[rauldsouza]

Originally Posted by OneToughRider

Short travelogue on my recent Pune – Noida – Delhi – Pune trip via Agra (upwards) and via Jaipur (return) respectively.

ToughRider - Which route between the two would you recommend. going via Ratlam or Indore?

Mod note: Please quote only the relevant portion and proofread before posting.

[libranof1987]

What's the most ideal route from Gurgaon to Pune now. The plan is to drive for 8-10 hours/day; at the most 12 if the roads are brilliant. Typical 6.30-7am starts, and keys off around 5pm (before dusk).

We've already done Pune - Baroda - A'bad - Udaipur - Ajmer - Gurgaon, and Bangalore - Pune - Indore - Gwalior - Gurgaon in the past, so there's no novelty of either route, this just needs to be point A - B dash.

Starting point would be around Manesar, and there are two drivers (both senior citizens). Hotel recommendations as well please, typically 3* or a well-know chain.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

I did Pune -Agra- Pune in the last month end and the route i took was :

Chakan > Nasik > Dhule > Sendhwa > Indore > Biaora > Guna > Gwalior > Dholpur > Agra. Same while returning in reverse order.

The road is in great condition throughout, barring the thousands of speed brakers in Maharashtra. Be extra careful of the speed guns in Dhule stretch.

While going to Agra, I took a halt in Guna. There are quite a few options. Though I did not stay at any star rated property, so can't comment much.

While returning, I stayed at Hotel Decent just before Shirpur, bang on the highway. The rooms were clean.

There are two small patches of broken road :
1. Right after crossing Guna. It's a small patch of around 2 or 3 km. After taking the left turn, road is a bliss to drive on.
2. Shivpuri bypass. A very small patch, not even a kilometre long.

Barring these two, the road was excellent.

Road between Indore > Pachore > Biaora > Guna is one amazing stretch with 100kmph speed limit. Part of it is cemented while the one after Biaora is Tar.

I did not take the usual Gwalior bypass, instead took the following route. Saved me around 40 odd kms I believe.

Morena > Moti jheel > Shivpuri.
If you are going to cross this section early morning ( ideally before 7:00 am), only then take a chance with this route, else you mighty get stuck royally!

Morena > Dholpur > Agra has always been full of unruly traffic with sand mafias. Along with some deep ruts on the road. That might slow you down a bit.

Hope this helps!

[raktim]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

What's the most ideal route from Gurgaon to Pune now.....
We've already done Pune - Baroda - A'bad - Udaipur - Ajmer - Gurgaon, and Bangalore - Pune - Indore - Gwalior - Gurgaon in the past, ...

Instead of going via Indore-Guna-Gwalior you may opt for the Manpur-Ratlam-Neemuch route which is in equally good condition but with less traffic.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by raktim

Instead of going via Indore-Guna-Gwalior you may opt for the Manpur-Ratlam-Neemuch route which is in equally good condition but with less traffic.

Agree with this suggestion. If Indore isn't the eventual destination, it makes sense to take the Manpur-Lebad-Ratlam that avoids the peripheral Indore traffic.

[rauldsouza]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

What's the most ideal route from Gurgaon to Pune now. The plan is to drive for 8-10 hours/day; at the most 12 if the roads are brilliant. Typical 6.30-7am starts, and keys off around 5pm (before dusk).

When are you Planning to drive, I am doing the same route this weekend.

[libranof1987]

My parents just did a marathon Gurgaon - Pune drive over the last two days:

Day 1:
Gurgaon - Jaipur - Ajmer: NH48
Ajmer - Udaipur (outskirts): NH58
Udaipur (~ Sukher road) - Himmatnagar: NH48

Driving time: 15 hours

Day 2:

Himmatnagar - Ahmedabad - Baroda - Mumbai - Pune: NH48

Driving time: 14 hours

Overall road conditions: partly very good, partly decent. Lots of flyover construction going on at several places.

[Mayank Gaur]

Hello everyone,

Here is my experience of Pune – NCR round trip completed in April 2022.

My ride: My beast - Harrier XZA (5 months old)
Co-travellers: My wife - Neha, an excellent driver and superb travel mate. Our 2 years old daughter who also loves road trips and is tucked in her baby car seat. She ensures we take adequate breaks

Route taken –

Onwards:
Pune -> Nashik -> Malegaon -> Dhule -> Sendhwa -> Ratlam -> Chittorgarh -> Bhilwara -> Kishangarh -> Jaipur -> Gurgaon -> Greater Noida
Return:
Greater Noida -> Jaipur -> Beawer -> Pali -> Sirohi -> Palanpur -> Ahmedabad -> Vadodara -> Vapi -> Mumbai (bypass) -> Pune

Detailed experience:
I was amidst a job switch and hence had days off, so decided to visit both of our parents over a 17 days round trip.
Ratlam is my home town so that was the key reason we took that route for onwards trip.
Started from Pune (Undri, South of Pune) at 6.30 AM, drove via Alandi, Chakan in morning hours, that ensured less traffic and crossed Alephata by around 9 AM. This patch, in my opinion, offers least amount of fun to drive, so the earlier you start, the better it is. Alephata to Nashik is decent 4 lane. By-passed Nashik, which offers slow city traffic conditions at around 10.30 AM. It also a good logical pit-stop where we had coconut water.

Please avoid the route google maps show from Alephata to Malegaon i.e. via Lasalgaon. It’s pathetic, with nearly no roads in some patches. Please drive up to Nashik and by-pass the city.

Wife took the steering from Nashik right up to Dhule. Malegaon bypass roads are bad, otherwise this stretch is pretty decent. You can’t expect a lot of good eateries on the way, though Dhule by-pass offers some good options.
I took over from Dhule, and cruised steadily at ~100 till MP Border. Roads simply get amazing at this point and you can easily go higher speed (though not advisable) after Sendhwa. In addition to good roads, traffic thins down considerably in this patch. Khalghat is a bit treacherous with heavy trucks huffing and puffing, and eventually creating traffic jams.

45kms before Indore, I took the left from Manpur towards Ratlam. This stretch again is well paved 4 lane. On word of caution, I’ve been advised by some of my friends and relatives that Manpur – Lebad stretch of 25 kms is prone to thefts and hence it is better to not take random stops here. It’s an isolated stretch connecting two highways and is generally deserted.

Reached Ratlam at 6.30 PM, exactly 12 hours after my start from Pune. Completed 730 km on day 1 of trip. Since Ratlam is home, I spent some time there, eventually starting off for Jaipur after 5 days.

Started late at around 10.30 AM for Jaipur. 4 lane highway right up to chittorgarh is nice. Offers good Dal – Baati dhabas on the way, especially around Mandsaur and Neemuch.

From Chittorgarh (by-pass), you meet NH48, the GQ, and it’s a bliss. Right up to Bhilwara, I managed to do consistent high speeds on the well paved 6 lane highway. However, Bhilwara to Kishangarh stretch has a lot of flyover construction going-on, and that resulted in 8-9 diversions on the highway. Quite a speed and mood killer.
Kishangarh to Jaipur is good 6 lane again, but traffic picks up as you near Jaipur. Reached Jaipur at around 6 PM and took night-halt at a friend’s home in C-Scheme.

Next day, started late again at around 11 AM, got onto Jaipur bypass towards Gurgaon. There is a 98% possibility that you’ll find cops with speed guns on Jaipur bypass. I encountered them too.

I must say, I had high hopes with Jaipur – Gurgaon stretch, something I was doing for the first time.
But it was a disappointment. Pot holes, uneven surface and nasty traffic made for a bad driving experience. However, you get 100s of eating and shopping choices on this stretch. Crossing Manesar was a pain and eventually, we entered Gurgaon, I dropped off there to meet my friends and my wife drove over to Greater Noida till her Mom’s home. Again here, maps took her via Faridabad which is a bad route to take.

One learning: Temperature during the day at this time of the year in Rajasthan is above 43 degrees. We made the mistake of suddenly coming out of the car which had 23 degrees ambient temperature, thanks to strong ACs. Paid the price with wife and daughter both falling ill once we reached Delhi. Learning – turn off the AC 10 min prior to your planned break to acclimatize.

Return Trip:

Before I share my experience, I’d like to mention the rationale for the route.
I had 4 options –

Option 1- (NH3: Greater Noida -> Agra -> Indore -> Nashik - > Pune ) – Did not take this because I’ve done Indore to Pune multiple times and wanted to explore GJ-RJ side of roads. Plus this is an all 4 Lane road, while on GJ-RJ side offers 6 lane options.

Option 2 – (Follow GQ – Jaipur -> Bhilwara -> Udaipur -> Ahmedabad -> Vadodara -> Vapi -> Pune) Since I partly used this road while coming to Delhi, I knew about the diversions on Kishangarh – Bhilwara patch so decided to avoid it.

Option 3 – (Google map recommended route – Jaipur -> Beawar -> Rajasamand -> Udaipur -> Godhra -> Vadodara -> Vapi -> Pune) – This is the most followed route and is generally recommended by Google maps between Mumbai and Delhi. But this has one problem i.e. ~100 kms stretch of 2 lane (no divider) between Rajasamand and Udaipur. I personally hate driving on undivided highways so opted out of it. Note – I haven’t experienced this route, some of my friends say that this 100 km 2 lane stretch is quite a breeze.

Option 4 – The one I took (Greater Noida -> Jaipur -> Beawar -> Pali -> Sirohi -> Abu Road -> Palanpur > Mehsana -> Ahmedabad -> Vadodara -> Vapi -> Pune)

It is possible to do this entire stretch in 2 days, but due to harsh temperatures and a toddler in car, my wife and I decided to break this in 3 days.

Started at 7.30 AM from Greater Noida and messed up with our routes, thanks to blindly following Google maps. We wanted to avoid cutting through Delhi and Gurgaon, and instead take Eastern Peripheral Expressway right up to its exit near Manesar and head to Jaipur.
I would recommend this route, Peripheral expressway is a delight to drive on, and saves time. However, do note, that since its access controlled, people have broken the fencing at places and they manage to get into the highway from nearby villages. We took a wrong turn in greater Noida, and map re-routed us via one such kuccha route. It cut through Buddh International circuit premises and eventually turned scary.
We had to trace our way back to Greater Noida and then take the right entry into Eastern Peripheral express way, lost one hour here.

Route till Jaipur was bad, as I expressed in my review of inward journey. Jaipur to Beawar is a nice stretch. But beware of cattle coming on the roads, we had a near death experience, when a buffalo stepped onto the overtaking lane out of nowhere. It was scary. God saved us.

Took the turn for Pali from Beawar, and oh man! I love this stretch of road. Had done this earlier during a trip to Jodhpur. Well paved roads, disciplined and scarce traffic. It drives through the Aravali mountain range and is very scenic at some points.

Plan was to reach Abu Road and take a halt there, but that one hour lost early in the day resulted in we taking a halt in Sirohi. Hotel Airline is the only plausible option there. Very basic and budget. Checked-in at 7 PM. Sirohi has a famous Jain temple, so those interested must certainly visit. We decided to give it a pass.

Started at 8 AM from Sirohi. Tunnel on sirohi by-pass is under expansion, so expect some traffic jams there.
Stretch from Sirohi to Abu Road to outskirts of Palanpur is awesome.

So, this is the first time I was driving through Gujarat in my life, and had very high hopes.

My verdict: Roads were good but traffic was a mood spoiler. It felt as if the towns never stopped. A constant urban driving feeling which was not great. Some of my friends said that it was due to long weekend, and is not the case always.

Anyway, drive up to Ahmedabad was patchy. Too much traffic with ~50 kms clocked. Then came the relief – NE1. Oh boy! It’s like a geometrically perfect straight line of a road with excellent surface. Set my car on cruise control and crossed that patch in exact 1 hour. Please take this one while traveling from Ahmedabad to Vadodara.

Stopped for lunch in Vadodara at around 2.30 PM. Wife took over from here.
The industrial towns of Bharuch and ankleshwar were a nightmare to drive, thanks to crazy traffic. It was not at all pleasant drive.
Original plan was to drive upto Kharghar and take a night halt at my sister’s place, but traffic ensured that it was already 7 PM before Vapi. Decided to take night halt at Vapi. Good hotel options, we chose Budget Inn Palm regency. Good place and well located.

Started in the morning at 7.30 AM from Gujarat. Got tank filled from GJ as Diesel is cheaper than MH. Vapi to Hotel Fountain in Mumbai was a smooth drive. It was my 3rd day, so a bit of fatigue had kicked-in, so kept it to below 80 speeds with large chunks on cruise control. Scenic route with moderate traffic.

Bypassing Mumbai was a pain, but I think there is no alternative to it. So made peace with it. Took stop at a McDonalds at around 11.15 AM at Airoli. My daughter fell down from chair and a short stop turned into a long one.
Drive from Airoli to Pune was smooth as it always in on Mumbai-Pune expressway. Drove it on cruise control and managed to extract ~17 km/h average on my diesel automatic with AC on ALL the time.

Reached Pune by 1.30 PM, just in time for lunch. So, it was a round trip 3000+ kms and a super good one.

Going back to the choice of routes, all of them have their pros and cons, you just need to make a choice which suits your taste. If 100 kms single lane doesn’t bother you, then I think godhra, modassa, Udaipur, beawar should be a good route to go with. If you like deserted highway, and are not fussed about eating options on the way, I’d suggest avoid GJ-RJ in-totality and take NH3. Except Indore and Nashik, there are no big towns on the road so traffic is quite sparse.

Since onset of Covid, my wife and I started carrying huge quantity of food and beverages in the car, so we rarely stop at food joints on the way. We stop at isolated off-road points or deserted fuel stations to make our daughter run around who otherwise has a lot of bottled up energy sitting all day.

Happy road tripping!

[Oye_Sumit]

Hello everyone,

After spending 3 years amongst covid and lockdowns in Jaipur, I have decided to shift from Jaipur to Pune in 1st week of July. I want to take this opportunity and convert this drive as road trip with my pre-owned Ford Fiesta 1.6 S. This is going to be my first long road trip (~1300-1400 kms).



Here is my plan that I think I might pull out.

DAY 1: Jaipur - Udaipur (~400 kms)
Leave early morning at around 5 am. And plan to reach Udaipur by noon.
Check-In in the Hotel and proceed for local Sightseeing.

Day 2: Udaipur - Statue of Unity - Outskirts of Surat (~600 kms)
Leave early morning at around 6 am. And plan to reach Statue of unity by 2-3pm.
Spend 2-3 hrs. at statue of unity and depart for night stay on outskirts of Surat.

Day 3: Outskirts of Surat – Pune (~400 kms)
Leave around 8 am with no plan about when to reach in Pune.

Please Suggest route option with good road conditions as well hotel accommodation.


PS- I will be accompanied by my brother and cousin as they wanted to see Jaipur before I leave the city.

[muglikar]

Completed the Pune Ahmedabad Udaipur Jaipur Delhi stretch in 24 hours 18 mins drive time with overall time of 26 hours 30 mins. Roads are really bad and this route right now is not at all recommended as per my experience.


Came back via Delhi Agra Guna Indore Dhule Nashik pune route. Completed in exactly 24 hours 3 mins with overall time being 26 hours 8 mins. Nonstop driving in both cases. We were 3 drivers.

This route is superb with 2 small patches near Guna and Shivpuri which are bad but otherwise this road is excellent. We did night drive so be very very very careful of stray cattles in MP but before Indore.

Once u enter MH the road condition goes down with 100s of speed breakers which is painful. Obviously the Chakan to pune



patch is pain. I would suggest this route. Be careful during night drives between Guna and Agra.

Here are the screenshots from MID.

PS: check out my mileage ��

I drive a Sonet manual GTX plus diesel

[bhalu]

[quote=Mayank Gaur;5316976]Hello everyone,

Here is my experience of Pune – NCR round trip completed in April 2022.


Route taken –

Onwards:
Pune -> Nashik -> Malegaon -> Dhule -> Sendhwa -> Ratlam -> Chittorgarh -> Bhilwara -> Kishangarh -> Jaipur -> Gurgaon -> Greater Noida
Return:
Greater Noida -> Jaipur -> Beawer -> Pali -> Sirohi -> Palanpur -> Ahmedabad -> Vadodara -> Vapi -> Mumbai (bypass) -> Pune


Please avoid the route google maps show from Alephata to Malegaon i.e. via Lasalgaon. It’s pathetic, with nearly no roads in some patches. Please drive up to Nashik and by-pass the city.

Travelling to Gurgaoon from Pune on 5 May. Planning to do Pune to MHOW on dau 1, The google maps still show the route from Alephata to Malegaon via Lasalgaon. Has this route improved now, and if not, what's the alternate route from Alephata to Malegaon and onwards to MHOW.

[Ironhide]

Originally Posted by bhalu

Hello everyone,

Here is my experience of Pune – NCR round trip completed in April 2022.


Route taken –

Onwards:
Pune -> Nashik -> Malegaon -> Dhule -> Sendhwa -> Ratlam -> Chittorgarh -> Bhilwara -> Kishangarh -> Jaipur -> Gurgaon -> Greater Noida
Return:
Greater Noida -> Jaipur -> Beawer -> Pali -> Sirohi -> Palanpur -> Ahmedabad -> Vadodara -> Vapi -> Mumbai (bypass) -> Pune


Please avoid the route google maps show from Alephata to Malegaon i.e. via Lasalgaon. It’s pathetic, with nearly no roads in some patches. Please drive up to Nashik and by-pass the city.

Travelling to Gurgaoon from Pune on 5 May. Planning to do Pune to MHOW on dau 1, The google maps still show the route from Alephata to Malegaon via Lasalgaon. Has this route improved now, and if not, what's the alternate route from Alephata to Malegaon and onwards to MHOW.

Did you finally do this ? Which route did you take? And how many days did you have to divide the drive in? Any pointers about the roads, amenities available etc? How is the Mhow / Indore - Delhi stretch? I've recently done the Jaipur - Delhi leg using the Delhi Mumbai Highway and it's a huge improvement over the erstwhile Delhi-Jaipur highway. I'm planning to do Greater Noida - Indore route sometime in fourth week of May, and onwards to Shirdi the next day. I suppose you would've done a similar route so pointers about the roads surface, diversions etc would be helpful.

Cheers !

[acestormtrooper]

Hello Folks!!

I am planning to do a solo drive from Pune to Delhi in November 2023 in my Fiat Linea MJD.

I would really appreciate if you guys could guide me for the best roads.

No particular destination is that i want to go on the way other than Ajmer.

thanks!!

[Biker_Ajax]

Fellow members,

Planned solo Delhi to Pune drive January end.

Have two route options,

- delhi-jaipur-ajmer-bhilwara-udp-himatnagar-vadodara-thane-pune
Or
- delhi-agra-Gwalior-gune-indore-dhule-malegaon-pune

Request assist in road conditions, traffic and safety aspect please. Need to finalise asap