[21Archer84]

Done with the drive. Started @5:45AM from kharadi and reached around 5PM to JNTU. Now the route I took was Pune-Solapur which was a breeze. Done in a little over 3hrs. Was in a dilemma whether to take the NH9 or drive via Gulbarga and since nobody mentioned the condition of the gulbarga route, took the plunge and did Solapur-Akkalkot-Gulbarga-Sedum-parigi-chevella-ORR-jntu.

Before I go ahead, can someone confirm if there's a road between Akkalkot-Aland section? I'm not sure if I took the right route after Akkalkot, as there was no road for close to 20-25kms, Trust me when I say no road, I was literally offroading on my Fabia with big yet smooth surfaced stones. Thanks to Google maatha and my friend, I'm assuming I took a wrong turn. However, @Aland the road connected SH10 and there is nothing much to write about this section. It's good to excellent in condition.
I would strongly suggest anyone planning to drive down to Hyd or to Pune to take this route if they are okay with an additional 60kms to the odo and may be an extra hr of journey time and looking for a smooth drive.

PS: Confirm the Akkalkot-SH10 connectivity route, as I lost an hr there.

[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

Done with the drive. Started @5:45AM from kharadi and reached around 5PM to JNTU. Now the route I took was Pune-Solapur which was a breeze. Done in a little over 3hrs. Was in a dilemma whether to take the NH9 or drive via Gulbarga and since nobody mentioned the condition of the gulbarga route, took the plunge and did Solapur-Akkalkot-Gulbarga-Sedum-parigi-chevella-ORR-jntu.

Before I go ahead, can someone confirm if there's a road between Akkalkot-Aland section? I'm not sure if I took the right route after Akkalkot, as there was no road for close to 20-25kms, Trust me when I say no road, I was literally offroading on my Fabia with big yet smooth surfaced stones. Thanks to Google maatha and my friend, I'm assuming I took a wrong turn. However, @Aland the road connected SH10 and there is nothing much to write about this section. It's good to excellent in condition.
I would strongly suggest anyone planning to drive down to Hyd or to Pune to take this route if they are okay with an additional 60kms to the odo and may be an extra hr of journey time and looking for a smooth drive.

PS: Confirm the Akkalkot-SH10 connectivity route, as I lost an hr there.

And i too just got a confirmation regarding the akkalkot to gulbarga route! And i got a very good review too as well! I am glad you did not have to go through what i did by taking the zaheerabad route, Ill be taking akkalkot gulbarga route too, According to my source the road all the way upto solapur is almost done, So i think you must have taken the wrong turn.

Others reading please avoid the zaheerabad route, After you cross solapur go ahead via the gulbarga route.

Also archer thanks for the confirmation.

[21Archer84]

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

According to my source the road all the way upto solapur is almost done, So i think you must have taken the wrong turn.

Also archer thanks for the confirmation.

That's nice. Pleasure is mine, as its going to help a lot of guys. Thanks to you too for sharing.

[Paraag]

Originally Posted by asivan

Okay here are my observations.

Pune to Solapur is fantastic, except for a small diversion stretch near Tembhurni. Otherwise the road is super smooth, easily doable in 3-4 hrs depending on your speed.

Once you take a left from the Solapur byepass on to the road towards Omerga, the road condition deteriorates rapidly. Especially from Solapur to 10kms after Naldurg is quite bad. It will be very difficult to maintain a good average speed here. Once you reach Omerga, the good sections start, i.e. with construction going on in 1 side, other "constructed roads" are opened for both way traffic. You will find a lot of diversions, interspersed with good and bad sections of roads. Karnataka stretch is mostly good, but please take care over the monumental speed breakers which have been constructed in a few places. Rest of the roads are pretty much similar, good and bad sections all mixed together. I would strongly suggest you to cover the stretch after solapur during daylight. Early start would be best as the small towns will also have less number of people on the roads.

Hope this helps!

Arvind

I agree with the above observations by Arvind. I recently did Hyderabad to Pune, Pune-Mumbai, Mumbai-Pune, and Pune-Hyderabd using the same route. On the Mumbai-Pune return leg, I also did Pune-Lonavala-Pune and then Pune-Saswad-Pune before the final leg of Pune-Hyderabad.

I was not as keen on speed as was on safety and decent fuel efficiency. Hyderabad to Pune and Pune to Hyderabad completed in about 11.5 hours each way and 2 stops each time for food and bio-break.

In Karnataka, the speed breakers are really bad, don't know how they allow such to be built, as if only trucks and buses are going to pass over them. As for the 4-lane work, I believe it will still take a couple of years before all the stretches get completed. Even then, the road before and after Naldurg might remain the same; heavy truck traffic there, and it passes through the town.

Overall, my journey from Kothaguda, Hyderabad to Mumbai and back to Kothaguda was approximately 1950 km. This included about 900 kms on 1000 km on expressway or very good highways, about 600 km on really bad roads (Hyd-Solapur-Hyd), and remaining in city traffic (ranging from decent to bad). Covered this in my Ritz with AC on about half the time and used approximately 95 to 100 liters of petrol to cover 1950 km.

Next time going to Pune will try the Gulbarga-Sedum route once I have more info on the condition of that route.

[ptushar]

Hi. Is there a recommended hotel in or near Solapur on the way to Hyderabad where I can break for the night. I will be travelling with family & kids.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by ptushar

Hi. Is there a recommended hotel in or near Solapur on the way to Hyderabad where I can break for the night. I will be travelling with family & kids.

I had an overnight halt with family, at Hotel Surya in Solapur, in Nov 2013.
Phone number 0217-2729880/1/2, 0217-272950.
Website: hotelsuryasolapur.com

We had not done an advance booking; there was no plan for an overnight halt. Because of delays, we decided to make a halt.

I searched a number of hotels of various categories and budgets. Spent around an hour in this. Finally I found those hotel having a reasonable good class and reasonable budget too. I would suggest you to head straight to this hotel. This is good for an overnight halt.

Do negotiate the rates.

[ptushar]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

I had an overnight halt with family, at Hotel Surya in Solapur, in Nov 2013.
Phone number 0217-2729880/1/2, 0217-272950.
Website: hotelsuryasolapur.com

Thank you Rahul. Just checked Google Maps and found this place. Unless I find something on the highway itself, I will head straight for this place. It looks pretty decent.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by ptushar

Thank you Rahul. Just checked Google Maps and found this place. Unless I find something on the highway itself, I will head straight for this place. It looks pretty decent.

I reached Solapur in the night, at around 10:00 and from NH-9, I had no problems getting to the hotel. It took 10 minutes as the roads were empty.

In the morning, if you have time, do make a visit to Siddheshwar temple.

Since NH-9 was in equally bad shape even then. SO I took Solapur - Akkalkot - Aland - Gulbarga - Sedan - Ripponpalli - Kodangal - Pargi - Chevella - ORR route. Barring 10 km of bad road after Akkalkot, it was a pleasant journey. Time-wise too it was better than taking NH-9.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

.. I took Solapur - Akkalkot - Aland - Gulbarga - Sedan - Ripponpalli - Kodangal - Pargi - Chevella - ORR route. Barring 10 km of bad road after Akkalkot, it was a pleasant journey. Time-wise too it was better than taking NH-9.

The road between Akkalkot to Aland used to be heavily cratered (I had gotten this feedback some time in Jul/Aug).
When you say 'bad', I am assuming its manageable now?

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by deepv

The road between Akkalkot to Aland used to be heavily cratered (I had gotten this feedback some time in Jul/Aug).
When you say 'bad', I am assuming its manageable now?

That road was not manageable if my car had low ground clearance. I have SX4, so no worries. If you know someone in Akkalkot or Aland, ask them for an update.

If you do not want to take Akkalkot - Aland, spent 20 minutes extra and take Solapur - Omerga - Aland.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

That road was not manageable if my car had low ground clearance. I have SX4, so no worries. ...

Thanks for elaborating .. that's an important point, with other lower GC vehicles it would still be a problem stretch.
Omerga detour might be worth trying though.

[ptushar]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

That road was not manageable...

If you do not want to take Akkalkot - Aland, spent 20 minutes extra and take Solapur - Omerga - Aland.

Hi. Just completed the Pune - Hyderabad stretch on this route. I.e. Pune-Solapur-Akkalkot-Aland-Gulbarga-Hyderabad.

The road between Akkalkot and Hiroli was terrible. (Horrendous might better describe it). Someone needs to be held accountable for this mess that they are trying to pass off as a road. I actually looked at Google Maps and it shows two routes between Akkaljot and Aland. One is via Hiroli, which is the route that I took and other is via Mogha. Anyone has any idea on how the route via Mogha is? I can take that on the way back. I possibly cannot take the Hiroli route again. Either my car might breakdown or I might just visit the nearest PWD office and give someone a piece of my mind!

As soon as the road enters KA, it is absolutely Awesome! Its a dream run while it runs through Karnataka (SH-10). As soon as it enters Telangana, the road is reasonably all right. You can still do about 90-100, but its not as good as the KA stretch.

Overall it adds about 40 kms more, but it is a great drive. Superb roads in KA, good roads in Telangana and very very thin traffic. One thing that you need to look out for is that in case you are travelling with children then note that the only place you will get something decent is in Gulbarga. Nothing before or after that. So stock up some food in Solapur or in Hyderabad, depending on the direction you are travelling.

[subbaraomr]

I am confused. Getting bad reports on Humnabad route repeatedly but the Akkalkot to Aland seems to be a huge issue. There is an alternate route according to google which is via Maadan Hipparga etc which looks like a pure rural road. I plan to travel in April and would appreciate feed back on this section of Akkalkot to Aland as well as the rest of the route.
Secondly my wife and I are senior citizens. Is there enough traffic to get help and is the route safe from security point of view? We drive in a Renault Fluence so we can not drive fast on rough roads

[21Archer84]

Originally Posted by ptushar

I actually looked at Google Maps and it shows two routes between Akkaljot and Aland. One is via Hiroli, which is the route that I took and other is via Mogha. Anyone has any idea on how the route via Mogha is?

Originally Posted by subbaraomr

I am confused. Getting bad reports on Humnabad route repeatedly but the Akkalkot to Aland seems to be a huge issue. There is an alternate route according to google which is via Maadan Hipparga etc which looks like a pure rural road. I plan to travel in April and would appreciate feed back on this section of Akkalkot to Aland as well as the rest of the route.

Don't even think of driving through Mogha. Road doesn't exist a few kms after Akkalkot. It's too narrow and one would get a feeling that we are lost. I did not even see any buses that ply to Gulbarga when i drove on 31'Dec to Hyd in this stretch, atleast not with passengers. SO i'm assuming the route via Hiroli is much better than this, even though it's bad as you say. Someone from Akkalkot or Solapur should help us out on this.

PS: A friend of one may be driving down to Hyd in march, will share the updates if we don't hear any news before that.

[subbaraomr]

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

Don't even think of driving through Mogha. Road doesn't exist a few kms after Akkalkot. It's too narrow and one would get a feeling that we are lost. I did not even see any buses that ply to Gulbarga when i drove on 31'Dec to Hyd in this stretch, atleast not with passengers. SO i'm assuming the route via Hiroli is much better than this, even though it's bad as you say. Someone from Akkalkot or Solapur should help us out on this.

PS: A friend of one may be driving down to Hyd in march, will share the updates if we don't hear any news before that.

thanks 21Archer84. Look forward to your friend's feedback. we are traveling 1st April so hopefully your friend would have the time to give an assessment of the road. when I drove through Humnabad last year the road was quite bad and in fact I burst a tyre, totally ripped apart from the side wall. Bit wary of repeating the experience.