Team-BHP - Mumbai to Shirdi : Route Queries

Hey Guys,

I plan on driving down with family to Shirdi either on Monday or Tuesday for darshan and would like to know what is the better route to take and what are the road conditions like as of now if anybody is aware.

One route I know of is on the Ahmedabad highway via Nashik and the other route someone suggested was via a bypass in betwen lonavala and Poona.

Would like to take the route which is faster and smoother. All help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Viper

Viper,

I've never taken the bypass between Lonavala and Poona, and so can't really comment on that, but I do think it would be a longer route from Mumbai as compared to the one via Nashik.

Also, a good point to note is, as you are driving with your family, it would be better to take a route more commonly travelled rather than something that is relatively unheard of...

I would suggest you take the Nashik route.

- Falcon

Quote:

Originally Posted by viper

someone suggested was via a bypass in betwen lonavala and Poona.

This bypass is nothing but the route that goes via Chakan. Taking this route is as good as travelling via. Pune. I would suggest stick to the Nasik route as it is definitely faster than the Pune route.

From Pune, take the Nashik road via Chakan, Narayangaon, Ale phata to Sangamaner where you turn off and proceed to Shirdi. Road is hilly in many places.

From Mumbai, take NH3 via Thane, Shahpur, Kasara,Igatpuri to Nashik and from there go on Pune road till Sinnar and turn off to go to Shirdi. You have a shorter option of turning off at Ghoti (next town after Igatpuri) and going directly to Sinnar avoiding Nashik.

Bombay-Nashik road was not in good condition after Shahpur, but happily most of it (except the ghats) is now 4-lane road. If you tturn off Nh3 at Ghoti, the road to Sinnar is a narrow road (no idea about current condition).

Kumar

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvkumar (Post 961079)

Thank you

Will take the Nasik route to go to Shirdi and if the road is bad will come back to Mumbai from the Pune route .

We went to Shirdi and came back yesterday. The roads are still good for the most part without big potholes. But the roads have become quite rough at many places. While going it took us 3 hours 30 minutes to cover the distance of 193 km. While coming back (there were heavy rains for a good part of the distance) it took us 4 hours 26 minutes to cover the same distance. It took us more than 30 minutes to reach my house from Nashik Phata i.e. a distance of around 8km.

Road widening work is going on between Babaleshwar and Rahata.

We had to stand in line only for 15 minutes for the darshan. We were also lucky to be seated in the main hall for the mid-day pooja.

[quote=Munish.Thapar;962300]Thank you

Will take the Nasik route to go to Shirdi and if the road is bad will come back to Mumbai from the Pune route .[/quote ]

The road from Shahpur to Kasara is yet work " under progress " the double lane work has not yet complete therefore is in mess , so please be careful while driving on this stretch .

Kasara ghat is ok , with lose gravel all over the place , but no big pot holes .

From Igatpuri to Nasik is much better in comparison to the Shahpur to Kasara , but be careful around Goti .
Nasik to Sinnar , heavy traffic , after the turn off , the road to Shirdi is good condition barring very few pot holes , the work of filling them were in progress as of September 14, 2008.

I did it on the 8th of this month. You can do Thane - Loni railway crossing in exactly 2 hours or less, cross the railway crossing & encounter some bad roads for 5 or 7 kms and then touch Sinnar in 40 minutes. Sinnar to Shirdi can be done in 45 minutes thus making the entire journey 3.5 hours odd. But the ideal thing is to halt at Manas Resorts Igatpuri for a nice breakfast and proceed.

Road condition - 2.5 out of 5