[diogo]

Originally Posted by ampere

Compared to the Ankola route you definitely save 100km. But you see more ghats on this route and twists.
Now how to get on this route ?

- After Hubli drive to Dharwad on the 4 lane.
- Take the Dharward bypass. On the bypass you should see an exit for Alnavar (SH34)
- Take this SH and at Alnavar, ask for Ramnagar.
- At Ramngar you will join NH4A and from there its the standard route to Panaji via Mulem/Ponda.

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Thanks ampere. I will take a look at this. I am only concerned about the Dharwad to Ramnagar section.

[praveenp]

Did a round-trip between Bangalore and Goa between Nov 1st and 4th. The path which I took while coming back from Goa was Karwar-Yellapura-Hubli-Chitradurga-Bangalore. The drive between Karwar and Yellapura is too good and you will pass through forest zone. The traffic will also be considerably less and believe me you will enjoy the drive. You can easily hit speeds of 100 -120kmph on this stretch.

Although repair works are going on between Hubli and Tumkur and you will have to take diversions quite often, the roads are in pretty good shape. But if you drive during night, as I did unfortunately, you will encounter too many lorries and buses and hence your speed will come down. So my suggestion is avoid night driving and try to cover as much as possible during day light. And also during night, the toll booths will have long queues. To cross Tumkur toll booth itself took around 20 minutes for me at around 10PM. Drivers will try to sneak in and break the queue. You feel irritated.

[diogo]

Any latest updates on Dharwad-Alnavar-Ramnagar-Ponda route?

In another thread read that Belgaum-Chorla-Goa route is relaid and drivable, any latest confirmations?

I plan to start this week some time mostly tomorrow or day after.

thanks

[carrerastrax]

Originally Posted by diogo

Any latest updates on Dharwad-Alnavar-Ramnagar-Ponda route?

In another thread read that Belgaum-Chorla-Goa route is relaid and drivable, any latest confirmations?

I plan to start this week some time mostly tomorrow or day after.

thanks

I did this route on my way to goa this weekend. The road till Ramnagar is unpredictable; generally good with small 10-20 meters of broken roads that come up every now and then. These surprises reduce the comfort of the journey. The road from Ramnagar to Ponda and further is excellent.

I took a different route on my way back - via karwar, yellapur, kalghatgi, tadas, Bangalore. The bit from kalghatgi to Tadas is bad. It took me 45-50 mins to cover this distance (20 odd kms). Except this bit, the rest of the journey is on excellent roads. As recommended by the others, this would be my preferred route.

[diogo]

Originally Posted by carrerastrax

I did this route on my way to goa this weekend. The road till Ramnagar is unpredictable; generally good with small 10-20 meters of broken roads that come up every now and then..

thanks

Did not want to take any chances so, took Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar Goa.
Roads are good all the way to Goa. Started at 4am and reached at 3pm with 40min break at Rannibennur for breakfast.

[klassics45]

Planning to go to Goa in the next weekend. Need advices on the road conditions after Bangalore and the best route.

Also, will it be viable to go in Civic? Will there be any issues with the road condition?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by klassics45

Planning to go to Goa in the next weekend. Need advices on the road conditions after Bangalore and the best route.

Also, will it be viable to go in Civic? Will there be any issues with the road condition?

Are you driving Chennai-Bangalore-Goa ? Where in Goa ?

The best route for South Goa currently is Bangalore-Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola(bypass)-Karwar-Goa and road conditions are good though there is some road widening and hence diversions (clearly marked) after Tumkur. You will find several recent updates on this route in the last few pages of this thread.
You should not have any issues driving your Civic on this route.

[BurningHeart]

Originally Posted by NPV

Are you driving Chennai-Bangalore-Goa ? Where in Goa ?

The best route for South Goa currently is Bangalore-Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola(bypass)-Karwar-Goa and road conditions are good though there is some road widening and hence diversions (clearly marked) after Tumkur. You will find several recent updates on this route in the last few pages of this thread.
You should not have any issues driving your Civic on this route.

I went and came back via that route two weeks ago. Great Surface. No worries, just keep driving.

But someone else whom I met at Britto's who also drove a Verna CRDI from Bangalore, went straight ahead from Hubli and took a left for Goa from Dharwad. He said even that worked quite well, in fact, I think it will save at least an hour for you. But Karwar route is more scenic.

Take your pick!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by BurningHeart

But someone else whom I met at Britto's who also drove a Verna CRDI from Bangalore, went straight ahead from Hubli and took a left for Goa from Dharwad. He said even that worked quite well, in fact, I think it will save at least an hour for you. But Karwar route is more scenic.

That may be the Amboli-Sawantwadi route that is also good I think but maybe a better choice for North Goa, there are a few posts here discussing that route as well.

[BurningHeart]

Originally Posted by NPV

That may be the Amboli-Sawantwadi route that is also good I think but maybe a better choice for North Goa, there are a few posts here discussing that route as well.

I was staying at Colva/Longuinhos and even for that it was supposed to close enough. I think it is worth a try. i have decided to take that next time.

[diogo]

Originally Posted by NPV

That may be the Amboli-Sawantwadi route that is also good I think but maybe a better choice for North Goa, there are a few posts here discussing that route as well.

I think it's the Dharwad-Alnavar-Ramnagar-Ponda route which has been talked about here recently. For Ambolim- Sawantwadi route you need to go all the way to Belgaum.
Was thinking of the Dharwad route when I came this week, but ended up through Karwar. Roads are good all the way.

[Dr.AD]

Around a week ago, I drove to Goa and stayed in Lalit Golf and Resort Spa (earlier known as Intercontinental the Grand) in South Goa. Since this is pretty much in the southernmost part of Goa, I took the Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar-Goa route.

Google map shows a shortcut via Tadas, as mentioned in some earlier posts here, and I tried to take that. However, my MMI navigator showed a different shortcut altogether, and once I exited the NH4 in search of this route, both Google navigation (running on my Android phone) and MMI navigation started giving crazy directions and showing roads where none existed. Soon we got lost and decided to abort that attempt and came back to NH4 and started driving towards Hubli. So came to Hubli and took the Hubli-Karwar road.

However, apart from loss of about 40 minutes, there was no major trouble. In hindsight, it worked out better because the Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar road is superb, and this shortcut would have been some bad road anyways. The stretch of road beyond Hubli is really scenic and also pretty fast (I did about 100 kmph throughout). This road is really a delight to drive on!

While coming back, came non-stop from South Goa to Hubli via this same road again, and it took just 3 hours to reach Hubli. A distance of some 200km in just 3 hours on this scenic road! Was a lot of fun. And then from Hubli to Bangalore, it took some 5 hours including some traffic in Bangalore. Overall, the return trip was just 8 hours of driving time and about 45 minutes of stops along the way.

In summary, the roads are just fabulous throughout! In fact, right from my home to the resort, I did not encounter even 1km of bad road (excluding the aborted shortcut attempt). This route is really ideal for driving - a perfect combination of fast four lane highway upto Hubli and then this scenic (yet fast) two lane road from Hubli to Goa!

[clix22]

Hi all, this is the first time I am planning to drive from goa to Bangalore and plan to take the ankola hubli route. Just before Ankola, Google earth shows me 2 routes one a NH and another a State road passing by an atomic power plant and a reservoir. Which one do I take? Also any update on the ponda belgaum road? I was planning to come back via this.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by clix22

Hi all, this is the first time I am planning to drive from goa to Bangalore and plan to take the ankola hubli route. Just before Ankola, Google earth shows me 2 routes one a NH and another a State road passing by an atomic power plant and a reservoir. Which one do I take? Also any update on the ponda belgaum road? I was planning to come back via this.

Dont take that SH. You should drive on the NH17 till you reach Ankola by-pass. Here you should an exit for Hubli (NH63). Thats the standard route.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by clix22

Hi all, this is the first time I am planning to drive from goa to Bangalore and plan to take the ankola hubli route. Just before Ankola, Google earth shows me 2 routes one a NH and another a State road passing by an atomic power plant and a reservoir. Which one do I take? Also any update on the ponda belgaum road? I was planning to come back via this.

Ponda Belgaum is driveable now a days.No comments on how long the conditions would stay the same.