[NPV]

Originally Posted by aquarian1502

Please suggest if Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar should be strictly avoided ? or any other suggestions for a overnight stay enroute other than Hubli ?

This route should be fine despite some widening work that's in progress.
Hubli is a good place to break for your overnight stay as well. Lots of options, do check the Bangalore Mumbai Pune route queries and stay options thread

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by aquarian1502

Driving to Holiday Inn (South Goa) on 28th-April, and plan to do a stop-over at Hubli as I have a 5-year old in tow. The ride would be on my Ecosport. Since many of them suggested option #2 (Haveri-Sirsi-Kumta), but this might not work if I am staying over at Hubli. Please suggest if Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar should be strictly avoided ? or any other suggestions for a overnight stay enroute other than Hubli ?

Goa via Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar is the best route if you have enough time to spend. Be a little bit careful between Hubli and Kalghatgi where the white topping work is in progress. Slow moving trucks and partially ready roads will annoy a bit. Rest is perfectly fine.

[vinodvayyat]

I did Hubli-Kittur-Khanapur-Jamboti-Chorla-Ponda-Margao two days back. Kahanpur-Jamboti is absolute chaos. Roads do not exist on some section before Jamboti. One has to off-road the stretch with one side of the vehicle on a higher under construction road and the other side on the much lower old broken road. I managed it pretty well with my SUV though. I had got used to Anmod ghats route and it is way better than this. This route has narrower roads and lots of twists and turns. On my return journey, I'm planning to do Margao-Karwar-Yellapura-Bankapura-Bangalore.

[aquarian1502]

Have reached Hubli, will be staying overnight.

From my hotel in Hubli to my destination at Goa (Holiday Inn), Gmaps suggests two routes. I am confused as distance for both the options look similar.

Option #1 : Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar (241 Km). Some fellow BHPians have expressed concern on the white topping work between Hubli-Kalghatgi.

Option #2 : Hubli-Belgaum-Chorla-Ponda-Margoa (234 Km).

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by aquarian1502

Have reached Hubli, will be staying overnight.

From my hotel in Hubli to my destination at Goa (Holiday Inn), Gmaps suggests two routes. I am confused as distance for both the options look similar.

Option #1 : Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar (241 Km). Some fellow BHPians have expressed concern on the white topping work between Hubli-Kalghatgi.

Option #2 : Hubli-Belgaum-Chorla-Ponda-Margoa (234 Km).

Take option 1. Roads are broad and the white topping work is for a few kilometers only. Chorla roads are narrow.

[vinodvayyat]

Originally Posted by vinodvayyat

On my return journey, I'm planning to do Margao-Karwar-Yellapura-Bankapura-Bangalore.

Did the above route. Ankola-Yellapura - amazing road with very few rough patches (not concerning) all the way. This was as expected. Yellapura-Mundgod was unchanged pretty much and no major troubles as such - road cuts through jungle, villages with small speed breakers guarding villages. Width is very narrow - you have to negotiate with oncoming traffic which is very sparse in nature. The roads are smooth enough and wont throw you and passengers around. Mundgod-Bankapura - roads will keep improving as it progresses - wider sections to follow. Reached Davangere stay in under 8 hours with sedate driving, 2-3 stops averaging 30 minutes each (travelling with 9 months baby). We got out out of Goa starting from Batalbatim in about 2 hours which is not bad. We think this should've been our route instead of Chorla. Kittur-Jamboti-Chorla doesn't stand anywhere close to the Yellapura route.

I give the following preference if you are to Panaji or any place below it to the south.

1)Bangalore-Davangere-Bankapura-Yellapura-Ankola-Karwar-Goa (If one doesn't care taking deserted narrow jungle roads)
2)Bangalore-Hubli-Yellapura-Ankola-Karwar-Goa (if deserted jungle roads concern you)

I prefer 1 over 2 since I want to avoid extra kms towards Hubli which has some 20 diversions in between.

[vivek95]

We have been advising against Kittur--Khanapur--Jamboti OR MK Hubli--Khanapur--Jamboti since more than an year now since the internal village roads are not holding up good. These roads were recommended during 2015--early 2017 when the roads were newly laid down. As of now, if driving from Bangalore, you either stick to Belgaum--Chorla--Sanquelim for North Goa OR Yellapur--Ankola--Karwar for South Goa.

[vinodvayyat]

Originally Posted by vivek95

We have been advising against Kittur--Khanapur--Jamboti OR MK Hubli--Khanapur--Jamboti since more than an year now since the internal village roads are not holding up good.

I hadn't seen such recommendation on recent posts. There had been posts which sounded like flight is the best option or Chorla if by road. What I felt is this - Bankapura-Ankola-Margao is a very peaceful route. Takes 10+ hrs if driven at one shot. Otherwise split at Davanagere and do the same route. Chorla as of today is time consuming and one has to do Belgaum-Chorla.

[redcruiser]

Originally Posted by vinodvayyat

I hadn't seen such recommendation on recent posts. There had been posts which sounded like flight is the best option or Chorla if by road. What I felt is this - Bankapura-Ankola-Margao is a very peaceful route. Takes 10+ hrs if driven at one shot. Otherwise split at Davanagere and do the same route. Chorla as of today is time consuming and one has to do Belgaum-Chorla.

I returned from South Goa taking the same route as you had mentioned earlier. Was planning to come via Sirsi but somehow I went towards Yellapur due to reroute from gmaps. Yes road from Yellapur to Bankapur is narrow but good for 1 way driving only. Fortunately there were not many 4 wheelers on the road. I forgot the ghat name enroute (Is it Arambol!!).

Started from Pallolem at 10 AM ,by traversing the above route reached NH at 2, Chitradurga at 5 , Tumkur 1t 6:30 and Whitefield at 9.

On my onward journey I had taken Belgaum and Chorla route.

Cheers.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

I forgot the ghat name enroute (Is it Arambol!!).

Ghat between Ankola and Yellapur is ''Arebail ghat''.

Arambol is the name of the beach at the far end of North Goa ( It's one of my most favourite beaches in Goa - a very long beautiful beach with diverse landscapes and there's a sweet water lake too on the shore ).

[aquarian1502]

Just came back from South Goa. Took the same route as the onward journey - Hubli - Yellapur - Ankola - Karwar as I felt this is the best route if Hubli is the stopover. Love for Mangoes and Dharwad being hometown made me do the stopover. As RajivTelang mentioned earlier, except for few stretches of white-topping work between Hubli and Kalghatgi, I really enjoyed driving on this route. One more reason I like about this route is the ghat sections are spaced out until you reach South Goa and not at all steep, this helped a lot as I had a toddler in tow. Lots of trucks though, but the road is wide enough and very less villages in between.

[vinodvayyat]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

Yes road from Yellapur to Bankapur is narrow but good for 1 way driving only. Fortunately there were not many 4 wheelers on the road.
Started from Pallolem at 10 AM ,by traversing the above route reached NH at 2, Chitradurga at 5 , Tumkur 1t 6:30 and Whitefield at 9.

Yes Yellapura-Bankapura section is narrow and you need to give way to oncoming traffic very carefully - but as I said this section sees sparse traffic usually. I usually equate the Tumkur-Bangalore on return journey to re-entry from space - lot of friction, thanks to 2-lane roads. So I stay over at Davangere since with family.

Originally Posted by aquarian1502

One more reason I like about this route is the ghat sections are spaced out until you reach South Goa and not at all steep, this helped a lot as I had a toddler in tow. Lots of trucks though, but the road is wide enough and very less villages in between.

Yes, that is one of the reasons why I like this section - the ghat section is much better compared to Anmod/Chorla. The roads are supremely laid too - there is very less undulation.

[condor]

Is anyone traveling BLR-Goa this weekend ? Please PM me.. Thanks

[rajivtelang]

I have traveled to-fro Goa between 10th and 13th of May. I took the Haveri-Sirsi-Kumta-Goa route both ways and found to be OK. I am just saying OK since it appeared as a slow route to me. No doubt roads are good (some bad patches here and there) but the ghat is not so wide to drive fast. There are many villages between Kumta-Sirsi-Haveri making the drive a bit slower since there are multiple speed breakers.
I feel Ankola-Yallapura ghat is much broader and one can travel much faster there. Only issue with Yellapura-Bankapura road is the narrow section for a long stretch but somehow I am getting a feel that I should have taken the Bankapura road to save time (it is just a theory of mine but safety also matters when you are with family). Now instead of complaining more, I will try the Bankapaura road next time to confirm my theory.
As a bottom line, Bangalore-Haveri-Sirsi-Kumta-Goa route is excellent and takes almost 1-1.5 hours lesser than the Bangalore-Hubli-Yellapura-Ankola-Goa route (time saving depends on your drive style and average speed). If Hubli route is slow, this is semi slow. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

[balenoed_]

Driving to Goa in couple of weeks. (To be precise - Panaji)
After Goa, I am driving to Mangalore, So not interested to take Kumta - Ankola - Karwar from Bangalore as I will have to drive again through it enroute Mangalore. So is my next best option is via Hubli - Dharward which gmap says?