[hemanth.anand]

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!

I did this stretch in January albeit from Goa to Mumbai.
The road Between Nagotna and Pen was not very good with construction in many places and unique rumble strips/speed breakers made up of very thick reflective paint.
Mahad ghats were wonderful with good wide roads but without medians.

As Paragsachania has rightly mentioned, humar error must be the main cause for accidents and its definitely not for drivers who can't handle the ghat sections very well.

It took us a total of 13 hours with long breaks. So essentially if you have to be in Calangute at 2PM, you have to start by 2AM from Mumbai.

Places to eat are few and basic on this stretch.

[pankajn1702]

Originally Posted by 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:

Thanks Frankazoid. This is going to help me, when I do Thane - Goa - Thane in my Nano in the near future.

[Frankazoid!!!]

Originally Posted by pankajn1702

Thanks Frankazoid. This is going to help me, when I do Thane - Goa - Thane in my Nano in the near future.

You are very welcome buddy. Just bear in mind that there has been a lot of rainfall since then and now, so maybe the chorla ghat route might be the way to go. Best of luck and happy motoring!

[balpreetsingh]

Hi All,

Planning a road trip : Mumbai - Ganapatipule & return in mid of Sept. Wanted to know the route I can follow for this?

Hoq much do I budget for the trip( I have a 2 PM checkin at the hotel in Ganapatipule)

Any inputs of stopover for food?

Regards,

Balpreet

[praveen789]

Originally Posted by balpreetsingh

Planning a road trip : Mumbai - Ganapatipule & return in mid of Sept. Wanted to know the route I can follow for this?

Hoq much do I budget for the trip( I have a 2 PM checkin at the hotel in Ganapatipule)

Any inputs of stopover for food?

Even I am going to Ganpatipule in the end of November and staying in MTDC before proceeding to Goa the next day. As of now I am planning on leaving at 6 am and targeting to reach by 2 pm. The route I am considering is the one Google Maps is suggesting via the old highway.

Let me know how the route you take and how it was once you are back

[karthik_rao]

Originally Posted by balpreetsingh

Hi All,

Planning a road trip : Mumbai - Ganapatipule & return in mid of Sept. Wanted to know the route I can follow for this?

Hoq much do I budget for the trip( I have a 2 PM checkin at the hotel in Ganapatipule)

Any inputs of stopover for food?

Regards,

Balpreet

A lot of the info you need is already available on this thread. I would recommend taking Expressway till Khopoli, then the Khopoli-Pali road past Imagica to Join Nh 17. Will save you a bunch of time. Once on Nh17, keep going until Sangameshwar. A right turn can take you to Jakadevi and another right turn to Gpule. The route is deserted and a little confusing. An alternative would be to continue south on Nh17 till Nivali phata, and then take a right turn towards Ganpatipule ( again via Jakadevi, but less confusing route.

You should budget around 8 hours at least to get to Ganpatipule. Unless you are starting from Khargar :-)

[rajivtelang]

Hi,

Need to visit Sawantwadi on 16th August. I will be traveling from Bangalore so based on the geographic conditions Bangalore-Belgaon-Amboli-Sawantwadi seems to be the best option for me. Does anybody know the current status of Amboli ghat by any chance? I hear about the land slides there and nothing else regarding road condition etc.
Any information is highly appreciated.

Regards,
Rajiv

[esskay08]

Hi,

We will be driving down to North Goa (Sinquerim Beach) for the first time, in a Jazz (hence, Ghat driving could be a problem).

While there are many recent posts on driving down from Thane, and I loved going through them, I am also a frazzled deciding which is the safer route (even if less scenic since we don't know how the Ghats will treat us)...We will be travelling next week (September, 2015).

We plan to leave by 3.30 am, as many of the members have done so far and plan to reach there by 5 pm, if not earlier...We will probably start back after breakfast on the day of our return, by 10 am...

I am confused about NH-17 or NH-4, via Pune or Chorla/Belgaum routes, and of course, anxious about the state of the routes after monsoons. Can't say that either my husband or I have driven on the Ghats before.

I being the worrier among the two of us, would love to get any advice from the seasoned hands here...

For September, which route is to be taken to Goa from Thane/Mumbai and which route for the journey back?

Thanks for your help

[praveen789]

Originally Posted by esskay08

Hi,

We will be driving down to North Goa (Sinquerim Beach) for the first time, in a Jazz (hence, Ghat driving could be a problem).

While there are many recent posts on driving down from Thane, and I loved going through them, I am also a frazzled deciding which is the safer route (even if less scenic since we don't know how the Ghats will treat us)...We will be travelling next week (September, 2015).

We plan to leave by 3.30 am, as many of the members have done so far and plan to reach there by 5 pm, if not earlier...We will probably start back after breakfast on the day of our return, by 10 am...

I am confused about NH-17 or NH-4, via Pune or Chorla/Belgaum routes, and of course, anxious about the state of the routes after monsoons. Can't say that either my husband or I have driven on the Ghats before.

I being the worrier among the two of us, would love to get any advice from the seasoned hands here...

For September, which route is to be taken to Goa from Thane/Mumbai and which route for the journey back?

Thanks for your help

If you are not confident about the drive or want to play it safe, I would suggest you take the NH 4 via Chorla. I do not know the road conditions now, but when we had gone last November, it was fantastic all the way. Wide roads till Belgaum with clear dividers and Chorla ghat is also amazing and easy to drive on. I learnt driving in July 2014 and drove to Goa in November 2014 with my brother sharing a bit of the drive (so you imagine how manageable it was)

[esskay08]

Originally Posted by praveen789

If you are not confident about the drive or want to play it safe, I would suggest you take the NH 4 via Chorla. I do not know the road conditions now, but when we had gone last November, it was fantastic all the way. Wide roads till Belgaum with clear dividers and Chorla ghat is also amazing and easy to drive on. I learnt driving in July 2014 and drove to Goa in November 2014 with my brother sharing a bit of the drive (so you imagine how manageable it was)

Thanks Praveen, yeah we are new drivers too (regular since 2013, but have driven over 50k kms in the city between the two of us since then).

If I am to understand, Thane - NH4 - Belgaum - Chorla - Sanquelim - Bicholim - Goa and NH4 Mumbai-Pune-Belgaum-Chorla ghat-Goa (SH 54) are the same routes?

So, you are suggesting I avoid this route: Thane - Nipani - Right at Kaveri hotel - Amboli - Sawantwadi - Goa?

Are these the two major options for Bombay to Goa?

Also,how long will it take for the Chorla route?

Thanks again.

[docaxe]

For north Goa I would suggest you stick to thane nippani ajra amboli sawantwadi panjim
With a 3.30 am start you should be reaching comfortably by 5

[praveen789]

Originally Posted by esskay08

Thanks Praveen, yeah we are new drivers too (regular since 2013, but have driven over 50k kms in the city between the two of us since then).

If I am to understand, Thane - NH4 - Belgaum - Chorla - Sanquelim - Bicholim - Goa and NH4 Mumbai-Pune-Belgaum-Chorla ghat-Goa (SH 54) are the same routes?

So, you are suggesting I avoid this route: Thane - Nipani - Right at Kaveri hotel - Amboli - Sawantwadi - Goa?

Are these the two major options for Bombay to Goa?

Also,how long will it take for the Chorla route?

Thanks again.

We were heading to south Goa so after Chorla, we headed towards Ponda and then Margaon. In your case, Thane - NH4 - Belgaum - Chorla - Sanquelim – Bicholim – Sinquerium is the right one. In Google maps, just type Thane as starting and Sinquerium as destination with Chorla as middle stop. We had left Andheri at 6 am and reached Margoan at 8 pm. We were driving sedately at 100-110 max and took a breakfast and lunch break along with 2-3 other small breaks (totalling 2-2.5 hours). We got quite a bit of traffic when going through Belgaum. Total distance was 620 kms.

[esskay08]

Originally Posted by docaxe

For north Goa I would suggest you stick to thane nippani ajra amboli sawantwadi panjim
With a 3.30 am start you should be reaching comfortably by 5

If we do take the Nippani-Ajara route, we will get the Amboli Ghats...is it easy to drive on or are there things to keep in mind?

[RedTerrano]

I can vouch the road condition was good in Jun. Besides the expected slight delay encountered while crossing Savantwadi, I did not face any issues. The rains had just started so there was slight fog in Amboli ghat. Be careful there.

[1lokesh]

So, another visit to Goa is on the cards. Leaving on 02-Oct-2015.
Can anyone please confirm on the road conditions. Last time I took Belgaum-Chorla route and ended up prolonging my drive by a couple of hours, though the drive was fantastic.
This time, I would want to take Nipani-Sawantwadi route. Anyone has driven recently on that stretch? How are the ghat sections around sawantwadi after the Monsoon rains?