[narayans80]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

The lovely parking area of Hotel Pushpak Park, Osmanabad

Good to see they have covered parking now, wasn't the case in 2019,20. The location is a bit confusing. The parking, rooms and food more than compensates for it.

Bijapur - Solapur: great highway roads aside, Solapur town limits had crumbling roads (even by Bangalore standards!)

Did you enter Solapur? You do not need to. There is an awesome bypass. You might've taken it enroute Pandharpur from Tuljapur on day 2 or 3.

[GeeTee TSI]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Did you enter Solapur? You do not need to. There is an awesome bypass. You might've taken it enroute Pandharpur from Tuljapur on day 2 or 3.

Google maps (in its infinite wisdom) probably routed us through Solapur town to save a massive minute or two. Absolutely makes sense to skip the town roads

[gauravanekar]

Hello all, I am from Jaipur. I solicit your advice on what route to take, I am planning to drive 1000km/day. Google has suggested 3 routes:

1. Jaipur-Bilwara-Indore-Pune-Belagavi-gokarna-mangalore

2. Jaipur-Bilwara-Indore-Dhule-Aurangabad-Solapur-Vijayapura-Hubli-gokarna-mangalore

3. Jaipur to Belagavi(Golden Quad)- gokarna-mangalore

Additionally, I will be travelling in a petrol figo(KA02) with my parents, wife and 5yr old. I have installed roof carrier and will have a suitcase tied using tension straps (mentioning this because this attracts police a lot)

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

1. Jaipur-Bilwara-Indore-Pune-Belagavi-gokarna-mangalore

This is probably the best of the lot. Would avoid major cities except Pune. You don't need to goto Indore, you can take Manpur-Lebad SH and avoid it entirely.

I will be travelling in a petrol figo(KA02) with my parents, wife and 5yr old. I have installed roof carrier and will have a suitcase tied using tension straps (mentioning this because this attracts police a lot

Roof carrier and PUC are standard reasons to wave down and timepass.

[gauravanekar]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

Hello all, I am from Jaipur. I solicit your advice on what route to take,

I did complete the drive, no nuggets of info:
Dhule to the end of chalisgaon ghat is bad, bad because of excessive truck traffic in single roads , bad road surface with a lot of potholes. Otherwise every where else the roads were good.

Jaipur-Dhule : Good

Aurangabad-Vijayapura : Fantastic

Vijayapura-Hubli byroads : good surface with traffic, one can keep the average speed of 60. Many towns has to be passed through.

Hubli- Gokarna : a small section in the beginning is bad but then the road smoothens, we drove after sunset hence couldn’t enjoy any scenery.

Gokarna- Bramhavar : Great

Bramhavar-Karkala-Uppinangadi-Puttur : Enjoyable, good surface.

On roof carrier :

Sum total I had to pay ₹1000 to police in MP and Maharashtra, I was stopped at-least 5/6 times in RJ-MP-MH. If you say that I’m on a long journey and I’ve already paid money multiple times before they either reduce it to 100/200/300 or let go for free. I was not stopped in KA May be because my car is KA registered.

[ghodlur]

Folks any recommendations for eating places between Vijaypura and Solapur preferably after Vijaypura? I am scheduled to refuel as BPCL COCO Zalki. I will be travelling next Friday on this route i.e NH 50 and then NH52 to reach Solapur. Last time I took this trip I didnt have stops for decent eateries, had to have it roadside.

I have one recommendations of Anand Vihar at Hulikere after Alur on NH50. Anybody recently stopped here, any reviews?

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Folks any recommendations for eating places between Vijaypura and Solapur preferably after Vijaypura? I am scheduled to refuel as BPCL COCO Zalki. I will be travelling next Friday on this route i.e NH 50 and then NH52 to reach Solapur. Last time I took this trip I didnt have stops for decent eateries, had to have it roadside.

I have one recommendations of Anand Vihar at Hulikere after Alur on NH50. Anybody recently stopped here, any reviews?

Hotel Pandurang Veg, at Yermala is a good place it’s about 160-170 km from Vijayapura. There is another one called MH25 Food mall, at Odmanabad. Both places have good washrooms too.

Edit : Please make sure to carry a valid PuC. I got stopped right at the MH border and had to waste 10-15 minutes on this one.

[condor]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Folks any recommendations for eating places between Vijaypura and Solapur preferably after Vijaypura?

Havent been there for quite sometime, but my cousin regularly does that stretch. He says lots of places now between Solapur & Vijayapura.

There is also an IOCL COCO next to the IOCL setup just north of Vijayapura.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by condor

Havent been there for quite sometime, but my cousin regularly does that stretch. He says lots of places now between Solapur & Vijayapura.

There is also an IOCL COCO next to the IOCL setup just north of Vijayapura.

I had refuelled last time at this IOC pump which was swarming with heavy vehicles. It took a good 20 odd mins for a slot to refuel. Hence this time I selected the BPCL COCO which is further to Vijaypura at Zalki.

Unfortunately not a single Jio BP bunk on NH 50. I am told they have priced the diesel lower than OMCs.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Unfortunately not a single Jio BP bunk on NH 50. I am told they have priced the diesel lower than OMCs.

• Jio BP - Ilkal
  
• Jio BP - Kusthagi
  
• Jio BP - Before Vijayapura Bypass

I had seen the first 2 transformed to Jio BP from Reliance during last year itself while the 3rd one was still getting transformed.

To be honest, Hospet Sholapur Aurangabad has got plenty of options including COCO to refuel and there is no dearth for good fuel stations including Reliance/Jio BP.

Regarding options for a good place to break between Vijayapura and Aurangabad, the highway is getting there when it comes to good facilities and every drive has few new places to offer. As jkrishnakj mentions, you can stop at any of these 3 places:

• S Longe + Siddeshwar Cafe and Restaurant on Vijayapura Bypass
• Pandurang Veg, after Yermala
• MH25 Food Mall on Osmanabad Bypass

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Hotel Pandurang Veg, at Yermala is a good place it’s about 160-170 km from Vijayapura. There is another one called MH25 Food mall, at Odmanabad. Both places have good washrooms too.

Edit : Please make sure to carry a valid PuC. I got stopped right at the MH border and had to waste 10-15 minutes on this one.

Thanks for the PUC tip, will keep this handy although my last trip nothing was specifically asked.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

• Jio BP - Ilkal
  
• Jio BP - Kusthagi
  
• Jio BP - Before Vijayapura Bypass

I had seen the first 2 transformed to Jio BP from Reliance during last year itself while the 3rd one was still getting transformed.

To be honest, Hospet Sholapur Aurangabad has got plenty of options including COCO to refuel and there is no dearth for good fuel stations including Reliance/Jio BP.

Regarding options for a good place to break between Vijayapura and Aurangabad, the highway is getting there when it comes to good facilities and every drive has few new places to offer. As jkrishnakj mentions, you can stop at any of these 3 places:

• S Longe + Siddeshwar Cafe and Restaurant on Vijayapura Bypass
• Pandurang Veg, after Yermala
• MH25 Food Mall on Osmanabad Bypass

Many thanks Parag, as usual your posts have always been helpful. The one that is useful to me is the Jio BP pump at Vijayapura and the S lounge. The rest of the 2 eateries are beyond Solapur which doesnt help me. It can help others who go beyond Solapur.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Thanks for the PUC tip, will keep this handy although my last trip nothing was specifically asked.

You should not be reading this as a tip especially when you have spent most of your life in the state of Maharashtra where traffic cops on highways are fondly referred to as PUC police only because the first thing they are interested is to check is a valid Pollution test certificate even before DL or Insurance .

The rest of the 2 eateries are beyond Solapur which doesnt help me. It can help others who go beyond Solapur.

Yeah but for sure you can use it for your next drive beyond Sholapur. Now, coming to your specific query of choices to stop by between Vijayapura and Sholapur, the choices are nearly nil. Also note that it hardly takes 75 minutes to do Vijayapura Bypass to Sholapur bypass and hence you can always plan your breaks in a such a way that you either break at Vijayapura or inside Sholapur (If your destination is within the town).

Anand Vihar that you refer to is a good choice for breakfast for anyone who starts from Bangalore at 4:00am and perhaps the only choice. My usual stop for breakfast has been Anand Vihar (They open at 7 only) or Nandagokula Veg (Kusthagi) for a late one.

@Anand Vihar


@Nandagokula

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

You should not be reading this as a tip especially when you have spent most of your life in the state of Maharashtra where traffic cops on highways are fondly referred to as PUC police only because the first thing they are interested is to check is a valid Pollution test certificate even before DL or Insurance .

Hahaha. In the city limits, yes the Mumbai police is notorious for PUC checks. But on highway I dont think they are too bothered to check for PUC. Anyways do have the PUC in the car itself and in Digilocker too.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

But on highway I dont think they are too bothered to check for PUC.

Over the past 6-7 years, most of the traffic police in Maharashtra are seen on the highways, especially after toll booths. While they were notorious on Kolhapur Pune Expressway Vashi section, you can now see them very regularly on all the highways too, including Sholapur Aurangabad. This is apart from the regular spotting of speed interceptors (Red and White Ertigas).

This was in 2018, PUC check!!

https://youtu.be/QzrTtWpkd3s

In my set of documents, I always have the PUC first and the expiry date highlighted with a marker and the moment this is shown, they know you are smart enough and let you go without checking anything else because as an owner of the car, it is difficult to forget renewal or insurance and extremely less likely to drive a car without DL and hence PUC is an easy one to prey on you.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I had refuelled last time at this IOC pump which was swarming with heavy vehicles. It took a good 20 odd mins for a slot to refuel. Hence this time I selected the BPCL COCO which is further to Vijaypura at Zalki.

There are 7 COCO pumps in a 60 km distance from 4 km before Bijapur till Zalki. Out of this 4 are IOCL, 2 BPCL and 1 HPCL. That IOCL-BPCL COCO pair at Zalki are the last.

There are lot more Reliance pumps distributed from Durga till Bijapur. Bijapur-Solapur is where they have less presence.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

But on highway I dont think they are too bothered to check for PUC. Anyways do have the PUC in the car itself and in Digilocker too.

As an out of state car, I've been flagged down every time since 2017. And I carry all originals specifically for MH.
---

any recommendations for eating places between Vijaypura and Solapur preferably after Vijaypura

There are only a handful that have popped up after 2021. One such is this Sagar. Don't expect high standards though. The stretch is mostly trucking corridor.