News

Road tripping in my Mercedes GLC: Mumbai to Bengaluru & back via Goa

6th December 2024, 15:03 by Dev Shah

It was a solo drive and decided to make it a night drive since I hate the state of NH 48 for most sections of Maharashtra.

BHPian Axe77 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

The Southern sojourn | Road tripping with the GLC

At the time of undertaking this road trip, I’d had my GLC 300 for just about 6 months and it had run a little over 4500 kms. Since the time I bought my 3GT back in October 2015, one key criteria was clear when choosing a vehicle. That it must be touring friendly and as “go anywhere” capable as possible. I don’t mean hard core 4x4 off-roading of course but it should be capable of undertaking any sort of road trips without any hesitation.

The GLC too was also selected with that criteria in mind - as a vehicle that will do all or more compared to what the 3GT is capable of. It’s also the reason that as comfortable as the E class is, it never appeared even on the consideration set when we chose the GLC, despite being available at a very close price point.

While my ownership thread will hopefully see many road trips being chronicled - day trips and longer journeys alike - I was keen to kick off the road trips bit with this particular drive. It is possibly the single longest road trip (by car) that I’ve undertaken to date.

Mumbai - Bangalore - Goa - Mumbai | June 2024

I had been planning to spend 3 odd days working out of my Bangalore office to spend some time meeting clients and local colleagues from that office. I had tentatively picked the week of 10th June for this trip since my son was away the entire week for a summer camp. Since the kiddo was being dispatched sometime Saturday, the idea was I’d drive over the weekend of 8th / 9th June from Mumbai to Bangalore solo (breaking journey in Belgavi) and the wife can fly down to Bangalore on Sunday afternoon.

After working 3 days in Bangalore, the second leg of the drive was to head to Goa, leaving Thurs early AM and work from Goa on Thurs 2nd half and Friday. Relax on Saturday and leave Sunday early AM to be back in Mumbai by late afternoon. I've split each phase of the journey into separate posts but the headline trip data is set out below.

Travel date range: 8th June - 16th June, 2024
Total distance covered: 2316.5 kms
Total avg fuel efficiency: 7.85 kmpl*
Total fuel consumed: ~295 litres
Total cost of fuel: ~Rs. 30,289
Total toll paid: Rs. 2831

* - I had a fair bit of fast pedal to the metal driving quite often and as you can see, that's not something turbo petrols are too forgiving of.

Day 1: Bombay - Belgavi

Route: South (central) Mumbai — Atal Setu — old highway till Lonavala — Expressway postLons —> NH 48 all the way to Fairfield Marriott, Belgavi
Total kms: ~472 kms
Dep from Mumbai: 2:40 am
Arr at Fairfield Belgavi: 10:00 am.

The drive:

It was a solo drive and decided to make it a night drive since I hate the state of NH 48 for most sections through MH (although the KA bits are pretty bad as well now up to Belgavi). I left home at about 2.40 am, took on the Atal Setu after which I decided to simply stay on the old Bombay Pune highway. It’s much more engaging and scenic a drive and in any case it was my intention to stay on the old highway for the Khopoli Lonavala ghat given the heavy traffic jams caused by truck traffic on the ghat sections. An excellent decision and it was an engaging drive indeed.

Post Lonavala I decided to enter the expressway for some steady 100 kmph cruising until I reach Pune. I must have crossed Baner sometime a little under 2 hours since leaving home and it ensured that I still had the benefit of quiet hours all the way until Kolhapur. Barring one stop for a picture while on the ghat, I pretty much drove non stop (quite comfortably I might add) right up till Hotel Sai International for breakfast, a little past 7 am - about 4.5 hours and 340 kms of driving up to that point.

My first fuel halt came up around 35 - 40 mins post breakfast somewhere around Kolhapur - at this point I was still searching for 95 RON fuel which is what I use in Mumbai and had a couple of false halts where 95 wasn’t available. Fuel topped up, finally was back on my way. The traffic as most are familiar is heavily laced with diversions ever so frequently but I benefited from having done a chunky bit of the section well before these cities wake up to their daily local runabout. I made another very brief stop merely for a picture and to pin mark Viraj junction - an excellent food court somewhere a little before Nipany. I’d hugely recommend this for folks taking NH 48 southbound or even the Nipany Amboli route to Goa. Nice places to eat with safe parking. Only issue is its right beside a diversion currently but it still has good parking.

Finally reached the Fairfield Marriott at Belgavi a shade before 10:00 am. The hotel was absolutely full on account of a corporate event but luckily they still managed to get me a room inside an hour, during which time I had a second small breakfast at their restaurant.

The hotel is well known for being clean with a safe parking spot, with a nice pool, gym and some open lawns for leisure. A definitely thumbs up for me for anyone looking for an overnight halt while traveling along this route.

Kicking off the trip at 2:40 am on Saturday night. That's the luggage as loaded up although a slight cheat there - I only remembered to take my typical luggage pic after I had reached Belgaum:

Cruising on the beautiful Atal Setu bridge at night. Looks lovely all lit up:

Perennial problem of Indian highways. In the words of fellow Mod Libran1987: truckers playing NFS at 30 kmph!

Tunnel vision. Cruising on the old Bombay Pune highway - the section from Chouk towards Khopoli.

Top: traffic on the expressway part of the ghat section. Bottom: the corresponding section on the old highway's ghat section. Which one would you pick if it was the middle of the night

Joined the expressway after crossing Lonavala. The bottom left pic is exiting the expressway and entering Pune. Cruise control at 100 kmph is handy on this section with speed cameras generously strewn across this stretch.

Caught this test mule running somewhere ahead of Khed Shivapur IIRC.

7:10 am: The first proper halt since I left home - around 340 kms and 4.5 hours after leaving from home at 2:40 am.

The halt was Sai International about 30 kms before Kolhapur. Their USP at that hour is USP - Upma, Sheera, Poha. Nothing else on offer. Ordered one of those with some home made cold brew coffee to keep me going.

Time to fuel up the car as well. Managed to get 95 RON fuel near Kolhapur.

Stopped here only for a quick picture and to pin mark the place. I had been meaning to check out this Viraj junction place somewhere before Nipany. A lot of bikers have started halting here when riding to Goa via Amboli ghat.

Back on the road finally with decent sweeping roads but continued diversions in parts.

Reached Fairfield Marriott Belgavi a hint before 10 am. Nice clean hotel with safe and spacious parking. Both key considerations in picking choice of halts.

Nice views of windmills from the room, with solar panels on the adjacent land.

Got a dip in the pool as well in the evening.

My standard carry - better to be self reliant with some decent coffee. Also appreciate hotels that don't skimp on basic stuff like water. I asked for a few extra bottles of water and they readily obliged.

There is an Irish House right next door to the hotel. Decided to have dinner there. Despite some rain that evening it had some crowd. On the right is literally the only picture of the inside that can be posted on the forum.