Hyderabad -Belgaom-Goa and Goa -Hubli-Rayachur Road Trip

[dsreddy]

I have done Hyderabad-Goa road trip by Santro. We started at 2PM in Miyapur (Hyderabad). As Zappo suggested I took Homnabad -Gulbarga route to reach Bijapur. SH12 is too good and I covered Hyderabad- Bijapur in 6 hours (370KM). We reached Bijapur at 8PM and checked in to a decent hotel near Gol Gumbaj. As it was my first long drive I started hesitantly but after reaching Bijapur I felt comfortable.

Next day early morning we started from Bijapur towards Belgaom. Surprisingly we came across Krishna River before Chikodi. We have taken few photos there.

There is small junction after 2KM from Chikoti. If you take right turn here NH4 Jn. is just 22KM . We took right turn and its straight road till NH4.

You will meet NH4 Jn at Gotru, Belgaon still 46Km from here.

After reading lots of travelogues here we thought of taking Amboli route to Goa. But at last moment we took Khanapur, Londa route. Except few Kms bad stretch this road is good. We reached Panaji by 3PM. We covered Hyderabad-Panaji in 15hours(Total 743KM).

Please find below the distance chart.

• Place - KM - Highway
• Miyapur - 0 - NH9
• Homnabad - 135 - NH9
• Gulberga - 185 - SH12
• Bijapur - 370 - SH12
• Athni - 448 - SH12
• Chikoti - 520 - SH12
• Gotru - 547 - NH4 (NH4 Junction)
• Belgaon - 586 - NH4
• Khanapur - 618 - NH4A
• Londa - 644 - NH4A
• Molem - 690 - NH4A
• Panaji - 743

On the way back to Hyderabad we wanted to try a different route. We were unaware of road conditions of ankola-hubli-hospet-rayachur but decided to take a risk. We started from Palolem in the afternoon, thoroughly enjoyed NH17 drive till Ankola. We had to pay 600rs at Karnataka border near Karwar for carrying port wine battles, we felt bad for a moment because of this incident. We stopped at Rabindranath tagore bridge near Karwar, this is the place where Kali river meets arabian sea. Had lunch at Kamat hotel near Ankola, the food really fantastic. We taken left turn on NH17 at Ankola started towards Hubli. There was not much traffic on the road we cruised at more than 100Kmph and reached Hubli by 7PM. There is no bypass to NH63(Ankola-gooty) in Hubli, had to ask lot of people the route to Gadag. reached Koppal by 9.30PM took dinner. There are quite decent hotels to stay in Koppal. I was in dilemma whether to take rest in Koppal and start next morning to Hyderabad or continue the driving. I decided to continue and took a left turn on NH63 near Harsha hotel started towards Rayachur. The SH 23 which connects Hospet to rayachur is awesome. Finaly reached Hyderabad at 5AM. Now I think that people who go to Hampi can take Mahaboobnagar-rayachur-hospet route instead of NH7. In overall I observed that Hyderabad-Rayachur-Hubli-Goa route is much better than Bijapur-belgaom route. I agree there is few KM bad stretch between Hubli- Koppal but in the remaining whole (Panaji to Hyd) route roads are too good. Moreover you can halt at number of places in between Hyd-Goa (Rayachur, Hospet,Koppal, Hubli, Karwar and Palolem).


Please find below Palolem-Hyd distance chart.

• Place - KM - Highway
• Palolem - 0 - NH17
• Karvar - 46 - NH17
• Ankola - 74 - NH17
• Hubli - 210 - NH63
• Gadag - 267 - NH63
• Koppal - 330 - NH63
• Sindhapur - 426 - SH23
• Raichur - 515 - SH23
• Maktal - 558
• Jedcherla - 36 - NH7
• Home - 735

[mobike008]

That was a pretty neat update of the trip Reddy. It would have been even better if you had given update on where you stayed in Goa, which dates you traveled and what kind of FE you got. And, ofcourse, would love to see some pictures of this trip.

I have done Hyd-Goa a few times myself but have always stuck to the Hyd-Solapur-Belgaum-Amboli-Sawantwadi-Panjim route.

[snaronikar]

Good write up. Would have appereciated if the above details asked by Mobike008 would have been included and spellings. You need to correct the spellings of few places though

BTW hope you might have read intro section.

[dsreddy]

Hi mobike,

Thanks for your reply. I’m including more details here .

We started on 20th December in Hyderabad and reached Goa on 21st evening. After visiting Fort Aguda we went to Vagataor, stayed in Beanmeup hotel, it's decent and rates also very reasonable (650Rs per Day). On 22nd we visited Chapora River and moved towards north Goa. Morjim Beach is too good, Aswim is adjacent to it. Rented a nice beach hut (800rs per day) at Aswim beach after visiting Arambol. Initially we thought of staying at Arambol but we found it very crowded and costly. On 23rd we visited crowded Baga, Anjuna beaches and reached palolem by the evening. Rented a beach hut (800rs per day). Found rates are very reasonable even though it's quite the busiest season. On 24th visited Butterfly beach by boat, took a Dolphin Spotting trip. Palolem is the best beach among Gaon beaches. 24th afternoon we started back to Hyderabad, NH17 is very scenic, most of the time you go by coast.25th early morning we reached Hyderabad.

Somehow I could not load pics into this thread. Please visit following link to visit trip photos.

Flickr: Photos from Sanjeev Reddy

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[dsreddy]

Please find here some of my trip photos
Karwar


Palolem



Anjuna



Aswim Beach



Butteyfly Beach

[dsreddy]

Hi Snaronikar ,

Thanks for your reply. I included some more details here.

Some places spelled incorrectly . I will be more careful while posting.


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[9tMax]

Originally Posted by dsreddy

On the way back to Hyderabad we wanted to try a different route. We were unaware of road conditions of ankola-hubli-hospet-rayachur but decided to take a risk. We started from Palolem in the afternoon, thoroughly enjoyed NH17 drive till Ankola. We had to pay 600rs at Karnataka border near Karwar for carrying port wine battles, we felt bad for a moment because of this incident. We stopped at Rabindranath tagore bridge near Karwar, this is the place where Kali river meets arabian sea. Had lunch at Kamat hotel near Ankola, the food really fantastic.

Hi dsreddy,

don't loose heart man, u r not the only one to pay the hafta at the k'taka border. Me too travelled on the same route on 19th jan and paid 200 rs. - 100 to the guys sitting with a table in the checkpost with a register where u have to enter ur vehicle details, and another 100 to the guy who came to check my car and claimed to be from excise deptt. BTW how many bottles were u carrying? and did they actually open up ur luggages and checked or justed asked u?
May be, by mutual exchange of information we can find out the rate of the hafta per bottle . I was carrying 6 bottles and honestly told him the true figure when he asked me "bottles kitne hai saab?" and after that when he asked "kuch to deke jao" i simply handed over a 100 note and he gave a nice smile and went off. I would like to know from other members from k'taka whether they also had faced the similar treat?

What abt the maharastra - goa border? Those members who have come back via maharashtra route, please let us know whether there is similar checking in the maratha-goa border also.

thanx
max.

[dsreddy]

Hi Max,

They thoroughly checked our luggage and found the battles. We were also carrying 6 batttles. it is good to know that u managed to escape only with 200Rs hafta. Probably they demand too much only from non-KA vehicles .

[vnabhi]

Hey dsreddy. That was one fast trip!
Thanks for the feedback on the road. Looks like I'll take the Raichur route whenever I plan to visit Goa.
How was the fuel efficiency? Also, how far is Palolem from Panaji? And is booze so cheap there?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Also, how far is Palolem from Panaji? And is booze so cheap there?

Palolem is about 70km southwards from Panjim. And, booze is certainly quite cheap there. To give you an example, a bottle of chantiali is about 300-400 bucks whereas in Hyderabad it is over 800 bucks. So it is safe to say they 30-40% cheaper than Hyd.

[9tMax]

@ mobike: being a frequent traveller to goa thru the maharashtra border, what is ur experience? Have u been stopped and checked for bottles?

@vnabhi : booze is not only damn cheap there, many things that are available in goa, are not available in hyd, at least i have not seen in any of the shops that i generally go, like all sorts of wines, different flavours of bacardi breezer, bacardi reserva etc. etc.

@dsreddy: mine is also AP number plate, but probably having my wife and kid with me saved me from thorough frisking and a lower rate. Were u travelling with ur family or was it just a bunch of guys?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

@ mobike: being a frequent traveller to goa thru the maharashtra border, what is ur experience? Have u been stopped and checked for bottles?

Well, whenever i travelled to Goa by road, which is usually about twice or thrice a year, i was always stopped at Solapur bypass by a couple of thug cops who exort some money. And, while coming back from Goa, i carry a few month's supplies with me ( Last time, if i recall correctly bought close to 10K worth of booze) and since my wife and a cousin and his wife were with me, they didn't stop us, just waved us forward.

And, other times usually i go with a bunch of friends and luckily nobody stopped us at the border for booze check yet. I will be there again next month with a friend of mine. But, unfortunately, this time both ways by air

[9tMax]

Thanx so much mobike.
Now onwards i'll just reverse the goa circuit, i.e. go via hubli and come back via solapur, bcoz in ap-ktaka border there is not even a checkpost, and as u said in maha border there was no checking while returning.
Or if having a number of ladies in the car helps, then probably on my return journey i will come via panaji rly. stn. with a big notice on my car "Free ride to Hyderabad - for ladies only" .

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

on my return journey i will come via panaji rly. stn. with a big notice on my car "Free ride to Hyderabad - for ladies only" .

, yup that should be the best way to evade those money hungry cops and save the precious liquid purely for your own consumption

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by mobike008

, yup that should be the best way to evade those money hungry cops and save the precious liquid purely for your own consumption

Yes, unless those 'ladies' want to be paid in booze instead of cash.