[Lava N]

Hi Frankazoid- following you to Goa on the 20th ie tomorrow. How was the Amboli route should I take it also?
I am also staying at Fort Aguada.
Hope you see this post in time to advise.
Thanks anyways have a nice holiday
Cheers
Lava N

[sathbhai]

Originally Posted by Frankazoid!!!

Hi guys need some advice traveling to goa from thane on the 16th of July. What route is advisable considering road conditions?
Belgaum-chorla or Nipani-amboli-sawantwadi?
There have been hardly any rains recently so leaning towards the amboli route. Any advice would be helpful guys. Thanks.

I traveled along the Nipani-Amboli route during the last week of June. The roads are excellent and the drive was a pleasure. Numerous friends, who are regulars on the route, advised that I should take this route - both for road conditions and vehicular traffic.

Originally Posted by raghuvir

If you go through Amboli ghat, post the road condition here. Will be doing this route on 26th. There's talk about a landslide in amboli ghat 2 days ago, trying to get more info on that and the road conditions now after heavy rains.

Apologies for the late response, however, I had been traveling extensively for the past few days and hence could not reply.

My travel through the Amboli ghat was during the last week of June. At that time, the roads were in pretty decent shape. However, I have no recent update on the road conditions. I'll try to post them here, if I get new information.

[Frankazoid!!!]

Originally Posted by Lava N

Hi Frankazoid- following you to Goa on the 20th ie tomorrow. How was the Amboli route should I take it also?
I am also staying at Fort Aguada.
Hope you see this post in time to advise.
Thanks anyways have a nice holiday
Cheers
Lava N

Hi Lava you can absolutely take the amboli route. Just a few sections of broken tarmac to deal with nothing to worry about though. In fact I had the most fun driving through amboli in a long time. Traffic was almost non existent all the way, reached goa in 10 hrs. Left thane at 4 am reached sai international in kolhapur at 0930 and goa at 2pm. This was with 3 stops along the way, fuel, refreshments and to enjoy the weather and scenery at amboli.

For your reference after nipani take the right at kaveri hotel which is on your right. Followed Google maps on my phone all the way. Happy driving

By the by I am staying at holiday village

[Lava N]

Thanks Frankazoid will follow your advise. Starting Tommorrow morning. I am also at the Taj village.
Cheers

[Frankazoid!!!]

Hi guys,

Just returned from a Thane - Goa - Thane road trip. I closely followed google maps on my phone. Road conditions are as follows:

Thane - Goa:
Left Thane on 16th july at 4 am. Was just me and a friend travelling with luggage, wife n kids travelled by flight. Route taken was Thane - Nipani - Right at Kaveri hotel - Amboli - Sawantwadi - Goa. Road conditions are pretty good, some broken sections of tarmac, roads are bumpy after nipani but all in all quite decent. weather around amboli ghat was fantastic. Best of all no traffic all the way from Thane to goa, max waiting time was less than 2 min including at toll nakas. Reached our destination near aguada at 2pm. Total travel time 10 hrs. including 3 breaks. I would recommend this route. Had the most fun driving up n down the ghats.

Goa - Thane:
Left on 20st July at 9 am. Route taken was Goa - Bicholim - Sanquelim - Chorla - Belgaum - NH4 to Thane. Followed Google maps all the way. Getting out of goa was a pain because of the traffic and narrow roads, not much chance to overtake. Roads conditions in goa were decent if narrow. Conditions improved the farther away we got from goa. Karnataka of course has butter smooth roads, on reaching chorla ghats the roads were simply superb! wider than Amboli and much more smooth highly recommended, also the sights are great although i was concentrating on driving. great opportunity to test your heel-n-toe'ing skills! traffic was light on the ghats. All in all also safer than amboli, its worth the extra miles going to belgaum. Hit peak time traffic in belgaum stopped at McD's at 1230 pm. Onward travel was quite painless with light traffic until Panvel. Thats when all traffic hell broke loose literally. Got off the Expressway at 0715 pm reached thane at 0930 pm of course it was peak time traffic so my fault really. This was the most frustrating part of the whole trip. Serves me right for having too much fun driving on the ghats Total time taken approx 13 hrs with a few breaks.

All in all great trip. Was itching to go on a long driving after getting the car. Luckily missed the landslide on the mumbai-pune expressway which killed 2 people, I was travelling 1 day after the landslide. Expressway was completely cleared up by the time i was passing through.

Hope this helps other members. Special thanks to raghuvir, 1lokesh & ameyawaghmare

Originally Posted by Lava N

Thanks Frankazoid will follow your advise. Starting Tommorrow morning. I am also at the Taj village.
Cheers

Hi Lava,

How did it go? Hope you missed the Landslide.

[Lava N]

Hi Frankazoid,
I traveled from Pune to Goa finally so did not have any landslide problems.
The route was exactly as described by Frankazoid. My only problem was on the way back. Too much time wasted at the tolls. I nearly had a scrap with a tempo guy who wanted to jump the toll line! There were quite a few of these jokers and they felt it was their birth right to jump the queue.. Weird.
Anyways a lovely drive and a good holiday
Cheers
LAva n

[The Great]

The Chorla ghat route to Belgaum and then highway is an absolute delight. Very beautiful !

[Ompsingh]

I'm planning a trip to Goa via NH 17 in the last weekend of September. Would really appreciate some good dhabas/restaurant suggestions on the way - both towards Goa and return. Also, please advise on the ideal time to start the journey from Mumbai for us to be able reach Calangute around 2pm. Are the roads in good shape considering the monsoon? Is NH4 a better option.

Cheers!

[sumeethaldankar]

Is the usual Mumbai to Goa road ie NH 17 via Sion - Panvel- Mahad etc not in good condition to travel ?

Last i went was in 2002, haven't been on this road since then hence wanted to know since people talk about using the satara etc route.

[raghuvir]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Is the usual Mumbai to Goa road ie NH 17 ........using the satara etc route.

Have been doing the Pune-Sangli-Oras (Between Sawantwadi & Kankavli) route for the past 2 months. Ghats covered- Amba, Gaganbawda, Radhanagari and Amboli.
Radhanagari and Amboli are same as far as road conditions go. Going through each of these ghats eventually lands up on NH17. It takes time to cover NH17. Also, with its twists and turns you cannot speed up, or if you do, you have to slow down every now and then. There is also heavy truck and bus traffic combined with local cars which whiz past you as its an everyday road for them. So safety wise Pune-Kolhapur is better than NH17. The best route to Goa would be Mumbai-Pune-Amboli-Sawantwadi-Goa IMHO. Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Radhanagari-Sawantwadi-Goa is also good. And as has been suggested on various forums here, if you have'nt done Chorla, then Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Belgavi (Belgaum)-Chorla-Goa should be done at least once.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Is the usual Mumbai to Goa road ie NH 17 via Sion - Panvel- Mahad etc not in good condition to travel ?

Last i went was in 2002, haven't been on this road since then hence wanted to know since people talk about using the satara etc route.

The road is a mix of good to OKish conditions. Why this is not the preferred route is because its single carriageway without a median and time consuming against the combination of MPE/NH4/Ajra/Chorla.

In fact, since decades NH17 route is always referred to as Mumbai-Goa road but thanks to NH4 and the fact that NH17 is also termed dangerous for being the Killer highway in Maharashtra that has taken more lives than any other in the state.

Just a simple google search with Keywords "NH17 Killer" would give you hints on what I am referring.

We had driven on NH17 from Panvel to Bangalore 2 years back and covered the entire NH17 at night and were surprised on how good the road was in terms of conditions, markings and even Safety and realized it is not for those who look for straight roads and are new to Ghat roads. One of the reasons for accidents on this stretch is Human error as you can read it in this report.

I still recall that we got off Sion-Panvel Expressway at 5PM and made an entry into Goa exactly at 5:15AM the next morning. This was easily 12 hours with enough breaks and getting lost of the yet to be opened Sawantwadi bypass then.

[sumeethaldankar]

Actually, we have been using this route to reach our hometown Vengurla and used to take this route in our 800 between 1996 & 2002. The roads were narrow but as per my observation then, the roads till Chiplun would be patchy and would get better once one crossed Chiplun. Also due to the tiny footprint of the 800 narrow roads were not a problem but i do remember having some scary moments. I doubt if i would like to drive this route in my Civic.

So suppose i have to reach Vengurla from Mumbai will the Pune, satara, Amboli route be still be suitable ? One good thing about the N17 to reach my native is that till Kudal it is straight road meaning i don't have to take a turn anywhere ie. Using the Satara etc route will probably mean carrying a GPS etc (which is not really a bad thing). Also i was thinking since i have a CNG car i can tank up at Pune :-)

[ameyawaghmare]

Originally Posted by Ompsingh

Would really appreciate some good dhabas/restaurant suggestions on the way - both towards Goa and return. Also, please advise on the ideal time to start the journey from Mumbai for us to be able reach Calangute around 2pm. Are the roads in good shape considering the monsoon? Is NH4 a better option.

Cheers!

Your first query on dhabas/restaurants would be easier to answer once the route is finalized. this past weekend, I did Mumbai - Pune - Chorla - Goa via NH4 and return was Goa - Dapoli - Mumbai along NH17.

On NH17, I do not remember of any sophisticated hotels or these food chains like KFC/McD along the entire stretch. For good washrooms, try to catch any good hotel in the town of Chiplun. I am unable to recall the name of the hotel where we had stopped but it offered rooms and a good restaurant and bar along with clean washrooms. You will find multiple such hotels in Chiplun.

The ideal time to depart would also depend on the route you are taking and if you are comfortable night driving on divider-less roads. Overall, it is better you push your drive more towards 3 AM irrespective of the route.

NH4 or NH17 is choice you have to make based on your love for driving through curvy roads, ghat driving, straight roads, etc. From the start of your post, it leaves an impression that you have decided on NH17 already!

You will get aplenty of information regarding stops at NH4 on the Mumbai - Bangalore thread.
2 PM Calangute is doable if you depart from Mumbai at 3/4 AM and take NH4.

[arnabchak]

Originally Posted by Ompsingh

I'm planning a trip to Goa via NH 17 in the last weekend of September. Would really appreciate some good dhabas/restaurant suggestions on the way - both towards Goa and return. Also, please advise on the ideal time to start the journey from Mumbai for us to be able reach Calangute around 2pm. Are the roads in good shape considering the monsoon? Is NH4 a better option.

Cheers!

Dear Om

We recently went to Goa through the NH17.
Our timelines were also similar and we wanted to reach Mapusa by 1400 hrs.

My plan followed is below:

1) We started at 300 am from Thane.
2) Since mine is a CNG, tanked up at Panvel. The last CNG available for the trip.
3) Breakfast was at Chiplun, approx. 5 hours from Mumbai.

Please note that there are no great places for meal stop overs.
Breakfast was at Hotel Ayodhya, Chiplun.

Neat and clean Udipi type joint. Nothing fancy and very reasonable.

4) Lunch was at Sawantwadi. Local fish joints on the way. Again, very basic. No air conditioned place yet the food was typical Malvani.

5) Reached Mapusa by 1430 hrs.

Breakfast stop- 30 mins
Lunch stop-45 mins

If you want Mc Donald, you could pick up something from Panvel MCD.
I think it is open 24/7.

Could see a couple of Kamath's on the way. I avoid as their food is completely against my palette and i dislike it.

[TaurusAl]

Originally Posted by arnabchak

If you want Mc Donald, you could pick up something from Panvel MCD.
I think it is open 24/7.

Could see a couple of Kamath's on the way. I avoid as their food is completely against my palette and i dislike it.

Correction. McD at Panvel is not 24 hours and shuts for the night till 7 or 6 in the morning. (not sure 7 or 6 am but learnt the hard-way as was banking on it in my last trip)

+1 for Kamat's food. Not a good option on a long journey, specially the excessively oily dishes.


If anyone wants to use NH 17 (Old Goa Highway) I would suggest taking the expressway till Khopoli and turning towards Mangaon to join the old highway - The Imagica route. This way you avoid the Pen traffic which is always a pain in the neck.