Road trip from Chennai to Pune and back in early October 2023 by Sachin Kulkarni

Road trip from Chennai to Pune (Chennai_Pune) and Pune to Chennai (Pune_Chennai) in early October 2023 by Sachin Kulkarni who drove a Jeep Meridian. 

His preferred route or best route suggested for fellow roadies is as follows. 

Road conditions: 

Chennai to Vellore - OK roads with heavy traffic due to minor diversions here and there. 

Vellore to Tumkur - Superb with couple of diversions due to road work. 

Tumkur to Chitradurga - Fantastic. 

Chitradurga to Hubli - Excellent. 

Hubli to Nipani - Heavy traffic and some diversions due to construction work. Was in standstill position for 1 hour before Nipani. 

Kolhapur to Satara - Lots of construction near Kagal. Average speed fell to 30 kmph for patch of 50 kms post Karad. 

Satara to Pune - Good roads with some newly constructed flyovers.

Return journey: Same route. Loved the Chitadurga to Tumkur stretch again. 

Car: Jeep Meridian 

Driving time: 22 hours from Chennai to Pune. 

Best halts: Shell bunks and Cafe Coffee Day outlets for powernaps. There were enough CCD post Tumkur. 

Food stops: Saravanna Bhavan and Kamat. 

Toll expenses: Approx ₹900 each way. 

. 

. 

. 

* Indian Roadie Preferred Route 

* Motoring Route 

* Best Route 

* Driving Route 

* Driving Route