I have just finished 4 days Konkan Trip driving my car with three passengers. While outbound journey was by traditional route, the return journey was truly a journey on coastal road.
Prior to journey, during planning, I did lot of research (obviously using Gogale Devta) but got very sketchy information about full route, some information in bits and pieces was though available. That made me to take a resolve to do this journey and put a very informative post to bring in clear picture / advice for others.
The verdict even before completing this post - take this road at least one way if not both ways, even to Goa. You avoid bad traffic (but you may encounter bad roads in few patches) and the peace of mind due to scenic beauty and sea shore for company. You will never regret it.
Our out bound travel was on conventional lines, Super express, Goa Highway and State Highway. Our return leg started at Ganpati Pule in Ratnagiri district and finished at my home in Colaba, Mumbai after a 2 days drive, one stopover, 4 ferry boats across the rivers / creeks. The total coastal run was 397 km except a small patch of few km between Dabhol and Dapoli where I took SH 96 on local advice rather than MH SH 4.
See the map for the whole route below-
If one looks at time, distance and Road used chart, this is how it appears:-
Now let me switch to Step by Step description of the trip.
Day I - 05 March 16
Stage I - Ganpati Pule to Guhagar.
This part of the trip was done on MH SH 4 (also called Sagari Mahamarg) all the way from Ganpati Pule till Guhagar. It is a real coastal road with attended delight of having sea nearly running parallel to you through out the journey.
The road surface is mostly good and in some places it is drive-able. However approaches to Jetty / exit from jetty for about 4 to five km on either side are narrow and the the road surface is poor at both Jaigad and Tavasal,
Time that we spent on road works out to be 1 hour 50 minutes including Ferry travel time which is reasonable considering the travel is mostly on two lane undivided road and some times even narrow single lane road.
The map of the travel looks something like shown below:-
If the map is studied properly, it emerges that travel time using MH SH 4 that we used and MSH 4 (major SH 4) seen inland is the same. The gain however is, Mh SH 4 distance is less (54 vs 76 km) so less fuel expense and also the company of water front, scenic beauty and ferry crossing are bonus.
Guhagar has famous Vyadeshwer temple, a very beautiful Shiva temple and a Durga Devi Temple. This place also has a pristine beach which we did not visit (middle of the day is not a time to visit a beach.
Stage II - Guhagar - Velas Via MH SH 4.
Initial stop was Dhopave to catch a RORO ferry to Dabhol (Enron fame, incidently, Enron Power Station is in Dhopave and not in Dabhol). Left Guhagar at 1405. Guhagar to Dhopave (about 16 km) was done in was done by MH SH 4 in 30 min. We reached Ferry Jetty at 1435 and thus missed the 1430 ferry by 5 min. Had no option but to wait for 1515 ferry.
Taking 1515 ferry we reached Dabhol at 1525. Continued on MH SH4 but after a few kilometers where MH SH4 and SH 96 branched out (with SH 96 being inland) we took SH 96 for Dapoli on local advice instead of MH SH4 as we were told its surface is bad in that stretch. From Dapoli we were back on MS SH4 till Anjarle - Murdi via Murud and Harnai. Road surface of MS SH4 and SH 96 were good on this stretch.
We reached Murdi and the nightmare started. We took a un-named road which was scenic but narrow and with mostly poor surface till Kelshi. At Kelshi the road improved as it was laid fresh but right in the middle of the village the road was blocked for relaying. We took a detour through narrow unpaved roads and came on to Kelshi - Velas road which was nothing better.
Continuing on Kelshi Velas road till the bridge on river crossing we came across a junction of a road going straight and a road going left. We took the left road on Google Maps navigator's advice. Since it looked coastal we also felt this to be right road. This is where our nightmare became of highest level like the image below
It was narrow, going mostly parallel to the route that we took from Kelshi, just that it was across on the other bank of the river. Worst thing was there was no surface at all. It was all Bauxite filled rad soil with tracks such as made by bullock carts. Two vehicles could not cross without one reversing and creating space for other.
Driving on that road, if it can be called one, was a test of driving skills, vehicle and also patience. We felt stupid on that road but more than that we felt bad for villagers staying there. It was in Velas that we were told that we should not have taken the left turn from the bridge and continued straight on tar road which was supposed to have been better!
Finally the road improved at Sakhari, about ten km from start of this road and continued till Velas. Roads around this area look to be bad anyway because any route I selected on google maps after this journey showed a time of 45 min to 1 hr for 17 to 22 km distance. However, the road we took was the "King of bad Roads". Recommended route is as shown (even if we loose travel on coast, it is OK).
We reached Velas by 1830 by the time the Tortoise Release effort was over but no hatched tortoise were found then. Thereafter we visited Mr Mohan Upadhaye's house for a small documentry on Turtle hatching on Velas Beach and left for Harihareshwer by 1930.
Stage III - Velas _ Hariharishwer.
Route between Velas and Harihareshwer (Via Vesavi - Bagmandala Ferry) is given below :-
The comment given earlier about approaches to / from Jetty are true for the whole route. They are narrow and have badly maintained surfaces.
Taking 2000 ferry, we reached Bagmandala and thereafter reached Harihareshwer at 2030 hrs. Thus our first day tryst with Coastal Road (in MH SH 4, Some SH and Some unnamed roads) finished in a total of 10 hrs time including halts.
Day II - 06 March 16.
Stage I Harihareshwer - Murud Janjira.
The travel plan was to go from Harihareshwer to Murud Janjira (Rajapuri) via coastal highway and then cut across to Roha - Pali and then to Super Express for Mumbai for a faster return trip to Mumbai.
But it is said that the man proposes and God disposes (mostly for good though). Our car was giving mechanical trouble since last two days while reversing. As we started from Harihareshwer at 1000 hrs the same trouble started appearing while driving forward too. That got us worried about our plans. More about it later. The route map for this stage is as shown:-
Except for the worries on mechanical trouble, the journey was smooth. The road surface (with exception to jetty approaches) was very good. Roads were reasonable wide too.
We crossed Srivardhan by SH 99. Srivardhan to Dighi Jetty was done by Srivardhan - Dighi road via Borali (Boralipanchatan). Again beautiful road through hills, woods and sea shore. We reached Dighi Ferry Jetty (last Boat crossing on the trip) at 1145 hrs. It took us one hr 45 min for a stretch of 50 km despite good road due to keeping speed under 50 km/hr because of the worries about car.
A word about Ferry to Agardanda. For quite some time a ferry runs between Rohini, further down the road on the right turn from Dighi road, to Agrdanda. Time table of which is given below
There used to be only passenger ferry between Rajapuri and Dighi. However, in last few months, a car ferry between Dighi and Agardanda has been started. The boat has a romantic name called Dighi Queen. I could not obtain time table for this service on the internet but it can be obtained contacting the Service office at 9028223139, 8805635675 and 02147227622. The fare was Rs 200 for Car +Driver and Three Passengers.
We took 1200 ferry from Dighi to Agardanda, reached in 15 minutes and then proceeded to Rajapuri parking after another 20 min drive (from where boat is taken for Murud Janjira Fort). We had already contacted Tata Motors and they were deputing a mechanic for inspection of the car at Rajapuri Parking. Since the mechanic was coming, I had to stay there, rest could go to the fort.
I got the car inspected by the mechanic who found the problem and said that it should be repaired. But he was of the view that I can drive it on my own risk at speed less than 60 km/hr with negotiating curves slowly to Mumbai. He further advised to take the Alibag route and not Roha Pali route since mechanical assistance from garages was available on Alibag route and not the other one which passes through Jungle (as per his input).
That disposed off our plan for quicker return junking coastal road (See God desired that we complete the journey through the coast only). After this activity, only thing left for me, as I had decided to take that risk of driving to Mumbai, was to wait till my people come back from the Fort. They returned by 1500 hrs.
Stage II - Rajapuri - Kashid - Alibag - Vadkhal - Colaba.
Our final journey in our affair with the coastal road started at 1515 hrs. Road was mostly good throughout. very few patches while crossing villages and towns enroute were bad. Despite mechanical trouble with the car it was possible to do 60 km and below throughout. The route of stage II took us through beautiful landscape as can be seen in the map.
We made rapid progress and stopped at Poynad at 1715 for refreshment after crossing Kashid and Alibag. Leaving Poynad we crossed Vadkhal at about 1850 and reached home via NH 166A, SH 104 (also called NH348) and NH 348A, Palm Beach road, Sion Panvel highway and finally Eastern Freeway. We finally reached home at 2057 hrs (before 2100 hrs). The good news was that the car held its ground and got us home safely.
Prior to journey, during planning, I did lot of research (obviously using Gogale Devta) but got very sketchy information about full route, some information in bits and pieces was though available. That made me to take a resolve to do this journey and put a very informative post to bring in clear picture / advice for others.
The verdict even before completing this post - take this road at least one way if not both ways, even to Goa. You avoid bad traffic (but you may encounter bad roads in few patches) and the peace of mind due to scenic beauty and sea shore for company. You will never regret it.
Our out bound travel was on conventional lines, Super express, Goa Highway and State Highway. Our return leg started at Ganpati Pule in Ratnagiri district and finished at my home in Colaba, Mumbai after a 2 days drive, one stopover, 4 ferry boats across the rivers / creeks. The total coastal run was 397 km except a small patch of few km between Dabhol and Dapoli where I took SH 96 on local advice rather than MH SH 4.
See the map for the whole route below-
If one looks at time, distance and Road used chart, this is how it appears:-
| Time - Distance - Road Used Chart | |||
| 05-Mar-16 | |||
| Time | Location | Km ex GP | Road Used |
| 1040 | Left Ganapati Pule | 0 | |
| 1110 | Reached Jaigad Ferry Jetty | 20.5 | MH SH 4 |
| 1130 | Landed at Tavsal Jetty | 20.5 | MH SH 4 |
| 1155 | Hedavi Dashbhuja Ganesh | 31 | MH SH 4 |
| 1215 | Left Hedavi | 31 | MH SH 4 |
| 1250 | Reached Vadyashwar Guhagar | 54 | MH SH 4 |
| 1405 | Left Guhagar | 56 | MH SH 4 |
| 1435 | Reached Dhopave Ferry Jetty | 71.6 | MH SH 4 |
| Missed ferry, next at 1515 | MH SH 4 | ||
| 1525 | Reached Dabhol | 71.6 | MH SH 4 |
| Anjarli via Dapoli | SH 96 / MH SH 4 | ||
| Anjarli Kelshi (un-numbered road) | un-numbered | ||
| 1650 | Get on to Velas Kelshi road | 124 | VK road |
| Got on to Kuccha Road at Panhali Block | Kuccha Road | ||
| Reached Sakhari - Better road | un-numbered | ||
| 1830 | Reached Velas | 165.2 | un-numbered |
| 1830 | left Velas | 167 | un-numbered |
| 1955 | Reached Vesavi Jetty | 173 | un-numbered |
| 2015 | Landed at Bagmandala Jetty | 173 | un-numbered |
| 2030 | Reached Harihareshwer | 178 | un-numbered |
| 06-Mar-16 | |||
| Time | Location | Km ex GP | Road Used |
| 1000 | Left Harihareshwer | 178 | un-numbered |
| Shrivardhan town | Sh 99 | ||
| 1145 | Reached Dighi Jetty | 227 | Srivardhan - Dighi road |
| 1215 | Landed at Agardanda Jetty | 227 | un-numbered |
| 1235 | Rajapuri Parking (Murud fort) | 235 | un-numbered |
| 1515 | Left Rajapuri | 235 | Revdanda Murud road |
| Revdanda | Revdanda Alibag Road | ||
| Alibag | NH 166A | ||
| 1745 | Stopped at Poynad | 302 | NH 166A |
| Vadkhal Naka | NH 66 | ||
| Kasarbahr - Dolghar | Switch to SH 104 / NH 348 | ||
| to Belapur | NH 348A | ||
| Belapur Vashi | Palm Beach road | ||
| 2057 | Reached Home (Colaba) | 397 | Sion Panvel HW and EF Way |
Day I - 05 March 16
Stage I - Ganpati Pule to Guhagar.
This part of the trip was done on MH SH 4 (also called Sagari Mahamarg) all the way from Ganpati Pule till Guhagar. It is a real coastal road with attended delight of having sea nearly running parallel to you through out the journey.
The road surface is mostly good and in some places it is drive-able. However approaches to Jetty / exit from jetty for about 4 to five km on either side are narrow and the the road surface is poor at both Jaigad and Tavasal,
 |
| Fare Rs 230 for car+driver and 3 passengers |
The map of the travel looks something like shown below:-
If the map is studied properly, it emerges that travel time using MH SH 4 that we used and MSH 4 (major SH 4) seen inland is the same. The gain however is, Mh SH 4 distance is less (54 vs 76 km) so less fuel expense and also the company of water front, scenic beauty and ferry crossing are bonus.
Guhagar has famous Vyadeshwer temple, a very beautiful Shiva temple and a Durga Devi Temple. This place also has a pristine beach which we did not visit (middle of the day is not a time to visit a beach.
Stage II - Guhagar - Velas Via MH SH 4.
Initial stop was Dhopave to catch a RORO ferry to Dabhol (Enron fame, incidently, Enron Power Station is in Dhopave and not in Dabhol). Left Guhagar at 1405. Guhagar to Dhopave (about 16 km) was done in was done by MH SH 4 in 30 min. We reached Ferry Jetty at 1435 and thus missed the 1430 ferry by 5 min. Had no option but to wait for 1515 ferry.
 |
| Fare Rs 160 for car+driver and 3 passengers |
We reached Murdi and the nightmare started. We took a un-named road which was scenic but narrow and with mostly poor surface till Kelshi. At Kelshi the road improved as it was laid fresh but right in the middle of the village the road was blocked for relaying. We took a detour through narrow unpaved roads and came on to Kelshi - Velas road which was nothing better.
Continuing on Kelshi Velas road till the bridge on river crossing we came across a junction of a road going straight and a road going left. We took the left road on Google Maps navigator's advice. Since it looked coastal we also felt this to be right road. This is where our nightmare became of highest level like the image below
It was narrow, going mostly parallel to the route that we took from Kelshi, just that it was across on the other bank of the river. Worst thing was there was no surface at all. It was all Bauxite filled rad soil with tracks such as made by bullock carts. Two vehicles could not cross without one reversing and creating space for other.
Driving on that road, if it can be called one, was a test of driving skills, vehicle and also patience. We felt stupid on that road but more than that we felt bad for villagers staying there. It was in Velas that we were told that we should not have taken the left turn from the bridge and continued straight on tar road which was supposed to have been better!
 |
| Route Not Recommended - Very Bad Road |
 |
| Recommended Route |
We reached Velas by 1830 by the time the Tortoise Release effort was over but no hatched tortoise were found then. Thereafter we visited Mr Mohan Upadhaye's house for a small documentry on Turtle hatching on Velas Beach and left for Harihareshwer by 1930.
Stage III - Velas _ Hariharishwer.
Route between Velas and Harihareshwer (Via Vesavi - Bagmandala Ferry) is given below :-
The comment given earlier about approaches to / from Jetty are true for the whole route. They are narrow and have badly maintained surfaces.
 |
| Fare Rs 160 for car+driver and 3 passengers |
Taking 2000 ferry, we reached Bagmandala and thereafter reached Harihareshwer at 2030 hrs. Thus our first day tryst with Coastal Road (in MH SH 4, Some SH and Some unnamed roads) finished in a total of 10 hrs time including halts.
Day II - 06 March 16.
Stage I Harihareshwer - Murud Janjira.
The travel plan was to go from Harihareshwer to Murud Janjira (Rajapuri) via coastal highway and then cut across to Roha - Pali and then to Super Express for Mumbai for a faster return trip to Mumbai.
But it is said that the man proposes and God disposes (mostly for good though). Our car was giving mechanical trouble since last two days while reversing. As we started from Harihareshwer at 1000 hrs the same trouble started appearing while driving forward too. That got us worried about our plans. More about it later. The route map for this stage is as shown:-
Except for the worries on mechanical trouble, the journey was smooth. The road surface (with exception to jetty approaches) was very good. Roads were reasonable wide too.
We crossed Srivardhan by SH 99. Srivardhan to Dighi Jetty was done by Srivardhan - Dighi road via Borali (Boralipanchatan). Again beautiful road through hills, woods and sea shore. We reached Dighi Ferry Jetty (last Boat crossing on the trip) at 1145 hrs. It took us one hr 45 min for a stretch of 50 km despite good road due to keeping speed under 50 km/hr because of the worries about car.
A word about Ferry to Agardanda. For quite some time a ferry runs between Rohini, further down the road on the right turn from Dighi road, to Agrdanda. Time table of which is given below
 |
| Add caption |
We took 1200 ferry from Dighi to Agardanda, reached in 15 minutes and then proceeded to Rajapuri parking after another 20 min drive (from where boat is taken for Murud Janjira Fort). We had already contacted Tata Motors and they were deputing a mechanic for inspection of the car at Rajapuri Parking. Since the mechanic was coming, I had to stay there, rest could go to the fort.
I got the car inspected by the mechanic who found the problem and said that it should be repaired. But he was of the view that I can drive it on my own risk at speed less than 60 km/hr with negotiating curves slowly to Mumbai. He further advised to take the Alibag route and not Roha Pali route since mechanical assistance from garages was available on Alibag route and not the other one which passes through Jungle (as per his input).
That disposed off our plan for quicker return junking coastal road (See God desired that we complete the journey through the coast only). After this activity, only thing left for me, as I had decided to take that risk of driving to Mumbai, was to wait till my people come back from the Fort. They returned by 1500 hrs.
Stage II - Rajapuri - Kashid - Alibag - Vadkhal - Colaba.
Our final journey in our affair with the coastal road started at 1515 hrs. Road was mostly good throughout. very few patches while crossing villages and towns enroute were bad. Despite mechanical trouble with the car it was possible to do 60 km and below throughout. The route of stage II took us through beautiful landscape as can be seen in the map.
We made rapid progress and stopped at Poynad at 1715 for refreshment after crossing Kashid and Alibag. Leaving Poynad we crossed Vadkhal at about 1850 and reached home via NH 166A, SH 104 (also called NH348) and NH 348A, Palm Beach road, Sion Panvel highway and finally Eastern Freeway. We finally reached home at 2057 hrs (before 2100 hrs). The good news was that the car held its ground and got us home safely.
Over 850 views of this post but not one comment from readers. Was this post Good, Bad or Ugly, I have no means of finding out except comments made by readers. do also comment if deemed fit.
ReplyDeletevery informative blog, few people attempt such adventure and fewer still are able to pen it with such details for the benefit of other adventure seekers. I am sure the information will help me in my coastal road adventure. thanks
DeleteA very informative blog and true reflection of the fun that this road is.
ReplyDeleteExcellent and informative blog. I am going to use it this weekend to drive on this road. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anupam. Would love to hear from you comments / suggestions about this blog post's utility.
DeleteImpressed with how well documented this trip is (the stats of course!). Very informative and I d hope this was of help to Anupam Tiwari :)
ReplyDeleteWow.. The info is just amazing.. Thanks a lot
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent piece of information, well researched and detailed enough for anyone to try it out. I was myself keen to know about the route so it's very useful for me. Only few points come to mind which might need your expert advice I.e 1) is it advisable to take the route during monsoon because of the likely 'unroad' conditions and 2) most likely the ferry service would be closed during the monsoon? With this likelihood is it easier to find a detour ?
ReplyDeleteI have driven the sagari maha marg from Malvan to Vengurla and enjoyed it a lot , hence this route is of immense help to me. Thanks for the blog, keep writing ������
Hi harsh,I am on a all India border trip, I read your blog on konkan coastal drive, fantastic blog with info, right now I am in goa starting towards ratnagiri and want try the route you explored for Mumbai. I have few questions can I have your contact number, you can mail that to lachu_9d@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteExcellent Stuff!!
ReplyDeleteI am a true lover of driving and road trips.
these details surely help.
lots of info sir
ReplyDeletelots of info sir
ReplyDeleteSir,
ReplyDeleteThis blog is informative and very exhaustive. I have been reading it and will use it for my MSH 4 drive next month. Thanks.
I like to have your advise on following points. This may help me in further planning.
--> Mumbai to Murud:- Please advise the which one is a better route to Murud between
1) Mumbai - Pen - Poynad - Alibaug -Kashid - Murud (Route which you followed)
2) Mumbai - Panvel - Pen - Nagothane - Roha - Murud
3) Mumbai - Panvel - Rasayani - Khopoli - Durshet - Nagothane - Roha - Murud.
I will be taking route from Mumbai domestic airport. Please advise route on road condition and traffic to reach Murud timely.
--> Murud to Ganpatipule:- Second leg of my journey shall be between Murud and Ganpatipule. In this stretch, I need to use ferry at 4 locations. My questions are
ReplyDelete1) Is it preferable to shorten this stretch up to Guhagar keeping in mind time lapsed due to ferry waiting time, narrow roads, bad patches ? My preferred driving time is between 7 am and 5 pm (Reach destination before sunset).
Stop at Guhagar will leave one Ferry point (Tawsal to Jaigad) to next day.
2) Any advise on good homestay in Guhagar or GanpatipulE ? It is better to have an idea from person who has travelled then following commercial sites.
Wow, finally found the english version of the same route
ReplyDelete.. thanks
A fantastic info. Very useful one. Keep sharing!
ReplyDelete