[jaaz]

@Souvik - Thanks for the detailed travelogue.

I've observed that where ever Karnataka meets its neighbour's, the last stretch of Road (say - 20-30 kms.) is very bad. So, for non Karnataka People "Are they Welcoming or driving them away"

And assuming that we pay the highest Road Tax in the Country, the Roads should've been far better.

[arin_12]

Originally Posted by jaaz

And assuming that we pay the highest Road Tax in the Country, the Roads should've been far better.

Paying high tax and getting the good road is altogether is different story in Karnataka. My recent visit to goa was a very bad exp due to the heavy rain and the Road.
OT:- Avoid dark sun film in the car, if you are visiting Goa. You can roll down the Glass if you want. Police in Goa is quite particular it seems. They was asking me to remove the sun film before entering.

[Rajiv-Bang]

Originally Posted by arin_12

Paying high tax and getting the good road is altogether is different story in Karnataka. My recent visit to goa was a very bad exp due to the heavy rain and the Road.
OT:- Avoid dark sun film in the car, if you are visiting Goa. You can roll down the Glass if you want. Police in Goa is quite particular it seems. They was asking me to remove the sun film before entering.

Arindam,

Did you remove the film? They charge 100 rupees as fine with receipt & let go. I had faced this problem last year. I guess they are still continuing the ban in view of the terror threats.

[goandude]

Planning : goa Sawantwadi amboli belgaum hubli bangy.

Question is: are they any decent places to stay in hubli or haveri, close to NH4?
thanks
GD

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by goandude

Planning : goa Sawantwadi amboli belgaum hubli bangy.

Question is: are they any decent places to stay in hubli or haveri, close to NH4?
thanks
GD

Hubli

1. Hotel Naveen 0836-2372283/2372283,this is on the highway.
2.The Hans 2374770
There are a couple more,but these two were good.

Haveri

Hitaishi Palace Hotel-08375-2236800 Dont think you would get anything better than thismake do with whatever is available.

Hubli to Belgaum would anywys take only around 1hr as you know,so in case Belgaum then Hotel Sankam Residency

[sharanramesh]

hi,
i have completed 2 trips to goa by car this year and i have taken the following routes.

1. Bangalore - tumkur- chitradurga - haveri - hubli - yellapur - ankola - karvar - margao - panjim

2. bangalore - tumkur - shimoga - sagar - jog falls - honavar - karvar - margao - panjim

3. panjim - ponda - belgaum - hubli - chitradurga - tumkur - bangalore.

Best road quality: (Route 1)
Best Scenic quality: (Route 2)

Route 3 only if you are traveling to north goa. NH 4A from belgaum to Panjim via ponda has about 10 kms of awful roads before you enter goa. that apart no crib with this route. Also you can see Dudh Sagar water falls in this route.

Golden Rule: Roads magically improve the moment you get out of karnataka state. Unfortunately more than 75% of the drive is within karnataka state

[goandude]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Hubli

1. Hotel Naveen 0836-2372283/2372283,this is on the highway.
2.The Hans 2374770
There are a couple more,but these two were good.

Haveri

Hitaishi Palace Hotel-08375-2236800 Dont think you would get anything better than thismake do with whatever is available.

Hubli to Belgaum would anywys take only around 1hr as you know,so in case Belgaum then Hotel Sankam Residency

Naveen and Hans are on the old NH4 route. that is one has to avoid the bypass and go thru dharwad ot reach these.
Hitaishi telephone number does not exist.
Anyone for hotels preferably on the hubli bypass or Hubli haveri stretch.?

[hvkumar]

Inside Dharwad (old NH4) you also have Hotel Hoysala, and in Hubli Hotel Ananth Residency. The hotels in Haveri - I have seen a couple of hotels in both Haveri and Ranebennur towns.

[ravibhat]

In haveri only 1 or 2 hotels are good. I remember near Canara or some bank or ATM hotel is good for stay and food. In Ranebennur also there is 1 or 2 decent hotel.

However my pick in that area is few hotels in Dharwad where you get healthy facilities.

Regards,

Ravi.

[rajivtelang]

Planning for Goa visit over month end. What would be the best route after this heavy rainy season?
How is the Shimoga-Sagar route now? I visited Siddapur in September via this route but did not go till the ghat section, just took right after the Jog falls (before the toll gate) to reach Siddapur.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rajiv

[rajivtelang]

Answering the question from goandude. I had stayed in a hotel Tara Plaza at Haveri this April. You need to go inside the Haveri town and the hotel is just before bus stand.

Address and phone number.
Hotel Tara Plaza
P.B. Road, Before Bus Stand
(08375)233535/233397

Hotel is OK for a night or so. Tariff Rs. 395/-. There is a Kamat hotel just outside Tara Plaza, which was closed though when I reached at 10PM. Tara Plaza guys arranged for a hard roti and daal fry for us though

[sharanramesh]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Planning for Goa visit over month end. What would be the best route after this heavy rainy season?
How is the Shimoga-Sagar route now? I visited Siddapur in September via this route but did not go till the ghat section, just took right after the Jog falls (before the toll gate) to reach Siddapur.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rajiv

the road till shimoga is decent nothing to rave about. it does get a bit bat about 10 kms from shimoga, road works were on when i travelled this previous weekend.

Also the road from honavar to karvar is very bad in some patches and does require a little patience.

over all this is a very scenic route. please read post on 3rd november.

[VeluM]

Rajiv-Bang, Souvik, Agastya, and bmshiv, thank you for your input.

I took close to 12 hours each way, drove at a comfortable speed, depending on the road and conditions.

Good stretches were between Tumkur and Chitradurga (Super Awesome), and Davangere and Kittur (Awesome).

Bad stretches were between Chitradurga and Davangere (not too bad, work in progress) and between Dharwad and Molem (Goa). The second stretch was HORRIBLE, average speed of around 10kmph.

After my return, I checked and found that the best way is to follow NH 4 all the way to Belgaum and then come back through Khanpur, Molem. There is still an 8km stretch of bad road, but the rest is very good. This route is longer by around 50km, but the road makes up for it.

Trip was awesome, though a bit tiring owing to the extended driving-time.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by sharanramesh

the road till shimoga is decent nothing to rave about. it does get a bit bat about 10 kms from shimoga, road works were on when i travelled this previous weekend.

Also the road from honavar to karvar is very bad in some patches and does require a little patience.

over all this is a very scenic route. please read post on 3rd november.

The ghat roads are not in great shape specially in corners. I had done this in sept last week.

I took the NH4 to hubli while going and from their took the asini kumbhabhadra polem route. the scenery is quite awesome however, if anyone is going via that route they should avoid kumbhabhadra - asini section coz it took us 1.5 hrs to cross a mere 20 km stretch.

While coming back took the shimoga route. The route is sure scenic but as mentioned by someone before karwar honavar section is bad (not terrible).

[rajivtelang]

Thanks for the data. Last time in April I took following route

Bangalore-Tumkur-Haveri-Sirshi-Mirjan (via Devimane Ghat)-Karwar-Madgaon.
Any updates on this route?

I foresee three options otherwise

Bangalore-Tumkur-Shimoga-Sagar-Honavar-Karwar-Madgaon
Bangalore-Tumkur-Haveri-Sirshi-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Madgaon
Bangalore-Tumkur-Hubli-Kittur-Bidi-Khanapur-Londa-Molem-Madgaon

The last option is the longest one and first one is the shortest. I am planning to maintain a moderate speed and a trip of 12 hours. Bad roads are expected on each of these routes, but lesser the better. Looking at all the suggestions, I might go with the second one. I visted Sonda in September via Siddapur and roads were quite OK so hoping to reach Yellapur smoothly via Sirshi.

Please provide your opinion.

Thanks.
- Rajiv