[shadows123]

Originally Posted by indusboy

I took the Belgaum-Chorla route. Left Bangalore at 4:45 and reach Vagator by 2pm, because we were not hungry, we did not stop for lunch either in Belgaum or Chorla but a little later once we entered Goa.

How is the road from Belgaum to Vagator via Chorla and Mapusa as compared to say MK Hubli-Khanapur-North Goa? Is it still good? Google Maps has stopped showing this as the default route to North Goa these days and shows the route via Ramnagar,Panaji(despite lot of traffic on this route after reaching Goa).

And yes, the white house is a good option to eat. Had been there the last time i went to Goa during March. The owner is a nice fella , interacts with most of his customers who go the air conditioned room and the restaurant is well maintained in general and serves tasty food.

[indusboy]

Originally Posted by shadows123

How is the road from Belgaum to Vagator via Chorla and Mapusa as compared to say MK Hubli-Khanapur-North Goa?

The road surface is good, no potholes at all. Once you enter Goa, the Mapusa road is narrow and we encountered traffic - but I guess the long weekend was to blame more then anything else.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by shadows123

How is the road from Belgaum to Vagator via Chorla and Mapusa as compared to say MK Hubli-Khanapur-North Goa? Is it still good? Google Maps has stopped showing this as the default route to North Goa these days and shows the route via Ramnagar,Panaji(despite lot of traffic on this route after reaching Goa

MK Hubli-Khanapur-North Goa will still be via Jamboti and Chorla. The only other route that I can think that passes via Khanapur is the one via Bhimgad National Park/Sanctuary which again meet NH4A near Mollem.

Or did you actually mean - Alnavar Ramnagar Anmod Route?

[shadows123]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

MK Hubli-Khanapur-North Goa will still be via Jamboti and Chorla. The only other route that I can think that passes via Khanapur is the one via Bhimgad National Park/Sanctuary which again meet NH4A near Mollem.

Or did you actually mean - Alnavar Ramnagar Anmod Route?

I meant why chose Belgaum-Jamboti-Chorla when MK Hubli-Jamboti-Chorla is a shorter route which doesnt go into Belgaum city!

Ramnagar route is fine but i think its a bad option if the end point is Calangute/Candolim/Vagator/Anjuna etc as lot of time would go in bypassing Panaji traffic.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by shadows123

I meant why chose Belgaum-Jamboti-Chorla when MK Hubli-Jamboti-Chorla is a shorter route which doesnt go into Belgaum city!

Agreed. Many have taken this route via MK Hubli & not quite a while ago, a BHPian had faced encountered something unusual on this route - Like a crowd chasing them or something like that.

Ramnagar route is fine but i think its a bad option if the end point is Calangute/Candolim/Vagator/Anjuna etc as lot of time would go in bypassing Panaji traffic.

Agreed again - I would be the last one to advise NH4A if your destination is anywhere below Panaji or South Goa. Makes no sense at all.

I am not sure on the logic Gmaps uses to suggest these options - Could be based on recent users' trip logs who have used Gmaps to reach from Bangalore and averaging the sample data and the fact that there won't be a major sample who would have taken the MK Hubli option too and preferred it via Belgaum.

[airbus]

We will be driving from Bangalore to Goa during this month end. Our hotel is located near Colva beach. Please suggest routes/road conditions and breakfast/lunch options on the way. We are 4 families in 3 vehicles (all SUVs), with passenger's age range from 3 years to 70 years. We plan to start at around 5 am from Old Airport Road.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by airbus

We will be driving from Bangalore to Goa during this month end. Our hotel is located near Colva beach. Please suggest routes/road conditions and breakfast/lunch options on the way. We are 4 families in 3 vehicles (all SUVs), with passenger's age range from 3 years to 70 years. We plan to start at around 5 am from Old Airport Road.

Best route is Bangalore Hubli bypass Ramnagar Anmod Mollem Savardem Madgaon and Colva.

Regards

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Agreed again - I would be the last one to advise NH4A if your destination is anywhere below Panaji or South Goa. Makes no sense at all.

Those destinations he mentioned in his original post are above Panjim in North Goa and NH4A is a very good option to reach them. I have explained below.

Originally Posted by shadows123

Ramnagar route is fine but i think its a bad option if the end point is Calangute/Candolim/Vagator/Anjuna etc as lot of time would go in bypassing Panaji traffic.

Not really. You don't touch the Panjim city traffic per se via NH4A.

And the NH4A route to Calangute/Candolim is just as good as the Chorla route in terms of timings/ or even better most of the times. There are some reasons for this -

1. First and the foremost reason - Distance in kms is same.

2. Right from the point you exit NH4 at Dharwad, you have only and only 2 lane super wide roads all the way to Goa i. e Ponda/Panjim/Madgaon. The roads in Anmod ghat are much straighter. Compare this with the M.K Hubli-Khanapur-Jamboti-Chorla route. The moment you exit NH4 at MK Hubli, you hit a single lane narrow road till Khanapur. Khanapur-Jamboti first five kms is 1.5 lane, then onwards it's a single lane road for next 12.5 kms. Jamboti--Chorla ghat-Keri toll is a 1.5 lane road with twisties all the way. There are about 10-12 steep speedbreakers till the beginning of Chorla ghat. Chorla ghat proper is more curvy than Anmod ghat and the scope of easy overtaking of lorries is less here. Once you hit Keri toll, the road gets even more narrow at places with umpteen speedbreakers on the way. Add to it the typical Goan heavy traffic. Sanquelim T junction is a bottleneck point and at times you might lose 10-15 minutes here in a standstill position. The Bicholim-Assnora-Tivim is also too narrow at some places enroute with really heavy traffic. If you factor all these, the average speed of your car has already dropped down by a huge margin. On NH4A, you mostly keep moving faster due to wide 2 lane roads all the way through. The only catch here is 4 level crossings on NH4A, which might eat up a total of 20 minutes extra and the diversions due to road widening work near Ponda.

Eventually, it takes more or less the same time by both routes. So NH4A is never a bad option for Panjim/Calangute. Please note that, you never enter Panjim city traffic on any of the routes in Goa. The Mandovi bridge is a part of NH17 highway. Traffic levels could be same on both, may be little less to negotiate on Chorla, but the narrow roads ultimately consume more time.

For Anjuna and Vagator, NH4A is marginally slower by 15-20 minutes.

I am speaking from my umpteen experiences regarding the above explanations. For all these reasons, ever since NH4A has been revamped, I have been suggesting it for Calangute beach as well ( coming from Bangalore ). Chorla and NH4A as on date get the same level of preference for Bangalore-Panjim/Calangute, but NH4A definitely takes an upper hand for being wider and faster. Only for those coming from Mumbai/Pune , my suggestions are totally different and specific though.

The Belgaum route is understandably out of scope of this discussion. It's a huge detour for Bangalore-Panjim/Calangute.

[shadows123]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Eventually, it takes more or less the same time by both routes. So NH4A is never a bad option for Panjim/Calangute. Please note that, you never enter Panjim city traffic on any of the routes in Goa. The Mandovi bridge is a part of NH17 highway. Traffic levels could be same on both, may be little less to negotiate on Chorla, but the narrow roads ultimately consume more time.

For Anjuna and Vagator, NH4A is marginally slower by 15-20 minutes.

I am speaking from my umpteen experiences regarding the above explanations. For all these reasons, ever since NH4A has been revamped, I have been suggesting it for Calangute beach as well ( coming from Bangalore ). Chorla and NH4A as on date get the same level of preference for Bangalore-Panjim/Calangute, but NH4A definitely takes an upper hand for being wider and faster. Only for those coming from Mumbai/Pune , my suggestions are totally different and specific though.

The Belgaum route is understandably out of scope of this discussion. It's a huge detour for Bangalore-Panjim/Calangute.

My personal experiences with the Anmod ghat is that while what you say is true,. after crossing the goa entry toll gate(the 250Rs one), every time i encountered almost bumper to bumper traffic most of the way till reaching Panaji outskirts, while Chorla i haven't encountered much traffic, intact empty roads most of the way , not to mention around 40-50kms extra on the brilliant Dharwad-Belgaum NH. Speed breakers i would say the Anmod ghat road also has its fair share especially at the beginning of Dharwad-Goa road , not to mention the railway crossings.So while i agree with taking Anmod route for Panaji, I would still take Chorla for Candolim/Calangute due to the uncertainty in traffic after crossing the Goa entry toll gate and the picturesque ghat comparatively.

[shivkumar19]

Last week We did Bangalore -north GOA.
The route taken was Bangalore-tumkur-Hubli-by pass dharwad- Mugad-Dudh Sagar-Ponda-Panjim-Calagunte,around 600Km.
Depature 5.30 AM -Arrival around 4ish, 2 breaks for 2-3 hrs.
Roads from Blore to Hubli awesome but lot of traffic from Ponda - Calagunte.
Stayed at Estrela Do Mar resorts.

[deepak_misra]

I am quite confused after reading these threads. I am driving next weekend after a gap of 4 years.
The last couple of times, I have always driven via Yellapur - Karwar since I was headed towards Benaulim

The last time I went through Belgaum, lost my way and went through some very desolate road which i learnt later was somewhere near Tilari. This was an awaful road with beautiful scenery but quite scary. COuld not locate it on the map.

From the thread I see the following options as per Google

bangalore - yellapur - karwar - benaulim 601 kms 10hr 6 min


bankapur 10 hr 9 min 601kms

dharwad - londa mollem ponda majorda benaulim 10 9 m 589 kms

khanapur chorla benaulim 632 10h 23


It seems to me the old favourite of yellapur would be the best for Benaulim. Can anyone confirm this and also any information on the condition of the yellapur road?


Deepak

[pareshraheja]

Originally Posted by deepak_misra

. Can anyone confirm this and also any information on the condition of the yellapur road?

Deepak

I drove Blr-Goa-Blr about a week back.

On the way back I started from Baga, went through Mollem, reached Ramnagar and from there headed to Dharwad bypass on NH4.

From there on it is the same old express highway back home. I reached home at 8 PM. This trip included just one break of 20 minutes.

But, the last 5 tolls took lot of time as the long holiday weekend was coming to an end. I could say an average of 6 to 7 min per toll.

cheers

[vikramk]

Originally Posted by deepak_misra

It seems to me the old favourite of yellapur would be the best for Benaulim. Can anyone confirm this and also any information on the condition of the yellapur road?


Deepak

The road is in a very good condition but quite narrow and single lane for about 30 kms between Mundgod and Bankapur. Its very scenic as well thanks to forested areas around. You'll have to do without mobile signal (Airtel in my case) for some parts of this stretch.

I took this route on the way back to Bangalore from South Goa a couple of weeks back and would recommend it. You just need to think about food options before getting into this stretch.

[deepak_misra]

Originally Posted by vikramk

The road is in a very good condition but quite narrow and single lane for about 30 kms between Mundgod and Bankapur. Its very scenic as well thanks to forested areas around. You'll have to do without mobile signal (Airtel in my case) for some parts of this stretch.

I took this route on the way back to Bangalore from South Goa a couple of weeks back and would recommend it. You just need to think about food options before getting into this stretch.

Thanks for the update. However I have not taken this route in the previous trips. We used to go upto Hubli and take the bypass from there towards Ankola via Yellapur. I have heard of the Bankapur route but never taken it. WOuld the bankapur route be shorted than via Hubli ?

[vikramk]

Originally Posted by deepak_misra

Thanks for the update. However I have not taken this route in the previous trips. We used to go upto Hubli and take the bypass from there towards Ankola via Yellapur. I have heard of the Bankapur route but never taken it. WOuld the bankapur route be shorted than via Hubli ?

I had taken the Hubli-Dharwad-Anmod route to Canacona in South Goa and that was 630 kms compared to 590 kms on the way back to Bangalore via Yellapur - Mundgod - Bankapur. Not sure about the difference with respect to Hubli - Ankola.