[Lucifer68]

Team,

Just returned from a 2 day trip to Gokarna.

The route from Bangalore to Gokarna we took was Bangalore > Tumkur > Chitradurga > Ranebennur > Left turn at Haveri > Sirsi > Hebre > Kumta > Gokarna

Considerations :

1. Good time till Chitradurga, Post which road widening from 4 to 6 lane highway work is ongoing and hence will have to use service roads atleast 6 to 7 times between, Chitradurga and Haveri - slows down the drive, and worst of all traffic pile up with dust etc etc.

2. From Sirsi to Kumta, due to recent rains the second half is closed, so you will have to take a diversion, go a bit south, connect to the coastal highway, prior to kumta and return.

Return, thought I will be smart and took the road via Shimoga ie. Gokarna > Honnavara > Shimoga > Bhadravati > Kadur > Arsikere > Tiptur > Tumkur > Bengaluru. Very painful drive in the evening took us an additional 3 hrs

Considerations:
1. From Shimoga till Arsikere its back to back traffic, since the road widening is going on here too. 2 lane to 4 lane conversion. Post Arsikere, the work is still ongoing, but the traffic is less, not sure what reason, but it was easier.

Hence considering all the above, would suggest,

To & Fro - Bengaluru > Chitradurga > Left to Shimoga > Sagar > Honnavara > Gokarna.

Hope this helps

[jayantvs]

Came back from a 4-day trip to Gokarna and nearby places. Stay was at Om beach resort, Gokarna.

Route details:

Onward Journey - Bangalore > Tumkur > Chitradurga > Ranebennur > Haveri > Mundgod > Yellapur > Gokarna

Verdict - Ended up in the above route as I somehow missed the left turn at Haveri. The road after Haveri is not good and single lane so this route can be avoided. There are 5-6 deviations on NH 48 but did not face any issues with the diversions as the traffic was not dense (I travelled on a weekday).

Return Journey - Gokarna > Honnavara > Jog Falls > Sagar > Shimoga > Left to Chitradurga > Tumkur > Bangalore

Verdict - I see this route was suggested in the last post. This is definitely a recommended route. The roads are good throughout. Plan to leave as early as possible from Bangalore.

[Santoshbhat]

Travelled from Sirsi to Kumta via Devimane ghat just yesterday and wanted to update that the roads have been patched up and almost all potholes are filled up. The patched up road is good enough for you to glide over them at 40 to 60 kmph. Cemented sections are perfectly fine and some tarmac sections are newly laid and butter smooth. I was able to do Sirsi Kumta in 1 hr 15 mins. The work is a bit shoddy though and I don't think it will hold up for more than 2 to 3 months.

Also Sirsi Haveri is decent shape with few rough patches only. So if you are travelling to Gokarna from Bangalore, the best route is Bangalore - Haveri - Hanagal - Sirsi - Kumta. The turn off from the highway to get on to the SH towards Hanagal - Sirsi remains tricky as ever!

[revvytorques]

Traveled from Bangalore to Gokarna on December 19th

Route taken - Bengaluru-Neelamangala-Tumakuru-Hiriyur-Tarikere-Shivamogga-Sagar-Jog Falls-Honnavar-Kumta-Gokarna

Beautiful NH tolled roads till Hiriyur. From Hiriyur to Shivamogga two lane without divider but turf quality is good other than a few sections.

Shivamogga-Sagar-Jog Falls-Honnavar is beautiful ghat roads, very good turf.

Honnavar to Gokarna (till Gokarna turning) is NH66 which is under construction so a lot of diversions.

Start Time - 6.22 AM Hennur
Destination - 7.30 PM Kudle Beach Road, Gokarna

Took multiple breaks - Breakfast at Tumkur, Coffee at Sagar, Lunch at Hotel Mayura, Jog Falls view point, Sharavati River Viewpoint, Shamshi Hanging bridge (recommended stop)

As mentioned earlier in the forum, try to do the Honnavar-Gokarna stretch before sunset. We spent an hour at Jog Falls view point & about half an hour at the Shamshi Hanging Bridge so got delayed and had to do the Honnavar to Gokarna stretch after sunset.

[goandude]

Update on road conditions 13/14 March:-

Gokarna to Honnavar: 4 lane is under construction so it is 2 lane at times and 4 lane at oters. Not well marked diversions so watch out at night. I would say about 50% of the road is 4 lane. Lot of small town traffic throughout the route keeps speed down.
Honnavar to Jog: One of the BEST roads I have driven on in this country. Super smooth surface, moderately broad, forested, less traffic and well marked. Charmadi ghat is a close second but is narrow.

Jog to Shimoga: After getting spoiled by the Honnavar Jog road this road is a tad worse, but by rest of India standards its great. No speed breakers. Goes through the town of Sagar which slows you down.

Shimoga to Tarekere: As soon as you leave Shimoga you start meeting these rumble strips at every break in the divider. The rumble strips are about 5 meters long and vary in their height so dont get fooled into thinking you can go fast over them. These irritants keep on through Bhadravati and then their fnumber reduces.

Tarikere to Hiriyur: Wonderful road. 2 lane fast, smooth very few speed breakers, few unmarked. However towards Hiriyur there is a culvert under construction and the road about 4/5 km is not too great.

Timing Gokarna to Shimoga 5.5 hours with about 45 minutes at Jog falls.
Shimoga to CV Raman Nagar 5.5 hours with a short break. Traffic coming into Bangalore was not too much since we entered mid day.

[the_joker]

I travelled on this route back in January/February. Between Hiriyur and Shimoga, I would recommend Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Holehonnur - Shimoga over Hiriyur - Tarikere - Shimoga always. Chitradurga - Shimoga is NH, and road is a proper 2 lane highway which has smooth surface except for some distance in Chitradurga town and 15 km before Shimoga. It also has less traffic. Compared to this, Shimoga - Tarikere has very heavy traffic, road condition is not that good. Tarikere - Hosadurga is good, but after some time, the road becomes single road.

[nandakumar]

Travel Dates : Bangalore to GoKarna - 10th April, 2021 and back on 13th April, 2021.
Route Taken : Kothanur(Hennur) > Nelamangla > Tumkur > Chitradurga > Ranebennur > Left turn at Haveri > Sirsi > Yana Caves (Detour) > Gokarna.

Time Taken : Started at 3.00 AM and Reached Sirsi for Breakfast @ 8.45 AM. Yana caves is about 29 Kms from Sirsi and another 1.30 Mins to Go Karna. Over all it was 7 Hrs drive time. Distance travelled on ODO - 517 Kms.

Route : Bangalore to diversion at Haveri is 4 to 6 lane roads with almost 90% work completed and less traffic and you will be able to average at 90-100 Km/H. It is a blink and miss diversion at Haveri. When your map says take right, look out for the flyover and you need to get down the steep service lane before the flyover. Wish there was a small board at least.
Road from Haveri to Sirsi is 2 lane road with pretty decent tarmac. Yes there are lots of speed breakers and you will be able to maintain an average 45-50 Km/H on this stretch.
Sirsi to Yana caves road is good, recently laid but watch out for a diversion immediately after crossing the Sisri town. You need to take the right to caves. Regular google maps will show a round about road on Kumta road which is an additional 30kms. Road is being laid and so you will be able to maintain just about 30KM/H until you hit the Gokarna - Goa Highway.

Points to Note: Food options are very limited on the highway unless you want to take a detour into any one of the towns. We had a good breakfast in Sirsi. The town was super clean and had a heritage vibe to it. There are some hidden gems of places to visit around Sirsi.
Would recommend to pack your 1 Meal which is essential in the entire drive. Lot of scenic places to have a great food break.
If you are interested in photography, please carry your tele lens as there are tens of ponds with migratory birds on the way. I was able to capture few on my camera.

Hope this helps to plan your trip once the situation becomes normal. Until then, stay home and stay safe.

[SUBRU]

Planning on a trip to Gokarna once the Covid curfew eases out a bit. Planning to do an overnight drive from Bangalore to Gokarna. Which is the best route in terms of safety and road conditions for an over night drive so as to arrive early morning? Has there been any impact of monsoon on the road condition. Thanks in Advance

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by SUBRU

Planning on a trip to Gokarna once the Covid curfew eases out a bit. Planning to do an overnight drive from Bangalore to Gokarna. Which is the best route in terms of safety and road conditions for an over night drive so as to arrive early morning? Has there been any impact of monsoon on the road condition. Thanks in Advance

Curious why you want to do an overnight journey for a 7hr road trip? If its a vacation good sleep should be priority - but that's just me!

[SUBRU]

Originally Posted by Ragul

Curious why you want to do an overnight journey for a 7hr road trip? If its a vacation good sleep should be priority - but that's just me!

Was looking at gmaps. It says close to 10 hrs through Haveri -Kumta which was fastest. Last time I drove took couple of quick pit stops at Mirjan and Jog and it took us easily 12 hrs. I was not sure if it would be possible to do it in 7 hrs. Also since it is pretty much a weekend trip with just an additional day, thought it might be better to do an overnight drive.

[ccnarayanan]

Planning to make a road trip Bangalore-Gokarna next weekend.

Which route is better - through Yellapur or through Sirsi?

Also, what is the situation around restaurants (Kamat, CCD etc.) on the way?

[ccnarayanan]

Drove Bangalore-Haveri-Sirsi-Gokarna. Took 10h9m with 2 stops (9h15m minus stops). Haveri-Sirsi-Kumta has some bad patches and a few kilometers of construction, but manageable.

On the way back, Gokarna-Ankola-Yellapur-Bankapura-Bangalore. Took 10h25m with 3 stops (9h0m minus stops). The road conditions are good all the way.

Some notes: once on NH-48 (Haveri-Bangalore), just stick to the highway and detours. In many places, Google maps voice navigation would ask you to exit the highway and rejoin since it looks like they need to update it with the portions of the highway where the construction is completed. A few kilometers of the highway between Bankapura and Ranebennur have a posted speed of 100 kmph and there are cops watching out for overspeed.

Moderators: sorry to reply to my own message. I thought my post may be helpful to others who are traveling part or whole of these routes.

[CarJunki]

Planning a trip to Bangalore - Gokarna with family (5 people), probably of a week. Would like some recommendation about places to stay.

[sbr1304]

Originally Posted by CarJunki

Planning a trip to Bangalore - Gokarna with family (5 people), probably of a week. Would like some recommendation about places to stay.

Hi Carjunki, did you go via Jog falls. I hear that it's very scenic and good roads. Just wanted to get latest updates after monsoon .how are the road conditions

[CarJunki]

Originally Posted by sbr1304

Hi Carjunki, did you go via Jog falls. I hear that it's very scenic and good roads. Just wanted to get latest updates after monsoon .how are the road conditions

No, personal situation prevented the trip.