[Dexter_]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Banda is the border and rOads at the border are usually bad but nothing to worry.dhanoli is a different route.you would be around kolhapur with a 5am departure.you could either stop at sai intl before kolhapur or you could continue past kolhapur and stop at the restaurants at tawandi ghat before you turn for amboli.

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

As suggested by ranjitp1, Sai International before Kolhapur and the 2-3 restaurants just after Tawandi ghat are 2 lunch options for you. However, the condition of the rest rooms at the latter are so-so, to put it politely, but the rest rooms at Sai International are very clean.

Cheers,
Vikram

Thats 2 votes to Sai International. But i thought if i leave at 5am from Mumbai i will be well past kolhapur by 1pm - given that most of the journey would be on the expressway at around 90-100kmph, and Mum - Kol is approx 380kms. Please correct me if wrong (its my first trip on this route, driven NH17 the last time). And + 1 to comfortablynumb for adding the finer points!

Originally Posted by Figopian

If you really want to have good food and nice restaurants, I think a little detour inside Kolhapur is worth it. You get inside Kolhapur and till the central ST stand, there is a 4 lane concrete road and a plenty restaurants around. Then you can again take the exit from Kawala naka -> Shivaji University road which is again a 4 lane concrete road, no hassles at all.

Thanks for the comment Figopian. Just to get an idea, how many kms detour from the highway are these places you speak of? And any names (in case you have vistited any).

Cheers!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Dexter_

Thats 2 votes to Sai International. But i thought if i leave at 5am from Mumbai i will be well past kolhapur by 1pm - given that most of the journey would be on the expressway at around 90-100kmph, and Mum - Kol is approx 380kms. Please correct me if wrong (its my first trip on this route, driven NH17 the last time). And + 1 to comfortablynumb for adding the finer points!



Thanks for the comment Figopian. Just to get an idea, how many kms detour from the highway are these places you speak of? And any names (in case you have vistited any).

Cheers!

7-730 you would be at pune,12-1230 you would be at kolhapur.going into town is going to be messy IMHO unless you know the roads verywell.The restaurants on the highway are not bad at all

[Figopian]

Originally Posted by Dexter_

Thanks for the comment Figopian. Just to get an idea, how many kms detour from the highway are these places you speak of? And any names (in case you have vistited any).

Cheers!

Total extra KMs if you get inside won't be more than 5 to 7 Kms, depending upon where you go, wont cost you more than 10 mins in terms of time, but it will be worth the food Take my word for this, this is my home town

See attached snap, the red line is what you follow normally, the blue path is what I am suggesting. Once you get into Kolhapur, there are number of restaurants on the blue path that you can see. Most popular - Tandoor, Opel, Orient Crown, Victor Palace, Maharaja, etc.

Not exactly on the road but within 500 meters of the road, there are a few more good hotels - Pearl, Raison regency, Vrishali, International, Panchasheel, etc.

[CANPUSH]

Originally Posted by Dexter_

Thats 2 votes to Sai International. But i thought if i leave at 5am from Mumbai i will be well past kolhapur by 1pm - given that most of the journey would be on the expressway at around 90-100kmph, and Mum - Kol is approx 380kms. Please correct me if wrong (its my first trip on this route, driven NH17 the last time). And + 1 to comfortablynumb for adding the finer points!



Thanks for the comment Figopian. Just to get an idea, how many kms detour from the highway are these places you speak of? And any names (in case you have vistited any).

Cheers!

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

7-730 you would be at pune,12-1230 you would be at kolhapur.going into town is going to be messy IMHO unless you know the roads verywell.The restaurants on the highway are not bad at all

If you cross Pune around 7.30 am, even with reasonable speed you should reach Kolhapur by 11.30am. Pune- Kolhapur (230 km) is actually 3.5 hrs at good speed (bet 80-110) and 4 hrs max if there is long Q at toll plaza.

In Kolhapur, if you are Non-vegetarian best is Hotel Opel. - To reach - get into Kolhapur and follow the road till you reach Tara Rani statue that is in the middle of a junction. Take left here and 200 mtrs on your left is Opel. It starts service at 12 . Getting out is easy - get out of Opel and turn left (in the same direction - away from tara rani) and follow the road and you will reach NH4 again. Total Detour is 6-7 extra kms.

Vegetarians - eat at Sai International itself. Why waste time getting into Kolhapur. Still if you get in -Opel also serves Veg Thali but is not really famous for it. For Veg food you can travel little further, instead of turning left, from Tara Rani statue and Restaurant at Hotel Panchshil on left hand side is a good bet. So also are hotel Pearl and Raysons opposite Panchshil. Hotel Ayodhya on right just before Tara Rani also offers reasonably good food.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Dexter_

Thats 2 votes to Sai International. But i thought if i leave at 5am from Mumbai i will be well past kolhapur by 1pm - given that most of the journey would be on the expressway at around 90-100kmph, and Mum - Kol is approx 380kms. Please correct me if wrong (its my first trip on this route, driven NH17 the last time). And + 1 to comfortablynumb for adding the finer points!

If you are early at Tawandi Ghats,then you can push on till Amboli where there is a Vithal Kamat on the main road itself.Not exactly great,but then again thats the only option after Tawandi ghats.I would reccomend having an early lunch at the restaurants on Tawandi Ghats.

[Dexter_]

Originally Posted by Figopian

Once you get into Kolhapur, there are number of restaurants on the blue path that you can see. Most popular - Tandoor, Opel, Orient Crown, Victor Palace, Maharaja, etc.

Originally Posted by CANPUSH

In Kolhapur, if you are Non-vegetarian best is Hotel Opel. - To reach - get into Kolhapur and follow the road till you reach Tara Rani statue that is in the middle of a junction. Take left here and 200 mtrs on your left is Opel. It starts service at 12 . Getting out is easy - get out of Opel and turn left (in the same direction - away from tara rani) and follow the road and you will reach NH4 again. Total Detour is 6-7 extra kms.

Thanks a ton to all for the comments (specially the map by Figopian)

So its either Opel or Sai Intl depending on the time we reach - since Opel opens at 12.

Will be going on 28th Feb. Super excited!

[Amazing]

Originally Posted by u99119

On NH4, there are 3 toll booths between Nipani and Pune. I paid the toll in lumpsum at the first toll booth and saved some time at the later tolls.

Thats a news to me ...and its eally great that it saves time. So, do I need to proactively tell them that I need to go upto Nippani and leave NH4 , and give me a combined toll receipt?

Also, assuming that in next 2 tolls you just show the receipt and use the side exit ? Pls can you elaborate on the arrangement that you had already experienced .

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by Amazing

Thats a news to me ...and its eally great that it saves time. So, do I need to proactively tell them that I need to go upto Nippani and leave NH4 , and give me a combined toll receipt?

Also, assuming that in next 2 tolls you just show the receipt and use the side exit ? Pls can you elaborate on the arrangement that you had already experienced .

Correction. There are 5 toll booths between Pune and Nipani - Khed-Shivapur [after Pune], Anewadi [before Satara], Umbraj [before Karad], Kini Wathar [before Kolhapur] and the last between Kagal & Nipani. AFAIK you can buy a combined ticket only for the tolls at Khed-Shivapur and Anewadi [the 1st 2 tolls while travelling from Pune to Nipani], but for the other tolls, payment has to be made on an individual basis.

[Figopian]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Correction. There are 5 toll booths between Pune and Nipani - Khed-Shivapur [after Pune], Anewadi [before Satara], Umbraj [before Karad], Kini Wathar [before Kolhapur] and the last between Kagal & Nipani. AFAIK you can buy a combined ticket only for the tolls at Khed-Shivapur and Anewadi [the 1st 2 tolls while travelling from Pune to Nipani], but for the other tolls, payment has to be made on an individual basis.

I think the Tasawade (You mentioned as Umbraj) and Kini tolls can be combined, not sure for the earlier ones.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by Figopian

I think the Tasawade (You mentioned as Umbraj) and Kini tolls can be combined, not sure for the earlier ones.

No, they cannot. I traveled to and from Karwar last week and had asked the toll operator for a combined ticket, to which he refused.

[Figopian]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

No, they cannot. I traveled to and from Karwar last week and had asked the toll operator for a combined ticket, to which he refused.

No surprise, they are unpredictable. I paid a combined toll in the last week of December. I will check again next week when I am travelling to Kolhapur.

[abhijitvp]

Just did Pune-GOA-Pune. You can combine Khed-Shivapur - Anewadi toll (Rs.110) and Taswade - Kini (Rs.115). At Kagnoli you have to pay Rs.25.

While going I took Pune-Kolhapur-Belgaon-Ponda (NH4-NH4A)route. This road is good but has some bad sections where you have to really slow down to 20-30kmph. You can easliy get caught in traffic beacsue of heavy activity of Mining trucks. Unless you want to stay in Ponda this route can be avoided.

Pune-Sankeshwar-Gadhinglaj-Amboli-Sawantwadi-GOA is the best route. Roads are in pretty decent condition and you can maintain 50kmph-60Kmph avg. Roads are resurfaced recently and are smooth. Considering the ghat section and twesties 50-60kmph avg is not bad.

You have to reach Kolhapur before 9AM to avoid the local traffic and long queues on toll booths. I did Pune-Belgaon in 4:15 hours flat. Started at 5:45AM from Pune.
Good places to eat:
1. Sai International 29kms before Kolhapur
2. Kamat's in Amboli

[u99119]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Correction. There are 5 toll booths between Pune and Nipani - Khed-Shivapur [after Pune], Anewadi [before Satara], Umbraj [before Karad], Kini Wathar [before Kolhapur] and the last between Kagal & Nipani. AFAIK you can buy a combined ticket only for the tolls at Khed-Shivapur and Anewadi [the 1st 2 tolls while travelling from Pune to Nipani], but for the other tolls, payment has to be made on an individual basis.

took the combined toll receipt at Khed (pune->nippani). This was last week of dec '11

[suzuki san]

Hi Guys,

Just back in Bombay from Goa.
Used the Goa - Sawantwadi - Ajra - Uttur - Nipani - Kolhapur - Poona - Bombay route.
This is the first time I am using the Sawantwadi road after almost 4 months as I have been using the Dhanoli short cut.
Although I had commented in a previous post that the Dhanoli road was bad, I wish I had used it instead to save time. However, as it was early morning and pitch black, we decided to stay on the main road.
The road from the Goa border to Sawantwadi was as bad as ever - felt every bump in my Wagon R. The last time I did this run in my SX4 (via Dhanoli) it took 1 hour from Mapuca to Kamat's at Amboli. This time it took 1 hr & 45 mins to cover the same distance via Sawantwadi.
I also decided to check out the Ajra - Uttur - Nipani route instead of Ajra - Gadhinglaj - Sankeshwar. Not impressed at all. Plenty of potholes and rough surfaces.
I would recommend other travellers to stick to the Gadhinglaj - Sankeshwar route. The road is much better.
Had breakfast at "Goa Ves" Hotel at Nipani - where the SH joins the NH. OK food. Fast service. Fairly clean.
Took 10 hours from Mapuca to Sion - including breakfast and lunch stops. Another hour after that to get to Andheri (West).

Regards,
SS

[Figopian]

Originally Posted by suzuki san

Hi Guys,

Just back in Bombay from Goa.
Used the Goa - Sawantwadi - Ajra - Uttur - Nipani - Kolhapur - Poona - Bombay route.
This is the first time I am using the Sawantwadi road after almost 4 months as I have been using the Dhanoli short cut.
Although I had commented in a previous post that the Dhanoli road was bad, I wish I had used it instead to save time. However, as it was early morning and pitch black, we decided to stay on the main road.
The road from the Goa border to Sawantwadi was as bad as ever - felt every bump in my Wagon R. The last time I did this run in my SX4 (via Dhanoli) it took 1 hour from Mapuca to Kamat's at Amboli. This time it took 1 hr & 45 mins to cover the same distance via Sawantwadi.
I also decided to check out the Ajra - Uttur - Nipani route instead of Ajra - Gadhinglaj - Sankeshwar. Not impressed at all. Plenty of potholes and rough surfaces.
I would recommend other travellers to stick to the Gadhinglaj - Sankeshwar route. The road is much better.
Had breakfast at "Goa Ves" Hotel at Nipani - where the SH joins the NH. OK food. Fast service. Fairly clean.
Took 10 hours from Mapuca to Sion - including breakfast and lunch stops. Another hour after that to get to Andheri (West).

Regards,
SS

Good that you agree with my recommendations all along. H route you suggest now is the best route to go to goa from kolhapur always. Add to that the new danoli road which bypasses sawantwadi.