[mclaren1885]

Goandude, IIRC there are two routes from Londa-Goa? The route I took (in the middle of the night) was excellent and I don't remember coming across any bad sections at all after Londa.

I would still say the Bangalore-Shimoga-Goa route is the best one. Takes around 10hrs with plenty of stops and is by far the most scenic route among the 3.

[nnandi]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

I would still say the Bangalore-Shimoga-Goa route is the best one. Takes around 10hrs with plenty of stops and is by far the most scenic route among the 3.

Rahul, is this the route your are talking about:
Bangalore (NH4) – Tumkur (NH206) – Gubbi – Tiptur – Arsikere – Tarikere – Bhadravati – Shimoga - Honavar (NH17) – Kumta – Ankola – Karwar – Kali bridge – Margao – Panaji.
Reason for asking is, I have planned a trip in Sep, so just researching the best route possible from blore to goa. Probably I might drop in one of the quick meets (Nandi hill drive) before that and take more info from you.

Originally Posted by sammyboy

I will also be driving down to Goa in the last week of September

Sammyboy, I have also booked a trip to goa in same time with family and friends. But is it safe to travel there, with the H1N1 pandemic around? What say?

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by nnandi

Rahul, is this the route your are talking about:
Bangalore (NH4) – Tumkur (NH206) – Gubbi – Tiptur – Arsikere – Tarikere – Bhadravati – Shimoga - Honavar (NH17) – Kumta – Ankola – Karwar – Kali bridge – Margao – Panaji.
Reason for asking is, I have planned a trip in Sep, so just researching the best route possible from blore to goa. Probably I might drop in one of the quick meets (Nandi hill drive) before that and take more info from you.

Yes, this is the same route I was talking about. Mostly, I might be in Goa at the same time too, since our trip this month got canceled citing H1N1. Sigh!

Actually send me your mail id. I had prepared a to do list for Sam Kapasi a few months back. Shall forward it to you.

Also you can check out the route pics on my travelogue.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...re-tune-5.html

[nnandi]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Yes, this is the same route I was talking about. Mostly, I might be in Goa at the same time too, since our trip this month got canceled citing H1N1. Sigh!

Awesome!! In case you are also there, it would be great to meet there also!

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Actually send me your mail id. I had prepared a to do list for Sam Kapasi a few months back. Shall forward it to you.

Will PM that to you now.

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Also you can check out the route pics on my travelogue.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...re-tune-5.html

I have read your goa travelogue quite some time back and that too for a lot of times and loved the pictures with your swift. In fact the taxi part (charging you a bomb) made me decide to take my car there!

Quick question, this H1N1 virus is quite a scare. Do you think it would be safe during that time to visit goa?

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by nnandi

Awesome!! In case you are also there, it would be great to meet there also!

Shall keep you informed about my travel plans. We can have a sorts of mini meet in Goa. Also there are many TBHPians who are pretty angry with me for not meeting up with them the last three times I went to goa.

I have read your goa travelogue quite some time back and that too for a lot of times and loved the pictures with your swift. In fact the taxi part (charging you a bomb) made me decide to take my car there!

Honestly, unless you wanted to travel by bikes in Goa I would anyday prefer taking my car. You need about 1500 bucks of diesel for a swift which IMO is equal to two volvo tickets. You can stop where you want, take a break when you want, enjoy the drive and scenery.

Quick question, this H1N1 virus is quite a scare. Do you think it would be safe during that time to visit goa?

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't think too much. But since I have been having some rough times off lately, decided not to take a chance this time.

[ravibhat]

I prefer: bangalore - shimoga - goa and goa - belgaum - bangalore routes anytime. While visiting my native place I always prefer via Shimoga also my relatives.

Looking inot present condition next 3 months H1N1 will be serious issue. I already cancelled my next week's trip and also now waiting to take decision about my planned september last week's trip too :( I pray GOD my planned October and December trip won't get cancelled and I am confident by February things will be under control so don't intend to cancel my February trip.

Ravi.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by ravibhat

Looking inot present condition next 3 months H1N1 will be serious issue. I already cancelled my next week's trip and also now waiting to take decision about my planned september last week's trip too :( I pray GOD my planned October and December trip won't get cancelled and I am confident by February things will be under control so don't intend to cancel my February trip.

Ravi.

Hi Ravi, don't be so concerned, i think by October, things should be normal.

but Rural India may not be as affected as cities unless some one severely afeected travels to these rural areas and spread the virus.

I am also scheduled to travel to Udupi and Karwar in sept 3rd/4th week
i am hoping that things would be normal by that time.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Goandude, IIRC there are two routes from Londa-Goa? The route I took (in the middle of the night) was excellent and I don't remember coming across any bad sections at all after Londa. I would like to see this on a map. If you could post a link it would enlighten all of us. But I seriosly dont think so.

I would still say the Bangalore-Shimoga-Goa route is the best one. Takes around 10hrs with plenty of stops and is by far the most scenic route among the 3. Ten hours is optimistic as it is a two lane road with numerous speed breakers when going thru the villages so average speed comes to approx 50 km per hr. took me 14 hrs when i last went thru this route in 2007

My remarks in Bold. but does anybody know if they are two routes to goa from Londa?

[goandude]

a pic is worth a thousand words. this is of the road we dread. but it is not too long a punishment.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by goandude

a pic is worth a thousand words. this is of the road we dread. but it is not too long a punishment.

I remember the road being in this exact shape when I was returning from Goa in my Swift back in October 2008. But this time when we were going to Goa in the Baleno (around 3 months back), I am sure we never came across a bad stretch. Maybe I missed the bad route somehow . Though I came across some new roundabouts that I had never seen before. They were newly constructed, some even unfinished. I don't clearly remember the route I took (but it looked different to the one I had taken earlier, maybe I took another longer route without realizing), but for sure I didn't pass through the bad stretch I had passed near Ponda.

IIRC, I think I did the trip in ~ 12hrs on my swift. After getting stuck in a horrible traffic jam uptil Tumkur toll gate. My girl friend has motion sickness and so everytime we hit a ghat section, I had to stop, give her the medicines, travel the entire ghat section not speeding more than 20-30 kmph. We also stopped over at Jog for an hour and if you look at my travelogue you will see the number of times I stopped over to click snaps. Even the stretch between Tarikere to Honnavar was in pretty bad shape. I stopped excessively during that trip, mainly because I wanted to click some good pics. So if one were to drive normally, yes you can do this stretch in ~10 hrs.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Goandude, IIRC there are two routes from Londa-Goa? The route I took (in the middle of the night) was excellent and I don't remember coming across any bad sections at all after Londa.

Could it have been this one? http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...pur-goa-4.html
In which case another way out of goa.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by goandude

Could it have been this one? http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...pur-goa-4.html
In which case another way out of goa.

It surely wasn't Sankeshwar-Amboli-Sawantwadi route. Because we stopped over @ Belgaum to tank up and grab a quick bite. I remember hitting Ponda. After that I just followed some sign boards. I am not sure I remember seeing the Castle Rock signboard, because the road around that deviation was unmotorable when I had taken this route back in 2008. It was pitch dark, in the middle of the night and we hardly saw more than 10 trucks, 1 indica and maybe a couple of cars. I could average speeds of around 80 kmph on these roads and it was a lot shorter time wise than what it took me to cover Goa-Ponda-Castle Rock-Londa-Khanapur-Belgaum back in 2008. I just looked at mapmyindia, I might have turned left at Molem, hit Quepem-Margoa-Panaji-Baga.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

It surely wasn't Sankeshwar-Amboli-Sawantwadi route. Because we stopped over @ Belgaum to tank up and grab a quick bite. I remember hitting Ponda. After that I just followed some sign boards. I am not sure I remember seeing the Castle Rock signboard, because the road around that deviation was unmotorable when I had taken this route back in 2008. It was pitch dark, in the middle of the night and we hardly saw more than 10 trucks, 1 indica and maybe a couple of cars. I could average speeds of around 80 kmph on these roads and it was a lot shorter time wise than what it took me to cover Goa-Ponda-Castle Rock-Londa-Khanapur-Belgaum back in 2008. I just looked at mapmyindia, I might have turned left at Molem, hit Quepem-Margoa-Panaji-Baga.

I did not mean sankleshwar amboli s'wadi. I meant belgaum khanapur anmod ghat (bypassing Londa) ponda. This goole eaRTH image is from the mumbai pune kholapur goa thread. where Minardi has also taken it. Just see if it is the one. PS this road is marked wrongly in this image as NH4A.

[sansad]

Folks - I plan to take the route from Bangalore -> Shimoga -> Jog -> Honavar -> Murudeshwar -> Honavar -> Gokarna -> Karwar -> Panaji.

I plan to start early morning (say 4am).

Few Qs:
- What are the approx times for these places.
- Does it make sense taking a night halt at Murudeshwar/Gokarna to beat stress/fatigue (travelling w/ my parents)
- Are the roads marked aptly (in English).
- How much time does it take to see around Jog falls.
- How much time does it take to see around Murudeshwar.
- How much time does it take to see around Gokarna.
- Anything worth covering in Haldipur???
- Is I were to reach Panaji in single drive (w/ stopages at Jog/Murudeshwar/Halidpur/Gokarna), when would reach Panji (evening/night???)

Also, any must sees along the route, which I have missed!!!
(first timer on NH206/NH17)

thnx for help/suggestions. cheers!!!

[hvkumar]

Murudeshwara is a nice place to stay over, there being teh temple, sea and a couple of good hotels. I would prefer Murudeshwara to Gokarna.

Road signs are good, and being NH roads, in English, Kannada and Hindi.

Jog Falls should not take you more than 1-2 hours at most.

Murudeshwara has just the temple and the giant Shiva Statue next to it. I don't think there are huge Qs in the temple. Should not take you more than 1 hour.

Gokarna has 2 components - the Gokarna town which has 2 temples, both of which are open only in the morning and evening, being closed after noon till approximately 4 pm. The Om Beach is 7 kms away from Gokarna town and you can spend 1-2 hours on that detour.

You can reach Panaji the same day if you leave early. No safety issues en route, and no problems with night driving. But if you stop at all these places, may be difficult to reach Panaji at a reasonable time.