[ajayclicks]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Getting back onto the highway is a matter of less than 500 meters.

Cannot use this stretch to get to the pump? Cross the pump on the elevated road, enter the service lane 500 meters later and drive back towards the pump?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ajayclicks

Cannot use this stretch to get to the pump? Cross the pump on the elevated road, enter the service lane 500 meters later and drive back towards the pump?

There is an exit from the bypass 2km before this pump. Get down there, drive on service road, fill-up, continue ahead on service road for 300 meters and get back to the highway.

[dipdawiz]

Just completed this route yesterday. Included Kolhapur just to visit Kopeshwar Temple.

I took this route and stay

Bangalore - Solapur - Ajanta (via Aurangabad) - Aurangabad - Kolhapur (via Solapur) - Shimoga - Bangalore





It's easily possible to do Bangalore - Aurangabad in a day (14~15 hrs with all required breaks). Direct to Ajanta would be little stretch, as road from Aurangabad to Ajanta is not very good, lots of bad patches; the whole road is under construction would be a great drive once completed.

While coming from Aurangabad to Kolhapur, came via Solapur, though the route was 120km more to drive, it's faster than the route Google map shows. Another reason not taking route Aurangabad - Ahmednagar - Satara - Kolhapur as shown by Google, I was in doubt about road condition till Satara. Also wanted to drive down that NH 52.

Solapur to Kolhapur NH 204A is 166km of concrete road. Though concrete, it's very smooth and no road noise issue. It's just completed last year (read here in some thread), two toll booths on the route are yet to be operational; so no toll so far.

NH 50 and NH 52 are two really good highway; maintained so far, very less traffic. So you can maintain speed for longer, increasing your average driving speed on the journey. Very scenic too. Lots of sunflower field at this time and
the windmills.

No issue with fuel options, as whole route I took has enough large and proper fuel stations accept cards or UPI.

Ajanta T junction MTDC cottages are just decent. Food is strictly average but stay is peaceful. We enjoyed the stay; place is really beautiful when it rains there. We stayed for 2 nights. You have to use same car parking lot as Ajanta tourists.

For Ellora, stayed in Aurangabad only, as options in Ellora are limited and felt not worth the money for some of the decent resorts/hotels. Stayed in Aurangabad Gymkhana Club hotel, large parking space; but as a Hotel not up to the mark as it is advertised (once it was an excellent hotel). Very old wooden interior but rooms are huge in comparison to other hotels and clean linen provided with other room amenities. Their restaurant is pure vegetarian. But you have enough restaurants near by, also has a shopping mall within 6km from the hotel. However with little more amount, you can get better hotels in Aurangabad.

In Solapur, stayed in Hotel Chitra Executive. They have parking, but limited - some 8 to 10 cars can be accommodated. Room was decent sized and comfortable beds. Pure veg restaurant, have roof top seating also. Breakfast spread is just average.

In Kolhapur, we stayed in Hotel 3 Leaves, Excellent hotel, all required room amenities were there and good comfy beds. They have very good multicuisine restaurant and also has a Pub. Food is very tasty, excellent breakfast spread. They have basement parking, entry to the parking is not from the main road but from a small lane behind the building, so little tricky to figure out the entrance.

Ending with one picture on NH 52

[sanket456]

Just came back from Aurangabad to Bangalore last weekend. Travelled with my parents, wife and 3 year old so had to take ample breaks in between. Here are the road updates.

1. Started around 6 AM from Aurangabad and there was lot of early morning smog till Yedashi (after beed). Roads are butter smooth with few potholes in between.

2. Stopped for breakfast around 7.30 AM after ghat near beed at Kanhaiya restaurant (https://goo.gl/maps/ijgYUhGkgF7bE6pV7). Washrooms are not clean and food was just average. Food mall near Osmanabad could be a good option instead of this restaurant.

3. Manjarsumba to Solapur section of NH52 can be covered at a brisk pace without any hassle until 2 wheeler traffics starts. Reached solapur around 10 AM

4. Solapur to Bijapur road conditions are also good and I reached Bijapur by 11:30 AM.

5. Bijapur to Hospet road conditions are not good and there are lot of potholes which drastically reduces the speed. This is probably because of heavy rains in the last couple of months and hopefully NHAI will fix the potholes soon. New bees, please do watch out for speed breakers in this section. You will find lot of big speed breakers which cannot be missed, some of them are unmarked so be careful in this section.

6. We had lunch at Hotel Mayura KTDC, Hospet at 2.30 PM. This hotel is near to highway and accessible with clean washroom and good food. Here is the location - https://goo.gl/maps/52jfKpQN7KWwYkss7

7. Hospet to Chitradurga is butter smooth and scenic route and can be covered at brisk pace. Stopped for coffe/tea at Upadhyay Ruchi. Watch out for buffaloes/cows grazing in the greener pastures on either side of the road.

8. Chitradurga to Bangalore updates are already being covered in multiple threads. Potholes patching work has completed at multiple places near tumkur and also near nelamangla.

9. Reached Whitefield, Bangalore around 9.30 PM with total journey time of 15 hours and 30 minutes that includes 4 breaks in between. I drove sedately and took many breaks since I was travelling with my parents.

You can expect to cover the distance in ~12 hours with early morning start of 4 AM. I have covered this couple of times in June/July this year in ~12 hours.

[bht]

Just travelled to Saputara from Bangalore as part of drive to Rajkot.

Left Bangalore at 130am from Marathahalli and and hit a jam at Tin factory which took good 10 minutes to clear, then took Peenya flyover through the gap in barricades and usual affair till tumkur, bypass is still rough and patchy.

We were at hiriyur at 350, on to hospet road after Chitradurga bypass at 420 and stopped at nandagokul at kushtagi at 630, they open only at 7, had tea there with packed breakfast and took 30 minutes break there.

Need to watch out for potholes from hostpete till Bijapur, they just pop up randomly on otherwise very good tarmac.

Reached bijapur bypass at 830 and outskirts of solapur at 10, Google routed me via city and it was too late to turn around so decided to follow route, took good >60 minutes to cross city, I guess I lost quite bit of time here.


Next stop was at MH 25 food mall near osmanabad for 20-30 minutes and left there at 1130 and it was smooth sailing till Aurangabad bypass at 230.
Took Aurangabad - Pune highway which passes via Waluj industrial area, hit heavy traffic for sometime, it's quite rough and bumpy road too...

Stopped at Sai Prasad veg dhaba near gangapur at 3 for 30 minutes break.. roads are good from there all the way till Saputara, we reached at 730pm after ~1150 km in a day.

[satishchugh]

Ajanta- Ellora have been on our radar for quite sometime, but we couldn't visit despite being in Pune for close to 1.5 years. Now that we are out Pune, the urge to cover it has gone manifold. Not to mention excellent travelogues by Suhas (Wanderlust Traveler: Bangalore - Nanded - Lonar - Aurangabad - Ajanta - Ellora - Pune), Aray (Duster AWD: Hyderabad to Ajanta & Ellora caves and Lonar crater lake) and many more...

So here is the initial plan -



This is an initial plan and we are open to change/adapt esp. since we want to do it in Christmas Holidays. The 3 things we want to ensure we cover are - Ajanta, Ellora & the Dino World Park for my 5 year old budding paleontologist

So need your guidance on -

1. Any suggestion on route/distance covered on each day etc. The distance & timing about are taken from google maps as is and without the breaks that we will take. So actual ride time will be higher as we usually take a break every 3 hrs or so.
2. Any suggestion on stay options on each of the places. I have got some suggestion from above threads but any recent suggestion would be great.
3. If we aren't too tired on day of Ellora visit, we may cover Daulatabad fort the same day. That means we can see Bibi Ka maqbara etc. in the morning of buffer day and can start travelling back same day. Saving a day. is it possible?
4. Another option we are considering is to come back via Pune. So Aurangabad-Pune and then Pune-Bijapur/Hospet and finally Bijapur/Hospet - Whitefield. This will allow us to catch up with our friends in Pune. But again don't want to make it so rushed/filled that we end up on driving and no time to see places/ meet people.
5. Another thought is to add 2 days and visit Tadoba. Basically cover Hyderabad - Tadoba in a day and then spent next day in a safari. Does this make sense or will it make it too rushed?
6. Finally, we have done 6-7 hrs drive with my son but of late he has started becoming restless. He will be bored in the car and would ask 'kitni der mein pahunchenge' every 5 mins and it become irritating. We don't want to give him iPad esp. in a moving car so looking for suggestion on how to keep kid engaged during the journey.

[deehunk]

@satishchugh, I see that you have not included the Gurudwara at Bidar. Since you plan to drive from Hyderabad to Nanded, visit Bidar, and then go to Nanded.

[bht]

Originally Posted by bht

Just travelled to Saputara from Bangalore as part of drive to Rajkot.

Left Bangalore at 130am from Marathahalli

.
.
.
roads are good from there all the way till Saputara, we reached at 730pm after ~1150 km in a day.

Quoting myself for return journey on 20th Nov:
Visited Grishneswar Jyotirlinga temple early in morning at 645, hardly any rush and had very good darshan.

https://goo.gl/maps/HofB6j9hfFJkJD5r5


after Darshan at 730, we proceeded to Ellora caves which are hardly 1km from here, again being early helped and we were out by 1130.
we checked out from the hotel in Khuldabad at 1230pm and started for Bangalore.

Encountered heavy traffic till Aurangabad bypass road, first stop was at Kanhaiyya restaurant and lawns after Beed at ~3pm. Decent food and washrooms but service was quite slow, ended up with almost 50 minutes break.

https://goo.gl/maps/rkDzppw1gCWu4WkX8

Next stop was IOCL COCO pump at Vijayapur/Bijapur @ 730. Had quick 15 minutes tea/Bio break at Udupi Ruchi restaurant near by, again decent place for quick stop, it has opened recently so services are good.

we were at Nandagokula Kushtagi at 930, chitradurga at 12am and at KR Puram at 3am.
Ran in to lot of truck traffic between Solpur and Hospete, it was even heavier after Chitradurga.

[manjubp]

Just returned from Bangalore --> Ajanta --> Ellora --> Bangalore Trip.

Started from Bangalore-west on 16th Nov at 5:30AM and reached Aurangabad around 7:30PM (Hotel 7 Apple). This includes multiple breaks spanning nearly 2hrs ( Breakfast(25min), Lunch(45min), Tea(15min) and Fuel(20min)). Actual drive time of nearly 11 Hrs. Decent traffic all the way t Aurangabad

On Returnday we started from Ellora at 1:30PM and reached Hotel Mayura in Vijayapura at 8PM, with lunch break of 30minutes.

Post this return to Bangalore are multiple stops at Almatti Dam, KudalaSangama, Aihole, Pattdakal, Badami, Hospet and overnight stay at Mayura TB dam.

[mayukh42]

Originally Posted by satishchugh

• Any suggestion on route/distance covered on each day etc. The distance & timing about are taken from google maps as is and without the breaks that we will take. So actual ride time will be higher as we usually take a break every 3 hrs or so.
• If we aren't too tired on day of Ellora visit, we may cover Daulatabad fort the same day. That means we can see Bibi Ka maqbara etc. in the morning of buffer day and can start travelling back same day. Saving a day. is it possible?
• Another option we are considering is to come back via Pune. So Aurangabad-Pune and then Pune-Bijapur/Hospet and finally Bijapur/Hospet - Whitefield. This will allow us to catch up with our friends in Pune. But again don't want to make it so rushed/filled that we end up on driving and no time to see places/ meet people.

I have done this circuit from BLR in 2018, so road conditions I faced would not be relevant. Almost all of Marathwada roads were under construction then, which I hope are now done.

However, traffic in MH is high, especially bikes in peak hours which will slow you down. Given this, I'd suggest you stay at Ajanta (Fardapur MTDC is decent) instead of Aurangabad, after seeing Lonar on the way. Lonar has MTDC too, but it doesn't make sense to stay there since you will start from Nanded.

While at Ajanta, there is a view point a little far on top of a hill (https://goo.gl/maps/mDNBQvcykydcLJeMA), from where you can see the entire line of caves. Don't miss it; evening is the best time to visit that. Even the approach road was very scenic.

After couple of days at Ajanta (arrival and next day), you can set up base at Aurangabad for Ellora (it is like 30 kms). You can visit Daulatabad on the way. 2 days are required if you want to fully explore Ellora. Instead of Aurangabad tourist spots, I'd suggest to spend more time in the Ellora Caves as they are really one of a kind, especially the Kailash Temple and caves 10 & 15.

I feel clubbing Vijaypura/ Hospet in the same trip might be a stretch; at least Hospet should be planned separately. Vijaypura can be an option; between the evening of arrival and morning of departure, you can cover Bara Kaman, Ibrahim Roza, and Gol Gumbaz (latter is on the exit road to BLR).

[satishchugh]

Originally Posted by mayukh42

2 days are required if you want to fully explore Ellora. Instead of Aurangabad tourist spots, I'd suggest to spend more time in the Ellora Caves as they are really one of a kind, especially the Kailash Temple and caves 10 & 15.

Thanks for your suggestions. very insightful. And yes, we will not do any site visit at Bijapur or Hospet, but will just stay overnight to avoid driving in the night. I visited these places in 2019 - Enjoying ancient architecture over a coffee and at a beach - 2000 km across North Karnataka.

Originally Posted by deehunk

@satishchugh, I see that you have not included the Gurudwara at Bidar. Since you plan to drive from Hyderabad to Nanded, visit Bidar, and then go to Nanded.

It was on my radar, but with a 5.5 yrs old son want to cut on drive time from Nanded to H'bad and hence have to leave it for next time.
Now to the main point, given leaves and all, we changed the plan a bit and now it looks like -

The open questions are -

1. Is Lonar worth going in? My son is excited to see a crater but I am not sure he will appreciate it - he wouldn't be able to see anything than a lake. We are not interested in visiting the temples there, so is it really worth spending an extra hour on the road?
2. Right now, I am planning to drive directly from H'bad to B'lore on 31st Dec. This gives us a day before the office start on Mon 2nd Jan. But want to keep a backup of staying in H'bad for another half day to meet friends and then drive back around 3:00 PM. Worst case, I have to stay at Kurnool/ Anantapur for overnight stay. Does it look realistic? Can I walk in a hotel on 31st Dec and still get a room given these are not the really touristy places?

[Sandy28]

I am also planning a trip to Ajanta, Elora caves and then onward to MP to cover Omkareshwar, Mandu and Ujjain. From what I read on this thread, Bangalore to Aurangabad can be done in a day.

At Ajanta, any suggestions for a decent 1-night stay option other than the MTDC hotel near the parking?

Originally Posted by mayukh42

While at Ajanta, there is a view point a little far on top of a hill (https://goo.gl/maps/mDNBQvcykydcLJeMA), from where you can see the entire line of caves. Don't miss it; evening is the best time to visit that. Even the approach road was very scenic.

Thanks for this info Mayukh42. I surely dont want to miss this. How do you reach this point though? I checked the link you shared and as per the gmap, you need to come back till Balapur and then turn right, is that correct?
Also is there special lighting at Ajanta caves in the evening that you suggest to go to the view point in evening?

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by satishchugh

1. Is Lonar worth going in? My son is excited to see a crater but I am not sure he will appreciate it - he wouldn't be able to see anything than a lake. We are not interested in visiting the temples there, so is it really worth spending an extra hour on the road?

Don't visit the temples. Spend 30-40 minutes and soak in the scene. It's quite literally one of the most unique scenes I have ever seen.

There is a MTDC where you can stop for lunch which directly overlooks the crater.

It is possible to trek down to the lake, I wouldn't do that in the interest of time.

[mayukh42]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

How do you reach this point though? I checked the link you shared and as per the gmap, you need to come back till Balapur and then turn right, is that correct?

Yes, thats the route.

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Also is there special lighting at Ajanta caves in the evening that you suggest to go to the view point in evening?

Not sure about any lighting; by evening I meant before sunset, not after dark. The view point overlooks the plateau wall within which the caves were carved; it looks best in the golden light.

[satishchugh]

Hello everyone,
I am starting my road trip to Ajanta - Ellora - Hyderabad on this Friday and am worried about the border situation due to the conflict. Anyone has any view on Karnataka - Maharashtra border situation (Vijayapura - Solapur NH52).
If in worst case we are blocked, is there any alternate road towards Aurangabad?

Finally any recommendations on restaurants/ eating joints/ good rest rooms on following -

1. Ajanta/Fardapur - Lonar - Nanded
2. Nanded - Hyderabad (NH161 and then NH65 seems fastest)
3. Hyderabad - Bangalore

Thanks and hoping border situation eases down!