My FIL is located in Jalgaon, hence I've taken the following road numerous times, which would also take you to Nagpur.
1. Ideal route to Nagpur:
a. From Thane onwards take the Thane-Bhiwandi bypass
b. Road right upto Nasik is good, Kasara ghat section is one way now, and is fantastic to drive through.
c. Drive through Nasik city itself is quite tedious due to its' traffic especially 2-wheelers. Personally I plan my trip in such a way that I hit Nasik in the middle of the night. However the traffic does thin out once you cross municipal limits.
d. Nasik (Chandwad) to Dhule - "Maggaan" - a new highway has just been constructed. Please be on the lookout for diversions, and wrong-lane two-wheelers / bullock-carts.
e. At Dhule, Take a right at a big junction where two highways meet. Mumbai-Agra & Surat-Kolkatta. You are basically headed towards Kolkata. There onwards you'd notice a vast drop in traffic. Mostly trucks with numerous villages on-route. Nagpur is about 400 kms on this road. Follow the road-signs.
f. I've personally only driven upto Bhusawal.
2. Will want to halt for a night , which place to halt: Nasik/Igatpuri (110 kms into your journey), Dhule (320 kms), Jalgaon (410 kms) are ideal places. I'd personally recommend Jalgaon being a largish city.
3. Any suggestions of hotels etc :
4. Total time and road conditions .
Thane-Nasik outskirts: Generally good road, but loads of diversions. (Four-lane mostly)
Nasik-DHule: One of the best roads in MH, but again a few diversions towards the dhule end. (Four-lane mostly)
Dhule-Nagpur: Lesser traffic, but lots of farming villages. Watch the speed on this road, surprises are not uncommon (Two-lanes)
If you need any other information, please let me know. |