[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by dmplog

So, I thought to list some of the stations that I am ware of. Please add others that I might have missed!

Please see the quoted part in post number 1 on the following thread:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...-eateries.html (Bangalore - Pune - Mumbai : Route updates & Eateries)

[HalfOctave]

Hi all, I went through the thread and could notice that there are lot of different routes that were taken by different BHPians. I am planning to drive down from Pune to Goa (have not booked accommodation yet so not confirmed where in Goa), and would appreciate if someone can guide on the route.

I am open to take a break in between as I would be travelling with my 4yo daughter and plus going by the reviews on road conditions, would rather be safe driving Verna on road full of pot holes.

[rakesh_r]

Latest road conditions as per TOI
https://epaper.timesgroup.com/articl...020_toipuc_TOI
A snippet:
The Pune-Satara-Karad stretch of national highway 48 has developed large potholes and some sections of the road have even been washed off. Traffic diversions for road work have worsened the ride.
Travelling further from Kolhapur, those heading to South Goa can take the Belagavi-Chorla ghat route, which is in good condition. However, the road further south of Chorla ghat that passes through Khanapur-Dudhsagar waterfalls is damaged in the forest sections and is best avoided.

[t3ofil4us]

I will be driving from Dombivali to Utorda, intend to take the chotla route from Belgaum.

Stopping overnight at Belgaum and driving down early in the morning towards goa.

Intended route is Panvel--lonavala--pune--satara--kolhapur--belgaum--jamboti--chorla--sanquelim--curti--borim--utorda

Google still displays the southern road to be the fastest through BWS, via Anmod, my previous experience was really bad through the potholed roads of BWS.

[ranjitnair77]

Update on Anmod

So I just got back from Goa and took the Anmod route, both ways. Mainly to avoid traffic due to the upcoming long weekend. I drive a Verna which has reasonable ground clearance. Here's an update on the most important sections.

• Belgaum City: No issues as the roadworks are complete. You just have to deal with the usual traffic.
• Belgaum to Khanapur: 4 landed Highway, about 80% complete. There are some bumpy sections, especially start and at the exit to Khanapur.
• Bhimgad: The whole section from Khanapur to Bhimgad is roughly around 37 kms but it will take between 75 to 90 mins to complete. There is an initial 2km rough patch at the start, but the worst section is right after the Bhimgad gate. 4 kms of an absolutely bombed out road which took between 20-30 mins to cover. No scraping but we were literally crawling through this section. The rest of the road is mixed to reasonable.
• Anmod and beyond: The Ghat itself is smooth as it's concrete. The tarmac once you cross over to Goa is brilliant. Almost like a runway.

The biggest advantage of this route is virtually no traffic and the beautiful wildlife sanctuary. But that 4km patch does make you grit your teeth. The car did not bottom out anywhere but you are pretty much driving at walking speed and handling the occasional crater that is as wide as the road. Do keep this in mind.

There is also extensive flooding around the Kolhapur area. I had to take a detour on the way back. The Malaprabha river had overflowed its banks near a low lying bridge between Bhimgad and Khanapur so I took a detour through a village called Manturga and Asoga which set me back by roughly 20-30 mins. Do ask about the conditions if you are traveling through that area this weekend.

[t3ofil4us]

Originally Posted by ranjitnair77

Update on Anmod

So I just got back from Goa and took the Anmod route, both ways. Mainly to avoid traffic due to the upcoming long weekend. I drive a Verna which has reasonable ground clearance. Here's an update on the most important sections.

• Belgaum City: No issues as the roadworks are complete. You just have to deal with the usual traffic.
• Belgaum to Khanapur: 4 landed Highway, about 80% complete. There are some bumpy sections, especially start and at the exit to Khanapur.
  
• Bhimgad: The whole section from Khanapur to Bhimgad is roughly around 37 kms but it will take between 75 to 90 mins to complete. There is an initial 2km rough patch at the start, but the worst section is right after the Bhimgad gate. 4 kms of an absolutely bombed out road which took between 20-30 mins to cover. No scraping but we were literally crawling through this section. The rest of the road is mixed to reasonable.
  
• Anmod and beyond: The Ghat itself is smooth as it's concrete. The tarmac once you cross over to Goa is brilliant. Almost like a runway.

There is also extensive flooding around the Kolhapur area. Do ask about the conditions if you are traveling through that area this weekend.

Thanks for the extensive details, it helps. I know what you mean with respect to crawling within the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary and the craters

I bottomed quite often in my ameo which was lightly loaded three years ago on that bombed out section.

By the way, Did you encounter any flooding post Belgaum on the way back on the NH?

That road through Mollem is registered in my mind since the last 3 years but BWS roads just scare the Mickey out of me now.

[ranjitnair77]

Originally Posted by t3ofil4us

I bottomed quite often in my ameo which was lightly loaded three years ago on that bombed out section.

By the way, Did you encounter any flooding post Belgaum on the way back on the NH?

I had taken the Bhimgad route back in 2021. The situation is worse now and I suppose there is no chance of repair until the monsoons end. I'm pretty certain that some of the lower sedans will bottom out on this route. I see no problems for SUVs. The Verna is kind of SUV like in it's GC.

The rivers are swollen between Belgaum and Kolhapur and the waters are pretty close to some of the bridges. If the current spell of heavy rains continue, the waters could overflow the NH.

[dadacarnissan]

Hello Community! We are travelling to Goa from Mumbai next week, post the long weekend rush. Taking a break in Pune first for a couple of nights and then the onward journey.

The suggestions on the thread are very helpful but I couldn't find a feedback on the Nipani - Amboli route. Eventual destination is Candolim.

[t3ofil4us]

Originally Posted by dadacarnissan

The suggestions on the thread are very helpful but I couldn't find a feedback on the Nipani - Amboli route. Eventual destination is Candolim.

I had traveled in the summer and the roads were decent but watch out for speed breakers. Though narrow, the roads are frequented by heavy vehicles which may force you to frequently take the shoulder of the road. From Nippani to Ajara, the roads are ok, the roads ahead snake through ghats and you need to be really attentive about craters on the road aka potholes and speed breakers. Not sure of the condition now.

[RJ2285]

Originally Posted by ranjitnair77

Update on Anmod

So I just got back from Goa and took the Anmod route, both ways. Mainly to avoid traffic due to the upcoming long weekend. I drive a Verna which has reasonable ground clearance. Here's an update on the most important sections.

We took the same route to Goa from Mumbai on 13th August in our BMW X1. I agree to all your observations, word by word. The road after Bhimgad gate is in such a horrible state. My heart was in my mouth each time I put the X1 through it. In the end, the X1 performed really well, did not bottom out even once and navigated through it with aplomb.

Only suggestion I have for someone taking this route, while approaching the bad sections, take a minute, stop, think of how you plan to tackle the bad section before entering it and crawl over it. Doesn’t matter if there is a bus behind you. You don’t want to be left stranded in the jungle, especially with no workshop in a scenario where your car gets damaged.

Stay calm and don’t panic!

[anrapa]

We drove our Jeep Compass from Mumbai to South Goa on the 11th. Pune to Satara stretch was bad with unexpected and very large craters even in the fast lane. Had a real scare when we had to slow to a crawl amidst fast traffic on the middle lane.

We had decided on the chorla route to avoid bad roads in BWS and possible traffic in Amboli. Belgaum was a slight problem due to bad route suggestions from Google.

The route from Belgaum upto Jamboti (actually 5kms before) is ok, though too many speed bumps there. Post Jamboti there is around 30kms of bad roads with massive potholes. We had a figure out a path several times as there was no part of the road that looked navigable. The good thing though is that it looked much worse than it felt. We managed to cross most of these with zero issues, and cars like Dzire and i10s were also handing it easily.

The Goa part of the ghats had very good roads and shows that Govt apathy on the KA side seems to be the cause rather than the weather.

We returned on 14th staying with the known devil as horror stories from BWS got repeated by someone we met. While I was tempted to try that route and believe both are equally bad, chorla with higher traffic is definitely safer.

[t3ofil4us]

Apart from the section through BWS where we absolutely crawled in the ameo today, the roads were superb. Some sections between the Bhimgad gate and the village Ragnarok(ironic isn't it), are horrible, but the rest of the route was smooth sailing with us railing an innova.

The roads from anmod are good but there are still no edge markings or marking of any kind so definitely avoid night driving. The roads via Mollem are epic, ended up racking a fine of 1000 for speeding at 77 kmph in a 60 kmph zone.

Be careful across Goa. Cops bow employ speed cameras to catch overspeeding especially

[ajay0912]

Hi All,

I travelled via Chorla on 13th August from Pune to Goa. The road after Jamboti till begining of Ghat had lot of huge pot holes and could be dangerous if one is not alert.

I would be travelling back tomorrow so wanted to know how is the condition of Amboli ->Nipani route.

[a_myth]

Two weeks ago, I drove to Belgaum from Panaji and back using the Chorla route. The KA side has developed big potholes as already discussed on this forum, mostly at sharp bends which are a annual feature during monsoons. Attaching some pictures of the road for reference. Please neglect the date watermark on the pics

[dadacarnissan]

Originally Posted by dadacarnissan

Hello Community! We are travelling to Goa from Mumbai next week, post the long weekend rush. Taking a break in Pune first for a couple of nights and then the onward journey.

The suggestions on the thread are very helpful but I couldn't find a feedback on the Nipani - Amboli route. Eventual destination is Candolim.

Update on our trip

Route travelled - Pune > Kohlapur > Nipani > Amboli > Sawantwadi > Candolim
Onward journey - 16th August
Return - 19th August
Passengers - 4 (2 adults + 2 kids under 6)
Ride - Skoda Kushaq 1.5 DSI

Pune x Kolhapur was clean, no major disruptions along the way. Short patches with potholes prior to Kolhapur.

Nipani - After taking the turn towards Nipani, we were greeted by the most scenic valleys. Smooth roads, will go out on a limb to say it reminded us of the British countryside.

As soon as one gets down from Nipani, the setup changed 180. Bombed out roads till the climb to Amboli. Navigation is hard at times. Took a serious hit on our time. Exercise caution on this leg.

Amboli Ghats - With monsoons around, clouds were playing hide and seek and this was a drive for the records. Gets really dark and would recommend hitting this part early evening to manage the twisties and also avoid late evening / early night arrival into Goa.

Return leg experience was the same.

Car performance was excellent, enough power available on demand and the suspension was exceptional especially during the Nipani to Amboli part. This was my first experience with an automatic and I made good use of the cruise control (80-85km range).

Happy to answer any queries on the route.