We took darshan of Shree Tulja Bhavani early in the morning. There was no queue and we got a pleasant darshan.
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Here is the travelogue of my trip with family to Pandharpur, Tuljapur, Akkalkot and Ganagapura that I did in September 2024. These places are in and around Solapur District. We went to Solapur by Siddheshwar Express, and then to Pandharpur by MSRTC Bus, and from there visited other places.
I find the month of September good for travelling, especially the latter half of September. The weather is usually pleasant, not too cold, not too hot; also it rains occasionally. And not being peak time, tourist places are not much crowded and train tickets are also available.
Solapur City and all the places
Let’s begin the trip.
Day 1 Thursday & Friday:
The train’s arrival time at Thane was 11.22 PM. The train arrived on time. The Siddheshwar Express is very ideal to go to Solapur, as it covers the journey at night and reaches Solapur in morning at 6.45 AM. It has LHB coaches.
I would like to share one thing that happened with us. The Siddheshwar express has both 3AC coaches and 3E Economy coaches. I had booked 4 berths in Economy coach as I wanted to try them. I got 2 Lower Berths and 2 Middle Berths, which were as per my choice. I was very happy that I got a window seat after many days. But when the chart was prepared, I got a message that my seats are upgraded from economy to Regular 3AC. And due to this upgrade I now got allotted 2 Upper Berth and 2 Middle Berths.
I hadn’t even thought this would happen. I usually select this Auto upgrade option because I thought someday I might get a 2AC Seat. But I did not expect this to happen. So now onwards, I have decided to not select this Auto Upgrade option at all at least for 3E coaches.
The berths in 3AC are wider than 3E Economy. The coach was clean and the AC was at a comfortable temperature. Also, the train was full of Police who were going for training in Solapur.
We reached Solapur Junction at 7.00 AM on Friday. Outside Solapur Station, there are many taxi drivers who try to convince you to hire them and they will also arrange a hotel. But I don’t find them trustworthy. And would recommend checking reviews of agencies on Google. And the bus is cheaper if going to Pandharpur. From there we took an Auto to Solapur Central Bus Stand. The Auto charged Rs. 20 per person. From Solapur, there are buses to Pandharpur at good frequency, some of which originate from Solapur while others are long route buses. The bus journey took around 2 hours. The highway from Solapur and Pandharpur was very smooth. After reaching Pandharpur Bus Station, we took an auto rickshaw to Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan Bhakta Niwas, where we had decided to stay. There, we had to wait 30 minutes for rooms to get ready. Rooms are available starting at Rs. 300 and AC rooms are also present.
The Bhakta Niwas is neat and clean, and similar to the one in Shegaon with all facilities. There is also a temple of Shree Gajanan Maharaj. And the premises of Bhakta Niwas are very good. There is also food available here. This Bhakta Niwas gets full too quickly, so it is better to reach in the morning. There is no online booking.
Shree Gajanan Maharaj Mandir
After freshening up, we went to Shree Vitthal Rukmini Mandir. I had booked an Online Darshan Pass through the website https://www.vitthalrukminimandir.org/ on the prior day, which was free of cost. It is recommended to take an online darshan pass. The printed pass needs to be stamped at Tukaram Bhavan, and then we can enter through a separate entry at our time slot. There is also a mobile locker facility near the entry gate, as mobiles are not allowed inside the temple. The Pass Queue takes very close to Mukhya Gabhara of Mandir thus saving a lot of time. We got a good darshan of Shree Vitthal and Rukmini. The Queue system is good, and you get to enter the Gabhara of Mandir.
After Darshan, we walked towards the banks of the Chandrabhaga River. There is a Temple of Pundalik on the banks of the river. Boats are also available here.
Chandrabhaga river
Shree pundalik mandir
We returned to our room and packed our bags to leave for Tuljapur. Earlier the plan was to hire a Taxi from Pandharpur the next day and cover all places. But then it changed and we decided to go to Tuljapur by ST Bus. There are very few direct buses from Pandharpur to Tuljapur and vice versa. So one needs to get off at Solapur and change buses. From Solapur, there are buses to Tuljapur at good frequency. We reached Tuljapur in less than 3 hours, thanks to the highways between Pandharpur, Solapur and Tuljapur. The roads are very good between these towns.
In Tuljapur, we were going to stay at Tuljabhavani 108 Bhakta Niwas. It is owned by Tuljabhavani Mandir Sansthan but operated by private authority. After reaching the hotel, we found that all the rooms at this Bhakta Niwas were full of cockroaches and damp walls. We literally had to check multiple rooms and finally took the one with less cockroaches. I won’t recommend staying at this Bhakta Niwas (I don’t know if now they have improved cleanliness or not). Instead stay at Pandharpur, Solapur or at a private hotel. But as we had no other choice we stayed here. Then we had dinner at Hotel Ashoka Family Restaurant which is near the bus stand. The food was delicious and the service was also good.
Shree tuljabhavani bhaktaniwas
Day 2 Saturday:
We took darshan of Shree Tulja Bhavani early in the morning. There was no queue and we got a pleasant darshan. I read on Google Reviews that there are huge queues on weekends but that day in the morning there was no rush at all. Also it started raining. The weather was cool and pleasant. On the previous day it was like hot summers. In Tuljapur, we booked a Taxi for Akkalkot and Ganagapur. There are MSRTC and KSRTC buses on these routes but the frequency isn’t very good. And due to the rain it was better to hire a taxi. There is also Naldurg Fort on route to Akkalkot. It is also a good place to visit. We didn’t went due to time constraints.
Shree tuljabhavani mandir
We started towards Akkalkot. The driver suggested going to Ganagapura first and coming back for lunch at Akkalkot. So we went to Shree Dattatreya Temple in Ganagapura first. Ganagapur is in the state of Karnataka. There was some queue but we got darshan in about 20 minutes. As it was a Saturday, crowd was starting to build up. After darshan we went to the banks of the Bhima River.
Shree Dattatreya Mandir
Banks of Bhima River
After spending some time at the banks we returned towards Akkalkot. The roads near Akkalkot were in bad condition. And adding to that, the Prasadalya was already closed by the time we reached Akkalkot. The driver was not aware of this and then we had to remain hungry. As there were also no good restaurants in Akkalkot. And it started raining heavily.
Shree swami samarth mandir
Shree swami samartha samadhi math
We took Darshan at Shree Swami Samarth Mandir and Shree Swami Samarth Samadhi Math. After darshan, we headed towards Solapur. In Solapur, we visited Shree Siddheshwar Temple. The temple on which the Siddheshwar Express is named. The temple is surrounded by a lake. The premises were good. And it was a pleasant experience. We sat there for a few minutes and then returned to Tuljapur. At night, we had dinner at the Bhakta Niwas Restaurant. The food was good.
Shree Siddheshwar Mandir
For the return journey I had booked tickets in Vande Bharat Express which departs from Solapur at 6.05 AM. Also it was the only train with available berths.
Day 3 Sunday:
In the morning, the weather was cold and it was raining a bit. The Taxi driver was informed to arrive around 4.45 AM as our train was scheduled at 6.05 AM. But he came a bit late. But we reached on time as it was early morning and hence empty roads. The train was already at the platform. It departed exactly on time. The train was clean. And the coaches were majorly half empty till Pune. And after Pune it was fully booked.
The Solapur CSMT Vande Bharat leaves SUR at 6.05 AM and reaches CSMT at 12.35 PM. Covering 454 Km in 6 Hours and 30 Minutes. It has 16 coaches. 14 AC Chair Car and 2 Executive Class. The fare was Rs. 950 from Solapur to Thane for AC Chair Car.
This time too we got the “No Window Seat” as last time in Shirdi Vande Bharat. We hadn’t booked breakfast this time. But took 1 for taste. And it was not that good.
The train was running at good speeds, reaching 120 Km/h between Solapur and Pune. I enjoyed the views between Solapur and Pune. The train ran on time till Pune. The coach became full at Pune. The train was delayed by around 30 minutes till it reached Thane.
Overall this trip was good except the bad stay experience. But the experience at all the temples was great. We got darshan without much rush. And also the journey by train was comfortable. If one wants to visit these places around Solapur, I would suggest staying at Pandharpur at Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan, and from there visit Tuljapur and Akkalkot. Or else, you can stay at Solapur in AirBnb or in a hotel, as Solapur is the center point for all these places. The roads in Solapur are truly amazing; the highways, ring roads. Thanks for reading.
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