[Modifiedsachin]

I think I better go via amboli, as missing that spot may be a nightmare for me for rest of my life.

Please help me for good palces on the way for lunch & fueling stations.

[Akadian]

Have lunch in Karad as there are several good options available on both sides of the highway. Fueling stations are aplenty all along the NH-4. Re-fueling stops should depend on your favorite brand of fuel

[deutscheafrikar]

@Sachin, For refuel I stop at Kolhapur about 400 odd kms from bandra. There is a Shell, then a BP and then an Indian Oil pump on the left side. food is a problem, I saw a restaurant that looked nice about 210 km from bandra Sai something. Please read the earlier post in this route. you would do well to carry cold drinks and sandwiches instead of eating lunch in a bad restaurant. Also on the right side towards kolhapur (not sure of the exact location) the is a mac donalds.


@Irwin you were supposed to up load your MapMyIndia 430 Classic GPS route mum - to - goa

@Ashish I've managed to download mireo via GPS 3.0 for PC black edition of mymapindia. It seems pretty handy. Cause it gives info of hotels and restaurants too.

[Akadian]

An excellent restaurant that I know of on the way is Hotel Kailash. This place would be on the other side of the road from you when you come down from Mumbai. It is right on the highway after crossing Pune and moving towards Satara. I've personally eaten there while returning from Mumbai in the night. Food is great

[Modifiedsachin]

Thats a valuable info. I will keep a look for these hotels & will carry some snacks with me (mostly chocklets - Plain dairy milks, as they prove a good suppliment) and lot of water. Thankfully Accent has good space for storing water. One half liter will go on console (behind hand break) & two one liters can be kept in each front door.

If I have shell then there is no question of any other brand. Normally I go with BP/HP ULP as shell is not available in mumbai. But when it comes to SHELL -- yahi hai right choice. One thing is for sure, that in quality no one can beat SHELL. Even if they sell fule for 10 Rs costly than any other brand, its worth buying (they dont sell at any higher price).

With my past experience in this industry, all other fuels with all possible additions, makes your car addcted to that perticular fuel, where ULP is the best option.

In my observation when one uses Power (HP) it is usually found that there is lot of carbon accumilation. With Speed (BP) the engine runs smooth, but when ever you try any other fuel, you feel the jerk of the engine and start feeling you throttel responding less (it does not actually respond less, but since the octane of Speed is high, it gives more power after combustion & when you use ULP yo dont feel that power so you press hard). With ExtraPremium, carbon is again the issue.

With new MPFI cars people dosen't catch the difference immidiately but with cerb ones, one can notice the difference.

Well this was my observation & openion & no offence ment to any other openion.

I think I diverted tooooo much.

[deutscheafrikar]

Okay Sachin
I made one mistake. The petrop pumps are Shell, HP and then Indian oil
You can check out this post
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1401987-post37.html

The two routes are shown. The right turn at tawandi ghat takes you to uttur, ajra and then amboli. However if you shoulr drive 12 kms further you will reach Sankeshwar the turn there will take you to gadinglaj and then ajra. Driving furthur takes you to belgaum and to the NH4A that was also spoken about
Anyway you have a lot of time since youre going in Dec.

[ranjitp1]

I just got back from Goa,it was one hell of a ride,driving in between police battalions and uncertainty in the routes etc(but a horde of thanks goes out to T-Bhpians:Akadian,HV Kumar & Ashish Pallod,without whom I would still have been contemplating which route to take to get back home).More details on that on the travelogue coming up.

We took the Mumbai-Pune NE1 and from Pune refuelled at Shell on NH-4.We took the Shindewadi Tunnel thereby bypassing Katraj and the mess at Katraj.NH-4 is a dream run,reached Kolhapur in 3hrs 45mins.After that continued on NH-4 till Belgaum.At Belgaum got went under the Belgaum Bypass flyover and entered the town and drove past KLE Medical College and at Rani Chennamma Circle took a right and entered NH-4A.We stopped at a shop to refuel for samosas & cold drinks and the shop keeper told us that its an excellent road except for a stretch of 20-25kms.We did not bother much about the 20-25km and continued.The road is a beauty till you reach Londa.At Londa when one takes the right,one immediately senses something is not going to be right.On both sides of the road you see mining and mining trucks parked.After 3 kms,one is in for the biggest shock of their life.

Holes as big as wells and there is no road.We just did not know what to do and to compound things we were in our Maruti 8 Class(800) and with a little one on board.On one craeter we almost thought we lost our our axle or something,but luckily we came out and continued.The depressing factor is that you expect the bad stretch to end and it never ends,you just dont see any semblance of a road for kilometers,just pure slush and dirt and huge holes.We had a Tata Marina family,driving along,but after sometime we saw them stopping for tea,not sure if they turned and went back or they came later.

The road improves only after Molem.Until Molem words would do injustice to the condition of the road,thats how bad it is.The only vehicles that you see on the road are the iron ore trucks driving like mad and scorpios carryng the mine owners and yes you would get to see a Kadamba bus once in a while.This was the scariest drive of my driving life.

So folks I would really recommend people not to be fool-hardy.Please dont consider this route until the entire stretch has been relaid.It tooks us 5hours to cover 140kms from Belgaum to Panjim.

Pune-Kolhapur:292kms
Kolhapu-Belgaum NH4A:115kms
Rani Chennamma Circle:Panjim:160kms

Coming back we came back via Nipani,yes absolutely agree roads are not exactly great,but once you see the Londa-Molem stretch anything would impress you.For people coming in from Belgaum side,the sensible thing would be to take the Belgaum-Amboli road and reach Goa via Sawantwadi.Belgaum-Amboli is around 80kms.Amboli-Sawantwadi:35kms.Sawantwadi-Panjim:60kms.For a difference of a few kilometers more,I defi would say take the Amboli route.

Sawantwadi-Amboli:Excellent Condition:Arnd 80-100kmph
Amboli-Ajra:Chipped tarmac,couldnt go beyond 40-50 with my 155/70R12 size tyres
Ajra-Uttur:Tarmac is again excellent,80-100kmph
Uttur-Nipani:Good in patches.60-80kmph

Distance from Leela,Mobor(South Goa) to Nipani is 200kms and we covered that in 3hrs 20mins. (including a stop for a photoshoot & kekada(onion) bhajiyas at Amboli).Yes the waterfalls are in full flow now & much like the Bushy Dam.

Mobor-Nipani:200kms:3hrs 20mins
Nipani-Kolhapur:40kms:45mins



From Kolhapur,we had to come back to Hyd so took the Miraj-Go on Pandharpur Road till Sangole Circle(32kms before P'pur)-Mangalwedha-Solapur-NH9-HYD route.

Just for interest sakes:
Kolhapur-Miraj:Excellent roads.Upto 80kmph.Dense traffic though
Miraj-Sangole:Excellent to Good.No bad patches,but some areas with rough tarmac,80kmph
Sangole-Solapur:Excellent:100-110KMph

Kolhapur-Solapur:220kms:4hrs.Break @ Solapur.
Solapur-Hyd:NH9:300KMS:4hrs 20mins

[deutscheafrikar]

Ranjit, Thanks for the email. You saved my bacon. I was contemplating using that route cos a few people recommended it even though they said a few kms was rough.
AshishPallod thank you for your previous email cos it made me see some light. I wasn't sure if this was the mining truck route, the NH4. Had I known it was the same I would have not considered it at all.

Okay now what's this mean (We took the Shindewadi Tunnel thereby bypassing Katraj and the mess at Katraj.) Im not sure if I have been using this. Been on the NH4 3 or 4 times since May 08. So maybe someone will explain this to me.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by deutscheafrikar

Okay now what's this mean (We took the Shindewadi Tunnel thereby bypassing Katraj and the mess at Katraj.) Im not sure if I have been using this. Been on the NH4 3 or 4 times since May 08. So maybe someone will explain this to me.

earlier, if you want to go to satara from pune, you have to cross katraj ghat which starts immediately after katraj from pune side.
3-4 years back, new byepass started to avoid this ghat. there is new dual tunnel from the start of ghat from satara side at shindewadi which joins to katraj dehuroad byepass.
while going from mumbai to satara, you need not cross the old katraj ghat. just be on katraj dehuroad byepass and cross all flyovers, you will reach to this shindewadi tunnel.

@ranjitp1,

good to know that you reached back safely.

[ranjitp1]

Incoming cess for vehicles entering state from Nov 1

[FastLove]

@Ranjit - I am planning a trip to Goa (from Mumbai) in October. Having read your post above i am confused about taking NH4 . The Londa - Molem stretch is a part of the regular route to Goa via Kolhapur ? I am planning to go with family and want to be absolutely sure of the roads before i do this trip . The present rain conditions are not helping matters either.

Also , any one who has done the Mumbai - Goa Route in the last couple of days , can please update on the Road Conditions and Advice on NH 4 / NH 17. I would be most likely taking the NH4 route.

Thanks Guys!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by FastLove

@Ranjit - I am planning a trip to Goa (from Mumbai) in October. Having read your post above i am confused about taking NH4 . The Londa - Molem stretch is a part of the regular route to Goa via Kolhapur ? I am planning to go with family and want to be absolutely sure of the roads before i do this trip . The present rain conditions are not helping matters either.

Also , any one who has done the Mumbai - Goa Route in the last couple of days , can please update on the Road Conditions and Advice on NH 4 / NH 17. I would be most likely taking the NH4 route.

Thanks Guys!

Well frankly there is no direct route from Mumbai to Panjim other than the NH17.

With the recent rains and road blocks at several points on NH17 it is best to stick to NH4,excellent road & 4 laned.The road should hold good in the rains.

As for the route,IF the NH4A between Belgaum & Panjim was good,then that would be the closest to being called the direct route from Mumbai to Goa,but now that option does not exist as the Londa-Anmod-Molem is history and with the rains,dont even think of doing the stretch in a truck.

There are upteen route options to cut across from NH4 to NH17(via Gaganbawda ghat/via Phonda Ghat/Via Chorla Ghat/Via Amboli Ghat(turn off at Nipani or turn off @ Sankeshwar)/via Anmod Ghat))

The regular route that Goa bound people from Mumbai take is NH-4 till Tawandi Ghat on NH4(Pune-Satara-Kolhapur-Tawandi Ghat).On the ghat look for Hotel Satyavati Palace on your left.Bang opposite the hotel,to your right is a small road that leads to Uttur,take that road and you are now on the right route to Goa.T Ghat-Uttur-Ajra-Amboli-Sawantwadi(@Sawantwadi you rejoin NH17)-Mapusa-Panjim.

We did a Borivli-South Goa(Mobor) in about 10hours via this route with an early morning start of 430am.Distance wise a few kilometers more via NH4,but then that is compensated by the lesser time taken when compared to NH17.But nothing to beat the NH17 landscape though with the rains pounding,I guess NH4 is a better option for now.Compared to all the other routes,this route is generally good,except for a few 10kms of rough tarmac-nothing scary.

[deutscheafrikar]

Fastlove,
some some sections on this stretch (T Ghat-Uttur-Ajra) are narrow, and the trucks don't pull over on the shoulder of the road to give way to smaller vehicles!. So be careful. The Sankeshwar-Gadinglaj-Ajra route is a bit wider. But Someone will have to let you know the conditions of either of these routes before you can decide which to choose.

[FastLove]

Sure. Thanks Ranjit and deutsche . I will be talking to some friends who are returning from a goa trip to know the road conditions (dont know if they took NH4 ) .

[zipzapzoom]

hi fastlove
when are you planning teh trip in october? i will be traveling on this road on 23rd october, starting from dahisar, ghodbunder, thane, panvel, expressway, kolhapur, nipani, ajra, ottur, savantwadi to madgaon.
do let me know the road conditions incase you travel earlier.
regards