[Ragul]

Originally Posted by HarryB

Thanks Yamahead for the information .It will be very helpful. Can you please shed some light on the time taken from Blr to Goa ? Is the journey possible in single day and with that too with 2 year old ? or will it make sense to take a break some where in Ankola/ Karwar for the night ?

Cheers,

HarryB

12 hrs, no need for overnight stay - that will cost you at least half a tankfull of petrol. I just did a trip, see http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2640363

HTH
--Ragul

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by HarryB

Thanks Yamahead for the information .It will be very helpful. Can you please shed some light on the time taken from Blr to Goa ? Is the journey possible in single day and with that too with 2 year old ? or will it make sense to take a break some where in Ankola/ Karwar for the night ?

Cheers,

HarryB

Hi Harry,
It depends on where you want to camp in Goa. the distance to Margao(center of Goa) is ~640kms and if you start early from Bangalore say 4.30AM, you can be easily in Goa by evening 4.30PM. Avoid traveling on Ankola- Goa road at night. Though roads are mostly good, the 2lane truck traffic is quite a nuisance.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by HarryB

We will be taking the same Blr-Hubli-Ankola-Karwar-Goa route. So any new update on the current road condition ? Also we will be taking a slight deviation to Om beach (Gokarna) so any good decent place to stay in vicinity of the beach ?

Regards,

HarryB

We were there for new year. The road is in excellent condition throughout except for two KMs before Yallapaur in the ghat where it is broken but no pot holes and easily doable. We left Bangalore at 5.30 Am and were in Cancona at 2.30 in our Scorpio with one hour and fifteen minutes break for breakfast and clicking snaps. You can see updates on this link and suggest post your queries there.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...goa-route.html

Originally Posted by Yamahead

. Roads are great till Yellapur and then in the ghats the return side from Ankola to Hubli is very bad and has huge ruts and broken pits... Be careful after crossing into Goa since the Ankola to Cancona stretch is thru really narrow winding roads with bikes ridden very hard by the locals popping up from all corners.

It is only two KMS and it is not "Very Bad" but is broken at curves and easily doable. Yes, once you enter Goa, the speed reduces because of narrow and winding roads coupled with traffic.

Originally Posted by akshay380

Hi Harry,
It depends on where you want to camp in Goa. the distance to Margao(center of Goa) is ~640kms and if you start early from Bangalore say 4.30AM, you can be easily in Goa by evening 4.30PM. Avoid traveling on Ankola- Goa road at night. Though roads are mostly good, the 2lane truck traffic is quite a nuisance.

Agreed. You will slow down after Karwar and specially so if driving at night.

[HarryB]

Originally Posted by Fauji

We were there for new year. The road is in excellent condition throughout except for two KMs before Yallapaur in the ghat where it is broken but no pot holes and easily doable. We left Bangalore at 5.30 Am and were in Cancona at 2.30 in our Scorpio with one hour and fifteen minutes break for breakfast and clicking snaps. You can see updates on this link and suggest post your queries there.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...goa-route.html

It is only two KMS and it is not "Very Bad" but is broken at curves and easily doable. Yes, once you enter Goa, the speed reduces because of narrow and winding roads coupled with traffic.

Agreed. You will slow down after Karwar and specially so if driving at night.

Thanks Guys for ypur valuable inputs and suggestions.Will keep you posted about my trip and experience

Cheers,

HarryB

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Agreed. You will slow down after Karwar and specially so if driving at night.

Thats when you enter my village in Goa. Just after crossing Goa border.
Just in case anyone loves driving in ghats, there a road which goes towards Ambeghat(connecting Khotigao to Netravali/Sanguem) which is absolutely awesome and smooth surface. My Figo loves going there

This road Unknown road to budbude tali,netravali - Google Maps

[Yamahead]

@ Fauji Sir



It is only two KMS and it is not "Very Bad" but is broken at curves and easily doable.

Totally agree, but with a small rider. What is doable easily in your Scorp is painful and very bad in my small Alto K10. Actually after the great GQ from Chennai- to Hubli, we considered it very bad. Also NH 63 was my favourite road during engineering college days( was in Hubli) so maybe the current condition of the road elicits such a strong reaction from me. Till 2005 mid the road was superb and we did an Ankola Hubli ride in 2 hrs 45 mins flat on my Yamaha. So the VERY BAD is a knee-jerk reaction at the deterioration of the once-superb blacktop, my bad.

[Damu]

Originally Posted by HarryB

Nice Travelogue Damu, Really enjoyed every bit of it.

Thanks Harry!

Originally Posted by HarryB

...Also we will be taking a slight deviation to Om beach (Gokarna) so any good decent place to stay in vicinity of the beach ?

HarryB

My son (23 years old) has stayed in Gokarna twice, most recently this New Year. Last year he said there were too many hippies. This time it was better he said as cops have tried to clean up the place of drugs etc.

But he doesn't advise us to stay there as he says we won't like the lack of facilities; the youngsters can adjust to conditions.

Bangalore Goa is easily done in a day's driving given the road conditions. Even leaving late, driving slow and with three stops for food/coffee we have done it easily. But you will have to judge based on your child. Our friends with a young child have done it along with us (see my first write up in 2010 in this thread).

Stopping for the night will add at least Rs. 2000 to the cost.

Have a good and safe trip!

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by Yamahead

@ Fauji Sir



It is only two KMS and it is not "Very Bad" but is broken at curves and easily doable.

Totally agree, but with a small rider. What is doable easily in your Scorp is painful and very bad in my small Alto K10. Actually after the great GQ from Chennai- to Hubli, we considered it very bad. Also NH 63 was my favourite road during engineering college days( was in Hubli) so maybe the current condition of the road elicits such a strong reaction from me. Till 2005 mid the road was superb and we did an Ankola Hubli ride in 2 hrs 45 mins flat on my Yamaha. So the VERY BAD is a knee-jerk reaction at the deterioration of the once-superb blacktop, my bad.

Agreed you will get pissed off while driving small car though it is a small distance. I did not want to scare Harry

Thanks to mining ban in Bellary, we are having good roads in this stretch now.

[cool_dube]

Folks,

Sorry if this information is already available somewhere on this thread/forum but my search yielded no results so am posting here. Anyone done the Idgundi - Kaiga - Karwar route recently? Is it open (last I heard it was closed due to the Kaiga plant)? If yes, how are the road conditions?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Folks,

Sorry if this information is already available somewhere on this thread/forum but my search yielded no results so am posting here. Anyone done the Idgundi - Kaiga - Karwar route recently? Is it open (last I heard it was closed due to the Kaiga plant)? If yes, how are the road conditions?

Idgundi-Kaiga: Have no idea of the road status. All i knew is it was opened about 2-3 years back.
Kaiga plant - Kadara Dam/Mallapur 17 km : Decent roads
Mallapur-Karwar has two routes, one on either sides of the river,. The better route is the SH which continues from Anshi
towards Karwar (goes via Kadra by-pass) and which meets the NH17 at Asnoti.

The other route is pathetic.

[HarryB]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Agreed you will get pissed off while driving small car though it is a small distance. I did not want to scare Harry

Thanks to mining ban in Bellary, we are having good roads in this stretch now.

Thanks Fauji. Hoping my Grande Punto MJD also should not have any problems for rough roads . On a different note how tough is the Ghat section ? are there lot of hairpins bends and steep uphill/ winding roads ?. Want to be little careful as my wife and 2 year old have tendency of getting giddy and throwing out in Ghats sections.

Cheers,

HarryB

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by HarryB

Thanks Fauji. Hoping my Grande Punto MJD also should not have any problems for rough roads . On a different note how tough is the Ghat section ? are there lot of hairpins bends and steep uphill/ winding roads ?. Want to be little careful as my wife and 2 year old have tendency of getting giddy and throwing out in Ghats sections.

Cheers,

HarryB

Harry,

Punto can comfortably do. No worries. The Ghat is easy. There are no hair pins bends and road is quite broad. Enjoy the drive. It is a nice stretch and if lucky can spot some wild animals. We saw a Jackal crossing the road at a distance

[Chillout]

Thanks to Fauji and others, we have decided to go to Goa from Chennai on two BMW 320D, we are all excited and look forward to this journey. We will be leaving on the 25th and back on 29th

Fauji, I hope the 2km stretch is okay for a BMW as well, as you know the ground clearance in 320 is very less and that is our only concern.

We will be taking the recommended route which is Chennai-Vellore-Krishnagiri-Bangalore(NICE Ring Road)-Tumkur-Chitradurga-Hubli-Karwar-Candolim Beach Goa.

[rajshenoy]

Guys Need some help planning Bangalore-Goa trip(Visiting temples in Ponda)
I have been postponing this trip since so long due to various reasons(mainly because of lack of train connectivity) and driving 650+ km in single day seems to be hectic (because of parents and a toddler along)

Then i see alot of people starting at 4AM and reaching Goa by evening. I feel even i can pull something like this provided i am driving with group of friends. Since i will be the single driver, i am having double thoughts

These are the options i can think of
1. Start early and reach goa by evening - Hectic and not sure how the people like it sitting for 12-14 hrs in a car
2. Start on an evening from bangalore, Take a break midway(Hubli?? suggest options) and then start next morning to split the journey.
3. Travel by train and spend that extra bucks on Local taxis(tough because of lack of train options)

Then there are other minor problems -

I drive a petrol Swift, so there is no way i can reach Goa in single tank.

I would like to make full use of the petrol price difference in Goa(so What would be the first trusted petrol pump in Goa where i can fill petrol with peace of mind ?) So that i can fill up petrol when i enter and before i leave Goa

[Damu]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Guys Need some help planning Bangalore-Goa trip(Visiting temples in Ponda)

...

Raj, first, sorry not replying you earlier, don't know how I missed your post. Second, have you done the trip already by now?

If you haven't, answers for your queries:

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

1. Start early and reach goa by evening - Hectic and not sure how the people like it sitting for 12-14 hrs in a car

It's not a problem really as I've done this several times in my Ikon as well. But with a toddler you may have to stop more often. Also you're the sole driver, that with the young child, could be difficult. So it would be better for you to break journey.

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

2. Start on an evening from bangalore, Take a break midway(Hubli?? suggest options) and then start next morning to split the journey.

Yes, Hubli is the best. There's a hotel I've stayed in few years ago called "Days Inn". Quite a long way into Hubli but clean and reasonable. With your young child, look for cleanliness and comfort. Googling would fetch you more answers.

But starting in the evening would be quite late. Start after lunch, reach Hubli by evening.

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

3. Travel by train and spend that extra bucks on Local taxis(tough because of lack of train options)

I wouldn't because I love driving, but I've been told the views from the train are beautiful provided it's daytime.

Better to have your own car. If not, hire a car for self drive instead of taking taxis. Taxis are expensive.

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

I would like to make full use of the petrol price difference in Goa(so What would be the first trusted petrol pump in Goa where i can fill petrol with peace of mind ?) So that i can fill up petrol when i enter and before i leave Goa

There's a large outlet in Cancona just as you enter Goa from South (Karwar).