[ampere]

Originally Posted by nvldvr

@ Ampere. You suggested this route in another thread posted by me as well. And going by Uday's travelouge, the roads here seem to be very good. Also, as suggested by Uday, it may be better for me as my stay in Hyderabad is in Begumpet (Bowenpalli), which is North west Hyderabad. Should be easier to get here from Homnabad.

Its either this route, or the one suggested by HVKumar. Still a few days available with me. Any more suggestions / clarifications most welcome.

Hi, Please check with Uday also. Since I have not personally driven in this route, my information, is based on what I read.

[FrankMartin]

Originally Posted by nvldvr

Hi,
Planning to drive down to Karwar from mumbai in the 2nd week of december. Want to go via Pune - NH4. Will be starting late on a saturday afternoon, so have decided to make a night halt at Koyna lake resort, which is around 20 Kms off NH-4.
Not sure about where to take the detour off NH4 to hit Karwar? should i follow Nipani - savantwadi - goa - karwar route? Have done it a couple of times and found it to be quite ok. Is the route via Belgaum faster / better?
Suggestions awaited.

Hi Nvldvr

Did you finally make this trip.
I am planning a trip from Pune to Karwar tomorrow. I know its a bit too late to ask around for route queries, but nevertheless.
Did you make a pitstop in Belgaum enroute to Karwar ?
The route Pune - Belgaum - Khanapur - Ramnagar - Ganeshgudi - Joida - Anshi - Karwar is about 514 kms. It should be smooth sailing along the NH4 but i am bit concerned about the Ramnagar - Ganeshgudi - Joida - Anshi stretch.
Have been collecting info from various thread the reports are not very encouraging, but dont want to miss driving thru the Anshi route since all of us are very keen to explore the scenic beauty of the place.

Plan to start from Pune very early around 5 am so that we make a quick getaway and we should be in Belgaum around 1 pm.
If we continue straight thru to Karwar i am not sure if we would be out of Anshi National park before sundown. Basically want to avoid driving thru the Anshi area at night.
So plan is to break the journey at Belgaum and spend the rest of the day there exploring the town. Start the journey the next day morning and reach Karwar in the afternoon.

Gurus please advise if it would be feasible to drive on to reach Karwar on the same day or would it be too much of a stretch.

[ampere]

Please note that the road via Joida/Anshi/Kadra/Karwar is very bad, but a treat to the eyes. Plus no place for breaks and no clean toilets.

On NH63 (Ankola option) you will at least have Kamat.

[nvldvr]

@ FrankMartin - Checked this thread a bit late for you. You must already be on your way. But yes, i did make the trip. Took the Pune - Kolhapur - Belgaum - Dharwad - Hubli By pass - Ankola - Karwar route.
Fantastic roads through out. Need not say much about NH4. Brilliant all the way to Hubli. 4 lanes through out, although the last 30 or so kms are 2 lanes.
NH 63 from Hubli to Ankola was no less. 2 lanes but very good condition and sparse traffic. Was able to do good speeds throughout.
Started at around 0730 from pune. We were two families, and travelled in a very relaxed manner. Quite a number of stops enroute for food / snacks / Chai / photography, including a pretty decent lunch break at Belgaum. Still managed to hit Karwar by 2000.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by nvldvr

@ FrankMartin - Checked this thread a bit late for you. You must already be on your way. But yes, i did make the trip. Took the Pune - Kolhapur - Belgaum - Dharwad - Hubli By pass - Ankola - Karwar route.
Fantastic roads through out. Need not say much about NH4. Brilliant all the way to Hubli. 4 lanes through out, although the last 30 or so kms are 2 lanes.
NH 63 from Hubli to Ankola was no less. 2 lanes but very good condition and sparse traffic. Was able to do good speeds throughout.
Started at around 0730 from pune. We were two families, and travelled in a very relaxed manner. Quite a number of stops enroute for food / snacks / Chai / photography, including a pretty decent lunch break at Belgaum. Still managed to hit Karwar by 2000.

Hi, Did you also do the onward journey to Hyderabad? If yes, did you take the NH218? How was it?

[nvldvr]

@ Ampere - Many thanks to you. I followed the links given by you and did the NH218 - Gulbarga - Bijapur - Homnabad - Hyd route. The NH218 was great throughout. Only a small strech of about 30 Kms after Hubli had some slight bad patches. But that really didnt matter as even in this strech, other than those small patches, the roads were really good. Sparse traffic and brilliant roads through out.
Will post a detailed report of the Karwar - Hyderabad - Vizag route in a seperate thread for the benefit BHPians as well.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by nvldvr

@ Ampere - Many thanks to you. I followed the links given by you and did the NH218 - Gulbarga - Bijapur - Homnabad - Hyd route. The NH218 was great throughout. Only a small strech of about 30 Kms after Hubli had some slight bad patches. But that really didnt matter as even in this strech, other than those small patches, the roads were really good. Sparse traffic and brilliant roads through out.
Will post a detailed report of the Karwar - Hyderabad - Vizag route in a seperate thread for the benefit BHPians as well.

Wow! That is a great update. Thanks to Uday, whose TL on Malvan, gave me that idea of Nh218. So looks like NH218 is worth all the drives through Central AP across to Hyderabad.

The other point which I thought was that traffic should have been sparse on 218. If that indeed was the case, then 218 should not deteriorate for a long time.

[FrankMartin]

Originally Posted by nvldvr

@ FrankMartin - Checked this thread a bit late for you. You must already be on your way. But yes, i did make the trip. Took the Pune - Kolhapur - Belgaum - Dharwad - Hubli By pass - Ankola - Karwar route.
Fantastic roads through out. Need not say much about NH4. Brilliant all the way to Hubli. 4 lanes through out, although the last 30 or so kms are 2 lanes.
NH 63 from Hubli to Ankola was no less. 2 lanes but very good condition and sparse traffic. Was able to do good speeds throughout.
Started at around 0730 from pune. We were two families, and travelled in a very relaxed manner. Quite a number of stops enroute for food / snacks / Chai / photography, including a pretty decent lunch break at Belgaum. Still managed to hit Karwar by 2000.

Thanks nvldr

We made a Pune - Karwar - Guhagar - Pune trip - 1500 kms in the last week

Based on earlier comments on this thread we took the NH4 till Hubli and NH63 from Hubli till Karwar. The roads were exactly as you have mentioned above,and the journey was a breeze. We started out from Pune at 7:00 and arrived in Karwar at 18:00 hrs
On the return we did Karwar-Panaji-Sawantwadi-Chiplun (via NH17) -Guhagar-Dabhol-Dapoli-Varanda ghat-Bhor-Pune.

NH17 is bad in patches after Sawantwadi till Ratnagiri. in some places the top layer has peeled off resulting in a very rough ride. Varanda-Bhor ghat has about 5 km of bad patches, but it is not as bad as the Mahabaleshwar-Poladpur ghat

I am sorting the photos from the trip, and will post a detailed report

[VBN]

Dear All, Thanks for the details. I took the Mumbai - Pune - Kolhapur - Belgaum - Dharwad - Hubli By pass - Ankola - Karwar route in early March. I drove through the night and reached early morning. The drive was very very easy. I missed the dhabas/road side Udipi restaurants that used to dot the earlier highways.

[comfortablynumb]

Hi Folks,

I'm driving from Pune to Karwar this Saturday. Planning for a 5 AM start, so I think I should reach Karwar by 3 PM.

After I join NH63 at Hubli, any suggestions for a decent place to have lunch with family? Also, since Konduskar at Kolhapur would be too early in the journey for a re-fuelling stop, recommendations for a good pump to fill Diesel would be welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Vikram

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Hi Folks,

I'm driving from Pune to Karwar this Saturday. Planning for a 5 AM start, so I think I should reach Karwar by 3 PM.

After I join NH63 at Hubli, any suggestions for a decent place to have lunch? Also, since Konduskar at Kolhapur would be too early in the journey for a re-fuelling stop, recommendations for a good pump to fill Diesel would be welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Vikram

Vikram,

The best bet for you to have lunch will be in Yallapur which is a Taluq HQ and will have decent restuarants. You may also check if the guys in Banana County resort in Yallapur will serve lunch for non residential guests.

www.bananacountyresort.com :: Ready to serve you at any time of the year !

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Vikram, the best bet for you to have lunch will be in Yallapur which is a Taluq HQ and will have decent restuarants. You may also check if the guys in Banana County resort in Yallapur will serve lunch for non residential guests. www.bananacountyresort.com :: Ready to serve you at any time of the year !

Thanks Fauji! Does reaching Banana County involve a substantial detour from NH63? If yes, then I wouldn't be too keen on it. A simple Udipi restaurant in Yellapur would be more than welcome

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Vikram

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Hi Folks,

I'm driving from Pune to Karwar this Saturday. Planning for a 5 AM start, so I think I should reach Karwar by 3 PM.

After I join NH63 at Hubli, any suggestions for a decent place to have lunch with family? Also, since Konduskar at Kolhapur would be too early in the journey for a re-fuelling stop, recommendations for a good pump to fill Diesel would be welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Vikram

If you are running late, or want to have an early lunch, stop over at Sankam Residency on Belgaum bypass. Because there are no great eateries - other than what FAUJI has suggested - till Karwar, unless you want to count the Upachar Kamat at Ankola, 1 km off your route on NH17 (towards Kumta).

Refuelling - top up in Konduskar's since fuel is more expensive in KA than MH. And in case you are going to Upachar Kamat in Ankola, the IOC pump there is also good.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

If you are running late, or want to have an early lunch, stop over at Sankam Residency on Belgaum bypass. Because there are no great eateries - other than what FAUJI has suggested - till Karwar, unless you want to count the Upachar Kamat at Ankola, 1 km off your route on NH17 (towards Kumta).

Refuelling - top up in Konduskar's since fuel is more expensive in KA than MH. And in case you are going to Upachar Kamat in Ankola, the IOC pump there is also good.

Hmm, Belgaum would be too early; I'll be there at 10.30 AM or so. I guess Banana County looks like my best bet right now.

Thanks HVK!

Cheers,
Vikram

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Thanks Fauji! Does reaching Banana County involve a substantial detour from NH63? If yes, then I wouldn't be too keen on it. A simple Udipi restaurant in Yellapur would be more than welcome

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Vikram

It looks like you have to take a deviation of 2-3 KMs from the highway and prominenet signage is there. You can giive them a call and check it out.

Yes, there are good restaurants in Yallapur which you can try.