[saurabhdaga]

Folks,

I am driving Bangalore - Tumkur - Davangere - Hubli on 4th
and Hubli - Yellapur - Ankola - Karwar - Goa on 5th Morning.

Above route is based on Ravi's recommendations. Can anyone tell me how much time I shoud expect to cover both the journey in. Also if someone can recommend a nice totel in Hubli to stay over nite on 4th. I am travelling with 2 small kids in my santro - so I dont want to do a non stop to Goa. Please recommend me a decent hotel - prolly a 4 star to stay in Hubli for the night so I can start for Goa by 6 am from Hubli on the 5th Morning.

Thanks
Saurabh

[girish.r]

Saurabh, you can find discussions about Hotels in Hubli-Dharwad in this link:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...wad-hubli.html
I think Hotel Naveen suits your requirement.

I read in your earlier posts that you are planning to leave Blore at 4AM and if you stick to this timing then you should be able to reach Hubli by 10:30AM or 11AM max including breakfast + another small 15 mins break.
If you are travelling in the noon or in the evening then expect to cover Blore-Hubli in 8 hrs(minimum). I am not sure about Hubli-Goa, it might take 4hrs via Yellapur in day drive.

Thanks & Regards,
Girish

[ravibhat]

I feel If you leave by 4AM and cross Nelmangala by 5AM you can easily reach Chitradurga by 7:30AM and Hubli by 11:30AM, considering you need to slow down in bad patches around Chitradurga - Haveri with couple of 15 minutes breaks and breakfast.

For your requirement Hotel Naveen is best place. You can find contact details online, even book it as well.

From Hubli you can reach NH17 near Ankola in 3 hours (140km), another 3 hours for Panaji (140km).

Regards,

Ravi.

[laluks]

I have just drove through and am in Goa now A travelogue is pending, I'll do that once I'm back. Thanks to RAVI for the routes and details


Took a deviation at Haveri via Sirsi road to Goa. Roads till Tumkur is so so. Started at 4.30AM from Bangalore. Reached the first toll gate (50km) by 5.30AM. Lots of trucks were on the road and mostly the Outer ring road was blocked. Hence went through Yashwantpur circle.

Then onwards the roads are pretty good except when there are some deviations due to road repair. Reached Sira (138km ) by 6.45AM. A little further very nice userfee roads starts. I could reach a high speed of 185kmph for a few minutes here (shows the quality of the road). In this road I covered 50Km in 30 minutes.

Reached RanniBennur(319km) by 8.45AM. Halted for break fast here. Started again at 10.30AM (long halt ) reached Haveri(368km) by 11:15AM and Sirsi (415km) by 12:30PM. Good Roads. Here we took detour to yaana and continued later in the evening to Goa fro Sirsi by 5.00PM (odo shows 525km). Reached Mirjan (578km) by 6.00PM. NH17 is a horror till Ankola where yellapur road joins from Hubli. Further up till Goa Border is fine except for some bad patches - 90%good, 10% bad. Reached Ankola Kamat Upachar(607km) by 6.40PM. Had early Dinner here and left by 7.30 PM to Colva where we had a room. Reached Colva (723km) by 9.30PM. Roads are narrow after Goa border with lots of curves. Be careful, as all drivers seems to like High beams a lot in this road.

[DirtyHarry]

Guys,

I just returned from Goa on Saturday (4th Oct) and here's a quick update on the condition of the road.

I started home (Bangalore) by 8.30am and reached calangute by about 7.30pm and I took Bangalore-Tumkur-Chitradurga-Davangere-Hubli-Dandeli-Ankola-Karwar-Margao-Panjim-Calangute. The entire route is good except for about 40-50Kms from Davangere to Ranibennur. The total distance from Bangalore (JP Nagar to be precise) is 700Kms.

On the return leg, I tried Panjim-Margao-Karwar-Kumta-Honnavar-Jog Falls-Sagar-Shimoga-Tiptur-Tumkur-Bangalore and this was one of the worst roads I have ever taken. It took me good 13 hours as against 11 hours in the first leg and the distance was about 650 Kms (less 50 Kms as compared to the first leg) but I would certainly recommend against taking this route now.

I was also told that Panjim-Londa-Belgaum is also in very bad shape with foot long potholes. :(

I'll share the entire travelogue shortly but wanted to post this quickly so that people traveling to Goa over the week/weekendend do not go through the same pain that I went on the return leg.

Cheers!

[laluks]

Came back from Goa through sawantwadi-amboli-belgaum-hubli-bangalore route yesterday. Oh my god what a wonderful drive through the amboli ghats. ravibhat - thanks a lot for the route.

It was raining through out and completely foggy when we reached the amboli waterfall. Was a great experience indeed.

Had a flat tyre near rannibennur - seems I have to replace my tubeless tyre, and some BHPians say my alloy rim too.

[ravibhat]

Thanks for the update! I had to cancel my visit to native (near Kumta) and If I am travelling I would have taken via Chitradurga - haveri - Sirsi which is much better than Shimoga route. Last month I have tried both the routes and found Shimoga route has lot of potholes and road is not smooth.

Regards,

Ravi.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Just back from Mahableshwar. The status of roads between Chitradurga - Haveri is as follows:

Chitradurga Byepass - Bad as usual, with some work happening not sure when this would be complete

Chitradurga - Davangare - Decent roads with diversions and small incomplete sections where little deviations are needed, these sections are bad but nothing to worry about

Davangare & Harihar Byepass - Some patch work happening in the places which were bad earlier, but its in far better shape than the last time I went.

Harihar - Haveri - Decent roads upto the entrance to Ranibennur. The road from the point you enter Ranibennur upto Haveri byepass is the worst of the lot, with extremely rough roads as you enter Ranibennur, followed by some sections on old roads with two level crossings and lots of bad patches.

Took me about 3 hours from the Vittal Kamath restaurant (after Haveri) upto Chitradurga byepass. Incidentally Vittal Kamaths is a super place to have food.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Harihar - Haveri - Decent roads upto the entrance to Ranibennur. The road from the point you enter Ranibennur upto Haveri byepass is the worst of the lot, with extremely rough roads as you enter Ranibennur, followed by some sections on old roads with two level crossings and lots of bad patches.

Quite true. At this place my tyre got a flat. Some stone lying on the road, and since these diversions and change overs are quite a mess, even at the slowest of the speeds you risk a puncture. Be very careful and thank your stars here.

But the people of Harihar are very friendly and helping. They helped me in getting a tube in the middle of the night from the nearest town, and woke up almost 3 to 4 puncture wallas to help me get my tyre ready top travel back. But unfortunately alloys and tubeless needed the machines, else we have a risk of ruining the beading. Halted here for the night and started next day after repairing the tyre from an MRF showroom.

[filcord]

Originally Posted by laluks

Roads are narrow after Goa border with lots of curves. Be careful, as all drivers seems to like High beams a lot in this road.

Can you blame them, with all the alcohol flowing through the state?
On a more serious note, so you did not continue on NH 17 after Hubli (and entered Goa at Anmod), but came south and entered Goa from the south?

[laluks]

Originally Posted by filcord

Can you blame them, with all the alcohol flowing through the state?
On a more serious note, so you did not continue on NH 17 after Hubli (and entered Goa at Anmod), but came south and entered Goa from the south?

You could be true. I was shocked that they did not even reciprocate to a dim/bright indication from me. Too dangerous.

On my way to Goa from Bangalore I took NH4 till Haveri, and then took sirsi road to Mirjan at NH17 and continued all the way up through Ankola, Karwar to Goa from the extreme south tip.

On my return exited Goa from the extreme north to Sawantwadi, and took the amboli ghats to Belgaum NH4. From Belgaum continued to Hubli, Haveri, Sirsi, Tumkur, Bangalore through NH4.

I did not try Hubli Yellapur Ankola. But I saw from Ankola side a lot of trucks coming and going in this road from to karwar. My guess would be this route has a lot of truck traffic.

[Taz-On-The-Road]

Hi all,

My brother is going to Goa on Saturday and will be leaving around 1AM. He has finalised the Hubli-Belgaum-Amboli-Sawantwadi route while going and plans to return via Mirjan-Sirsi-Haveri. Are these two routes doable in an Indigo. Another query is that he has to checkin to the resort at 12PM on Saturday. Is 11hrs enough for the onward journey and are there any good restaurants for breakfast in/around Belgaum?

@hvkumar sir and @ravibhat waiting for you to shed some light.

[hvkumar]

Suggest that the departure time be postponed a little to, say, 3 am, since the road conditions after Chitradurga are a little bad (see several posts on this topic), and reaching that area after it is light will make the drive safer.

Another suggestion is that, you can save some distance by turning off NH4 at Belgaum and going via Chandgad (MH) to Amboli and Savantwadi instead of going all the way north to Sankeshwar/ Nippani and going to Amboli via Ajra.

My personal favourite is Hotel Sankam Residency at Belgaum - just off NH4 as you enter Belgaum city. Has good food, ample parking and clean toilets.

Both routes are doable in a Indigo.

[saurabhdaga]

Originally Posted by laluks

Came back from Goa through sawantwadi-amboli-belgaum-hubli-bangalore route yesterday. Oh my god what a wonderful drive through the amboli ghats. ravibhat - thanks a lot for the route.

It was raining through out and completely foggy when we reached the amboli waterfall. Was a great experience indeed.

Had a flat tyre near rannibennur - seems I have to replace my tubeless tyre, and some BHPians say my alloy rim too.

Hi - I came via Karwar - awesome route except the haveri ranibennur stretch. Am plannin on taking the Savantwadi Amboli Belgaum Route - but I cannot find Amboli on the map ( using google map though). Can any one tell me more detail on the route from Panaji to Belgaum - I guess there are more than 1 road to Belgaum. Thanks

[laluks]

Originally Posted by saurabhdaga

Hi - I came via Karwar - awesome route except the haveri ranibennur stretch. Am plannin on taking the Savantwadi Amboli Belgaum Route - but I cannot find Amboli on the map ( using google map though). Can any one tell me more detail on the route from Panaji to Belgaum - I guess there are more than 1 road to Belgaum. Thanks

From panjim keep driving North on NH17 till you cross maharashtra border and touch Sawantwadi. You'll not miss Sawantwadi - you'll see a small lake and Kamat upachar restaurant when you enter Sawantwaadi. Keep driving after kamat upachar, keeping the lake on your right side. You'll reach Sawantwadi bus stand. From there little further you get a right turn to amboli. Take that road and keep driving in this road. This road exits at belgaum. A lot of scenery to see in this road.