Just came back from a trip to Karde beach. The road I followed was - Pune - Pirangut - Mulshi - Tamhini - Nijampur - Mangaon - Veer (Tol phata) - Ambet - Mandangad - Dapoli - Karde. The road is good at most places except a few bad patches after Mulshi, at the end of Tamhini ghatand somewhere near Mandangad. THe bad patches are mostly "motorable", so no issues. The road towards Karde beach...well there is no road actually, so its the worst part!!

Hello All,

I went to Dapoli this Sunday for some work. Went via Bhor, Varandh and then via Khed by NH17. Return route was the same.

Barring the single road stretch between Bhor to Hirdoshi of almost 35 Kms(road quality is good), the roads are of decent quality. The idea is to start early to avoid traffic on the single road stretch. Once you are through that patch, next travel is breeze.
The vehicle was Xylo, and we took 4.5 hrs including a 15 min break.
Started from Kothrud-Patwardhan Bag at 6 AM and reached at 10.30 AM.

For the return journey, started at 6.00 PM and reached home at 11 PM with dinner break at New Vilas hotel, Khed Shivapur for over an hour.

Thoroughly enjoyed the drive and got much needed refreshment .

Cheers,
Abhijeet

Thanks Abhijit. I am planning to go to Dapoli/Karde this Friday via Bhor.

In case anybody has driven on this route recently, do let me know how the trip went. I will post my experience once I get back on Sunday.

Regards, Arun

Guys out of curiosity I was looking it up in Google maps. The roads around Varandh seem to have lot of greenery. There are water bodies around too. How is this place during monsoon times? As per me it should be a beauty!
But I have never seen any weekend drive logs around this region. (If there are can you please point me to them? )

You're right. This route is a sight to behold in the monsoon. However, the roads deteriorate fast due to heavy rains, but are not patched up as promptly as some of the other ghats like Tamhini, Kumbharli, Amba etc. Hence, this route to reach Konkan belt is not a preferred one.

Anyway, here's some eye candy for you :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...mini-pune.html

Cheers,
Vikram

Did this route 2 weeks earlier too. Its quite decent. please start early in the morning to avoid truck and ST traffic. This time I travelled non stop. It took me 3.5 hrs from kothrud to Dapoli.

It is heaven during monsoons. Almost 40 kms from bhor is the ghat and jungle section. 25 kms of the road passes besides the Neera -Devghar dam. It is just Devine. Lots of small and safe waterfalls en route.



This pic will give you idea of the greenery.





And this will give you the idea of the road.

Cheers,
Abhijeet.

Ampere,
I had posted a travelogue on varandha drive,
please go through it to see monsoon magic.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...th-august.html

Thanks Ashish. Read it in one go and enjoyed in entirety. Possible that I might have read it earlier, but somehow never registered the geography of the location. South of Pune (esp Satara ) is amazing to say the least. After I saw Kaas and Thoseghar and that too not in the flowering season, I can only imagine how these places would be in monsoon.

@Moralfibre made a comment in that thread of his bike ride days via Paud, Mulshi, Tamhini, Mahad, Verandah, Bhor and Katraj. That would make a brilliant day trip. Just looking at that terrain and water bodies makes me want to take that road!

Hello, I and my friends (2 couples) are going to Dapoli / Karde beach next week in rented taxi from Mumbai.
What is the route we should take and in how much time can we expect to be there?
Hope the weather will not be too bad.

You should take NH17 from Panvel upto Lonere. Approximate distance is 90 kms. You then take a right at Lonere towards Ambet. You cross a big bridge on an estuary and then enter Ratnagiri district. There is a lot of ghat section on this route but is the shortest.

You cross a small dam on your left side and head for mandangad. Enroute you will come to a small roadside hotel ' Deshmukh Baug'.
They serve excellent Marathi breakfast items.

After that, just when mandangad is 3 kms ahead, take a left to Dapoli. Approx distance is 35 kms.

Total time required from Lonere to Dapoli is 1.5 hrs. And you save almost 40 kms.

The weather will be good. You might even feel a bit chilly in the mornings. Hope you enjoy your trip.

Cheers,
Abhijeet.

Thanks. This is the route that Google Maps also shows. However MapMyIndia gives a different route. How much time would it take for each section and what is the distance, Panvel to Lonere, Lonere to Mandangad, Mandangad to Dapoli? In case the taxi driver does not know this route, is it safe to make him take this? Hope it is not an isolated road.

Hello,

I will give the approximate distances and respective time taken for you.

But please note that the roads in this part of Maharashtra are very different and take time getting used to, These are the timings that I manage without overspeeding. I go to Dapoli atleast once a month as it is my native.

Some statistics:

Panvel - Lonere :120Kms approx. Excellent roads. Please avoid Panvel- Vadkhal route. Instead take Mumbai- Pune Expressway upto Khopoli Exit. Then take Pali- Wakan route to join NH17 at Wakan. Approx 2- 2.5 hours for the stretch are enough.

Lonere - Mandangad :35 Kms. You would take almost 50 Min for this stretch.
Please keep in mind to take left turn to Dapoli just before Mandangad(3 Kms approx)

Mandangad - Dapoli: 35 Kms. Excellent roads. You would take 40 Min for this stretch.

Now, This is a very busy route with MSRTC buses and private cars plying in equal numbers. you have decent traffic even through the night. So there is no safety issue at all.

If you use this route, you would be able to experiece real ' Konkan' no doubt.

Cheers,
Abhijeet

Abhijeet, thank you very much for this. I would not have imagined this in any way. Any particular reason to avoid the Panvel-Vadhkal route? I put the data in Google maps and this is the route I arrived at, please check the and let me know if this is okay :

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=st...ra=ls&t=m&z=13

A friend who travelled to Kashid last week took 1.5 hours to travel the 7 km distance between Pen bypass to Vadhkal naka. Because of road widening work and the large number of trucks on that road, you may lose precious time trying to get past Vadhkal naka if you take this route.