[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by MDe

A drive this way might require a night stop somewhere which will be a waste of time again as I am the only one to drive. So might drop the plan to drive and take flight

Hyderabad - Goa drive through ghats should be experienced atleast once. If you have enough time at hand, do drive to Goa with a convinient night halt. If not this time, as they say, there is next time always

Enjoy Goa
cheers!
NH

[spadix]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Hyd to Goa is a 15hour drive any which route you take at the moment.Leaving Hyd at 5-6am is too late if you want to cross the ghats into Goa during daylight.Nightime crossing Amboli/Phonda/Mollem (any of these ghats) is not a very pleasant experience.I would suggest that you leave atleast around 330 to make it to Goa by 7 in the evening.

It's doable but I had the luxury of having my wife drive around one-third of the way if not more.

My onward trip was from ~5:30 am to ~8:30 pm (15 hrs, ~740 kms). The return trip was again ~5:45 am to ~9:45 pm (16 hrs, ~800 kms). There were a few detours/searching around which ate up at least half an hour to an hour on both days.

With just one driver doing duty, though, the equation changes a little bit.

Regards,
spadix

[prabingade]

I have driven to Goa some 10+ times (solo driver). The best was 14 hours and the worst 16 hrs.

If we consider Airport Jn(via Raipur) or BHEL (via Bijapur/Solapur etc) as the starting points in Hyd and Tivim (in North Goa) or Margaon(South Goa) as the end points, then a 12 hr drive should be possible.

I know Avi wanted a much better 12 hr drive but I think 14 hrs is doable.

Will update the drive times once I reach Goa day after tomorrow.

[ranjitp1]

Yes 12hr maybe "doable" between the outskirts,but the drive to goa is definitely not a pleasant one experience simply due to the lack of good roads and due to lack of one single road between hyd and goa.My take after after doing upteen drives.

[prabingade]

Back to Hyd and below is the route taken, road conditions and driving times.

Hyd-Bijapur: 6 Hrs, great road as already been commented
Stays overnight at Hotel Pearl, good clean hotel with value for money (Rs 1180 for deluxe AC room including extra bed), can be considered for night halt option in Bijapur.

Bijapur-Hubli: Took 3.5 hrs, average to bad roads, not worth going through

Hubli-Madgaon: Took 4 hrs. Excellent roads

Started early morning yesterday at 5:30am from Holiday inn, Mabor and reached Mahabubnagar at 5:00pm.

Mabor-Hubli: 3:40 hrs. Had breakfast at the Kamat on the circle (good food, fast service).

Hubli-Raichur: 5 hrs Good roads. There are road extentions in Koppal, Gangawathi. In Koppal around 5 kms is average road. There are flyovers in construction due to which we lost 10 mins time. Also due to Diwali the main road in each of these Karnataka town had heavy traffic due to which I must have lost 20+ minutes.

Raichur-Mahabubnagar: Road is average but certainly not bad. Took me 1:45 hrs to cover the distance which includes the Raichur traffic.

Overall Hyd-Raichur-Gangawathi-Koppal-Hubli-Karwar-Goa is the best for the South Goa side. Had I come directly to Gachibowli, then I should have taken 12:30 hrs to reach (this includes 40 minutes break at Kamat in Hubli for food).

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by prabingade

Overall Hyd-Raichur-Gangawathi-Koppal-Hubli-Karwar-Goa is the best for the South Goa side. Had I come directly to Gachibowli, then I should have taken 12:30 hrs to reach (this includes 40 minutes break at Kamat in Hubli for food).

I suppose you meant 12.30 hours to Mehbubnagar, and not Gachibowli, going by your post.

Thanks for the road update. This seems to be a better route. What is the distance?

[prabingade]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I suppose you meant 12.30 hours to Mehbubnagar, and not Gachibowli, going by your post.

Thanks for the road update. This seems to be a better route. What is the distance?

I meant 12:30 to Gachibowli. I made to Mahabubnagar home in 11:30 hrs from Mabor. Assuming that we take Bhuthpur road and bypass Mahbubnagar, it can be done in 12:30 hrs.

The distances are:
Gachibowli-Bijapur-Hubli-Mabor: 860kms
Mabor-Hibli-Gangawathi-Raichur-Mahabubnagar: 750 kms (If I map it to Gachibowli, it should be around 860 kms).

I somehow thought by the GM etc that via Raichur road distance is less than Bijapur-Hubli road but that doesn't seem to be the case. However, till Bijapur-Hubli road condition improves, Raichur-Gangawathi-Hubli is better option for South Goa (especially because there are road widening happening in multiple towns which implies that the road conditions are bound to improve and save further the drive times).

[lazyrider]

Planning to ride to Goa in late November, taking the below route.

Hyd-Solapur-Kolhapur-Sawantwadi-Vagator. Night halt at Kolhapur.

All the recent updates on this thread have been about the Karnataka route, want to avoid it due to the countless speedbreakers

Any recent updates on the road conditions for the above route?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by lazyrider

Hyd-Solapur-Kolhapur-Sawantwadi-Vagator. Night halt at Kolhapur.

Any recent updates on the road conditions for the above route?

Hyd-Solapur:Good

Solapur-Mangalwedha-Sangole:Some bad patches,overall average to good.

Mangalwedha-Miraj:Rough surfaces at some parts,again nothing alarming

Miraj-Kolhapur: Good

Kolhapur-Sankeshwar:Excellent on NH4

Sankeshwar-Gadhinglaj:Some bad patches which need to taken slow

Gadhinglaj-Amboli-Sawantwadi:Good & bad patches

Sawantwadi-Border:Patched up at many places and dense traffic

Border-Vagator:Good to excellent.

Overall it would be a good long ride.

[CANPUSH]

You have another option.

Solapur - Bijapur (NH13) - Very good 4 lanes road.
Here you have option of taking Humnabad- Gulbarga-Bijapur road but I do not know current road condition.
Bijapur - Gadanakeri (near Bagalkot) NH 218 -Very good road except speed breakers at every town
Gadanakeri (Turn right at the junction)-Lokapur-Yargatti (SH20) - Very Good road except speed breakers at every town

From Yargatti you have 4 options -

1. Continue the same road to go to Belgaum and then take NH4A to Khanapur-Ramnagar-Anmod to get into Goa (Road between Belgaum and Anmod is good in patches, particularly within Belgaum and after Khanapur)

2. Instead of NH4A you can take Belgaum-Amboli road. - Good road condition upto Sawantwadi but After Sawantwadi between Banda and partadevi road work going on hence bad condition.

3. You can take Yargatti - Gokak-Sankeshwar road (SH44) - fairly good conditions and continue to Gadhinglaj- Ajra-to join above road before Amboli.

4. Taking NH4A upto Ramnagar, do not turn right but proceed straight to Karwar road via Ganeshgudi- Joida - This road is very good and will take you close to Sadashivgad that is southernmost tip of Goa.

All these roads should take similar time to reach Goa.

[prabingade]

Originally Posted by CANPUSH

Solapur - Bijapur (NH13) - Very good 4 lanes road.
Here you have option of taking Humnabad- Gulbarga-Bijapur road but I do not know current road condition.

The Humnabad-Gulbarga-Bijapur road is in excellent condition and is a 6hr drive from Gabchibowli.

[lazyrider]

I am also considering the below route based on the inputs received.

Hyd-Humnabad-Bijapur via SH218-Sankeshwar-Sawantwadi-Vagator

How is the road between Bijapur and Sankeshwar?
Are there any options for a night halt(after Bijaput) on this route?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by lazyrider

I am also considering the below route based on the inputs received.

Hyd-Humnabad-Bijapur via SH218-Sankeshwar-Sawantwadi-Vagator

How is the road between Bijapur and Sankeshwar?
Are there any options for a night halt(after Bijaput) on this route?

If you want to use NH218 till Bijapur, then why Sankeshwar and why not Chikkodi-Nippani option from where you latch on to the Sawantwadi route?

But as per what I read (I think Lucifer's TL) Bijapur-Athani-Chikkodi-Nippani is decent, and dont expect very great roads. However I think that is the best option from Bijapur.

All Any comments ?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by lazyrider

I am also considering the below route based on the inputs received.

Hyd-Humnabad-Bijapur via SH218-Sankeshwar-Sawantwadi-Vagator

How is the road between Bijapur and Sankeshwar?
Are there any options for a night halt(after Bijaput) on this route?

Originally Posted by ampere

If you want to use NH218 till Bijapur, then why Sankeshwar and why not Chikkodi-Nippani option from where you latch on to the Sawantwadi route?

But as per what I read (I think Lucifer's TL) Bijapur-Athani-Chikkodi-Nippani is decent, and dont expect very great roads. However I think that is the best option from Bijapur.

All Any comments ?

Yes true the Athani-Chikodi-Nippani is decent.However no stay options beyond Bijapur.Also not a great idea doing this stretch in the night if thats the plan.

@Prabin,how was the stay at Bijapur-hotel details please?

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by ampere

If you want to use NH218 till Bijapur, then why Sankeshwar and why not Chikkodi-Nippani option from where you latch on to the Sawantwadi route?

But as per what I read (I think Lucifer's TL) Bijapur-Athani-Chikkodi-Nippani is decent, and dont expect very great roads. However I think that is the best option from Bijapur.

All Any comments ?

My experience in second week of October'2011 is that Chikkodi - Sankeshwar (NH4 underpass) -Gadhingalaj - Ajra section is comparativley better than Nippani - Uttur- Ajra option.

IMHO, Sankeshwar option is good

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Yes true the Athani-Chikodi-Nippani is decent.However no stay options beyond Bijapur.Also not a great idea doing this stretch in the night if thats the plan.

@Prabin,how was the stay at Bijapur-hotel details please?

Absolutely Right ! no good stay options beyond Bijapur. However, at Gadhingalaj, i spotted few new and decent A/C Lodges /Hotels on the main road.