[MilesAndSmiles]

Hi Everyone,

We are planning a road trip from Kochi to Goa and Back via Bangalore in this Onam vacation with my wife and two children. we will be travelling in a Linea, single driver. The rough plan is as follows.
1. Start on 8th at 4.00am. Night halt somewhere at Mangalore , Udupi or Saligram.
2. Start early on 9th by 6.00am and reach Goa.
3. Spend a couple of days at Goa and leave on 11th afternoon for Bangalore.
4. Back at Kochi in the morning of 13th.

Looking forward for advises on the road conditions, running times and accommodations on the route. Google maps Kochi-Goa running times seems to be a bit stiff considering the road and traffic conditions. (Kochi - Goa 791 km, 10hours 53 mins @72 kmph average)

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by MilesAndSmiles

Hi Everyone,

We are planning a road trip from Kochi to Goa and Back via Bangalore in this Onam vacation with my wife and two children. we will be travelling in a Linea, single driver. The rough plan is as follows.
1. Start on 8th at 4.00am. Night halt somewhere at Mangalore , Udupi or Saligram.
2. Start early on 9th by 6.00am and reach Goa.
3. Spend a couple of days at Goa and leave on 11th afternoon for Bangalore.
4. Back at Kochi in the morning of 13th.

Looking forward for advises on the road conditions, running times and accommodations on the route. Google maps Kochi-Goa running times seems to be a bit stiff considering the road and traffic conditions. (Kochi - Goa 791 km, 10hours 53 mins @72 kmph average)

Kochi-Goa via NH17 is going to be one hell of a drive and 10hours is something can only be done in the mind and not on the roads!

Roads are hellish at the moment.Beyond calicut is bad all the way till kundapur.stretches in and around kasargod all the way till mangalore are really bad.mangalore-kundapur 4 laning is on which also adds to the misery.

Instead of the nh17 option,why dont you go via bangalore.you would get to drive on 4laned gq all the way till hubli,from thereon take the nh63 via yellapur to karwar and rejoin nh17.nh17 is great from karwar to goa.

Day1: Kochi-Thrissur-Wadakancheri-Shoranur-Ottapalam-Palakkad-L&Tbypass-Salem-Hosur-NICE ROAD-TUMKUR-davangere-hubli

day2:Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Goa

You might run an extra 100kms,but it wouldnt make any difference as via nh17 its going to take you eternity to reach goa.

For comparison sakes,via nh17,expect the following timings:

via nh17
Kochi-Thrissur: 1.5hr
Thrissur-Kozhikode: 3hrs
Kozhikde-Kasargod: 4-5hrs
k'god-mangalore: 2-3hrs
Mlore-Kundapur: 3-4hrs
Kundapur-Karwar: 3.5hrs
Karwar-Panjim: 2hrs

total:approx 20hrs on bad roads

via nh47-nh7-nh4-nh63-nh17

kochi-hosur: 7-8hrs
hosur-hubli: 7-8hrs
hubli-karwar: 3hrs
karwar-panjim:2hrs

total:approx 20hrs on excellent roads

if you are taking the nh17,then i would suggest that you stay the night either at hotel sharon in kundapur or break at udupi which has good hotels as well.

if you are going to take the nh4 option,then stay the night at hans hotel,hubli or hotel metropolis or hotel naveen

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

For comparison sakes,via nh17,expect the following timings:

via nh17
Kochi-Thrissur: 1.5hr
Thrissur-Kozhikode: 3hrs
Kozhikde-Kasargod: 4-5hrs
k'god-mangalore: 2-3hrs
Mlore-Kundapur: 3-4hrs
Kundapur-Karwar: 3.5hrs
Karwar-Panjim: 2hrs

total:approx 20hrs on bad roads

via nh47-nh7-nh4-nh63-nh17

kochi-hosur: 7-8hrs
hosur-hubli: 7-8hrs
hubli-karwar: 3hrs
karwar-panjim:2hrs

total:approx 20hrs on excellent roads

Totally agree with ranjitp1. I did a trip from Thrissur to Kollur last year. Those stretches between Kannur – Kasaragod - Mangalore – Kundapura was a nightmare. I will think twice before venturing on those roads again (especially around Kasaragod, there were no roads)

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

See this link:-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2444373

That seems to be the post containing latest first hand information here on this forum.

Edit:- Depending on where in Kochi you are, you can take NH 17 from Edappally itself. No need to go to Trichur. Edappally > Parur > Kodungallur > Kunnamkulam > Edappal > Kozhikode.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

if you are going to take the nh4 option,then stay the night at hans hotel,hubli or hotel metropolis or hotel naveen

NH4 would be ideal for driving pleasure and good for your car though you have to do 100kms extra and pay lot of toll. I drove on NH4 two weeks back and the road was in great shape all the way.

Hotel Metropolis suggested. cheap and best. (You may even get some Kerala dishes there).

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

See this link:-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2444373

That seems to be the post containing latest first hand information here on this forum.

Edit:- Depending on where in Kochi you are, you can take NH 17 from Edappally itself. No need to go to Trichur. Edappally > Parur > Kodungallur > Kunnamkulam > Edappal > Kozhikode.

I did not reccomend nh17 because of the bad state of the entire highway.most sections in kerala are heavily potholed.kodungallur is really bad as of last week.it would be a long and tiring drive via the nh17.we drove cherplasserry to karwar via this route and it took us 18dreadful hours in june

[ampere]

Its much more peaceful to go via NH4/Bangalore rather than Konkan.
If you really want to go through Konkan, the best would be to take the train!

[MilesAndSmiles]

Thank you all for your advise and suggestions. I guess, we shall take the Hosur-Hubli-Goa route, even though it is ~300Kms more. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Reaching Hubli in a day and the 16+ hours travel will be a bit tiring for us. Is there any good place to break the journey after Hubli? The idea is , since we will be starting by 4.00am, I don't want to drive long distance after 5.00pm on day 1.

[ampere]

If you see the Bangalore-Kochi thread, most folks cover this distance in about 8-10 hours.
We are talking another 5+ hours to Hubli. So you need to break much before Hubli.

Maybe Davanagere would be a good place to break. You should be able to do it in 12-13 hours.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by MilesAndSmiles

Thank you all for your advise and suggestions. I guess, we shall take the Hosur-Hubli-Goa route, even though it is ~300Kms more. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Reaching Hubli in a day and the 16+ hours travel will be a bit tiring for us. Is there any good place to break the journey after Hubli? The idea is , since we will be starting by 4.00am, I don't want to drive long distance after 5.00pm on day 1.

If you start at 4am, you can be at Bangalore (Bypass city) by noon and Hubli at 7-8-9pm. You can also break at Davangere or Chitradurga by evening.

The roads are in very good condition and doing up to Hubli in a Linea is not going to be an issue at all !!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by MilesAndSmiles

Thank you all for your advise and suggestions. I guess, we shall take the Hosur-Hubli-Goa route, even though it is ~300Kms more. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Reaching Hubli in a day and the 16+ hours travel will be a bit tiring for us. Is there any good place to break the journey after Hubli? The idea is , since we will be starting by 4.00am, I don't want to drive long distance after 5.00pm on day 1.

It is a very easy drive all the way upto Hubli,can be easily done in a day's drive without any fatigue as it is four-laned all the way.Once you are on the road,you would realise that it is afterall an easy drive.

As for extra kms,yes around 200kms to and fro.Approx 100-125km one way would be the difference.

[MilesAndSmiles]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

As for extra kms,yes around 200kms to and fro.Approx 100-125km one way would be the difference.

When I looked at the routes at mapmyindia website, the distances I got is different from what you all are suggesting. There is a difference of more than 400kms between the routes. Where am I gone wrong?

Kochi-Mangalore-Goa (NH 17) TOTAL TIME : 18 Hour 58 Min TOTAL DISTANCE : 793.8 KM


Kochi-Hosur-Hubli-Goa TOTAL TIME : 25 Hour 17 Min TOTAL DISTANCE : 1205.5 KM

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

If going via hubli, make sure you go through the B'lore goa threads too.

[MilesAndSmiles]

We will be starting tomorrow early morning and will be going via COCHIN-PALGHAT-SALEM-HOSUR-DAVENGERE-HUBLI-KARWAR-GOA. Will try and reach Hubli for the night halt at Hotel Metropolis. A friend of mine travelled to Coimbatore today and according to him, about 20Kms in variuos places on NH47 are in bad shape.

Thank you all once again for your advise.

[shenoytech]

If you feel tired driving, you can take a break at Chitradurga for the night. From there distance to Hubli is 200kms covered in inside 3 hrs and Hubli to Madgaon via Karwar is 5 hrs.

Lookout for hugh unmarked speedbreakers after davangere and before ranebennur railway crossings.