[surajullal]

First of all, thanks to all who actively contribute to the enormous travelogues in this forum that helped me prepare for a BLR-GOA trip last week. I drove this route last in March 2006 and was banking on reviews in this thread for the condition of roads.
I'm back in Blr this morning and thought of sharing my experience right away.

I did this route on 15th Nov (BLR-GOA) and return on 19th Nov (GOA-BLR).
BLR - Tumkur - Tiptur - Bhadravati - Shimoga - Sagar - Honnavar - Kumta - Ankola - Karwar - Madgaon - Ponda(Goa).

• The road is mostly good (70%) with newly laid tar & patches in most parts.
• The worst stretch is between Bhadravati & Tiptur where the contractors have scraped out tar and laid a bed of crushed stones and let it settle. The annoying thing about this being they have done it for over 6 Kms and not bothered to complete the work. You end up driving (rather dodging stones) for 6+ kms @ 10kmph
• Part of the Sagar Honnavar ghat stretch has been widened and the entire stretch has been repaired. I enjoyed this stretch.
• The now famous "surprise potholes" highlighted by Team-BHPians in this thread still holds true. In some places, the "excellent" patch work done by the contractors has ensured that the pot-holes have transformed from concave to convex
• The NH17 stretch (Honnavar-Karwar-Madgaon) is slightly bad with the worst stretch between Kumta & Ankola. (I had a flat tire in this section & almost dented the rim). On the positive side, the Manganese ore carrying trucks have vanished near the Karwar port due to the ongoing restriction on exports. Thankfully making the stretch much safer.
• The NH4 BLR-Tumkur is good but traffic upto Nelamangala is pathetic. I wish I could leave early and cross Nelamangala before 6:30 AM. The same applies for re-entry into Blr. Truckers rule this road and the construction work has consumed 70% of the width.

Overall, I would still prefer this route for it has less traffic, scenic & shorter. However, one needs to avoid night driving on this route as the roads are not well marked, no median, cattle/animals on road and oncoming traffic (mostly trucks/KSRTC buses) don't bother to dim their headlamps.

Journey Statistics (UP):

• Distance (Bangalore to Ponda) = 648 Kms
• Travel Time (without breaks) = 17hrs
• Vehicle = Indigo (Marina) Diesel.
• No. of Pax = 5 adults.
• Fuel Economy (onward - Daytime) = 18/litre (HP TurboJet)
• Fuel Economy (return - Day+Night) = 16/litre (BP Normal)

Food & Stay:

Onward Journey

• Breakfast @ Tumkur (Restaurant near the NH4-NH206 junction don't remember the name) -- Decent south-indian snacks
• Lunch @ Hotel Varadashree, Sagar --Very Good Food
• Dinner @ Hotel Pandurang International, Kumta --Good food
• Night Halt @ Hotel Pandurang International, Kumta --Decent rooms

Return Journey

• Breakfast @ Karwar (Hotel Udupi on NH17, around 5kms from border) -- Decent south-indian snacks
• Lunch @ Hotel Varadashree, Sagar --Very Good Food
• Dinner @ some small hotel where private buses halt. 22kms before Gubbi in Tiptur taluk. Had no choice -- but food was hygienic

Beware of:

1. Unexpected pot-holes (all the way)
2. Herds of cattle/goats on the middle of "National Highway"
3. Sharp turns on tank-bund roads
4. Uneven patches of roads near bridges
5. Wild animals on Manmane ghat post sunset --Yes!, we actually spotted a (suspected) leapord chasing cattle somewhere in the Gersoppa stretch. It jumped off the road into a ditch when the headlights & probably the sound of my noisy diesel engine scared it. That's when we decided to roll up the windows in the ghat section.

-Suraj

[goandude]

surajullal, i must conratulate you on a very informative and well written post (your first i see). Good to see some improvement. But i would disagree on one of your conclusions "I would still prefer this route for it has less traffic, scenic & shorter." Distance wise it is marginally shorter, but driving time wise NH4 to hubli then nh63 to ankola and nh17 to goa takes 12 13 hrs. BTW why didnt you take this NH route?

[goandude]

surajullal, i must conratulate you on a very informative and well written post (your first i see). Good to see some improvement. But i would disagree on one of your conclusions "I would still prefer this route for it has less traffic, scenic & shorter." Distance wise it is marginally shorter, but driving time wise NH4 to hubli then nh63 to ankola and nh17 to goa takes 12 13 hrs. BTW why didnt you take this NH route?

[goandude]

Did goa to bangalore on 21 dec sunday. took karwar, hubli, haveri chitradurga route. 13 hours with 1 hr stoppage time. almost 700 km from vasco to big bazar OMR. big improvement over the last one year. the haveri chitradurga stretch which was abandoned has some work going on. at least the diversions are marked. and repaired. the drive thru ranibennur is the saddest part of the trip. otherwise the hubli haveri, davengere chitradurga and chitradurga tumkur stretches were really good. the karwar hubli road was peppered with speed breakers at every village. and i had the unfortunate experience of hitting a rare pothole at 100 while overtaking a truck. bent rim result. with this in hindsight. perhaps the amboli belgaum route would be better and faster.

[techn0l0gist]

Originally Posted by goandude

the karwar hubli road was peppered with speed breakers at every village. and i had the unfortunate experience of hitting a rare pothole at 100 while overtaking a truck. bent rim result. with this in hindsight. perhaps the amboli belgaum route would be better and faster.

lucky you - you just got a bent wheel rim, I was driving through there and i went over a pothole at 100+ leading to a damaged front lower arm , which ended me with a shredded tyre by the time I reached home!

The belgaum amboli route just does not seem to end esp if your driving alone ! it comes to about 800 kms or so. the shortest route in terms of distance is through ramnagar and anmod (distance to ponda = 570 - 600 kms from jp nagar depending on whether or not you miss a left turn in a place called "beedi")- however it takes a lot of time as the roads are really bad.

I usually take the route that you've taken as its the comfortable among other routes , although its around 100kms over the anmod route it takes me the same time to reach goa as the anmod route!

[pkumar]

i did bangalore - Karwar and back a couple of days back.
Took the Haveri-Sirsi-Mirjan route to Goa.
The overall road condition was pretty satisfactory and i could drive to karwar, a distance of 525kms, in a time of 9 hours. This included a night drive of 4 hours, otherwise it could have been half an hour faster.

On the way back, took the Nh-206 route. Seeing jog falls cost me, as this route was full of bad roads, and thus long drive time.
But i must say that compared to the last time i travelled on Nh-206, it has improved significantly, and it is improving almost on a daily basis. There are lots of patches of absolutely newly laid road. But many many streches, including the worst one of shimoga-Bhadravati, is still in a bad shape. This route took almost 11 hours.

The Nh-17 from Honnavar to Karwar, i would say i have absolutely no compaint with the road condition. The drive was very fast on Nh-17, and the bad patches were very few and certainly not body damaging. I think many many portions of Nh-17 are also getting newly laid, and is improving by the day.

[ucalva]

Bangalore - hubli - Belgaum - Amboli - Swantwadi - Goa(best one for north goa).
Bangalore - Haveri - Sirsi - ankola - goa (Best one for South goa).
Bangalore - Shimoga - Sagari - Siddapura - Sirsi - Ankola - goa (quiet ok but you would loose speed).

Hello Ravi,

Thank you for the excellent route you listed out . I drove to North Goa ( via Belgaum, Amboli, Sawantwadi) on the 26th of December and returned on the 30th from Madgoan (via Ankola - Sirsi - Haveri - Bangalore). A few comments on the drive both ways.

Onward to Mapusa:

Left Bangalore (Yeshwantpur) at 6 am and had two stop overs for breakfast ( Vittal Kamath's before Sira) and lunch (Amboli) apart from one stop for diesel. The road upto Belgaum is really good and the average speed can be maintained at 100 plus if the car can cruise at those speeds! Some time is lost in asking for diraction s to Amboli at Belgaum and the road from Belgaum to Panjim is good though narrow at certain places. Reached Mapusa at 2.15 pm.

Return from Madgaon:

Left Madgoan at 10.15 am and the drive upto Karwar is fine. From Karwar to Ankola and upto the point near Kumta where the turn off for Sirsi is the road surface is rough. The old layer of tar has come off and the road is a little bumpy but no major issues. From Sirsi to Haveri the road is again narrow with it being a single lane road in certain places. The average speed doable is about 60 km/hr with tight winding roads for the first 300km upto Haveri. The road from there through Chitradurga is fine and high average speeds are achievable. Reached a little before Peenya by 6.10 pm and then from there to Indiranagar was hell!! Reached home at 7.45 pm.

The only flip side of the drive was that the Getz returned about 10 km/l due to the constant high speed being maintained but had a blast otherwise!

[ravibhat]

Thats good report, I have visited this area last week in my 2000km trip.

Bangalore - Chitradurga: good road.

Chitradurga - Haveri : better than before but road cuts/diversions in between is irritating. No sign of completing 4 laning work.

Haveri - Sirsi : as usual patched up road not so smooth but ok kind.

Sirsi - Devimane ghat - Mirjan : good road.

NH17 between Mangalore - Karwar is improved now with some repair. Very less bad patches.

Sirsi - Siddapura : Excellant road.

Siddapura - taalguppa : good road with 2 diversions around bridge construction.

Taalguppa - Sagar - shimoga : good road except 3km bad road.

Shimoga - Arasikere : decent road with 10km bad road.

Arasikere - Tumkur : good road.

Over all decent roads but unexpected road humps and bad patches irritates. Not worth for honest tax we pay :(


Ravi.

[ahariprakash]

I did Bangalore to Goa in car recently and one can read about road conditions, places to visit in Goa, routes etc at http://hariprakashagrawal.blogspot.c...re-to-goa.html . Also look for The Thoughts...: Points to remember in self driven long journey link for points to remember in self driven long journey.

just to mention, I took different routes for my forward and return trip and could cover few more places.

23-Dec-08, Forward route

Bangalore (near Sarjapur junction, 3:50 AM, 0 km) – NH4 – Tumkur (5:20 AM, 75 km) – Sira – Hiriyur – Chitradurga (7:30 AM, 198 km) – Davangere – Ranibennur – Haveri (11:30 AM, 335 km) – Bankapur – Hubli (12:30 PM, 405 km) – NH4 – Dharwad (12:45 PM, 425 km) – SH34 – Alnavar (1:30 PM, 455 km) – SH93 – Bedi (475 km) – Khanapur (2 PM, 495 km) – NH4A – Londa (515 km) – Anmod (3 PM, 540 km) – Molem (560 km) – Ponda (3:30 PM, 585 km) – Margao (4 PM, 605 km) – Resort near Benaulim Beach (4:10 PM, 610 km)

27-Dec-08, Return Route

Margao (6:30 AM, 0 km) – NH17 – Palolem beach (or Cancona, 8 AM, 40 Kms) – Karwar (10:30 AM, 82 Kms) – Ankola – NH17 – Mirjan (1:30 PM, 140 Kms) – SH2 – Sirsi (Devimane Ghats, 2 PM, 200 Kms)) – SH93 – Siddapura – Jog Falls (3:30 PM, 260 Kms) – NH206 – Talguppa – Sagar – Shivamogga (6:10 PM, 355 Kms) – Bhadravati – Tarikere – Birur – Arsikere (10:15 PM, 475 Kms) – Tiptur – NH206 – Tumkur (12:00 AM, 560 Kms) – NH4 – Nelmangala – Bangalore (Suncity Apts, Near Sarjapur Junction; 1:30 AM, 640 Kms)


One may read more on road conditions, places to visit etc at the link mentioned above.

- Hariprakash

[rshiv]

Folks,

I'd been to Goa between 25th Dec to Jan 2nd 09.

Bangalore - hubli - Belgaum - Amboli - Swantwadi - Goa (NH4)

Except for the chitradurga - Haveri part the route is doable at good speeds. Hubli to Belgaum amazing roads. Touched 160 plus many times in my Civic. The Amboli route is not that impressive. Pretty rough and going on and on but I heard its better the Belgaum- Londa - Goa route.

Goa - Karwar - Mirjan -Sirsi - Haveri - Bangalore ( NH 17-SH69 - SH2- NH4) Start 10:30 am - End Whitefield 12:30 that night.

Pretty bad decision with a Civic. Drive upto Mirjan was okay with patches here and there. Roads are too narrow, no roads and patchy. Haveri to Chitradurga is again bad.

Guys, if your idea is start from Goa to reach Blore straight, dont take this route. Going to Belgaum to get NH4 is a better option. Though a little longer you can reach faster.

Hope this helps !@

[Romins]

Driving alone to Goa for New Year - sounds crazy?
750km to Goa from Bangalore via Tumkur-Chitradurga-Hubli-Karwar. When two friends ditched me at the last moment, I did not have any other options. NH4 which is part of Golden Quadrilateral was fun to drive through, but the good roads don't last for long. Traffic is 30% compared to NH47. Hardly a few cars were there, mostly Pune bound trucks and Karnataka state buses. You will find many Volvo buses speeding to Mumbai if you are driving in the night. Be watchful for opposite traffic -tractors, autorickshaws etc- on your way coming against one way traffic- a common scene on Karnataka 4 lane roads. The good portion of roads are fenced on the sides and reflectors are placed. At some places, locals have managed to make holes on this fencing for their convenient but dangerous crossing. And for the good roads, you pay a hefty toll fee, I paid more than Rs 100/- as toll from Bangalore to Hubli on NH4. The bad stretch is Chitradurga-Haveri. Keep watching for potholes and sudden dead end due to constructions. Toll Plazas will bring down your average speed and lighten your wallet.

Bangalore- Hiriyur -> 200km - 3hrs in the night
Hiriyur -Hubli ->250km -3hrs during day

Hubli-Karwar road through western ghats. Twisting curves and scenic views... If you have a car with good ride and handling, you will enjoy driving through these roads. I liked drving through these roads than NH4. The often seen board 'ZIG ZAG ROADS AHEAD. DRIVE SLOW' excited me a lot.
Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar ->180km 3hrs during day

Karnataka police will ask you for 'Entry Fee' when you enter Goa state and they will ask you for 'Entry Fee' while you come back to Karnataka state from Goa. 'Entry Fee' depends on your job; so don't say Software Engineer- you will end up paying Rs 100/- without a receipt. I managed to get 50% discount in this bribe.

Return route: Goa-Karwar-Hubli-Tumkur-Jayanagar via NICE road -> 750km -12hrs. Chitradurga -Bangalore (250km) was covered in 2hrs in my Santro.

I did not take Goa-Belgaum-Hubli road because I wanted to drive through the twisty roads. This route might be faster.
Before reaching Peenya, get onto NICE road and take toll Rs 33/- for Mysore road exit. Again continue on the NICE instead of going to Kengeri town and take toll Rs 16/-for Kanakapura exit.

[kaushik_s]

Any latest updates on the Route, as per information provided above and from my recent trip to Shimoga, I'm trying to summarize the road condition,
Route 1: via Shimoga/sagar
1. Bangalore-Tumkur : Very good.
2. Tumkur-Arsikere : Good road
3. Arsikere- Tarikere : Good road but with occasional potholes
3. TArikere Bhdravati : Very bad sections ( I noted down that from my home at 253km the bad road starts and ends at 259kms and again at 264km to 269 km)
4. Bhadravati-Shimoga : OK road
5. Shimoga- Sagar : Good road?
6. Sagar-Honnavar : Repaired
7. Honnavar-Kumta : Is this section got repaired?
8. Kumta-Ankola : Very bad road
9. Ankola -Karwar :Almost good
10. Karwar -Palolem : Good road with potholes, am I right?
11. Palolem-Panaji : how is this section?

For the other route ie.NH4 via Hubli/Dharwad,
1. Bangalore - Tumkur : Very Good.
2. Tumkur- Chitradurga : Very Good but bad at the Chitradurga entry
3. Chitradurga- Davangere: Good road bu with sudden diversions
4. Davangere-Rannibannur : Not good
5. Ranibennur-Haveri : Not good
6. HAveri -Hubli : how is this section?
7. Hubli-Dharwad :Very good
8. Dharwad - Belgaum :Very Good
9. Belgaum - Londa :Very bad or is it good now?
10. Londa - Panjim :Good

Am I correct and can someone please clear the doubts that I've on that list.
Regards,
Kaushik

[RufRoc]

It's time to visit Gokarna again over this weekend and I'm planning to take the Tumkur - Hubli - Ankola - Gokarna route and possibly the Gokarna - Mirjan - sirsi - Haveri - Tumkur - Bangalore route on the way back. Getting there will be an overnight journey while the return will be during the day. Any recommendations or suggestions, guys?

The Hubli route is a first for me, have done the other two (via Haveri and the other via shimoga) quite a number of times.

[14000rpm]

Just got back from my trip to Goa.I took the route mentioned below:

Bangalore-Tumkur-Chitradurga-Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Panjim-Calangute.

Return was the same route.
This road was just awesome with only 5% of the road in a mess. Messy part of the road was only near Tumkur,between Davangere and Ranebennur and a very neglible bit between Yellapur and Ankola.Ankola-Karwar was also a little bad but thereafter,Goa roads were simply awesome.
On the return, did the entire journey in 10 hrs flat.Dharwad to Bangalore (till the ring road near Peenya) 4.45 hrs only!
My ride was an Alto.Things to watch out for- a big bump somewhere between Davangere and Ranebennur. Took it at 140 kph and the car was 3 feet in air.Not really proud of it though.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

On the return, did the entire journey in 10 hrs flat.Dharwad to Bangalore (till the ring road near Peenya) 4.45 hrs only!
My ride was an Alto.

Dharwad doesnt come in that route which you travelled.

Assuming you did Dharwad - Peenya which is close is 500km and based on my experience you can never do that distance in 4hr 45 min no matter what car you drive !! considering the road conditions.

I hope there is some typo there. Kindly clarify !!

Abhi