VRL Travels

The bus is the only direct transport to Hospet as the train connectivity is very bad from Mumbai and there are no direct flights. VRL travels bus was comfortable and clean. It was punctual for departure and arrival. The staff was helpful. We did not feel the fatigue of a 14 hours bus journey as we expected to.

Nice one. The bus did arrive on time but due to the festival rush, the people came in late and the bus driver was waiting for them to arrive. But the staff were courteous. Came back also in the same bus, they were good. The sleeper beds were good. Wish they could have provided us with the bedsheets. Stops to freshen up were there in between. Overall, a good experience.

I boarded the VRL bus at their Anand Rao Circle stop - VRL's main Bangalore stop of out-station departures. I had opted for 2 sleepers as I was carrying a television! The bus was a multi-axle AC one. We left on time (4.00 pm) and being a long weekend (Holi), I expected a lot of traffic. There was traffic but mainly while leaving the city and the usual stragglers meeting at outside points delayed the bus a little further.

The bus was clean and the AC working very well. A clean blanket and a water bottle were gracefully provided by the bus operator. The journey was superb and so smooth that I could hardly feel the motion of being in a vehicle.

The bus had 2 drivers which I though was a very good move by VRL as the distance and time involved in a long road journey would have tired just one driver.

We stopped for refuelling (Hubli and later at Lonavala), breaks for tea/coffee, dinner and breakfast. The bus at dinner time (around 9.30 pm) was about 1 hour behind schedule but the delay was made up by some brilliant driving and less traffic.

2 movies en route made the time fly. At 5.30 am the bus had made up its time by reaching Katraj (Pune point) in its scheduled time. A bulk of passengers got of here.

I got off at Khalapur Toll Station which is just after Lonavala and before the Kalamboli points. Looking forward to my holiday at Karjat which I will write about in a separate post!

This was the first time I was travelling on this route via bus. I have had previous experience using Volvo from Delhi Chandigarh which was brilliant. But this wasn't the same.

Firstly, I realized that these are old Volvo buses / engines with a refurbished frame. A brand new Volvo in its entirety (exterior + interior) is a mean machine with superior comfort.

Secondly, they mention multi axle and 4x4 stuff at the time of booking but these buses are really the Jugaad versions.

Thirdly, it will be good to know that this particular bus was the most expensive option at the time of booking so I figured it would be the best. And it was. As I realized at the time of boarding comparing with other Volvo buses relatively.

The bus was pathetically late but the driver held traffic the reason for the delay. The harrowing part was that I could not locate any co-passengers on this expensive bus from my boarding point which made me nervous. It was quite an ordeal to connect to the call centre to check on the whereabouts and they didn't have any satisfactory answers too.

Eventually the bus came and the journey was just about OK. They played a good movie. AC was ok. It didn't smell.

P. S. Some cops got onto bus near Daman (Union Territory) border looking for any booze bought and carried without permit (illicit smuggling from Goa) but it's just a trick to harass the travellers really.

I took bus by online booking from the website and selected the sleeper buses and selected which was relevant for my timings. The service provided was very good and the food between the journey was good and was safe because of the dinner restaurant was merged with the VRL's. VRL travels is most safest and punctuality as compared to other travels for travelling to Bijapur.

We took VRL bus from Chembur (Mumbai) to Bidar. The bus was on time 6.30pm. The bus was non-ac . The seats were quite comfortable with mini-sleeper.

The journey was quite comfortable. THe seats were in good condition. We took break at 10:00pm for Dinner. There were on board entertainment like movie.

There was 30m delay on reaching bidar due to traffic in Mumbai. We reached Bidar at 8am.

Non-A/C sleeper, VRL travels is one of the best options to travel to Hubli and North Karnataka (belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Bagalkot). The best time to travel is at night because the journey is of 7 to 8 hour between Bangalore to Hubli, seats are comfortable.

Very Good Service. Time maintenance is also good. Well maintained. Correct timing.

Perhaps Darshan Hotel is the only such facility in the area that provides a magnificent view of the Lake. Its upper rooms give a much better view of the lake, boating area and surrounding lush green hills.

Highly courteous staff. Great food and excellent bus service. Five stars from my side. Wonderful experience. Highly recommended. One of the best in Manali I guess. And advice is just wifi free for whole journey. Overall best one.

Highly recommended holidayiq for all. Good :) Keep it up.

Very bad bus journey we never ever had, we thought of putting about the punctuality of travels on the web site, but we fail to put over there but now we got a chance to put our worst travel journey on web, thank god for that, we decided not travel in VRL travels rest of life time and we communicate the same as much as possible. And take care of friends and relatives not traveling in VRL travels.