[mayuresh]

After studying this thread, I think Pune - Nagar - Nashik is a better route, which I am planning to take in the coming week.

Avoiding the Sangamner route as most posts say, it is 2 lane and tiring to drive on.

Find e-way to be much longer route, again requiring negotiating traffic around Mumbai.

About Nagar route, just wanted to know whether people who have taken the Shirdi route: Was it because you wanted to visit Shirdi, or is it a better route?

Is the road via Loni, Sinnar (avoiding Shirdi) good?

[bulletboy76]

I am planning to travel from Pune to Nashik today evening. I plan to start at around 5 PM today.

Until a few minutes back, I had almost decided to use the Pune > Express Way > Shil phata > Nashik route, however I think more or less everyone has suggested that it is unlikely to cover this distance in less than 6 hours.

Anyone who has traveled recently, can you please advise on suggested route?

I usually travel early morning to Nashik and have always reached in less than 4.5 - 5 hours (including a 30 minutes breakfast break).

[ak916]

Hi all,

Need to travel tomorrow to Bangalore from Nashik. I can do a stopover midway. Can someone tell me how to avoid traveling on the horrible Nashik-Pune road. Two months ago I had used this stretch and i regret it. There was so much traffic it was really frustrating.

Please suggest if I should somehow reach Nagar via shirdi and find a way to go from there to Kolhapur? If nothing else, I don't mind going back to Mumbai and joining the pune expressway from there, though it is ridiculously longer from there.

[ampere]

I doubt if there is any option. One way would be to drive toward Bombay and take the expressway. Thats about 70/80km longer. But otherwise I dont think there is an option.

[ak916]

Originally Posted by ampere

I doubt if there is any option. One way would be to drive toward Bombay and take the expressway. Thats about 70/80km longer. But otherwise I dont think there is an option.

Thanks Ampere. What about people going to Bangalore from shirdi? What route do they take? Do you think its worth going from there to nagar etc?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ak916

Thanks Ampere. What about people going to Bangalore from shirdi? What route do they take? Do you think its worth going from there to nagar etc?

The Shirdi guys do : Shirdi-Ahmednagar-Shirur-Pune-NH4. For you its quite a detour. And I dont how are interior roads from Nashik to Shirur.

[amit_purohit20]

Well I have asked this question to many people who do Pune- Nashik quite often and the answer is its not worth going extra 70 to 80 kms either from Mumbai side or from Ahmednagar side.

Best way is to choose a time when traffic will be less on this road. No other option. Drive safe and do not loose patience on this road. Its dangerous especially at those places where there is no divider on the roads.

You can cover other distances faster on highways later.

Remember the rule if a particular road takes X amount of time to cover it should take X hours in your planning also. So this will make you relaxed and go at the required pace thus avoiding accidents.

I did stick to this route and be slow and speed up on other part of the bangalore route.
Ride safe.

[Musaafir]

I agree with Amit here. Personally I take Pune-Nashik highway every time I go there for two reasons. First, Pune - Nashik via Mumbai is longer and would take about the same time considering extra distance, and traffic near Mumbai. Second, I do Pune - Mumbai - Pune almost every two weeks via express way and this Pune-Nashik two lane road breaks the monotony and I like driving on this winding road.

It generally takes about 5 hrs. for 230 kms distance to Nashik with a small break at Kamat's.

[ak916]

I ended up doing Nashik - Mumbai - Pune - Bangalore. I had to leave between 2-3 am and dint fancy driving on dividerless road with oncoming headlights. My take is that the Mumbai detour is a good option depending on the time you leave Nashik or Pune. The only thing is that there was heavy traffic on that mumbra bypass. It maybe better to avoid that bypass and go into town instead, particularly at ungodly hours. Here are the timings from my toll receipts, incase anyone is interested.

We left Nashik around 2.40 am.

0308 hours Mumbai Nashik Expressway - Ghoti Toll Plaza (100 Rs)
0419 hours Vadpe to Thane via Kalwa upto atmaram chowk (29 Rs)
0445 hours Shilphata NH4 Toll Plaza (30 Rs)
0523 hours Khalapur Toll Plaza (Yashwantra Chavan Expressway) (195 Rs)
0648 hours Khedshivapur Toll Plaza (80 Rs)

You could say we exited pune around 0630 hours

We dint take any break on this segment. We were doing 100 at most times, 120 when it permitted but only rarely. There wasn't much traffic obviously on the rest of the roads except Mumbra/Shilphata and the ghats on pune expressway.

[the-rare-one]

I agree with Musaafir.

I do Pune - Nashik - Pune almost every 2 months. I use the regular route. It usually takes between 5-6 hours for the 230 KM (parking to parking) distance.

Recently it has been about 30-45 min less as there are big stretch of 3 lane parts of the divider based new highway which have been thrown open. Also the Sangamner bypass saves almost 20 min off the run.

I enjoy the 5 winding ghats and hence its still my preferred route.

[kabir3551]

Hi Friends. I completed my ride from Pune to Saputara. After reading about the conditions of the Pune-Nashik Highway, I planned to take Pune-Kalamboli-Mumbra-Igatpuri-Nashik-Dindori-Vani-Saputara Road. I started from Pune at 6.30am and reached Saputara at 1.45pm approximately. I will give the break up of the Journey.

Pune to Kalamboli-(112kms)
As we all are aware about the awesome Pune-Mumbai Expressway so there is no need for me to give inputs about the road. Stopped at the first Food Plaza for filling diesel. The important thing is about the time taken by me to reach. I reached Kalamboli at 8.10am. I took the exit from the expressway for Kalamboli to Mumbra.

Kalamboli-Mumbra upto Circular Bridge-(27kms)
The road from Kalamboli to Mumbra is decent for few kms. This route has two big problems. First- The long and other type of trucks. As we know trucks are there to ruin your speed and mood. Second- Speed Breakers- It feels as if road is laid on the speed breakers. The size of the speed breakers are huge. My advice to the low GC vehicle driver is to take it very easy on the speed breakers. Fews kms drive on the road leads toward a By Pass. The by pass is not that great because it is occupied by the trucks. The condition of the road is horrific. Even horrific is a under powered word for it. It feels as if we are sitting in Mr. India car which is at Adlabs Imagica. However, good news is that, while coming from Saputara to Pune i saw work going on the said road. I started from Kalamboli at 8.10am and reached NH3 approximately at 9.05am. Paid toll of Rs. 30 for using this road.

NH3-Nashik-(Amrutdham Road)- (145kms)-
Started from NH3 (the circular bridge) at 9.05am. For the first few kms I seriously doubted this is a National Highway. After crossing approximately 10kms with reduction in the regular traffic you feel better and then you get in your top gear (driving top gear, not car's top gear). The road is awesome. But you have to be little careful wherever there is opening in the divider. I did not face any cattle encroachment problem. I stopped at the first Vitthal Kamat's for breakfast. Food was good. I may have spent 25mins at the hotel. There may be 7-8 potholes. The potholes are placed such that you can negotiate them. The freeway of Nashik is too good. Crossed the Nashik City with ease. I reached Nashik's Amrutdham Road by 11.50am. I just cruised on the Nashik Freeway at 110kmph. You do not even realise when you crossed Nashik City. Pl take care of the speed breakers on the NH3. Yes there are some speed breakers on NH3. Very few. The speed breakers are in a lot of 04 speed breakers.

Nashik-Saputara-(80kms)
The road from Nashik to Saputara is ok ok. There is no divider between the roads. You can maintain speed of 60-80kmph. But when traffic is there you have to move according to the condition. Even though it is 80kms you are to assume that you will take 02 hours comfortably for reaching Saputara. I stayed at Aakar Lords Inn at Saputara. I can say that, the food they serve is awesome. If you happen to visit Saputara, then you can stay there and have a wonderful time.

I started for my return journey on the same route next day, i.e. Today. I will give the timings-

Saputara-Nashik (Amrutdham Road)-
Started at 10.15am reached Amrutdham Road at 12pm.

Amrutdham Road-NH3.
I took halt at Igatpuri Gurudwara. They serve 24 hours langar. They don't charge you anything for it. The good thing is that, you have to wash your utensils. Being a Sikh i know the value of the place and it was very satisfying and gave me a beautiful break. Coming back to NH3. Pl note that after Vrindavan Hotel there are few potholes so the person sitting next to the driver can keep a watch for the Vrindavan Hotel on the left side of the road. I was cruising at 110kmph. As i was nearing Circular bridge the traffic started increasing. Also there is flyover work under progress. I reached the circular bridge on NH3 at 3pm.

Circular Bridge-Kalamboli
I reached Circular Bridge at 3pm and took the Mumbra By pass again. At this point of time I saw the workers on the road brushing and cleaning the surface on the road. Pl note the kms after you reach the end of the by pass and that merges onto the regular road. After 17kms there is a left turn which leads towards Pune via Expressway. After taking left turn you may feel that something is wrong. There are large number of trucks parked on the road. Take a left before the signal and there is sign board near Debasish Inn hotel. Take the said road and you are on to the Pune-Mumbai Expressway.

Kalamboli-Pune(Sangvi).
I reached Kalamboli at 3.30pm. Started from Kalamboli towards Pune. Stopped at the first food mall for 15mins. I reached home at 5pm. I took the Sangvi Phata.

Total length of the trip- 718kms.

The drivers using NH3 are lucky as compared to the drivers using the SH50. All in all had a great time on NH3. Even though the length of the trip got extended from 281kms(SH50) to 360kms(NH4+NH3). You can use NH3 without any doubt. Roads are awesome but with caution for the openings on the dividers. We tend to get carried away. But have a cool mind and keep aside temptation.

[MandarMax]

I had to travel to Nashik last Friday morning. Since last couple of years I have been avoiding the usual NH50 due to the road work and the traffic jams and the frustration associated with the route. I had taken the longer Mumbai route on more than a couple of occasions (either via Mulund-Airoli-Thane route or the Kalmboli-Mumbra-Thane route), but this time I wanted to avoid this route because I would have been in Mumbai during the peak hours. So this time I decided to try a new route:

Pune --> Khopoli exit on e-way --> Karjat --> Murbad --> Shahapur --> Nashik



I could not find any reliable information about the route/road conditions so decided to study the latest Google maps imagery for any clues. After a bit of research I concluded that the road was decent enough and probably worth the risk.

I left Pune (Kothrud area) at around 8:45 am last Friday, took the Khopoli exit on e-way and reached Karjat around 10:00 am. We took a quick break for the famous Karjat vada-pav and also topped up diesel (around 30 mins of time spent). The Karjat - Murbad road for the most part is actually pretty good and I hardly encountered any traffic. The scenery along the road is good too. There were some rough patches towards the Murbad end, but road work was already in progress on most sections so I am pretty sure the road would become even better in a matter of months if not days. The progress between Karjat and Murbad would have been even faster had there not been so many speed breakers .

The Murbad - Shahapur road too is in a good condition so it took hardly any time to reach Shahapur (around 12:00 pm). From Shahapur, we joined NH3, which we all know is in a great shape. We did not encounter much traffic on this route and so we reached Nashik at 1:15 pm.

Considering the couple of breaks we took, the total travel time was just about 4 hours. This was a new record for me and so next time if you want to drive to Nashik, you will be surprised how fast and peaceful it can be to reach Nashik using this route.

[timuseravan]

I had to travel to Nashik this weekend and I generally take the normal Pune-Nashik road which takes 5:30 to 6:00 hours.
This time I traveled via the above route (by MandarMax) and it took just 4:30 mins for a distance of 265km! The road is almost completely good save for around 4-5 km where repair work is going on. I could have easily saved more time if not for the insane number of speed breakers between Karjat and Murbad.
And the best part was very little hassle in terms of traffic especially in the ghat sections.

The return journey took 5:00 hours as I followed GPS after Murbad and ended going to Karjat via Neral. The road was quiet bad and we got stuck behind a railway crossing.
But overall a much better driving experience over the normal route.

[karthik_rao]

A friend of mine took the Shahpur murbad route a couple of times on his way from Nashik to Lonavala/Malshej. He reports the road is very good and almost no traffic. Just adding a little more detail -There are multiple options from around Karjat to Shahpur, but the one via Shenawe-Saralgaon-Dhasai is the best. My local contacts also vouch for it.

Coming via Airoli or Mumbra just got worse now. Belapur Airoli road is bad. Also huge jams in the Mumbra to Bhiwandi-Kalyan junction. Anyways, the toll plaza jams will cost you 15-30min.

[honeybee]

Just an update: With the old Kalwa bridge closed for traffic and flyover construction in full swing at Ghansoli and Kalwa end, the road to Thane from Ghansoli will be a nightmare.

Also the Mumbra bypass is more of an offroading mud track than a road at present. So please avoid these routes for travelling between Pune and Nashik, unless the direct route has been washed away.

Yes, and don't even think of Shil Kalyan road. I spend more time covering a half km distance on this road than the rest of the journey to office.