[satshen]

Did route #2 last year.
Bangalore - Haveri: Except for diversions, it's great drive.

Haveri - Sirsi: Plenty of potholes, driving is a bit tedious.

Sirsi - Kumta: Narrow road, but beautiful scenery. A bit lonely, except for an occasional truck or minivan.

Kumta - Ankola - Goa: NH with reasonably good road condition. Occasional diversions between Karwar & Goa due to roadworks.

[Archie81]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Since Anmod is ruled out, has anybody tried below routes recently? If yes please update the condition.
1. Bangalore Shimoga Sagar Honnavar Ankola Goa
2. Bangalore Haveri Sirsi Kumta Ankola Goa

I did the 2nd route during my last trip. Onward was till Murudeswar (via Haveri, Sirsi) and then from Murudeswar till Goa (via NH 66 - Honnavara, Ankola, Karwar, ..).

Like I mentioned in my previous post, till Chitradurga, driving is easy (depending on what time you start and cross Tumkur). Beyond this point till Haveri, there are many diversions for road expansion, yet drive-able.

From Haveri till you take diversion towards Gokarna, its a narrow 2 lane road, through forest, villages and ghats, yet drive-able. Be mindful of the invisible speed bumps here. From Gokarna, all the way till you enter Goa, the entire stretch is under expansion. Too many diversions and bad roads. Though Google says 4+ hrs, it took me 6 hours to cover this stretch trying to reach South Goa from Murudeswar. If you are planning on covering this route in a single day, then it should be avoided. You might as well head straight till Belgaum on NH 48 and then drive down to Goa - but I leave it to you.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by Archie81

From Haveri till you take diversion towards Gokarna, its a narrow 2 lane road, through forest, villages and ghats, yet drive-able. Be mindful of the invisible speed bumps here. From Gokarna, all the way till you enter Goa, the entire stretch is under expansion. Too many diversions and bad roads. Though Google says 4+ hrs, it took me 6 hours to cover this stretch trying to reach South Goa from Murudeswar.

I drove all the way to Goa from Neeleshwar, Kerala staring at 8AM during May of 2018 and found the road to be fine. Had reached south Goa (Canacona) by 4PM with one lunch stop at Kumta. I assume the road is surely better than that now.

[yatin]

Well, the coastal route is quite slow nowadays. Honnavar to Varca, supposedly 130-odd kms, took 4+ hours of very annoying driving - the width of the road makes even 10 vehicles a crowd to wade through, and the curves make for very few overtaking opportunities.

I drove there early Feb.2019. Wanted to make the drive count, so halted at Sagar while going & at Shimoga while returning. Joined the Shimoga road via the Hassan/Mangalore road (turn right at Channarayapatna to go to Arsikere). Very peacable drive, although a small road - Channarayapatna, Arsikere, Kadur (no longer the tiny sleepy town of yore), Shimoga, Sagar, Jog falls, Gersoppa, Honnavar, Karwar. Plenty of fruits to lap up on this route. Visited Sakrebylu elephant camp before starting from Shimoga.

This may be blasphemy on this thread, but South Goa has no local flavor, at all; I felt I should have stayed in Karwar, which also seemed much more beautiful (but doesn't seem vegetarian-friendly).

As an aside, I found Goan vehicles on the NH in South Goa driven as 'nicely' as Bangalore vehicles, which was surprising to me.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by yatin

I drove there early Feb.2019. Wanted to make the drive count, so halted at Sagar while going & at Shimoga while returning. Joined the Shimoga road via the Hassan/Mangalore road (turn right at Channarayapatna to go to Arsikere). Very peacable drive, although a small road - Channarayapatna, Arsikere, Kadur (no longer the tiny sleepy town of yore), Shimoga, Sagar, Jog falls, Gersoppa, Honnavar, Karwar.

A couple of questions.

1. What was you total drive time on this road from Bangalore to Goa, excluding your halt time?
2. How was the road condition throughout and specifically in the ghat section?

I had taken that road a decade ago and it was not at all good, small and broken at many places.
It is surprising to hear that the road from Honnavar to Goa is going bad to worse. I did not find this road so bad last year, it was being widened but no blockages or real jams except near Karwar where the small ghat is being widened.

[diogo]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

... Chorla is ruled out.

Why do you say Chorla is ruled out? Are the roads gone bad on this route?
Just checking as I am planning a trip some time in April/May and hope to take this route to N. Goa.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by diogo

Why do you say Chorla is ruled out? Are the roads gone bad on this route?

Only because my destination is south Goa.

[erlebrito]

Hi everyone,

I’ve just done the Bangalore - Goa route and returned yesterday.

Some pointers for everyone:

Because of the roadwork going on from Anmod/Ramnagar to Dharwad, the stretch should only be navigated in an SUV as you are driving for the most part on mud roads. Even still the amount of time taken because of the road conditions makes using this route unworthy so I would strongly suggest using the Chorla route.

Whilst on my way out, I followed the Goa - Chorla Ghat - Belgaum - Bangalore route, my observations are as follows.

The road to Belgaum is fine with a little bit of roadwork going on but not anything to be bothered about. The surface condition is great with the Tarmac in good condition all through.

Likewise, The road from Belgaum (Belagavi) to Hubli (Hubballi) is perfect with absolutely nothing to complain about.

The road from Hubballi to Chitradurga however, is another thing altogether. The road has been dug up for nearly the entire stretch and turned into a never ending ribbon of diversions whilst the six-leaning work is in progress. This was a perfectly great stretch with even the surface top is perfect order but the powers that be have decided that everything needs to be dug up and relaid. However, this is the present status so you need to plan for the extra time if you are using the road.

From Chitradurga to Bangalore the six-laning is complete and it is a dream drive.

On my return I decided to use the old road from Kittur on the Belgaum - Dharwad stretch which connects to Jamboti, via Khanapur. The road condition is very good save for a small stretch of about 6 kms just before reaching Jamboti, because the road passes through the forest and repairs are difficult to be effected. The result was fantastic and I would recommend this route to anyone. The saving in terms of Kilometrs is only about 17 Kms but the time saving is enormous as you do not have to negotiate through the Belgaum traffic and the time saving is huge.

Happy travelling!

[Porschefire]

Hi All, need some advice.

I have an upcoming vacation planned in Palolem with my wife from the 20th - 25th and we're driving there. Yesterday, we braced ourselves to the shocking news of Mr Manohar Parrikar passing away, our sincere condolences. A seven day mourning has been announced in the state.

I am now concerned about my trip as the bookings have already been made and cancellations are not possible. While I empathize with Goa's loss, a vacation is basically where once can relax and unwind, which is exactly I want to do. I am now contemplating if I should go ahead with the trip as I'm worried if I get into unnecessary trouble. Could you please help me understand if I'm thinking too much of this?

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by Porschefire

Hi All, need some advice.

I have an upcoming vacation planned in Palolem with my wife from the 20th - 25th and we're driving there....

You should go ahead with your trip while blocking all your other thoughts. Yes, it is an unfortunate situation. But a vacation is important for your body and mind. You are not celebrating during this situation, but you are getting on with your normal duties as anybody else would. IF possible, please fly. Given the road condition and other variables that can be present during this time, flying is the best option.

[redcruiser]

Any update on the route?
Has the work on NH over? I am planning to drive down to North Goa on April 18th after casting my vote in blr and the return will be on 22nd.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

Any update on the route?
Has the work on NH over? I am planning to drive down to North Goa on April 18th after casting my vote in blr and the return will be on 22nd.

You shouldn't worry too much about the progress of NH work if you are heading to North Goa.

Simply stick to Chorla and that's it. There is no better choice given the present state of affairs with the rest of the sections.

Even if you drive the Karwar route remember that NH17 has been undergoing expansion and that means you will enter Goa from south and drive all the way to your destination in North traversing through the Work in Progress sections.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Even if you drive the Karwar route remember that NH17 has been undergoing expansion and that means you will enter Goa from south and drive all the way to your destination in North traversing through the Work in Progress sections.

In addition to that there is a massive flyover work in progress all the way from Madgaon to Panjim. That will add more to the delays.

BTW, is the route Bangalore-Haveri-Bankapur-Mundgod-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Goa best for south Goa best in current scene? I tried exploring other options but this appears to be the best and shortest long route
Other routes via Sirsi-Kumta or Shimoga-Honnavar do not seem to be practical and have no latest updates.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

BTW, is the route Bangalore-Haveri-Bankapur-Mundgod-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Goa best for south Goa best in current scene? I tried exploring other options but this appears to be the best and shortest long route

Each time I have taken this Mungod route, I always felt this saved time. But this was at least 2 years before. Last October I took the Anmod route itself.

I do remember someone referring to the recent conditions of this deviation and didn't talk good things about it.

But if I am heading anywhere to South Goa, I will stick to Mungod option only.

[Porschefire]

I just completed a 6 day long vacation in Goa and I must say, it was very very relaxing. We were staying in a shack in Palolem but we did move around places during our stay. I might've visited Goa may be 10 times in the past but this was the first time that I visited South Goa and what a departure it was from the usual madness, mess and hooplah of Baga-Calangute. After this trip, I've made up my mind not to go north anymore. The weather was very good and couple that with less, decent crowd, we had a ball of the time.

The Route

Onward Journey

After speaking to my friend Added_flavor and his friend Ashok, I decided to take the Bankapur-Yellapur route.

We started on a Wednesday at 5am, took the NICE to Tumkur Road. The JAS toll plaza was a complete mess with trucks blocking the view for you and then entering the toll booths haphazardly. I lost about 20mins in this mess. Tumkur Road was at it's usual, lot of truck traffic until Sira, from where the traffic thinned out. Sira to Chitradurga was a breeze on the 6 lane road, no issues absolutely.

Post Chitradurga, the NH work is going on, lots of deviations at regular intervals all the way until the Bankapur toll plaza. The road condition is average with a few broken sections in between. Cruising at highway speeds is not a problem though.

Immediately after the Bankapur toll, we took a left off the highway onto SH6. Bankapur-Yellapur is a single lane road with minimal traffic and nothing around you. It is quite a lonely stretch which I would definitely avoid post daylight. One potential problem for the low slung sedans is that the banking is quite high and is troublesome if you do have to get off the road.

Yellapur-Ankola is smooth winding roads with truck traffic. My wife and I heaved a sigh of relief after experiencing the eerie Bankapur-Yellapur stretch.

Ankola-Karwar is good roads again with work going on in parts.
Karwar-Palolem is only a matter of time that took us to our final destination. We were in our shack by 3pm.

Return Journey

My plan was to return on the same route we had taken to Goa. We left Palolem at 7am. I am handicapped when it comes to directions and rely greatly on Google Maps. I had clearly entered the route I intended to take before the start but for some reason, I missed to take the left at Ankola and drove straight to Kumta which was when I realized that we have come ahead. With no choice but to continue on the Sirsi route, we drove ahead. This is a parallel route to the Bankapur-Yellapur stretch, which takes you to NH48 at Haveri from Hangal.

But, my over dependence on Google Maps bit me hard, it took me off the Sirsi-Haveri road onto Tilvalli-Kod-Halageri route and eventually onto the NH48 at Ranebennur. Although the roads were absolutely fine until I reached NH, I lost quite a bit of time because the Tilvalli-Halageri is a single lane road going through a lot of villages.

Post Ranebennur, it was the usual NH journey. I was home at 7pm making it a 12hr return journey.

If I've to drive to South Goa again, I would take the Haveri-Sirsi-Kumta road as I found it to be better than the lonely, eerie and narrow Bankapur-Yellapur stretch.