Bangalore to Solapur : Route Queries

sidkun · 26th November 2007, 15:55

Hi,

I'm planning to drive my Swift Lxi from Bangalore to Solapur the coming weekend. I plan to leave Bangalore at around 4 pm on Friday and want to come back to Bangalore from Solapur on Sunday, late night.

I would like to ask the best route possible based on the following parameters:

1) Road condition to drive, since I'm wary about subjecting my new car to bad roads.

2) Possible halts overnight on Friday. I shall be the only driver in the car and I want to avoid driving at night.

I see two options before me:
a) NH4 upto Davangere (halt overnight at Davangere) and NH13 thence to Solapur (via Bijapur). - Distance 614 km as per mapmyindia.
b) NH4 to Hubli (stay overnight at Hubli) , NH218 from Hubli to Bijapur and NH13 from Bijapur to Solapur. - Distance 692 km as per mapmyindia.

Could someone suggest the best option and suitable hotels to stay in Davangere/Hubli??

In case driving is a bad option, does anyone know any good Volvo bus service from Bangalore to Solapur directly?

hvkumar · 26th November 2007, 16:35

Don't know why you are going via Davangere and Hubli, but the direct route to Solapur is NH13 from Chitradurga. Go on NH4 till Chitradurga (ideal night halt), turn off on the bypass itself to NH13 (good signages - Solapur is 420 kms from here, add the 200 kms from Bangalore to Chitradurga, and that totals 620 kms), and go via Hospet, Bijapur to Solapur.

The road has been reported to be bad in some patches, notably between Chitradurga and Hospet, but I guess by now the roads would have been repaired.

If you go through Davangere, you will join NH13 between Chitradurga and Hospet, and I remember the road from Davangere to be bad.

NH218 is not in good condition, as per last reported. Plus, remember that NH4 itself is not in good shape between Harihar and Hubli.

If you chose to go via Chitradurga-Hospet, I suggest you stay at Chitradurga (Hotel Amoga or Aishwarya Palace). On the other hand, if you want to go via Davangere, please try Hotel Pooja International or Hotel Sai International. Also remember that if you leave Bangalore at 4 pm, after battling the stretch to Nelamangala (assume you cross Nelamangala by 5 pm, or is that too ambitious), you should encounter darkness in an hour's time and Davangere is still 3-4 hours away, hence Chitradurga may be a better overnight halt.

condor · 26th November 2007, 17:59

@sidkun, Pls do check before you start a new thread - We have an excellent report by @snaronikar who recently travelled BLR-Gulbarga, and has posted a very nice report on his trip.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...kon-flair.html

I would suggest you look at the above thread, and re-trace @snaronikar's route till you reach Mudgal, and then take a left to reach NH-13 between Ilkal & Hungund. NH-13 after Ilkal is good enough.

Why would you want to leave at 4 pm ? You will spend about 3 hours and a lot of energy just getting out of the city. And after that, you would be driving all night. Is it possible for you to leave early morning on friday ? You will be fresh, and you will have the whole day to drive. With a little rest en route, you should even make it to Solapur late night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidkun

b) NH4 to Hubli (stay overnight at Hubli) , NH218 from Hubli to Bijapur and NH13 from Bijapur to Solapur. - Distance 692 km as per mapmyindia.

Bad Idea. Roads between Hubli-Bagalkot-Bijapur are mostly bad. If you dont damage your car, You definitely will lose a lot of time on those single lane, cratered stretches. I have done these stretches, and wouldnt want to do it again with the current state of the roads.

Both the options you are looking at appear to go via Hubli. The normal route is BLR-Chitradurga-Hospet-Bijapur-Solapur, but even this has some real bad stretches that are also prone to jams, esp around Hospet. And sometimes for the flimsiest of reasons like drivers just parking their vehicles on the road and crashing for the night. No joke.

Quote:

In case driving is a bad option, does anyone know any good Volvo bus service from Bangalore to Solapur directly?

I will be surprised if there is a Volvo to Solapur. BLR-Bijapur, yes. VRL is a good option, though only upto Bijapur.

Rather take a train. Tickets on Udyan may not be available. But you can try for the Basava Express, ex Yeshwantpur. Leaves at about 4.45 pm, and reaches Solapur around 7 am. Train number is 6513/6514.

Also, pls check this thread:
Thread #2:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...e-bijapur.html

Specifically, these posts:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...tml#post606431
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...tml#post616579

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mods, should this thread be merged to the thread in the first link in this post (the one started by @snaronikar) ?

kaushik_s · 26th November 2007, 18:26

@Sid, Hmm I was about to post this query on your behalf,but more or less you've already got the answers.And as we told you yesterday that taking a train or bus will be a better option ;-) I talked to a colleague who recently travelled recently and according to him the road is in real bad shape.
@ hvkumar, can you also please post the name of the yahoogroup that you people have ?

akroy · 26th November 2007, 18:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

@ hvkumar, can you also please post the name of the yahoogroup that you people have ?

indiahighways[AT]yahoogroups.com

Pls send a blank mail to indiahighways-subscribe[AT]yahoogroups.com

join there fast

Abhi

kaushik_s · 26th November 2007, 23:39

Sent ;-) Thanks AK..

sidkun · 27th November 2007, 13:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor

@sidkun, Pls do check before you start a new thread - We have an excellent report by @snaronikar who recently travelled BLR-Gulbarga, and has posted a very nice report on his trip.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...kon-flair.html

I would suggest you look at the above thread, and re-trace @snaronikar's route till you reach Mudgal, and then take a left to reach NH-13 between Ilkal & Hungund. NH-13 after Ilkal is good enough.

Why would you want to leave at 4 pm ? You will spend about 3 hours and a lot of energy just getting out of the city. And after that, you would be driving all night. Is it possible for you to leave early morning on friday ? You will be fresh, and you will have the whole day to drive. With a little rest en route, you should even make it to Solapur late night.

Bad Idea. Roads between Hubli-Bagalkot-Bijapur are mostly bad. If you dont damage your car, You definitely will lose a lot of time on those single lane, cratered stretches. I have done these stretches, and wouldnt want to do it again with the current state of the roads.

Both the options you are looking at appear to go via Hubli. The normal route is BLR-Chitradurga-Hospet-Bijapur-Solapur, but even this has some real bad stretches that are also prone to jams, esp around Hospet. And sometimes for the flimsiest of reasons like drivers just parking their vehicles on the road and crashing for the night. No joke.

I will be surprised if there is a Volvo to Solapur. BLR-Bijapur, yes. VRL is a good option, though only upto Bijapur.

Rather take a train. Tickets on Udyan may not be available. But you can try for the Basava Express, ex Yeshwantpur. Leaves at about 4.45 pm, and reaches Solapur around 7 am. Train number is 6513/6514.

Also, pls check this thread:
Thread #2:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...e-bijapur.html

Specifically, these posts:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...tml#post606431
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...tml#post616579

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mods, should this thread be merged to the thread in the first link in this post (the one started by @snaronikar) ?

Thanks a lot for the info, all!!

@Condor - Sorry, I guess I overlooked the mail thread you referred to, since I was searching for Solapur in the title .. :( ..... ergo, the new thread.

Wanted to leave after 4 pm since its a working day and I wanted to attend a friend's wedding on Saturday night in Solapur (Pandharpur,actually,but close enough) without arriving too worn out to participate in the wedding.

And the reasons why I was considering the options via Hubli are:
a) Didn't know if there are any good hotels in Chitradurga, only knew about Hubli since a friend and I had managed to find a decent hotel in Hubli at 3.00 am while driving to Pune from Bangalore.
b) Was thinking that NH4 might be in a better condition generally than NH13, so wanted to find out whether traveling on NH4 for the most part would be time saving on the whole, despite the extra distance.

hvkumar · 27th November 2007, 13:56

NH4 after Chitradurga is still under construction with several deviations and some bad bypasses (Davangere, Ranebennur and Haveri).

In case you want to go to Pandharpur, you don't have to touch Solapur, you could go off NH13 after Bijapur at Zalki (72 kms to Pandharpur, 49 kms to Solapur) and go directly to Pandharpur.

condor · 27th November 2007, 15:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidkun

@Condor - Sorry, I guess I overlooked the mail thread you referred to, since I was searching for Solapur in the title .. :( ..... ergo, the new thread.

. No problem - just that there is so much of information on TBHP that often, a new thread is not required at all.

Quote:

Wanted to leave after 4 pm since its a working day and I wanted to attend a friend's wedding on Saturday night in Solapur (Pandharpur,actually,but close enough) without arriving too worn out to participate in the wedding.

Suggest you take a day off on friday, and leave early morning. You can make it to Solapur late night, go to Pandharpur in the morning & attend the wedding at night. You will stretch yourself by leaving at 4 pm on friday afternoon.

Like HVkumar said, you can avoid Solapur. Take the Bijapur-Mangalveda-Pandharpur to go directly to Pandharpur. That way you can save 70km between Solapur-Pandharpur. I have asked for information about that route, and will let you know as soon as I have it. (hopefully by tomorrow). This deviation will be immediately after Bijapur, to your left- and much before Zalki. Zalki is also an option.

Davangere city has some nice hotels. So does Hubli. But the roads after Hubli negate any such advantages that you would get by going via Hubli / Davangere. The approx 250 km between Hubli-Bagalkot-Bijapur will look like it takes ages to get through and you will not enjoy that part of the drive.

If you are going to drive, take the route given by snaronikar. Take a break at Bellary especially if you are going to start at 4pm on friday. And continue on Saturday morning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvkumar

If you go through Davangere, you will join NH13 between Chitradurga and Hospet, and I remember the road from Davangere to be bad.

If you take this route - BLR-Davangere-Hospet-Bijapur-Solapur:

BLR-Chitradurga-Davangere outskirts : Good
Davangere-Harirhar by-pass: under construction. Expect some very bad patches. 1st gear, sub 10kmph speeds.
Take right at Harihar to go via Harapanahalli to reach NH-13 before Hospet.

You can also go into Davangere city to reach Harihar. After you pass Davangere city, it is about 12 km to Harihar. You will pass over a tank bund with a tank /lake on your left. Soon after, you will enter Harihar town, look out for a Reliance pump on your right, a little further is a short divided stretch & a circle. Take a right there to pass under a railway track. This will take you towards Harapanahalli. [The Harihar bus-stand & Railway station are at the right of this divided stretch, though not on that road itself]

I have recently done Harihar- Harapanahalli, and it was good. If the road after Harapanahalli is just as good, then it will be a breeze. Once you reach NH-13, it is should be good enough. But since I have not done the Harapanahalli-Hospet, I cant say for sure. It is SH, though.

While you will skip that extremely bad 54 km stretch between Jagalur & Kudligi (since you will join NH-13 after Kudligi), you will still have another bad stretch of 87 km between Hospet & Hungund (though this is not as bad as the Jagalur-Kudligi stretch). (ref @snaronikar's post).

OT: Another request - pls avoid quoting full messages in your replies, like you have done here. Quoting full messages is an unnecessary duplication. And no one is going to read the quoted part. Of course, when required, do quote specific points - it can add a lot of clarity to your messages.

condor · 29th November 2007, 14:19

@sidkun, after Bijapur pls continue on NH-4 upto Zalki (50km). At Zalki, take a left towards Chadchan-Mangalvedha-Pandharpur.

Bijapur-Zalki is NH-13. Road is good.
Zalki-Chadchan: Road is fairly good (not as good as NH-13). But not a cause for worry.
Once you enter Maharashtra, the road is said to be very good.

So, with this information, your route should be set now.

sidkun · 7th December 2007, 10:29

Thanks everyone, for the helpful inputs..... Actually, something came up and I couldn't go attend...so did not have a chance to navigate the route charted out by all of you.....thanks a zillions,anyway, for you enthusiastic efforts.

chetans · 19th August 2008, 16:48

i am planning to take up this route for bangalore to solapur:
Bangalore
Tumkur
Chitradurga
Hospet
hampi
yelbarga
kushtagi
hungund
bijapur
solapur

any updates on the road conditions between chitradurga and hospet?

in case road condition is very bad, is there any other alernate route to take up?

would be travelling with my wife and kid.

Post EDITED since it contained various [FONT], [COLOR] and [SIZE] tags. Posting with such text formatting should be avoided on Team-BHP as it is inconvenient for members to read post. Kindly go through Announcements section before proceeding.

Thanking You for your anticipated co-operation

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chetans · 25th August 2008, 11:40

would anyone like to reply to my query?

hvkumar · 25th August 2008, 21:17

Nh13 is not the best of highways. When I drove on it before the rains, right from Chitradurga to Hospet, the road was pot-holed (but under repair) and had lots of bumps. Heard that road from Hospet onwards is also bad in some places. NH13 is the most direct route, alternative routes are much longer - if you go via Hubli, roads are bad there too to Hospet, road from Belgaum via Bagalkot is also bad, going via Kolhapur is stupid. From Chitradurga, Solapur is 420 kms.

chetans · 9th September 2008, 12:15

ready this reply too late...after coming back today from solapur. had hell of a time on nh13. the road till hospet was in very good shape. from hospet till chitradurga, road is just pathetic. will post the details very soon.
i was looking for somehow reaching NH4. maybe solapur-belgaum or solapur-kolhapur even though the distance may get doubled as compared to nh13.

26th November 2007, 15:55	#1
sidkun BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 38 Thanked: 11 Times	Bangalore to Solapur : Route Queries Hi, I'm planning to drive my Swift Lxi from Bangalore to Solapur the coming weekend. I plan to leave Bangalore at around 4 pm on Friday and want to come back to Bangalore from Solapur on Sunday, late night. I would like to ask the best route possible based on the following parameters: 1) Road condition to drive, since I'm wary about subjecting my new car to bad roads. 2) Possible halts overnight on Friday. I shall be the only driver in the car and I want to avoid driving at night. I see two options before me: a) NH4 upto Davangere (halt overnight at Davangere) and NH13 thence to Solapur (via Bijapur). - Distance 614 km as per mapmyindia. b) NH4 to Hubli (stay overnight at Hubli) , NH218 from Hubli to Bijapur and NH13 from Bijapur to Solapur. - Distance 692 km as per mapmyindia. Could someone suggest the best option and suitable hotels to stay in Davangere/Hubli?? In case driving is a bad option, does anyone know any good Volvo bus service from Bangalore to Solapur directly?
	() Thanks

26th November 2007, 18:26	#4
kaushik_s Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,088 Thanked: 165 Times View My Garage	@Sid, Hmm I was about to post this query on your behalf,but more or less you've already got the answers.And as we told you yesterday that taking a train or bus will be a better option ;-) I talked to a colleague who recently travelled recently and according to him the road is in real bad shape. @ hvkumar, can you also please post the name of the yahoogroup that you people have ?
	() Thanks

26th November 2007, 23:39	#6
kaushik_s Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,088 Thanked: 165 Times View My Garage	Sent ;-) Thanks AK..
	() Thanks

27th November 2007, 13:56	#8
hvkumar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Mumbai Posts: 7,368 Thanked: 3,467 Times	NH4 after Chitradurga is still under construction with several deviations and some bad bypasses (Davangere, Ranebennur and Haveri). In case you want to go to Pandharpur, you don't have to touch Solapur, you could go off NH13 after Bijapur at Zalki (72 kms to Pandharpur, 49 kms to Solapur) and go directly to Pandharpur.
	() Thanks

29th November 2007, 14:19	#10
condor Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Speed-brkr City Posts: 16,242 Thanked: 16,902 Times View My Garage	@sidkun, after Bijapur pls continue on NH-4 upto Zalki (50km). At Zalki, take a left towards Chadchan-Mangalvedha-Pandharpur. Bijapur-Zalki is NH-13. Road is good. Zalki-Chadchan: Road is fairly good (not as good as NH-13). But not a cause for worry. Once you enter Maharashtra, the road is said to be very good. So, with this information, your route should be set now.
	() Thanks

26th November 2007, 16:35	#2
hvkumar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Mumbai Posts: 7,368 Thanked: 3,467 Times	Don't know why you are going via Davangere and Hubli, but the direct route to Solapur is NH13 from Chitradurga. Go on NH4 till Chitradurga (ideal night halt), turn off on the bypass itself to NH13 (good signages - Solapur is 420 kms from here, add the 200 kms from Bangalore to Chitradurga, and that totals 620 kms), and go via Hospet, Bijapur to Solapur. The road has been reported to be bad in some patches, notably between Chitradurga and Hospet, but I guess by now the roads would have been repaired. If you go through Davangere, you will join NH13 between Chitradurga and Hospet, and I remember the road from Davangere to be bad. NH218 is not in good condition, as per last reported. Plus, remember that NH4 itself is not in good shape between Harihar and Hubli. If you chose to go via Chitradurga-Hospet, I suggest you stay at Chitradurga (Hotel Amoga or Aishwarya Palace). On the other hand, if you want to go via Davangere, please try Hotel Pooja International or Hotel Sai International. Also remember that if you leave Bangalore at 4 pm, after battling the stretch to Nelamangala (assume you cross Nelamangala by 5 pm, or is that too ambitious), you should encounter darkness in an hour's time and Davangere is still 3-4 hours away, hence Chitradurga may be a better overnight halt.
	(1) Thanks

7th December 2007, 10:29	#11
sidkun BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 38 Thanked: 11 Times	Thanks everyone, for the helpful inputs..... Actually, something came up and I couldn't go attend...so did not have a chance to navigate the route charted out by all of you.....thanks a zillions,anyway, for you enthusiastic efforts.
	() Thanks

19th August 2008, 16:48	#12
chetans BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 238 Thanked: 86 Times	i am planning to take up this route for bangalore to solapur: Bangalore Tumkur Chitradurga Hospet hampi yelbarga kushtagi hungund bijapur solapur any updates on the road conditions between chitradurga and hospet? in case road condition is very bad, is there any other alernate route to take up? would be travelling with my wife and kid. Post EDITED since it contained various [FONT], [COLOR] and [SIZE] tags. Posting with such text formatting should be avoided on Team-BHP as it is inconvenient for members to read post. Kindly go through Announcements section before proceeding. Thanking You for your anticipated co-operation The Team-BHP Support Staff Last edited by Jaggu : 19th August 2008 at 18:28. Reason: Font tags
	() Thanks

25th August 2008, 11:40	#13
chetans BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 238 Thanked: 86 Times	any updates? would anyone like to reply to my query?
	() Thanks

25th August 2008, 21:17	#14
hvkumar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Mumbai Posts: 7,368 Thanked: 3,467 Times	Nh13 is not the best of highways. When I drove on it before the rains, right from Chitradurga to Hospet, the road was pot-holed (but under repair) and had lots of bumps. Heard that road from Hospet onwards is also bad in some places. NH13 is the most direct route, alternative routes are much longer - if you go via Hubli, roads are bad there too to Hospet, road from Belgaum via Bagalkot is also bad, going via Kolhapur is stupid. From Chitradurga, Solapur is 420 kms.
	() Thanks

9th September 2008, 12:15	#15
chetans BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 238 Thanked: 86 Times	ready this reply too late...after coming back today from solapur. had hell of a time on nh13. the road till hospet was in very good shape. from hospet till chitradurga, road is just pathetic. will post the details very soon. i was looking for somehow reaching NH4. maybe solapur-belgaum or solapur-kolhapur even though the distance may get doubled as compared to nh13.
	() Thanks