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Hi guys, Mid of April month, I am Planning to have a Shirdi trip from Lingampally(Hyderabad), Route : Lingampally - Naldurg - Tuljapur - Terkhed - Jamkhed - Ahmednagar - Shirdi return with same route. Would like to know the current road condition of the above route. Thanks, Rajagopal

Dear ALL, I am planning to travel to tirupati from Hyderabad by in a automatic car. Don't want to take bad roads. Can anyone please suggest the best route?

'Hyderabad to Mahabaleshwar , Panchgani' - Monsoon Drive Meetup - October 8th and 11th 2016 Start point - Gachibowli (ORR) End point - Panchgani hill top (Accommodation) Start time - 4 :15 a.m. Total Distance - ~610 kms Objective - A monsoon drive meet to Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani during a long festive weekend. Participants: 1) Maruthi Suzuki Swift 2) Volks Wagen Polo 3) Hyundai Creta (Red) 4) Hyundai Creta (White) Route Taken: Option 1 Hyderabad (Gachibowli) --> Pargi --> Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) --> Baramati (Via Akkalkot) --> Solapur --> Indrapur --> Panchgani (Via Wai) --> Mahabaleshwar Single lane road till Solapur, but some sections are super good and some are average, no potholes. Option 2 Hyderabad (Gachibowli) --> Zaheerabad --> Solapur --> Indapur--> Panchgani (Via Wai) --> Mahabaleshwar Last 100 kilometers before Solapur is pathetic, road is filled with potholes. Option 3 Hyderabad (Gachibowli) --> Zaheerabad -->Humnabad --> Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) --> Baramati (Via Akkalkot) --> Solapur --> Indapur --> Panchgani (Via Wai) --> Mahabaleshwar Smoothest and longest of all. While you are coming back, would suggest you to take following route, so that you can cover KAS, valley of flowers. Mahabaleshwar --> KAS --> Satara --> Pandharpur --> Solapur --> Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) --> Humnabad --> Zaheerabad --> Hyderabad (Gachibowli) Cover Pic: Places to visit in Panchgani: Panchgani is a pseudo head quarter for the parasailing which is conducted through out the year except during the monsoons. 1) Table Land 2) Parsi Point 3) Sydney Point 4) Devil's Kitchen 5) Mahabaleshwar Places to visit in Mahabaleshwar: There are as many as 30 viewpoints in Mahabaleshwar. Few of the major places are, 1) Elephant's head point 2) Arthur's seat 3) Kate's point 4) Kaas Plateau (Valley of flowers) 5) Venna Lake 6) Panchganga Temple 7) Mapro garden 8) Lingmala waterfalls 9) Pratapgad fort 10) Elphinstone point

Can anyone help me with Hyderabad to Raipur highway condition?

**Route update NH65/ NH16/ NH14** Distance -1672 kms Total time 26 hrs Standstill time : 1 hr 17 min ( includes breaks + refueling ) Source : Hyderabad Destination: Asansol Vehicle - Duster AWD. Start : Friday 9pm . Sept 2020 End - Saturday 11pm Sept 2020 Toll charges - 1600 ( Paytm fastag discounts ) Diesel - 119 litres Average diesel rate at all states ~ 80 Road conditions - (9pm - 1am ) Hyderabad to Vijaywada - nh65 , first 60 kms can get irritating if you drive during daylight and traffic. Post that tarmac is smooth and you can make up time. ( 1am -6 am) Vijaywada - Vizag - Post Tuni till southern Chilka - lots of diversions but they are in a better shape from what I had seen during the last Hyderabad - East Bhutan trip. 33kms before entering Vizag we took the Bypass , it was scenic and scarcely busy although we crossed it at 5:30am . ( 6am -2pm ) Vizag - Chilka - Bhubaneswar : Super scenic + great road. Chilka - Bhubaneswar : Major diversions but manageable with mild traffic from adjoining towns. ( 2pm - 6pm ) Bhubaneswar - Kharagpur : great road ,no issues but tarmac has major undulations , cars with lower GC will bottom out, saw a swift dzire break it's left fog lap. Just be careful. But majorly scenic. ( 6pm -11pm ) Kharagpur - Bishnupur - Raniganj -Asansol : Smooth tarmac, lots of towns / villages enroute, we did it at night, that saved a lot of time. Keep an eye for weak bridges. A brigde we used often for past few years was shattered by an overwhelmed river. Passes and URLs - Orissa - https://covid19.odisha.gov.in/ ( 1 pass ) AP - http://spandana1.ap.gov.in/Registration/onlineRegistration.aspx ( 2 passes, entry and exit ) WB- 8017845555 ( send a ping via whatsapp, then respond accordingly) We were not stopped at any state border for checking passes in the 26 hours of driving. Note: please research about the days of lockdown in AP/OD/WB, authorities are very strict. Picture - A mandatory selfie with Kashfool. aka - Saccharum Spontaneum Those who are planning to drive excercise caution and safety. Have a happy and a safe trip. Source : Aritra Ray

I am planning to drive from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad. Can you guys suggest me the best route? Any pointer to note down?

Hyderabad to Bhongir fort drive meetup - February 25th - 2017 Start point - Gachibowli (ORR) End point - Bhongir fort Start time - 6:30 a.m. Distance - ~110 kms Objective : A small gathering to meet all the new folks of the club for breakfast at Viveria hotel and drive towards Bhongir fort in a union spirit to continue this year on a cheerful note. Destination description: The Bhongir fort was built upon a single rocky hill in Bhongir, a town in Telangana, located in the Nalgonda district of the state. The Western Chalukya ruler, Tribhuvana malla Vikram aditya VI, built the fort from one single monolithic rock in the 12th century. The fort was originally named Tribhuvanagiri, and eventually the name metamorphosed into Bhuvanagiri and eventually, into Bhongir, which is its present name. It is spread across an impressive area of 50 acres at a height of around 500 feet over the top and is about 50 kms from the Hyderabad skirt. Highlights: Bhongiri fort is the highest fort in India, It is constructed on a single large stone. The shape of the hill is very unique. Bhongir fort tips: No food and water are available at the fort, carry your own water and snacks. Make sure you carry back the trash instead of littering around. Vehicle parking is available at foot hills of the fort. Less crowded. Trek is easy, no gear required as most of the ascent carved of steps on the rocky surface. Not advisable to visit after sunset. Early morning is the best time to visit. Should be extra careful during the monsoon, it may be slippery. Bhongiri Fort timings: Fort is accessible between 10AM to 5PM. Early morning is the best time to visit, you can get into the fort at 6AM from the back entry. It is against rules, but you can buy the ticket while coming back. Bhongiri Fort entry fee: 10/- per head and 50/- per camera. Hyderabad to Bhongir fort route: Hyderabad --> Ghatkesar --> Bhongir fort. Hyderabad to Bhongiri Road condition: It is a 4-lane route, it will not take you more than two hours from Hyderabad. Hotels in Bhongiri: All the hotels are available on Highway as soon as you cross Bhongiri. 1.Hotel Vivera 2. Coffee day 3.Hotel Sankalp Participants: 1) Maruti Suzuki Baleno - Sai Chand 2) Ford Aspire - Harshita 3) Skoda Rapid - Kaushik 4) Hyundai Creta - Sagar 5) Honda Civic - Saran 6) Honda Civic - Gowtham varma 7) Toyota Innova Crysta - Akhil 8) Audi Q3 - Bhargav PS: This report was compiled by pictures taken by me, Gowtham and Sagar.

Car : Ford Freestyle Titanium, Petrol 1.2 No. of people – 2 (young couple, both can drive) Avg Mileage – 15kmpl Travel time : 15hrs Google Maps set for route: Miyapur –> Zaheerabad –> Hunmabad –> Gulbarga –> Bagalkot –> Belgaum –> Chorla Ghat –> Goa (Candolim) We got our car washed and fuelled a day before we began our long road trip across South West Coast about which I'll be sharing the details in my upcoming blog . We started as planned from Miyapur (NH65) at 4:30 am, to beat the sorry morning traffic of Hyderabad and to catch a glimpse of rising sun. We were not disappointed as we hit outer highway of Patancheru, we felt like we were gliding in clouds as it was filled with fog and mist. When we reached Zaheerabad around 6:00 AM after crossing the 1st Toll at Kamkole (Rs.90/- Toll charges), we decided to take a quick break as the rising sun just engulfed us with its beautiful rays and colors. Since we were not particular about food (not being foodies) energy bars were enough to fuel us on the go as breakfast saving us ample time towards our destination. The 4-lane roads till Zaheerabad was very smooth. (Travelers remember to stay on NH65, else you will be traversing inside the Zaheerabad city and may be wasting precious time.) We continued straight on the highway and entered the Karnataka border in 15 mins. As we entered Karnataka we were welcomed by patchy roads and speed breakers. My husband gave a humors comment: “Welcome to the world of Speed breakers!” After the 2nd Toll at Mangalgi (Rs.85/- toll charges) we accelerated towards Hunmabad as the roads were smooth. An engrossing conversation made us forget to take left towards Gulbarga and drifted to Mumbai Highway bridge. A sweet voice, by Ford Navigation pre-loaded offline maps, soon alerted us to take a U-turn after a kilometer while Google maps adjusted its route via Basavakalyan. We thanked and appreciated Ford’s invention and took U-turn followed by a right turn underneath the bridge. We continued our journey towards Gulbarga shifting our gears from NH65 to NH50. We progressed to drive on NH50 and realized the time was around 8am when we saw a field of Sunflowers pointing at the sun among endless fields of sugarcane and cotton plantation. As there were no good hotels to stop for a tea break we moved on and reached Gulbarga in an hour. Since we had a long way to go, we didn’t want to get inside the city and hence took the ring road approaching towards Vijayapura. During a long journey towards Vijayapura so many windmills across the road welcomed us. We took the advantage of the car's off-roading skills and went closer to the windmills through a field. From the lessons learnt in the morning we ensured to shift from NH50 to NH52 by taking a left turn near Vijayapura. Nearly about an hour after crossing Vijayapura we were amazed to drive on Uttar Karnataka’s longest bridge built on the river Krishna situated in Kolhar. Since we got our lunch packed from home, we took a 15min break near Bagalkot. We resumed our journey at 1pm and reached Belgaum by 3:30pm where we refuelled our car (2nd full tank). As we wanted to drive the Chorla Ghat before Sunset we continued without further breaks. Ghat roads initially were smooth but turned out to be patchy nearing Goa. The sky dusked as we entered Goa and travelled through the dark, narrow and silent lanes of Poriem, Bicholem and Paliem. Travelling through the busy roads of Calangute we reached our destination, Candolim, by 7:30pm. Glimpse of Ghat road We stayed in recently constructed property in a peaceful locality of Pintos Vaddo street in Candolim. Property details: Sonika’s Leisure. A decent hotel with in-house bar & restaurant, swimming pool and AC rooms with attached balcony and excellent Wifi connectivity. Rooms were very neat with sparkling clean bathrooms. Great hospitality and yummy food.

Planning: It was October 2016 when we started planning for a long road trip. It was my wife's idea of visiting a cold place (if possible, snow fall) in winter, and subsequently we ended up talking about Manali (obvious choice of transport being, ROAD ). Idea was shot down by colleagues and friends, saying 2200KM drive one-side is no joke. Having experience of driving 17 hours a day couple of times, I knew that 3-day drive to Manali was pretty much possible. When started planning, things started to look easy - one of the key aspect of this journey was choice of stops. Upon deciding stops, stay, and places to visit, there was no stopping. In general, I would love to have best possible weather when I hit the road (my usual search query on Google being "where is it raining in India?"). In this case, we knew that fresh snowfall would happen at most 4-5 times in entire season, and we finalized dates trusting Accuweather data. Places planned to visit: Manali, Shimla, and Auli (tentative). THE reason to travel: To witness snowfall (Yes, we did!) Dates: 20/01/2017 to 01/02/2017 (Based on weather prediction three months before) Drive: Ford Ecosport 1.5TDCi Number of people: 3 (Driver: Only Me! ) Preparation: Being very particular about vehicle maintenance, I got everything checked (also, 2nd service was due around the same time) a week before our drive. One major problem we previously faced was light throw from headlights (OSRAMs) - I finally decided to replace with with Philips X-treme Vision Plus H4 (+130%), and they are amazing! Protective clothing: 2 layered snow-proof jacket, thermals, multi-position headband, two layers of gloves (much needed at sub-zero temperatures). Medicines: Few strips each for headache, cough/cold, fever, indigestion, and vomiting. Food: Figured out that there won't be many restaurants (especially in MP and UP). Hence, carried home-made protein bars, instant-noodle packs, juices, etc. Other things carried: Mini air compressor, 2 umbrellas, hiking pole, whistle, and 25L jerry can (and funnel). Route and Itinerary (NH44 all the way, from Telangana till Punjab) 20 Jan: Hyderabad to Sagar (MP) 21 Jan: Sagar (MP) to Greater Noida 22 Jan: Greater Noida to Manali 22 - 26 Jan: Places around Manali 27 Jan: Manali to Shimla 28 - 29 Jan: Shimla 30 Jan: Shimla to Agra 31 Jan: Agra to Nagpur 1 Feb: Nagpur to Hyderabad Day-1: (Hyderabad to Sagar - 884KM) State: Telangana It was a key decision that we had to make about 1st stop, and the choice was between Chhindwara and Sagar (considering good places to stay). We were all super-excited the night before; woke up at 4am, and hit road by 4.30am. Roads were flawless till Adilabad, and roads turned ugly (not even bad) the moment we crossed Telangana border - it was stark difference, and a badly shaped bridge welcomed us in Maharashtra. State: Maharashtra Road construction was happening on NH44 (for betterment, I'd guess), and it was not so pleasant (at the same time, not eventful) driving in MH. We crossed Nagpur 1.15pm and stopped for lunch as soon as we entered MP. State: Madhya Pradesh Tarmac turned super smooth the moment we entered MP - driving on SH 547 was pleasant experience (we passed some hills in between). No wonder MP has some of the cleanest cities in the country - one could judge the same by looking at their roads. We crossed Chhindwara around 4.30PM, and reached destination (Sagar) by 7.45PM. We could already feel the cold that night (not so much, though); had dinner and called it a day. It was a great day overall (not eventful). It was relatively long day for us in the car (~900KM), and we intentionally front-loaded much of distance on day-1.

Distance : ~190 kilometers Drive time: 4 hours including breaks Mileage : 16 KMPL (Best mileage we have ever achieved, never crossed 120 km/hr) Total trip cost : 2600/- (Including fuel for 2 persons) Road condition 2017: Quick update Hyderabad to Nagarjunasagar road condition: Road condition has improved a lot compared to last year. First 50 kilometers has a beautiful single lane road(similar to srisailam road) Last 100 kilometers is a good single road. Places to visit at Nagarjunasagar: 1. Nagarjunakonda Island a) Visit APDC launch station.(around 10 kilometers from Dam) b) Park your vehicle at the paid parking. c) Take a boat to the Island. d) Total trip takes around 3 hours (approximately) Timings:9:30,11:30 and 1:30 Price : 120/- per Adult and 100/- per Kid 2. Nagarjunasagar dam 3. A.P tourism hotel (excellent view, no entry charges and food is good ) 4. Ethipothala Water Falls. Food option on Hyderabad to Nagarjuna sagar highway. Vegetarians: Sai Annapurna hotels , Google maps : https://goo.gl/maps/qK64agvUpqm Non-Vegetarians: Naga lakshmi Kaveri Family dhaba, Google maps : https://goo.gl/maps/nQPLuhBck5A2 Food options at Nagarjuna Sagar Hotel Siddartha , Google maps : https://goo.gl/maps/HiCqkP1TVDU2 TSDC tourism Vijay vihar, Google maps : https://goo.gl/maps/fEpVvnMfVkk Stay options: A.P tourism is the only best option available at Nagarjunasagar. There are few private hotels but most of them are not maintained properly.

I have never planned road trips in advance however planning to do the Ooty Drive this month end taking a few additional days off during the long weekend. I am planning the drive from Hyderabad to Ooty Route: Hyderabad--> Bengaluru --> Mysuru --> Ooty . I am thinking of starting early morning and reaching Mysuru by evening to halt for the night. Any suggestions on pit stops, hotels, sightseeing on way please..

Dear All, Apologies for the late reply. I finally completed the trip and it was a great experience. I visited the below locations in span of 6 days and drove 2400 kms. Nallamala Jungle camp Horsley hills Chennakesava temple Sompalam Kadiri Narsimha swamy temple Talakona waterfalls Tirupathi Srikalahasti Day-1 Hyderabad to Nallamala Jungle Camp My planned route is Banglore highway i.e Hyderabad ---> Jadcharla--->Kurnool-->Nandyal--->Nallamala Jungle Camp Pacherla Excellent road conditions. I started my journey at 6:30 am from Hydearabad and reachd Nallama Jungle camp by 10:45 am , with a break in Kurnool for breakfast. For 4000 Rs ( you will get cottage, breakfast,Lunch & Dinner at Nallamala Pacherla) , beware of Monkeys. Safari tour was adventurous but hardly we spot any wild life. Day -2&3 Nallamall Jungle camp to Horsley Hills Planned route Nallamala Jungle Camp --->Rayachoti---> Horsley Hills (1-day break) Roads are very good until Rayachoti. From there to Horsley hills it was pathetic , they are laying new roads and the present condition was worst. Please avoid this road by all means. Horsley hills is a pretty good place to chill down and relax. The weather is pleasant always. Here we had spend two days exploring Horsley hills and neary by places. Chennakesava Temple at Sompalayam is a ancient forgotten temple with unbelievable architecture one should go and watch. We also visite Kadiri Narsimha swamy temple on the way. Day 4 Halt at Tirupati (enroute Talakona Waterfalls) Planned route Horsley Hills--> Talakona waterfalls --> Tirupati Roads are pretty good with speed bumps at some places . Day 5 Tirupati darshan Return Journey Day 6 Tirupati NAM expressway Tirupati--->Srikalahasti-->Nellore-->Kavali-->Ongole-->Nalgonda-->Hyderabad. While coming we took Nellore Kavali NAM express towards Hyderabad. The road condition is Ok with so many toll gates and some huge repairs in between. Somehow I feel and suggest to take Kurnool route to Tirupathi which is really good. Attaching few photos from my tour , please have a look.

Hyderabad to Shiridi has 3 routes. Route :1: Best route Hyderabad --> Chevella --> Parigi --> Sedam --> Kalaburgai (Gulbarga) --> Solapur --> Ahmednagar --> Shiridi Route :2 : Avoid, until 4-lane is completed. Hyderabad -->Zaheerabad -->Solapur --> Ahmednagar --> Shiridi Route :3 : Avoid, not worth it. Hyderabad --> Nanded --> Aurangabad --> Shiridi Plan: 1. Start early in the morning. 2. Break fast stop at Gulbarga (Kalaburgai). You can stop at Lumbini's Grand Hotel (Breakfast + clean washrooms). 3. Lunch stop, you can find dhabas as soon as you cross Solapur Route 1: Road condition Hyderabad to Kalaburgai (Gulbarga): Single lane and road condition is good. Kalaburgai (Gulbarga) to Solapur : Some patch work is going on, must be completed by now. Nothing alarming. Solapur to Shiridi : Road condition is average, but not an issue with your duster, it will fly.

This was in August 2014 after a very boring and hardworking week which meant we had to get away on a drive to chill out. So after browsing for places nearest to Hyderabad, we narrowed down on Gandikota, popularly known as the Grand Canyon of India. Gandikota is located in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and got its fame due to the gorge formation caused by the river Penna. Planning: When: August. 1 Drive: Ford Fiesta Fuel Type: Petrol Route: Hyderabad - Kurnool - Gandikota Distance: ~400 kms Local Tour Distance: ~100 kms Time: 9 p.m. (August 1st) - 1 a.m. (August 2nd) {4 hours including breaks} Mileage: Avg. 16 kmpl (with AC) Places: Orvakal (Natural rock formations) Belum Caves Gandikota - The Grand Canyon of India Route: Hyderabad ---> Kurnool ---> Orvakal ---> Belum Caves ---> Gandikota ---> Gooty ---> Hyderabad. Execution: Our initial plan was to start in the wee hours of Saturday and reach Gandikota by evening but changed our plan and left on Friday night. The journey began at 9:00 p.m. from Manikonda and got onto the brilliant ORR and Bangalore highway. After a seamless drive till Jadcherla, stopped for dinner at our favorite restaurant called 'Drive-In' which is on the highway after crossing the toll at Jadcherla. After a sumptuous dinner, we continued our journey and reached Kurnool town at around 12:30 a.m. Not having made any prior reservations, we went in search for a hotel to crash for the night. Based on suggestions in Google, we zeroed in on DVR Mansion near SBI circle. It was a pretty decent deluxe AC room. With lot of driving to be done the next day, we dozed off and got up fresh at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. After some nice complimentary breakfast and coffee, we checked out and started our journey to Orvakal Rock Garden, our first destination of the day. Orvakal is a place situated about 30 kms from Kurnool on NH-18 which is the Kurnool-Ongole route. It is famous for its natural igneous rock formations. Although the AP Tourism website claims to have boating and rock museum, we couldn't find either and there was construction work going on. After a slight drive up-hill, we had a decent view from the top with the rocks in the background. We started to get some clicks with our new Nikon D3200. Next on the list was Belum Caves. Glimpses of the rock garden Beautiful natural igneous rock formations Our drive up the picturesque landscape And our principal photography began Orvakal rock gardens is a mix of sandstone & limestone all over We got involved in some 'Rock Climbing' activities We stopped at a longer crack, probably about 20-25 ft high Belum caves, supposedly the longest caves in India after Borra, is about 80 kms from Orvakal. The route is decent not the 4-lane highway so took us about 2hrs to reach the place with breaks. There was an entry fee of about Rs. 50 and we went exploring deep inside the caves. People with breathing problems have to be careful as the caves are quite deep with not many air vents. After taking several pictures of the beautiful caves, we were completely exhausted by the time we finished our exploration. Few pictures of our journey down to the Belum Caves Entrance to the caves, Tunnels inside the caves and broken stalactites. And our underground rocks tour begun The second largest cave and one of the longest caves of the Indian Subcontinent Sculpted by nature, Belum caves have spacious chambers, passages, all creations of the water flow Main Sections of the Belum Caves A stone pillar inside the Belum Caves Carves formed by the flow of underground water One of the small caverns The lighted up narrow pathway Caves photo-walk Muted lighting adds to the mystery and beauty of these caves

Trying to paraphrase Katrina Kaif's dialogue from 'Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara'........Driving is like meditation for me.....:P:P Done with the cheezy bollywood dialogue reference for my first post, I must say I am extremely thrilled to have found a bunch of like minded folks in the 'India-Drive' Team. Looks like an awesome space to share your travel stories and road trip experiences. Some of the pics in the posts here are simply breathtaking. Kudos guys!! Never knew there were so many places in and around “mana†Hyderabad that one can simply drive down to during the weekends. Now that I know where I can get great suggestions, I am sure my weekends will be way more fun than usual. For my first post, I am going to share my most recent travelogue....its almost a month old. But, better late than never!! P.S.: Not a great writer....so excuse me if anyone finds the language crude.. Also, a budding photographer...YES!!! I am one of those who thought buying an SLR would make me a PRO at it...But Hey!! I am trying to get better at it....I have tried to share my experience in as much detail as possible. Please feel free to suggest additions that I can make to my future posts (there will be a lot of them..) Planning: The month of September was coming to an end, and we all know what happens when some one says October 2nd - Gandhi Jayanthi!!...With all due respect to the "Father of the Nation" people now consider it just a public holiday. Some people stock up their bars before hand and some plan a quiet holiday with the folks at home. So, I heard from one of our common friends that a bunch of guys from the India Drive team were planning a weekend getaway to Hampi. Interestingly, I was told that another group from India Drive was also driving down to the same place from Bangalore. Always, on the lookout for a great drive and meeting new people, I managed to join the folks at Hyderabad and decided to take this trip. HAMPI, popular as a hitch hiker's dream destination, is famous for the ancient architecture and the innumerable ruins. Typical tropical climate and hot weather in the area makes the monsoons the best time to visit HAMPI. A visit to such historic places make you wonder how vastly rich and incredible our glorious nation once was. If only we all were fortunate enough to have lived in the Golden age. Mind you, HAMPI still is a very beautiful place and connoisseurs of fine architecture will surely love it but you will be forced to think as to how much more beautiful and majestic it would have been in its prime. Enough of the build up....I will get down to business now... When: October 2 - October 4 2015 Drive: Volkswagen Polo Fuel: Diesel Distance: Approx. 350 kms (One way) Travel time: 7 hours including breaks Mileage: Avg. 15 Kmpl Accommodation: Hotel Rock Regency, Hosepet. Price: 1850/- INR per night (A/C Deluxe room) Routes: There are a couple of other routes which one can take to reach Hampi. One of them keeps you on the NH7 much longer and takes you to Hampi via Kurnool, Guntakal and Ballari in that order. Still, I would suggest the Raichur road as the best one in spite of the bad batches as it saves you considerable time and also because it seems to a busy route with a lots of greenery around you on your way. Route - 1: Hyderabad - Shamshabad - Mahbubnagar - Makthal - Deosugur - Raichur - Sindhanur - Gangavathi - Hampi Route - 2: Hyderabad - Shamshabad - Jadcherla - Kurnool - Gooty - Guntakal - Ballari - Hospeta - Hampi Route Taken: Hyderabad - Shamshabad - Mahbubnagar - Makthal - Deosugur - Raichur - Sindhanur - Gangavathi - Hampi Places to Visit: 1) Vittala Temple Complex 2) Underground Shiva Temple 3) Virupaksha Temple 4) Anegundi on the Tungabadra river 5) Hampi Bazar 6) Hemakunta group of temples 7) Many other ruins scattered around.

Hi all, I am planning to drive from Pune to Nagpur and wanted to hear experience with road conditions, which routes and the road conditions? Especially 4 lane nice expressways. Thanks in advance. Sent from my iPhone using India-Drive

Hi all. I have visited this place again this week.Tried to cover some places that I have missed during the last visit. This time I covered Tigris Waterfalls(Polluru falls). One has to travel via Mothugudem to reach these falls by taking a left turn from a junction after you cross Chinturu. It is approximately 27 kms from the Y junction. Places visited: 1.Tigris Falls 2.Explored Coffee Plantation 3.Jalatharangini falls 4.Amruthadhara Falls The ride Tigris Falls Path that leads to the falls. We can drive through the path where there is enough parking space. Road to Tigris falls from Mothugudem. Road condition is very good and this is the same road that one has to take to reach Lambasingi if travelled via Bhadrachalam. Since that was a weekend, the place was fully crowded with over 200 people.Schools around brought their children for picnic mostly from a village of Chattisgarh.

Sharing a message posted by @ram97 for the benifit of other memebers We are planning a trip to Kanha national Park in December. Do you agree that the best route from Bangalore to Kanha is via Hyderabad and Nagpur. We have never really driven past Hyderabad and was wondering, if you would know that if the roads are good all the way upto Balaghat (Passed Nagpur). Was planning on staying in Hyderabad for the night as I have been told that the roads till Hyderabad are fantastic and can be covered in 6hrs. if you keep a decent pace of around 120km/hr. I was just worried if the Hyderabad to Kanha stretch is too long or do you believe it can be done easily in day. We have frequently done Bangalore - North Goa in under 10hrs and its a similar distance so was wondering if it would take about the same time. Looking forward to your response. Warm Regards, Ram

Hi all, I am planning to travel to Mumbai from Vizag in Jan. Have few queries. 1. Hows the road condition 2. Which route to follow 3. What should be the itinerary as i want to complete the journey in 2 days. PS I am travelling with a kid. Thanks all.

Hyderabad - November 21st - 2015 All I've been waiting for a week since i had this new 'White-Fang' enter my family is to get it serviced and kick long. Haven't really taken it out on the highways, but I've been completely happy maneuvering it in the city and Now, is the time when i had this recipe ready... My new Hyundai Creta and the Western ghats calling to throw in a good measure on the nature's lap. Having decided to drive through the ghats around Pune, I freezed on to few places adding a flavor of off-roading in relative comfort as i am a total newbie as far as off-roading is concerned. Not knowing if you can call this off-roading or not, but yeah I have put up my experience on different terrains i had come across the drive. Itinerary: Day 1 : Hyderabad - Pune (Pimpiri Chinchwad) Day 2 : Pimpiri - Lonavla - Khandala - Lavasa - Pimpiri Day 3 : Pimpiri - Raigad Torna - Pimpiri Day 4 : Pune - Hyderabad

Hello all this is my first travel story and I will try to keep it as minimal as possible with all the important info. Trip distance : 450 Kilometers (one way) Drive time : 9 hours (includes multiple breaks) Hyderabad to Maredumilli can be done in two different routes. Route :1 Hyderabad --> Suryapet --> Khammam --> Kothagudem --> Bhadrachalam --> Chinturu --> Maredumilli Route:2 Hyderabad --> Suryapet --> Vijayawada --> Rajahmundry --> Rampachodavaram --> Maredumilli My choice was Via Bhadrachalam. Most scenic of the both. Hyderabad to Maredumilli : Take Route 1 Maredumilli to Hyderabad : Take Route 2 Road Condition :Route 1 Hyderabad to Suryapet : 4-lane, toll road Suryapet to Bhadrachalam : 2-lane, average road Bhadrachalam to Maredumilli : 2-lane, Most scenic road Road Condition :Route 2 Hyderabad to Vijayawada : 4-lane, toll road Vijayawada to Rajahmundry : 4-lane, toll road but poorly maintained, expect some potholes Rajahmundry to Maredumilli : 2-lane, average and scenic road Hotel details We stayed in Vana Vihari cottages, our cottage name is Bison which is very decent for the price. Costed us around 1300/- per day, rooms are very neat. Don't expect any luxury. Stay is pretty decent. I see many members asking, If the place is safe for families. Yes the resort is absolutely safe. Places to visit in Maredumilli Amruthadhara waterfalls Jalatharangini waterfalls Nature Trails Mothugudem waterfalls Medicinal Plants Conservational Area Coffee Plantation Nandanavanam Tribal Culture Swarnadhara Jungle Star Nature Camp Site Madanakunj Places to visit Rampachodavaram Rampa Waterfalls Temple of Lord Shiva Bhupathipalem reservoir

Hello guys, I am Planning to drive from Hyderabad to Leh by road . Please guide me the best route available. Car that we are planning to take is Baleno Diesel. Can Baleno handle those roads without any issue? Can you guys help in listing the things to carry. I'm travelling with my two kids, age 3 yrs and 7 yrs Thank you.

Hi all, Can anyone please suggest me the best route and condition, I'm planning to drive from Hyderabad to Kolapur and Sangli.

Day one(29/01/2017) Sunday, Morning 8:00 HYDERABAD-->>>RAJAHMUNDRY Distance: 429 KM Drive Time: 9 Hours including one long break and few resting breaks Mileage: 13.2 KMPL Vehicle: Honda City VX Manual Transmission (Golden Horse) Fuel: Petrol Speed: Cruised at 120 KMPH Route: HYDERABAD--> Suryapet--> Vijayawada-->(VIJAYAWADA BYPASS ROAD) Nuzivid--> Hanuman Junction--> NH16 (CHENNAI-KOLKATA HIGHWAY)--> Rajahmundry. Many of you might be familiar with the Vijayawada--> Rajahmundry normal route, but this is a newly constructed route which skips Vijayawada city traffic goes through many small village roads, narrow roads, small ghat roads or mini ghat roads. The road conditions are worst till Nuzivid and from there the road is two lane road and is good. There are no proper restaurants till Rajahmundry, one must be prepared to eat on the way side dhabas or else wait till Rajahmundry. Coming to the Hyderabad To Suryapet road, the road is awesome 4 laned road there are many restaurants on the way, driveking wrote a review about this road so I'm skipping the info of this way and will go on with my journey. I stopped at Ma palle ruchulu for breakfast. The restaurant is awesome and the prices are reasonable for the quality. Don't expect any luxuries in the restaurant, it's a simple yet best village themed restaurant. Best items to eat is pulla atulu in veg. I don't know about non-veg. Waited there for one hour and started to Rajahmundry. And reached Rajahmundry by 5:00 in the evening. Stayed at housing board colony, my grandparents place. Here are few pics if the restaurant and the way. Pictures of Restaurant, Vijayawada Bypass road and the worst part of the Vijayawada bypass road. Day Two (30/01/2017) Monday. No activity, Took rest. Day Three(31/01/2017) Tuesday, Morning 7:30 RAJAHMUNDRY-->MAREDUMILLI Distance: 86 KM Drive Time: 2 hour 45 mins with few photography breaks. Mileage: 13.2 KMPL Vehicle: Honda City VX Manual Transmission Fuel: Petrol Speed: 80-110 KMPH Route: Rajahmundry--> Gadaala--> Rajahmundry Airport--> Burugupudi--> Korukonda--> Gokavaram--> Venkata Puram--> Folkspeta--> Bhuoatipalem--> Rampachodavaram--> Ramannavalasa--> Maredumilli. Started at 7:30AM from Rajahmundry and reached Maredumilli at 10:30AM. The road conditions are excellent two laned road takes you through beautiful dense forest. After reaching Gokavaram mobile signal goes off only BSNL signals are available. After reaching Rampachodavaram beautiful dense and beautiful forest starts and the ghat road starts from there. One can easily maintain 80-100 on the road there'll be no traffic after crossing Rampachodavaram, that's the last place where we can find population and from there it's calm, beautiful, lush green, dense forest and agency area. There is a reservoir at Bhupathipalem name is Bhupathipalem reservoir that's a beautiful place which also offers boating. There are two resorts to stay at Maredumill 1) Birds nest resort 2) Vanavihari Eco Tourism The best place to stay for a family is Vanavihari Eco Tourism. There is a restaurant in the resort, veg and no veg are available on demand. Best time to stay and visit Maredumilli is October to November. And best place to stay is Hill top resort at Vanavihari Maredumilli. There are many other AC and non AC resorts to stay ranging from ₹1000 per night to ₹2000 per night for two people and ₹600 for an extra bed. There is Jungle star nature camp a site for camping. Places to visit at Maredumilli 1) Jalatarangini Waterfalls 2) Swarnadhara And Rampa Waterfalls 3) Karthikavanam And The Vali Sugriva Medicinal Plants Conservation Area 4) Madanikunj-Vihara Sthal. According to the receptionist at Vanavihari most of the waterfalls are dried up now. And Karthikavanam And The Vali Sugriva Medicinal Plants Conservation Area is empty, no one to guide and no one will be with you even to open the gate that's my personal experience but the place is must visit for nature lovers and Photographers. There is coffee plantation area where you can spot birds according to locals, but the place is deserted without a single person, better to go with groups and good offroading vehicles, preferably a Thar. Maredumilli is a place for true nature lovers, Photographers and for the people who want to forget and come out of cities and enjoy the nature. One can enjoy the silence of the forest and lush green beauty of the forest in any season. I visited Vanavihari took photographs and explored few lonely and beautiful places in my Honda City, felt that's not the right car and not the right place for 3 people took rest near the coffee plantation gate and left the place with a heavy heart. Places to Eat: Restaurant at Maredumilli. PS: don't eat at way side Restaurants at Maredumilli. And bamboo chicken is famous there. Haven't tasted as I'm a vegetarian. Here are few pictures.Vanavihari Maredumilli Ghat road through dense forest at Maredumilli Me with my grandfather Bhupathipalem reservoir. Day three(01/02/2017), Wednesday afternoon 2:30. RAJAHMUNDRY--> VISAKHAPATNAM Distance: 190.7 KM Drive Time: 3 hours 30 minutes hours without a break Mileage: 13.2 KMPL Vehicle: Honda City VX Manual Transmission Fuel: Petrol Speed: Cruised at 120 KMPH Route: Visakhapatnam--> Annavaram--> Visakhapatnam. The road conditions are excellent four lane road till Vishakapatanam. Started off to Visakhapatnam in the afternoon at 2:30 after watching the no use budget Reached Visakhapatnam by 6:00PM. Attended a marriage in the night at slept at 1:00AM Stayed at Green Park Hotel. Hotel is excellent. Price ₹7000 per night we got for ₹6000 office discount. PLACES TO EAT ON THE WAY TO VISAKHAPATNAM: One Food Court at Annavaram on the right side while going to Visakhapatnam. Day four (02/02/2017), Thursday Morning 11:00. Visited few places and temples. Places: Kailash Giri, Submarine Museum. Temples: Laxmi Narasayamma temple at Sujatha Nagar. Simhachalam. Very bad that I forgot my camera in the room couldn't take pictures that day. In the night we visited RK Beach. The night is unforgettable... Slept for few minutes on the marble platform and watched the sea. Clicked few pictures... And left the place. Day five (03/02/2017), Friday Early Morning 5:00. Visited Tenneti Park for sunrise photoshoot. Took pictures from the view point and enjoyed the scene. Here are few pictures of the sunrise and my Golden Horse. Started to Rajahmundry at 3:00 in the afternoon and reached by 6:00 in the evening. Day six(04/02/2017), Saturday Morning 7:00. Distance: 430KM Drive time: 9 hours including one long break and few short breaks Mileage: 13.2 KMPL Vehicle: Honda City VX Manual Transmission Fuel: Petrol Speed: Cruised at 110KMPH. Took another route from Rajahmundry not the regular Rajahmundry--> Vijayawada--> Suryapet--> Hyderabad route. This is a bypass route which skips Rajahmundry takes you through a new bridge over Godavari river and then connects to the Khammam-Aswaraopet road. Take left from lalacheruvu and it'll connect you to the bypass route. The road conditions are worst two laned road till Aswaraopet, once you enter Aswaraopet you should take a left and it'll connect you to Khammam road. The road from Aswaraopet is excellent two laned road, one can easily cruise at 100KMPH. Road is surrounded by lush greenery and farms. Many places to rest under trees. This road has many truck traffic as they enter this road to avoid toll gates. It took us 9 hours to reach Hyderabad because of the worst road till Aswaraopet. After Khammam it connects to sathupalli and then connects to Suryapet then regular highway starts. Enter this road only if you want to avoid toll plazas. On this route we reached home by 5:30. We stay at Kompally traffic starts from Uppal. PLACES TO EAT: Vijayawada to Hyderabad Many way side Restaurants till Suryapet. After Suryapet there are many good restaurants, few are On the left when coming to Hyderabad: 1) G Hotel Nice hotels with decent price and quality 2)Hotel Sai Prasad Pure Vegetarian Pure vegetarian restaurant, no neatness 3) Vivera. after Narketpally Veg and non veg no neatness Hyderabad to Vijayawada : On the right when going to Vijayawada: 1) Annapurna Pure Vegetarian Decent and simple veg restaurant 2) Village Aharam Organic restaurant 3) Ma Palle Ruchulu Super village themed restaurant with good food and decent price 4) 9 restaurant Haven't tried 5) 7 food court Good food, good ambience value for money. Lastly thanks a lot to the guys in the WhatsApp group who had helped me in the journey