[ameyawaghmare]

I am driving to Dapoli tomorrow early morning from Suburban Mumbai. What would be a good route for me? COnsidering the urgency, early responses awaited and I would be checking the thread on the way.

I have already decided the route till NH 17 Mangaon or Tol phata, not much of an option there. My destination would be Surali Sagar Beach Resort, Karde Beach.

Is it advisable to take the Mandangad route towards Karde Beach or shall I go all the way till Khed and then come back north-west towards Karde/Dapoli town?

I have done both these routes in October 2014 and once in August 2015. If Mandangad road situation has improved, I am willing to take the same. It was quite problematic last time.

Khed to Dapoli was better in terms of road condition and felt safer due to towns enroute. Khed route is turning out to be 30 kms longer for me.

Suggestions awaited.

[ameyawaghmare]

Update on the visit:
1) Mumbai/Pune - Dapoli: I took the route via Khed. NH17 is in pristine condition from Mangaon till Khed. The section from Mahad to Khed was a pure delight to drive with excellent scenery around. Please note that I could not come across a single dhaba/tea stall in this entire stretch of about 25 kms. Route via Khed is longer but roads are far better and should also help to save time. Khed to Dapoli is an easy drive with good enough roads.

Important to note that I took a wrong route from Khopoli to NH17. Instead of taking the Imagica route and then onwards to Pali, I ended up going towards Pen. THe route might have been longer but I was surprised to see that this road is fast enough. It is well marked 4-laned road in stretches and I do not think it would take long to see a fully 4-laned Panvel-Mangaon stretch.
2) Return via Mandangad: Though not one of the best roads, it is doable very easily. Road was patchy at times and there was a lot of local traffic and 2-wheelers that made driving a little slow. The road are very narrow at stretches and it is not possible to overtake buses or trucks on ghats. Took the reutrn via Pali to Khopoli route and it was definitely a very faster drive.

[harryputtar]

Hi Forum,

I am traveling from Pune to Dapoli next week, could people please recommend the best route to Dapoli and back, after considering the following, in order of priority:

1) I will be driving a Jetta, which is a low slung sedan, with not much of a ground clearance to speak about. So quality of road is a huge concern, I always do Goa via Chorla

2) I am driving with a family of 2 young kids, so we will need ample breaks.

3) My elder daughter is prone to motion sickness, she puked multiple times on our way to Ganpatipule the last time. So any routes with too many ghats is to be avoided.

Please suggest a route suitable for us.

Thanks in advance.

[siddheshb]

Given the "no ghat" constraint, I would avoid Mahabaleshwar-Poladpur completely. I would also avoid Varandha as an option.

To get from Pune to NH17, you can try Mulshi-Mangaon - and take it real nice and slow. While there are not too many turns on this road, there are a lot of vertical undulations in the Mulshi sector. The road is decent, and the Jetta shouldnt have problems.

Another option, but longer, is to go down to Khopoli on the expressway, and then take the left fork at the toll booth to go down to Nagothane. I personally like this route, although it adds a few kms to the overall plan.

Once on NH17 though, DO NOT take any shortcuts through Mandangad. Go all the way down to Khed, before leaving NH17 for Dapoli.

NH17 has plenty of opportunity for stops, so leave early, and try to reach NH17 without too much stoppage time. Then you can roll down your windows and enjoy the drive.

Have fun!

[harryputtar]

Originally Posted by siddheshb

Another option, but longer, is to go down to Khopoli on the expressway, and then take the left fork at the toll booth to go down to Nagothane.

Thanks for the detailed inputs SiddheshB. This is exactly the kind of input I was hoping to get from the group. I will most certainly take the Khopoli route you suggested above. Any idea on timings? We usually end up leaving by 5-530 am, when can we hope to hit Dapoli? I am assuming we will need at least 2 hours of break time .

[comfortablynumb]

Has anyone used Tamhini ghat to travel to Konkan recently? I will be visiting Dapoli next week and was wondering how the road condition is on the Mulshi - Tamhini route.

[Amey Kulkarni]

Weekend BHPians & buddies Getaway - Pune > Tamhini > Mangaon > Dapoli > Ladghar

Riders- Vikhyat (Biker buddy), Siddy, Prateek (Biker buddy), Monaro CV 8, Amey Kulkarni



A random whatsapp chat all began with the saying - " Its started to get hot nowaday. Lets plan a last overnighter before the sun starts roasting us".

Here it was! An SOS message to all biker buddies sent out on Friday to start on the ride on Saturday morning.

Planning started - The biggest challenge! Which route? Ultimately it boiled down to Dapoli Via Tamhini > Mangaon > Lonere > Inner country roads (Non - SH 70) > Dapoli.


Day 1- Everyone met at Chandni Chowk, Pune at 6:30 am and proceeded towards Tamhini ghat which is great except for some small patches in between but overall a thumbs up to consider it. After Lonere the roads were in terrible condition. Accompanied a group of Royal Enfield enthusiasts very happily surfing over the potholes.


We somehow made it to Dapoli and took a deep breath. Everyone was stretching for their lives. It was burning hot at noon. Ladghar is about 10 Kms from Dapoli which did not take much time to reach.

We stayed at a Hotel called Blue Breeze ( http://www.bluebreezeresort.com/) which is just adjacent to the beach.

AC Room Per Night - INR 2,000 + Taxes

Lovely food , great Seafood and hardly a few Meters to walk down to the beach. I would strongly recommend it.


Day 2-A cup of coffee and we were set to head back to Pune keeping in mind strongly not to take the route that we came the day earlier. This time we took the route through Khed > NH 66 Kashedi Ghat > Mangaon > Tamhini > Pune

Great roads and strongly recommend to take this one and no other.

Had breakfast just before the Kashedi Ghat. The ghat was amazing to ride and cherry on the cake. Eyes wide open, position shifted and the knee was out. Those butter smooth long curves were epic and no potholes. The tarmac was freshly laid.

The momentum continued till Tamhini and finally could cool ourselves down post Mulshi dam for a hydration.

We were home an hour and half almost earlier w.r.t earlier day's travel.

A final wave to all at around 1 pm and the weekend was made!

Learning- Deep dive into the route to take before start of journey to avoid regrets later.

Cheers,
Amey

[Drive&Smile]

Originally Posted by Amey Kulkarni

Learning - Deep dive into the route to take before start of journey to avoid regrets later.

Can you please share the exact route which you took for going and return journey (Good Map screen shot should be great help) . I'm planning to travel in first week of May and wan to check all the options available for routes.

[Amey Kulkarni]

Here you go!



cheers,
Amey

[AbiS]

Hello Guys,

I am planning to go to Dapoli this Saturday from Pune. Please suggest the best route? Is Tamhini in good condition.

Appreciate your help and Thanks in advance.

[mp417]

Originally Posted by Amey Kulkarni

Here you go!

Attachment 1628632

cheers,
Amey

Glad that I thought of checking TBHP. I'm planning a bike trip to Dapoli this weekend. This will be my first over night bike trip with 100+ kms one way.
@Amey, your post and photos are the right inspiration I needed

Planning to take following route as suggested. Though it is 30 odd kms extra, if the road is good then better than internal Mandangad road.

Route (total 232 Kms)
Chandani Chowk
Mulashi
Mangaon, take left on NH66
Mahad
Poladpur
Continue on NH 66 till Khed, Take right to Dapoli


Any inputs on road condition on Tamhini ghat road section and NH66 is welcome.

[Amey Kulkarni]

Originally Posted by mp417

Glad that I thought of checking TBHP. I'm planning a bike trip to Dapoli this weekend. This will be my first over night bike trip with 100+ kms one way.
@Amey, your post and photos are the right inspiration I needed

Planning to take following route as suggested. Though it is 30 odd kms extra, if the road is good then better than internal Mandangad road.

Any inputs on road condition on Tamhini ghat road section and NH66 is welcome.

Thanks mp417 for your kind words. Do visit Ladghar beach which is just about 7kms from Dapoli. Very scenic and quiet.

I recently heard road to Tamhini is under repair; but still advisable as its not majorly broken.

Cheers,
Amey

[mp417]

Completed bike trip from Pune to Dapoli and back over this weekend. Took the same route as mentioned above.

I will share road condition updates in following sections:
1. Chandani chowk to Paud
- Average road. Small bad patches in between due to dense traffic

2. Paud to Mulashi/Tamhini
- After you cross Paud, roughly 4 to 5 kms patch is really bad. You cannot drive more than 20 kmph
- After this bad patch road improves again and there are few intermittent average patches. Be careful on few sections as they have put loose gravel as part of repairs. Very dangerous for bikes.
- Road in Tamhini is good. Especially the ghat section before MIDC is excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed scrapping foot pegs

3. Mulashi to Mangaon
- Average with some not so good patches. But drivable.

4. Mangaon to Khed
- Overall NH66 is in better shape. Observed 4 lane work at some places but not intrusive
- Kashedi ghat must be the highlight of entire trip. Simply awesome. Entire 15-20 kms are bliss to drive.

5. Khed to Dapoli
- Average road with some really good sections

Hope this helps.

I'm very happy to complete this bike trip. My first 500+ kms ride.

[Adi_k]

Has anyone recently traveled to Dapoli? I wanted to know the road conditions from Pune to Dapoli.

Google suggested taking the Tamhni route and a right turn towards Dapoli from Palghar. There are some reviews which say one should drive towards Khed and then turn towards Dapoli as the roads are better.

[Ketan T]

Originally Posted by Adi_k

Has anyone recently traveled to Dapoli? I wanted to know the road conditions from Pune to Dapoli.

Google suggested taking the Tamhni route and a right turn towards Dapoli from Palghar. There are some reviews which say one should drive towards Khed and then turn towards Dapoli as the roads are better.

I usually take the Khed route, the road is pretty good. I am not aware about the road conditions of the other route you mentioned.