[ampere]

Originally Posted by paragpatankar

Thanks Motomaverick, will keep this as an option, though the extra driving time means very early start from Goa which is unlikely.
Coming in will take the scenic Karwar-Canacona- Canaguinim-Assolna instead of the NH17 to Chinchinim, the resort people said the road is good.

If you are driving to North Goa, this is a better option. Because it saves you driving via Goa, which can be pain many a times thanks to traffic, narrow and winding roads.

[diogo]

Any update on the road from Belgaum leading to sawantadi road on route to Ambolim?

The last time I took this road sept-2012, was very rough and full of potholes.

Like the Ambolim route to north goa. This time going to try out the Chorla route as suggested by most of the experts here.

[analyse]

Based on the detailed inputs from all, am planning the following route for the coming long weekend to Varca - please let me know if any of the 2 routes has bad roads post the rains.

My priority is good road and short travel time.

Go : Bangalore > Hubli Dharwad Bypass > Alnavar Exit > Alnavar > Ramnagar > Mollem > Curchorem > Chinchim > Orlim > Varca
Return : Varca > Assolna > Canaguinim > Canacona > Karwar > Ankola > Yellapur > Bankapur > Bangalore

[Driving_Nomad]

I am leaving on the night of 14th from Bangalore but haven't yet finalised on the route.
Hope to see a lot of t-bhpians and their rides.
OT: 5th time am driving to goa in an year! What's happened to me?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by analyse

Based on the detailed inputs from all, am planning the following route for the coming long weekend to Varca - please let me know if any of the 2 routes has bad roads post the rains.

My priority is good road and short travel time.

Go : Bangalore > Hubli Dharwad Bypass > Alnavar Exit > Alnavar > Ramnagar > Mollem > Curchorem > Chinchim > Orlim > Varca
Return : Varca > Assolna > Canaguinim > Canacona > Karwar > Ankola > Yellapur > Bankapur > Bangalore

Both stretches are decent. The latter being much-much better. You may see rough section around Ramnagar-Mollem-Ponda section.

[ssingri]

Planning to visit Goa on 14th and will drive back on 18th. Planning Bangalore --> Yellapur --> Ankola --> Palolem. Will post an update on 14th evening.
Will try to find the Bankapur turnoff this time and go via mundgod.

[Driving_Nomad]

Originally Posted by Scorpion_Vista

Hey Diogo,

One of my previous post may help you in case you want to drive down straight from Hubli By-Pass to Belgaum By-Pass. It is on Page Number 147 of this same thread.

To make it simple here is the route specific to you:

When you reach Bankapur and then Hubli By-Pass continue towards Belgaum straight on the highway [Do not take Left road towards Alnawar or Ankola route]. If you continue driving around 110 approx kms you should be getting big boards on the highway taking you left down from the highway to hit Belgaum. Get down from the highway and ask anyone for Hotel Ramdev - This is a good hotel to get refreshed and hit back on the roads.
1. From Hotel Ramdev continue going towards Rani Chennama Circle and take a Right. At Bogarves Circle take a right and continue on the road.
2. Continue on the Main Road till you get these landmarks - Gotge Circle [Take right here] - Continue to exit Belgaum on the straight main road [No left or right keep driving straight] - You will get these landmarks - Tilakwadi 1st Gate, 2nd Gate, 3rd Gates, Udyambag.
3. Now you will get a Y Intersection left takes you to Goa Via Khanapur, Londa, Ramnagar, Anmod, Mollem and Goa.
4. Right takes you via Piranwadi, Machhe, Jamboti, Kankumbi, Chorla Ghat and Sanquelim.
- From Sanquelim there are 2 routes taking right and left respectively:
a] To go towards Vasco or Margao [via Banastarim bridge]
b] To go towards Mapusa or Panjim or North Beaches.

Hope this helps you.

By the way my brother will be driving down from Goa to Bangalore on 14th August Morning in his Swift and is planning to take the Vasco - Banastarim Bridge - Sanquelim - Chorla - Belgaum - Hubli By Pass - Bankapur - Haveri and all the way to Bangalore route. I drove on this same route in first week of Jan 2013 - Took me 9 hours with a stop at Hotel Ramdev and the route was amazing thats why i would give it a

Guys any idea if Anmod Ghat is in good shape?

Decided that I would also be taking this route. Heard from a friend who went there last week and he says chorla ghat is the best although it's longer by 20 odd km.
OT: He also mentioned that it was crowded like crazy during the Ramzan weekend :-(

[mannubhai]

Starting on 15th morn, and a last minute confusion on final road to be taken.

My option was to go with Bangalore- Hubli - Yellapur - Karwar - Colva

Another alternative suggestion that has come up is Bangalore-Hubli-Dharwad-Ponda- Colva

Any suggestions on which is the better route considering time taken and road conditions ?

Pls help

[ampere]

Originally Posted by mannubhai

Starting on 15th morn, and a last minute confusion on final road to be taken.
My option was to go with Bangalore- Hubli - Yellapur - Karwar - Colva
Another alternative suggestion that has come up is Bangalore-Hubli-Dharwad-Ponda- Colva

Road conditions wise Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola is the best option. Dont know how is Ponda as of today. It was decent as I read here. But Hubli-Ankola is a belter.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by mannubhai

Starting on 15th morn, and a last minute confusion on final road to be taken.

My option was to go with Bangalore- Hubli - Yellapur - Karwar - Colva

Another alternative suggestion that has come up is Bangalore-Hubli-Dharwad-Ponda- Colva

Any suggestions on which is the better route considering time taken and road conditions ?

Pls help

Yellapur route is any day better.nh4a is potholed at many places between londa and mollem

[paragpatankar]

Originally Posted by ampere

Road conditions wise Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola is the best option. Dont know how is Ponda as of today. It was decent as I read here. But Hubli-Ankola is a belter.

I did the Ankola- Yellapur on Aug 15th, the road has a lot of potholes that suddenly come up, and fair amount of crawling truck traffic. The Yellapur-Mundgod-Bankapur is empty of traffic, and fairly good except a small stretch halfwaywhich is a bit bumpy, but a piece of cake compared to what I encountered on Kanakapura road in the 6 km stretch between NICE and JP Nagar where I live.

Overall route was :
Aug 9- Bangalore-Shimoga-Jog-Honnavar-Kumta : excellent surface
Aug 10 Kumta- Karwar-Canacona-Canaguinim-Velim-Chinchinim-Orlim-Cavelossim --This is a fantastic road, esp after splitting from NH17 at Canacona. Very scenic, no traffic, and excellent surface. I was yearning for my roadbike, it would be a fantastic road to cycle on.I would recommend people going to south goa to take this rather than the NH17(I drove back via NH17 to know the difference).
Aug 15 Cavelossim-Orlim-Chinchinim(NH17)-Karwar-Ankola-Yellapur-Mundgod-Bankapur-NH4 all the way to Bangalore.
NH4 is very dreary compared to the other stretches, I did not enjoy driving it that much. Traffic was light , so it very fast run to Bangalore(370 km in 4 hours) , with the new Ertiga running in and first service done in Goa, I pushed the engine a bit, doing a steady 100 and hit a max of 140 on some long straight empty stretches.
Dabaspete onwards was painful traffic, and Kanakapura road is in tatters, even village roads in Goa are better surfaced.

[paragsachania]

We took our usual Chorla route via Belgaum on Aug 15th. It was excellent except few meters in between nearing the border. We plan to return by the same route too.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by paragpatankar

I did the Ankola- Yellapur on Aug 15th, the road has a lot of potholes that suddenly come up, and fair amount of crawling truck traffic. The Yellapur-Mundgod-Bankapur is empty of traffic, and fairly good except a small stretch halfwaywhich is a bit bumpy, but a piece of cake compared to what I encountered on Kanakapura road in the 6 km stretch between NICE and JP Nagar where I live.

Which section of NH63 was bad? As per what I remember the initial section till Kalghatgi may have some rough sections but beyond that I thought the road was brilliant.

As regards to NH4, it was never about beauty of the road. It's always about efficiency.

[analyse]

Thanks again to all for the detailed inputs for a fantastic & memorable drive.

Aug 15 : Left Bangalore at 421am > Stopped for Benne Dosa at Davangere at 820 am > Started back at 930 and reached Bankapur at 11 am > Took SH6 just after the toll gate (felt a bit awkward moving off NH4 just after paying the toll !) - initially a few rough stretches then settled into a lovely empty road through excellent scenery > Mundgod > joined SH63 at Yellapur > good stretch upto NH17 > fantastic after that to Varca.

Aug 17 : Retraced same route through blinding rain upto Karwar > back to Yellapur > did not take the Mundgod route > instead drove down towards Hubli > after the next major town > took right off on SH1 (pathetic roads - please avoid) > joined NH4 > back to Bangalore

[hkollar]

Mod Note : Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!.

To know how to multi-quote, click here.

Just returned from a trip to Goa.

Bangalore-Goa: Started on Aug 15th 1pm. Horrid time till Tumkur as too much traffic.

Bangalore-Haveri: Roads are excellent.

Reached Davanagere at aroun 4.40pm and had the famous Benne Dose at Kottureshwara Benne Dosa (opp. Dental College) which was divine! Reached Haveri around 7pm, and halted in haveri. Up to haveri you can go between 80-120kmph, depending on your comfort zone and traffic.

I couldn't figure why in Rani Bennur the four lane is split and each of the two lane paths become two-way (thus slowing traffic down)! If they charge toll, they atleast owe good roads.


Haveri-Karwar: Scenic, but slow drive
On Aug 16th early morning (7am) Took a deviation at Bankapur to go to Yellapur via Mundgod. The road is narrow, single lane. Surface is decent for most of the stretch, except in couple of places. But, you can't manage over 60km without endangering yourself or someone coming from other side. So, average speed reduces drastically. My gut feeling, i'd have been better off going via-hubli to yellapur, as the roads would've been wide and faster.

Yellapur-Karwar stretch is the most decent ghat road you'd find in Mansoon. Surface is really good, wide enough roads, though there are quite a bit of trucks. Reached Karwar at about 10.30am (3.5hrs from Haveri).

Karwar-Goa: Decent two lane roads but slow
Moved around town for a while and started again around 12.30 towards Goa (Condolim-Baga). Reached our Resort in Baga at 3.30pm. The traffic was terrible after Margoa (madgaon).


Today (ie. 19th Aug) we drove back from Goa(Baga). I wanted to try a different road. I was advised by the hotel drivers to avoid the Ponda-Mollem road. They all strongly advised the Chorla-Belgaum-Hubli route. It made sense as I was in Northish Goa already, so there is a way to go via Mapusa-Sanquelim-Chorla-Belgaum.

Goa-Chorla-Belgaum: Reasonably good roads, but heavy traffic till Sanquelim. After that almost no traffic till Belgaum. Very scenic Ghat, with couple of nice falls on the way. Had some 3-4 places of small stretch (100mts) where there were pot holes, but not too bad.

We reached Belgaum in just 2.5hours (not bad for 117km, and some slow driving in city strtches). But, to join the GQ road going to Hubli, we had to drive thru Old-Belgaum road which is narrow and a bit slow, but managed that in about 15mins.

Belgaum-Bangalore: Managed in about 8hours, with two breaks in the middle (Davanagere Benne dose again)!!


I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND THE SECOND PATH. i.e Chorla Ghat, via Belgaum, as that's the fastest & most decent way to Bangalore.

Originally Posted by analyse

Thanks again to all for the detailed inputs for a fantastic & memorable drive.

Aug 15 : Left Bangalore at 421am > Stopped for Benne Dosa at Davangere at 820 am > Started back at 930 and reached Bankapur at 11 am > Took SH6 just after the toll gate (felt a bit awkward moving off NH4 just after paying the toll !) - initially a few rough stretches then settled into a lovely empty road through excellent scenery > Mundgod > joined SH63 at Yellapur > good stretch upto NH17 > fantastic after that to Varca.

Aug 17 : Retraced same route through blinding rain upto Karwar > back to Yellapur > did not take the Mundgod route > instead drove down towards Hubli > after the next major town > took right off on SH1 (pathetic roads - please avoid) > joined NH4 > back to Bangalore

He He. We felt exactly the same about paying Rs.60 as toll and having to get off the NH4 immediately after that! We could've gone in a service road to from Haveri instead!

Varca is south Goa, so it does make sense to come via Karwar. If it is north goa, drivign through goa towns (panjim/vasco etc) would've taken an hour, which is a waste.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

We took our usual Chorla route via Belgaum on Aug 15th. It was excellent except few meters in between nearing the border. We plan to return by the same route too.

After having tried Karwar route & Chorla Ghat route, I believe Chorla route is the fastest & best way to Goa. Very small Ghat section, and if driven with some intent, especially if you start early from Goa, you can be in Belgaum perhaps in just 2hrs.