[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Onward
Hyd - Jadcherla - Raichur - Gangawati - Hubli-??-??-Which route to be taken after Hubli to Panjim?

Return
Panjim-??-??-??-Bijapur-Gulbarga-Humnabad -Zaheerabad-Hyderabad

Also appreciate your detailed feedback on road conditions if you happen to drive on this route before I head out from Hyderabad.

Onward Journey, follow Ranjitp1's advice. I cannot think of any other route. In case you are trying to do the journey at one go, try to start by 3 AM so that you will be in the scenic parts before sunset. Otherwise, all the scenic parts will be missed in the night. If night driving is not a problem start at night. Even with family, this is a safe route.
Hubli - Ankola - Karwar - Panjim (Roads are quite scenic from Ankola onwards.

For the return journey, let me add to the confusion

Why dont you try the route via Dandeli. It is simple and no need to maintain excel sheets
Panjim - Londa - Ganeshgudi - Dandeli - Hubli - Bagalkhot - Bijapur.

However, I am not sure of the road conditions upto Hubli. I have done this stretch about 6 years back and road conditions in the Dandeli regions were very very good. Not sure now. But this will be the most scenic route although it will be long. The route I mentioned will be about 90 kms longer than the shortest route. But this way, you have confirmed good roads after Hubli (30 kms may be bad in between).

However, if you try the route shown in google maps between Bijapur and Panjim, the road conditions are pretty bad. I have never driven on the road mentioned by vnabhi , but the route directions seem complicated for me.

Edit: I will update the road conditions as soon as I finish my trip on 13th.

[gajadonga]

I have traveled twice to Goa in this route.
Jadcherla-Gangawathi-Koppal-Hubli-Karwar as I stayed in south Goa.
The roads--- after Jadcherla travel upto Buthpur take a right turn towards Mahbubnagar you can avoid the town traffic.
Mahbubnagar-Marikal occasional potholes the roads improve after that upto Raichur.
Raichur-Gangawathi-Budugumpa cross excellent roads.
From Budugumpa cross-Koppal single road 20kms occasional potholes.
Koppal-Hubli is good recently updated about 20days back in this forum.
Hubli city ask for directions to Yellapur or Karwar.
Hubli-Goa via Karwar is in excellent condition.
Do not miss out to go Ankola Kamat restaurant which is just 2kms away from the fork from Yeallapur to Kawar and Ankola.

[no_boundaries]

I’m just back from an awesome Goa trip.

The onward journey route was
Hyderabad – Zaheerabad – Humnabad – Gulbarga – Jevargi – Sindgi – Bijapur.
The roads from Hyderabad to Bijapur were 90% good. The bad part falls on NH 9 after Zaheerbad before the left turn to connect to Gulbarga route (NH-218). The roads are not all that great and is mostly patches worn out on tarmac.
Due to some bad directions at Bijapur, the route from there on was just plain bad. The misdirected route was –
Bijapur –Athani – Chikkodi – Sankeshwar –Belgaum.
The bad advice did not end there and my bad, I checked with a wrong local to know the current best route to Goa. There I was, misdirected again through some really bad roads. Please avoid this route completely as the roads here are completely non-existent for more than 50% of the Journey.
Belgaum –Ponda – Panaji – Calangute.

The return Journey was the perfect route I suppose, though there was just a minimal 40kms (approx.) difference (lesser) compared to the onward route.
Goa – Sawantwadi – Amboli – Belgaum.
There was a little bit of confusion from Belgaum to Bijapur as there were no signboards anywhere. We completely missed the comfort of having those Green boards along the highway listing the onward places. We had to stop several places to confirm the route. This was particularly frustrating because I was doing a night journey with a very vague idea of the route. My bad. Lesson learnt.
Belgaum – Yargatti – Lokapur – Kaladgi. This is basically SH 20. At the intersection after Kaladgi intersecting SH 20 with NH 218, took a left turn and followed Bilgi – Kolhar – Savanhalli – Gulbarga.
From Gulbarga it’s the NH 218 all the way till Humnabad. A right turn on NH 9 and that’s the straight route to Hyderabad.

We took about 14 hours for the on ward journey and about 12 hours return including a 45 minute break both ways. Swifty (Vxi) returned an awesome mileage of 16.7km/ltr even though the roads were bad / non-existent / winding.

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

I’m just back from an awesome Goa trip.

The return Journey was the perfect route I suppose, though there was just a minimal 40kms (approx.) difference (lesser) compared to the onward route.
Goa – Sawantwadi – Amboli – Belgaum.
There was a little bit of confusion from Belgaum to Bijapur as there were no signboards anywhere. We completely missed the comfort of having those Green boards along the highway listing the onward places. We had to stop several places to confirm the route. This was particularly frustrating because I was doing a night journey with a very vague idea of the route. My bad. Lesson learnt.
Belgaum – Yargatti – Lokapur – Kaladgi. This is basically SH 20. At the intersection after Kaladgi intersecting SH 20 with NH 218, took a left turn and followed Bilgi – Kolhar – Savanhalli – Gulbarga.
From Gulbarga it’s the NH 218 all the way till Humnabad. A right turn on NH 9 and that’s the straight route to Hyderabad.

Thanks a lot for the info. At which time did you travel in the roads via Humnabad - Gulbarga - Bagalkhot - Belgaum. I am planning to do it in the night. I have heard an incident which made me think twice on choosing this route.

I have to leave tomorrow evening at 6 PM. While driving (even during day time), did you see any potential concerns? Also how is police patrolling on this route? Did you see any frequent police jeeps on the road?

If you see potential problems, I will stick to my usual route Hyd - Mahbubnagar - Raichur - Hubli - Gokarna.
Your reply by tomorrow would be very helpful.

And for your swift Vxi, that is an excellent mileage. I will travel in my safari, so occasional pot holes would not be an issue for me. It is unfortunate that you had taken bad roads due to bad directions given by locals. however, I do not think I will face any such issues as I will be using GPS.

As promised, I will update the road conditions as soon as I return back on Monday. My return journey is through Kudremukh side.

[no_boundaries]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

Thanks a lot for the info. At which time did you travel in the roads via Humnabad - Gulbarga - Bagalkhot - Belgaum. I am planning to do it in the night. I have heard an incident which made me think twice on choosing this route.

I have to leave tomorrow evening at 6 PM. While driving (even during day time), did you see any potential concerns? Also how is police patrolling on this route? Did you see any frequent police jeeps on the road?

If you see potential problems, I will stick to my usual route Hyd - Mahbubnagar - Raichur - Hubli - Gokarna.
Your reply by tomorrow would be very helpful.

And for your swift Vxi, that is an excellent mileage. I will travel in my safari, so occasional pot holes would not be an issue for me. It is unfortunate that you had taken bad roads due to bad directions given by locals. however, I do not think I will face any such issues as I will be using GPS.

As promised, I will update the road conditions as soon as I return back on Monday. My return journey is through Kudremukh side.

Hey Himavanth, If you trust your machine as much as I do my Swift then just go ahead.
But fact wise -
Its certainly not a problem to do a night journey on this route, but if you are travelling with women / children, I suggest you do this route in day light. The place gets very isolated at night. Almost 0 vehicles on road.

Just watch out for those speed bumps at some places. There are quite a few especially after Bijapur till belgaum. I only ran over 2 of these but again fortunately those were relatively small. But dont worry you will be able to maintain an average of 60km/hr.

As for safety or emergency, you don't have to worry as there were cops patrolling the place at most villages we crossed. There are few villages on the way too that was fairly crowded considering the late hours we crossed these places.

Just a suggestion, if your final destination is Goa, please take the Sawantwadi route from Belgaum. This route is fantastic except for the road widening work on about 20kms stretch at the outskirts of Goa.

Looking forward for a travelouge, Happy driving. Safe journey.

[no_boundaries]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

Thanks a lot for the info. At which time did you travel in the roads via Humnabad - Gulbarga - Bagalkhot - Belgaum. I am planning to do it in the night. I have heard an incident which made me think twice on choosing this route.

If you see potential problems, I will stick to my usual route Hyd - Mahbubnagar - Raichur - Hubli - Gokarna.
Your reply by tomorrow would be very helpful.

Sorry missed your original question. I did a night Journey on the way back and I was only apprehensive because I was not clear on the route. Otherwise its a perfect route to Goa.

On the way back when I enquired for the raichur route, the person who suggested me the belgaum - hyderabad route told me the roads are not in a great condition and asked me to avoid it, but again you never know if they know.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

I’m just back from an awesome Goa trip.

The onward journey route was
Hyderabad – Zaheerabad – Humnabad – Gulbarga – Jevargi – Sindgi – Bijapur.
The roads from Hyderabad to Bijapur were 90% good. The bad part falls on NH 9 after Zaheerbad before the left turn to connect to Gulbarga route (NH-218). The roads are not all that great and is mostly patches worn out on tarmac.
Due to some bad directions at Bijapur, the route from there on was just plain bad. The misdirected route was –
Bijapur –Athani – Chikkodi – Sankeshwar –Belgaum.
The bad advice did not end there and my bad, I checked with a wrong local to know the current best route to Goa. There I was, misdirected again through some really bad roads. Please avoid this route completely as the roads here are completely non-existent for more than 50% of the Journey.
Belgaum –Ponda – Panaji – Calangute.

I have 2 questions on the above:-

1. The roads between Homnabad and Bijapur were awesome 2 years ago. Did they go bad now?
2. Someone from Hyd travelled on the same route a fortnight back, and said the roads were ok via Athni and Chikkodi. Are you referring to the same stretch, or are you saying the route from Belgaum via Ponda and Londa was bad?

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

The return Journey was the perfect route I suppose, though there was just a minimal 40kms (approx.) difference (lesser) compared to the onward route.
Goa – Sawantwadi – Amboli – Belgaum.
There was a little bit of confusion from Belgaum to Bijapur as there were no signboards anywhere. We completely missed the comfort of having those Green boards along the highway listing the onward places. We had to stop several places to confirm the route. This was particularly frustrating because I was doing a night journey with a very vague idea of the route. My bad. Lesson learnt.
Belgaum – Yargatti – Lokapur – Kaladgi. This is basically SH 20. At the intersection after Kaladgi intersecting SH 20 with NH 218, took a left turn and followed Bilgi – Kolhar – Savanhalli – Gulbarga.
From Gulbarga it’s the NH 218 all the way till Humnabad. A right turn on NH 9 and that’s the straight route to Hyderabad.

2 questions here too:-

1. Did you go to Belgaum via Amboli and Sankeshwar, or did you use the route from Amboli to Belgaum without touching Sankeshwar?
2. Any pointers for reaching the Yargatti road from Belgaum? Do you have to traverse through the city?

[no_boundaries]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I have 2 questions on the above:-

1. The roads between Homnabad and Bijapur were awesome 2 years ago. Did they go bad now?
2. Someone from Hyd travelled on the same route a fortnight back, and said the roads were ok via Athni and Chikkodi. Are you referring to the same stretch, or are you saying the route from Belgaum via Ponda and Londa was bad?

Hi,

1. The bad roads were only from Humnabad on NH 9 uptill the point where we take a left turn to get into NH 218. NH 218 all the way till SH 20 intersection, that is after Sunaga Intersection is very good excpet for some speed bumps, however for MOST speed bumps there are sign boards and also MOST of the times there are 2 sets of speed bumps - about 20 - 30mtrs apart.

2. Route via Athani and Chikkodi is not good. Layers of trmac have eroded leaving the roads all patchy and uneven. Also, route from Belgaum to Goa via Ponda is very very bad. The road looks like its been meteor hit.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

2 questions here too:-

1. Did you go to Belgaum via Amboli and Sankeshwar, or did you use the route from Amboli to Belgaum without touching Sankeshwar?
2. Any pointers for reaching the Yargatti road from Belgaum? Do you have to traverse through the city?

1. On the return journey, I took Goa - Sawantwadi - Amboli - Belgaum. This road is called the Sawantwadi route. The roads are very good and scenic. We even stopped in Amboli ghats for some pictures.

2. To reach the Yargatti road from Belgaum, I was directed to the Belgaum Airport road or the Sambra road. That road straight reaches the yargatti cross roads. This road is called the Belgaum - Bagalkote road. The road condition is very good except for some occasional speed bumps. There are no sign boards along the route except for the Yellow board marking Karnataka Tourism spots.
You might have to cross lesser than few villages / Towns. As we were driving late night, we did not have any problems crossing these places. It might be a little irritating to drive through during the day.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by no_boundaries

Bijapur –Athani – Chikkodi – Sankeshwar –Belgaum.

A better option for this could be:

Bijapur-Bagalkot-Lokapur-Yargatti-Belgaum
An extra 30km difference, but very good roads all the way.

Also I think one does not need to get into Bagalkot town as NH218 would bypass the town.
Can anyone confirm that?

[himavanth_m]

I have done the Goa road yesterday and this route is much much better than the Hyd - Jadcherla - Raichur - Gangawati - Hubli route.

Apart from 30 kms overall (Primarily around Bijapur area, the roads are excellent. Even the bad roads are all not that bad. One can easily maintain 40kmph on these roads.

Route -

Hyd - Humnabad - 4 laned upto Zaheerabad and then 2 laned. In this entire stretch about 2 kms has patches and needs to slowdown. Rest of the road is excellent.
Humnabad - Gulbarga - Wonderful 2 laned highway. Can easily maintain 100kmph on this entire stretch.
Gulbarga - Bijapur - Again excellent 2 laned roads. Can easily maintain 90kmph on the entire stretch.
Bijapur - Bagalkhot (One can bypass bagalkhot on the NH218) - Ok Roads. One needs to slow down to 40kmph at some points. Lot of speedbreakers on this stretch. But most part of the road, one can maintain 60 to 80kmph
Bagalkhot - Hubli - This road is bad in patches where one needs to slow down to 30kmph and lots of speed breakers on this road too.

Hubli - Ankola - What a road this is. BMW is the car to be in on this stretch.

Ankola - Gokarna - Again excellent. Ankola to Karwar also excellent.

If driven excluding the stop breaks, one can reach Ankola from Hyderabad in a little over 11 hours.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

I have done the Goa road yesterday and this route is much much better than the Hyd - Jadcherla - Raichur - Gangawati - Hubli route.

Apart from 30 kms overall (Primarily around Bijapur area, the roads are excellent. Even the bad roads are all not that bad. One can easily maintain 40kmph on these roads.

Route -

Thanks for the excellent and detailed feedback!

My plan is postponed from Feb 16 to now Feb 22 ( Hope I can make it on this date)

However, since I am planning to stay at N.Goa. Will be taking your route until Bijapur

This is the route that I have in mind :-

Hyd – Zaheerabad – Humnabad – Gulbarga - Jevargi - Sindgi – Devar Hippargi – Bijapur – Athani – Chikkodi – Sankeshwar – Amboli – Sawanthwadi – Mapusa – Baga/Calangute

I will be doing goa for first time on this route atleast until Bijapur its new to me. After that Sankeshwar onwards its the same old familiar route

[Gurudatta Nayak]

We are in process of planning a Road Trip and would like to visit this the below places on the way to Hyderabad.

1) Ambabai Temple, Maharashtra.
2) Swami Samarth Temple in Akkalkot, Maharashtra

Anyone who has traveled this route recently may please give an update on the road condition and suggest a good place to stay at Kolhapur.

While returning Back which Route is recommended?
Hyderabad - Rachur - Gangawati - Hubli -Karwar - Goa

OR

Hyderabad via Bijapur - Hubli -Karwar -Goa

Google Route map shown below

Note from Support:
Please search before creating a new thread.
Thanks

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Gurudatta Nayak

We are in process of planning a Road Trip and would like to visit this the below places on the way to Hyderabad.

1) Ambabai Temple, Maharashtra.
2) Swami Samarth Temple in Akkalkot, Maharashtra

a good place to stay at Kolhapur.

While returning Back which Route is recommended?
Hyderabad - Rachur - Gangawati - Hubli -Karwar - Goa

OR

Hyderabad via Bijapur - Hubli -Karwar -Goa

Raysons Regency is a good place to stay in Kolhapur.The Bijapur route is a good route.Mobike008 is presently in Goa and he has taken the route mentioned above by him and he reported good roads all the way.It would be a 11-14hr drive depending on driving styles and speeds.

Since you want to visit Akkalkot,I would suggest that you take the route of Kolhapur-Miraj-Sangole Circle-Mangalwedha-Solapur-Akkalkot.Roads are in reasonably good condition.As for Amababai temple,which one are you intending to visit?

[IndianNomad]

Originally Posted by Gurudatta Nayak

Anyone who has traveled this route recently may please give an update on the road condition and suggest a good place to stay at Kolhapur.

I would suggest Hotel Ayodhya, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Hotel Kolhapur, Hotel in Kolhapur, Kolhapur hotel , I have stayed here couple of times.
Its 4kms from NH4, below is the map.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Gurudatta Nayak

Hyderabad via Bijapur - Hubli -Karwar -Goa

I used above route till Bijapur during my drive to goa. Here is the detailed route and road condition of the route that I used which was for both ways


Goa Route Information ( Feb 22-Feb 26)

Hyderabad-Zaheerabad-Humnabad-Gulbarga-Jewargi-Bijapur-Athani-Chikodi-Gandiglaj-Ajra-Amboli Ghat-Sawantwadi-Baga Beach

Total : 731kms (20kms extra as I lost route and got onto NH4)

Onward Journey (Feb 22)
I reached the turn towards Baga in 11 hours and 30 mins with following breaks at 5:15pm with odo reading 731kms:

15 mins for BF at Jewargi
40 mins for lunch at Sankeshwar
20 mins for Vad Pav at Amboli Ghat
20kms of detour on NH 4 as I couldn't find the route to Gandiglaj
Started from home at 5:45am and covered 510kms in 7 hours (one of the most enjoyable drives) and remaining 230kms in remaining time

I hadnt moved an inch from the steering wheel for 7 hours continuously and still felt fresh after all that drive. I love my White Annihilator

Last stretch from sawantwadi to goa check post is in horrendous condition. Some 15kms no road at all. Make sure to take the road from bottom as its slightly better. But, due to my navigator (wifey) who suggested me to take from route above which had absolutely no road at all. This is due to bridge construction and road widening

Was stopped at check post and enquired if carrying lot of cash due to ongoing elections in Goa

Return Journey (Feb 26th)
Started from my hotel in Baga beach at 7:30AM and reached home at Himayathnagar at 7:30PM. 12 hours door-to-door

Salient Points :-

a) Baga Hotel to Gulbarga City reached at 3:00pm ( 7.5 hours)

b) Reached the turning to Hyderabad at Humnabad (NH9) at 4:30pm (9 hours)

c) Reached Icrisat at 6:00pm (10.5 hours)

d) Due to heavy traffic from Icrisat onwards reached home at Himayathnagar at 7:30pm (12 hours)

Points to note for conditions on this route :-

a) Lot of sugarcane trucks/carts from Gandiglaj onwards for many kilometers

b) Experienced a lot of truck traffic on NH9 on return

c) Gandiglaj to Baga Beach is approximately 200kms and this will take you minimum 5 hours. This time is hard to reduce.

d) Lot of speedbreakers from Gulbarga to Bijapur and all of them are not marked at all

e) Above time can be acheived with a lot of aggressive driving with minimum possible breaks and I doubt if goa can be reached in shorter timespan than this time keeping real time conditions in mind

f) Crossing Bijapur will be timeconsuming as roads are in bad condition before the Gol Gumaz and you need to traverse around them and weave through the thick of the city traffic

Finally, I recommend the above route to anyone driving to goa if they drive during above timings as there is no other route that can match the ground coverage that can be acheived in this route

Hope this info helps !!!

Cheers
Mobike008