How to Make Your Pune to Shirdi Trip a Happy Journey

Pune is blessed to be just a little over 200 km away from Shirdi with pilgrims making trips to this holy place even from far-off places like Delhi and Chennai.

Situated in the state of Maharashtra in western India, is a very important pilgrimage center of India –Shirdi. This sleepy little town has shot into prominence for being the home of the famous spiritual master – Sai Baba or popularly known as Shirdi Sai Baba. This town is frequented by devotees of Sai Baba from all over India with the majority of the devotees coming from the neighboring states of south India. Shirdi also has a foreign influx of tourists thanks to the 19th-century Shirdi Sai Baba movement.

This is one of the very few pilgrimage centers in India where people of various religious faiths come to seek the blessings of Sai Baba. There are many interesting anecdotes associated with Shirdi and the devotees believe that their sorrows and sufferings come to an end by visiting the Samadhi of Sai Baba. As it is a holy place, a trip to Shirdi would be ideal for the typical Indian family right from the grandparents to the grandchildren.

It is advisable to start early in the morning to avoid heavy traffic within Pune city. The best road to travel from Pune to Shirdi would be the Pune – Shirur – Ahmednagar – Shirdi route. Though this a slightly longer route compared to the Pune – Nashik highway, it has a 4-lane road for the most part of the journey. There are minor stretches of road with potholes and as this road passes small towns, one might come across occasional traffic congestion. However, these aren’t going to majorly stall your journey.

Think of Shirdi and what comes to your mind is the image of Sai Baba and the chants of “ Sri Sai Jai Sai “. There are decent restaurants on the way at Ahmednagar if one plans to have breakfast before reaching Shirdi. Woodlands and Iris are very popular restaurants in Ahmednagar that serve as perfect pit stops for your journey to Shirdi. Else, one can also get some delicious Shrewsbury biscuits packed from the famed Kayani Bakery, located at East Street, the previous evening.

After a 30-min drive within the city limits, the Nagar – Manmad highway greets you and from here on, it is a much easier drive. However, it is advisable to be cautious about minor road repair works going on if any. The trip from Pune to Shirdi is a little over 4 Hrs. If it is a group of youngsters traveling, you can reach Shirdi in one go without any stoppages. However, as informed earlier, Ahmednagar has restaurants with good facilities where one can relax and freshen up.

The drive to the main Sai Baba Samadhi Mandir is easy as there is proper signage to ensure that tourists don’t get lost. On reaching the Sai Mandir, one is greeted by many small shops with vendors touting their goods and some even offering means for a quick Darshan. The best option is to book your Darshan on where one can choose their preferred 1-hour slot during which they will be granted entry. Thursdays and weekends are the busiest and as a result, there are long queues. Otherwise, on a regular weekday, pilgrims can complete their Darshan in 20 mins.