[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by pc1686

Hello,


I am planning to drive from Jaipur to Bangalore and it ONLY to reach back in Bangalore, no touristy or sight seeing activities.

Which would be the best route and how long should I expect the trip to take?

Also, since I am doing such long trip for the first time, I humbly request your valuable suggestions as to where to stay, what all to take and any other things to be taken care of?

Is it safe to drive and what precautions should be taken?

Kindly advise stops for food, spending nights etc. I am planning to drive ONLY during daylight.

Thanks in advance.

Since this would be your first long trip, my advise would be the route via Udaipur, Baraoda, Mumbai as this route has better facility than the one via Nagpur/Hyderabad and Dhule/Shirdi or Nashik.

Overall it comes to around 2100 Kms. So how many Kms are you planning to drive per day? Based on that we can split the drive in to 3-4 days.

For things to be taken care during a highway drive, you can check the below thread,

ARTICLE: Preparation for an Indian Road Trip

ARTICLE: Safe Driving on Indian Highways & Ghats

[alstonlobo]

We are a family of 7 + 2 kids traveling in an Innova during the Christmas holidays towards Mumbai from Bangalore. Planning to start by 7am and halt at kolhapur for the night and resume driving the next morning and reach Mumbai by evening.

Any suggestions on places to tour on the way and recommendations on places to stay on the way, dormitory preferred as it's just a night's sleep. The idea is to enjoy the drive and tour places along the way.

[alstonlobo]

Originally Posted by alstonlobo

We are a family of 7 + 2 kids traveling in an Innova during the Christmas holidays towards Mumbai from Bangalore. Planning to start by 7am and halt at kolhapur for the night and resume driving the next morning and reach Mumbai by evening.

Any suggestions on places to tour on the way and recommendations on places to stay on the way, dormitory preferred as it's just a night's sleep. The idea is to enjoy the drive and tour places along the way.

Bumping the post as therehas not been a reply so far

[NPV]

Originally Posted by alstonlobo

We are a family of 7 + 2 kids traveling in an Innova during the Christmas holidays towards Mumbai from Bangalore. Planning to start by 7am and halt at kolhapur for the night and resume driving the next morning and reach Mumbai by evening.

Depending on the exact date of travel, you can expect very heavy traffic going out of Bangalore, especially if it's Dec 22 or 23, the beginning of the holiday. Even 4am start will likely not help avoid traffic, so if you can start later say even 9am, it would probably be better. Since you plan to halt overnight at Kolhapur it should be fine.

On places to see, I really can't think of too many options without detours, exceptions being the Nijalingappa memorial near Chitradurga on left side and the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belgaum which is on right side.

Places to stay - you can consider Hotel Mahendra or Sai international (tad expensive for what it offers) near Kolhapur.

[alstonlobo]

Originally Posted by NPV

Depending on the exact date of travel, you can expect very heavy traffic going out of Bangalore, especially if it's Dec 22 or 23,

Thanks for the prompt reply. Our intention is to leave from Bangalore by 6-7am. I have two kids so getting ready on time could be delayed from past experience and we might as well end up staring at 9am.

[binand]

Drove Bangalore-Mumbai solo today. Was under strict instructions from high command to drive slowly, so didn't cross 90 kmph even once. Still 17.5 hours from Marathahalli to Malad sounds a bit awkward to me. 4.30 am to 10 pm.

Satara-Pune-MPEW killed me. Atrocious traffic, plus all diversions attributable to 6 laning took 15 mins minimum. A flyover construction in Satara town took 40 minutes to negotiate. Pune bypass was choked due to the ISL match (heard on FM). Kolhapur-Satara is Maharashtra's answer to Bangalore-Mysore.

FASTag experience is detailed in the dedicated thread. Bankapur has a handheld scanner now. Only cash payments were at Hubli-Dharwad bypass and Airoli bridge.

As soon as I crossed into MH a bunch of cops stopped me. They couldn't find anything wrong, so pointed out that my car has sun film, 200 with parchi or 100 without. For parchi meet saheb who's sitting in an SUV 300 metres back. Who would?

Panvel-Sion is now incredibly wide - 12 lanes. Toll booths are in place but collection not started. Getting to Airoli from Nerul was a royal pain.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by binand

Drove Bangalore-Mumbai solo today.

You ended up driving into MH on the day a long weekend was ending and no wonder you faced a lot of traffic. Friday was a holiday here and you drove along with massive traffic returning back to Pune and Mumbai.

I drove on Saturday and we were at my friend's home at Vashi at 1720 with a 0440 start from Sanjaynagar. Traffic in MH was usual but we weren't stuck anywhere, not even Pune bypass and we in fact had a late lunch at Pune at 1500 after 2 breakfast stops (0730 at Ranebenur amd 1100 at Nippani) before and a refueling stop.

The Toll collection at Sion Panvel highway has stopped now for cars. It's applicable for freight vehicles. It was in place ever since the road was widened 2 years back but MH Govt banned toll collection for cars across certain booths.

[binand]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

You ended up driving into MH on the day a long weekend was ending and no wonder you faced a lot of traffic. Friday was a holiday here and you drove along with massive traffic returning back to Pune and Mumbai.

Ah no wonder then, though as per the Pune FM RJs the ISL match at Balewadi stadium was the root cause of massive pile up on the bypass. Anyway once I entered the MPEW everything was peaceful except the occasional accident.

[paragsachania]

On last Saturday, I drove Bangalore - Mumbai (Vashi) to drop a friend's Ecosport. Here are some significant updates on the route:

FASTag update:

• FASTag worked in all the booths, including Bankapura
  
  
• Hubli - Dharwad was paid in cash (Known reasons)
  
  
• FASTag Infrastructure now ensures at least 2 lanes at all Plazas equipped with Automated scanner
  
  
• Dedicated lanes however were seen serving cash vehicles as well

Toll details



Toll distribution:

Most of the times, I have seen queries on how exorbitant the tolls are levied to commuters, especially Maharashtra that was assumed to charge one more than its Kartanata counterpart. So I did some work on this, taking into account the following aspects:

• Starting Point of NH : Beginning of NBTL flyover after Goreguntepalya, Bangalore
  
  
• End Point : Just opposite to Mc Donalds, Kalamboli, Panvel
  
  
• Since Mumbai - Pune is an expressway, I referred to that as a separate category so that we get the below distribution in which 30 kms of single carriageway Hubli-Dharwad Bypass (also not part of NHDP) is included

Route conditions:

• Overall the entire route is a mix of Good to very good
  
  
• Tumkur Bypass remains bumpy, especially all the culverts/Bridges
  
  
• Haveri - Bankapura - Hubli - Fresh layer ensured the undulations have reduced now
  
  
• Satara - Pune : 90% complete except few diversions; Completed sections are perfectly good. Diversions also has good roads

Drive details:

• Car: First Gen Ecosport Titanium Diesel Variant
  
  
• Driving Speeds : Mostly 110-120 KMPH
  
  
• No of Passengers : 3 Including myself
  
  
• We ended up taking 3 breaks - One at Ranebennur Kamat, next one at Amar at Nippani and third one at Wakad in Pune.
  
  
• We started with half tank of Diesel and refilled just one at BPCL COCO at Ranebennur bypass that lasted easily till destination even before the low fuel warning came up

Few Statistics:



A new eatery to the list:

"Hotel -The Cult" has now officially opened (Since Sept mostly) just before Varur on the left hand side when driving towards Hubli. This one is managed by the same Indian Paratha Company that exists at Devanahalli on Hyderabad Road, Bangalore.

Location : Approximately 390 Kms from Bangalore.

I am attaching a few pictures from Google map reviews.







So, Ranebennur Kamat (300 Kms) is too early and Belgaum (500 Kms) is too late, this one is situated around (390 Kms) from Bangalore and has filled the void between Ranebennur and Belgaum.

Note: Hotel Amar at the end of Tawandi Ghats has expanded and has very well done rest rooms now. Definitely a must stop if one wants to skip Belgaum and Kolhapur and stop by here for some peaceful meal and a break with zero detours

Return was by flight and hence no updates on that part .

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Return was by flight and hence no updates on that part .

Please advise if FasTag was working between Gokak and Gadag

The Indian Paratha Company is a welcome addition,and the quality of the food too is pretty good.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

"Hotel -The Cult" has now officially opened (Since Sept mostly) just before Varur on the left hand side when driving towards Hubli. This one is managed by the same Indian Paratha Company that exists at Devanahalli on Hyderabad Road, Bangalore.

Thanks Parag.

This fills the gap as an option for a break between Ranebennur & Hubli.

I'd seen this during my Goa trip in October and posted about it on the Goa thread and linked in an earlier post on this thread here (Bangalore - Pune - Mumbai : Route updates & Eateries)

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by NPV

posted about it on the Goa thread and linked in an earlier post on this thread

Oh sorry and honestly, I have easily missed reading about it between so many lines there .

A picture or highlight would have saved me from doing this!

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by binand

Still 17.5 hours from Marathahalli to Malad sounds a bit awkward to me. 4.30 am to 10 pm.

Wow! Just curious how long did it take you to do Marathahalli-Kolhapur? I have similar drive coming up ahead of a peak weekend, so want to know what I should expect

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Wow! Just curious how long did it take you to do Marathahalli-Kolhapur? I have similar drive coming up ahead of a peak weekend, so want to know what I should expect

• Avoid Sundays or last day of long weekends to reach Pune/Mumbai
  
  
• Most Industries are closed on Sundays; Kolhapur, Islampur, Karad, Shirwal have a lot of industrial labor crowd who will be on bikes with their family on rides to some place around and will occupy the highway, big time
  
  
• You will drive with crowd mostly returning from Goa to Mumbai and Pune
  
  
• You will also find traffic increase after Wai Phata as Mahabaleshwar returnees will join you too
  
  
• Mumbai expressway from Pune helps in that direction (Mumbai) because traffic even if thick always moves fast unless there is an accident; Its the return that is bad due to the climb and trucks slowing everyone else down

I drove the entire trip last Saturday except Nippani till Khambhatki Tunnel where my friend asked me to take over. He has been a regular driver before but he totally got irritated of the traffic that was very normal to me. So at times, it is also the perception of what makes one believe is good or bad traffic.

I was telling him that the best time to do Pune/Mumbai is with a 1PM departure from Bangalore that we enter Kolhapur around 8-9PM and have absolutely zero local traffic (except night buses and trucks) till Pune/Mumbai.

But hey, not everyone is comfortable doing this.

[Bigzero]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

[list]
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I was telling him that the best time to do Pune/Mumbai is with a 1PM departure from Bangalore that we enter Kolhapur around 8-9PM and have absolutely zero local traffic (except night buses and trucks) till Pune/Mumbai.

But hey, not everyone is comfortable doing this.

Specifically on the issue of avoiding traffic on the Pune-Kolhapur stretch ;

Over the last few years, my departure time from Pune for my yearly drive to Kerala has always been around 5-5:30 am ( from the airport side, so I effectively leave the city after 6 am). Even with this start timing, I have in the past, found some traffic as I passed Satara, Karad, Kolhapur etc. I believe it becomes worse if you delay your departure further.

That brings me to my question - do things improve if I start say at 4 am from Pune?