[hothatchaway]

Driving down to Goa tomorrow with the missus on a lark. Any pointers on good hotel deals in South Goa (Palolem/Patnem) will be greatly appreciated.

Also and more importantly, in view of the impending bandh tomorrow in KA, planning to leave by 3 and beat the offficial bandh hours (even though most of the drive will be through KA) Do folks think the usual route through NH 4 should be ok?

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Driving down to Goa tomorrow with the missus on a lark. Any pointers on good hotel deals in South Goa (Palolem/Patnem) will be greatly appreciated.

Also and more importantly, in view of the impending bandh tomorrow in KA, planning to leave by 3 and beat the offficial bandh hours (even though most of the drive will be through KA) Do folks think the usual route through NH 4 should be ok?

It should be OK. I started at 2.45AM from IIMB and took ORR till Yeshwantpur. ABsolutely no issues and quite a few fuel stations open en route. Have a safe trip.

btw am travelling tonight to my hometown just few kms from Palolem

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Driving down to Goa tomorrow with the missus on a lark. Any pointers on good hotel deals in South Goa (Palolem/Patnem) will be greatly appreciated.

You can check these in South Goa

1. Agonda white sand @ 3k per night (http://agondawhitesand.com/agonda-india-contact-us/) . We stayed here last year and its a beautiful place right on the Agonda beach. The only downside was the pricing of the food options. Palolem is hardly 15 mins drive from here.

2. The Golden Palms Hotel & Spa, Colva. check for rates through tripadvisor.com. stayed here in our last trip in the beginning of April. Decent place with good food and hardly 5 mins walk from Colva beach

3. Longuinhos beach resort is another option in the 2k-3k/night range and it is bang on the beach. try getting the luxury room on the ground level.

4. The Zuri White Sands is another wonderful option in Varca if you are ready to shell out 6-7k/night.

Happy Goa-ing..

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Also and more importantly, in view of the impending bandh tomorrow in KA, planning to leave by 3 and beat the offficial bandh hours (even though most of the drive will be through KA) Do folks think the usual route through NH 4 should be ok?

Ideally 4AM should be a good time to start.

More importantly, this bundh will be affecting Bangalore, Mysore, Mandya regions than any other. Secondly, traveling in a KA Registered car (I assume you are) should not be troublesome on the highways.

Barring Tumkur, Hiriyur & Perhaps Chitradurga which you will cross by 7am anyways, you would pass most of the towns like Davanagere, Harihar, Ranebennur, Haveri, Hubli from a distance that the protestors would really want to think about going such distances and way lay traffic.

Take it easy and drive safe! I am sure this bandh should not impact travelers in that direction much.

[D4D]

Planning to drive to Goa from Bangalore in the last week of May.

Is the drive through the coastal road is worth doing?
If yes, please suggest a place to stay on the way.

(We're thinking of breaking up the ongoing drive to two days for the coastal road journey and return in one day.)

[bhuvan_prasad]

Hey folks,

Will be driving day-after from varca, south goa to Bangalore.
Any tips on which route to take ?
I'm fine with a longer route so as to avoid potholes and traffic.

Google maps tells me to go via mollem, is that route fine or should I go via karwar and then touch Hubli ?

I drove to goa from Hyd, so this is the first time I'll be doing this stretch.
Any pointers will be much appreciated.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by bhuvan_prasad

I drove to goa from Hyd, so this is the first time I'll be doing this stretch.
Any pointers will be much appreciated.

Brilliant roads all the way. Varca-Karwar-Ankola-Hubli bypass - Bangalore. If you are on your modded Civic, you would enjoy it to the core!
(Even otherwise!)

[bhuvan_prasad]

Originally Posted by ampere

Brilliant roads all the way. Varca-Karwar-Ankola-Hubli bypass - Bangalore. If you are on your modded Civic, you would enjoy it to the core!
(Even otherwise!)

Thanks for the route.
Yes, am in the civic. To say I had a blast on the chorla ghat road on my way in would be an understatement. Well worth the steep rs. 250 toll.

[sary]

Hi Folks,

I'm driving down from Bangalore to Margao (Goa) tomorrow morning and my concern is about the stretch between Hubli to Goa. How are the road conditions now and is the following route recommended?

Bangalore-Dharwad-Alnavar-Londa-Mollem-Ponda

PS: I have done Hubli-Karwar-Goa several number of times but just once on the above route back in 2012. So needed to know the conditions as its the shortest one. Car is Honda City AT.

Many Thanks!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sary

PS: I have done Hubli-Karwar-Goa several number of times but just once on the above route back in 2012. So needed to know the conditions as its the shortest one. Car is Honda City AT.

Its as good as ever. No need to worry. One of the best ghat roads, I have come across. Thanks to its width, it never even feels like a ghat road.

[sary]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its as good as ever. No need to worry. One of the best ghat roads, I have come across. Thanks to its width, it never even feels like a ghat road.

Hi Ampere,

Thanks for your quick response, could you also confirm where should I take the diversion on NH4? Is the route on GPS (Google Maps) accurate?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sary

Hi Ampere,

Thanks for your quick response, could you also confirm where should I take the diversion on NH4? Is the route on GPS (Google Maps) accurate?

Here you go:

Route Link

- Drive all the way to Hubli on the 4-lane
- Take the Nh4 bypass
- On the bypass, you will see Ankola exit. Thats where you get out of NH4.

[sary]

Originally Posted by ampere

Here you go:

- Drive all the way to Hubli on the 4-lane
- Take the Nh4 bypass
- On the bypass, you will see Ankola exit. Thats where you get out of NH4.

Oh Well, this is not the one I'm referring to, I'm looking for exit near Dharwad which leads to Alnavar-Ramnagar-Mollem.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by sary

Oh Well, this is not the one I'm referring to, I'm looking for exit near Dharwad which leads to Alnavar-Ramnagar-Mollem.

This is well marked and will come almost at the fag end of the bypass (Say 24-26 kms after the Bypass toll booth). For this, you pay the same toll that you otherwise pay to drive on the complete bypass which is Rs 50/-.

You will see a green signage marked for Panaji/Alnavar.

Take left here and soon after this, you will have a toll booth where you pay 55 INR. Retain this receipt to pay at Ramnagar exit.

Do remember that around 34 kms of road in this stretch (Ramnagar-Goa Border) is patchy. There are few potholes but otherwise manageable in any car.

EDIT:
Exactly last year in March 2014, we took this route and there were huge potholes but still a lot of Goa cars were coming from the opposite direction and we stopped and asked for the condition and they told the roads are bad only for few kms till the border.

The same route we took in March 2015 and found a HUGE difference due to the patchwork. Not irritating at all and an easy one. Roads are wide and even 2 trucks can pass each other at good speed. On the bad section of this 34 kms, your speeds will be between 45-60 kmph.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sary

Oh Well, this is not the one I'm referring to, I'm looking for exit near Dharwad which leads to Alnavar-Ramnagar-Mollem.

- In that case, be on that same bypass and take the Alnavar exit.
- As about road conditions: NH4 exit - Alnavar is very good. The over all stretch via Mollem is quite decent too.