[dre@ms]

Originally Posted by dpkbehera

I am planning to drive to Goa in the last week of September. Google Maps/ Team BHP indicate the following 2 routes i.e.
a) Hyderabad - Parigi - Sedam - Kalaburagi - Jevargi - Bijapur - Bagalkot - Belagavi - Chorlai - Candolim

I have done this route last year and the roads were in pretty good shape (Chorla ghat is very scenic and a pleasure to drive), but beware the route is not. Deviations and missing of sign boards are at ease. We missed the one to Jewargi and was driving in farmlands for close to 2 hours before joining Bagalkote, lucky it was mid noon. This route can easily take 14-15hrs.

[lucifer1881]

Originally Posted by mobike008

I was scheduled to drive on Saturday but, I cancelled since I just returned earlier this week from an international vacation and my body is rejecting back to back vacations

Your loss entirely, Avi. We had a grand old time and ended up covering the entire stretch from Tiracol to Palolem in the 3 days we were there. Basically, the entire holiday itinerary was covered which makes me a happy man.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Lot of Hyderabad BHPians are in Goa over the long weekend. Couple of them are starting tomorrow morning at 5:00am. Look out for a Silver Hyundai Elantra and a Black Honda Civic. Another BHPian has already reached Goa this evening (by Flight)

We took the Raichur - Bagalkot - Belgaum - Chorla route to Goa. Doable in 12 hours if you stop only for fuel and nature's calls. We took 14 since we had to make two stops - 1 for satisfying this sudden idly craving I had around breakfast time, and the second for satisfying aaloo paratha cravings. In my opinion, both are fully justified reasons for making stops.

That said, the wife and I have covered this route in 12 hours when we did not make any stops. Having taken all possible routes to Goa, I believe this is the best route to take by far.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Btw, you are starting at a very wrong time with a small kid as this route is very complicated and has many deviations and is not really a straight forward road and travelling through the ghats at night is not a good idea with such a small kid in the car...

Agreed. Small kid or not, it makes sense to start before 5am. Route complications aside, 14 hours of night driving is infinitely more tiring than 12 hours of day driving.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Saw this post only now. Actually the stretch of road between Jamkhandi and Mudhol via Mahalingpur was the worst road I'd ever driven on! This was 7 years ago though. Not sure how things are now.

Can you please care to update?

Venu saar, Goa route conditions change monsoon to monsoon. 7 years is almost as far back as the time when Ashoka ruled India

[nrahul]

We (my wife and 2 kids) took Hyd - Pargi - Sedam - Kalaburagi - Vijayapura - Bagalkot - Belgavi - Chorla Ghat to Margo (Varca). The outbound travel was on 31st Aug and came back on 5th Sept. This is one of route suggested on Google Maps. In addition to Google's suggestion, we continued towards Kalaburagi and Vijaypura towns all the way up to the ring road instead of by-pass suggested on Google maps. This provided good food joints near the towns.
We started at around 5.30am and reached Belgavi around 6pm with two one hour long breaks for breakfast and lunch. The road is undivided highway but the tarmac is smooth. We stayed for night in Belgavi and started for Margo in the morning. Its small 3.30 hours drive via Chorla Ghat. The road condition is good and drive is absolutely fabulous. We did couple of stops to at the road side water-falls. On our way back, we covered Harvalem Waterfall as well.

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by nrahul

.........We stayed for night in Belgavi and started for Margo in the morning. Its small 3.30 hours drive via Chorla Ghat. The road condition is good and drive is absolutely fabulous.

Hi, can you share with us where you stayed at Belgavi? And your verdict regarding the hotel where you stayed. The information will be useful to all of us, in case we stop over for the night.

[nrahul]

Originally Posted by Zezé

Hi, can you share with us where you stayed at Belgavi? And your verdict regarding the hotel where you stayed. The information will be useful to all of us, in case we stop over for the night.

We stayed at Hotel Eefa as this was the only hotel providing 2 bedroom apartment. This seems like old hotel but the staff is friendly, food was good (less spicy) and the rates are reasonable.

[bordeaux]

We did North Goa - Amboli - Belgaum - Bagalkot - Bijapur - Gulbarga - Humnabad - Gachibowli this weekend. Below are the route updates.

North Goa - Amboli - Belgaum: Good to Okayish roads all the way. Partially broken top surface in ghat sections. Mostly two lanes without shoulders.

Belgaum - Bagalkot: One of the best 2L+PS (two lane with paved shoulders) roads I have seen so far. Entire route is perfectly marked. Ghat sections have three lanes with paved shoulders with extra lane favoring the drivers against centrifugal force. The only problem is Karnataka PWD's obsession with speed breakers. There are a few million of them which kinda spoil the whole drive

Bagalkot - Bijapur: Expansion to 2L+PS work in progress closer to Bagalkot. Mostly smooth tarmac but the expansion work is not being done at good pace. Also, there is no work in progress on Bijapur side of this road.

Bijapur - Gulbarga: Expansion to 2L+PS is in progress at an aggressive speed. A lot of it is already done. No marking as of now. I guess they'll start marking process once the entire stretch is complete. Bad part is that they have not altered the alignment and the highway still passes through the same towns. There is a good part though. This is now a National Highway which has resulted in far lesser speed breakers.

Gulbarga - Humnabad: 2L+PS mostly smooth road. Work in progress at a couple sites. Potholes at a few places.

Humnabad - Hyderabad: 4L+PS Smooth road all the way except a 1-2 KM stretch near TS/KA border (work in progress though). Only one side is operational at a few stretches but you can still maintain good speed.

We always felt that Hyderabad didn't have a good Goa connectivity. This was the third consecutive yearly monsoon trip to Goa and roads have come a long way. I am sure by next year or so, we'll have a really good connectivity all the way except the western ghats sections.

[ratna23]

Had done Hyderabad to Goa with friends in a Hyundai santa Fe on 31st August 2017. We had taken the Hyderabad - Raichur - Bagalkot - Belgaum - Chorla - North Goa route for the onward journey. The stretches between bhootpur - Raichur - Lingsugur are pretty bad with lots of speed breakers. Regretted taking this route.

For the return journey we took North Goa - Chorla - Belgaum - Bagalkot - Vijayapura - Kalaburgi - Sedam - Pargi - Shamshabad. This route was great and we were maintaining good triple digit speeds consistently for most of the journey. Reached Hyderabad airport in 12 hours including a couple of stops en route. I definitely recommend this route.

If you're looking for a good place to eat around Belgaum, don't forget to go to Paratha corner. Awesome place close to the highway serving up some delicious parathas!

[dpkbehera]

Originally Posted by ratna23

For the return journey we took North Goa - Chorla - Belgaum - Bagalkot - Vijayapura - Kalaburgi - Sedam - Pargi - Shamshabad. This route was great and we were maintaining good triple digit speeds consistently for most of the journey. Reached Hyderabad airport in 12 hours including a couple of stops en route. I definitely recommend this route.

Google Maps suggests diversions to avoid both Vijayapura and Kalaburgi. Did you follow google maps to the hilt? Please let me know incase you took an alternative route.

[ratna23]

Originally Posted by dpkbehera

Google Maps suggests diversions to avoid both Vijayapura and Kalaburgi. Did you follow google maps to the hilt? Please let me know incase you took an alternative route.

We didn't really follow google maps. This was a recommended route by a fellow bhp'ian in an earlier post. There are a few stretches around Vijayapura and Kalaburgi where road work is going on but nothing that affected the journey significantly.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by ratna23

For the return journey we took North Goa - Chorla - Belgaum - Bagalkot - Vijayapura - Kalaburgi - Sedam - Pargi - Shamshabad. This route was great and we were maintaining good triple digit speeds consistently for most of the journey. Reached Hyderabad airport in 12 hours including a couple of stops en route. I definitely recommend this route.

!

Thanks for the update. A couple of months ago, there was feedback that the Gulbarga to Bijapur stretch was being widened and not in good shape. Owing to this, some people took the Raichur route, which was your onward route. Now it looks like this route is the best---it was till a year ago also.

But from Gulbarga to Hyderabad, I guess the route via Humnabad will be better and faster, going by the update above from Bordeaux.

[bordeaux]

Till last year, we used to take the Sedam - Pargi route for Gulbarga - Hyderabad. It is a decent road but section in Telangana is only 2 lane without any shoulders. Makes it difficult to overtake with bikers on the road. Now that Gulbarga - Humnabad is mostly 2L + PS and Humnabad - Hyderabad ORR is 4L + PS, I won't even think about Sedam - Pargi route. I am sure you don't want to miss driving on newly laid tarmac of NH-65 Come on now, we waited more than five years for this day. And there are no tolls either

[deepv]

I see couple of takeaways from last couple of months' route updates between Hyd & Goa.
One, Hyd - Humnabad - Gulbarga is good now and is the route to take for Gulbarga/Bijapur.
Two, Chorla Ghats section is preferred vis-a-vis Amboli for getting to/from Belgaum.

Does anyone have any update on Mollem/Anmod/Khanapur route - preferred for South Goa side travel from Belgaum?

[dpkbehera]

For the Dusshera vacation travelers to Goa , on the basis of the recent updates the recommended route is Hyderabad - Humnabad - Kalaburagi - Jevargi - Vijayapura - Bagalkot - Belagavi - Chorla - Candolim. For travelers not planning for driving the whole stretch at one go, break is recommended at Belagavi during the onward journey and Bagalkot during return journey.

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by dpkbehera

For the Dusshera vacation travelers to Goa , on the basis of the recent updates the recommended route is Hyderabad - Humnabad - Kalaburagi - Jevargi - Vijayapura - Bagalkot - Belagavi - Chorla - Candolim. For travelers not planning for driving the whole stretch at one go, break is recommended at Belagavi during the onward journey and Bagalkot during return journey.

On the onward leg, I agree that Belagavi is an obvious choice because there is a choice of hotels to suits various budget. Plus it puts you within striking to your destination and you can start after a leisurely breakfast.

What about Bagalkot? Does the town offer a similar choice of hotels? Could you share the names of some of the hotels?

[dpkbehera]

Originally Posted by Zezé

On the onward leg, I agree that Belagavi is an obvious choice because there is a choice of hotels to suits various budget. Plus it puts you within striking to your destination and you can start after a leisurely breakfast.

What about Bagalkot? Does the town offer a similar choice of hotels? Could you share the names of some of the hotels?

Bagalkot has a limited choice of hotels. Hotel Clarks Inn and Hotel Hari Priya are the recommended ones by fellow travelers.