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Pune to Goa and back in my Mahindra Thar Roxx: Route updates

5th April 2025, 19:30 by R Patil

Did a drive from Pune to Devbag, onward to Goa at the end of March 2025. Came back from Utorda, Goa to Pune on 4th April. The new Thar Roxx did great.

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Onward journey on 29/3/2025: Pune to Karad via NH48, then State highway via Anuskura Ghat, Malkapur, emerged on NH66 around Rajapur. Drove on NH66 till Kasal and diverted towards Devbag, MH. Took a halt for the night in Devbag. Drove to South Goa the next day via NH66. Road is great throughout, esp the state highway. Hardly any traffic on SH, so fast progress can be made.
Pune to Karad is not that great, some diversions. Although road surface is good in most places.
NH66 is good but the surface being concrete, is not very good. Ride is bumpy.

Return journey on 4/4/2025
Goa to Pune, I left around 9.30am from Utorda. I wanted to touch NH48 around lunch time, so decided to come via Amboli ghat, touch NH48 around Nippani and have lunch on NH48. Had I come via Anuskura ghat, I would have touched NH48 only around 4pm.
Drove from Utorda to Banda on NH66, then Sawantwadi, Amboli ghat, Ajara, Gandhinglaj, touched NH48 around 1.30pm.
Then followed a harrowing time with hundreds of diversions, from Gadhinglaj till Satara. It does not let you drive on the highway for more than a kilometer. Then a diversion of 1-2 km, again on highway for a km or so, and again diversion. This continued till Karad, after which, the diversion reduced.
I do not recommend to go on NH48 after Karad, since the diversions will kill your time, average speed, and energy.
Wildcard mention for road after Amboli ghat, via Ajara till Gadhinglaj: The road widening and resurfacing is recently done. Concrete road immediately after crossing Amboli ghat, all the way till Gadhinglaj. Even the surface of concrete is great here such that Thar Roxx didn't bounce much. I really enjoyed this part of the drive on the way back, the route is very scenic and road surface is great.

Overall recommendation: Take the Anuskara ghat route.
Pune to Karad via NH48 (till Narayanwadi, a little ahead of Karad), then divert on SH144 towards Malkapur, go via Anuskara ghat and touch NH66 around Rajapur. The State highways are great that side (road surface wise), and allow you to do Pune to Goa faster and more relaxed than staying on NH48 for longer.

Sneak peak of Thar Roxx taking a break in Amboli ghat.