Team-BHP - Mumbai - Aurangabad : Route Queries

I and my friend are planing to travel to Aurangabad later this month with family, during Christmas holidays. I am near Vapi in Gujarat and he is in Mumbai. Google shows a route from Vapi-Nashik-Manmad-Aurangabad, which is 362kms. The Mumbai-Chakan-Ahmednagar-Aurangabad route is 369kms. Which is better? And how would be traffic at that time. Either he would be coming to Vapi or we would go to Mumbai, as per the preferred route.
Please advice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesrani (Post 3595311)

Mumbai-Nasik-Niphad-vaijapur-Aurangabad is the route, Buses follow this route from Nasik

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fabiaous (Post 3595328)

Mumbai-Nasik-Niphad-vaijapur-Aurangabad is the route, Buses follow this route from Nasik

How is the road condition?

If we leave from Vapi, does anyone have an idea how the road is? According to Google, this is Vapi-Nana Pondha-Kaprada-Peth-Nashik.

If we leave from Mumbai, what is the best way to rech Nashik?

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepak2579 (Post 3619110)

Hi All,

I am planning a trip to Aurangabad on the Republic Day weekend. Have booked the MTDC resort at Ajanta. Will be starting from Thane. Need help on the road conditions on the road from Nasik to Aurangabad.

Google shows 3 routes, please let me know which will be best route from the road conditions perspective.

Attachment 1325364

You can simply forget about the Sinnar Vaijapur option. The road conditions have remained horrendous on a regular basis, specially around Vaijapur till Aurangabad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paragsachania (Post 3619137)

You can simply forget about the Sinnar Vaijapur option. The road conditions have remained horrendous on a regular basis, specially around Vaijapur till Aurangabad.

Hi Parag,
Thanks for the reply.
One more query, does it make sense to go through Nasik or should I take the route via Pune (Chakan) which is a 4 laned highway throughout (this info is from the past discussion on this thread).
This is the 1st time I am going beyond Nasik or Pune towards the eastern side of Maharashtra, hence asking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepak2579 (Post 3619339)

If you take the Chakan option you will have to travel via Auragabad.

The Chakan route is preferred for the only reason that it allows one to bypass the horrendous Pune traffic.

Regarding the Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur route, I have my reservations as I have taken this route only once last year when I was driving from Aurangabad to Mumbai on a Saturday evening. For a while I thought if I had taken the usual Nagar Road - Ammunition Factory - Khadki - Aundh-Wakad option to reach expressway, I may have been faster!

The route is mostly 2 laned without a median and witnesses lots and lots of freight traffic that you will end up tailing them than zipping past due to lot of traffic in both directions. It would be smarter if you can time your journey in a way that the truck traffic is least (Post 9am).

It also passes through some petty villages often slowing down the entire traffic flow. But may be I was plain unlucky then!

Apart from this, the route is fantastic all the way to Aurangabad.

My $0.02 on this...

I have driven through Pune-Aurangabad and the Shikrapur - Chakan - Talegaon in the past 2/3 months.

While Pune - Aurangabad is a fantastic 4-laned road, the traffic from Pune till Ranjangaon industrial area makes it as good as a city road, especially when factory shift begins/ends. The menace of 2-wheeler is irritating at times.

Chakan - Talegaon route is a strict no no, I did encounter a truck moving at 10 kmph with the cleaners racing with the truck right on the road on the wrong side, a measurement for electrical rope height taking place right in the middle of the road with complete disregard to the oncoming traffic and too many small villages and sharp curves with no signboards. The only advantage is that you get to bypass Pune and reduce the distance, so for those coming from/to Mumbai, a 50-km patch of slow 2-laning might make sense.

Additionally, there is this interesting news article on Mumbai - Aurangabad - Nagpur Expressway that the government is planning. I am doubtful about this as the talks have about this have been now going from almost 10+ years! It talks of making Mumbai - Aurangabad journey in 4 hours, an approximate distance of 350 kms. That would mean an average of 80 kmph worth of good road.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/47966245.cms

Quote:

Originally Posted by ameyawaghmare (Post 3752720)

Chakan - Talegaon route is a strict no no, I did encounter a truck moving at 10 kmph with the cleaners racing with the truck right on the road on the wrong side, a measurement for electrical rope height taking place right in the middle of the road with complete disregard to the oncoming traffic and too many small villages and sharp curves with no signboards. The only advantage is that you get to bypass Pune and reduce the distance, so for those coming from/to Mumbai, a 50-km patch of slow 2-laning might make sense.

So overall looks like not a good option (even during day time?). Going through the city should be anytime better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 3752741)

So overall looks like not a good option (even during day time?). Going through the city should be anytime better.

And the same is what I mentioned in my previous post amp. Chakan is not an option any way, any day simply because its too much time comsuming and has a lot of miscellaneous traffic and crowded areas(specially for the amount of freight traffic) to pass through.

City route remains the safest bet!

And I say this cos I regularly do Bangalore Pune Aurangabad and did Aurangabad Pune Mumbai couple of times and recent one via Chakan and vowed never to do it by that route again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 3752741)

So overall looks like not a good option (even during day time?). Going through the city should be anytime better.

An absolute no-no during day time! Instead, while coming from Mumbai, the old highway in Pune city is signal free till Dapodi. Going via Khadki Bazaar, Nagar Road might sound a detour but would be worth the extra miles (especially, during non-peak times). Moreover, facilities/restaurants or petrol pumps, service centers are aplenty if you go through the city.

Sorry to bump up this thread, but I'm planning on riding (with a pillion) to Aurangabad? How good are the roads from Bombay and which is the best route to take? Less bumpy, low traffic, nice surface, etc?

How safe is the route? is it worth taking the XUV or riding? And early mornings, is there a lot of truck traffic? thanks a ton

Manish,
Did part of this route two weeks ago. My answers are inline

Quote:

Originally Posted by manish84 (Post 3936294)

Me and my friends are planning a road trip (GT & Rapid) on the upcoming Holi weekend as follows:

1. Mumbai - Aurangabad (Ellora Caves)
2. Aurangabad - Ajanta Caves - Nashik
3. Rest (Sula)
4. Nashik - Trimbakeshwar - Mumbai

Could someone please provide inputs on the following:

1. Google maps show multiple routes for Mumbai - Aurangabad (via Nashik, via Sinnar and via Shikrapur-Lonavala). Which of these have the best road conditions? Which is recommended if we want sufficient time to do Ajanta caves on the same day? Or should we do both Ajanta and Ellora on Day 2?

Ajanta and Ellora in a single day is a hard slog and won't be fun, especially with the current heat. Try and do Mumbai-Nashik-Ellora-Aurangabad

We took the Mumbai-Nashik-Niphad-Yeola-Vaijapur-Aurangabad route. It's 4 lane upto Yeola and there after there's a terrible slog on bad two lane roads to Vaijapur. Post Vaijapur, the road is a great 2 lane stretch. Google Maps will send you down Sinnar (DON'T TAKE IT, the road is terrible).

2. For Ajanta Caves to Nashik, should one come back to Aurangabad or take the route via Chalisgaon-Malegaon as suggested by Google?

3. From Trimbakeshwar to Mumbai, should we take NH3 or MH848?

NH3 is great. Stick to it.

4. Is Ajanta caves worth going the extra distance? Can it be skipped as we are going to Ellora anyways?

We plan to do a repeat trip to Aurangabad, when we'll check out Ajanta.

Seems like too many queries. Thanks in advance :)

Hope this helps.