[ravibhat]

Last few months there is no change in road condition. there is road repair going on so expect better roads rather than bad roads. There are many bad patches in every route so I suggest you can take any route inclduign via Shimoga.

Road condition is personal feeling not general opinion now a days!

I suggest take route via Shimoga while going and try Amboli while coming back. You will love the drive.

Ravi.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by ravibhat

.

Road condition is personal feeling not general opinion now a days!

Ravi.

I agree with your statement entirely. that is why I find timings and average speeds over a stretch of road are more significant, so that team members do not have to read a description of the road, but see for themselves the condition (could be either improvement or deterioration) depending on the average speed and or timings. e.g. C'durga - haveri is 135 km which takes about 2:15 to 2:20. So if the timing goes up by say, 10 - 15 min or so, one can deduce that potholes are back.

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by shajufx

I need to drive down (Ford Fiesta, Petrol) to Colva beach on 20th December, any idea about the present road condition via shimoga - Sagar - Honavar - Gokarna - Karwar ? Has the recent flood affected this route by any chance ? If someone has done this route, please guide me on the total time expected and any other related info. If the road condition is bad, I will be booking train tickets within a day or two as the usual Xmas rush is already visible on the availability.

I had gone from Bangalore to Goa in this route in my Zen on 27th march 2009. This is the best route available i feel. Chitradurga route and all is not ready yet.

Once you cross shimoga road is practically empty till Honavar. Even though road is small, but still road is pretty good and you can just peak at Jog falls. After honavar also its a smoth drive did not find any bad roads.

I started from Bangalore at 5 am(to avoid nelmanagala traffic) and i reached Baga beach at 6 PM. I had mapmyindia navigator also so reached without there without asking for routes.

[shajufx]

Thanks guys, I am curious to know the approximate driving time Bangalore to Margao ! As of now I prefer to stick to the same route of Tumkur -Shimoga - Honnavar - Gokarna - Karwar - Margao, I assume its around 600 kms from BEL Circle (Outer Ring Road). I did a 580 kms drive to Kerala (NH-7 and NH-47) which took 13 hours (5.30am to 6.30pm) 2 weeks back. So is it possible to do the Bangalore - Margao 10-12 hours range ? I have never done this route by road till today. Next option is train, but by any chance booking has to be done today.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Thanks guys, I am curious to know the approximate driving time Bangalore to Margao ! As of now I prefer to stick to the same route of Tumkur -Shimoga - Honnavar - Gokarna - Karwar - Margao, I assume its around 600 kms from BEL Circle (Outer Ring Road). I did a 580 kms drive to Kerala (NH-7 and NH-47) which took 13 hours (5.30am to 6.30pm) 2 weeks back. So is it possible to do the Bangalore - Margao 10-12 hours range ? I have never done this route by road till today. Next option is train, but by any chance booking has to be done today.

Hi Shaju

i suggest you leave Bangalore early morning say 4:30 AM or 5 AM
this way you can avoid peenya-nelamangala rush hour and save some time

assuming you leave at 4:30 AM,

you can cross Tumkur by 6 AM, reach Shimoga by 10:00 including a 45-60 minutes breakfast break somewhere in the middle. Shimoga-Sagar-Jog is about 2.5 hours drive. if you want to stop at Jog falls + lunch it would consume some 60-90 minutes. if you can manage to leave Jog by 2:30 PM, then it would take you about 4 hours to reach Karwar. if you manage your time well you can view sun set at Karwar beach.

from Karwar to Madgaon is about 2-3hours plus drive depends on your skills to drive on a narrow roads of goa. You can reach Madgaon by dinner time 8:30 PM.

[shajufx]

Wow, that was ton of an info starvega, no doubt, exactly what I wanted. I can now peacefully book for train as anything above 12 hours drive is bit tough for me as wifee will be really occupied with the 7 month old and another 3.5 year old. Also driving after sun-set becomes a real pain on narrow roads ! Opting a train, I will be really at ease, can make use of my camera well, take care of the kids too. May be I should patiently wait for another 2 years to do full-day drives without tension on kids.

Thanks to everyone here again !

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by shajufx

May be I should patiently wait for another 2 years to do full-day drives without tension on kids.
Thanks to everyone here again !

Or look to breaking journey someplace midway or thereabouts.

[rajivtelang]

Ravi and others, thanks for this data. I will take the Shimoga route to Honavar and then continue to Madgaon.

Are there any good hotels in between Bangalore-Shimoga for a night's stay as I will start at around 5PM after a busy working day and need to make a stay for night. Do not wish to drive on the ghat roads over night.

I visited Shimoga in September and found road in not great condition. It will definitely consume more than 6 hours to reach from Bangalore.

Any hotels in Arsikere/Tarikere etc?

[optimist]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Are there any good hotels in between Bangalore-Shimoga for a night's stay as I will start at around 5PM after a busy working day

Where are you planning to start from? Traffic is very slow at Peenya from 5PM till about 8PM and will easily take nearly an hour to get past Nelamangala. Please add Bangalore city drive time also.

Assuming you pass Nelamangala after 7PM, you might reach shimoga around midnight. Potholes on road will be difficult in dark unless you have good lights. Please plan carefully.

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Ravi and others, thanks for this data. I will take the Shimoga route to Honavar and then continue to Madgaon.

Are there any good hotels in between Bangalore-Shimoga for a night's stay as I will start at around 5PM after a busy working day and need to make a stay for night. Do not wish to drive on the ghat roads over night.

I visited Shimoga in September and found road in not great condition. It will definitely consume more than 6 hours to reach from Bangalore.

Any hotels in Arsikere/Tarikere etc?

Me Being from Hassan, I can tell Arsikere is not a good place to halt especially for families, You know what i am telling. Tiptur is better Place to halt.

[rajivtelang]

Thanks for info. Then I will start very early say 4AM from Bangalore and take the shimoga route to Honavar. Need to reach Madgaon by evening on Thursday. Hoping to reach in ~12 hours with a single hault for food. It might be possible to reach before 6PM.

[sameer sultan]

I travelled from Chennai to Goa via Bangalore in first week of August. After going thro various travelogues on the Bangalore to Goa route in this forum I finalised the route which I am writing below as this would be helpful to anyone travelling to Goa in the near future from Bangalore.

From Chennai I took the NH 4 up to the 2nd Toll Plaza and then it was NH 46 from Ranipet to Krishnagiri. From there NH 7 to Bangalore.

I was heading to South Goa hence took the following route from Bangalore.

Bangalore - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Davengere -Haveri - Hubli - Dharwad- Kittur - Bidi Post -Khanapur Road - Londa - Castle Rock - Ponda - Madgoan - Varca.

Total 611 KMS. Took about 14 hours as the road conditions were bad at quiet a few places.

Bangalore to Tumkur - NH 4 Average Road condition. Four Laning not completed fully. Many flyovers under construction(work has stopped)

Tumkur - Chitradurga - NH 4 Awesome road. About 140 kms I covered in about 60 mins.

Chitradurga byepass not completed. 2 flyovers under construction.

Chitradurga - Davengere - Average road condition. Bumpy road.

Davengere - Hubli. Up to Haveri the road is bad. From Haveri to Hubli the road is excellent.

Hubli - Kittur Fine roads on NH 4.

Kittur to Khanapur very bad road. (I regretted taking this road) Non- existant at some places after the rains.

Khanapur to Londa. Nh 4A. Lot of mining lorry traffic and the roads have eroded due to rains at some places.

Londa - Varca - Good roads.

For my return journey I took the Karwar road.

Madgoan - Polem - Karwar - NH 17.

Sakkalbert - Yellapur - Hubli NH 63.

Hubli - Chitradurga - Bangalore NH 4.

Total 647 KMS covered in 12 hours including 1.5 Hours stop for Breakfast/Lunch.

This route is the best as throughout the roads are decent. Karwar to Hubli very sparse traffic and after that it is GQ.

[rajivtelang]

Visited Goa from Bangalore via Tumkur-Shimoga-Sagar-Honnavar-Karwar route last Thursday. This route is in good condition except for few turns in the ghat road and some part of NH-17 between Ankola and Karwar. Patch work is in full swing but the patches are making the drive a bit rough.

I started at 5.15AM from HSR layout, took the NICE road from Bannerghatta road and took NH-4, tumkur road. Reached Shimoga at 10.45AM with a single halt for breakfast (30min) at Kamat Upachar near Tumkur on NH-4. From there I took no halt and reached Honnavar at 2.30PM for lunch break of 45min at again Kamat hotel on NH-17. Reached Goa at 6.15PM, the final destination.

For return journey I took the same route and made a night halt at Shimoga, and finally today reached Bangalore.

Verdict: Recommened route for all types of vehicles

Thanks to everyone for recommeding this one.

[prince_alex]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Visited Goa from Bangalore via Tumkur-Shimoga-Sagar-Honnavar-Karwar route last Thursday. This route is in good condition except for few turns in the ghat road and some part of NH-17 between Ankola and Karwar. Patch work is in full swing but the patches are making the drive a bit rough.

I started at 5.15AM from HSR layout, took the NICE road from Bannerghatta road and took NH-4, tumkur road. Reached Shimoga at 10.45AM with a single halt for breakfast (30min) at Kamat Upachar near Tumkur on NH-4. From there I took no halt and reached Honnavar at 2.30PM for lunch break of 45min at again Kamat hotel on NH-17. Reached Goa at 6.15PM, the final destination.

For return journey I took the same route and made a night halt at Shimoga, and finally today reached Bangalore.

Verdict: Recommened route for all types of vehicles

Thanks to everyone for recommeding this one.

Hi Rajiv,

I am planning to drive down to Goa during christmas week, planning take the route suggested by you. I am planning to stay at Kumta for the night. When I searched google maps the route shown was sagar - talaguppa - siddapur - kumta

Any idea about the road condition thru siddapur, I guess you took the Sagar - Honavar - Kumta route, how is this streatch?

Thanks

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by prince_alex

Hi Rajiv,

I am planning to drive down to Goa during christmas week, planning take the route suggested by you. I am planning to stay at Kumta for the night. When I searched google maps the route shown was sagar - talaguppa - siddapur - kumta

Any idea about the road condition thru siddapur, I guess you took the Sagar - Honavar - Kumta route, how is this streatch?

Thanks

The route I took does not go via siddapur. Once you cross Jog falls continue on the same route, you will cross a tollgate at a place called mavingundi after Jog falls. This route is via sagar-talaguppa-jog falls-gersoppa-honnavar. This route is good except for few turns in the ghat section. The road in ghat appears to be newly patched but that too is gone rough at a few places. Some part of the ghat road is still the very old single laned road. But all this is good to drive, I drove in my Santro without any trouble, if you have a bigger car, it is even simpler.