route via. Nirmal, Nanded and Shirdi which is around 750kms. Any idea about that route?

[zen91]

Originally Posted by mobike008

I am planning to take the following route for enroute :

Hyderabad-Parigi-Gulbarga-Aland-Akkalkot-Solapur-Karmala-Shirdi

Hope the road conditions for above is alright? Also, what would be the approximate distance?

Also, I dont see Ahmednagar on this route? Is that normal

Some friends were also suggesting a longer route via. Nirmal, Nanded and Shirdi which is around 750kms. Any idea about that route?

Avi Bhai, I have done Hyd-Shirdi on 10th Nov'16. Suggest that you avoid travel by road. It was bad specially on the Temburni-Karmala-Ahmednagar section. No tolls are being collected and the roads were in shambles then. I had to literally crawl through potholes and broken roads. Tolls on Ahmednagar- Shirdi has also stopped and the road conditions have deteriorated a lot.

In fact I was so frustrated with the Temburni- Ahmednagar section that while returning on 13th Nov I tried Shirdi-Ahmednagar-Daund-Kurkumbh-Solapur section. Ahmednagar-Daund-Kurkumbh turned out to be a bigger nightmare.

Please take take an informed decision on the present road conditions and then proceed.

The Hyderabad to Solapur through Pargi-Gulbarga-Aland-Akkalkot is good though.

It took approximately 14hrs to reach Shirdi. Distance from my house was 620 kms.

[ranjitp1]

Best is to take the Shatabdi to Pune or fly to Pune and take a Zoom or any other self drive and go to Shirdi.Driving from Hyderabad on this route is pure misery and never ending

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by zen91

Avi Bhai, I have done Hyd-Shirdi on 10th Nov'16. Suggest that you avoid travel by road. It was bad specially on the Temburni-Karmala-Ahmednagar section. No tolls are being collected and the roads were in shambles then. I had to literally crawl through potholes and broken roads. Tolls on Ahmednagar- Shirdi has also stopped and the road conditions have deteriorated a lot.

In fact I was so frustrated with the Temburni- Ahmednagar section that while returning on 13th Nov I tried Shirdi-Ahmednagar-Daund-Kurkumbh-Solapur section. Ahmednagar-Daund-Kurkumbh turned out to be a bigger nightmare.

Brajesh Bhai! So wonderful to hear from you. Hope you are doing well. Can you please PM me your number so I can call you tomorrow for a quick chat?

Unfortunately, hotel room is booked and cannot make any changes, reckon will just have to look ways to make an attempt to reduce the misery

How about the Hyderabad-Nirmal-Nanded-Shirdi Route? It's 750kms but, are the road conditions any better? I dont mind taking this much longer route if the progress is quicker

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Best is to take the Shatabdi to Pune or fly to Pune and take a Zoom or any other self drive and go to Shirdi.Driving from Hyderabad on this route is pure misery and never ending

I detest flying and trains are a luxury that I cannot afford

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Best is to take the Shatabdi to Pune or fly to Pune and take a Zoom or any other self drive and go to Shirdi.Driving from Hyderabad on this route is pure misery and never ending

If Westward routes out of Hyderabad are so bad, are there any better options to the south and then westwards - maybe Kurnool - Bellary - Hiriyur or even Bellary-Hubli to hit the NH48 ? Just a thought.

[mobike008]

Guys : I will try to be as much detailed as possible about this route as I dont see a latest update on this stretch for a long time. Hope this helps future travelers

Last I visited Shirdi was 2007 (visited many times before that) and due to some reasons I never could plan it in the last one decade and this plan evolved 3-4 days before the trip on Feb 4th.

I'm truly astounded and surprised by the overall development that I have witnessed of Sai Baba Temple, Shani Shingnapur Temple and overall infrastructure development across that area as I had a different imagery of that place more in tune with what I had envisioned dated back to 2007

After contemplating about the road conditions and talking to a couple of friends and also viewing Brajesh Bhai (Zen 91) updates, I was apprehensive of this road that that I might be stuck in bad roads, heavy traffic jam etc

Read on for the full story about the road conditions, hotel option and most importantly the darshan details

After contemplating the Hyd-Nirmal-Nanded-Aurangabad-Shirdi route which was nearly 100kms more, I decided to stick to traditional route as proposed by many on this thread

Hyderabad to Shirdi (Feb 4th), 2017

Hyderabad-Pargi-Kodangal-Sedam-Gulbarga-Akkalkot-Solapur-Tembhurni-Karmala-Ahmednagar-Shirdi (644kms)

Left home at 6:45am and route until Gulbarga is more or less updated here and known to be decent even though it's small 2-lane road and you can keep good pace and do it in about 3 hours

Gulbarga to Kondangal is a mix of bad patches, smooth winding tarmac with plenty of speedbreakers and heavy traffic until Solapur where you weave through city trafficand hit the solapur to pune highway.

Solapur to Tembhurni is 92kms and you will be on this lovely 4-lane highway for this entire stretch and can be done in about one hour

Get off the freeway at Tembhurni and take a right towards Karmala road and this is where a bit of inconvenience starts where heavy truck traffic (those long trailers) going in convoys and overtaking endevours have to be absolutely strategic or you might end up stranded in the middle of opposite lane with some crazy trucker hurtling straight at you

Road surface is bad in some area and several diversions are there including a few kms that are really bad but, nothing as worse as described by Zen 91. Perhaps, they did up this entire route. I was doing 4-lane speeds on some part of these stretches. Road surface is pretty decent and except the traffic, you can keep good pace and ensure you go through Ahmednagar city (I took the bypass and got stuck for about 10kms in roads that looked like straight out of mars planet-----Took a quick decision and asked people around and they guided us to go towards the city from another small diversion and take route from inside the city which was an excellent decision)

Took the diversion after 10kms and went into Ahmednagar city and then took the Shirdi route which is 90kms from there.

Ahmednagar to Shirdi is best stretch of this entire trip and I was doing unmentionable speeds to reach our Hotel JC Castle at 7:00pm

Total Distance Traveled and Time Taken : 644kms/12 Hours, 15 Mins Door-to-Door from Gachbowli Financial District

Stops : 5 Stops (Tea at Parigi 15 mins, Home-made breakfast at Sedam 20 mins, Office Review Call for 30 mins where I parked the car and AC was on for the family and I was in some shelter by the roadside and completing my call, Lunch at Vittal Kamat at Temburni 40 mins, Tea at Kopergaon 15 mins) : 2 + hours stop

Shirdi to Hyderabad (Feb 5th), 2017

Shirdi-Ahmednagar-Karmala-Temburhni-Solapur-Akkalkot-Gulbarga-Sedam-Kodangal-Pargi-Hyderabad (644kms)

After checking out at 12:30pm, We started from hotel at 12:45pm and stopped just before leaving the Shirdi town to pack some hot vada-pavs from a roadside stall for our lunch and enjoyed a glass of lovely sugarcane juice and were on the road towards Hyderabad roughly little after 1:00pm in the afternoon

We stuck to exactly the same route and kept up a blistering pace (Thanks to my highly stable and wonderful pocket rocket) and reached home at 11:15 PM at night

Total distance : 644 kms, 10 Hours, 15 mins (Is this a new record for Shirdi)...LOL!

Stops : ( Lunch was on the move, First stop was at 5:30pm at Solapur, Yeah we did Shirdi to Solapur in 4 hours, 30 mins which is ~320kms away where we had some more vada-pav and coffee for 30 mins, Tea break at 8:00pm for 20 mins, No dinner break as nobody was hungry). Essentially 2 stops and ~ 1 hour break for return journey

Route/Planning Mistake

Mom wanted to do Shani Shingnapur which was not originally planned and was requested after reaching the hotel. We decided to head out early morning and visit the temple first before visiting Baba. Left hotel at 6:30am and were back in hotel for our buffet breakfast at 9:30am. ~150kms in 3 hours including the darshan.

We realized when we started from hotel that we were going towards Hyderabad and I kicked myself for my stupidity (not literally..LOL!) as should have planned this en-route Hyderabad. But, we still decided to go ahead with the temple visit

It's 50kms on same route back to Ahmednagar/Hyderabad and then take 23kms diversion on left towards the Shani Temple.

This 23kms diversion is also amazing tarmac that I was constantly doing 110-120kmph on that stretch till the Shani Temple. I had a vision in mind when back in 2007, we used to hire Jeeps and go to Shani Shingnapur and was almost a full day affair with really bad road conditions. It's wonderful to see the development and pretty glad that it has happened

Essentially we went towards Hyderabad and then came back to Shirdi. 100kms wasted due to incorrect planning

Hotel

We were booked at JC Castle which they claim as a 4-star property. Excellent contemporary hotel with ample parking and looks at least 3 star for sure. Excellent service and drop and pick-up in hotel provided car (Swift Dzire). Highly recommend this place !!!


Sai Baba Temple Darshan

We had booked online VIP tickets for 1:00pm but, wanted to try our luck and see if they allow us inside early.

We reached the temple little after 10:00am after breakfast at hotel and showed the online tickets ( INR 200/- Each person) and were allowed inside without any issues at all. Believe you me, we were in front of Sai Baba in less than 5 minutes and when we reached the main temple area, our family was singled out by a nice security gentleman and were allowed to go near the idol from the "Center" while both sides are lines for devotees going towards the idol and center is used only for EXIT. But, we ENTERED from the exit area and stood in-front of Baba for nearly 15-20 minutes and had a wonderful darshan and were out of main temple premises in 20 mins

Advice to Shirdi travelers. Please book online tickets as the darshan can happen in 30 minutes maximum against the free darshan which might take 1-2 hours but, I would take the free darshan if I had sufficient time at hand

Also, senior citizens are allowed directly inside (no waiting time) with one escort and is a wonderful gesture by the temple authorities which I dont think is there anywhere in other popular temples in India

Overall, I think Sai Baba wanted us to visit him after a decade and ensured our road trip, darshan, stay and everything was blessed in unbelievable way. Thank you Sai Baba !!!

I would highly recommend a road trip to Shirdi and my style of driving is bit on the aggressive side but, folks who enjoy leisure driving, 12-13 hours is easily possible and road conditions are well worth driving and is not bad at all.

Hope this post helps plan your visit to Shirdi better

[zen91]

[quote=mobike008;4140497]Guys : I will try to be as much detailed as possible about this route as I dont see a latest update on this stretch for a long time. Hope this helps future travelers


Avi Bhai, it is extremely heartening to note that your travel went exceptionally well and the road conditions have improved significantly, otherwise these travel time wouldn't be possible. Your report is extremely encouraging and I shall continue with my visits to Shirdi by road only.

On visiting Shani Singnapur I generally take the Ahmednagar- Aurangabad road and after crossing Ghodegaon and taking a left, its just 1 1/2 to 2 Kms to reach the temple. This is more convenient as you do not have to cover the 23 kms twice and Nagar-Aurangabad highway is much better.

Now waiting for Hyd-Solapur through NH9 to be competed which currently looks like a long drawn task.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Avi Bhai, it is extremely heartening to note that your travel went exceptionally well and the road conditions have improved significantly, otherwise these travel time wouldn't be possible. Your report is extremely encouraging and I shall continue with my visits to Shirdi by road only.

On visiting Shani Singnapur I generally take the Ahmednagar- Aurangabad road and after crossing Ghodegaon and taking a left, its just 1 1/2 to 2 Kms to reach the temple. This is more convenient as you do not have to cover the 23 kms twice and Nagar-Aurangabad highway is much better.

Now waiting for Hyd-Solapur through NH9 to be competed which currently looks like a long drawn task

Thanks Brajesh Bhai! Yes, this route is well worth driving

Here are some random pictures from my trip

Heavy trucks on Temburnhi-Karmala-Ahmednagar road. Tons of them




23Kms stretch from main highway to Shani Shignapur temple. Most of the stretch is like this



Shani Temple



Sugarcane juice on the way back



A few pictures of our hotel in Shirdi- JC Castle









Women--I say--They even shopped for veggies on the roadside markets near Shirdi



1426kms in 29 hours

[Peripatetic]

Hi Everyone ,
Planning a road trip after a long time with family (had a back surgery 6 months back!). Need some help on some of the sections which I haven't done earlier
Section 1 - Mumbai to Shirdi (done this many times via Ghoti and also via Nashik)
Section 2 - Shirdi to Aurangabad ( need advise on this ! , many confusing posts on the route to be taken)
Section 3 - Aurangabad to Nashik (need advise on this too, which is the best route ?)
Section 4 - Nashik to Mumbai

Travel date - 8 to 10 March .

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions

[Rama Naveen]

Thanks a lot mobike008 !!!

I followed your route map to shirdi with my family members last week and it was delightful journey.
I was surprised and very happy as I was able to cruise up to 120 speeds and above 70 even with trucks on road. Last year we did trip via Nanded to Shirdi and it was real pain to drive and we hated every bit of it.
I went with my Mom, Dad, wife & 2 kids in my Tata Bolt Petrol and I think I took 12 hours to reach Shirdi.
I think Hyderabad guys can follow this route and enjoy the drive.
Thanks Brother