Road Trip Hyderabad to Ananthagiri hills, Gangapur,Akkalkot, Pandharpur, Solapur, Tuljapur and Naldurg fort

[abhinay1189]

 

This is a Family trip to holy places in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

 

Route taken

We have taken the Hyderabad-->Vikarabad road and reached Ananthagiri hills.

 

Ananthagiri hills, Vikarabad:

There is a view point at Ananthagiri hills. To reach their take the road opposite to Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple.

Maps :

https://goo.gl/maps/JLedSZQSgpS2

 

View point is very good. No crowd as it was weekday. Their is ample parking space available. People are littering this place.

You can enjoy cool breeze, see the nearby mountain and a far away lake from here.

 

 

 

 

Spent around 1 hour here and continued our journey.

 

Gangapur, Karanataka:

We have taken Tandur--Sedam road. Road is good but their are lot of speed breakers.

 

Sedam to Kalaburagi road is very good. Take ring road in Kalaburagi and left exit after High court complex and enter Kalaburagi - Afzalpur road. It is state highway 22. Ganagapur is 35 Kilometers away from here.

We reached Gangapur and taken Darshan of Lord Dattatreya.

Maps

https://goo.gl/maps/nSmqQa1LjuR2 

 

Shreekshetra Ganagapur, One of the most famous Dattatreya Peethas, is associated with Shri Narasimha Saraswati Swami, an incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. It stands on the bank of the river Bhima.

 

We left for a visit to Sangam- Audambar (Fig / Kalpavriksha) Tree on the banks of River Bhima. This place is around 5KM from the main temple. It is said that Narasimha Saraswati's presence is felt at this place in Nirguna Rupa and so, many people sit there and read the Guru Chirtra.

 

 

Akkalkot, Maharashtra:

 

We continued our journey and reached Akkalkot via Afzalpur. The road is pretty bad shape after Afzalpur. Road widening is going on in entire stretch.

 

Maps

https://goo.gl/maps/vmK89LVPQ8m 

We reached Akkalkot and visited Swami Samarth ( Vatavruksh)Temple.

 

Pandharpur, Maharashtra:

 

Post Darshan we took Akkalkot-- Solapur road.

Solapur to Pandharpur road is very good. It is Pune highway. At Mohol we need to take diversion to reach Pandharpur. It is 75kms away from Solapur.

 

Visited Vitthal Mandir and Iskcon Krishna temples.

 

The Pandharpur temple was built in the middle of the thirteenth century by King Visnuvardhana of the Hoysala dynasty.

 

Solapur, Maharashtra:

Next day morning started our journey towards Solapur.

Visited Shri Siddheshwar Temple in Solapur. This temple is in middle of lake and we can see a bhuikot fort beside the temple.

 

Google maps
 https://goo.gl/maps/qnf3WzsrMFn 

 

 

 

 

Tuljapur, Maharashtra:

Visited Tulja bhavani temple in Tuljapur which is 46kms from Solapur.This temple is dedicated to the goddess Bhavani. It is considered as one of the 51 Shakti pithas.

 

Google maps 

https://goo.gl/maps/giW6iXHUMvw 

 

 

 

 

Naldurg fort, Maharashtra:

We continued our journey and reached Naldurg fort which is 35kms from Tuljapur on Pune-Hyderabad highway.

 

The Naldurg fort is the biggest land fort in Maharashtra. It has 3 km long fortification wall and 114 bastions. ‘PaniMahal’ is the most attractive monument on this fort. It gives amazing view from inside of this ‘PaniMahal’, when water from ‘Bori’ river flows down from the top of this ‘PaniMahal’. This view can be enjoyed more at the end of the monsoons. Presently the water was little less.

 

Google maps link

https://goo.gl/maps/XJjbogMnW3A2 

 

 

 

 

 

We started our journey back to hyderabad via Omerga, Humanbad and Zaheerabad route. Due to road work there were lot of diversions.Better to avoid this route in night.

 

The total distance covered in 2 days is 900kms.

 

Note: Fuel price in Maharashtra is slightly higher compared to Telangana and Karnataka.

[sagar]

Nice log @abhinay1189 .. Quite informative.. Thanks for sharing

[abhinay1189]

3 hours ago, sagar said:

Nice log [mention=616]abhinay1189[/mention] .. Quite informative.. Thanks for sharing [emoji4]

Thanks for your review@sagar..[emoji3]

[Gowtham]

Excellent review @abhinay1189

 

9 hours ago, abhinay1189 said:

You can enjoy cool breeze, see the nearby mountain and a far away lake from here.

Lovely capture, Ananthagiri hills is amazing during monsoon, your timing is perfect.
 

9 hours ago, abhinay1189 said:

Naldurg fort, Maharashtra:

Wow, Never knew that fort is so huge.
Is that a lake inside the fort?

How would you rate the place? Is it worth a visit?
I think post monsoon is the best time to  explore the fort.

We need to climb any steps to get into fort? 

Any timings for fort?

Nice place, thank you sharing, next time I would definitely plan a stop over at Naldurg fort.
Thank you for sharing the information, It will be very helpful for our members.

[abhinay1189]

Hi Gowtham, The fort has a river inside. It is worth a visit. I would rate the place 4 out of 5. Plan your trip post Monsoon.You need to climb around 50 steps that will lead you to the entrance. From entrance need to walk a bit to reach the burj which is the highest point, their are multiple viewpoints and Dam cum waterfalls. Entrance fees is 20 rupees per person and timings are from 8 am to 5 pm. You will get nice photo clicks. Take enough water and snacks as there are no stalls inside.
 

[karthik]

That was a crazy road trip. You must have enjoyed family time.
Your write up is very frank and to the point. I love it 

How many days did it take cover all the places?
I'm planning something similar with my parents, I'm almost postponing it from past 1 year.

Now the places you covered look very interesting.
Need to show this log to parents.

How is the road construction between Solapur to Hyderabad?
I know that there are contentious switch backs, but Is the road smooth or still it has potholes and speed bumps.

 

11 minutes ago, abhinay1189 said:

It is worth a visit. I would rate the place 4 out of 5.

Great set of information.
If I am not wrong, I have seen this fort many times from the highway, It is near to Solapur.
I regularly drive on this road, will click some pictures next time, I thought it is just a wall. 

[abhinay1189]

Thanks Karthik, It was only 2 days trip. It was a bit tiresome but overall it was good. Hyderabad to Solapur road is smooth in some places and their are continuous diversions. Better to stick to safe speed as their is lot of confusion if it 2 way traffic or 1 way traffic in some places. Speed bumps and potholes at multiple places.

Outer wall of the fort looks majestic and huge.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using India-Drive mobile app

[karthik]

19 minutes ago, abhinay1189 said:

It was only 2 days trip. It was a bit tiresome but overall it was good.

Two days is going to be tough with my parents.
I will extend the plan to three days.

 

[Gowtham]

44 minutes ago, abhinay1189 said:

Plan your trip post Monsoon.

Yeah will plan for sure.
 

31 minutes ago, karthik said:

I thought it is just a wall. 

Don't judge the book by its cover. 

Even I neglected this place. 

 

But now we got the correct information, we should drive down. I imagined it to be a barren land, inside the fort. 
After seeing @abhinay1189 pictures, it looks worth a visit. 

[abhinay1189]

4 minutes ago, karthik said:

Two days is going to be tough with my parents.
I will extend the plan to three days.

 

Yeah karthik,extend it too 3 days.

[Guest Satish Wakodikar]

Nicely explained,but definitely duration was Short.One question about road between d gangapur and akkalkot,In 2012 I took same road ,but due to very bad shape of road it took around 2.30hr.So now I am hesitate to journey that road.

What is the condition of road ,how much you take between D Gangapur to Akkalkot?

[sagar]

32 minutes ago, Guest Satish Wakodikar said:

road between d gangapur and akkalkot

 

Hi Satish, The route is good. Only near Akkalkot the in the village region the road is bad, narrow and patchy with lot of people on the road due to market region.