[rendezvous]

thanks folks for all this valuable information...i'll be driving all by myself without family.

1 important thing before I forget to ask:
As it is my first long drive on road, what are the necessary things I shud've with me handy for myself & the car. I've an yr old Ritz ZXi & just done 10km. Got it serviced (with oil change,etc) a week ago.

[khoj]

What I usually carry

1. Vehicle documents( RC; Insurance cover note; PUC + 2 copies)
2. Identification papaers (D/L; some other i card like Pan card or electoral card)
3. Water lots of it for drinking and some for the car (coolant & cleaning the windshield).
4. Torch, good spare wheel, working jack, cars tool kit
5. Pen knife, some old rags
6. Old Newspapers for cleaning the glass
7. Food ( bananas, energy bars, hard candy all provide an energy burst & save time)
8. Hand sanitizer, Tissues, wet wipes, bandaid, tube of burnol or similar(first aid kit)
9. Maps, print out of route directions (if & as required)
10. Transit money distributed in at least two places(on person, in car)
11. Music
12. Mobile phone charger that works off the car lighter socket
13.Prayer in my heart & a song on my lips

[carboy]

Remember, Andheri(West) is on a different part of Bombay as compared to the place you enter Bombay from. There are 2 routes to get to Andheri (West) - one is through Sion-Bandra-WesternExpress Highway & the 2nd is through JVLR.

Assume at least 2 hours from Chembur to Andheri (West) during peak hours & 1.15 to 1.30 in regular day time.

[ptushar]

Folks,
This thread has been immensely helpful as I too am planning a trip to Hyderabad, on the 16th of December. However I have the following constraints.

• I must reach Hyd (Ameerpet) latest by 10:30 AM on 16th Dec
• I have (almost) full day work the previous day (i.e. 15th Dec); I can probably leave office by 5:00 PM
• Never done night driving (Except MPEW, which is no comparison to normal Indian highways)

I was thinking on the following:

• Leave Pune at 5:30 PM
• Drive upto Solapur; stay overnight in a hotel at Solapur
• Leave early morning from Solapur and make it to Hyd by 10:30 AM

Now the questions:

1. If I leave Pune at 5:30 PM (from Aundh), appx what time can I expect to be in Solapur? -I tend to drive on the side of caution.
2. What time should I start from Solapur so that I reach Ameerpet on time?
3. Any good recommended hotels closer to Solapur such that I avoid driving into the city?

Thanks.

[MX6]

You leave Aundh at 5:30 pm you will cross Hadapsar only by 6:45. There's going to be heavy city traffic.
Better turn off at Sancheti hospital towards Pune RTO and proceed to Koregaon Park and join Mundhwa road. Avoid the NH9 stretch between Fatima Nagar and Hadapsar as existing construction of bridge has diverted all traffic towards Magarpatta before the Magarpatta junction, leading to heavy delays.

From mundhwa, crossing Magarpatta city and reaching NH9 is relativelty quicker than the other fatima nagar route.

And once you cross Hadapsar, add 3.5 hours to reach Solapur. Roads are good and watch out for pathetic traffic on a bridge before Tembhurni.

I'd suggest you stay back near Tembhurni if it gets too late than try to go over to Solapur.

So if everything goes your way, expect to be in Solapur by 10:30 pm.

[khoj]

Look up hotels in Solapur here

Hotel and Restaurant Association (Western India):: Hotels in Maharashtra | Gujarat Hotels and Apartments | Madhya Pradesh Apartments and Resorts | Chattisgadh Hotels | Hotels and Resorts in Goa | Restaurants in Div and Daman | Resorts in Silvassa

OR

here http://www.hotelpratham.com/frameset.htm

[ranjitp1]

Hadapsar to Solapur is going to take 5 hours of drive time at any given point of time.4 laning is in progress in between Loni & Indapur,so drive carefully as road shoulder is non existent at some places especially near Bhigwan.

Road conditions are good to bad between Indapur & Solapur,road tarmac is rough at places.But 7pm departure from Hadapsar would enable you to reach Solapur by 12am.

Hotel City Park,Solapur is a good place to stay.There are no hotels on the bypass,City Park is next to the bus stand and easy to locate.It is quite a popular one.Its around 3-4kms from the bypass.Take a right at the circle where the bypass begins,left would take you to NH9.The hotel comes to your right after about 2-3kms after the bus stand,

Solapur to Patancheru(Hyd city limits begin) would take you around 5 hours,so leave by 4am if you want to reach Ameerpet by 10.Roads are in pretty bad shape around Homnabad and also around Umerga and also at some of the other places.

A better idea would be for you to drive straight to Hyderabad from Pune,because its pointless staying any place for around 4 hours.You could stop by Noor Dhaba in Homnabad,park your car and catch up on some sleep.Alternately you could also stop at the HP Pump in Basavakalyan which has an eating place called Hyderabad House,it is not a 24hour joint,but its a clean pump with plenty of place to park and sleep.

[ptushar]

Thanks Khoj, those sites were really useful.

MX6, you are right. Reaching Hadapsar willbe challenge# 1. Route suggested by you makes sense.

Ranjit, sorry, forgot to mention that I am travelling with family; wife & kids. If it is going to take 5 hrs from Hadapsar then it puts me in a real spot. Maybe I will somehow have to leave such that I am at Hadapsar by 5:30 PM. Then it should be more comfortable. That will probably mean leaving Aundh atleast by 4:30 PM.

Now coming to think of it, If I am anyways going to drive 5 hrs at night time, then will it make sense to leave Pune by 2:00 AM in the morning. That way I should be able to avoid the city traffic and some truck traffic as well. Point to ponder.

[MX6]

The 4 laning will not impact you much ptushar.
I did Magarpatta junction to Tembhurni in 3 hours 2 weeks back. Sedate drive from 6 in the morning to 9 in the morning.

So I'd still suggest that if you leave Aundh by 5:30, you will be in Solapur by 10:30, provided you cross Hadapsar by 6:30 itself.

Just be aware of the bottle necks and be prepared to spend the night shortly after Tembhurni in case one of the bottlenecks delay you. I saw some good hotels with ample safe car park around there, between tembhurni and the turn to Pandharpur.

Leaving from Aundh at 4:30 pm will be beneficial. You will beat the office traffic and exit Hadapsar and be on NH9 by 5:30 itself. And you will easily make it to Solapur by 10.

Truck traffic is not much of an issue. Just watch out for the moron yellow plate cabs that overtake very roughly from any direction. Most of them drive like idiots.

[khoj]

Originally Posted by ptushar

Thanks Khoj, those sites were really useful.

MX6, you are right. Reaching Hadapsar willbe challenge# 1. Route suggested by you makes sense.

Ranjit, sorry, forgot to mention that I am travelling with family; wife & kids. If it is going to take 5 hrs from Hadapsar then it puts me in a real spot. Maybe I will somehow have to leave such that I am at Hadapsar by 5:30 PM. Then it should be more comfortable. That will probably mean leaving Aundh atleast by 4:30 PM.

Now coming to think of it, If I am anyways going to drive 5 hrs at night time, then will it make sense to leave Pune by 2:00 AM in the morning. That way I should be able to avoid the city traffic and some truck traffic as well. Point to ponder.

Driving from 5 pm to 10 even 11 pm is different from driving at 2.00 am you will be fighting your body clock all the way. Then there are other family members, kids will be totally cranky and you do not want that.

Originally Posted by MX6

The 4 laning will not impact you much ptushar.
I did Magarpatta junction to Tembhurni in 3 hours 2 weeks back. Sedate drive from 6 in the morning to 9 in the morning.

So I'd still suggest that if you leave Aundh by 5:30, you will be in Solapur by 10:30, provided you cross Hadapsar by 6:30 itself.

Adhere to MX6's suggestion and have a good 5 ~6 hours rest at Solapur. You will be better placed for the drive ahead.

[ptushar]

Agreed MX6 and Khoj. That is sound advice indeed; thanks. No point in being a maverick unnecessarily. (No pun intended to anyone named "maverick" on this forum (if any). )

I will try and leave a little earlier, if possible and avoid the Pune city traffic.

Since I have never stayed in hotels on the highway, are these safe and should I just drive into one that looks good / decent? OR is it better to pre-book one in Solapur city? I ask since I will have my family along as well.

[ranjitp1]

We have stayed at City Park Solapur a couple of times during our drives & its a very good one for Solapur standards.( www.hotelcityparksolapur.com). To be on the safer side you could call them up and block a room.0217 -2729791 to 95

[ptushar]

Thanks MX6, khoj & ranjitp1 for your valuable inputs. This plan looks doable to me now.

• Try and leave Aundh by 4:30 PM
• Reach Solapur latest by 10:30 PM
• Stay at Solapur city
• Leave Solapur very early morning

Thanks again for this.

[Bigzero]

I did a Pune-Hyderabad night drive a couple of months back. This is how I went about it ( I was driving alone btw )

Left Nagar road at around 6.30pm, got stuck big time after Hadapsar flyover ( it was the Puja time and some huge processions caused traffic jams.) Finally out by around 7.30 or so, reached Solapur by around 12.30am ( with a 30 min break for dinner). I was feeling a bit groggy by then, so I pulled over and slept till around 2.15am ( I had planned to wake up at 3, but some noise woke me up and I just decided to continue on the way .

I found the roads to be quite empty beyond Solapur ( that doesnt happen very often! ) for most part, and had an easy drive. Was in Secunderabad by around 6.15am.

The problem with the Pune-Hyd stretch is that if you are lucky you can reach fairly quickly, or you could get stuck really badly.

for ptushar's query, I agree with the general opinion that Solapur can be the night halt. If you leave Solapur at say 4 am, you could easily make it to Patancheru by around 8. from there however, you are at the mercy of City traffic. Ameerpet could be anything between 30 min to 1 hour from there.

[rendezvous]

guys one last thing...
since this is my first long road trip (that too with family), what time will be the best & suitable for me to leave from Hyd?
I'm doing this trip on Thursday