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I think this is spot on. On my drive this week to Mumbai, I did notice the same. I refuelled just before the MH border on the KA side and I did see that mileage improved considerably on the MH side.

I did a short trip to Mumbai from Udupi this week. Route was Udupi-Ankola-Kalghatki-Dharwad-Kolhapur-Mumbai.

No checks whatsoever on the MH border - I just drove through the new RTO checkpost without being stopped at all. On the return leg, there was a solitary cop asking for RT-PCR report and each vehicle was being stopped. But it was just a cursory check - he didnt physically check the report ( i had the report ).

Hi

Planning a drive to Panvel from Bangalore the upcoming weekend.
Although I wish to stretch it in one go, not sure if the family would be able to handle the stress of a 14-15 hour drive. So I am planning to stop at Kolhapur / Belgaum. Looking for stay suggestions in the 2 cities. I saw Sayaji in Kolhapur but am open to other options as well.

How was the road from Ankola to kalghatki?

First few kms after you take the turn from Ankola have intermittent bad patches. There are again craters on most of the turns on the ghat section. Other than this, its good. Yellapur to Kalghatki is smooth all the way.

If you are starting late afternoon, Sai International at Yelur ( 30 kms before Kolhapur ) is a good option. I have stayed here multiple times. If not Kolhapur, other options are Sankam Residency at Belgaum or Ramya Residency at Dharwad ( this is right on the highway ).

Sankam Residency arguably has the best breakfast of the three.

Try Sankam Residency, Belgaum, next to highway. In Kolhapur try hotel pavilion, bit inside but quite ok. Both tried and tested by me.

I would suggest you look at the Fairfield Marriott in Belgaum as well, just off the highway on your side when driving towards Bangalore. Other options in Belgaum are Sankam Residency and Pai resorts (both properties are almost back-to-back on 2 parallel roads), and reachable with a short drive from the highway but in the other direction.

As mentioned in a previous post by explorer09, Sai International, Yelur is an option near Kolhapur and located bang on the highway.

Thank you for the suggestions. But all of these are sold out online. Will probably ring them up to check if there is any availability. Planning for the night of 18th December. Can hope to hit Pune before sunset if this is how it is (i'll be leaving 4:30ish am from Bangalore) so even that can be an option. But on reaching Pune, Panvel seems to be right within grasp :coldsweat

My bad, I thought you're driving from Panvel to Bangalore. Since it's the other way around, Sankam and Pai will be on your side.

If you don't spend too much time on your breaks, I think you can reach Panvel in one go by late evening, but do keep the stay options open in case you get delayed.

Fairfield Marriott in Belagavi has cancelled all reservations due to the winter session of Karnataka assembly at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi , the Govt. gets a priority. I had also booked the same and got an email to that effect last week. My guess it would be the same for other hotels also.

Due to this I decided to change my travel date and drive up directly to Pune instead of going for a break in Belgavi. This is the first day of my 16 day road trip to Rajasthan.

Any ideas on the dates of this winter session?

You can try Naveen Lakeside at Hubli.

Sayaji at Kolhapur is a good one. You can also look at Veerkar’s, The fern at Kolhapur. Stayed there two weeks back and was quite decent. Very very close to the highway.

Belgaum winter legislative session is from December 13 to 24. All the hotels in Belgaum are booked for politicians and their IAS secretaries. Let alone Belgaum, even Dharwad and Hubli might be fully booked. Best is to target Kolhapur for anyone doing Bangalore--Pune/Mumbai and vice versa.

This could be a rumor but somebody in my apartment claimed to have checked with a KSRTC driver and got a reply saying both negative RTPCR report "and" a fully vaccinated certificate are needed for entering either MH or KA. This sounds odd but made me anxious at this last moment, a couple of days before the journey. If possible or if anybody could find the reality through your contacts it will be very helpful.

Rajiv, I had mentioned it earlier on why things are different for KSRTC and Private operators. They are bound to follow directions given by their bosses as they are a Public Transport operator.