[RajshreeM]

Originally Posted by ampere

PS: I am sorry if any of my suggestions misguided you.

Hi Amp, absolutely not due to any of your suggestions. My mistake completely- i didn't remember to look for a Jambotti. Plus the route map you had shared stopped navigating on gmap enroute. Therefore had done exactly as you say, reset it to find Mapusa from Belgaum instead of Jambotti.

Positive i see is that my post will make everyone else aware of such an err ever happening. Glad to be the guinea pig

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by glenmz

Am staying at Palolem now and plan to start tomorrow to Bangalore. Where should I tank up (diesel)? Have about quarter tank of diesel left. There is an HP bunk near by enroute Margao. Anything else on the way to karwar?

I could not find anything decent on the way to Karwar - did not check thoroughly as I had enough fuel. I tanked up in the petrol bunk next to Kamat in Ankola (not on the way if you are coming via Yellapur, have to go 2 kms towards Ankola).

[vdi]

Originally Posted by ampere

Horrible roads around Bhatkal. Maybe you should drive till Honavar on NH17 and then shift to NH206 to Tumkur via Jog/Shimoga/Arsikere. No point driving all the way to Mangalore.

Just drove back from Colva to Cochin.

Heard some updates few days back regarding the road condition between Bhatkal and Kundapura and still took the risk to drive back thru NH17 and surprise surprise. Barring just one bad portion, which is just 10 meters, and the rest all had been relaid and the work is still going on. Am sure this has been done in the past 2 -3 days and we were so lucky.

Again Kundapura to Mangalore is a known case for everyone and don't think I would be able to see a proper highway in next 10 years.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by vdi

Heard some updates few days back regarding the road condition between Bhatkal and Kundapura and still took the risk to drive back thru NH17 and surprise surprise. Barring just one bad portion, which is just 10 meters, and the rest all had been relaid and the work is still going on.

What a surprise ! That stretch has been that way for I think last 3-4 years or so with no change in condition! Looks like some thing positive finally. Great update.

[ashbhat2]

Originally Posted by RajshreeM

I got back from Vagator last evening, and would particularly like to warn anyone planning to take the Chorla route of a possible mistake that I made, that could cost you a lot of time and unnecessary risk.
:

Thanks a lot RajshreeM, I've kept the VTU as another landmark to get onto the Chorla route. Had been to VTU after graduation to collect my degree certificate and had seen the milestone to Goa.

@ampere - Needed one more help with the planning. Plan to leave by 4:30, so should be able to stop for b'fast at Ranebannur Kamat. Would reach Belgaum by around 12:30 1ish. Are there any eateries beyond Belgaum on the Chorla route ?

[glenmz]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

I could not find anything decent on the way to Karwar - did not check thoroughly as I had enough fuel. I tanked up in the petrol bunk next to Kamat in Ankola (not on the way if you are coming via Yellapur, have to go 2 kms towards Ankola).

I filled up enroute to Karwar. There was an IOC bunk on the right when going towards Karwar. Kunal and Sons, If i remember the name right.

Completed the holiday trip. Did Bangalore - Dandeli - Goa - Jog falls.

Onwards from Dandeli, GMaps suggested to take the Karwar route, but the folks whom I checked with at Dandeli/ ganeshgudi suggested I take the Ramnagar - Goa route. That turned out to be a bad decision. The roads after Ramnagar till Goa border were terrible. Should have taken the Karwar route. My destination was Palolem.

On return, we took the Karwar route. At Karwar, had seafood at hotel Amruth. Worth every penny and time. Then better half had an urge to checkout Jog falls. The roads again were bad along the ghats. And there wasnt much water too. Disappointed considering the effort spent to reach Jog falls.
Route taken to Bangalore was Jog falls - Shimoga - Arsikere - Tumpkur - Bangalore. Shimoga - Arsikere stretch, the roads were good but driving at night was a terrible experience. The oncoming traffic never switched beams. They were on their high beam all the time giving scant regard to the vehicles against. No amount of switching between beams helped!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ashbhat2

@ampere - Needed one more help with the planning. Plan to leave by 4:30, so should be able to stop for b'fast at Ranebannur Kamat. Would reach Belgaum by around 12:30 1ish. Are there any eateries beyond Belgaum on the Chorla route ?

I am not aware of any. Good thing would be to pack something from Belgaum.

[CarJunki]

Thanks to ampere for the route info (took the bangalore->belgaum->jambooti->chorla->mapusa->dona paula) route, road condition was good and drive was pleasant.
Views were breathtaking as it was still raining on Tuesday (30-Sept) and it poured/rained/drizzled all the way till Mapusa.


Came back from Goa on Saturday(4-Oct).
Came back via karwar (NH17/SH66 till karwar, SH63 towards hubli and just before hubli took SH1 to join NH4 via sirsi-hubli-belgaum road ). GMaps gets confused at the joining of sirsi-hubli-belgaum and NH4. This route joins NH4 much after Hubli. Road condition of SH63 is good and SH1 is also good apart from few speed breakers around villages.


A big thanks to Sai service (Mapusa) they repaired a small damage on the rear bumper for free and did it quite quickly with a smile. The damage was caused by small incident where a car hit mine from back. Both were trying to slow down at a speed breaker. No one was hurt and nothing major happened.


Additional note: Just by chance stopped at Deol Punjabi Hotel (veg only) on our way back and food was nice. It is on the same side of NH4 at devaragudda, although some construction/repair is ongoing.

[dass]

Originally Posted by dass

The more I read, the more I am getting confused, if I have to come to Karwar and then head to Goa, how is the road through Shimoga-Sagara? The distance isn't much but I know this is a two lane road and the time taken would increase, but are the roads good? I know the roads till Shimoga are pretty decent, I need suggestions on the road beyond that.

I did the BLR-GOA-MUMBAI-BLR trip last week.

For the BLR-GOA, I took the below route.
Hubli-Ankola-Karwar-Goa.

Got stuck near Jalahalli Cross at around 6:15am due to the PM visit and that ate up around 45 minutes of time, then near Chitradurga some morons on bikes (100's of them) occupied all three lanes of the highway and were not letting anyone pass through for almost 30 minutes and were blocking traffic at will.
Apart from these two misadventures, the entire journey on this stretch was event free with good roads, numerous eating options and good climate. Starting from Marathalli at around 6am and reached Colva around 8pm.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by vdi

Heard some updates few days back regarding the road condition between Bhatkal and Kundapura and still took the risk to drive back thru NH17 and surprise surprise. Barring just one bad portion, which is just 10 meters, and the rest all had been relaid and the work is still going on. Am sure this has been done in the past 2 -3 days and we were so lucky.

Agreed. I did this stretch on 22 Sept and about 10 km or so b/w Kundapura and Bhatkal was REALLY bad. Good to know that it has been done up!

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by glenmz

I filled up enroute to Karwar. There was an IOC bunk on the right when going towards Karwar. Kunal and Sons, If i remember the name right.

Sorry, did not see your post earlier. There is a huge HP bunk @ Polem (not Palolem) just before KA/GA border while driving into KA from GA. In my riding days, I used to regularly tank up my Bullet here as soon as I entered Goa due to the lower cost of petrol GMap coordinates.

Originally Posted by glenmz

Onwards from Dandeli, GMaps suggested to take the Karwar route, but the folks whom I checked with at Dandeli/ ganeshgudi suggested I take the Ramnagar - Goa route. That turned out to be a bad decision. The roads after Ramnagar till Goa border were terrible. Should have taken the Karwar route. My destination was Palolem.

The recommendation was possibly due to the fact that the Dandeli-Karwar route passes through very thick forest with some bad stretches of road and you might land up in a tough situation in case of a breakdown, especially if you are traveling with family.

Originally Posted by glenmz

Route taken to Bangalore was Jog falls - Shimoga - Arsikere - Tumpkur - Bangalore. Shimoga - Arsikere stretch, the roads were good but driving at night was a terrible experience. The oncoming traffic never switched beams. They were on their high beam all the time giving scant regard to the vehicles against. No amount of switching between beams helped!

A better alternate for Shimoga-Bangalore would be the Arsikere-Channarayapatna-Nelamangala route - it is about 20 km longer but much faster.

[sswaroop]

Originally Posted by glenmz

Route taken to Bangalore was Jog falls - Shimoga - Arsikere - Tumpkur - Bangalore. Shimoga - Arsikere stretch, the roads were good but driving at night was a terrible experience. The oncoming traffic never switched beams. They were on their high beam all the time giving scant regard to the vehicles against. No amount of switching between beams helped!

This was the reason I had avoided the Shimoga route when coming back from Jog a couple of months back. But I made the mistake of taking Jog-Sirsi-Haveri-Ranebennur-Bangalore. As much a dream NH4 was which was all a night drive, Sirsi -Haveri was a nightmare as noted by others on this thread.

Also +1 to Deol Punjabi Hotel near Devaragudda. Nice place with good food!

[rjalihal]

Hello All,

So, I have read this thread in detail and know all possible routes from Blr to Goa. But still want expert's opinion. Here is our deal: We are 3 guys, traveling to Goa for a bachelor's party (yay!). All college friends. Time is of no issue. Road condition is also of no issue. What we want is a scenic drive. The car: either a souped up Alto with massive tyres or a Polo. Now, the regular road via Hubli is boring. We want a twisty and bendy road with minimum traffic. Any suggestions please?

Cheers!
-Rohan

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rjalihal

We want a twisty and bendy road with minimum traffic. Any suggestions please?

You should then do : Bangalore-Tumkur-Shimoga-Jog-Honnavar-Ankola-Karwat-Goa. The road is twisty to the core. 2-lane NH206 from Tumkur to Honnavar and there on another 2-lane NH17 all the way to Goa.

The only 4-lane you get is Bangalore-Tumkur!

[sixthsense]

Thanks a lot for the guidance that was given in the thread here.

I did bangalore - goa last weekend and took the following route to and fro both :

BLR- Belgaum - Chorla - Goa.

If you are with family and want a clean road without a single pothole (or with a soft suspension vehicle like civic) than this is the route to be taken. Its a pleasure to drive up till Belgaum on the 4 lane highway. Also the Chorla route the road is newly built and didn't find any potholes or uneven stretches at all.

Almost took 10-11 hrs to complete that route with 2 breaks of around 1/2 hr each.