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-   -   Bangalore - Goa : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/29949-bangalore-goa-route-queries-253.html)

Welcome to T-BHP and thank you so much! All your and everyone elses helpfulness carried us through that day. Hope you had a great time too in Goa.

Hello All,
I am planning for a Bangalore - Goa trip on 9th of February, 2017 (Thursday) night. Driving down to Palolem.
It will be my first night drive. We are 5 friends and of which only one guy is a seasoned night driver. (he has driven to Kerala quite many times in the past in his Honda City at night).
All others know driving but primarily hatchbacks and day time drivers without any experience of drives beyond 200/300 kms at a stretch.
I have driven down to Goa once earlier, that time we were 4 drivers and we shared the drive.
We had taken the following route: Electronic City > NICE Road > Tumkur > Bankapur > Yelapur > Karwar > Palolem.
But this will be my first drive in a XUV W8.
We will be starting from Marathalli at night at around 10 PM.
Need some help on the following:

1. What should be our route? What would be the fastest route to get out of the city?
2. Any place to eat at night en-route? Any place we can take pit stops/breaks to stretch ourselves safely? Any place where we can get Tea/Coffee en-route?
3. Any safety precaution?
4. Any tips on night driving?
5. Any tips or points to note for driving XUV ? (I ride a Hyundai Grand i10)
6. What is the expected time of arrival at Palolem?
- Any other suggestion/inputs are welcome.

Eagerly awaiting your esteemed insights and suggestions.

1. What should be our route? What would be the fastest route to get out of the city?
From Marathhalli, I am not sure, but still my inputs are:
Head towards KR Puram. You can follow outer ring road-hennur banaswadi and hit Nelamangala flyover somehow (no tolls anywhere).
Alternatively, head towards Electronics city, take the Electronics city flyover, NICE road and then Nelamangala flyover. This will be a bit longer, but faster. Two tolls to account for.

Suggested route: Electronic City(??) > NICE Road(??)> Tumkur > Hubballi (not Bankapur)> Yellapur > Karwar > Palolem (630Kms).

2. Any place to eat at night en-route? Any place we can take pit stops/breaks to stretch ourselves safely? Any place where we can get Tea/Coffee en-route?
If you go back in thread about few pages, there is a nice compilation of coffee day co-ordinates that appear along the route. Save them on your Google maps. Not sure they are open 24 hrs/day. Hopefully, gurus will pitch in with more details.

3. Any safety precaution?
Dont drive in the night ;-). Well, dont overspeed (stay between 90-110). There are some poorly marked speedbreakers between Chitradurga and Davanagere. Please be careful here. Just slow down after Chitradurga until you hit D'gere and you will be fine. If you come across 'Accident Zone' road sign, please slow down immediately. Typical scenario with these speedbreakers is that when you slow down, the vehicle from behind may not be expecting it.

4. Any tips on night driving?
I'm not an expert on this. But avoid driving between 2AM-4AM. Any super human being will be drowsy during this period. Just pull over and resume your journey. Get the best headlights you can afford.

5. Any tips or points to note for driving XUV ? (I ride a Hyundai Grand i10)
Suggest you drive at least 100kms before you take XUV on highway. Get familiarized with the dynamics and controls.

6. What is the expected time of arrival at Palolem?
Allocate anything between 8-10 hrs.

- Any other suggestion/inputs are welcome.
Check if you can offset your start time by 6 hours :-).
Drink coffee and drive.
Co-pilot should contribute equally to the drive, keeping an eye out for hazards.

I agree with bsdbsd, AVOID Bankapur - Yellapur (SH6), particularly at night. It's about 70 km - very narrow road. While returning from Goa on 1st Jan, we took Yellapur - Bankapur (SH6) and did not like it.

Watch out for drums/barriers kept by police to slow down traffic at intersections after Chitradurga on NH48.

Follow KRPuram-ORR-Nelmangala route. Thats shortest and doable after 10pm easily. NICE road via EC would be long stretch plus additional tolls of course.

Multiple places for eating dinner - Suggest to have light dinner before you leave home or max before reaching Tumkur. That will help skip some heavy outgoing traffic but nothing major as you will hit Nelmangala by around 10.30-10.45ish. Breakfast would be somewhere in Karwar or after you cross into Goa border. Tea and Coffee breaks - check CCDs but if not, every toll booth will have some hawkers kind of stalls for Tea. You can take a quick break as well as sip tea and coffee.

If you stick to the route mentioned above by @bsdbsd, nothing to worry about safety except the usual alertness/ care you would need anyway.

Frequent break, alive cabin is must during night. And a good sleep prior to the trip shall help greatly. There is a good article elsewhere in our forum that talks about night driving tips. Do read it.

I drive an XUV too. Only advice - don't get carried away with the car. It inspires you to do many things, stick to a level below to what you can take with it.

ETA - 9.30 hrs to budget and additional if more breaks. All COCO are 24/7 IIRC. But one tankful should take you from Bangalore to Goa easily.

I am in Goa right now and plan to start for Bangalore at around 5am. Since I am at calangute the easiest option is via Anmod ghat. But wanted to be sure that forest gates etc would be open. If not, which route should I take.

There is no restriction of timings on Anmod ghat route, you can travel at anytime you want. Same goes with Chorla and Arebail ghat routes.

The night ban is for Anmod village--Hemmadga--Khanapur route ( 6pm to 6 a.m ) that passes through Kali tiger reserve Bhimgad sanctuary. You won't be hitting this stretch while heading from Calangute to Dharwad ( NH4 ) and then onto Bangalore.

Did an extended weekend trip from Thursday to Sunday. Took the less recommended Bankapur Toll - Yellapur short-cut.

5 AM - Kadugodi (Thursday)

KR Puram - Tumkur - Bankapur Toll - Yellapur - Karwar
25 mins break for breakfast at Kamat

2 PM - Agonda Beach (9hrs - didn't cross 120)

The Bankapur Toll to Yellapur road took 1 hr 20 mins to traverse. Mostly single lane but speeds of 50-70 are doable. There is around 500m stretch of gravel where the road is being built.
I quite liked the drive through the countryside and the Tibetan settlement and its Ladakhi architecture was quite a surprise :-)
Note: I wouldn't be too comfortable taking this route in the darkness.

Return Journey (Sunday)

11 AM - Agonda Beach

Same route
40 mins break at Kamat

9 PM - Kadugodi (10 hrs - Traffic was not a problem considering sunday evening)

Its irritating to note that the Goa entry fee was in cash. 250 Rs is a lot of cash to part with nowadays. :Frustrati
Most tolls are ok with cards but some do keep saying that machine is not charged etc. etc. to get cash.

Did a quick weekend drive to Goa on this Saturday with my brother who was in town - came back on Sunday.

Went to North Goa from Electronic City via Hubbali - Anmod - Calangute. Followed the same route back.

Car: Swift ZXI
Mileage: 20.1 kmpl as per MID

While going towards Goa

Time taken while going: 10 hours (door to door)
Start time: 4 AM
Significant breaks taken: Breakfast & Re-fueling (at Kamat, Ranebennur / Reliance) (8 AM) - 30 minutes

While coming back to Bangalore
Time taken while going: 11 hours (door to door)
Start time: 6:30 AM
Significant breaks taken:
Breakfast: Dudhsagar Spa & Resorts (not recommended though, overpriced, less quantities)
Lunch: Somewhere after Chitradurga (dont remember the exact name of the place)


Road quality was excellent about 80% of the way. The highway from Hubbali to Bankapur toll was uneven / undulating at many places. Nothing to worry, except for maybe check on speed.

Interceptors were present near Davanagre twice - first, at the exit of the town through which the highway goes through while coming back to Bangalore, second on the main highway about 20 km after this spot. Saw about 3 - 4 cars being stopped when we passed. We knew and were careful to be within 80kmph for about half an hour around Davanagre.

Just an FYI with reference to the interceptor near Davangere, at the exit of the town, the speed limit is 60kmph. My father got stopped about 10 days ago doing around 80kmph. The cop told him there is a sign board mentioning the speed limit a few kilometers before where he was stopped. Guessing the 60kmph speed limit sign board is somewhere in the town which would make it easy to miss.

During my journey back to Bangalore from Goa on 1st Nov 2016, I saw cops flagged down some vehicles. I was doing around 80 kmph and was not stopped. I doubt whether 60 kmph rule is strictly enforced, if they do, they will have to stop majority of the the vehicles.

I'll be driving to Carmona tomorrow and the route I found was via Anmod ghats and cut off before Ponda.
Any updates on this route or if I should go via Karwar?

I went to Goa for vacations in December and took the Anmod Ghat route. It's butter smooth now and shortest time taking route to Goa as well...

Brilliant roads. Reached Goa in the same time or less time I take to Cochin from Bangalore.
Any idea if there is a restriction for Anmod ghats during the night?

Nope, there is no such restriction. Check my post here -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post4127664