[Ravi Yadav]

The route i was referring to was this ,

[shekhar_gogoi]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

The mining trucks have more or less stopped/reduced thanks to the SC mining ban,but yes the potholes could be a worry.Would be a good idea to pm Sahir Kittur to get real time updates of the route a couple of days before the drive.He is from Belgaum and regularly drives the routes.

Just got back from goa a couple of days back. Took the diversion from nipani (sot sure what the road's called). Turned out to be a big mistake! Took the other route through NH4A and via belgaum while returning. Its a much much better option. And there's very little coal truck traffic owing to the SC ruling. This it the best route to take to Goa irrespective of if you are starting from bangalore or mumbai.

[Ravi Yadav]

Originally Posted by shekhar_gogoi

Just got back from goa a couple of days back. Took the diversion from nipani (sot sure what the road's called). Turned out to be a big mistake! Took the other route through NH4A and via belgaum while returning. Its a much much better option. And there's very little coal truck traffic owing to the SC ruling. This it the best route to take to Goa irrespective of if you are starting from bangalore or mumbai.

I think the road is called Nipani-Ajra Link road. Hey Shekhar, which stretch was in a bad shape.
1.Nipani to Amboli. or
2.Amboli to Sawantwadi.

[shekhar_gogoi]

The road from Nipani to Ajra is ok. From Ajra to Amboli as you get near to Amboli and then to Sawantwadi its really bad.

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by Ravi Yadav

The route i was referring to was this ,

I think that's the Tilari ghat route. If you want to go that route you better look up and do a search in this forum, you maybe lucky to find Sahir's photos put up. By the way what car do you plan to drive via that ghat? Enjoy and have a safe drive.

[Ravi Yadav]

Originally Posted by deutscheafrikar

I think that's the Tilari ghat route. If you want to go that route you better look up and do a search in this forum, you maybe lucky to find Sahir's photos put up. By the way what car do you plan to drive via that ghat? Enjoy and have a safe drive.

I have no idea about the route name but if its the same ghat route SAHIR had posted images of , i would prefer avoiding it .I am planning to take my Palio MJD for the trip.

[buz]

Hi. I am visiting North Goa from Mumbai on Oct 22. Am a little confused on which route would be the best bet from NH4 - 1) Nipani-Ajra or 2) Sankeshwar-Gadhinglaj or 3) Bauxite road. If anyone has gone to and fro two different routes, may please update on the preferred route (not planning to take NH4A as it is good only to reach south Goa).

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by buz

Hi. I am visiting North Goa from Mumbai on Oct 22. Am a little confused on which route would be the best bet from NH4 - 1) Nipani-Ajra or 2) Sankeshwar-Gadhinglaj or 3) Bauxite road. If anyone has gone to and fro two different routes, may please update on the preferred route (not planning to take NH4A as it is good only to reach south Goa).

Order of preference would be:

Bauxite road,sankeshwar road,nipani road.Not much to choose in between Bauxite and sankeshwar roads.

[suniladhiya]

@buz: As usual, my vote goes to Bauxite Road. Best one I have travelled on among all the possible routes to Goa. Maybe, being a state highway, its a bit better looked after than Sankeshwar-Amboli road.

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by buz

Hi. I am visiting North Goa from Mumbai on Oct 22. Am a little confused on which route would be the best bet from NH4 - 1) Nipani-Ajra or 2) Sankeshwar-Gadhinglaj or 3) Bauxite road. If anyone has gone to and fro two different routes, may please update on the preferred route (not planning to take NH4A as it is good only to reach south Goa).

I have done Ajra Nipani on 09.10.2011- Road conditions are bad, please avoid. I did Sankeshwar - Amboli few days earlier, comparitively much better.

I am not aware of Bauxite road conditions.

Have nice trip.
Cheers !
NH

[SAHIR.KITTUR]

"Bauxite road" is nothing but a bypass to Belgaum city when travelling on Kolhapur - Belgaum - Amboli - Sawantwadi - Goa.

[a_myth]

I traveled on the Belgaum-Goa via Amboli ghat on the 16th Oct and back on 17th Oct. Had actually planned to do this trip via Mollem i.e the Anmod Ghat, but after reports of un motorable road conditions, went ahead with Anmod section

As usual roads in Goa are good (i should say excellent if i compare it with the rest of the trip). The Punto MID said i was doing about 22.8 kmpl upto the Goa border from Panaji. The road conditions are OK/ not that bad upto Sawantwadi with a few bad patches here and there. The roads upto Amboli are also not bad considering this section of Konkan receives very heavy rainfall during the monsoons.

The real trouble starts once you approach the Hindalco Bauxite mine near belgaum. The road is really a mess. I would strictly advise against travelling this section at night. My average speed came down to about 20 kms/hr. With continuous gear shifts from 2-3-4 and suddenly to 4-2 is very tiring. This section also tends do its parts to mix the contents of ones stomach, hence I had to stop every few kms to empty let my companion empty his. Add to this the sudden showers in the evening due to the retreating monsoons and finally after 4 hours of struggle behind the wheel, I reached Belgaum at 1730 hrs (Started at 1330 from panaji)
The Punto MID now says i did the journey at 17.5 kmpl. I had never seen it so low even in City drives with the aircon working.

Attaching a few snaps of the section of road which is pretty bad.

The last two snaps are of the landslide area at Amboli.

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by a_myth

The real trouble starts once you approach the Hindalco Bauxite mine near belgaum. The road is really a mess.

Thanks for the heads-up. I am confused if this is the same as the Bauxite road mentioned and recommended above. Or is this a different route close by?

[a_myth]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Thanks for the heads-up. I am confused if this is the same as the Bauxite road mentioned and recommended above. Or is this a different route close by?

As Sahir rightly mentioned in his previous post, the bauxite road is the one which connect the Sawantwadi-Belgaun SH and the NH4 without going through the city of Belgaum (to avoid most of the heavy traffic).

And the road i am talking about is between the city of belgaum and the Hindalco Bauxite mines on the Sawantwadi road. If you can search on Google maps for the Bauxite Road, Belgaum, you will have a better picture.

[S_U_N]

Ok. So, here is the route I will take to bypass Belgaum and proceed towards Amboli and Sawantwadi.

Thank you for your clarification.