[unoczar]

Originally Posted by crisscross

Further to my previous post, three routes suggested by Google Maps are given below. Would appreciate feedback on these or please suggest better routes. I will start from either Mapusa or Madgaon.

Via Kolhapur & Solapur

via Bijapur, Gulbarga & Zaheerabad

via Dharwar, Hubli, Raichur, Jadcherla

The last map has two sub-options via Bijapur, Gulbarga, Zaheerabad & via Bijapur, Solapur, Zaheerabad.

Thanks a ton.

hi criss,

Are you currently living in goa OR did you just go there? How did you go, if you did go?

I'm fairly sure of this- From bijapur you can safely take gulbarga-zaheerabad-hyd route, neat roads. What i'm unsure of is the part between bijapur and belgaum and then belgaum to goa. For belgaum to goa the best bet seems the amboli sawantwadi route, but then you dont have to pass through belgaum. The first leg of your journey is debatable and there are 2-3 routes till bijapur. Do let us know what route you took as it would help us a lot.

What i suggest is

Mapusa-sawantwadi-amboli-sankeshwar-chikodi-athani-bijapur-gulbarga-humnabad-zaheerabad-hyd.

[crisscross]

^^ Many Thanks. Bought a Jazz in Goa & have to get it back to hyd Thats a long story will make a detailed post later.

Just wanted to confirm, google maps shows NH218/NH9 from bijapur-gulbarga-humnabad-hyd. Is NH218 a two lane & is in good condition?

Would appreciate feedback on the goa to bijapur & / or completely different routes.

Thanks

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by crisscross

Just wanted to confirm, google maps shows NH218/NH9 from bijapur-gulbarga-humnabad-hyd. Is NH218 a two lane & is in good condition?
Would appreciate feedback on the goa to bijapur & / or completely different routes.

This travellogue will give you an idea
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...nt-malvan.html

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by unoczar

For belgaum to goa the best bet seems the amboli sawantwadi route

The Anmod route is good too.

[crisscross]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

The Anmod route is good too.

Thanks, when I added Anmod to Google maps, it suggested dharwad-koppal-gangwati-raichur-jadcherla route.

Any thoughts on this route? If I take this, I will probably halt at Hampi.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by crisscross

Thanks, when I added Anmod to Google maps

I am not sure about Dharwad and further towards Andra. But Dharwad to this side if you are driving an SUV you can take the Kittur route to get to Khanapur-Londa-Mollem-Ponda-Panaji. This route has about 14 kms of bad road.

If not come from Belgaum and take the route to Londa. Road is decent.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by crisscross

^^ Many Thanks. Bought a Jazz in Goa & have to get it back to hyd Thats a long story will make a detailed post later.

Just wanted to confirm, google maps shows NH218/NH9 from bijapur-gulbarga-humnabad-hyd. Is NH218 a two lane & is in good condition?

Would appreciate feedback on the goa to bijapur & / or completely different routes.

Thanks

Take the Bijapur route,its pretty good.Come via NH4A or Amboli and join up NH4 at either Belgaum or at Nippani and then go via Bijapur.It would be a goog 14-15hr drive so start early.

If you want to do a relaxed drive,then I would reccomend the Solapur route,leave after lunch from Goa,reach Solapur by late evening around 8.Stay the night at Solapur and drive to Hyd next day morning.Plenty of places to stay in Solapur.

Panjim-Solapur 7-8hrd
Solapur-Hyd 5-6 hrs

[crisscross]

Thanks everyone for the route suggestions, it was a great help on our trip.

The route we took was via Madgaon - Ponda (NH4A)- Bypass - Anmod - Londa - Belgaum (NH4)- Nipani(SH12) - Chikodi - Athani - Bijapur(NH218) - Jewargi- Homnabad(NH9) - Zaheerabad - Sec'bad.

We started late around 11.30am because of a headlight problem. We took internal roads from Madgaon to NH4A near Ponda. Roads were narrow & the going was a bit slow. We got stuck on NH4A after Ponda thanks to mining lorries. It took us more than an hour to traverse about 10 - 12 km. This was around 11.30am & 12.30pm. After that NH4A was good for the most part except for occasional bad patches. We got delayed after Belgaum as we asked around for best route between Belgaum & Bijapur & we got conflicting suggestions . Plus the Nokia maps shows Chikodi on NH4 whereas it is on SH12. Unless there is another Chikodi on NH4! Thanks to all the conflicting suggestions, we ended up taking the Nipani - Chikodi route which we wanted to avoid. The feedback from Magnificent Malvan post were a great help.

Once we crossed Chikodi the roads(SH12) were quite decent & traffic was not bad we were able to maintain ok speeds. We left Bijapur at 10pm NH218 was excellent (for the most part) & had very little traffic. We would suggest people take the bypass for Singdi, Gulbarga. We went via Gulbarga as it was around 12 am & the internal roads were very bad.

NH9 on the other hand had heavy lorry traffic, with occassional traffic jams & since they most dont dim lights it made for difficult driving. We were on NH9 between 1.30am & 4am approx.

GPS - Google maps doesnt show State highway numbers, whereas Nokia maps doesnt show NH218.

We started at 11.30 & reached at 4am approx. Thanks to a few stops for food, many more for asking directions (between Belgaum & Chikodi), traffic jams, & bad roads we made slow progress from Madgaon to Chikodi. Things went much faster after Chikodi.

[Selective]

Originally Posted by crisscross

The route we took was via Madgaon - Ponda (NH4A)- Bypass - Anmod - Londa - Belgaum (NH4)- Nipani(SH12) - Chikodi - Athani - Bijapur(NH218) - Jewargi- Homnabad(NH9) - Zaheerabad - Sec'bad.

Thanks to all the conflicting suggestions, we ended up taking the Nipani - Chikodi route which we wanted to avoid.

You NEED NOT take nipani-chikodi route at all. While coming from Belgaum, take right turn at GOTUR just before Sankeshwar (you need to take service road, and take right turn under the flyover), which takes you directly to Chikodi and has better road. And this route saves you atleast 25-30 kms!!!

Belgaum, Karnataka, India to Chikkodi, Karnataka, India - Google Maps

Refer the google map link above, travel from A (Belgaum) to B (Sankeshwar) and then to C (Chikodi). Actually Sankeshwar - Nipani - Chikodi form equilateral triangle, and you have taken the longest path, of which half of the distance has rough road.

[crisscross]

Originally Posted by Selective

You NEED NOT take nipani-chikodi route at all. While coming from Belgaum, take right turn at GOTUR just before Sankeshwar (you need to take service road, and take right turn under the flyover), which takes you directly to Chikodi and has better road. And this route saves you atleast 25-30 kms!!!

Belgaum, Karnataka, India to Chikkodi, Karnataka, India - Google Maps

Refer the google map link above, travel from A (Belgaum) to B (Sankeshwar) and then to C (Chikodi). Actually Sankeshwar - Nipani - Chikodi form equilateral triangle, and you have taken the longest path, of which half of the distance has rough road.

You are right. Actually that is what we were trying to do, but we got confused due to the following reasons, when we reached Sankeshwar, the road local people suggested ended up taking us back to NH4, since Nokia maps also showed Chikodi on NH4, we ended up going via Nipani. Google Maps did not show any state highway nos. so we depended on Nokia maps & that also had flaws ...

[saildrive]

Am planning to drive down from Thane to goa next weekend. Planning to start at 6 pm or so on 23rd and reach next day early morning / dawn i.e 24th.

Will be staying at Baga on 24th / 25th and return on 26th.

Have to pick a friend in Kolhpur so :
To
Mumbai - Pune Express - Kolhapur - ??
Fro
May be the Old goa highway!

Please revert with a good route (scenic and driveable - since we will be starting prett late in the evening / night). Also how much time will the each route take u approx. taking traffic and other things into account

Do let me know some of the best places to eat - good, goan and also inexpensive food (veg and non-veg)

Brittos, Souza Lobos' is expensive...... so you will know what kinda budget we are going in......and i am not even talking about Martins

Another off topic query is :
Tavera is quoting us 7.5 per km from Thane to Goa and back....assume we will do about 1500 odd kms.

We are 6 or 7 of us....is it the best deal? Also how much should a INNOVA come for? I am sure it is much better than a Tavera! What say?

Cheers

[Figopian]

Has anyone recently travelled via phonda ghat? (Kolhapur -> Radhanagari -> Phonda -> Kudal)
Planning to go to Vengurle next week and may be I will take this route rather than the regular Amboli ghat. Hoping this to be a better route than going via Gaganbawda!

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by Figopian

Has anyone recently travelled via phonda ghat? (Kolhapur -> Radhanagari -> Phonda -> Kudal)
Planning to go to Vengurle next week and may be I will take this route rather than the regular Amboli ghat. Hoping this to be a better route than going via Gaganbawda!

Someone travelled phondaghat last month http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...nt-malvan.html
but not via Kolhapur city. They went via Nipani
Rad about it. Not much, but a couple of photos of the Ghat

[Darryl.Burke]

Do let me know some of the best places to eat - good, goan and also inexpensive food (veg and non-veg)

Viva Panjim is my favorite restaurant at Panaji, medium rates and excellent quality. To get there: as you enter Panaji, cross the new Patto bridge and take a U-turn to the left at the foot of the bridge. Follow the road, straight across the foot of the old Patto bridge -- you'll have a waterway on your left -- and continue till the footbridge across the water, maybe around 250 m. Take the third right after the footbridge -- the road that leads straight to a church. Park anywhere and ask around, or just look for a signboard.

Then there's Rajdhani, behind Hotel Mandovi -- excellent veg meal (not particularly Goan though) for 140-150(?) and Ritz, not very far from the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (the 'church with the steps), where you'll get a very good fish rice plate for 80 (I had lunch there on Saturday and Sunday). At Ritz, be prepared to wait up to 10-15 minutes to get a table, but believe me, it's worth the wait.

Brittos, Souza Lobos' is expensive...... so you will know what kinda budget we are going in......and i am not even talking about Martins

You forgot Coqueiro's

Google Earth coordinates:
Viva Panjim: 15°29'47"N 73°49'51.6"E
Rajdhani: 15°30'2.25"N 73°49'36.75"E
Ritz: 15°29'54.8"N 73°49'35.8"E

Oh, and if you want a real low-budget meal, go to Raju Amonkar's Bharat Hotel by the side of the new Patto bridge, just as you take that U-turn to the left (for getting to Viva Panjim). Tell him Burke sent you and don't miss the chance to try his speciality -- Kokum Soda.
Bharat: 15°29'58.5"N 73°49'59.7"E

db

[unoczar]

@criss,

how was the road from Panjim-ponda-anmod-londa? Has it been re-laid?