Thanks a lot Phoenixash for the revert. This is very helpful indeed. I guess 50 km of a bad patch is manageable. Thanks again.

Hi,

Not sure why, but g maps isnt showing the the recommended route. Its showing a route via Ahmednagar. I would be driving alone and intend to leave tomorrow morning. I wouldn't mind doing extra KM if its faster and gives me access to better roads. Would you still recommend Nashik route? Thanks in Advance for your help.

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I believe it's a factor of what time you check Google Maps (later in the evening believe the Pune route is faster), however if you okay with driving longer I would recommend taking the Pune - Ahmednagar route. As per the recommendations on the forum, skip the Ahmednagar bypass and drive through the city.

Have a good trip!

Thank you Phoenixash.

Took the Pune - Ahmednagar - Aurangabad route. Left Lodha Palava at 0500 and reached Aurangabad at 1030. Good roads all through out, best part is pvt cars do need to pay tolls after one crosses Pune.

But I do believe this route can take a loooong time if I had done this later in the day. Just skipped the traffic at Pune!

I took the return journey to Mumbai via Nashik.
The 1st 45KM was single lane and roads were reasonably fine - Few pot holes here and there
The next 20KM the roads turned out to be bad, but the worst was yet to come.Beyond the 65KM roads ceased to exist... road expansion is going on and it was mud topped road for next 10KM. Beyond that the roads were very good till Nashik and beyond - until Mumbai.
I left at 4AM in the morning and reach my house at Lodha casa rio by 1000 - I would have made it earlier if not for the traffic at Kalyan. I reached Kalyan by 0850.
Out of the routes which I have taken, The route via pune is the best provided one can cross pune before 7AM to beat the rush hour traffic - Thanks to Phoenixash advise
However in case if cant the next best option seems to be Nashik route. There are shorted routes available, but I dont think it matters that much in such a long ride.

Route update: 13/07/2019

I had to travel from Vashi, Navi Mumbai to Aurangabad on 13 July, 2019. The plan was to leave 5 AM in the morning and cross Pune before the morning traffic sets in. I was down with the viral fever and could not muster the courage to start the journey in the morning. Thought of postponing it to the next day. However, till noon I felt much better and decided to start the journey and hit my hometown, Aurangabad, in the evening.

It was already 12:30 by the time I fired my car. It was raining cats and dogs, driving cautiously I reached end of Mumbai-Pune expressway (Talegao toll plaza) at 2:30. Google map was showing the route through Chakan which meets Pune-Ahmednagar highway at Shikrapur. In my previous two journeys I drove through Pune via Pimpri-Chinchwad and Yerwada on friends advice. This time decided to listen to Google maps.

The route is good. Traffic was lean at 3:00 PM. There is a 30 km two lane stretch without divider, but I could maintain a reasonable speed. I Joined Pune-Nagar Highway at shikrapur, drove through Ahmednagar town skipping the bypass as suggested by other members. Took a 15 minute break near Parvara-Godavari sangam (50 km before Aurangabad city) to buy fresh fish and reached Aurangabad at 7:30PM. I think skipping Yerwada saved me around 45 minutes.

Guys an update for Mumbai to Aurangabad from my recent drive from Mumbai to Wardha and back from 21st to 22nd June 2020. Onward, I drove through Pune city and then onto Aurangabad.

1. Pune--Nagar--Aurangabad is an excellent smooth 4 lane highway. No complaints.

Nagar bypass is absolutely recommended now as the entire 25 kms bypass is supersmooth 2 lane road.

2. On the return, I took the Pune bypass route i.e Shikrapur--Chakan--Talegaon to hit Expressway at Urse Talegaon toll. Happy to report that this entire 55kms bypass for Pune is in excellent condition. It is a supersmooth 2 lane end to end.

Aurangabad - Mumbai (Thane) - Aurangabad:

Route update

I drove to Thane yesterday morning and back to Aurangabad a little while before. Hence the updates are fresh from the oven.

Onward:
Aurangabad - Ahmednagar - Alephata - Malshej Ghat - Murbad - Shahapur - Thane
Time take with one break : 7.5 Hours

Route conditions:

• Aurangabad - Nagar: Nothing to mention. Good roads, bumpy since a decade now
• Nagar Town: Manageable roads
• Nagar - Alephata - Malshej Ghat - Murbad: Extremely wonderful roads barring very small section in and around Malshej ghats that is undergoing concrete work
• Murbad - Shahapur: Horrible due to concretization of this entire stretch- AVOID!! (Instead reach NH3 via Khadavli)
• Shahapur - Thane: Usual NH3, Good roads, regular congestion around bridges and thickly populated sections

Return:
Thane - Igatpuri - Nashik - Yeola - Vaijapur - Gangapur - Waluj - Aurangabad
Time take with one refueling break: 5.5 Hours

Route conditions:

• Thane - Igatpuri - Nashik: Excellent Highway corridor (Cops active at many locations including speedguns before Nashik Bypass)
• Nashik - Yeloa: This is fully 4 laned but the road surface is patchy and hence the ride is bumpy
• Yeola - Vaijapur Town outskirts: Freshly laid tarmac, wonderful surface
• Vaijapur Town: Extremely bad roads and absolutely bone jarring surface. You need to manage 10-12 minutes before the roads get better again
• Vaijapur - Gangapur - Intersection with Pune Aurangabad Highway : Overall excellent except 3 diversions due to culvert work and the roads within Gangapur itself

Malshej option is scenic while Nashik option is faster now that the Yeola Aurangabad stretch has gotten better. Once the Yeola to Gangapur section till Aurangabad road intersection is 100% complete (As of now the cumulative bad stretch is less than 2 km overall in bits and pieces), this will be a wonderful option to reach Aurangabad from Mumbai, especially Thane/Kalyan/Dombivli folks.

Does this route touch Nashik city or bypasses it as shown in GMaps as below:



Plan to drive down (alone this time) to Aurangabad (where I lived from '85 to 2000) on Saturday, 16-Oct-2021 at around 08:00 hrs. I may BlaBlaCar it for some company.

Growing up in Aurangabad. Bombay by bus always meant via Pune (in the 80s). That changed to via Nasik in the 90s. Then the Mumbai - Pune expressway came in and it again meant via Pune and has remained like that since the last time I took the bus (sometime in 2016/7).

I always thought via Pune was the default option, till I decided to look up GMaps and discovered the Mumbai - Nagpur expressway!

I would be starting from Mulund (W) and would need to reach CIDCO / Garkheda in Aurangabad. Plan to start after breakfast. Any idea, what would be the best route?

I need to return (on Monday, 18-Oct-2021 perhaps) via Pune after a stopover. So no option on the return.

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Hi Glifford,

This route does not come close to Nashik city at all.
You take a right turn at Ghoti village (which is like a twin to Igatpuri, but on the highway).

However, the road is largely unmarked & undivided 2 lane highway, with a fair amount of road traffic. I am personally not a fan of this road.

Since you are going to Aurangabad, much better to try the Malshej route to Alephata, then Ahmednagar and finally your destination. The roads are much better, and the whole Malshej route is quite pretty right now.

On my recent drive to Nasik, the whole stretch from Kalyan to Igatpuri has many potholes and bad roads. This happened after the rains and it hasn't been fixed. I personally am shocked at how they charge such high toll on the so called "Mumbai Nashik expressway" but haven't fixed the road quality post monsoons.

Your return is sorted so good luck!

PS: I enjoyed my 2019 visit to Aurangabad. The city has grown multi-fold, had some good restaurants and ofcourse the heritage in & around the city. It was my second visit after 2002/03 so the change WOWed me. Enjoy the trip!

Cheers!

Thanks for this tip. Based on this info did not take this route. Also decided not to opt for the Malshej route because I saw some recent videos showing great views but under construction stretches causing jams and pile ups.

So I took the Mumbai Pune Expressway till the Talegaon - Chakan exit, followed till the Shikrapur Phata and then on to Ahmednagar and Aurangabad. Was pretty good except for Traffic and road condition in Chakan Industrial Area.

Traffic was also high before Ahmednagar and infact got stuck in a jam and pile up outside Shirur. Was supposedly an accident, but was cleared before I reached there. Wasted a good 45 minutes odd there, I suppose. Also with the flyover (Overpass) work in full swing within Ahmednagar, it was painfully slow and horrible road surface. Rest was fine.

Also spotted a speed cam on a high speed stretch after Nevasa Phata.\

Took about 8 hours 10 mins in all including 2 very short breaks (5 min each). Mainly because of the traffic jams stated above.


Having grown up and studied in Aurangbad form '85 to 2000! Have seen it change quite a bit. Of course made repeat visits often to visit my parents till they decided to relocate out in the start of 2020. Some how I am not a fan of the changing character of the city (maybe it's just me growing old).

Yes it has modernised, but a lot of the Industrial Area is in Waluj has lost its sheen and with many sick units is just a shade of its former glory!

Returned via a stopover at Pune on Monday, 18-Oct-2021 - Tuesday.

Aurangabad - Ahmednagar roads are good but have many sharp small potholes (that are being filled). This makes driving at a good pace difficult and very dodgy. Also the right lane shows signs of wear / compression / depression because of heavy vehicle traffic.

After Supa / Ranjangaon the roads got really busy (lots of factory commuters and bus traffic) and the last 35 km took over two hours. We should have timed it better.

Also managed to see disguised Jeeps out of testing around Ranjangaon.


This time decided to take the Ahmednagar bypass despite the (somewhat old) reports that it was in horrible condition. I discovered that the old news. The road condition is perfect. As good as it can be! Single lane in places.

That said, it is pretty long and Google Maps did not show any improvement in the ETA time in Pune (as opposed to going within the city). It is also undivided for most part and heavy truck traffic (with trucks often going in batches as a caravan) makes movement slow unless you overtake (which is pretty hard to do if the line is long and lots of trucks are coming from the opposite side too).

All in all, I feel it is still better to take the bypass for the smooth road surface and also the very scenic beauty that surrounds the road (without much civilisation). Getting stuck behind a line of trucks is a small pain compared to the torture of going through the horrible roads in the city with the flyover construction going on!

Guess you missed reading this update on this very own page that Nagar bypass is now recommended as it was fixed last year itself .
That said, I have yet another trip lined up for Aurangabad in coming weeks and I will again stick to Hospet Sholapur Osmanabad option for my onward and since I will have some work in Pune, will take the Pune option on return.

If the destination is Aurangabad, with no specific reason to visit Pune, the Hospet option is the most fastest and peaceful route to each Aurangabad from Bangalore today as it is a matter of just 12-13 hours of driving against at least 17-19 hours via Pune!

However, for Mumbai to Aurangabad, depending on the time you start, it can be either Nashik-Yeola or Talegaon-Shikrapur-Nagar option.

I am planning to travel to Aurangabad from Pune in coming weeks. I plan to go through the Nagar city and proceed to Aurangabad via DSP chowk. Can you let me know where is the flyover work going on? Do you recommend any other alternative route to avoid Nagar traffic?

Flyover work is going on between Sakkar Chowk (Just before Nagar-PuneST Stand) and Chandni Chowk (near RTO office. I recommed going through Ahmednagar city only if it's early morning (before 8 am) or late night. Prefer Ahmednagar bypass for any other time of the day.