[litesaber]

Yes I can't find any hotels in Kolhapur on NH4. Other options seem to be Hotel Pankaj Executive or Hotel Sangam in Karad. Does anybody have info on these?

Originally Posted by Akadian

Hi,

The hotel pearl is a decent place but you have to enter the town as it is close to Tara Rani Chowk and the bus stand. It should take you 20 minutes from the highway to reach and around the same time to exit while approaching the NH 4 again.

Cheers

[prince_pervez]

There is a Mc Donald's on the Highway near Kolhapur if that interests you.

[litesaber]

To clarify, I meant hotel for overnight stay :-)

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

There is a Mc Donald's on the Highway near Kolhapur if that interests you.

FYI, there is another Mc Donalds now on this route near Pune. This is near Khed-Shivpur, next to the BPCL COCO.

Originally Posted by litesaber

Members have been raving about Hotel Sai International for food, but is the hotel good?

The food in Sai International near Kolhapur [veg/self-service/fast food section] was excellent. The toilets were clean. We halted there for about 45 minutes during our Pune - Bangalore trip on 6 March 2010.

[litesaber]

I did Blr-Mumbai on Friday 31, 2010. Started at 4am from Frazer Town, Bangalore. There was already heavy truck traffic on NH4 upto Neelamangala. We did only 32km in the first hour. After Neelamangala roads opened up and we made good time.

Roads upto Chitradurga are great as always. The Chitradurga bypass is nearly complete and I think all bridges have opened. We never had to go on the side of any imcomplete bridge. Its really great to see some progress on this route!! At many places new NHAI boards have been put up and there are lane markers in place too.

First stop was Genesis resort at Devanagare at 7:45am as my little son was awaking from his slumber. Left Genesis at 8:30am.

I could see tarring work going on the approach ramp to the Ranibennur bypass before entring the two way traffic NH4. Looks like things are really going full steam. Cleared Ranibennur and hit the first railway crossing at 9:03am and the second one at 9:20am. Good News: One of the overbridges between the two crossing is complete!

We reached Huble toll gate at 10:30am. We were in Hubli in only 6.5 hours with a break and I felt we were doing great time. Earlier I've taken 7.5 t0 8 hours to reach this point starting at 6:30am.h

We reached McDonalds at Kolhapur at 12:45pm, finished lunch at 1:40pm and decided not to stopover and driver all the way to Mumbai. Lots of pesky two and three wheelers on the highway at this time :-)

Reached Nerul in Navi Mumbai at 6:00 at a relative's house. I did not want to brave Mumbai rush hour so decided to wait it out.

To sum it up it took 14 hours to reach Mumbai with breaks of around 1:45 hours starting at 4am.

[MX6]

Nice to hear off the ranebennur stretch being spruced up. That used to be a big bottle neck. Hope the other flyover gets done quickly too!

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by litesaber

To sum it up it took 14 hours to reach Mumbai with breaks of around 1:45 hours starting at 4am.

Wow! that's great going. What car and what speed?
Regards

[ampere]

Great to hear this. Plan to see Chitradurga fort some time later. If I take the NICE road, part of the Nelamangala problem can be avoided.

[litesaber]

Originally Posted by deutscheafrikar

Wow! that's great going. What car and what speed?
Regards

Innova V. Tried to keep it at 120kph whenever possible. No rash driving, just steady.

[anainar]

Yes, the stretch is seeing improvements. I did this on 27th from Pune. I could do Pune - Bangalore ( door to door from Warje Malwadi to Koramangala ) in 11 hours and 45 minutes with three breaks for breakfast at Sai International just before Kholapur, lunch at 3:00 in Ghar Dhaba and evening tea at Coffee day, Tumkur.

Am not sure about Ranibennur bypass though whether it will be ready soon. If it happens it will be a real boon. Davengere bypass is also in decent shape with only lane being open. Chitradurga bypasses are in decent shape atleast one lane being open. The wretched railways gates are still a pain in the neck but the road condition has improved.

Overall, felt better driving this time. I am sure in another 5-6 months time, we will have dream runs between Bangalore - Mumbai.

Nainar

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by anainar

I could do Pune - Bangalore ( door to door from Warje Malwadi to Koramangala ) in 11 hours and 45 minutes with three breaks for breakfast at Sai International just before Kholapur, lunch at 3:00 in Ghar Dhaba and evening tea at Coffee day, Tumkur.

Overall, felt better driving this time. I am sure in another 5-6 months time, we will have dream runs between Bangalore - Mumbai.

Ameeeen! Imagine Pune BLR 10 hours drive (night) in an SUV. Cool.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by anainar

Yes, the stretch is seeing improvements. I did this on 27th from Pune. I could do Pune - Bangalore ( door to door from Warje Malwadi to Koramangala ) in 11 hours and 45 minutes with three breaks for breakfast at Sai International just before Kholapur, lunch at 3:00 in Ghar Dhaba and evening tea at Coffee day, Tumkur.
Nainar

The Ghar dhaba that you mention; is it A2B? If so, where is it?

ampere,

No A2B in this part of NH4! That Ghar Dhaba was in BP COCO retail outlet at Ranebennur. It is run by a Sardar, that's what I was told when we had dinner there during our Pune-Bangalore trip on 6 March 2010.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by ampere

The Ghar dhaba that you mention; is it A2B? If so, where is it?

It is not A2B!! It is just after Ranibennur when going from Bangalore to Pune, attached to a BP pump. This stretch does not have too many food joints and that is a pain as well.

For me it works fine, as if I leave Blore around 7:00 I reach that place at around 11:30. to have some brunch, to stop next at Kholapur McDonalds at around 3:30 for next food break. And then I hit Pune by 6:30-7:00. While coming back, I leave Pune around 8:00, stop at Sai International for a snack/coffee by 10:30, and hit Ghar Daba by 3:00 for lunch, coffee break again at Tumkur Coffee Day. This is a routine pretty much perfected by me in the recent past.

Nainar

[MX6]

Now it strikes me. I did notice a ghar dhaba near Ranebennur. I was raking my head all along as to where I saw that on my way back from Chennai to Pune.
But normally I stop to have food in Chitradurga (some udupi hotel there) or at the Karnataka state authorised one near Tawandi ghats, or the dinosaur theme park and restaurant near Karad.