Hyderabad - Goa

[kiranpashtakar]

Guys
Planning for a trip to GOA in sep in my Baleno, Which route is the best at this time from Hyderabad.
What is preferable a continous trip or a trip with a break somewhere in the middle.

[airfoil]

Try http://local.live.com/ to look up route options.

The quickest (and among the shortest) route is via Mahbubnagar > Raichur > Dharwad > Hubli, but road conditions during this season may not be the best after Raichur. You'd do well to ask around on road conditions.

An alternate route via Zaheerabad > Sholapur > Belgaum will add ~100 km to your distance, but is said to be a lot better.

Driving time can be between 12-16 hours depending on the road conditions and your pace, so you may want to halt somewhere halfway if that is too much to do at a stretch.

[vinces]

No No No No No. Avoid Hubli Goa section at all costs.
I did Hyderabad Goa on Solapur-Kolhapur-Gaganbavda-Sawantwadi-Goa on a Zen. The Dharwad - Ramnagar - Anmod stretch is a replica of the moon ... all potholes, no road.

[kiranpashtakar]

Thanks a lot airfoil and vinces, the link is amazing....
I am impressed I was looking for this kinda of thing for quite some time know
Why the hell does'nt it appear when we google for maps???

[kutlee]

Originally Posted by kiranpashtakar

Thanks a lot airfoil and vinces, the link is amazing....
Why the hell does'nt it appear when we google for maps???

Here there is some more info(infact most detailed info) Thanks to MR Kumar of indianhighways. Me too planning the trip.

There are 2 possible routes from Hyderabad to Goa - I do not know what route
the buses take but here go the 2 routes:

Route 1: NH9 etc
Hyderabad-Zaheerabad-Umarga-Solapur-Sangli-Kolhapur-Amboli-Savantwadi-Mapusa-Panaji

Route 2: NH7 etc
Hyderabad-Kurnool-Gooty-Guntakal-Bellary-Hospet-Gadag-Hubli-Kalghatagi-Ankola-Karwar-Cancona-Madgaon-Panaji

The adavantage of NH9 is that you can have a smooth ride till Solapur (high
speed and good condition roads), but the stretch from Solapur to Sangli is
not likely to be as good. From Kolhapur you can take NH4 south till Nippani
where you turn off to reach Amboli (the Karnataka stretch has been reported
to have several bad stretches, plus Kolhapur region has had heavy rains this
year). Down from Amboli to Savantwadi where you join NH17 on which you can
have a riproaring drive till Panaji.
Approximate Distances: Hyderabad-Solapur 300 kms-Kolhapur 225 kms-Savantwadi
130 kms-Panaji 60 kms, totalling approximately 725 kms

The NH7 route offers a good ride all the way through Kurnool to Gooty where
you switch over to NH63. NH63 through Guntakal till Bellary is a terrible
road in the Karnataka side. From Bellary, the road is normally great through
Hospet, Gadag till Hubli. The shortest road from Hubli to Goa is to go to
Dharwad and take the road via Londa, Molem and Ponda to Panaji, but
regretfully the Karnataka part - all the way from Dharwad to the Goa border
at Molem is a disaster. Therefore, the alternative is to go from Hubli via
Kalghatagi, Yellapur to reach NH17 at Ankola, turn north and cross Karwar to
enter Goa at Canacona from the south and proceed to Madgaon and Panaji.
Approximate Distances: Hyderabad-Kurnool 200 kms-Gooty 90 kms -Bellary 80
kms-Hubli 215 kms-Ankola 135 kms-Panaji 135 kms, totalling 855 kms.If you
take the shortest route Hubli-Dharwad 20kms-Londa 60kms-Panaji 110 kms, you
can save 70 kms.

Between the two, you have to choose between Route 2 being 50-125 kms longer
(depending on the sub-route you take) although I suspect that it is better
to face up to the bad roads in the Guntakal-Bellary stretch than to travel
through rain-ravaged Sangli/Kolhapur districts. Or probably you can go one
way and return the other way. The attractions on the NH9 route are that you
could possible drop in at Pandharpur/Kolhapur temples, besides going past
the Amboli station, while the NH7 route offers you an opportunity in Hospet
(Hampi), Gokarna (if you go a bit down south from Ankola).

Only a very fast driver could do withe rof these routes the same day (this
would mean very very early morning departures and late evening arrivals,
plus uncertain speeds because of bad roads in between). In case you want to
halt on the NH9 route, probably Kolhapur could be a good choice, and in the
NH7 route, Hubli. I really don't think you can do eithe rof these routes
under 12 hours, and even 16 hours sounds challenging in the light of bad
roads. I agree that in good road conditions, Route 1 can be done in, say, 15
hours by car if you are consistently fast.

I don't envy your choice, but if I were you I would try out both routes. The
caveats are to ensure that you cross teh bad sections in broad daylight and
avoid some lonelier sections (like Zaheerabad-Umarga, Solapur-Sangli in Nh9
route, and Gooty-Bellary-Hubli in the NH7 route) after dark. Facilities are
also poor in Gooty-Hubli and Solapur-Sangli sections and not great in the
Hyderabad-Solapur section too.

[kiranpashtakar]

Thanks for all your help guys, I have finally narrowed down on the following routes however I am not too sure of the road conditions any help is appreciated.



Route 1
Hyd to Raichur 202
Raichur to Hospet 170
Hospet to Hubli 143
Hubli to Karwar 154
Karwar to Panjim 80
Total 733KM

Route 2
Hyd to Raichur 202
Raichur to Gadag 227
Gadag to Hubli 57
Hubli to Karwar 154
Karwar to Panjim 80
Total 700KM

[v_sukumar]

Kiron,
I would advise caution on the routes you have narrowed down.
I have done this trips ages ago.
The Raichur route is narrow roads.
I found Sholapur Bijapur route to be more relaxing with a halt in Bijapur.
If you are travelling with children I would advise a break.
If it is " Stag" drive non stop.
My friend has a better option, I will come back.
Let me know when you are going, I may be there, but from Mumbai!
Sukumar.

[airfoil]

Kiran, the condition of the roads between Raichur & Karwar are strongly suspect, I suggest you ask around before taking the plunge.

A friend is returning from his trip to Goa soon - I'll let you know what I hear. He did insist on taking the Sholapur route though.

[v_sukumar]

Kiron,
The route which my friend took with his wife and a small child is as follows-but he did it 9 months back, and I don't know how it is after the Monsoon.
Hyd-Solapur-Pandarpur-Kolapur [by pass]-Sawantvadi-Panjim.He says the roads are good and many portions are new roads under' Vajpaye Scheme'
Better to do a night halt and if you can do it in Oct,roads would be better and above all the 'Beach Shacks' in Goa would be open.
You get the best food in Shacks!
Good Luck and let me know.
Trying to convince better half to be there Oct 2nd week end or later for Deepavali,but from Mumbai.
Sukumar.

[ritik123]

Originally Posted by kiranpashtakar

Why the hell does'nt it appear when we google for maps???

Of course it does. Just type in "local Maps" in google. Its the 4th result on page 1.

[racingmadness]

Hey I've been to Goa 5 times and all the 5 times by road. The last was this April 06 in my new Baleno. But the time you are going i.e in Sept is not ideal to go by road coz you have to cross ghats and you will come across lot of landslides due to heavy rains and roads will not be ready to take complete pleasure of Baleno's power. I suggest u plan around mid nov as roads will be set by then coz I remember my horrible experience last sept. The best route will be
HYD - Zaheerabad - Sholapur - (u get pune - b'lore express way, take it almost till Belgaum road) -Sangli - Dharwad - Amboli Ghat - Panjim.

I will let you know the complete route later as i have it written with me.

[kutlee]

Originally Posted by racingmadness

I suggest u plan around mid nov as roads will be set by then coz I remember my horrible experience last sept. The best route will be
HYD - Zaheerabad - Sholapur - (u get pune - b'lore express way, take it almost till Belgaum road) -Sangli - Dharwad - Amboli Ghat - Panjim.

I will let you know the complete route later as i have it written with me.

Hi,
thanks for that info. I am planning in oct last week throught the same route. Please give the detailed route map.
Thanks,
Mahesh

[ritik123]

Belgaum onwards road is totally wiped out. There is only red soil and not navigable by car.

[mobike008]

Kiran,

If you haven't already started on your trip, do take a piece of advice from me. I did Hyd-Goa last month in a Honda city with two other friends of mine and trust me-dont take the belgaum-Amboli Ghat-Sawantwadi-Mapusa-Panjim road. I was unfortunate enough to take that road and my gawd i was scared out of my wits ( thought i wont make it back alive-its that bad). We traveled through solapur, gadag etc...reached belgaum at 5pm and stopped for some snacks and took off at 530pm and hit the amboli ghat road at 6pm and we took 4 hours to traverse 22 kms....never seen roads like that in my life and hope wont see again ever ( 1-2 feet deep potholes, mountainous speed breakers due to rain ) and to make things worse, it was raining continously and foggy condition....scared that due to such trecheourous roads our car axle may break down..but hail honda city..we came out of that alive and no damage to car..as soon as we crossed that by 10pm....we faced another difficulty on sawantwadi ghats....complete fog..cannot see even 1 feet ahead...in short, those 6-7 hours ( belgaum-sawantwadi) was the most nightmarish driving experience of my entire life

So to summarize, in this rainy season JUST DONT TAKE THE AMBOLI GHAT...on the way back..we took panjim-mumbai highway..and took a bypass and got onto the hyd highway..dont remember which route as we continously asked our way out of that place...heheheh...

take care and drive safe !!!!

[mobike008]

Forgot to add:

Hyd-Goa, we made a mistake of starting at 8pm from Hyd. Reached Solapur at 1am, spend the night there, took off at 7am and after all the drama as described above finally reached calangute at 12 midnight......that didnt dampen our party spirit...quickly showered at head out to tito's and partied till dawn.

Return trip, we started from panjim at 1pm in afternoon reached solapur at midnight, spent the night there, left solapur at 6am and reached hyd 11am

Goa in moonsoon is just awesome....complete green and as against the theory tat party scene sucks during this period, it was just great...

enjoy the trip...Cheerio !