[Goandiaries]

Originally Posted by vinodrkn

Hi,

If this is a repeat, sorry about that. Got a little overwhelmed reading all the options to reach Goa from Bangalore. We are planning a December trip from Bangalore to South Goa, in all probability to Cavelossim Beach.

Qtn 1 = Route. Google maps shows Bangalore > Neelamangala > Tumkur > Davangere > Bankapura > Yelapur (not through Hubli) > Ankola > Karwar > Cavelossim. Just checking if this route is okay.

Qtn 2 = Place to halt for the night. We are planning to amble on to Goa, instead of rushing it, and we therefore need to halt. Any suggestions on cities / town on the way. Would this necessitate us going up to Hubli, as opposed to the above suggested route.

Thanks !

Did several trips (atleast about 4 Goa - Blr - Goa) and I prefer BLR - Dharwar - Mollem. This route has one diversion between Tinai ghat and Anmod. This is a bit tricky if there are too many cars on this section at a time (which hardly happens). The average speed between Dharwad and Bangalore is 70 - 80 km, while the rest of the route has about 40 kmph average according to my MID.

Now for your preference: If you are taking the Yellapur, roads are a bit patchy between ankola and hubli (or yellapur). If you start early, you can make it to goa easily. If you don't want to do it, I guess you can take a break at Gokarna (although you have to have a diversion). Im not sure about decent stay after Hubli.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by vinodrkn

Qtn 1 = Route. Google maps shows Bangalore > Neelamangala > Tumkur > Davangere > Bankapura > Yelapur (not through Hubli) > Ankola > Karwar > Cavelossim. Just checking if this route is okay.

Qtn 2 = Place to halt for the night. We are planning to amble on to Goa, instead of rushing it, and we therefore need to halt. Any suggestions on cities / town on the way. Would this necessitate us going up to Hubli, as opposed to the above suggested route.

Thanks !

Not sure if it is the best option but you could consider Bangalore - Shimoga (Royal Orchid Central) - Goa. Splits the journey into two halves of 6-7 hours with a good overnight stay option at Royal Orchid Central. There is a mall with SPAR supermarket walkable from the hotel. We ask the hotel to provide us some packed lunch so we don't have to worry about food on the way. There is a cafe coffee day near Ankola for a short coffee break.

I once stayed at Naveen Lake side hotel in Hubli and Apoorva Resorts in Davanagere - found both of them to be decent. Royal Orchid Central Shimoga is much better though.

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by vinodrkn

Hi,

Qtn 2 = Place to halt for the night. We are planning to amble on to Goa, instead of rushing it, and we therefore need to halt. Any suggestions on cities / town on the way. Would this necessitate us going up to Hubli, as opposed to the above suggested route.

Thanks !

The default Google maps option is possibly the worst unless one is stuck on Goa as some kind of magical destination to reach in desperation. I’ve had a wonderful experience taking 5 days to reach Palolem. If you are game try this - Day1 hit Chikmagalur. Day2 hit the backwaters of Sharavati valley/Jog. The trick is to avoid the shortest route via Sagara/Shimoga (a worst experience due to pesky small town traffic hotspots) and zoom into all the green patches on Google maps. You will find white lines appear as you zoom in representing country backroads(Hint: via Balehonnur). Plan your route to stay within all the green patches as much as possible to finally touch a good home stay close to the backwaters of Sharavati. Day3 - visit Jog waterfalls then head to a home stay in Dandeli again not via the shortest route from Jog via Sirsi, but climbing down some of the most beautiful ghat roads in India from Jog to Honnavar and then find the cut from the 4-lane highway 1-2 hrs after Gokarana to hit the beautiful Yellapur stretch and then Dandeli. Again follow the same route planning principle by finding the green patches and zooming in and setting appropriate waypoints on the way to Dandeli.

I will guarantee you there will be just one song your lips as you glide through the thickly forested ghat roads from Jog to Honnaver - the title of the song is “Screw Ladhak - I found my paradise”. Karnataka has an incredibly beautiful countryside - Enjoy it to the hilt! You will experience the same within the green patch roads of Dandeli. While at Dandeli stay 2 nights to do river rafting on river Kali the next day on day 4. Day 5 cut through via Anshi national park to hit Palolem in a 3-4hr drive. You will find ample time to detour and stop at the recommended view points on the way. Each days driving will not be more than 7 hrs on the map even after selecting the zig-zag backcountry roads and this gives you the luxury of leisure stops and really feeling the joy of a vacation road trip rather than the stress of covering 550-650 km in 12 hours. Driving for the sake of driving - through some of the most beautiful and scenic roads of India with some of the lowest vehicle density you will experience.

You will also discover some hidden truths like for ex: 1) Only BLR has bad roads 2) you can see, live and drive through windows wallpaper scenery for real at least once or twice per hour 3) You will discover an India with low population density (there is such a thing) and will cross on average one vehicle per 5 mins for 4 days of driving with 8-9 hrs on some of the most beautiful roads to drive on 4) You will find a joy in owning and driving a car that you never did while suffering an utterly miserable life in Bangalore as an automobile enthusiast.

I always stay first 2 nights at Palolem to minimise the driving time and enjoy some quality beach time before hitting North Goa. Return journey could be a shorter single day long drive from Goa to. Bangalore. To facilitate this I make sure last night is again in Palolem from North Goa. But even here I prefer hitting Chikmagalur straight from Palolem for a night halt. Because the default route via BLR Chitradurga Hiryur etc., onwards is a really poor experience in comparison.



HTH

[ccnarayanan]

1. Naveen Lakeside, Hubli or Fortune Park (ITC), Hubli if you take NH-44. If you want to explore further, there is a Fairfield Marriott / Royal Orchid near Belgaum.
2. Royal Orchid, Shimoga.

One thing about these overnight stop-overs is that you reach Goa in mid afternoon on the second day around hotel check-in time and you get one more evening for the beaches.

[am1m]

Got to Goa yesterday. Went through Udupi since we have family there and it made sense to stay overnight. Udupi-Karwar-Canacona is a breeze as always. The inter-state border checkpost here doesn't seem crowded, at least it wasn't at 11am on a Sunday morning. The cops just looked at our vaccination certificates on my phone (2 adults), didn't even bother to check any form of ID and we didn't even have to get out of the car. Since a couple of friends are planning to travel to Goa later, asked one of the cops specifically about covid-related entry requirements for kids- he said no test reports required for children. Hope this helps.

Some roads in Goa seem to have deteriorated post-monsoon. Canacona-Margao had some potholes and rough patches, Margao-Panaji seems much worse than it used to be. More bad stretches under the under-construction flyovers. Was certainly in a lot better shape last year before the monsoon.

Was expecting the place to be packed with tourists, but not yet. Might start from this week with all the long weekends coming up. A lot more places have opened up, most that were shut during the covid waves last year and earlier this year. The beach shacks look like they will start coming up soon. Masking is lax outside the cities.

[paragsachania]

I drove to Goa today. Took the Dharwad Alnavar Ramnagar Tinai Ghat Mollem route. Started at 0400 and reached Varca at 1240pm with one breakfast break near Hubli.



Regarding the checking at the border, it took me less than 5 minutes. I was carrying print out of both our Covid vaccination certificates. I showed these to the cops and then they made entry including details of my vehicle number and contact details and destination. As expected, they didn't bother much about kids even when I was traveling with my daughter.

Roads are good mostly except few small sections of Dharwad and Ramnagar. Tinai Ghat section is pathcy at places but very easily manageable. The concretized sections of Ramnagar Anmod and beyond till Goa border are excellent.

Even if this route is not 100% clean, I feel this remains a better choice as of today.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I drove to Goa today. Took the Dharwad Alnavar Ramnagar Tinai Ghat Mollem route. Started at 0400 and reached Varca at 1240pm with one breakfast break near Hubli.

That is some spirited driving

Even if this route is not 100% clean, I feel this remains a better choice as of today.

Would you suggest this even if the destination is south goa (Agonda/Patnem beach)? I want to try different routes for to and return journeys hence the Q. But not interested in doing a too long detour.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

That is some spirited driving

Well the credit goes to that early morning start and constantly cruising at 110-120 nearly all the times. In fact the new Chitradurga bypass also immensely helped. We were 10km before Hubli within 4 hours for breakfast and till then we average almost 100 kmph without really crossing 120! Roads got better after Chitradurga without doubt. I counted 3 diversions in all towards Hubli with the first one between Chitradurga and Davanagere and remaining between Davanagere and Haveri but those were about it.

Would you suggest this even if the destination is south goa (Agonda/Patnem beach)? I want to try different routes for to and return journeys hence the Q. But not interested in doing a too long detour.

I always do this. Take a different route for both directions. So am sure I will mostly take the Kalhatgi option on return. One of the reasons to do this is because today I encountered just too many Bangalore cars in the ghats and that narrow sections of Tinai, all returning to Bangalore and needless to say, I felt at home when I saw most of them flashing headlights asking for way rather than make way for each other by driving right.

Taking the Kalhatgi option should save me from this irritation on return as traffic will surely be less on that route compared to Ramnagar.

For your query on whether this route works best for Palolem, well it really may not. The Kalhatgi option is still the fastest for Palolem. Roads between Hubli and Kalhatgi are not great and to avoid this you may consider Kalhatgi Tadas.

[ms001]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Would you suggest this even if the destination is south goa (Agonda/Patnem beach)? I want to try different routes for to and return journeys hence the Q. But not interested in doing a too long detour.

Completed a round trip last week from Bangalore to Palolem

Bangalore to Palolem
Bangalore Hosur road Nice entry > Neelamangala > Tumkur > Davangere > Bankapura > Yelapur > Ankola > Karwar > Palolem.
Started at 630am from HSR layout, it was torrential rain all the way to Chitradunrga heavy rain from Karwar to Palolem. Reached Palolem at 3:00pm.
Breaks at Appoorva resort for breakfast(around 9am) and lunch at Yellapur(around 1pm).

Palolem to Bangalore
Took the Same route started at 6:30am reached Bangalore at 4:00pm, with plenty of breaks in between.

Roads are good throughout up to Bankapur , Bankapur to Yellapur is a narrow single lane would not recommend this before sunrise. Its was comfortable in my duster, very low GC sedans may have issue here.
Yellapur to karwar roads are bit patchy due to the heavy monsoon, but not a problem as such.

There were a few speed interceptors in between, be mindful of those and the speeds that you are doing, it is very easy to reach way above the prescribed speed limit on the wide 6 lane NH4.

[roadlover1705]

Very helpful inquires and responses in this thread already but I’m a little overwhelmed for my trip and hence relying on all of yours guidance.

I’m driving to Goa tonight for the first time from Bangalore and need help in finalising the best route and some decent stop overs for breaks given I’ll be travelling with family


Here are the trip details-

Origin - Hennur, Bangalore
Destination - Varca beach, Goa
Estimated start - 0430 hours

Question- given recent heavy rains across, what would be the best route to take if I’m aspiring to reach the destination by 1400 hours and what places shall I consider taking breaks at on route ?

We are vaccinated with double doses and have taken the RT PCR negative reports. Any other things for consideration and tips would be really appreciated.

Thanks as always fellow bhpians!

[ms001]

Originally Posted by roadlover1705

Very helpful inquires and responses in this thread already but I’m a little overwhelmed for my trip and hence relying on all of yours guidance.

I would recommend the below route

Neelamangala > Tumkur > Davangere > Bankapura > Yelapur > Ankola > Karwar > Palolem ->Varca

10 hours seems very optimistic considering this will be your first trip. I would say consider 11-11.5 hours journey time including breaks.

Iam not sure if toll booths are open before 5am due to the night curfew, please check that before starting.

You can have breakfast at Apporva resorts Davangere, it has clean rest rooms, food is just okish, but is hygienic. Lunch stop you could consider at shreekrishna residency Yellapur. Next if you need a break you could stop somewhere after entering Goa.

Take print outs of vaccination certificates / RTPCR reports as applicable, keep pollution certificate, insurance , RC DL handy. Don't forget to take umbrellas, just in case if you need to get down in the rain. I usually take an extra pair of car keys, airpump with me. Also make sure that wipers are in good working condition.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip!!

[roadlover1705]

Originally Posted by ms001

Iam not sure if toll booths are open before 5am due to the night curfew, please check that before starting.

Thank you so much for your swift response to my query, I highly appreciate all of the guidance and will follow the route suggested and the stop overs you recommended.

It hadn’t occurred to me to start a little late due to the curfew part, there goes the “overwhelming “ bit I mentioned.

I’d love to report back to group how it all went as I’m back. Thanks again!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ms001

Iam not sure if toll booths are open before 5am due to the night curfew, please check that before starting.

Toll booths were always functional even during night curfews as freight traffic was never stopped, especially for essentials and emergencies.

Even now the night curfew only restricts commercial establishments to function beyond the curfew hours that will dither public to venture out unnecessarily.

We started from home at 4 and hit the first booth at 4:20 ish. My friend returned from Goa yesterday and due to incessant rains he faced all throughout the journey he reached Bangalore only beyond midnight.

[sjoshi999]

This weekend drove BLR -> goa via long & scenic route in Honda Jazz

BLR->Davengere->Tadas->Kalaghatgi->Dandeli->Anmod ->South Goa

the Anmod stretch had 4-5 diversions. It was dry - so was possible to navigate in Jazz (saw few other small cars doing the same).

total time 10.30 hours (including breaks).

At checkpost verified printed copies of vaccination certificates & noted car occupants- did not take more than 2-3 minutes.

[loki]

Reached Goa (Bernaulim) today. Took Dharwad - Ramnagar - Tinai (including diversion) - Anmod - Ponda - Bernaulim.

Covid vaccination certificates were checked for all occupants at Mollem.

Upto Dharwad was the usual. From the Dharwad turnoff to Goa border ranged from good 2 lane to lots of potholes especially near Railway crossings. Took us about 9 hrs including a couple of breaks. Benefits of Leaving Bangalore early enough (before 5AM?) need not be stressed enough....