Team-BHP - 25th Oct Bangalore-Pune (NDA) and back *Need some help from Pune folks*

This forum has been great to me (discovered it when I did my first long road trip from Bangalore to Goa and back last month in my Santro XO). Now I need to go to Pune (Actually NDA, Khadakvasla) from Bangalore for Diwali vacations. All trains have long wait lists and so I feel I will end up driving, if my wait lists don't go through. I have read every single thread on similar journeys and I feel confident that I can do it. I plan to start from Bangalore at 3 am on coming Saturday (25th Oct) and try to reach Pune same day. While coming back (on 1st Nov), I will break the journey at Hubli and reach Bangalore on 2nd Nov. I will have my wife and two kids with me (but I don't intend to let my wife drive much:), for pure safety reasons !!)

Now the purpose of this thread-

1) Anyone else travelling from Bangalore on same route at same timings (for company sake)

2) How and where to leave NH4 near Pune to reach NDA campus?

When you approach Pune city (near Khed-Shivapur), make sure you take Mumbai bypass road instead of entering the city. Bypass goes through new tunnel, while other road goes towards Katraj via Katraj Ghat. Take the Bypass.
After passing the tunnel, continue on bypass for approx 10 km till Chandani Chawk. In between, you'll come across multiple service roads leading to Katraj, Sinhghad road, Warje.
After you cross Warje flyover, continue for around 3-4 kms till you hit Chandani Chawk. Take left and climb the small turning slope. You once again take a left turn as you reach up (leading you to Hotel Garden Court).
From there, it's straight road to NDA

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDGuy (Post 1023760)

Hi, I will be travelling on that day. I intend to start early at 4:00 AM from Koramangala and based on distance calculations should be in Pune by 4:30-5:00. I am driving all alone in my corolla. If timings suit, may be we can catch up on the way.

To reach NDA you dont need to get into the city at all. Take the bypass road to Pune towards Mumbai, and probably you can take another left much before Chandni chowk which will take you to NDA/Kadakwasala. My house is in Malwadi, which is on that road. The ladmark is a big flyover and should look out for signboards saying NDA/Karve Road. This road is an extension of Karve road, crossing the Bombay-Bangalore highway. Keep below the flyover, take the left turn that says NDA/Kadakvasala.

You can take the Chandni chowk road also, except it might be a extra kiometers.

Nainar

^^Nairnar...thanks for yr reply. It would be good to sync up. I have sent u my number on PM. Have you done this trip before as 12-12.5 hrs estimate looks very aggressive?

Yeah, the chandni chawk route does look a bit longer when I checked it in Google Earth. Although it appears to be main road and so hard to miss. Is the flyover u mentioned, same as Warje flyover?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDGuy (Post 1026561)

I have not done this particular trip, but looking at the people's response and road conditions, I am confident. The bad stretches are only small, and should be able to average 70km. But I will know after this trip :))

Yes, the flyover is Warje Flyover. You should not go on top of the flyover, but go below and take left to get into that Kadakvasal road.

Nainar

Check the two maps.
I hope it'll help.

There are two routes to NDA. One is taking a turn before Warje. The place is called Dahiri.
You keep travelling towards the Sinhagad fort. And just before the Khadakvasla lake starts, there is a right turn, which takes you over the dam, towards NDA.

The longer route (for you) would be to go to Chandni Chowk, and take a "deserted" left.

Quick update on the trip.

Did make the trip as scheduled, but also made an unscheduled trip from Pune to Goa and back. Altogether drove 3000 kilometers..

Left Koramangala, Bangalore by 4:30 AM and drove through Dobbspet as suggested by people here. It took almost 1hr 50 minutes to reach NH4. But I made the mistake of of starting with just coffee and that made me motion sick when I hit NH4. Slept for around 2.5 hours in NH4 at the tollgate after Dobbspet. Woke up at 8:30, had a couple of bananas and coffee, popped in a tablet of Avomin. Started driving at 9:00 from there. Then onwards the journey was peaceful. And I was driving all alone. Had lunch at Vital Kamats near Hiriyur, reached Belgaum at 3:40, Nipani at 4:20, arrived in Warje, Pune at 8:00. The odometer read around 890 kilometers in total.

It was fun drive for sure, especially the driving alone part. I was scared initially when people said it is not advisible to drive alone in highway, but hey, one will not know till they try it themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed it being all by myself, my car and the road in the front.

Nainar

Hey Anainar, sorry to hear about your motion sickness but at least rest of your journey went well.

I started sharp at 3.15 AM from Whitefield and drove right through the city - (no Dobbspet route is needed at that hour). Thanks to the people here (the 3.15 AM thing was the key), I was in Pune at 4.15 PM - exactly 13 hours with a Breakfast break in Ranebennur and a Lunch break at new McDonalds in Kolhapur! Near perfect journey, all in all.

Went to Lonavala and Khandla while in Pune and while coming back came via Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar with a night halt in Belgaum.

Overall 2300 odd kms with not a scratch on my puny Santro Xing. Just goes to prove that if one is careful and LUCKY, highway driving in GQ roads is not so bad after all. The added flexibility of having my own car in Pune was just great too.

Took copious notes during journey and countless pictures (3 GB worth!!) during this whole trip. Just about finished making the Excel log sheet. Might make a travelogue for it (although it must be a rather repeated journey and so there may not be a lot of people interested)

Hi, I am planning to drive from Bangalore to Pune by this month end. I am relatively new driver who drives Swift Vxi. This time I will be travelling alone. I am frequent traveller on NH 4 but by bus, but never driven on this route. So far I've done around 300Kms at a stretch on highways but thats about it.
Any tips for a driver of my experience who is going solo for this long journey?