[ashvek3141]

Guys,

I am planning a travel with my parents to Pune - Lonavala - Shirdi - Kolhapur & back starting from 15th Dec 2021.

Below is the day-wise breakup,

15th Dec - Goa to Pune, stay at Pune.
16th Dec - Minor sightseeing at Pune and depart to Lonavala. Stay at Lonavala.
17th Dec - Sightseeing at Lonavala and depart to Shirdi maybe after lunch. Stay at Shirdi.
18th Dec - Darshan in the morning and leave for Kolhapur by 10am. Stay at Kolhapur
19th Dec - Darshan in the morning, some minor shopping maybe; have lunch and return to Goa.

Any tips, suggestions with regards to route, eateries, sightseeing at Lonavala, etc. would be of great help.

Since, this thread is dedicatedly for Bengaluru - Mumbai / Pune travel; I thought might just drop a post for a few suggestions from our travelers.

Any inputs are much appreciated.

[automachine]

I am travelling from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru during weekend of December 18-19. I heard from someone who travelled a week back that cops are asking for RTPCR report for entering into Karnataka at Nippani check post. Could someone clarify if RTPCR is mandatory or two dose vaccine certificate would suffice?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by automachine

I am travelling from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru during weekend of December 18-19. I heard from someone who travelled a week back that cops are asking for RTPCR report for entering into Karnataka at Nippani check post. Could someone clarify if RTPCR is mandatory or two dose vaccine certificate would suffice?

Updates from another thread that should help you. This was as of last week:

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

At KA border, they didn't ask explicitly ask for kids' RT PCR, but I had taken one anyway for my 8 year old child. At Goa border, they just checked the adults' double vaccination certificates (even though some news reports said that RT PCR was mandatory for Goa entry, irrespective of vaccination status).

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Just crossed MH-KA border while traveling to Goa. We were stopped for the Covid check, cop asked where we were going, gave the RT PCR reports a cursory glance, and sent us on our way. Didn't take more than 15-20 seconds at the most.

[Waspune]

Guys so is rtpcr mandatory when entering Karnataka from Maharashtra or will the vaccination certificate work as an affirmative? My wife and I are travelling to Bangalore on Saturday.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Waspune

Guys so is rtpcr mandatory when entering Karnataka from Maharashtra or will the vaccination certificate work as an affirmative? My wife and I are travelling to Bangalore on Saturday.

RTPCR is mandatory while entering Karnataka from Maharashtra. It is status quo for now.

[sandeepsc]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

RTPCR is mandatory while entering Karnataka from Maharashtra. It is status quo for now.

Is RTPCR also necessary for passing through Karnataka while final destination is Goa?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by sandeepsc

Is RTPCR also necessary for passing through Karnataka while final destination is Goa?

This too has been discussed in the past. Cops are lenient when you say that your destination is Goa and are merely passing section of Karnataka to enter Goa later. For such cases they are simply letting you go. Further, your car is MH registered will not attract attention too when your destination is Goa.

Best would be to carry a print of your vaccination certificate and along with this if you can have one more as proof of booking for accommodation (Tourist) or an address proof (anything that says you or your folks are residents of Goa) you should be totally good without any issues.

[vikrantj]

Travelled from Pune to Bangalore on Sunday and from Bangalore to Pune on Thursday (yesterday) . I was asked for RTPCR report while entering Karnataka. If you say your destination is Belgaum then they will just see the report and let you pass. I told I was going to Bangalore so they wrote my name and car number in their register.

While coming back , I was asked vaccination certificate and destination.

Overall the road is good. I travelled to Bangalore on Sunday so was caught in Sunday traffic after Chitradurga. Two flyovers in Tumkar had horrible potholes on both sides of road.

Pune to Bangalore : 4.30am to 7.30pm with 3 breaks of 15-30-45mins
Bangalore to Pune : 6.30am to 9.30pm with 3 breaks of 30-30-45mins

Petrol filled up at :
IOC in Pune opposite my house and IOC pump about 50kms before Sira while going to Bangalore
Shell pump after Chitradurga and BPCL after Satara

I had food stop at Upadhyay Ruchi at Aimangala . Location is here

Coming back had breakfast break at Apoorva Resorts. Location is here and then McDonalds at Kolhapur

[ShreyG]

Just completed the Bangalore - Panvel trip today. Managed it in a single day against my fears of having to take a stop over in between.
Road conditions till Belgaum area an absolute dream with the exception of the single way between Hubbali and Dharwad (the 90 Rs toll really pinches here).
Took a total time of 14 hours with 2 food stops (Ganesh hotel and Hotel Saffron, two excellent suggestions from this group ) + 1 petrol fill up break (COCO BPCL after Belgaum) + additional 2 washroom breaks.
Would also suggest Apoorva Resorts before Davangere for breakfast. Hygenic food with neat and clean restrooms.
Few observations from the trip -
1. Entry to Mahrashtra is absolutely chaotic with a single long lane for cars and multiple lanes for trucks to check vaccination certs. The lane discipline at the tolls is also quite bad (Entry to Mumbai needs a special mention here) .
2. The TN trucks are an absolute menace on the road, either side of the border. 3 lanes are covered with trucks at speeds of 20, 22 and 24 kmph
3. It was my first time driving in Maharashtra. I noticed that cars here give an indicator and turn in with no regard to distance to the vehicle behind / beside.

P.S. - What is with the drumroll type rumble strips in Maharashtra? They were quite amusing for starters but turned annoying very quickly when the missus tried to take a quick nap.

[rajivtelang]

Reached home at Mumbai by 10pm yesterday. Some updates on the trip.

17th Dec: Started at around 3pm with parents, wife and daughter from Marathahalli and reached SankamA Boutique Hotel at Davanagere at around 8pm as planned for night stay.

18th Dec: Started at 9am after heavy breakfast and reached Sai International Hotel at around 2pm for a quick lunch. Continued further at 3pm and finally reached Goregaon at 10pm due to moderate to heavy inbound traffic at Panvel and Vashi. Things were bad to worse starting from Pune, expressway was fine but other side towards Pune was a complete mess on Saturday evening.

Pumps used for refueling:
BPCL, Speed petrol pump after Ranebennur, COCO
BPCL, Kalyani Autolinks after Kolhapur
Both are decent.

Updates on vaccination check and other incidents:
At MH border we were stopped. I just spoke in marathi, "sarvanchi certificates ani RTPCR reports aahet" (we have everybody's certificates and RTPCR reports) and just kept the file handy. That checking person looked at me for one second, didn't even look at the file and let us go. Of course I had everybody's fully vaccinated certificates and RTPCR for my daughter in that file.
However I could see there was a huge queue on other side towards KA side and each vehicle was stopped and checked for reports.
At another place before Kolhapur we were stopped by a traffic cop and he started in Hindi by asking for DL (KA registered car). Again I used my marathi. He was keen to know if we were carrying any drinks. I said why should a person carry drink from KA? He was under impression that we were returning from Goa. Perhaps all India number system might reduce such incidents of being stopped in other states.

Now time to keep on getting updates on return on 30th. We will undergo RTPCR test on 29th before returning on 30th.

Thanks to everybody for helping our long awaited trip after 2 years to Mumbai.

[paragsachania]

Those driving between the 2 states for the next few days please be vigilant and aware of the incidents in and around Kolhapur and Belgaum areas triggered by the recent developments related to border dispute and et al. Without wanting to get into the details of this just be warned about this.

Have already watched news and videos from other sources where KA Regd vehicles were attached in Sangli/Kolhapur belt.

[Dark water]

Originally Posted by ShreyG

Just completed the Bangalore - Panvel trip

P.S. - What is with the drumroll type rumble strips in Maharashtra? They were quite amusing for starters but turned annoying very quickly when the missus tried to take a quick nap.

That's what those rumbler strips are meant for, not allow the driver to slip into a nap and mostly they are placed near habitations or where there is a right turn across the highway. No doubt they are annoying but also contribute to safer roads.

[ShreyG]

Originally Posted by Dark water

That's what those rumbler strips are meant for, not allow the driver to slip into a nap and mostly they are placed near habitations or where there is a right turn across the highway. No doubt they are annoying but also contribute to safer roads.

Absolutely. All in for the safe roads. What I meant was why the drumroll type effect. Generally rumble strips elsewhere are consistently bumpy. However, they are much nicer than the hills portrayed as speed breakers on the Bangalore - Mysore highway.

[rakutty]

I drove down from BLR-PUNE today 19Dec with family ( 4 of us 2 adults and 2 kids), reached Belgavi-Kholapur check post around noon. They didn't check any documents all we did was roll down our window the guy showed sign language and asked if we have done vaccination we did a thumps up, we were waved through. We didnt even stop the car it was in the crawl mode. The whole process took less than a minute. That was it. Hope it helps folks not sure if it was the Sunday mood the officials were in.

Also there were nothing different regarding Sec144 at Belgavi. We failed to notice anything on the highway life was normal.

The traffic was bad once we entered MH looks like it was an auspicious day saw a few crowded marriage halls and cars taking up space on the highway.

Apoorva Resort and Sai International were good find through this forum appreciate it very much a big to all the folks in this forum.

[roadlover1705]

Hey there! I plan to do a solo trip from Bangalore to Mumbai on 24th Dec. While I have a fair understanding of the route and stopover options now thanks to this really helpful thread, I would really appreciate your advice on a couple of things -

1. I will start at 0300 from Bangalore and will drive through all the way as I do not want to halt the journey. My destination is Kandivali East - which route shall I take after entering Mumbai to avoid the traffic to a certain extent? Also, I will keep an eye on this thread for any route developments till closer to the departure date but anything you'd suggest I keep in mind?
2. I plan to stay there with my cousins for a couple of days before heading for Daman for a day or two. I don't have a plan beyond that and have a few more days (I assume two) to spare before I have to be back in Bangalore (I want to be back by 1st Jan). Any recommendations on where should I head for a couple of days from Daman?