[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

I recommend, take Satara- Pune- Nagar Aurangabad road.

Thanks for the detailed and quick response. So will finalize on Pune - Aurangabad route.

With an overnight stay towards east of the city to facilitate quicker exit next morning, how long will it take to reach Aurangabad with a ~ 06:00 AM start from Pune on a Monday morning?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

1. The route I am looking at is Satara - Lonad - Supe - Shirur -Ahmednagar - Aurangabad.

Avoid this Suhas. I have updated that here (Bypassing Pune on Bangalore-Shirdi route). It is not in good condition and I have received feedback fro 2 colleagues and BHPian VDi from last month alone.

4. From NH 4 turn off at Satara, till Aurangabad is it doable in around 6 hours?

I had driven to Aurangabad in March and then again in December. In March I had taken the Satara - Lonand - Shirur route and it was all good. In December I took the usual Pune route because teh road conditions were bad.

However, to give you a perspective of this route, you can take a look at this (Bypassing Pune on Bangalore-Shirdi route)post where I have mentioned the timings and the benefits (while the roads were good).

Ideally, stick to Pune option and even when it comes to bypassing Pune, if done before 1700, you should take around 90 minutes at max from Shinhaghad Road exit to Wagholi. If traffic is less, you might as well end up taking 75 minutes but nothing lesser to that.

Beyond this is what doesn't change till Ranjangaon - There are multiple small intersections and U-Turns that you will have to have a lot of patience. Ideally, the moment you spot a traffic build up and crawl, its the left lane you should be in because most of the times it is held up because someone is making a U-Turn ahead of you!

Traffic will be thick to very thick till Shirur anyway with petty villages and towns to cross. In terms of overall route conditions, its 100% good all the way to Aurangabad from Pune now and no rough patches that I noticed last March due to new layer on both sides.

You must budget 4 hours for Wagholi - Aurangabad alone for 230 Odd Kms due to all the above reasons. Since you mention you departure at 0600 from Eastern area of Pune, may be 30 minutes less because the time taken to reach Nagar will be faster early morning but you will end up spending time doing Waluj-Aurangabad with multiple tarffic signals anyway.

You can refer to this post on entire road conditions between Pune and Aurangabad:

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I made a dash to Aurangabad, visited Shirdi keeping Aurangabad as base and returned back last week and here are few updates on the same.

Route conditions: Pune - Ahmadnagar - Aurangabad

• Overall, the entire route is pothole free and surface too is in very good shape end to end
  
  
• Pune - Nagar has better tarmac (fresh) with well marked median and shoulders and reflectors wherever needed
  
  
• Nagar - Auranganad has good surface which is relatively fresh but there are no markings, especially near the median and if one is driving at night, the presence of median cannot be easily felt
  
  
• Overall, the Pune - Nagar - Auragabad section is slower at nights because markings are absent on second half and medians are really thin that oncoming glare is constant
  
  
• 6 Lane road is now fully done and functional at the Cantonment area after Waluj reaching Aurangabad outskirts - This will easily save at least 10 minutes as its really fast now despite of gradually increasing traffic as you reach the main city

[libranof1987]

Just did a Pune - Aurangabad round trip this past weekend.

The entire stretch is in good condition. However, I found the Aurangabad - Nagar stretch to be uneven which caused a slightly bumpy ride for the rear passenger in my EcoSport. Tyres were inflated at 32 psi, the recommended so it wasn't the tyres.

The journey took about 5.5 hours each way with a half n hour halt at Smilestone.

Side note: foolishly, we took the Nagar bypass (deliberately) to check it out since the last time I traveled on it was in 2014. It is horribly broken; when I say broken, it has about 4 ft craters every few metres.

As usual, watch out for idiots near the industrial zones, near Pune and Aurangabad. While exiting Aurangabad, a bunch of three on a motorcycle zipped past us and was swerving freely across two lanes at 80-100 km/hr. At an intersection near Garware, an old couple was crossing the road and the rider probably could not/did not want to react in time. The bike hit the old man's stick and the three on the bike had a very nasty fall. The old couple walked past as if nothing happened. All five (the three on bike and the old couple walking) at fault.

[mpksuhas]

Just noticed that I have missed updating the thread after my trip last year

I did a longer route for Bangalore - Aurangabad since I wanted to visit Lonar too. Still, if anyone is interested, you can find the road conditions mentioned here (Wanderlust Traveler: Bangalore - Nanded - Lonar - Aurangabad - Ajanta - Ellora - Pune).

[narayans80]

Bangalore-Pune-Nagar-Aurangabad is no longer the fastest. It is now Bangalore-Chitradurga-Hospet-Bijapur-Solapur-Osmanabad-Beed-Aurangabad Here's a section wise update

Bangalore-Chitradurga - Beaten to death in the Bangalore-Bombay thread. Only significant thing to know is the 6-laning ends about 5-10 km ahead of the Hospet turnoff. Approximately 2.5 hours from exit to NICE Tumkur Road entry.

Chitradurga-Hospet - Smooth roads, strangely without lane markings. 2-3 diversions exist, but not such a big deal. Approximately 2-2.5 hours.

Hospet-Bijapur - Excellent 4-lane. Keep and eye out for speed breakers. Whenever you see reflectors, be prepared. From Bijapur side first one takes you by surprise from there its a regular feature. Approximately 3 hours.

Bijapur-Solapur

• Tarmac 4-lane in progress. Many sections are completed with lane markings, but not open to public.
• Diversions are very well managed and smooth transitions. Each transition has speed breaker.
• Bijapur bypass is a pain. This short section is more trouble than the 100 km drive from Solapur.
• Solapur city traffic. Total anarchy.
  Reserve 2.5 hours for this.

Solapur-Aurangabad - Refer Hyderabad-Aurangabad post here (Hyderabad - Aurangabad - Best route? Road conditions?).
1 hour for Solapur-Osmanabad. 3.5-4 hours for Osmanabad-Aurangabad.

Things to take care:

• Food stops are minimal between Chitradurga and Solapur. Plan one at NH4, Hospet, Bijapur
• Fuel stops are aplenty, though be prepared for cash in some places between Solapur and Bijapur
• Truck traffic all through. Felt the most in Bijapur-Solapur WIP section.
• Overall significantly less traffic and peace of mind compared to Pune route.
• Route is primarily advantageous for a Bangalore-Aurangabad run. Though it can be used for Bangalore-Shirdi runs, it does not provide a significant time advantage over the Pune route.

[condor]

Originally Posted by narayans80

• Fuel stops are aplenty, though be prepared for cash in some places between Solapur and Bijapur
• Truck traffic all through. Felt the most in Bijapur-Solapur WIP section.

Thanks, Narayan. Helps me get an estimate for BLR-Solapur. And good to know that Chitradurga - Hospet is now ready.

Bijapur-Solapur has been a Pain since years, but looks like there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Btw, There was an IOC COCO Bunk just north of Bijapur. Is it still there ? This is just outside the IOC Facility there.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by condor

There was an IOC COCO Bunk just north of Bijapur. Is it still there ? This is just outside the IOC Facility there.

This was my first time driving this route. So did not note closely. Two things I did notice wrt fuel:

1. No dearth of fuel stations end to end. There are so many on Bijapur-Solapur stretch. This being a truck corridor has its advantages
2. One BPCL COCO on southbound direction about 5 km north of Bijapur

About 60 percent or more should have been completed on Bijapur-Solapur section. On the incomplete sections, work is still in the initial phases (digging, foundation).

[paragsachania]

Route Update: Bangalore - Aurangabad - Bangalore

Over the last week, I drove from Bangalore to Aurangabad and back and this time I decided to stick to Hospet Sholapur corridor instead of venturing into Kolhapur-Pune section. Here is a detailed update for both the onward and return trips.

Bangalore-Aurangabad (Via Hospet-Vijayapura-Sholapur):

Start Time: 0400 (Yelahanka)
End Time: 1600 (Aurangabad)
Breaks: Breakfast (15m), Lunch (20m), Refueling (5m)

Aurangabad - Bangalore(Via Sholapur-Vijayapura-Hospet):

Start Time: 0425 (Aurangabad)
End Time: 1743 (Yelahanka)
Breaks: Breakfast (15m), Lunch (20m), Refueling (5m)

Road Conditions applicable for onward and return:

Bangalore-Chitradurga: Nothing to complain, all good except patchy Tumkur bypass

Chitradurga - Hospet: Excellent, well-done, well marked and fast

Hospet - Vijayapura: Good roads marred by speedbreakers at very regular occasions that puts a brake on your consistent progress

Vijayapura Bypass to Sholapur: Work in Progress stretch, lot of work to be done, lot of diversions, lots of speedbreakers; 85Km stretch that can take 2 hours.

Sholapur City: No proper bypass, one has to enter and cut across the city from south to north to reach the other end

Sholapur-Tuljapur-Osamanabad-Beed-Aurangabad City Limits: One word - World class roads

Few important points:

This route is the fastest, shortest & least tiring option to reach Aurangabad from Bangalore but there are shortcomings - less facilities all throughout
The distance will be around 930-940 Km depending on your location at both ends and the time taken will be around 12-14 Hours which is still reasonable considering that via Pune it will take at least 17-19 hours

The route is extremely good, barring the work in progress section of Vijayapura and Sholapur ~ 85 Km that takes 2 hours

The only busy town/city that you need to cross is Sholapur

While Chitradurga-Hospet is good the Hospet-Vijayapura has lot of speedbreakers till Vijayapura

Facilities: Very poor between Chitradurga to Sholapur with few options inside Sholapur city. Even Sholapur to Aurangabad has very limited and OK options. Hence planning your breaks is very important on this route

Fuel stations: No dearth for fuel stations on this entire route; regular IOCL, BPCL, HPCL and Reliance stations at frequent intervals including COCO stations as well

Traffic Police Checking:Expect you to be stopped right when you enter Sholapur city and after every toll booth after Sholapur till Aurangabad. I was stopped thrice but upon confirming that I am carrying all docs (I was willing to show), I was let go everywhere

Speed-guns: Between Beed and Aurangabad, you will spot an Ertiga with speed-gun. They don't flag you but a challan will be raised against your vehicle (Till now, I have got none though I was easily above 100 when I passed this)

Few images from the drive along with my MapMyIndia route log:

Timelines:



Distance Vs Time : Aurangabad-Bangalore:



Speed Graph: Aurangabad-Bangalore



Breakfast during Onward: LOCATION



Breakfast during Return: LOCATION



Lunch during Return: LOCATION



Few images of the wonderful roads

[kswapnilk]

Is Solapur-Vijayapura still the preferred route for Aurangabad - Bangalore over Pune-Kolhapur-Belagavi? I am planning to travel during 15th Aug weekend from Jalgaon-Aurangabad-Bangalore and I was wondering if Solapur Vijayapura stretch will be okay during rainy seasons or not.
Any suggestions would be really helpful for me to plan.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by kswapnilk

Is Solapur-Vijayapura still the preferred route for Aurangabad - Bangalore over Pune-Kolhapur-Belagavi? I am planning to travel during 15th Aug weekend from Jalgaon-Aurangabad-Bangalore and I was wondering if Solapur Vijayapura stretch will be okay during rainy seasons or not.
Any suggestions would be really helpful for me to plan.

Definitely the best option as of now, peaceful and fastest as well.

You can read the detailed update from my last trip in Jan/Feb here.

Bangalore Osamanabad Aurangabad

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by kswapnilk

I was wondering if Solapur Vijayapura stretch will be okay during rainy seasons or not.

The Hospet-Bijapur-Solapur was the prime detour when Kolhapur got flooded during last week's torrential rains.

For Aurangabad it is the shortest-fastest (by about 3-4 hours) and one with the less traffic.

The only thing you need to plan is food stops.

[jkrishnakj]

If one has to drive to Shirdi from Bangalore ( which I’ve done a few times), would there be an option to take these roads and look for an exit to Nagar, at some place in Maharashtra?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

If one has to drive to Shirdi from Bangalore ( which I’ve done a few times), would there be an option to take these roads and look for an exit to Nagar, at some place in Maharashtra?

Yes.

1. Shortest: Solapur-Beed bypass-Padalsingi-Madalmohi-Miri-Vambori-Tisgaon-Ghodegaon-Rahuri-Shirdi - Details here (Hyderabad - Shirdi : Route Queries)

2. Longer (with better roads) - Solapur-Aurangabad-Gangapur-Vaijapur-Kopargaon-Shirdi

Parag has done the Gangapur-Vaijapur-Yeola earlier this year. Not able to find his post.

3. Future (once MH Mahamarg opens) - Solapur-Aurangabad-Daulatabad/Lasur-Shirdi

Not sure on exact interchanges yet. Its either at Daulatabad or Lasur on Aurangabad side and somewhere 10 km north of Shirdi on Shirdi-Yeola-Malegaon road.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Parag has done the Gangapur-Vaijapur-Yeola earlier this year. Not able to find his post.

Pasting relevant content from my post here

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Return:
Thane - Igatpuri - Nashik - Yeola - Vaijapur - Gangapur - Waluj - Aurangabad
Time take with one refueling break: 5.5 Hours

Route conditions:

• Thane - Igatpuri - Nashik: Excellent Highway corridor (Cops active at many locations including speedguns before Nashik Bypass)
• Nashik - Yeloa: This is fully 4 laned but the road surface is patchy and hence the ride is bumpy
• Yeola - Vaijapur Town outskirts: Freshly laid tarmac, wonderful surface
• Vaijapur Town: Extremely bad roads and absolutely bone jarring surface. You need to manage 10-12 minutes before the roads get better again
• Vaijapur - Gangapur - Intersection with Pune Aurangabad Highway : Overall excellent except 3 diversions due to culvert work and the roads within Gangapur itself

[manjubp]

Need help in planning for a drive from Bangalore to Ajanta - Ellora. Also request the BHPians to suggest worth visiting tourist places in Maharashtra. Planning for a 6 days drive.