Re: Pune to Hyderabad : Route Queries Did Pune - Hyderabad - Pune trip on 04 - 08 December 2020. Here are the details: An enjoyable drive in contrast to many other highways.
Most of my past drives from Pune have been in the direction of Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Satara and Nasik. On all these routes, one has to navigate through a mix of high speed cars, dangerously driving high speed bikes, slow moving bikes / two wheelers / three wheelers / trucks. When I go on Mumbai - Ahmedabad highway, I have to deal with the trucks simultaneously occupying all the three lanes almost all the time. I went to Rajkot last month. After leaving the hectic Ahmedabad highway at Kheda at 8:30 pm, I was hoping for a relaxed drive. But the roads were under construction all the way till Rajkot in the four hours journey.
Even on the Pune - Mumbai expressway, returning from Mumbai in the evening / night is no less than a task. Whether you drive at 80 or at 100 or at 110 - 120, you will find others madly chasing and flashing lights impatiently to overtake you. You just cannot drive at a constant speed, be it 80 or 100. And the ghat is in chaos after 9 pm.
Go towards Ahmednagar and you have to navigate half of this 120 km stretch through urban traffic. Even if I start from Ahmednagar at 9 pm to reach Pune at 11:30 pm, I still come across good amount of traffic on the highway and in the Pune city.
The road belongs to others too as much as to me. We all co-exist on the road. If I wish no trucks / tempos (or less number of them), it will translate into a weaker economy and it will ultimately reflect less business trips (as well as the leisure trips) for me. Many of those two wheeler riders are working at the industry (my customers). So I have a reason to go on a drive as long as they keep moving on the road.
But such road / traffic situation transforms an enjoyable drive into a arduous task. Though you maintain a decent average speed on these roads, the drive becoms a bit fatiguing. Against this background, Pune - Solapur - Hyderabad highway was such a pleasure to drive. It offered me a decent combination of traffic density, traffic manners and road condition. I could drive at constant 80 kmph with minimal application of the brakes in relatively thin traffic on good road. Why 80 kmph? And how did it feel?
Normally I drive at 80 - 100 kmph on highways. I had read on this thread that the police have speed guns in Bhigwan - Omerga section and they fine those exceeding the limit of 80 kmph. So I decided to be within 80 kmph. Initially I had to convince myself (and control too, reluctantly) to be within 80 kmph. But within half an hour of driving at 80, I realised that 80 is better than 100. You can go steady at 80 constant on this highway (of course barring the urban stretches). Going steadily at 80 (like in auto throttle) on relatively empty highway makes a very very relaxing drive without a significant difference in the duration of your journey. In fact, a few cars going at 100 - 120 overtook me but they were still together at the toll plaza. Today we cannot have such drive on Mumbai - Pune expressway (in the evening) or Mumbai Ahmedabad highway or Pune - Kolhapur or Pune - Ahmednagar or half of the Pune - Nasik highway. Pune - Hyderabad journey
Pune - Solapur was done in 04 hrs 15 min plus dinner break, though I started in the peak evening hours. Started at 06:30 in the evening, from Market Yard area and reached Solapur at 11:45 in the night including dinner break of 1 hr.
Road till Uruli Kanchan was full of traffic; more so between Hadapsar and Uruli Kanchan. In spite of this, 4 hrs 15 minutes is decent duration.
Started from Solapur at 5:10 am after a night halt. Reached Patancheru at 10:45 am including a break of 1 hour 30 minutes for the breakfast. The break was long because I reached the restaurant (the only good one on this stretch) 45 minutes before they could serve me. Hyderabad - Pune journey
I started from Patancheru at 5:30 pm and reached Solapur at 11 pm including 1 hour dinner break. Continued to Pune and reached Pune in 3 hours 45 minutes plus time for the breaks. I had started from Hyderabad in the evening after a hectic day at work. So took more and longer breaks in Solapur - Pune stretch. Road condition
As pointed out by the other members, roads are all good. Pune Solapur is all breeze. There is a small bad patch (diversion) immediately after exiting Solapur. After Solapur too, the road is good but the flyover construction has been initiated at most of the towns en route. So the diversions with bit rough road have been provided here.
The diversions are properly marked and there was a signboard regretting the inconvenience at the exit of every diversion.
At a few places in Telangana, traffic police were vigilant on the road, looking out for seat belts, masks, films and over-speeding. Stay and eateries
Stayed at Hotel Nila at Solapur. Chose this because of it's proximity to the highway. lt is a simple, clean, no-frills, no-nonsense hotel. Adequate and cost effective for a business traveller. Got up at 4 am, had a good bath with hot water and got going at 5:05 am.
Next stop was Hotel Gujarat at HP petrol pump, just before Basavkalyan. I reached here at 7 am sharp; in 2 hours after starting from Solapur.
There aren't many good pure veg hotels on Pune Solapur road. I found one Hotel Swagat, located at 450 m after the Patas toll plaza. It turned out to be a good one. This decent, clean hotel with good interiors served me a good quality food. I was bit sceptical because I was the only customer in the hotel. But the manager and the waiter gave me good service and food. Dinner and tea together took 1 hour here. There is one good hotel at Tembhurni bypass too, I had food there in past. If I chose to halt there this time, it would have been too late for the dinner.
On Solapur - Pune road, I could spot two good pure veg hotels immediately after crossing Solapur. One was Hotel Vasudev and the other was within few hundred meters of Vasudev; I don't remember the name.
Between Solapur and Hyderabad, the only option is Hotel Gujarat at Sastapur. The food here was ok. Not great but just manageable. |