[unni.ak]

Now I'm officially confused. With a 3day weekend coming up, a few of my friends are planning for a Goa trip. Which route is comparitively better? Priority is good road condition and then scenic. Please do advice. They will be travelling by car.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by unni.ak

Now I'm officially confused. With a 3day weekend coming up, a few of my friends are planning for a Goa trip. Which route is comparitively better? Priority is good road condition and then scenic. Please do advice. They will be travelling by car.

Go via Hubli - Ankola and return via NH4a or Swantawadi. Doing this you can cover the entire Goa (right from Palolem beach in the South to Arambol in North).

Abhi

[RGP]

Am heading to Goa tomorrow for the long weekend and have decided to take the Belgaum -> Amboli ghat -> Sawantwadi route. Any recent updates on road conditions are welcome.

One question I do have is that all maps suggest that one has to drive through Belgaum. Is there any bypass or way around the city? If not, can someone guide what route (with landmarks) to take through Belgaum? I see scope for losing a lot of time wandering around town without guidance.

Thanks.

[condor]

RGP : One question I do have is that all maps suggest that one has to drive through Belgaum. Is there any bypass or way around the city?

The NH-4 by-pass at Belgaum lies on the east side of the city. The road to Goa heads west-wards.

[RGP]

Originally Posted by condor

The NH-4 by-pass at Belgaum lies on the east side of the city. The road to Goa heads west-wards.

Thanks. And I had pretty much figured that bit out.

Now assuming that I correctly find my way north from Bangalore and arrive at the NH4 bypass which is on the east side of Belgaum, to go to Goa I need to take the road that heads west-wards. I guess I would need to turn left from NH4 somewhere to reach that west-wards road.
That is my question. Where do I turn left and what route through Belgaum do I take? Or is there any way to get to the west-ward road without entering Belgaum?

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by akroy

Go via Hubli - Ankola and return via NH4a or Swantawadi. Doing this you can cover the entire Goa (right from Palolem beach in the South to Arambol in North).

Abhi

Thanks Abhi for the tip. There are three routes that I've found (from maps and from TBhp):

1. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Shiggaon - Dharward (NH4)- Khanapur (NH4A) - Londa - Panaji

2. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Bankapura - Mundgod - Yellapur - Karwar - Canacona - Margao - Panaji (Is this the Ankola route?)

3. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Hubli - Godageri - Londa - Sangod - Ponda - Panaji

Please help.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by unni.ak

Thanks Abhi for the tip. There are three routes that I've found (from maps and from TBhp):

1. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Shiggaon - Dharward (NH4)- Khanapur (NH4A) - Londa - Panaji

2. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Bankapura - Mundgod - Yellapur - Karwar - Canacona - Margao - Panaji (Is this the Ankola route?)

3. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Hubli - Godageri - Londa - Sangod - Ponda - Panaji

Please help.

cant say much about Route3, it was very bad sometime back. Check other posts. Otherwise you can choose Kittur - Khanapur route.

Route2 is not Ankola route: I meant Hubli - NH63 - Ankola
You can also choose Havari - Sirsi - Mirjan route as well.

Abhi

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by akroy

cant say much about Route3, it was very bad sometime back. Check other posts. Otherwise you can choose Kittur - Khanapur route.

Route2 is not Ankola route: I meant Hubli - NH63 - Ankola
You can also choose Havari - Sirsi - Mirjan route as well.

Abhi

Thanks again Abhi. The following routes have been shortlisted:

1. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Shiggaon - Dharward (NH4)- Kittur - Khanapur (NH4A) - Londa - Panaji

2. Bangalore - Neelamangala - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davengare - Harihar - Ranibennur - Haveri - Sirsi - Ankola - Karwar - Canacona - Margao - Panaji

Are they via points correct and in sequence?

[akroy]

Ya unni, its correct. For Siris - Mirjan route please check my Goa travelogue. Road condition is better now.

Abhi

[ravibhat]

Roads between Chitradurga - Haveri (130km) stretch has many rough patches and extremely hot during summer. Haveri - Sirsi not so smooth road here and there but still one can cover this 73km in 90minutes easily. Hubli - Yellapura - Ankola stretch is good but mine lorries traffic is more (although now a days its less compared to last year) and there are here and there bad patches. This is accident prone road from 1995 once this road was widened and made national highway.

My summer route is always: Blre - Tumkur - Shimoga - Sagara - Siddapura - Sirsi. 1 week back I travelled by Alto, except 10km road is excellant all the way.

Sirsi - Devimane - Mirjan road patch up work going on but there are rough patches in this stretch, road not so smooth. So speed will cut. But between Sirsi - Devimane ghat - Mirjan - Ankola I reached in 2 hours (20min break). My driver knows this route very well for over 15 years.

Jog Falls - Honnavara (60km) road is good but there are bad (15km) stretches in between. Honnavara - Goa (200km) very good roads except max. 20km bad stretches here and there.

My pick would be drive via Shimoga to Goa which is 650km to Panaji and this route is less tiresome in summer compared to chitradurga route. While coming back take Sawantwadi route which is also around 670km. But If one drives extremely fast and covers 4 lane roads very fast then think about via Chitradurga. You can save 1 hour for sure!!

My pick:

1. via Shimoga
2. via Belgaum
3. via Londa
4.

A.
via bankapura - mundgod - yellapura (this route would be same distance via shimoga). I am yet to know road condition of this entire route although I know part of this route. Very soon I might try this while visiting Ankola.

B. via haveri - sirsi - devimane ghat (stop at devimange temple to see breathtaking valley view) - ankola.

5. via hubli - yellapura

Please note that every route has at least 25km bad roads.

Ravi.

[sushrutha]

I would vouch on Shimoga route. As of now road is really good all the way till Shimoga, except the bad stretch at Tumkur bypass.

[magiceye]

Just did the Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Mangalore and back 10days back. The Hubli-Yelapur-Ankola stretch is superb!

[rajivtelang]

The Haveri-Sirsi route is not bad at all, just a bit rough as Ravi said. Main trouble is between Chitradurga and Haveri, so one can try the Sagara route.

[Hurrycane12]

Need to know the road conditions for Shimoga - Goa I am travelling on Saturday morning plan to take the Sagar - Honnavar - Kumta - Ankola route.

[ravibhat]

Last week I travelled in this route between Ankola - Shimoga - Bangalore. I could see max. 30km bad roads overall in 500km. Even those 30km are managable, not worst.

Regards,

Ravi.