We always visit Nasik atleast once in two months. Mumbai to Nasik is approximately 180 km. Travel time is around 3 hrs.
The journey started with tanking up my Beast the Scorpio. Once out off the Mulund toll plaza the drive is straight by taking all the flyovers you encounter on the way. Well the last flyover has a small deviation on the left which takes you to the Ghodbunder road. Avoid it. This last flyover lands up in the Bhiwandi bypass. A kilometer leads to the toll plaza, Rs. 29/- one way. The road from here is smooth but with a high traffic density till the Kalyan phata which is around 10km.
If one wants to visit Titwala Mahaganpati temple at Titwala take a right turn here into Kalyan city.
Drive straight towards Nasik. Another 10km from here you pass a water treatment plant of the Mumbai Municipality on the right side and its reservoir on the left. Just ahead is an HP petrol pump with toilet facilities which is maintained by "fluers", and beats the toilets in the hotels on the way.
This bypass ends into the Mumbai Nasik Expressway with a toll of Rs. 100/-. The Shangrilla water park is at the end of it. The drive from here is pleasant with lot of food courts and restaurants on the way. Notable among them is the Udupi Krishna on your left about a couple of kilometer ahead of the Toll plaza. Datta snacks just ahead of the Padgha bridge serves tasty batata wadas and local Maharashtrian dishes like the misal pav, kanda poha etc. Other notable restaurents are Parivar garden, Shiv Sagar etc.
You pass through town like Vasind with JSW Ltd on the right, Shahapur, Asangaon, Atgaon, Khardi, Kasara, Igatpuri, Ghoti, Gondhe.
Almost all the lakes supplying water to Mumbai is located on the way.
At Atgaon take a left on the service road near the railway station to go to the Tansa lake. At Kahrdi on the right is the Bhatsa lake and dam.
The ghat section starts from Kasara. It used to be a nightmare travelling till the four laning of the expressway was completed. A kilometer drive on the ghat leads to a road on the left which leads to the Vaitarna lake and dam. It is a very picturesque drive in the rains with the famous Ashoka waterfalls on the way.
Kasara ghat in the monsoon is a natures paradise. The ghat ends with a Ghatan Devi temple on the left. You can stop for darshan and relaxing here and to enjoy the beauty of the Bhatsa valley from here.
Here we cross into Nasik district. Manas resorts comes on the left. Just ahead is the Mahindra factory. Drive from the Ghatan devi temple is a straight one for almost 5km.
At Ghoti the Expressway ends and one will find the Nasik bypass to Shirdi, Aurangabad and Bhandara.
40km from here, you enter Nasik city. It welcomes you with a very long flyover which by passes the entire Nasik. It depends upon where one has to go, then only climb over it. There are couple of exits, notable one is the Dwarka exit which helps you to go to Shirdi and Pune.
While in Nasik visit the Pandava caves right near the entry, Tapovan where Shri Ram, Lakshman and Sita had stayed while in exile on the banks of the river Godavari, Kalaram mandir, the Ram kund where the Hindus perform" kriya karm" for the departed souls. 25km from Nasik is the Triamkashwar temple which is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas.
