[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by karanp23

Thanks Ranjit! I was in a dilemma and your post clarified. We will follow your suggestion. In case you have some suggestions on way side eateries that serve yummy food, please do let us know.

regards

Plenty of Kamat restaurants on NH4.Davangere you can go inside town to have the Benne dosa,kamat at dobbespete,sira,rannebennur,hubli.you can check the thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...teries-92.html

[karanp23]

We made a long trip of 2562 kms combining the long weekend and the weekdays from August 9 to August 15 from Bangalore - Kolhapur - Shirdi - Shanisingapur - Mahabaleshwar - Belgaum - Bangalore.

We started at about 4.45 am from Bannerghata road near IIM and was able to hit the Tumkur Road at 5:15 am using the NICE corridor. We reached Davanagere at 8:10 am; we had actually deviated into the town for breakfast at Shree Guru Kottureshwara Benne Dose hotel in front of Bapuji Dental college entrance. It was top of the world. (We took the the exit before Shamanur road, as indicated by Google and it was pretty simple to reach out to this place; it took only 5 minutes from the highway to reach and get back)

We left Davanagere at about 8:50 am to reach Kolhapur at about 12:45 pm; we deviated into the town for a visit to the Mahalakshmi temple. We could average good speed (80KMPH) due to excellent road conditions and medium traffic density; this is despite the two-laned byepass for Hubli-Dharwad which actually slows you down. There were clear directions/ signage to lead to the temple once we exited and it was really cool. We experienced long queues, as it was a Friday and auspicious,. We decided to do a quick “Mukha Darshan” but still was able to get out of Kolhapur only at about 2:15 pm. We were again looking for a good Dhaba once we hit NH4. We were able to spot one roughly about 30 kms from Kolhapur. The search for a dhabha actually reduced the speed but we were able to finally start driving at 3:25 pm.

We were able to reach the exit for Ahmednagar (Nagar) at the outskirts of Pune at about 5:45 pm. I followed the instructions from various threads in Team BHP to reach out to the Ahmednagar highway. However, we had to negotiate the Pune traffic especially as we were getting closer to swargate and for a good 10 kms after that.

We were able to reach the outskirts of Pune on the Nagar highway at about 8:00 pm and reached Nagar at about 10:00 pm. We had to stop for about 30 minutes for a short Dinner and took off to Shirdi, the final stretch, a distance of about 70kms. We finally reached Shirdi at 11:20 pm. The road condition for the about 26 kms as we approached shirdi was pathetic but no choice although it was four-laned

It was a long 18-1/2 hours journey that had various stoppages covering a distance of about 1095 kms. My son and I shared the driving which helped us stay alert always.

The next day we went to visit Shani Shinganapur; the route is to trace back the highway to Nagar and deviate roughly about 35 kms before Nagar. We had negotiate a bad traffic jam on this day hence, covered the 75 odd kms in about 2 hours. The return journey was smooth; we stopped by for sugarcane juice. Actually, the farmers bring fresh sugarcane and crush on the way side using cattle. A photograph has been attached.

The next day we started driving for Mahabaleshwar, a distance of about 340 kms. We traced back the route that we came in and deviated from NH 4 towards Wai. It is a good 44 kms from this exit to Club Mahindra, Sherwood. We crossed Panchgani and thereafter it was a continuous shower amidst mist. It was a different experience driving in wet and muggy conditions. We stayed in the resort for three nights but travelled quite a bit by car over the next two days visiting all possible tourist spots amidst rains. Some of the photographs would actually convey the settings.

On the fourth day, we left for Gokak falls at about 10 am…The road from Mahabaleshwar to Satara without getting into panchgani and wai was very scenic and absolutely no traffic. We came across a land-slide but did not wait too long as they had already started clearing up. A photograph is also attached. We need to get into satara town before entering NH4 but that was a long delay. The route passes the satara bus stand and a stadium which are landmarks to ensure that one is on the right direction to/fro Mahabaleshwar. The signage was also helpful. We reached Gokak falls at about 3 pm, covering a distance of about 290 kms which included a stoppage for Lunch at a Dhaba, few kms from Kolhapur, at the exit for Goa. In fact, the dhabha is called Goaveys.

Gokak falls was amazing (photo enclosed) and we spent time until about 5 pm. We started to head to Belgaum where we wanted to stop for the night. We took local help for the route to Belgaum but the route suggested was great, as it passes via Hidkal Reservoir (photo attached). The route connects NH4 and it was a zip; total distance of about 65 kms covered in about 1:05 mts. Road conditions were great except for the initial 2-3 kms from GOKAK.
We stayed at Belgaum overnight at Sankam Residency; we finished some work the next morning and left for Bangalore at about 2:45 pm. The first 382 kms was covered in exactly 4 hours ; the rest in 2 hours in 30 mts which included a pit stop for dinner at Pavithra Thatte Idli at Tumkur. Not much of traffic experienced.

Overall, it was a great experience, driving in the monsoon. NH4 from Bangalore all the way upto Satara is great. The six laning work is almost complete between Tumkur and Chitradurga. Satara – Pune is interspersed with deviations on account of the slow progress of work on 6 laning. Pune traffic tests your patience during peak hours but we chose the wrong time due to other stoppages.

As I had thoroughly serviced the vehicle, balanced and aligned the wheels, we had absolutely no breakdown. CEDIA is great for highways… I have done almost 77,000 kms in little under 4 years in this car…

[Judemayne]

Originally Posted by karanp23

the final stretch, a distance of about 70kms. We finally reached Shirdi at 11:20 pm. The road condition for the about 26 kms as we approached shirdi was pathetic but no choice although it was four-laned


Overall, it was a great experience, driving in the monsoon. NH4 from Bangalore all the way upto Satara is great. The six laning work is almost complete between Tumkur and Chitradurga. Satara – Pune is interspersed with deviations on account of the slow progress of work on 6 laning. Pune traffic tests your patience during peak hours but we chose the wrong time due to other stoppages.

A…

Could not agree with you more on the pathetic condition of the road approaching Shiridi -there was no road at all though its 4 laned??? The last 11 kms to the shrine was a penance to drive on-the main town itself was terrible. It was the same till Kopargaon and then on till Manmad and beyond it improved, by leaps and bound till Malegaon.

The bridge at Rahuri was another nightmare with a huge traffic jam!!!

Came back to Bangalore via Solapur-Bijapur-Chitradurga-avoid NH 13 -not for the road but the "millions" of trucks one has to cross.

jude

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Judemayne

Could not agree with you more on the pathetic condition of the road approaching Shiridi -there was no road at all though its 4 laned??? The last 11 kms to the shrine was a penance to drive on-the main town itself was terrible. It was the same till Kopargaon and then on till Manmad and beyond it improved, by leaps and bound till Malegaon.

The bridge at Rahuri was another nightmare with a huge traffic jam!!!

Came back to Bangalore via Solapur-Bijapur-Chitradurga-avoid NH 13 -not for the road but the "millions" of trucks one has to cross.

jude

How long did the Shirdi-Bangalore drive take in terms of time(via the Solapur-Bijapur route)

Originally Posted by karanp23

As I had thoroughly serviced the vehicle, balanced and aligned the wheels, we had absolutely no breakdown. CEDIA is great for highways… I have done almost 77,000 kms in little under 4 years in this car…

Thanks for the pictures.The Cedia does look great and absolutely agree-is one of the better cars in India-a pity that its not seen that often now a days.

[Judemayne]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

How long did the Shirdi-Bangalore drive take in terms of time(via the Solapur-Bijapur route)



.

As I had to abort my drive to Leh just short of Malegaon because of a critical medical emergency in the family. got the call at about 1230 hrs on 16 Aug-turned around immediately. Reached Ahmednagar at 1440 hrs lunch break and then drove to Solapur via Mirajgaon-Madha-reached at about 2000 hrs. Road went from good to bad to good in places. Not well sign posted throughout. Took about 30 minutes to find a nice Hotel at Solarpur-Surya.

Left Solapur at 0600 hrs to Bijapur-via NH 13-till the Maharashtra check post the surface was good but just crumble the moment we crossed into Karnataka and just two lanes through out with "Millions" of trucks so overtaking was a nightmare throughout. will not take this road again just because of the high density of trucks. came via Solapur just to reduce the distance as much as possible to Bangalore so that we reach in time for the operation. Second reason- too many diversion from Pune to Satara and avoiding Pune evening traffic.

Reached Bijapur by about 0845 hrs to 0900 hrs and then got onto a newly laid 4 laned Highway (NH 50 -am also surprised at the number)-it was the best road have driven anywhere in the Country?? This dream road lasted till Hospet at the Tungabhadra reservoir and then another nightmare crossing the hill section with traffic, mainly trucks, till the road became NH 13 once again. The dream highway turned of to Koppal.

Reached Chittradurga at about 1300 hrs lunched there and was at Yaswantpur by 1600 hrs on the NH 4.

This is one time route. Must say the road 15 kms either side of Shiridi is truly BAD-why such an important pilgrimage centre is that badly maintained??

Jude

[ampere]

There are three/four basic problems for this route :

- Kolhapur-Pune
- Crossing Pune
- Pune-Nagar
- Nagar-Shirdi

Kolhapur Pune is the begining of chaotic traffic on the 4-lane. But still managable. Satara bypass is in shambles. The total stretch of about 200km can easily consume about 3 to 3.5 hours (between Kolhapur to Pune bypass on the NH4)

Secondly, crossing Pune is another big pain. To quote Ranjit, its a real downer to get into a city traffic jam after driving for 10-11 hours. Pune has a good bypass for Mumbai and Bangalore side on the GQ. But for Nasik, Nagar there is none. That means one has to get into the city traffic. On top of it I saw flyovers being constructed on the Katraj road to Swargate. That again translates to very slow moving traffic. So add another 1 to 1.5 hours for this section.Once you triumph all this, the comes the Nagar Road which I think is BLR-MYS SH amplified! You never feel out of city on this road for easily about 40-50 km.


(Parag has the best possible solution to bypass the city for Nagar Road coming from Bangalore side) : Route Link


Once you reach Nagar, crossing the town for Shirdi is not that big a deal. Its about 80 km from Nagar. The first 50-60 are peaceful. Then comes reality check. The 4-lane converges to a single lane over a bridge on River Pravara at the little town of Kulhar. One can see a new bridge construction suspended in action thanks to local situation. The jam over this constricted bridge can easily eat up an hour. (Only solution is to cross it by day break)

Having crossed all this comes the final torture. 25km of 4-laned potholed road! Imagine paying a toll for this road too ! Its quite surprising that roads around such an important pilgrimage town are in such a situation. So if one can beat the jam on the bridge and take the pot holed road at decent pace, it can take up to 4 hours for Pune-Shirdi.

On hindsight :
Most of trucks via central India (Ratlam/Indore) driving to south take this stretch (Either to Sholapur NH9 or to Satara/NH4). That may be another reason, why perennially the roads are not maintained esp because this section is a SH and not a NH. A solution to this problem may be to convert: Nagar-Shirdi-Malegaon stretch to a NH with costing taken by centre.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ampere

On top of it I saw flyovers being constructed on the Katraj road to Swargate. That again translates to very slow moving traffic.

Yes and along with BRTS that occasionally functions here with no strict enforcement that actually allows regular vehicles to take on the BRTS lanes, I can imagine the chaos all through the day.

I understand you faced traffic last time but I would still vote the Sinhagad road option to reach Swargate. The roads are all good with at least 4 traffic signals (2 Major ones). You are guaranteed of good roads (they were good even last month when I drove to Mumbai/Pune), lanes are wider and barring signals, it keeps moving.

It is still worth the risk and the best part is that you have an easy access to get onto Sinhagad road after getting off NH4 and taking a right underneath the flyover.

From Sarasbaug, you have 2 options to reach Swargate:
1. Via Laxminarayan Theatre
2. Via Tilak Road

I would select option 2 here as you don't even touch the horribly messy Satara road near Swargate junction.

The route is as follows:

http://goo.gl/maps/TiG4o

NOTE: All the other options to bypass Pune using the Westerly bypass all the way to Talegaon and then taking the Chakan road to hit Shikrapur on Nagar road is not all worth it. I have tried this once and realized that it is worth taking the city road any day.

Here is the link for getting onto Nagar road via Westerly bypass:

http://goo.gl/maps/C9kls

Remember that Pune bypass itself is undergoing 6 lane work and has at least 5-6 major diversions causing huge bottlenecks round the clock (I passed this around 3AM on July 20th on the way to Thane) and considering this, the city option is any day better among the worst options that we have here!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Remember that Pune bypass itself is undergoing 6 lane work and has at least 5-6 major diversions causing huge bottlenecks round the clock (I passed this around 3AM on July 20th on the way to Thane) and considering this, the city option is any day better among the worst options that we have here!

How is the city option via Swargate compared to Chakan/Shirur?
Though 40km more (found in Google), does it save time?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ampere

How is the city option via Swargate compared to Chakan/Shirur?
Though 40km more (found in Google), does it save time?

I returned from Jawahar via Nashik and Pune to Bangalore during the same drive back home on 21st July.

I took the Chakan (Since it was part of Nashik-Pune, NH50) and then Old-Mumbai Pune highway combination to get into the city and get onto NH4 via Signaghad road.

Here were my observations:

NH4-Sinhaghad Road:
4 Signals, free flowing unless driving in peak hours

Singaghad Road-LB Shastri Road-Garware Bridge-FC Road-University road Junction-Sancheti Hospital ROB:
Moderate to slow moving traffic on a regular day

Sancheti Hospital ROB-Old Mumbai Pune Highway till Turn off to Nashik Phata (Turn off for NH50):
Very good road since this is perhaps the only section in Pune which you will call very well planned and well maintained by PCMC (Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation) with wide lanes, wider service roads, flyovers and underpasses.

NH50 Turn Off (Nashik Phata) till Chakan:
This is a 4 lane toll road with few signals but otherwise free-flowing all the times

Chakan-Shikrapur:
Trucks and only trucks and petty villages and roadside hawkers and haphazard parking by private vehicles that makes this small stretch the most irritating.

The route map for the above route: https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=M...ra=ls&t=m&z=14

The big question: What is the ideal choice to bypass Pune?

Well, having taken all these routes over the last few years, latest being a month before, the City route works the best. I would avoid Chakan-Shikrapur to reach Nagar road and instead stick to Swargate-Hadapsar-Magarpatta-Kharadi-Wagholi option to hit Nagar road.

[rohittunga]

Completed Bangalore-Shirdi-Bangalore last weekend. Everything about the road conditions have already been said in the above posts. But anyways, for the sake of it, here is a summary of Road Conditions.

1. Bangalore-Karad : Excellent, especially the Tumkur-Chitradurga & Dharwad-Nippani sections. Just 2 speed breakers and 2 rumble strips, all of which are nicely marked.

2. Karad-Pune: Bad at most places and worst section was before and after Satara. Expect quite a few thuds and underside scrapings here.

3. Pune-(27km before Shirdi): Good roads throughout, but your frustration threshold will be breached if you attempt to drive this stretch during peak hours. Trust me

4. The last 27 km to Shirdi: Bad bad bad !!!! There are potholes literally every half meter on this last leg. This was the most tiring part of the whole stretch and by the looks of it, there is ABSOLUTELY no signs of any road works or at least temporary solution to this road.

Having driven to Shirdi several times before, each time I got stuck in Pune's evening rush hour and as Parag had mentioned earlier, driving in bumper to bumper traffic after covering 800 odd kms is very stressful. Besides, the traffic from Pune to Shirur is very similar to B'lore's ORR traffic during peak hours.

Therefore this time around, we decided to try a different strategy to avoid this mess. So instead of leaving 3 or 4 am (as we did earlier), we decided to leave B'lore by 6.00 pm and were at Nelamangala's elevated highway by 6.45 pm. With only slow moving trucks to negotiate (the suicidal 2 wheelers had called it a night ), our progress was very steady and we hit Pune city by 6.30 am. Within 30 min we crossed Pune city and were on the highway to Ahmednagar. Except for the last 30 kms, we didn't really feel frustrated and comfortably reached Shirdi by 11.45 am.

For all those who want to visit Grishneshwar Jyothirling from Shirdi, a word of caution. The last 27 km to Shirdi was just a preview, the real bad stretch was from Shirdi-Kopergaon-Grishneshwar. Although the distance of 100 kms to Grishneshwar may sound tempting, as we found out, it took us nearly 2.5 hrs to reach there.

For the return journey, we left Shirdi by 5.00 am sharp and reached Bangalore by 11.15 pm. Since the return journey was on a Sunday, there wasn't much traffic, although the mad/temperamental/suicidal idiots on splendors gave me company till Kolhapur.

A summary of Rest stops en route:
Onwards journey
1. Kamat Upchaar, Ranebennur - Dinner (around 10 pm)
2. Hotel Smile Stone, 36 km before Ahmednagar (around 8.30 am)

Return Journey
1. Hotel Smile Stone, 36 km before Ahmednagar (around 7.30 am)
2. Hotel Amar Veg, 40 km after Kolhapur (around 3.00 pm)
3. Kamat Upchaar, 10 km after Hubli (around 5.45 pm)

All the above mentioned places have great food and a decently maintained restroom. I totally recommended them. The total distance covered came up to 2324 km (home to home) with an avg consumption of 18kmpl.

Oh btw, since Monday was Ganesh Chaturthi, there was hardly any rush at Shirdi. Had a very peaceful darshan there.

[paragsachania]

Excellent and detailed report there Rohit!!

Originally Posted by rohittunga

....we decided to leave B'lore by 6.00 pm and were at Nelamangala's elevated highway by 6.45 pm. With only slow moving trucks to negotiate (the suicidal 2 wheelers had called it a night ), our progress was very steady and we hit Pune city by 6.30 am.

That's the most sensible thing to do in case one is used to night driving. The best part is that you save a lot of time at all of those toll booths in MH plus the fact that during the entire stretch you need not even cross the triple digit mark and yet get the best average KMPH and extract the highest out of that tankful.

Kolhapur-Pune would be covered the fastest only post 10PM and before 8AM, there is no doubt on that for sure.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rohittunga

Oh btw, since Monday was Ganesh Chaturthi, there was hardly any rush at Shirdi. Had a very peaceful darshan there.

Neat idea Rohit. That works if one can drive the whole 1000km at a stretch.
Another idea for Grishneshwar is to hire a cab and not subject our vehicles to such torture. (In fact thats what I did).

[rohittunga]

Originally Posted by ampere

Another idea for Grishneshwar is to hire a cab and not subject our vehicles to such torture. (In fact thats what I did).

We were pestered a lot by the local agents to use their cab services. We thought we were getting conned by paying Rs 2000 for just ~220 km. Now looking back, should have taken the cab itself.

1000+ km especially through the night is not for the fainthearted. Only those who have some experience doing night travel should attempt. For most people, splitting the journey into 2 blocks of 500km makes the most sense.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Excellent and detailed report there Rohit!!
That's the most sensible thing to do in case one is used to night driving. The best part is that you save a lot of time at all of those toll booths in MH plus the fact that during the entire stretch you need not even cross the triple digit mark and yet get the best average KMPH and extract the highest out of that tankful.

Thanks Parag
Believe me, even at 5 am, we had to wait a good 5 min and allowed a typical goon (A Fortuner, Devnagari number plates with a picture of Tiger,last 3 digits in XXXL font) to cut in front of us at Khed Shivpur toll . Makes me wonder where the hell are those animals headed so early in the day.

[blackstallion27]

Originally Posted by rohittunga

For all those who want to visit Grishneshwar Jyothirling from Shirdi, a word of caution. The last 27 km to Shirdi was just a preview, the real bad stretch was from Shirdi-Kopergaon-Grishneshwar

Hi, I am planning to visit Shirdi and Grishnehwar next weekend, is there any better route from Shirdi to Grishneshwar?
Taxi is not an option. Thanks!

[rohittunga]

Originally Posted by blackstallion27

Hi, I am planning to visit Shirdi and Grishnehwar next weekend, is there any better route from Shirdi to Grishneshwar?
Taxi is not an option. Thanks!

AFAIK, the route which I took is your best option. Even though its broken at several places, its the shortest and the most preferred route.