[Me-hul]

Originally Posted by Ragul

You can do Blore Goa in less than 12 hours easily if you start by 6am. I did a solo drive last December. 600km is not that bad.

HTH

Just came back from a Goa trip yesterday.
Few points I have noticed.

-Leaving early (say 4 am) would be good, but if you are not used to it would suggest start by 5-5.30. Leaving very early might tire you early.
-If you are taking the Hubi by-pass road to meet the Yellapur stretch, avg driving time would be 6 hrs (excluding breaks) to meet the hubli by-pass stretch, assuming you would maintain a speed 90-110km\hr.
-Though the distance between Hubli & Panaji (via Karwar) is only about 275 kms, it would on an avg take 5-6 hrs of driving time depending on traffic conditions. This is mainly due to the ghat sections & traffic once you pass Karwar.
-If one is not accustomed to driving long distance, some kind of energy drink would be a savior.
-Throughout this stretch, eateries are very little in number, so proper planning in this regard would be of great help. We happened to reach Karwar by 3.30-4. We had difficulty in getting something proper to eat as most of the places were shutdown. We had to manage with whatever was available.

- Its possible to reach Panaji with one full tank of fuel( petrol hatchback),as most of the stretch is highway. My i20 returned 17kmpl with around 70 percent of AC & 4 people on board with 3 medium size suitcases.
-While returning I took the Shimoga route. It is a delight to drive this stretch. Some parts are still patchy but the drive is beautiful.Most of the stretch is single lane. So the drive kind of gets hectic after a while. It took me 2 hrs more even though the distance is lesser by around 50 kms as compared to the Hubli stretch.
So if you want to reach your destination fast take the Hubli route. If you want to enjoy the drive take the Shimoga route.


Will try putting up pics of the road soon.

[ArjunVS]

Originally Posted by ArjunVS

Hello People,

Heading to Goa on Saturday - usual 0400 departure - but this time to Dona Paola in Panjim instead of Varca.

I have always taken the route via Ankola-Karwar as it was scenic and logical however, just looking at a map seems now to suggest otherwise.

Is the route via Dharwad REALLY all that bad ?

Is the concensus and suggestion to remain with the tried and true via Ankola even if a heck of a lot more in Km ?


Salut !
Arjun

Note from Team-BHP Support: Please refrain from mentioning alcohol in your posts, either directly or indirectly. Read our posting rules carefully before proceeding, especially Rule#11.

Hello People,

Back from Goa last evening and positing a few travel stats and tips:

Balgalore-Goa:
- Out of Cunningham road at 0420, and reached Rani-Bennur at 0800
- excellent road conditions except for the 3 speed breakers 20+Km out of Chitradurga
- We took the route Bankapur-Mundgod-Yellapur and I would recommend it
- The road surface is excellent safe 5 Hm on the first and 10 km on the second. That too is Ok but uneven due to patch repair.
- It is VERY picturesque due to the forest.
- We were at Zebop at Utorda at about 1340 - so that is 9h 20 min with stop and gas.

Goa-Bangalore
- Out of Dona Paola at 0730, light traffic due to Mayday
- we were at Yellapur at 1045 with a easy drive and excellent roads
- At Bankapur on the highway at 1200
- Tumkur at 1525 but only got to Cunningham road at 1640 - traffic and how.
- This is again just over 9 hours but a far easier drive - speeds 110-130 on highway
- Of note: There is a huge amount of construction on the Tumkur-Chitradurg section due to underpasses/flyovers for cross traffic. Seems there is a new road manager in place and there is also an extra lane being added right through.
- Also: Asked a few cabbies about the Panaji-Dharwad road - and they in unnision said TERRIBLE.

The Dona Paola to Bangalore was 580Km which gave us an average drive speed of 64Kmph.


a couple of restaurant tips:

- Fine dining in Panaji: Cafe Mangii
- Goan in Panaji: Goudinho
- Goan in North: Starlight - great food
- Dona Paola: Sea Pebles, O pescador,
- Vagator: Thalasa (Greek food, amazing view, unbelievable)
- Utorda: Zebop: Has to be the best and most well maintained shack

Enjoy
Arjun

[manim]

Originally Posted by ArjunVS

- excellent road conditions except for the 3 speed breakers 20+Km out of Chitradurga

There is a huge amount of construction on the Tumkur-Chitradurg section due to underpasses/flyovers for cross traffic. Seems there is a new road manager in place and there is also an extra lane being added right through.

I will be driving Bangalore -> Goa in about ten days.

Are these speed-breakers on the 4-lane itself?
And I thought up till Hubli it is 100% 4-lane, does this 6-lane work makes you slow down?

Originally Posted by ArjunVS

- We took the route Bankapur-Mundgod-Yellapur and I would recommend it
- The road surface is excellent safe 5 Hm on the first and 10 km on the second. That too is Ok but uneven due to patch repair.

Are you sure?
Because in the last many pages on this thread all have recommended the longer hubli-yellapur route instead of this short-cut. It was said that even though this is shorter the time taken will be longer than hubli-yellapur.

[ArjunVS]

Hi Manim,

The construction does not really slow you down. The density of traffic is not high, and I have to say they are keeping the equipment well aside, but the section to CD slows you.

I drive a Scorpio and the road was good enough for me to have taken it both ways. So, what I'd say is decide based on your car - and take it in one direction and repeat if satisfied.

You can also take the link road from Tadas that a cousin took 3 weeks ago and said was fine. He drives a Skoda SUV so again, different road feel.

Salut !

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by ArjunVS

Hello People,

Back from Goa last evening and positing a few travel stats and tips:

Balgalore-Goa:

- We took the route Bankapur-Mundgod-Yellapur and I would recommend it
- The road surface is excellent safe 5 Hm on the first and 10 km on the second. That too is Ok but uneven due to patch repair.
- It is VERY picturesque due to the forest.
- We were at Zebop at Utorda at about 1340 - so that is 9h 20 min with stop and gas.

Not too long ago some people said this stretch is good only for SUV. so are you saying its doable by car as well ? How much time and distance will one save by taking this route compared to say hubli bypass

[mjkaushal]

Hi,

Just finished a Bangalore - Goa - Bangalore trip last week.

Took the Bangalore - Chitradurga- Shimoga - Honnavar - Goa route. The roads are very good but for a few strecthes on the Chitradurga Shimoga Highway. The roads between Shimoga - Goa are extremely scenic and a pleasure to drive. You could stop for about 3-4 stops for small breaks in between. Also on the way back took the same route back to Bangalore.

It was about 607 kms from Bangalore to Varca in Goa. Took about 12 hours for the drive in my Getz Crdi. I got a mileage of about ~ 22Kms with 100% AC.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by mjkaushal

Hi,

Just finished a Bangalore - Goa - Bangalore trip last week.

Took the Bangalore - Chitradurga- Shimoga - Honnavar - Goa route. The roads are very good but for a few strecthes on the Chitradurga Shimoga Highway. The roads between Shimoga - Goa are extremely scenic and a pleasure to drive. You could stop for about 3-4 stops for small breaks in between. Also on the way back took the same route back to Bangalore.

It was about 607 kms from Bangalore to Varca in Goa. Took about 12 hours for the drive in my Getz Crdi. I got a mileage of about ~ 22Kms with 100% AC.

May i know if there was any advantage over hubli-ankola-karwar route ?
Google map shows the shorted route is via

Bangalore-tumkur-tiptur-shimoga-sagara-honnavar-karwar to reach goa

If you go to Chitradurga and then shimoga, i feel in terms of the distance it will be similar to hubli route. Just wondering because i too want to travel towards Ponda and almost concluded that i need to take Hubli-ankola-karwar route

[nozzlering]

Originally Posted by mjkaushal

Hi,

Just finished a Bangalore - Goa - Bangalore trip last week.

Took the Bangalore - Chitradurga- Shimoga - Honnavar - Goa route. The roads are very good but for a few strecthes on the Chitradurga Shimoga Highway. The roads between Shimoga - Goa are extremely scenic and a pleasure to drive. You could stop for about 3-4 stops for small breaks in between. Also on the way back took the same route back to Bangalore.

It was about 607 kms from Bangalore to Varca in Goa. Took about 12 hours for the drive in my Getz Crdi. I got a mileage of about ~ 22Kms with 100% AC.

"At present, this is the best Bangalore-Goa route". I asked a few cab drivers when I went for servicing at a Tata service centre. I am planning for a Goa trip next week.

[condor]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

May i know if there was any advantage over hubli-ankola-karwar route ?
Google map shows the shorted route is via

Bangalore-tumkur-tiptur-shimoga-sagara-honnavar-karwar to reach goa

Hubli-Ankola-Karwar-Goa:
You dont need to touch Ankola - you can go directly to Karwar & then to Goa. But if you take a detour to Ankola, then you can get some decent food. This would be your best bet between Hubli & Goa.

#2: The road via Hubli-Karwar is good, and no problems in any section. You can do higher speeds on this section since BLR-Hubli is a divided 4 lane highway.

Relatively, some sections of the BLR-Shimoga-Karwar are bad. (though not as much as before).

[mjkaushal]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

May i know if there was any advantage over hubli-ankola-karwar route ?
Google map shows the shorted route is via

Bangalore-tumkur-tiptur-shimoga-sagara-honnavar-karwar to reach goa

If you go to Chitradurga and then shimoga, i feel in terms of the distance it will be similar to hubli route. Just wondering because i too want to travel towards Ponda and almost concluded that i need to take Hubli-ankola-karwar route

Hi,

I was told that the Hubli-Goa route is not really good and very bad at some stretches. Hence decided to go via Shimoga.

Also by going via Chitradurga to Shimoga , the route is relatively better even though its longer by about ~ 25 kms. Only a few kms of the road is patched up.

The stretch between Shimoga to Honnawar is newly laid and is very good , if you want to enjoy a scenic drive.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Just wondering because i too want to travel towards Ponda and almost concluded that i need to take Hubli-ankola-karwar route

If you are travelling to Ponda then I would suggest the following route:Hubli-Dharwad-Haliyal-Ganeshgudi-Londa-Mollem-Ponda.Prashant Shenoi took precisely this route to Panjim a couple of days back an he has reported excellent roads all throughout.You could safely take this I suppose.Quoting his update below for your reference.

Originally Posted by Prashant Shenoi

I just did the Bangalore Goa through Hubli. Before entering Hubli, take the hubli-dharwar bye-pass and enter Dharwar to go to Haliyal. From Haliyal to Ganeshgudi to Londa are excellent roads. From Londa until the Goa border, you will find some bad stretches and again excellent roads all the way up to Panaji. Not much of a deviation too and preferable especially if you are staying somewhere in north Goa.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by mjkaushal

Hi,

I was told that the Hubli-Goa route is not really good and very bad at some stretches. Hence decided to go via Shimoga.

Also by going via Chitradurga to Shimoga , the route is relatively better even though its longer by about ~ 25 kms. Only a few kms of the road is patched up.

The stretch between Shimoga to Honnawar is newly laid and is very good , if you want to enjoy a scenic drive.

Looks like both Shimoga-honnawar as well as hubli -karwar are in good condition.

I even read that we need not go till hubli, mandgod-yellapur is about 20km shorter and seems to be in a good condition.

So gurus, what would be the better route ? better among time, distance as well as comfort

[manim]

My drive coming up in a few days!

The recent posts has me confused, I am going to take the longer route recommended by many earlier posts on this thread in the earlier months:

Bangalore -> Hubli-> Ankola -> Panaji
Goa R1 - Google Maps

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by manim

My drive coming up in a few days!

The recent posts has me confused, I am going to take the longer route recommended by many earlier posts on this thread in the earlier months:

Bangalore -> Hubli-> Ankola -> Panaji
Goa R1 - Google Maps

Dont get confused. Just go via Hubli - Ankola - Madgaon - Panaji. If you are going to Panaji, i would also recommend you to go via Belgaum - Amboli - Savantvadi as well.

You can actually go by one route and come by the other. Both are picturesque and you will love it. I don't recommend you to take Shimogga route unless you want to see Jog Falls which in anyway is not worth a look now before monsoons.

[nirmaljusdoit]

Guys , there is a stretch just before Chitradurga which seems to have some defect in the top layer of tarmac. Not sure if any have noticed.

Its just when you enter, where the hills are on the left side and windmills are visible, with trucks parked on the right side of the road (other side) I was doing a speed of 90 ~ 100 when i entered this strecth and felt the car almost lose it, with undulations felt within the cabin and had to really grip the steering to regain control. Had to brake hard too. This was 3 weeks ago.

I felt this for a stretch of around a kilometer, Not sure if this is repaired now, i feel that stretch the tar could have an issue with the mix of the top most layer being too soft.