[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Google maps shows the Shirdi Sai Temple as open with timings of 4 am to 10pm.

Yes and online bookings are open as well.

[ramanan.skr]

Friends, We are planning to go for a darshan to Shirdi around next week. Just need some information on the same.
1. How is the crowd? Is it too heavy just like pre-Covid times?
2. How to reach from Shirdi Airport to Temple Area? Are local buses or taxis avl?
3. Do they only allow pre-booking through online for Darshan, Aarthi & Accommodation?

Thanks in Advance!

[hserus]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

Friends, We are planning to go for a darshan to Shirdi around next week. Just need some information on the same.
1. How is the crowd? Is it too heavy just like pre-Covid times?
2. How to reach from Shirdi Airport to Temple Area? Are local buses or taxis avl?
3. Do they only allow pre-booking through online for Darshan, Aarthi & Accommodation?

Thanks in Advance!

Even in pre covid times you had better book online. Now I think they don't allow counter booking at all.

There is an AC bus service from Shirdi Airport to Shirdi, you can also avail local taxis.

Accomodation you don't need to book the Sansthan's accomodation which is sort of basic. Plenty of hotels in Shirdi, find the one that suits your pocket and book it based on online reviews.

We kept staying in Keys Hotel Temple Tree, a bit away from the temple but they have a Tata Magic van that they take guests to / from the temple.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

1. How is the crowd? Is it too heavy just like pre-Covid times?

Well organized is what I heard from somebody who went last week.

Don't expect the same on Diwali week. I'd avoid next week.

3. Do they only allow pre-booking through online for Darshan, Aarthi & Accommodation?

Yes. You have to pre-book. Darshan is easy. Good luck with aarti booking

Originally Posted by hserus

We kept staying in Keys Hotel Temple Tree

Lot of hotels off main road were closed. So better to call and check. We are regular with G-Square, which is bang opposite Gate 5, the only days they were full last year was 25-26 Dec 2020.

We went in search of a popular restaurant, it was closed down. Entire line of hotels alongside Daiwik was closed.

[ramanan.skr]

Originally Posted by narayans80

G-Square

We too stayed there couple of times some years back. Looked very good and very close to the Temple
Thanks a lot for all your suggestions

Originally Posted by hserus

Accomodation you don't need to book the Sansthan's accomodation which is sort of basic.

Thanks & will avoid this

[ramanan.skr]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Good luck with aarti booking

Heard from a friend who is a regular Shirdi visitor that Aarthi booking is currently restricted to only donors. Hence it always show Unavailable in online booking site. Is this true?

[vnabhi]

Planning a trip to Shirdi around 26th December from Hyderabad. Few questions to esteemed members:-

1. How is the route now, and which route is the best? I guess the one via Beed and Aurangabad is still the best.

2. What is a realisitic travel time? I have an aged MIL with me, but in good health. Assuming we start around 530 am, can we reach by 6 pm?

3. I can see that online booking is being released only for a week ahead, so I will need to check after a few days for a slot on the 26th or 27th.

4. Is paid darshan quicker? I think they have 11 time slots a day compared to 10 for free darshan--the only extra one being at 9 pm. It appears they have 500 persons in each time slot when compared to 1000 in the free darshan slot.

Would really be grateful for a quick response.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

1. How is the route now, and which route is the best? I guess the one via Beed and Aurangabad is still the best.

Given the current choices and state of other routes, this one is the best right now and clean roads end to end, well nearly!!

2. What is a realisitic travel time? I have an aged MIL with me, but in good health. Assuming we start around 530 am, can we reach by 6 pm?

The good thing is that you can access the Sholapur Beed route without entering Sholapur. So that is some good time saved. Once you are on the Sholapur Beed Aurangabad route, it should take around 4 to 4.5 hours to hit Aurangabad.

Crossing Aurangabad to hit the Cantonment area/Waluj after exiting Sholapur highway will surely take 30-45 minutes easily. The last time I drove, the bypass for Aurangabad from Beed side was still getting ready. This was last month. If this is done by the time you drive, you will save at least 20 minutes.

Aurangabad Cantonment to Vaijapur in present state will take 45 minutes. Vaijapur to Kopergaon turn off for Shirdi, another 30 minutes.

From here to Shirdi another 30 minutes as roads aren't great for the last leg (12 km).

Hence, right after you hit Sholapur Aurangabad highway, you will take anywhere between 7 to 7.5 hours with breaks to reach Shirdi via Aurangabad Vaijapur route. This are very conservative timings. You may be able to gain a lot when you do Sholapur to Aurangabad as roads remain fantastic and you will average as good as your cruising speeds in this section.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

2. What is a realisitic travel time? I have an aged MIL with me, but in good health. Assuming we start around 530 am, can we reach by 6 pm?

10.5 to 12 hours driving time plus any breaks you wish to take.

3. I can see that online booking is being released only for a week ahead, so I will need to check after a few days for a slot on the 26th or 27th.

4. Is paid darshan quicker? I think they have 11 time slots a day compared to 10 for free darshan--the only extra one being at 9 pm. It appears they have 500 persons in each time slot when compared to 1000 in the free darshan slot.

Things should ease out from 26th evening, don't land in Shirdi on 24th or 25th. Would be crowded even in current scenario.

Online booking opens exactly a week ahead. Paid darshan is better and I choose the 8 pm or 9 pm slots, which are generally more peaceful.

You need to have individual accounts for each person you book. This has been the case since reopening last year after Covid.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Given the current choices and state of other routes, this one is the best right now and clean roads end to end, well nearly!!

The good thing is that you can access the Sholapur Beed route without entering Sholapur. So that is some good time saved. Once you are on the Sholapur Beed Aurangabad route, it should take around 4 to 4.5 hours to hit Aurangabad.

This are very conservative timings. You may be able to gain a lot when you do Sholapur to Aurangabad as roads remain fantastic and you will average as good as your cruising speeds in this section.

Thanks for your detailed inputs. Last i drove to Shirdi was 1n Novemeber 2012, and that time we had gone via Tembhurni, but owing to horrible roads took another route on the return. I remember using the Nagar-Jamkhed-Beed-Osmanabad-Naldurg route then. The route was fine, except the roads were patchy from Nagar to Beed, and the stretch near Jamhked was isolated and looked like the Grand Canyon area!! I later heard that it used to dacoit-infested.

Originally Posted by narayans80

10.5 to 12 hours driving time plus any breaks you wish to take.



Things should ease out from 26th evening, don't land in Shirdi on 24th or 25th. Would be crowded even in current scenario.

Online booking opens exactly a week ahead. Paid darshan is better and I choose the 8 pm or 9 pm slots, which are generally more peaceful.

You need to have individual accounts for each person you book. This has been the case since reopening last year after Covid.

Thanks. But as they are having fixed time slots, and are not allowing more than 1000 in each slot for free darshan and 500 for paid darshan, i guess any day will be the same, despite the holidays.

Also, what do you mean by individual accounts? I can see that a person with a login credentials can book for 4 persons. All he needs to do is enter their id numbers like aadhar or PAN. Am I missing anything?

This apart, as we plan to start around 530 am, what joints are good for food along the way?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks for your detailed inputs. Last i drove to Shirdi was 1n Novemeber 2012, and that time we had gone via Tembhurni, but owing to horrible roads took another route on the return.

Tembhurni Kurkumbh Daund Nagar Shirdi still remains a bad choice. So best is to divert towards Aurangabad from Sholapur itself. Don't know how any other alternate to head up north from Tembhurni is.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Nagar - Daund remains very bad. Not worth it as there are sections of roads where there is no asphalt at all. If you are stuck behind a tractor, all you will do is follow that till eternity. The presence of Railway crossings here adds to the pain too.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks for your detailed inputs. Last i drove to Shirdi was 1n Novemeber 2012, and that time we had gone via Tembhurni, but owing to horrible roads took another route on the return. I remember using the Nagar-Jamkhed-Beed-Osmanabad-Naldurg route then. The route was fine, except the roads were patchy from Nagar to Beed, and the stretch near Jamhked was isolated and looked like the Grand Canyon area!! I later heard that it used to dacoit-infested.

Terumbhurni-Karmala-Nagar
Daund-Kurkumbh-Nagar
Beed-Bhoom-Jamkhed-Nagar

These are routes you do, if you want to present a use case for a new car Minimum suspension job or sidewall cut guaranteed! And yes Bhoom route is too desolate and scary. I remember Ashish Pallod warning about this route way back in 2014 itself.

Naldurg-Tuljapur is fine. Saves about 45 min, initial 2 km from Naldurg side was lunar surface after that it is 70-80 kph type surface. via Solapur you can do Hammer time all the time! Even the sedate driver can't keep below 100 that's how incredible and empty it is.

Besides Solapur-Tuljapur-Osmanabad was formally thrown open only in November 2017, when there were still incomplete bridges as of 2017 holiday season. The remaining section was completed during 2018-early 2019. By October 2019, all except the lone ghat section was 4-laned. Even that's been completed by 2020 holiday season. Aurangabad-Shirdi section should see further updates once sections of MH Mahamarg are thrown open possibly in the next 6-12 months (news says 2 months). I believe the Jalna-Aurangabad-Shirdi (package 10 and 11) were in 80-90% completion.

Also, what do you mean by individual accounts? I can see that a person with a login credentials can book for 4 persons. All he needs to do is enter their id numbers like aadhar or PAN. Am I missing anything?

This restriction was there last year when the temple reopened after Covid, and my account (3 year old) still doesn't allow more than 1 ticket.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Terumbhurni-Karmala-Nagar
Daund-Kurkumbh-Nagar
Beed-Bhoom-Jamkhed-Nagar

These are routes you do, if you want to present a use case for a new car Minimum suspension job or sidewall cut guaranteed! And yes Bhoom route is too desolate and scary. I remember Ashish Pallod warning about this route way back in 2014 itself.

Naldurg-Tuljapur is fine. Saves about 45 min, initial 2 km from Naldurg side was lunar surface after that it is 70-80 kph type surface. via Solapur you can do Hammer time all the time! Even the sedate driver can't keep below 100 that's how incredible and empty it is.
.

Thanks, the route I had taken in the onward journey in 2012 was Tembhurni--Karmala-Nagar--the first in your list. And yes, back then also there were quite a few diversions, but at that time the biggest put off was the 4-laning of the Mohol to Temburni stretch, which had far too many diversions and resulting jams. The jam at Tembhuri was so bad, that we could not even think of stopping there for lunch: we waited patiently and took the right turn towards Karmala soon after we got a gap on the Solapur to Pune highway. And alas, all the food joints were only on the highway that we had left! I'm certainly not going via Tembhurni now.

To sum up, should I branch off towards Tuljapur right after Naldurg, or do you suggest I go further till Solapur and take the good road to Tuljapur and Beed from there onwards?

As regards the Bhoom/Jamkhed road, i remember Asish commenting on my route update and suggesting not to take the route again. But what a scenery that was, despite the desolate stretch!!

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

should I branch off towards Tuljapur right after Naldurg, or do you suggest I go further till Solapur and take the good road to Tuljapur and Beed from there onwards?

Depends on your patience to drive at 70-80 on a strictly 2-lane after runways on either side, or you want to save those 50 km / 40 min of additional 4-lane.

You did ask about lunch stop, you can think of Apple Residency in Osmanabad. Food and cleanliness is very good, just that they are a bit slow. Has taken an hour every time I've been there. It might take about 6 hours from Patancheru.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by narayans80

You did ask about lunch stop, you can think of Apple Residency in Osmanabad. Food and cleanliness is very good, just that they are a bit slow. Has taken an hour every time I've been there. It might take about 6 hours from Patancheru.

Thank you very much. As we will be leaving around 5 to 530 am, i guess we might have breakfast at Zaheerabad or some place near Basav Kalyan. Know any place?

Osmanabad will be too early for lunch, as I guess we will cross it by 11 am. I think a late lunch near Aurangabad might be better. Do let me know if you are aware of any food joints between Beed and Aurangabad.

Further, google maps suggests the route from Aurangabad to Kopargaon via Gangapur and Vaijapur, though there is a direct route to Vaijapur that is shorter. Any inputs on which route i should take?

BTW, i could easily book 4 PAX of paid darshan at the 9 pm slot for Dec 26th for Rs 810. Only gripe is that the receipt is blank for all details like transaction number, devotee name, id, mobile etc. But I do have a screenshot of the transaction number, so I guess that should be good enough.