[shadows123]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

We will be driving to Goa via the Anmod-Mollem route. Should we consider taking a detour from Mollem, stop-over at Dudhsagar for couple of hours and then proceed to Goa? I understand that its not possible to drive to the falls but one has to hire a jeep to take you to the falls.

Jeep? Thats news to me. But i've heard people hire two wheelers with drivers who take you there along the railway track. But when i went it was not available at that time.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by shadows123

Jeep? Thats news to me. But i've heard people hire two wheelers with drivers who take you there along the railway track. But when i went it was not available at that time.

Yeah, Jeeps were always available at Kulem railway station ( Taxi stand ) to ferry those tourists who didn't prefer to trek till Dudhsagar (14 kms ). But these jeeps used to operate only post the monsoon season. Since last year, after the ban was imposed on "trek over the rail tracks" , these local jeeps have been authorised by forest dept. to carry tourists, again only after the end of monsoons. These authorised jeeps are the only ones allowed to enter the sanctuary now and to drive through the forest trail. Bikes very much used to ply earlier, not so sure of the current situation. Go through the news links I shared in my earlier post, you will get all the current details. The number of tourists allowed to visit Dudhsagar per day is also restricted now. Needless to say, you will still find some people walking along the tracks which is illegal.

This year I just had a glimpse of Dudhsagar waterfalls, bang in heavy monsoons, from a moving train ( Poorna express ). I got down at Kulem and immediately caught the return train to Belgaum ( Goa express ) and enjoyed the heavenly view again. Apart from the mystical waterfalls, the rest of the rail route between Belgaum and Kulem is also mindblowing. "Braganza ghats" with its 16 or 17 tunnels on the rail-route between Kulem and Castlerock is exceptionally awesome.

[Klub Class]

My friend drove to South Goa from Bengaluru early this morning. Sharing the quick updates from him (special reference to Ramnagar - Mollem stretch) :

- Started at 0415. Reached at 1200
- Everything was perfect, not one pothole along the way.
(I was warning my son that this stretch is horrible, but it was recently fixed and redone)
- ZERO tolls on the way
- Dharwad - Ramnagar stretch guy asked for toll, I gave him a 1000 note, he said go on Sir

Attaching the screenshots from the GPS Tracker app.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by Klub Class

My friend drove to South Goa from Bengaluru early this morning. Sharing the quick updates from him (special reference to Ramnagar - Mollem stretch) :

- Started at 0415. Reached at 1200
- Everything was perfect, not one pothole along the way.
(I was warning my son that this stretch is horrible, but it was recently fixed and redone)
- ZERO tolls on the way
- Dharwad - Ramnagar stretch guy asked for toll, I gave him a 1000 note, he said go on Sir

What GPS do you use? I do not think these are mapmyindia screen shots. Or atleast I do not know how to use mapmyindia to download them
Am traveling to Goa on 1st December. This information is helpful to choose the travel route since will be visiting south Goa for a marriage in family.

Regards

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

What GPS do you use? I do not think these are mapmyindia screen shots. Or atleast I do not know how to use mapmyindia to download them

Android App called "Geo Tracker". It's a GPS Logging tool. Needs Data and GPS to be on while it records on the background.

In MapMyIndia to record you press that round dot inside a square and it starts logging even if you are not treading any route but driving around.

And the MapMyIndia log would look something like this:

[vikramv4u]

Originally Posted by shivendra2111

I will be doing a trip to South goa( Patnem beach) from Bangalore ( Indiranagar) tomorrow morning. I am planning to start at 4:00am and would like to reach before sunset as full family will be there with small baby.

How young was your baby? We are planning a trip to Gokarna around Christmas time and I will have a 1 yr old (by then), so I am not even sure whether I should undertake such a road journey considering the strain and the lack of running around we will subject the little one to.

Also, tempted to mix it up with some sight-seeing enroute, thereby we can spend sometime outside of the car and enjoy some places on the way. Any recommendations on places to see?

[satran]

Are they collecting Goa entry tax now?

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by satran

Are they collecting Goa entry tax now?

Yes. I been there on Friday-Sunday recently. The tolls on NH are not collected until of 24th Nov but Entry tax is taken. Its a state entry tax and not NH toll hence still collected. If you are passing through the NH in 4 hours, you will get refund. But if you entered through one of the many small entries, you will pay entry tax but while exiting before 4 hours, you wont get refund

But if you are going there for holiday and staying in goa for 4+ hours, ignore refund part.

[blip]

Hi,

I am travelling to south goa (canacona) this weekend from bangalore. Google maps is suggesting 2 routes

1.Bangalore-Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar-Canacona (619 km)

2.Bangalore-Bankapur-Yellapur-KarwarCanacona (563 km)

Please suggest which is recommended route currently considering road conditions and also saving time.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by blip

Hi,

I am travelling to south goa (canacona) this weekend from bangalore. Google maps is suggesting 2 routes

1.Bangalore-Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar-Canacona (619 km)

2.Bangalore-Bankapur-Yellapur-KarwarCanacona (563 km)

Please suggest which is recommended route currently considering road conditions and also saving time.

The second route will save you time easily but sections from Mungod till Yellapura are narrower and unless you are used to, you may not come back to talk good about it. This will pass through some lovely thick vegetation with least (or almost nil traffic till you reach Yellapur to merge with the NH). Also remember that once you turn off from NH at Bankapura, there is no good place to stop by (refueling included) till you reach Yellapura.

The first route is good in terms of roads, is wide and from the recent updates, bad sections have been patched up too, will have options to stop by before Hubli too.

If time is priority, take the second route and if good wide roads and few extra facilities are what you look for, take the first one.

[Turbohead]

We're planning to do a Chennai-Goa-Chennai.
We're thinking of a six day trip wherein two days will be for travelling, which is over 920+km one way.

I have a few questions-
1) We've never travelled beyond Bangalore on the AH47. There will be 3 drivers, so fatigue wouldn't be much of a problem. But we would like the fastest route. Any suggestions?

2) I just read about interceptors near Devangare. Are they found once in a blue moon or is it a regular affair? Are there any other places where we should be careful? Been caught several times in Karnataka before.

3) Planning to go on the 9th of Dec. Is that a holiday season with respect to schools and colleges in Karnataka, Maharashtra etc?

4)What about Fastag ETC lanes? Are they functional till Hubballi/ Bankapur? Are they generally crowded?

5)Should we start with North or South Goa? This will be our first visit to Goa! Suggestions on places to visit are welcome! Would like to avoid highly crowded areas. I'm a budding photographer- would like some picturesque sites too.

[subbu567]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

We're planning to do a Chennai-Goa-Chennai.
We're thinking of a six day trip wherein two days will be for travelling, which is over 920+km one way.

I have a few questions-
1) We've never travelled beyond Bangalore on the AH47. There will be 3 drivers, so fatigue wouldn't be much of a problem. But we would like the fastest route. Any suggestions?

2) I just read about interceptors near Devangare. Are they found once in a blue moon or is it a regular affair? Are there any other places where we should be careful? Been caught several times in Karnataka before.

3) Planning to go on the 9th of Dec. Is that a holiday season with respect to schools and colleges in Karnataka, Maharashtra etc?

4)What about Fastag ETC lanes? Are they functional till Hubballi/ Bankapur? Are they generally crowded?

5)Should we start with North or South Goa? This will be our first visit to Goa! Suggestions on places to visit are welcome! Would like to avoid highly crowded areas. I'm a budding photographer- would like some picturesque sites too.

Hi

The fastest route to Goa (have done this many times from Bangalore)
Blr- Davengera- Hubli- Belgaum Byepass- Alnawar(Left exit at ~27 KMS from the entry to the Byepass) -Ramnagar- Londa- Ponda- at this point take left to go to south or right to go to Panaji and Up-north. It took 9 hours on this route, when I had left home at 5 am in the morning few times.

Inerceptors are almost always present these days better be safe here ! Other places are Airport road and all outer ring roads and nice road

9th December is not a holiday season- usually in Bangalore it starts around 15th but is delayed this time due to several bandhs during the year. You wont be touching Maharashtra.

South Goa is more sedate and North is action packed. I suggest you stay in Candolim area and you can go to Fort Chopara(Dil chhatha hai fame) that offers spectacular sea views from the top. Vagator beach is great too. The beaches to avoid are( from a crowd stand point) Baga and Calangute.

Further photography options are - Dona paula( Central- off Panaji) and Uthorda, Majorda, cancona and Palolem- All are in south with canacona being the southern most tip(almost)

Until July I have not seen fast tags in operation in any of the tolls. May be others can comment with their recent experiences

Enjoy the drive and safe travels.

[rajivtelang]

At Goa right now but came by bus. Quick update on hubali ankola route. This route is not smooth. A lot of rough to bad patches in ghat sections on turns. NH 4 and NH 17 status as usual but NH 4 has gone bit rough before varur from Bangalore. Being in bus I could not feel much of shocks but was able to see road condition.
Take this road only if you have ample of time since it takes the maximum time from Bangalore.

[foxtrot]

Hi Folks,

I tried a couple of times, checking on the google maps, it is popping up the below route ONLY for the road trip from Bangalore to North Goa.

I traveled on this route last year and 25-30 kms in the last lap before entering the ghat section was horrible, and it was so horrible, that had it not been my dusty, some hatches might have broken down

Please, find the map as shown on google.
Kindly advice, I would be traveling in a week's time.

Regards,
Foxtrot

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by foxtrot

Hi Folks,

I tried a couple of times, checking on the google maps, it is popping up the below route ONLY for the road trip from Bangalore to North Goa.

I traveled on this route last year and 25-30 kms in the last lap before entering the ghat section was horrible, and it was so horrible, that had it been my dusty, some hatches might have broken down

Because that road is repaired and good now.

This update should help you?

Originally Posted by Klub Class

My friend drove to South Goa from Bengaluru early this morning. Sharing the quick updates from him (special reference to Ramnagar - Mollem stretch) :

- Started at 0415. Reached at 1200
- Everything was perfect, not one pothole along the way.
(I was warning my son that this stretch is horrible, but it was recently fixed and redone)
- ZERO tolls on the way
- Dharwad - Ramnagar stretch guy asked for toll, I gave him a 1000 note, he said go on Sir

Attaching the screenshots from the GPS Tracker app.