[zodiac01]

Planning to travel - Bangalore - Ganagapur - Akkalkot - Ch. Sambhaji Nagar/Aurangabad by car. I am familiar with the Bangalore - Bijapur - Ch. Sambhaji Nagar route but need some help and inputs with the Ganagapur and Akkalkot bypass route.

More Specifically
A. Should I be taking the

1. Bijapur bypass to Ganagapur or
2. Ilkal - Hungund - Muddbihal - Devar Hippargi - Ganagapur route?

B. Between Ganagalur and Akkalkot, g-maps throws a few options. Which one is better among these?

1. Ganagapur - Atnor - Dudhani - Akkalkot
2. Ganagapur - Afzalpur - Kargjgi - Akkalkot

Thanks much.

[akanad16]

Better to go via Solapur towards Akkalkot and Gangapur.

Originally Posted by zodiac01

Planning to travel - Bangalore - Ganagapur - Akkalkot - Ch. Sambhaji Nagar/Aurangabad by car. I am familiar with the Bangalore - Bijapur - Ch. Sambhaji Nagar route but need some help and inputs with the Ganagapur and Akkalkot bypass route.

More Specifically
A. Should I be taking the

1. Bijapur bypass to Ganagapur or
2. Ilkal - Hungund - Muddbihal - Devar Hippargi - Ganagapur route?

B. Between Ganagalur and Akkalkot, g-maps throws a few options. Which one is better among these?

1. Ganagapur - Atnor - Dudhani - Akkalkot
2. Ganagapur - Afzalpur - Kargjgi - Akkalkot

Thanks much.

[akanad16]

Travelled from Satara to Bengaluru on 30th December and managed to complete the journey in less than 12 hours. I feel it helped as I started from Satara at 5 AM and it was a Monday.

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by yogishkamath

I drove from Marathahalli to Panvel on Saturday with my family - through the Belagavi route and back Sunday/Monday through the Pandharpur route.

Return journey:
We started at 14:35 on Sunday and reached the temple at Pandharpur just before 20:00. On monday, we started from Pandharpur at around 6:00, reached the Vijayapura bypass around 7:50, (through NH561A), refueled at 8:45, stopped for breakfast about 50 km before Hospet at around 9:25. Resuming at 10:05, we were able to get to Chitradurga at around 11:55 and Tumkur at 13:15. The last 80 odd km to Marathahalli took 2 hours 15 minutes and we got home only at 15:30.

Could you please say little more about the road conditions between shirwal > pandharpur > zalki? Could we maintain steady speeds on this stretch?

[yogishkamath]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Could you please say little more about the road conditions between shirwal > pandharpur > zalki? Could we maintain steady speeds on this stretch?

The road from Shirwal to Pandharpur is in good shape, by and large. However, it is not possible to maintain steady speeds. There are a few diversions and small towns on the way, which will slow you down. It took me over 2.5 hours to drive the distance.

I did not drive from Pandharpur to Zalki. I took 561A which is the Pandharpur - Umadi - Bijapur road. 90% of that road is in very good shape and you can maintain good speeds, but the other 10% is in horrible shape and one has to crawl along at 10-15 kmph. I was able to drive this stretch in less than 2 hours as there was little or not traffic in the morning when I started.

[amandal1810]

Sharing my Bengaluru-Pune drive experience:

Drove from Bengaluru to Pune on 22nd Jan.

• Decided to take NH50 route as per the recent posts on this thread. We had packed sufficient food for this journey, since it was known that good food stops are scarce on this route.
• Started at 5am from Bellandur. Stopped for breakfast at A2B Sira (https://maps.app.goo.gl/pata6CYQKx7saVqG7).
• NH50 is in great condition with smooth tarmac, letting you maintain speeds of 100kmph+. You can enjoy it up to Vijayapura. Google Maps was showing the route via Zalki, so we went that way. After Zalki, it's a single lane state highway until you reach NH561A. NH561A is in great shape too, which runs up to Pandharpur.
• We stopped for lunch (to have our packed food) at a random deserted bus stop on NH50, just before Vijayapura. From what we could see from the road - the food stops on NH50 are mostly targeted towards truckers.
• Another option people have recommended on this thread is to take NH561A directly from Vijayapura and go via Umadi (instead of heading to Zalki). But I do not know why Google Maps does not recommend this route.
• After NH561A, we crawled through Pandharpur city, after which begins NH965. NH965 mostly has smooth tarmac but its construction is not fully completed - barricades, dividers and lane markings are missing in some places. There are several diversions on this road. Watch out for local traffic - they can appear from anywhere. Progress on this section was slower than expected.
• Drive statistics: started at 5am from Bellandur, reached Narhe (south Pune) at 8.30pm - so 15.5 hours total, including all breaks. Wife drove for 4 hours and I drove the rest.
  

Drove from Pune to Bengaluru on 25th Jan.

• Decided to take NH48 this time even after knowing about the numerous diversions between Satara and Belgavi. This was primarily because we could not get packed food on this journey.
• NH48 is in good shape up to Satara, but the road has a lot of undulations. Moreover, there is a lot of traffic on this section.
• After Satara, begins the diversion nightmare which continues till Belgavi. The service roads are in very bad condition in most places. No one is there to manage the traffic chaos where the road passes through small towns. All this chaos drains your energy and eats up a lot of time.
• Stopped for breakfast at Kailas Bhel Food Court (https://maps.app.goo.gl/JG8ChvRDyoipjWHJ9). Stopped for fuel refill and bio break at a Shell station. They've got super clean washrooms - highly recommended. Stopped for lunch at Viraj Junction at Kognoli (https://maps.app.goo.gl/71PPvtR7df47MDrV9), just after the state border. Stopped for evening snacks and coffee at Kamat restaurant at Chabbi (https://maps.app.goo.gl/esFsBdBqX7nN7bVq8).
• Beware of speed traps in Maharasthra. Got an SMS with e-challan for over-speeding (car was at 99kmph in a 90kmph zone). Penalty amount was 2000rs.
• By evening, Google Maps had started showing an arrival ETA of 2am. Our breaks were longer than usual, since all those frustrating diversions had drained our energy. We were contemplating staying over at Apoorva Resorts at Davangere. However, we finally decided to skip it and head home non-stop. Thankfully, NH48 was fairly empty at night, and we could hold steady speeds of around 100kmph. We stopped for another round of coffee somewhere on NH48.
• By the time we were at Neelamangala, traffic in Bengaluru had died down. Google maps showed the route cutting through the city, avoiding NICE road, thereby saving some toll and some minutes. We finally arrived home at 1.50am.
• Drive statistics: started from Narhe at 7am, reached Bellandur at 2am - so 19 hours total, including all breaks. Wife drove for 6 hours, and I drove the rest.
  

TL;DR: as of Jan 2025, NH50 - NH561A - NH965 is the best bet for driving from Bengaluru to Pune. Ensure to pack food. Avoid NH48.

[yogishkamath]

Originally Posted by amandal1810

TL;DR: as of Jan 2025, NH50 - NH561A - NH965 is the best bet for driving from Bengaluru to Pune. Ensure to pack food. Avoid NH48.

For what it is worth, gmaps consistently indicates that NH48 is the faster route - and this is in line with what I experienced as well.

Perhaps you were unlucky to find a lot of traffic on that day - or maybe I was unusually lucky

[autoweirdo]

Originally Posted by amandal1810

Sharing my Bengaluru-Pune drive experience:
[*]Another option people have recommended on this thread is to take NH561A directly from Vijayapura and go via Umadi (instead of heading to Zalki). But I do not know why Google Maps does not recommend this route.
.

I did Umadi route from Pandharpur to Vijayapura, but will recommend to go via Zalki only.
1) Post Mangalvedha the roads are not cemented and have unexpected potholes in few patch, overall tarmac condition is fine.
2) The roads are narrower in MH section compared to KA and have lot of twists and turns which reduces speed.
3) Nearly 4 to 5 bridge work is on hence we have diversions which are not tarred, small cars might face bottom scrapping.
4) Just before Vijayapur we have small stretch of single lane (near dam) due to construction where we faced traffic jam.

If coming via Zalki just before MH border you have Jio pump where you can do tankful and save some amount compared to MH (though now price difference is not much as it used to few years back).

[krrisdrive]

Originally Posted by yogishkamath

For what it is worth, gmaps consistently indicates that NH48 is the faster route - and this is in line with what I experienced as well.

Perhaps you were unlucky to find a lot of traffic on that day - or maybe I was unusually lucky

Based on posts here in last one month, it seems that NH48 is preferable for Bangalore - Pune/Mumbai journey and NH50 via Pandharpur for Mumbai/Pune - Bangalore journey.

[akanad16]

Created this less than 5 min video of my journey from Satara to Bengaluru. Hope this helps.

https://youtu.be/tZbA9mo_NGQ?si=kujWnOW_LWYuq3Tp

[lonleyhelmet]

Hello, fellow BHPians.

Due to my office offsite, I need to travel from Bengaluru to Khopoli/Lonavala between 19 Feb 2025 to 24 Feb 2025 on my Hero Xpulse Pro 200 4v.

Currently, I've split the ride into two days. I'll stay at Kolad on the 2nd night, and head to Khopoli/Lonavala on the 3rd morning).

DAY 1 - Bengaluru - Bagalkote ~490 kms (B'luru - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Hosapete - Bagalkote)
DAY 2 - Bagalkote - Kolad ~470 kms (Bagalkote - Vijayapura - Jath - Satara - Mahabaleshwar - Kolad)
DAY 3 - Kolad - Khopoli ~ 60 kms (Kolad - Khopoli)

Day 1's destination is a little flexible, meaning I'd stretch it up to 550 - 600 km depending on my energy levels, daylight left, and major towns nearby. I've not ridden the Xpulse on a single stretch of more than 400 km on straight highways, as my last ride was from Bengaluru to - Kodaikanal/Poombarai for ~ 505 km.

Day 3 will be a short morning ride.

I've not heard many good things about the quality of the national highways once we enter Maharashtra borders.

Do you have any quick recommendations or tips? I'd also love any sights to behold on the way.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by amandal1810

as of Jan 2025, NH50 - NH561A - NH965 is the best bet for driving from Bengaluru to Pune

How about driving all the way to Solapur and thereon to Pune via NH65?

[Awaz]

Originally Posted by zodiac01

A. Should I be taking the

1. Bijapur bypass to Ganagapur or
2. Ilkal - Hungund - Muddbihal - Devar Hippargi - Ganagapur route?

Suggest you to post this query on Bangalore to Gulbarga route queries thread to gather more inputs

[MCR]

Planning a drive to Bangalore. Will leave Pune at 3.00PM on a working day.
Which would be the best route to take?

1. The standard NH48 via Kolhapur - Belgaum?
2. Via Solapur by pass - Vijayapura?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by MCR

Planning a drive to Bangalore. Will leave Pune at 3.00PM on a working day.
Which would be the best route to take?

1. The standard NH48 via Kolhapur - Belgaum?
2. Via Solapur by pass - Vijayapura?

If leaving Pune from East side then option #2. If leaving Pune from West side then Option #1.

Option#1 is still a pain to drive esp in the evenings with the traffic in Karad, Kolhapur sections and the drive is mainly in the service road till Hattargi/Belagavi.