[Sunney]

Thanks HV Kumar.....
Your advice, as well known to all, is the correct one.

Tks once more.

[Sunney]

Hello Ravi,
Your suggested route is known to me. But road is not as good as Cbr-Salem route. Are you sure ?
Yes, I too am planning this with my Linea Diesel.

Only worry is a brand new 4 months car taken for such high speed, loooong drive is make some engine problems? Say, it is not even done it's serious first service. the 3000km service is no service, just an eye-wash only.

CAN hv Kumar AND ANY SENIOR EXPERT DRIVER-MECHANICS ADVICE ME ON THIS ?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Sunney

Hello Ravi,
Your suggested route is known to me. But road is not as good as Cbr-Salem route. Are you sure ?
Yes, I too am planning this with my Linea Diesel.

Only worry is a brand new 4 months car taken for such high speed, loooong drive is make some engine problems? Say, it is not even done it's serious first service. the 3000km service is no service, just an eye-wash only.

CAN hv Kumar AND ANY SENIOR EXPERT DRIVER-MECHANICS ADVICE ME ON THIS ?

Mumbai-Kochi(via the GQ) is an easy drive and dont bother much about the service part,unless there is some serious ongoing issue,the car should be able to do it easily.

As for Kochi-Goa,its going to be one hell of a drive on NH17.Kozhikode-Mangalore takes around 7-8hours.

Mangalore-Kundapur would take you around 3hours.

Kundapur-Karwar another 3hours

Karwar-Panjim another 2-2.5hours.

I would suggest that you do Kochi-Thrissur via NH47 as it is fully 4 laned and bypasses all the towns now.You should be able to do this in about 1hours time early morning time,as opposed to driving NH17 between Edappally and Kunnamkulam.

From Thrissur,connect to the Kunnamkulam road and then from Kecheri,take the right towards Perumpilavu and then onto Kozhikode.You would save quite a bit of time is my guess.The roads are well marked.

We recently drove Edappally-Kollur 2 weeks back via the NH17 and it took us 15hours with a 6am departure from Edappally.

The best way to do this would be for you to stay the night at Udupi or Mangalore and then continue onwards to Goa the next day morning.

[godeepdive]

Originally Posted by Sunney

@Best Route From Mumbai To Kochi
Anybody pls reflect on this route by lately, after GQ completed.

I travel by mid June, hope Kochi-Bangalore-GQ-Mumbai is fastest than NH 17.
But I need to touch Goa.

3. On Innova or Scorpio fairly fast driving what duration Bangalore Mumbai or even upto Chandigarh(towards Darchula...)

@sunney : I just did a drive from Pune to Kochi (started on April 30th). i too had to be in Goa as I had a stay planned at Club Mahindra, Varca beach. The route which I took is

Pune - Kolhapur - Belgaum (NH 4) 4 laned good condition.
Belgaum - Khanapur - Ramnagar - Anmod - Mollem - Ponda on NH 4A and then Ponda- Margao - Varca Beach on NH 17 B / NH 17. NH 4A was in more or less good condition. Roads in Goa were good. Please note that I travelled NH4A on a Sunday when there is no truck traffic.
From Varca beach, got onto NH 17 and followed it all the way to Kerala. Canacona - Karwar - Ankola - Honnavar - Kundapura - Udupi - Mangalore (stay overnight at Mangalore).
From Kundapura till Mangalore 4 laning work is going on - so highway is messy and one needs in weave in and out of roads. Can't maintain good speed. Mangalore to Kerala border is not so good.
Mangalore - Kasaragod - Kozhikode - Ernakulam. NH 17 in Kerala was good all through (looks like freshly relaid roads). However driving is tough due to the heavy traffic (reckless private buses mainly)

[sri1951]

Hi!

I drove last November from Mumbai to Mangalore. I left at 5:00 am to beat the Mumbai traffic. The route I took was Mumbai-Pune-Satara-Kholapur-Belgaum-Hubli. The entire stretch was superb and I reached Hubli by 12:00 noon.

I took the Hubli-Karwar road and then turned off on the Panvel-Goa- Kochi Road to reach Manipal by 6:30 pm. I gave the regulation stops as required. You could stay over at Manipal or go further to Manipal and stay over night.

The entire stretch of road was superb (except for about 20KM). I guess the road should be excellent by now.

I have the timing, halt, toll charges etc. with me. If you send your personal mail ID I can send the same to you.
Sriganesh

[Sunney]

Hvk,
Now I feel to avoid Goa-Mangalore-Kochi(NH17) at any cost, since from GQ-Salem-Cbr-Kochi is available.
You routed me Mumbai-Goa avoiding NH 17. Great...

Isnt it good for me(if I cover Goa on my onward journey from Kochi,) to crawl down from GQ at the nearest point from Goa-Salem- Cbr-Kochi?

1. Which is the nearest point from Goa to GQ?

2. Your suggestion day time rocketing on good roads is PERFECT, utilise fast lanes max.
But your advice to cover congested areas in LATE night is though sensible, little 'cautionable' for me. Upto 12/1 am night is ok. Anything beyond, unless a Navigator-companion sitting near to my ear, is dangerous: .
I am experienced of this danger...we simply do not realise which second it happens: Losing self.
Howsoever alert and stern one is, avoiding 'after 12pm driving' is best.

Oh, no, for Hvk kind of people it is no norm....

[Sunney]

ranjitp1.
Noted advices with thanks.....

[Sunney]

Thanks godeepdive.
Yes, I decided to avoid Mangalore route. Esp on such long travel upto Pithorgarh....

[Sunney]

Thanks sri1951,
You are the first one noting Goa-Manipal is superb.
But what about Manipal-mangalore- Calicut?

Last week I traveled Kochi-Trichur-Kunnamkulam-Calicut- payyannur.
Kochi-Calicut is fairly good, but I started at 4 AM !

This route is ok for early morn and Sundays....well, ALL Kerala roads...

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Sunney

1. Which is the nearest point from Goa to GQ?

The nearest point for Goa on the GQ (NH4) is either Belgaum (if going north) via NH4A (Ponda-Molem-Anmod-Ramnagar-Khanapur) or HUbli (if going south) via NH17-NH63 (Karwar-Ankola-Yellapura-Hubli).

NH17 south of Goa is terrific to drive by night (no traffic) and I have covered Trivandrum-Mangalore through the night on many occasions, but be careful NEVER to take NH17 north of Goa at night (killer bus traffic). NH63 is OK by day or night but NH4 north of Kolhapur (towards Pune) is miserably congested by day (light in afternoon) and best done early morning or night. South of Hubli, NH4 is good anytime.

[Sunney]

If NH 4 is miserable, then GQ is no 'Freeway' in true sense, India has to wait for one.
A no-break high speed road is a freeway.
Why dont they make it in such a way with service roads for bikes, local transportation etc?

[ajay387]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Maybe the fastest (and best road conditions) will be NH4 till Bangalore, then NH7 till Toppur, SH toBhavani and NH47 all the way via Coimbatore. This means a distance of 1050+330+200 or approximately 1580 ksm which is around 100 kms longe rthan NH17. You can be very fast from Bombay to Bangalore (my time 12.5 hours), Bangalore-Coimbatore (5/6 hours) and Coimbatore-Ernakulam (4 hours), with liberal allowances for bypassing Bangalore (1 hour in late night), and some allowance for bad roads between Coimbatore, palakkad and Trissur.

The secret to reaching there fast is to take Bombay-Bangalore by day and continuing beyond to reach by late night (my time to Kochi on NH17 non-stop is only 21 hours).

The Bombay to Bangalore - 12.5 hours, is it non-stop, top speed one ? Same for Bangalore to Coimbatore and Coimbatore to Ernakulam ?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ajay387

The Bombay to Bangalore - 12.5 hours, is it non-stop, top speed one ? Same for Bangalore to Coimbatore and Coimbatore to Ernakulam ?

Yes, I am mentioning only the non-stop no-break timings. Add extra time for food halts. Timings will varying depending on time of the day.

For Bombay-Bangalore, add at least 1 hour extra if you take the Pune-KOlhapur sector between 9-11 am, or 5-7 pm, which are high-traffic periods. Similarly, expect jams in Avinashi-Coimbatore bypass sector due to road widening, during day time, but not much of a problem at night.

[noblecr]

My friend is driving from Vashi, Navi Mumbai to Kochi next week. Can anyone suggest the current best route and how much time it takes. He is considering 2 routes

1 - All the way through NH17 via Goa - Mangalore - Calicut
2 - via Pune - Hubli - Bangalore - Salem - Coimbatore - Plkd - Ekm

Thanks in advance
Noble.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by noblecr

1 - All the way through NH17 via Goa - Mangalore - Calicut
2 - via Pune - Hubli - Bangalore - Salem - Coimbatore - Plkd - Ekm

Time and tested 4-lane via Pune/Bangalore. No point taking the coastal route.
Condition on NH17 are pretty bad down south.