[paragsachania]

Just a quick update since we returned back to Bangalore yesterday.

Cops are asking for full vaccination report even when entering into Karnataka from Goa. We along with all the other vehicles were stopped at the Karnataka entry checkpost before Karwar and asked to produce details of full vaccination reports, details noted and allowed entry.

I am not sure if this is a new development or a temporary measure due to vacation season and extended weekend or even a tit for tat but nevertheless, expect this also to be a time consumer if you are returning back on Sunday.

Regarding our return drive from Goa to Bangalore, well we ended up with a some just for kicks type adventure and took this route to get back home.



Varca Karwar Ankola Kumta Honnavar Bhatkal Kundapura Udupi Padubidre Karkala Ujire Charmadi Belur Hassan Kunigal Bangalore .

[Osteon206]

We did the Bellur-Mysore-Goa-Mysore roadtrip last week. Had to return to Mysore due to some unavoidable circumstances. Took our usual route Mysore-Kushalnagar-Madikeri-Sampaje-Mangalore-Bhatkal-Kumta-Karwar-Goa. For the onward journey we left Mysore at 7pm, reached Bhatkal at 2.30am. Halted at Royal Oak hotel for the night (I usually don't drive between 3am to 5am due to it being the period of Circadian low). Departed Bhatkal at 9am and reached Cavellosim at 2.30pm. For the return journey we left Goa at 3pm and reached Mysore at 2am, with a dinner stop at Mangalore at 9pm. Roads were good in the entire stretch except between Hunsur - Periyapatna, Karwar - Polem and in Bhatkal town. There was no night ban/restriction along the entire route. At the border Vaccine certificates were verified by both state police personnel.
P.S.: On the return journey, at Polem I was fined Rs. 100 by Goa traffic Police for the tinted windows (got the receipt). I accepted my mistake and paid the fine. The cop was a little apologetic considering we were doctors, but I told him not to since he was just doing his job. On a lighter note, he was telling us how fines were cheaper at Goa as compared to Karnataka.

[Agarwaka]

Hi! We're driving from Goa (Varca) to Sirsi on the 18th and would really appreciate suggestions on the best route.

The drive from Sirsi to Goa was a mixed bag using the Ankola route; a fair bit of the journey coming down the ghats was troublesome with quite a few Kms covered with small stones in a place where you really don't want to deal with a flat tyre. This route takes you close (3 Km) to the Yana falls and ideally, we would like to avoid this.

While G Maps correctly states this as the fastest route taking 4 hours, we're happy to go with a longer route (via Yellapur?) if that's a safer one. Please send in your suggestions. Thank you!

[manku]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Just a quick update since we returned back to Bangalore yesterday.

Varca Karwar Ankola Kumta Honnavar Bhatkal Kundapura Udupi Padubidre Karkala Ujire Charmadi Belur Hassan Kunigal Bangalore .

Funny that .. I was in Caravela and returned yesterday as well. I returned via the Mollem-Anmod-Hubli route and with my sedate style took about 12 hours all in, including a few breaks for lunch and benne dosa etc. No checks done at the Anmod checkpost by the Karnataka police.

[vint]

Hi friends,
I'm planning a road trip with family to Karwar from Bangalore during Nov end/Dec 1st week timeframe for some 5-6 days. Need some help on the best route to take and any good places to stop en route. I checked google maps and see that its a 10+ hour drive. If the roads are good throughout, I don't mind traveling all the way through with some breaks for breakfast / lunch in between. But if the roads are not that good, I'm afraid it would be too long distance to cover in one stretch with family. Would prefer halting overnight at some place in between and prefer if there's something in this place to checkout in the evening. I'm planning to start from Bangalore around 6-7 AM. Request you to help me out with your advice/suggestions.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by manku

Funny that .. I was in Caravela and returned yesterday as well. I returned via the Mollem-Anmod-Hubli route and with my sedate style took about 12 hours all in, including a few breaks for lunch and benne dosa etc. No checks done at the Anmod checkpost by the Karnataka police.

Hi,

Can you share your route on google maps?
How was the road condition? I was reading on the Hyderabad-Goa thread that the Anmod route is in terrible condition with crater-size potholes.
Since I am driving a sedan, I want to be super careful.
Also, how long it took for you from Hubli to Caravela?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by adimicra

Hi,

Can you share your route on google maps?
How was the road condition? I was reading on the Hyderabad-Goa thread that the Anmod route is in terrible condition with crater-size potholes.
Since I am driving a sedan, I want to be super careful.
Also, how long it took for you from Hubli to Caravela?

You need not take the full Anmod route and avoid all those bad sections.

The route will still be Hubli Alnavar Ramnagar Tinai Ghat (Bhimghad Sanctuary) Anmod Checkpost Mollem Goa (Destination).

The short detour via Tinai Ghat helps you avoid the bad/WIP section of Anmod. However, this route too has bad sections but limited to where the Railway Overbridge work is still undone.

1. Turn right here to enter Bhimghad Sanctuary.
2. Turn left here to continue towards Anmod Checkpost
3. Turn right here to get back onto the main corridor

You can plot the route by putting the above dropped pins in the order and see for yourself about the detour being talked about which remains the defacto choice for those heading to not-so-south Goa (Varca, Colva, Majorda etc)

[adimicra]

this is super helpful and super clear to me.
I will be traveling from Hyderabad to Cavelossim.

I am a bit confused about whether to go via Bleagum-CHorla or Hubli-Anmod.
In term of time or distance, both seem more or less the same.

Let me know if there are any suggestions.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by adimicra

this is super helpful and super clear to me.
I will be traveling from Hyderabad to Cavelossim.

I am a bit confused about whether to go via Bleagum-CHorla or Hubli-Anmod.
In term of time or distance, both seem more or less the same.

Let me know if there are any suggestions.

Please stick to Anmod and the route mentioned above. I drove on Monday taking the same route and my destination too was just around Cavelossim (Varca).

As mentioned earlier, the only bad sections are on Alnavar Ramnagar section aroune ROBs. Tinai Ghat is hardly a matter of 20 minutes drive on a narrow stretch. The right turn for Tinai Ghat (first dropped pin I shared above) will come suddenly and entry into Tinai detour may not look like a regular road at all but this is exactly the right turn you need to take failing which you will end up driving into the mess on Anmod Ghat.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by adimicra

I am a bit confused about whether to go via Bleagum-CHorla or Hubli-Anmod.

Stick to Anmod route. IIRC, if you take Chorla route, you will encounter more congested roads while going from Sanquelim to Cavellosim, compared to the Anmod Mollem Cavellosim option.

[npal]

We came back from Varca to Bangalore on Thursday/Friday via the Yellapur - Hubli route. I haven't seen this documented here AFAIK, so adding details.

Going to South Goa, this seems to be the recommended route, and we've taken this last year as well:

Karwar - Ankola - Yellapur - Kalaghatgi - Tadas - Bunkapur

While roads were smooth most of the way last time, we found them to be rutted in a lot of places this time, especially Arabail ghat and also the village sections between Yellapur and Bunkapur.

So we decided to take a slightly longer route this time:

Karwar - Ankola - Yellapur - Kalaghatgi - Anchatgeri - Gabbur - NH48

This basically skips Hubli itself, and Google Maps shows this taking just 10 minutes longer than the Kalaghatgi - Tadas route. It took nearly the same time in reality since a significant part of it is on the highway.



Here's the detail on where to skip entering Hubli and cut across to NH48 instead:



Arabail ghat still needs to be negotiated - it is eroded in a lot of places. However, I did see multiple sedans going through this route both ways. We were in an S-Cross, and it was fairly easy to not bottom out.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Tinai Ghat is hardly a matter of 20 minutes drive on a narrow stretch. The right turn for Tinai Ghat (first dropped pin I shared above) will come suddenly and entry into Tinai detour may not look like a regular road at all but this is exactly the right turn you need to take failing which you will end up driving into the mess on Anmod Ghat.

I drove back via Anmod yesterday and it took me 25 min from Anmod checkpost to the Tinai ghat road turnoff. Some beautiful sections of concrete road interspersed with some really bad WIP sections of culverts and flyovers. They are bad because you are rocked from side to side like a ship in storm, even when you are crawling over the WIP sections. Need to be careful if you are driving a low GC car as the drop off from the concrete sections to the mud trails in these WIP sections are steep. Thankfully it wasnt raining else it would have been worse, but we did have to deal with a high volume of traffic on WIP sections, which made things worse. I havent driven Tinai hence cant compare but based on time taken, Tinai seems to be faster (20 min for ~17km) than Anmod (25 min for ~11kms).

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by procrj

I havent driven Tinai hence cant compare but based on time taken, Tinai seems to be faster (20 min for ~17km) than Anmod (25 min for ~11kms).

Tinai is comparable to Mungod-Yellapura in terms of width but that is about it. It is still a better choice over Anmod as it does not have large potholes like the former.

Anmod section also has some travelers reportingly getting stuck in those large potholes due to recent rains, something that won't happen in Tinai as there are no such large potholes except that at certain sections the road surface is rough and that is all.

When I drove via Tinai, there was a Crysta ahead of me and I believe Googlemaps would have surely shown that driver to take Tinai but the driver suddenly stopped in amusement wondering how a detour looks so narrow and if maps has been fooling around. Since I was right behind him, I waved at him and asked him to follow if he was headed to Goa and he did.

Meanwhile, these were some images a friend sent from Anmod section and you certainly DO NOT WANT TO RECOMMEND Anmod over Tinai in its current state even if one of us have been lucky to have crossed this section without issues:



In summary, for now, one must avoid the WIP part of Anmod and simply stick to Tinai due to its current conditions (Tinai being certainly better over Amnod).

[shady_lawyer]

Did a BLR-Belgaum-Panjim-Belgaum run. Took Chorla Ghat on both ways. The road is largely in great condition except some patches mostly on the turns or under the trees, which are completely washed out. Two patches permit only one lane traffic, but its manageable with a 5 minute wait time, just be prepared to be a little aggressive and flash your lights if you're the lead vehicle.

Otherwise the road is a real treat. There is checking at Keri on the way into Goa (Double Vaccination/RTCPR-if you don't have, they will administer a Rapid Antigen Cost Rs. 250 wait time half an hour).

On the way back took Chorla again, but surprisingly faced lots of fog at Sanquelim. On the way back checking happens about 20 mins before you reach Regenta, they are checking either double vaccination/RT-PCR. If however your ultimate destination is outside Karnataka then they just wave you on.

Do not take Anmod since I was told the patch till Uttur is in terrible condition.

Also the Belgaum mess is sorted out, just follow the road that emerges in front of Regenta all the way to Hotel Ramdev, from there go straight take a left and merge back on the highway, absolutely no need to enter the narrow roads.

[roadlover1705]

I wanted to share a quick update from my recent trip to Goa and back (13th Oct-16th Oct)

Started from Bangalore at 05:00 and made good progress on the six-lane highway until Google Maps decided to ruin all the fun. While I was following the route suggested by @ms001 until Bankapur toll gate, I seem to have missed the small diversion that would have taken me to Yellapur and ended up trusting Google to take me on a route that was 10 mins faster (lesson learned!). The route took me via Hubbali where the single-lane highway was riddled with slow-moving trucks which were hard to overtake.

Eventually, I was taken to a place with non-existent roads (yes - no roads!) for about an hour. Thankfully I was not the only victim and there was another car so we both were certain there is going to be someone to help in case a car gets stuck in this tough route. Finally entered Goa after an elongated ghat section and it was such an eye-opener to see the Goa roads so well maintained against the poorly kept Karnataka roads. We were let in Goa after entering our details at the check-post which only saw our RT-PCR reports.

Started from Varca at 0900 on 16th Oct and sticking by the rule "once burnt, twice careful", I set destinations and took the Yellapur-Kalghati-Tadas-Bankapur route. To be honest, Yellaput-Kalghati was the best section of the entire road trip. Kalghati to Tadas was not so great and Google was acting funny again suggesting routes that would lead to dead-ends. I stuck to the destinations set and reached central Bangalore in 11 hours which the last hour and half slowed by night traffic, rains. While entering Karnataka, there was a customary check at the border wherein I was asked for my vaccine certificate only.

Note: Please wear masks while exiting Goa as there was a checkpoint stopping vehicles that had more than one passenger not wearing a mask.