[hybridpetrol]

Dear Bhpians,

I am looking for some suggestions & ideas for a two week vacation towards the end of November 2017.
We live in Coimbatore, and we plan to visit Shirdi during this trip. We could take train or fly directly to this location, but I prefer to do it by road. Reason: I can cover several places along the way.
During this trip, our focus will be visiting temples and historic sites.

Rough Idea:
Day 1,2 - Start from Coimbatore, visit Mantralayam
Day 3 - Gulbarga
Day 4, 5 - Aurangabad, Ellora, Ajanta
Day 6 - Lonar Crater (if possible)
Day 7, 8 - Shirdi, Nashik
Day 9 - Mumbai Sightseeing
Day 10, 11 - Mahabaleshwar
Day 12, 13, 14 - Return Coimbatore, visiting Murdeshwar, Udupi & Dharmasthala.

Please pour in your ideas to improvise this plan, by suggesting additional temples, places etc.

Point to note: We are planning this trip with in-laws, and hence there will be 4 adults + my 3-year old kid. I am the only driver for this entire trip of around 3500 km.

[narayans80]

Is this some Mantralayam, Shirdi season? Yours is the second query involving the destinations, though from a different start point.

For Coimbatore-Mantrlayam you could do Coimbatore-Hosur-Bagalur-Hoskote-Devanahalli-Veldurthi-Kodumur-Mantralayam.
For Gulbarga, you can follow the same suggestion given here via Hyderabad. You have Hospet/Hampi on the way if you decide on going via Bijapur.

My suggestion would be to maximize your stay in MH rather than combining with KA. You could visit the places in KA over a weekend/long weekend from CBE.

For temples there are Triambak, Bhimashankar, Grishneshwar that fit within your plan itself. The Jyotirlingas in MP Omkareshwar, Maheshwar and Ujjain aren't far fetched given you have 2 weeks in hand.

Am not sure how Ajanta or Ellora would be with a 3 year old in tow. You might want to hop to the coastal MH beaches to keep him/her interested

[pranavGTI]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Dear Bhpians,

I am looking for some suggestions & ideas for a two week vacation towards the end of November 2017.
We live in Coimbatore, and we plan to visit Shirdi during this trip. We could take train or fly directly to this location, but I prefer to do it by road. Reason: I can cover several places along the way.
During this trip, our focus will be visiting temples and historic sites.

Rough Idea:
Day 10, 11 - Mahabaleshwar

Please pour in your ideas to improvise this plan, by suggesting additional temples, places etc.

Point to note: We are planning this trip with in-laws, and hence there will be 4 adults + my 3-year old kid. I am the only driver for this entire trip of around 3500 km.

Accomodation :
1. Hotel Ravine near Sydney Point in Panchgani. It offers good view from your windows and the hotel is good too.
2. Rutu farm - http://www.rutufarm.com/. Food is good here as they prepare from food by using items from their own farm.

I've heard good reviews from my office mates who stayed in both places.

You can also take guidance from admin people in both the resorts on visiting places in and around Panchgani & M'baleshwar.

I stay in Pune so I usually make a day's trip. I start very early in the morning and return home for Dinner.

As you are traveling to Maharashtra please carry your car's ORIGINAL & VALID documents. In TN, there is no check for PUC paper. In Maharashtra you'll need 4 documents that'll be asked when checking happens. 1. RC 2. Driving License. 3. PUC (6 months validity if taken in maharashtra) please carry a recent one. 4. valid insurance.

To be on the safe side retain all your toll receipts.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by narayans80

My suggestion would be to maximize your stay in MH rather than combining with KA. You could visit the places in KA over a weekend/long weekend from CBE.

Thanks for the suggestion. In the beginning of 2017, we planned a 2000 km trip and during this time we visited some of these KA temples. My in-laws didn't accompany us at that time, and hence I thought I would add these KA places during this trip. As you say, I can do the KA trip separately over 3-4 days time, to make the most of the kms travelled during this trip.

Am not sure how Ajanta or Ellora would be with a 3 year old in tow. You might want to hop to the coastal MH beaches to keep him/her interested

Valid point! I have read rave reviews for both Ajanta & Ellora. I seriously don't know how much I would like this places, given that I like nature more than history. My son definitely likes beaches. So we will visit one of these spots (Ajanta or Ellora) and if it does not suit our tastes, we would skip the other one, and head towards beaches.

[ampere]

You can make it to Mantralayam easily on day 1. An early start (say 4) means you can be in Hosur by 8. And you need to take NH207 detour (Baglur-Sarjapur-Hokote-Devanahalli) to bypass Bangalore (like what Narayan says).

Beyond Devanahalli, there is not much on NH7 to break. So carry food accordingly.



Ajanta/Ellora again will be too much as Narayan said. You can go Aurangabad though. Ellora, Grishmeshwar, Verul, Dultabaad, Bibi ka Makbara etc are the places to look out for.

Drive to Aurangabad will be a long painful one. Need to plan it out correctly (Am not too sure about that). There has a lot of 4-lane work on the Pune-Hyderabad section. Need to check more on that.


Shirdi/Nasik/Shani Shignapur is another belt which can done easily.

I would suggest avoid Mumbai. Go straight to Mahabaleshwar from Shirdi circuit.

Return then is the same old NH4 4-lane. Nothing much to talk about.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by pranavGTI

Accomodation :
1. Hotel Ravine near Sydney Point in Panchgani. It offers good view from your windows and the hotel is good too.
2. Rutu farm - http://www.rutufarm.com/. Food is good here as they prepare from food by using items from their own farm.

I've heard good reviews from my office mates who stayed in both places.

Thank you for the tips. I checked these places online and taken down their numbers.

As you are traveling to Maharashtra please carry your car's ORIGINAL & VALID documents. In TN, there is no check for PUC paper. In Maharashtra you'll need 4 documents that'll be asked when checking happens. 1. RC 2. Driving License. 3. PUC (6 months validity if taken in maharashtra) please carry a recent one. 4. valid insurance.

To be on the safe side retain all your toll receipts.

Thanks for th information. So I will get a PUC done in TN before the trip and carry the document. I was not aware as here in TN they don't ask much for this document.

[pranavGTI]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Thanks for th information. So I will get a PUC done in TN before the trip and carry the document. I was not aware as here in TN they don't ask much for this document.

If PUC is expired or not available the extortion is on the higher side. Same for not carrying originals.

[hybridpetrol]

Based on the above suggestions, I have done a few changes:

a) Skipped the Karnataka part of the trip entirely, and decided to do it separately over a long weekend.
b) Ajanta & Ellora - I will skip one of them.
c) Rough trip:

Day 1 - Drive to Mantralayam.
Day 2 - Visit Mantralayam early in the morning. Reach Aurangabad, if not check in at a hotel in Beed & continue the rest of the journey on Day 3.
Day 3, 4 - Aurangabad & Surroundings
Day 5 - Shirdi, Shani Shingapur
Day 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 - ?? (Ideas - Nashik, Mumbai, Mahabaleshwar)
Day 11, 12 - Drive back to Coimbatore.

Kindly suggest more ideas for Days 6 - 10. I would like to add some interesting spots here into this, and make this trip memorable. Meanwhile I am also searching other threads in Team Bhp and checking if anything is fitting here.

Originally Posted by ampere

I would suggest avoid Mumbai. Go straight to Mahabaleshwar from Shirdi circuit.
Return then is the same old NH4 4-lane. Nothing much to talk about.

Why do you suggest to skip Mumbai? With 5 days to spare what are the alternatives we could plan for a more interesting trip? Kindly provide some suggestions. Thanks!

[vrprabhu]

What was your original route to Aurangabad? Via Gulbarga -> Omerga -> Latur -> Beed? If you make a small change, it can be Omerga -> Tuljapur -> Beed. Tuljapur Bhavani temple is famous.

From Beed to Aurangabad, if you go via Paithan, you can visit the dam & garden. Nice place. Plus an opportunity to buy some 'Paitani' sarees and bedsheets. (They are really unique patterns)

Once you reach Shirdi, you can easily carry on to Nasik (the entire old city is full to temples and historic places). If you have time, visit Trimbakeshwar - one of the jyotirlingas (you will be visiting Grishneshwar near Ellora which is another)

From Nasik you can go up to Mumbai (the usual things + Elephanta Caves via boat, if you have half a day to spare)

From Mumbai to Pune to Panchgani & Mahabaleshwar. Since it is winter, may not much crowded. Panchgani is smaller and less crowded. If water still flows, you can have a look at Lingmala falls - superb location (there are three spots where you can go - behind, up and below; the last is difficult)

Your time on road during this period will be relatively less - and thereafter, it would be two full day(time) driving to reach Coimbatore from Mahabaleshwar.

Since you have planned to skip and drive down straight to Coimbatore, you can explore this route : Tumkur -> Kunigal -> Mandya -> Srirangapatna -> Mysore -> Gundlupet -> Gudalur -> Ooty -> Coimbatore. Will be a scenic drive.

(I have done Calicut -> Kalpetta -> Gundlupet and onwards up to Davengere in one day. The first half is scenic. From Tumkur onwards it was steady drive.

I have no knowledge about the Andhra side of roads. In places like Beed, Latur the road won't be great and there will be plenty of traffic. Ajanta & Ellora are OK. Aurangabad is a 'touristy' place and there are plenty of good hotels in CIDCO area - Opposite to Bus Stand. In Nasik, you will get good accommodation on Nasik Road. I remember a Kamat Hotel on Nasik Road with an attached restaurant. From Nasik to Mumbai (via Igatpuri), you will by the time you reach Kasara / Asangaon. Bhiwandi route is usually full. Accomodation in Mumbai has to be based on your location - for example, if you choose Chembur, there are plenty of hotels near Railway Station and you can do local sightseeing using local taxi. Saves you driving in SOBO. Or, find a hotel in Thane area, and use 'slow local' catching it at Thane for VT sightseeing (you can boast that you travelled by a Mumbai local!). Plenty of options at Panchgani & Mahabaleshwar.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Why do you suggest to skip Mumbai? With 5 days to spare what are the alternatives we could plan for a more interesting trip? Kindly provide some suggestions. Thanks!

Because you may lose precious time withing city going around. Instead Try: Panchagani, Ratnagiri, Ganapatiphule, Kolhapur/Jotibha, Kaas/Thoseghar (stay in Satara). There really amazing place around country side around Maharashtra to be seen.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Day 2 - Visit Mantralayam early in the morning. Reach Aurangabad, if not check in at a hotel in Beed & continue the rest of the journey on Day 3.

Don't follow Google Maps blindly Marathwada isn't known for good roads, nor are the ones around Raichur. If you are exploring based on vrnprabhu's suggestion, you might want go via Kurnool-Hyderabad-Omerga

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Day 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 - ?? (Ideas - Nashik, Mumbai, Mahabaleshwar)

You have 2 Jyotirlingas in Pune Nasik area. Throw in Mahabaleshwar and the coastal circuit and return.

Originally Posted by ampere

Kaas/Thoseghar

Curious to know, how Kaas, Thosegar are outside monsoon season. Especially in December?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Curious to know, how Kaas, Thosegar are outside monsoon season. Especially in December?

Amazing colours of landscape for sun rise and blue waters of Kanher Unmodi, Bamnoli and Kaas. Make a beautiful morning drive. I was there in 2013 during this exact time (Jan to be precise) and it was fun!
The winter chill and local chai and poha add to the charm.

A few from those times.


Sunrise Blues



Sleepy Waters of Kanher




The Sun shows up its colors



Kaas Lake : Up Close


Koyna around Bamnoli



The Expanse of Kanher



Windmills on the way to Thoseghar

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by ampere

Because you may lose precious time withing city going around. Instead Try: Panchagani, Ratnagiri, Ganapatiphule, Kolhapur/Jotibha, Kaas/Thoseghar (stay in Satara). There really amazing place around country side around Maharashtra to be seen.

Thanks for the wonderful pics!
For my work reasons, I probably would visit Mumbai sometime for sure. So it makes sense to skip Mumbai, avoid traffic jams and visit more countryside, hill stations and temples during the vacation.

Originally Posted by narayans80

Don't follow Google Maps blindly Marathwada isn't known for good roads, nor are the ones around Raichur. If you are exploring based on vrnprabhu's suggestion, you might want go via Kurnool-Hyderabad-Omerga

You have 2 Jyotirlingas in Pune Nasik area. Throw in Mahabaleshwar and the coastal circuit and return

Thanks for the suggestions! Though Google Maps tries to show fastest route, it sometimes assumes empty space as road, and leads us into trouble. I have had some terrifying experiences with that.

[Zignor]

Originally Posted by ampere

Amazing colours of landscape for sun rise and blue waters of Kanher Unmodi, Bamnoli and Kaas. Make a beautiful morning drive. I was there in 2013 during this exact time (Jan to be precise) and it was fun!
The winter chill and local chai and poha add to the charm.

So now I know where to go in the winters. Winter, I am coming.