[siddheshb]

Gautom, wow, that's a lot of driving in 4 days I had a good trip too, through Nagar road. See my report at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...interland.html (In Maharashtra's Beautiful Hinterland)

[lohithrao]

FOlks its almost like last minute plan though not confirmed yet.

Planning to start tomorrow from Mangalore, have 4 days in hand and was wondering is it the right time for the trip?

Will be going after a long time and for sure dont want to go when entire worl is out there

btw any suggestion on accommodation?

[hvkumar]

Heavy rains all over in Bombay region.
Long weekend and ensuing crowds at Shirdi.

[lohithrao]

Kumar sir, long weekend? Onam??
hmmm i guess i need to re-think now

[amohit]

Hi,

I am planning drive to shirdi, sometime in June last weekend?
What would be the best route now?
I plan to start from bangalore on Friday afternoon, halt for night after 5 hrs of driving and then reach Shirdi by late afternoon, the next day.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by amohit

I plan to start from bangalore on Friday afternoon, halt for night after 5 hrs of driving and then reach Shirdi by late afternoon, the next day.

Take NH4 till Satara.

As you will be driving daytime in maharashtra,
i suggest,
to avoid pune crossing,
take satara-right turn-vathar-lonand-nira-morgaon-supe-choufula-right turn-nh9-patas-left turn-daund-ahmadnagar-shirdi.

Though this stretch is two lane and rough at some stretches, it will be fast to reach ahmadnagar in comparison to pune crossing.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Take NH4 till Satara.

As you will be driving daytime in maharashtra,
i suggest,
to avoid pune crossing,
take satara-right turn-vathar-lonand-nira-morgaon-supe-choufula-right turn-nh9-patas-left turn-daund-ahmadnagar-shirdi.

Though this stretch is two lane and rough at some stretches, it will be fast to reach ahmadnagar in comparison to pune crossing.

I took this route last year June based on input from Ashish ( or was it different as I do not see Phaltan in this) , but just a couple of cautions.

1. Do not take this route in night , I reached Satara at 6:00PM and then took Phaltan , Daund , Ahmadnagar route the road is totally deserted.
Before Daund road is unmarked but good and after a long straight streach
ghat starts and first turn was totally unmarked a speeding vehicle could have gone in the ditch.

2. Some portions of the road were bad particularly before phaltan avoid if you have low GC vehicle.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Take NH4 till Satara.

As you will be driving daytime in maharashtra,
i suggest,
Though this stretch is two lane and rough at some stretches, it will be fast to reach ahmadnagar in comparison to pune crossing.

Originally Posted by amitk26

1. Do not take this route in night ,
2. Some portions of the road were bad particularly before phaltan avoid if you have low GC vehicle.

As i clearly mentioned that if you are driving during daytime, then only take the route suggested by me.

As amitk mentioned, road before phaltan is bad and i also do not recommend it in my route suggested.
The route suggested by me is good enough wrt latest road condition in this area.


Otherwise, there is supersmooth satara-pune-ahmadnagar four lane highway but time taken to cross khed-shivapur toll naka and pune city will be frustrating.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

As i clearly mentioned that if you are driving during daytime, then only take the route suggested by me.

As amitk mentioned, road before phaltan is bad and i also do not recommend it in my route suggested.
The route suggested by me is good enough wrt latest road condition in this area.


Otherwise, there is supersmooth satara-pune-ahmadnagar four lane highway but time taken to cross khed-shivapur toll naka and pune city will be frustrating.

Thanks again for clarification as stated I was not sure if this route and phaltan route is same or not , I again went to shirdi on 20th May and missed the old Katraj tunnel and entered pune It was really frustrating.

[amit.mishra]

Just back from a 3day trip to Shirdi. The trip was by train, hence Mods : If you feel this writeup should be shifted somewhere else, please do so.

Would like to share my experiences as I had done a bit of research before going to Shirdi and could not find the information

Aug 12:
Started from Bangalore by Karnataka Express at 19.30 from City Railway Station. You can get dinner on board, but better to pack it from outside. The Veg pulao is good though.

Aug 13 :
Breakfast can be ordered onboard - try the upma, its lipsmacking good, else you have a lot of options at Solapur Station, where the train stops for about 10 min. Can try the Wada pao or puri bhaji. For lunch, even though the attender says that he would serve it after Kopergaon, better to order it, as he picks up food from Ahmednagar and you can have it served immediately after. Once you reach Kopergaon, you can forget about lunch.
At Kopergaon, you have 2 options : three wheeler auto or four wheeler maxicab. The latter is not allowed inside the city, so the former is a good bet incase you want to be dropped at your hotel. Charges are Rs 200 -300 or more (depends on rush) for three wheeler and Rs 50-100 per seat for maxicab. Provision about 1 hour for travel to Shirdi as roads are bad.
We had booked aarti, darshan and accomodation online through https://online.sai.org.in. Would like to mention my experiences in detail.
1. Aarti - We had booked the Shej Aaarti for Rs 300 per head. You have to collect the passes from gate no. 1 beforehand and report at the VIP gate (Shani gate) at 9.30pm. Better to go there by 9 pm for being in the queue ahead of others. They open the gate at 10 pm and aarti starts at 10.30 pm. If you are ahead in the queue, then you get unhindered view of Sai baba. After the aarti, they allow you to have Darshan also, which is quite relaxed
2. Darshan - I was advised that darshan is not allowed after Arti, hence I had booked darshan tickets also, but then this is true for the general (free) arti line not the paid one as mentioned above. Hence if you have booked aarti paid, then no need for booking darshna again.
3. Accomodation - We got a room in Dwarawati - which is 10 min walk from temple main gate no. 1 (Auto fare is Rs 30 if you do not want to walk). Room rent is Rs 500 per day and check out is 11am, no matter when you checked in. Rooms have 3 cots and space to have more mattresses if needed. Quite clean and airy. Nice place Dwarawati, with lifts and a small canteen on ground floor where the essentials(water bottle @Rs8 , tea for Rs 1 etc) are available.

Do not expect any kind of service or politeness in Shirdi. People are quite rude and I am told this is how Maharastra is. Things are quite expensive, but this is how any other tourist place is. You might have to walk to shops that are not on the main road to get a better deal.

Aug 14 :
Roamed around the temple a bit, since the previous day we finished darshan only by 11 pm and had gone back to the hotel. There was a mad rush every where, so started back to Kopargaon at 3 pm. Took us about 45 min just to get out of Shirdi. Kopargaon station is nothing much to talk about. Dinner can be ordered on board, but better to try out many options available in Daund, where train stops for 10 min.

Aug 15:
Breakfast is bad on board the train, better to have at Guntakal. Nothing is served after that till you reach Bangalore.

Hope this helps for anyone planning a Shirdi trip by train from Bangalore.

[siddheshb]

Originally Posted by amit.mishra

Do not expect any kind of service or politeness in Shirdi. People are quite rude and I am told this is how Maharastra is. Things are quite expensive, but this is how any other tourist place is. You might have to walk to shops that are not on the main road to get a better deal.

To be fair, I think they are just stressed and overwhelmed by the crowds sometimes - but if you talk to them and are reasonable, they are quite sweet and helpful actually! During my trip there a few months back, we got excellent help and support from everyone including the parking attendents, the security and the temple staff, as well as the shopkeepers outside who even lent us some umbrellas.

[blackstallion76]

Friends,

How is the road condition of BLR-Hubli-Bijapur-Solapur-Kurkumbh-Ahmednagar route?
Planning a trip to Shirdi. Otherwise, which is the best route with good roads to shirdi?

Also, how is the road condition from Satara to Ahmednagar via Baramati?

Please advice.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

Friends,

How is the road condition of BLR-Hubli-Bijapur-Solapur-Kurkumbh-Ahmednagar route?
Planning a trip to Shirdi. Otherwise, which is the best route with good roads to shirdi?

Also, how is the road condition from Satara to Ahmednagar via Baramati?

Please advice.

The NH9 between Solapur & Kurukumbh/Pune is being widened and in pretty bad shape with diversions, traffic jams, etc.

Why don't you simply go through Pune and connect to Shirdi via either NH50 (Sangamaner) or Ahmednagar. Road from Ahmednagar to Shirdi is also in a bad shape after Rahala.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Why don't you simply go through Pune and connect to Shirdi via either NH50 (Sangamaner) or Ahmednagar. Road from Ahmednagar to Shirdi is also in a bad shape after Rahala.

It took me four hours eventhough i started at 6.30 AM on Sunday from Pune. The truck traffic and bad roads after Rahala as HVK rightly pointed out slow you down considerably.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

1]How is the road condition of BLR-Hubli-Bijapur-Solapur-Kurkumbh-Ahmednagar route?
2]Also, how is the road condition from Satara to Ahmednagar via Baramati?

1] For solapur-nagar, you don't need to touch kurkumbh, the route is solapur-nh9-tembhurni-right turn-karamala-ahmadnagar.

2] recent monsoon played its role to worsen some of the parts of satara-12mati-nagar route.

As HVK suggested, better go via pune.

Are you visiting shirdi only or other places also?