[napster]

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?

Option 2 has better road conditions than Option 1, however considering you'll be starting in the afternoon and covering major part of the road in dark, I'd suggest Option 1 since it has more amenities available throughout whereas Option 2 has very limited options to stop in between.

[anandpadhye]

Need to drive from Pune to Bangalore this week. Google shows route via Phaltan - Pandharpur - Vijaypura - Hospete - Chitradurga.

The regular route via Satara Kolhapur Belgavi is not even shown as an alternative. I assume this is because of all the repair work ongoing.

Recent posts on this thread and others seen in line with Google. However, some members have driven via Solapur instead of Pandharpur?

Any inputs from anyone who has done Pune Bangalore recently?

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

However, some members have driven via Solapur instead of Pandharpur?

Any inputs from anyone who has done Pune Bangalore recently?

If you are starting from east side of Pune, you can route via solapur. If it is from the west, you can go via the regular route or you can take a detour at shirwal, and proceed towards vijaypura via pandharpur. This way, you can avoid the bad sections of the regular route.

[anandpadhye]

Started from Pune (west side) at 7AM and took the Solapur Vijayapura Hospete Chitradurga route. Surface was smooth throughout and no potholes. It was a pleasure. Lot of truck traffic from Hadapsar all the way to Solapur but surface quality is good. After merging on the NH52 at Solapur, traffic became thin and surface became progressively better. At some patches the tar has melted and longitudinal waves have been formed and 330i steering tramlines heavily at those but those sections were short and slowly disappeared. After Vijayapura, the surface is mostly smooth and some of it is freshly tarred and workmanship is good, it was fun to drive. Flyover joints are also smooth, some of them are even seamless. Why can't they ensure such quality throughout the country? After merging on NH48 at Chitradurga, surface remained smooth but there are 3 diversions that caused pile up, which gave me a taste of what I would have gone through if I had taken NH48 throughout.

NH52 has less options for food but there are hotels and dhabas. Most petrol pumps have good washrooms so this route is certainly doable unless you have extremely fussy passengers :-)

It only February but it's becoming hot already. One thing that my next car will surely have is ventilated seats. In fact these should be made mandatory.

[rakesh_r]

Owing to the latest tensions brewing/ongoing at the KA-MH borders, both at Kolhapur-Belgavi and Solapur, any concerns for pvt vehicles crossing the border?

[Dr.AD]

I drove from Kolhapur to Bangalore just a day ago, and here is an update on this route. A couple of months ago, I had driven via Pune-Solapur-Bijapur-Bangalore route, and this time, I took the Kolhapur-Belgaum-Bangalore route.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

In summary, this usual road (NH48) is still fine if you start early morning on a weekday (avoid weekends as much as possible), and avoid passing through Karad in the evening hours.

Quoting my old post from last year, I think this is still the case!

In fact, this time, I think the situation has improved! Several portions of the new road are completed and open, and even the diversions are better tarred, wider, and in general smoother than last time. I had a nicer and smoother drive than I was expecting based on my experiences from last year.

As long as you avoid weekends, this road is totally fine! I had a very stress-free and smooth drive from Kolhapur to Bangalore route. I was driving my BMW 320d. And the roads, including diversions, were totally fine for the 320d. No issues anywhere.

It took me 1 hour and 50 minutes from Sayaji Hotel, Kolhapur to Belgaum, which is not too bad at all in my view. Yes there are plenty of diversions. But if one is mentally prepared for this, then the diversions are easy. There are no real issues apart from mental frustration when one is not prepared for these.

Having done numerous Pune-Bangalore drives via both the options (Pune-Kolhapur-Bangalore and Pune-Solapur-Bangalore), in last 2 years, I still prefer the 1st option (Pune-Kolhapur-Bangalore).

Google Maps Caution: As I had mentioned previously too, while driving on Pune-Kolhapur-Bangalore section, you have to just ignore Google maps altogether. The maps just do not understand the road work and diversions. At many sections, the maps think road is closed, and will insist you take random left turns and detours which are way longer. Further, at many places, the maps insist you take a U-turn and go somewhere else because they are just not aware aware of newly opened sections. Overall, plenty of wrong and confusing directions in the Google Maps throughout this section, which I watched in amusement and just kept on driving on the main road (since I knew the road exists and Google Maps were wrong!). But if someone is blindly following maps, they can end up taking the wrong roads here. Therefore, please ignore the maps and just drive through the diversions and the newly opened sections!

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Owing to the latest tensions brewing/ongoing at the KA-MH borders, both at Kolhapur-Belgavi and Solapur, any concerns for pvt vehicles crossing the border?

I drove here a couple of days ago and it was all fine. No issues whatsoever.

[rg12]

I too prefer taking NH48 for my Bengaluru to Mumbai drive and return journey too. Most of the days, it is faster than Solapur route but as mentioned above in the thread, if you are mentally prepared for the diversions, then it's manageable.

[TSIVTEC]

Did the Mumbai- Bangalore route 2 weeks back. Started at 18:00 from Thane, reached Ginger Wakad for a night halt by 20:15. Early morning, google maps still suggested the Solapur route so decided to take it.

Resumed the journey at 4:45 from Wakad and the early exit ensured smooth progress throughout. Crossed into Karnataka at 10:00. Reached Vijayapura by 11:00 and took a 1km detour from the highway for a light brunch. Merged with the main Pune-Bangalore highway at 16:00.

Here on, started encountering video game like driving behaviour usually seen on reaching Bangalore outskirts from all sides. Took the diversion for STRR at 6:15 and reached home at 19:45. STRR has become a real boon for us East BLR folks.

Journey Stats: Pune-Mumbai

Total Time:15 hrs
Break Time: 1.5 hrs [Shell at Shiral Tembhurni, Hotel Ramakrishna Palace-Vijayapura]

Road Conditions:
Good to excellent throughout the whole route apart from a few diversions which don't slow you down much. Can maintain good triple digit speeds and do this route at a much faster pace but driving the Jazz CVT makes you tone it down. Wish I had the Crysta 2.8 for this drive. Kept it between 90-100 with a few short bursts upto 120kph.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I drove from Kolhapur to Bangalore just a day ago, and here is an update on this route. A couple of months ago, I had driven via Pune-Solapur-Bijapur-Bangalore route, and this time, I took the Kolhapur-Belgaum-Bangalore route.

Hey Dr. AD.

How long do you reckon Pune to Bangalore CBD (St Mark’s / Bowring institute area) might take if we leave from Baner Pune at about 6 am on a weekday? Can we reach in 11 - 12 hours assuming we keep it tight with short and efficient food / fuel breaks?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Hey Dr. AD.

How long do you reckon Pune to Bangalore CBD (St Mark’s / Bowring institute area) might take if we leave from Baner Pune at about 6 am on a weekday? Can we reach in 11 - 12 hours assuming we keep it tight with short and efficient food / fuel breaks?

I think you should start a bit earlier, around 5AM. I usually start at 5AM from Baner, and escape the traffic before or at Khambatki ghat. 6AM is not too bad either, but if you start at 5AM, much better!

Even with 6AM start, it will take 12 hours of driving time on a weekday. Any breaks you take will be extra. However, as I mentioned earlier, on a weekday, the traffic is manageable overall and the diversions are all easily manageable. Nothing serious to worry about.

The main problem for you will be that you will hit the Bangalore city area in peak evening traffic, and from Peenya to CBD can be a lot of traffic and time wasted in that traffic. But I guess there is not much one can do about that. Out of that 12 hours I mentioned, last 1 hour will be just the Bangalore city drive.

So the short answer: 12 hours of actual driving time plus any breaks you take.

[R-Drive]

Hi, I am planning to drive to Pune by the end of this month with my family, and request advice on the route I am planning to take.

We normally take the NH48 to Belgaum on the first day, stay overnight and then drive to Pune the next morning. We are comfortable with the hotel we usually stay in, so would like to stick with this route as far as possible. In this context, would taking Belgaum – Sangli - Tasgaon – Baner route on the second day help to avoid the road constructions, or at least a major portion of them? It is longer but we would not mind this if the drive is comfortable. Request anyone who has tried this route to kindly advise their experience.

Else we will have to go via the alternative NH50 route, and stay the night at Vijaypura/Solapur, but we would like to keep this as the second choice.

[jomson13]

Originally Posted by R-Drive

Hi, I am planning to drive to Pune by the end of this month with my family, and request advice on the route I am planning to take.

We normally take the NH48 to Belgaum on the first day, stay overnight and then drive to Pune the next morning. We are comfortable with the hotel we usually stay in, so would like to stick with this route as far as possible. In this context, would taking Belgaum – Sangli - Tasgaon – Baner route on the second day help to avoid the road constructions, or at least a major portion of them? It is longer but we would not mind this if the drive is comfortable. Request anyone who has tried this route to kindly advise their experience.

Else we will have to go via the alternative NH50 route, and stay the night at Vijaypura/Solapur, but we would like to keep this as the second choice.

My usual route from Sangli to Pune has been this:

Sangli - Tasgaon bypass - Bambavade - Kadepur - Pusesavali - Rahimatpur - Satara - NH48

This route is scenic and is not too crowded during the day.
A word of caution, there are some single lane roads on this route and this being the cane crushing season you could end up behind a slow moving tractor trailor full of sugarcane.

I'm driving to sangli tomorrow and am planning to take the NH48 this time, I've heard that the diversions are pretty manageable now.

[mygodbole]

Originally Posted by R-Drive

Else we will have to go via the alternative NH50 route, and stay the night at Vijaypura/Solapur, but we would like to keep this as the second choice.

If you do end up at Vijayapura, I suggest using the Pandharpur > Phaltan > Shirwal > Baner route, instead of the route via Solapur.

I did Bengaluru > Vijayapura > Pune in November, crossing Madavara toll around 10.30am on a Sunday, reaching Vijayapura around 6.30pm, Pandharpur around 9pm and Baner at 2am, inclusive of all breaks.

The roads are excellent, except for the delays across Karnataka due to transportation of solar wind farm fins. Plenty of them.

Only one place is tricky. Right after Hosalli town, take the extreme LEFT lane and go onto the flyover towards Hungund. Vijaypura/Solapur is NOT mentioned anywhere here. Spent 15 minutes, along with a couple of trucks, reversing from under the flyover. (Straight road goes towards Koppal and Hubballi )

Vijayapura > Pandharpur > Shirwal (on NH48) is almost completely concretised (within Maharashtra) with few short diversions near villages. From Vijayapura to the village of Lavanga, concretisation is ongoing and 25km took almost one hour. Pandharpur > Shirwal is 4-laned and most flyovers are open. Some stretches are two-laned due to lack of space for widening. (Google Maps will try to keep pushing you towards the Solapur-Pune road ... IGNORE it)

After Shirwal, usual insane Puneri traffic.

I avoided going via Solapur since that route comes into Pune at Hadapsar. Not even worth considering, since you seek to reach Baner.

Drive safe.

[pudarsanketh]

I have a drive planned from Pune (Hadapsar) to Mangalore. Google map is suggesting via Solapur -> Hubli -> Ankola -> Mangalore with a total driving time of 17 Hours. I was thinking Pune -> Satara -> Anuskura -> Kudal -> Madgaon -> Karwar -> Ankola -> Mangalore with 16 hours and around 90 KM lesser.

Regular route via Kolhapur, gmaps is not recommending at all. Any suggestions as I plan to cover on same day. Recent Pune Bangalore drive was comfortable and less than 14 hours with breaks via Solapur.

[condor]

Originally Posted by pudarsanketh

I have a drive planned from Pune (Hadapsar) to Mangalore. Google map is suggesting via Solapur -> Hubli -> ... .

For Pune-Bangalore, I would go via Solapur. But for your case of going to Mangalore, would it not be better via Kolhapur/Belgaum ?

Yes, there are diversions on this stretch. Sugarcane laden tractors can be there on both routes. But if you check the updates by those who have done Pune-Belgaum, this may be a little better than going via Solpaur. The other reason I suggest via Kolhapur is that - Solapur-Hubli is not same as Solapur-Chitradurga road & traffic conditions(like for those coming to Bangalore would use).

You would start early, and the diversions are manageable is what I have read here on this thread.