[Axe77]

Thank you meetbadri and ampere. My trip is planned in the winter (end December) so less concerned with current rain led issues. But point noted on the two routes. Cheers

[ishan12]

Hello Fellow bhpians,

We are planning a ride this month to Hampi from Mumbai via Pune.
Need suggestions on the best route and stops.

Thanks!!

[ranjitnair77]

Originally Posted by ishan12

We are planning a ride this month to Hampi from Mumbai via Pune.
Need suggestions on the best route and stops.

Thanks!!

I just came back from a ride from Pune to Hampi last weekend.

While going we took the following route.
Pune - Kolhapur - Hubli - Gadag - Koppal - Hampi.

The NH 48 is fine all the way to Hubli. There are a few diversions from Pune to Kapurhol and the carriage width reduces to 2 lanes roughly 20kms before Hubli but this section is smooth if you leave early. The last 170 kms from Hubli to Hampi has a lot of diversions as the road is being widened and relaid using concrete. You must be careful as the diversions are very rough and you will face all kinds of bumps, potholes and bad patches.

While returning we took the following route.
Hampi - Bijapur (Vijayapura) - Pandharpur - Bhigwan - Pune.

The route is mostly smooth. Hampi to Bijapur is very smooth once you hit the NH50 which is 4 laned except for speed breakers on the NH which you need to watch out for. Bijapur to Pandharpur has an initial 60 kms which is a narrow and bumpy road passing through villages where you need to be careful. The last patch to Pandharpur is being relaid in concrete where there are a few diversions so watch out for that. Pandharpur to Tembhurni is patchy. Once you hit the NH 65 near Tembhurni, it is a smooth 4 lane road all the way to Pune.

Do remember that if you take the Pandharpur route, you will have to pass through pretty much the whole of Pune before you hit the highway to Mumbai which is quite unpleasant in evening traffic. Budget at least 60 to 90 minutes for that.

NH48 is relatively easier if you are coming from or heading to Mumbai but traffic does get very heavy from Nasrapur all the way to Talegaon in the evenings.The Nasrapur toll booth is a pretty bad bottleneck. Do keep that in mind.

It was also extremely hot in the daytime so you are looking at a pretty long and hard ride.

[ishan12]

Originally Posted by ranjitnair77

I just came back from a ride from Pune to Hampi last weekend.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion!
May I ask how long ago was your ride?

[ranjitnair77]

Originally Posted by ishan12

Thanks a lot for the suggestion!
May I ask how long ago was your ride?

It took us 9.5 hours via Hubli with one stop for a late breakfast and lunch at Hampi. We started at 6am and reached by 3:30pm.

It took us 10.5 hours to return via Pandharpur with a stop for breakfast and a stop for lunch. We started at 6:30am and reached home by 5pm.

I suspect you will need 13-14 hours.

[ndp88]

Hello everyone,

I am doing Mumbai-Hampi this extended weekend, with my wife. I had initially planned to leave today afternoon and take a rest near Satara (Hotel Preeti executive) or Kolhapur (Hotel Rasika renaissance). These are my usual stops for night sleep. But it looks like my departure today will be delayed & won't be able to start before 8pm-9pm or later.

Now I plan to cross Pune, and stop somewhere before to avoid late night drive. Any suggestion for decent place to stay between Pune-Satara considering female co-passenger ? Thanks in advance.

[shajoshi]

We did Pune-Hampi via the NH-4, NH-67 route (612 km) and the return journey via the NH-50, NH-65 route (558 km). Here is the route update.

Pune-Satara (130 km tolls) - Toll road that is bad after the Khed-Shivapur toll. 6 laned for most part. 4 diversions for unfinished overbridges where the road is bad and narrows to 1.5 lanes with large potholes. Widening of Khambatki ghat to 3 lanes uphill has helped in avoiding traffic snarls there though. Watch for potholes on all sections of this toll road.

Satara-Kolhapur-Kagal (134 km tolls) - Good quality concrete pavement, 2 lanes. Lot of bike traffic during daytime, and slow moving tractors laden with sugarcane to watch out for.

Kagal-Nipani-Belgaum-Hubli (184 km tolls) - Excellent road, smooth, concrete, very few potholes. Watch for villagers on bikes at intersections. Best road of this journey.

Hubli-Gadag-Koppal-Hospete-Hampi (164 km tolls) - NH67 is still under four laning - this was the case in 2016 since we went there last and so were hoping that this was completed . There are many diversions and switching from one lane to another through large potholes. The 15 km after Koppal was a dirt road with mud blowing and lot of trucks laden with sand and cement for company.

The return journey was via Hampi-Hospete-Vijayapur-Pandharpur-Tembhurni-Pune as suggested by Google Maps. We decided to try Vijayapur-Pandharpur this time as the Vijayapur-Solapur NH-52 is under widening and likely to be full of diversions and truck traffic.

Hampi-Hospete-Vijayapur (218 km tolls) - Excellent surface of NH50. You have to watch for unmarked speedbreakers at most of the intersections and also local traffic that uses the highway by nonchalantly coming against the flow from the left.

Vijayapur-Pandharpur (111 km) - The road from Vijayapur to Umadi is a district road for 50 km. Very poor surface washed away by the rains for most of the stretch, low GC cars need to watch out and drive really slow here.

After Umadi the road transforms to a divided concrete road with excellent pavement. Except for a few bridges where there are diversions - Umadi to Pandharpur road is good.

Pandharpur-Tembhurni (57 km) - Good 2 laned road surface for most part. Many slow moving sugarcane laden tractors and a railway crossing near Pandharpur.

Tembhurni-Pune (172 km tolls) - Excellent 4 laned highway with decent amount of traffic. Watch for slow moving sugarcane laden tractors and motorbikes crossing with utter disdain at most intersections. Last 25 km you will encounter congested Pune city traffic - depending on the time of day.

The journey via both the routes took 11 hours of driving time.

[amoghchaphalkar]

Originally Posted by shajoshi

We did Pune-Hampi via the NH-4, NH-67 route (612 km) and the return journey via the NH-50, NH-65 route (558 km). Here is the route update.

Thank you for an extremely helpful update. For the return journey (NH-50, NH-65) what would your recommendations be for a lunch stop?

[rish27]

Thanks Shajoshi for the route details.

I too will be travelling from Pune to Hampi in the last week of December, but intend to take a stopover both ways i.e. going to and coming back from Hampi. Will start my journey from Viman Nagar in Pune.

Needed your conclusive thoughts on which would be a better route bearing in mind Roads, Pit stops, Safety etc. Travelling with better half and kid.

1. Via Hubli (In that case would stay at Gadag while going and KOP while coming back)
2. Via Vijaynagara (In that case would stay at Vijaynagara while going and Solapur while coming back)

Also and I hope the main Hampi attractions are open.

Any suggestions will be of great help.

Thanks
Rish

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by rish27

Hi Ampere, Parag Bhai and travellers

I will be travelling from Pune to Hampi, but intend to take a stopover both ways i.e. going to and coming back from Hampi. Will start my journey from Viman Nagar in Pune.

Given the current state of affairs between Pune to Satara and the fact that you are already in Viman Nagar (proximity to Sholapur Road), the one via Sholapur Road Themburni works out best.

Also, Pune-Sholapur route is in better shape that you will have a stress-free drive too. The only apprehension if any that you should have is about Themburni-Pandharpur-Vijayapura road and its present state.

On the other hand, via Hubli-Gadag is no brainer. It will be tad longer but the advantage will be that you will pass Kolhapur, Belgaum, Hubli and Gadag before hitting Hampi and that means these frequent towns and cities can help you with options to break your journey anywhere too. Not to forget the facilities on this route will be better.

In both the routes, the actual distance you will drive on undivided highway is going to be same (Hubli Hampi or Themburni - Vijayapura). But the advantage with Sholapur road over Satara route will the route conditions itself.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by rish27

Pune to Hampi

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Hubli-Gadag

Entire Hubli-Gooty stretch is being 4-laned. The last I heard a year or so back was bad diversions.

Solapur-Bijapur diversions are decent shape, its just you'll get a speed breaker every diversion. Its predictable and will take you about 2.5 hours. Bijapur-Hospet will take about 2-3 hours change.

On this route however, don't expect any decent hotels except in major towns like Solapur or Bijapur, same goes with stay. Fuel stops are aplenty, those accepting cards might be less.

Solapur-Chitradurga is prime truck corridor, so there is no question of safety issues.

Whole journey maybe like 10 hours ballpark, if at all you want to stay, it'd be Solapur. Be wary that its a bloody messy town to drive through.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Entire Hubli-Gooty stretch is being 4-laned. The last I heard a year or so back was bad diversions.

This is the case since nearly 4 years now but this route not just being a gateway from Bombay-Bangalore route towards Hyderabad-Karnataka region also catered to mining trucks before that it was one of the messy ones till they ruled the roads. Thankfully today, despite of diversions, they are acceptable.

On this route however, don't expect any decent hotels except in major towns like Solapur or Bijapur, same goes with stay. Fuel stops are aplenty, those accepting cards might be less.

This is a major downer isn't it? I referred to this as well and in general, this route itself is unpopular and is slowly picking up and will take a lot of time to get there.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

This is a major downer isn't it? I referred to this as well and in general, this route itself is unpopular and is slowly picking up and will take a lot of time to get there.

I doubt facilities are going to grow by a great margin on this route anyway. On the Solapur-Aurangabad section too, most options are either slightly inside or totally inside town. The reason being, there are no huge cities in-between that's gonna cause significant private vehicle movement.

Sure its going to take a little more homework and planning for stops, in exchange for the peace of mind compared to the cut-throat PB Road traffic or crossing Pune

[condor]

I did the Hubli-Gadag-Hospet NH67 stretch yesterday. It is do-able. Some stretches are 4-laned, but in many places the traffic goes on the same side. The bridges are incomplete in the sense that the surface is being worked on, and is mud-topped still. These sections are short, but rough, so we need to be slow on these.

The over-passes are still under construction, so these parts are also via service road.

I would not recommend doing this after dark unless you are familiar with the route and hence familiar with the switch-over/switch-back points.

I don't expect any major hotels on this route immediately, though I have not checked in Gadag town where there maybe some. Gadag is a small education centre, and district HQ. Logically there will be at least one but inside the city.

[Apratim_Choudhu]

Which is the better route from Mumbai to Hampi now
1. Mumbai-Pune-Belgaum-Hubli-Hampi
2. Mumbai-Pune-Solapur-Bijapur-Hosapette-Hampi
considering the present roads conditions. Pune to Satara on NH48 is a cause of concern for me