[Neha]

Hi everyone,

Me and my husband are planning to make a road trip between Bangalore and Baroda in our Skoda Fabia. The route we have planned on is:

Bangalore - Mangalore/Manipal/Udupi - Gokarna - Dandeli - Goa - Kolhapur - Pune - Surat - Baroda

We want to cover as many places as possible and preferably not drive for more that 4 hours in a day so that we can also spend enough time at all locations.

Individually we are researching all the sub routes etc, however would love to know if there are any alternate routes for this trip, or any places we might have missed to include. Please also help me with any food joints (we are vegetarians), or places to stay if you have come across anything we shouldn't miss!!

In short, i'd like to get any kind of advise regarding this trip

Thanks a tonn..

[hvkumar]

Dandeli will be too hot now.
Some ideas for detours:
Mahalaxmi Temple, Kolhapur, on the route itself
Bordi Beach, off Talasari, on NH8, off the BOmbay-Vapi road

You can refer my detailed route guide for Mangalore-Gokarna-Goa-Kolhapur-Bombay here,
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzW9...it?usp=sharing

You can refer my detailed route guide for route from Goa to Baroda, via Kolhapur, Puen & Bombay, with specific directions for bypassing Bombay:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzW9...it?usp=sharing

You will see lots of details on hotels to stay in, etc

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Neha

Bangalore - Mangalore/Manipal/Udupi - Gokarna - Dandeli - Goa - Kolhapur - Pune - Surat - Baroda

- Do you really want to combine Mangalore and Goa and Baroda?
- Maybe you can keep Mangalore out of it.
- Dandeli is pretty much on the way. After you visit Dandeli you can head to Goa
- From Goa, go via the regular Ajra/Amboli to Kolhapur and there on to the regular route via Pune/Mumbai/Baroda
- Also as HVK said Dandeli would be hot. If you are planning rafting, you can check it out. But other than that not sure if you want to visit the place now.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Neha

Bangalore - Mangalore/Manipal/Udupi - Gokarna - Dandeli - Goa - Kolhapur - Pune - Surat - Baroda

not drive for more that 4 hours in a day

Divert to Chikmagalur from Hassan to see the coffee estates(home to the CCDs)

Chikmagalur-Shimoga-Jog Falls:Not sure if there is water in the falls now

Jog falls to Udupi via Agumbe Ghats

Udupi-Marvanthe-bhatkal-honnavar-gokarna

Gokarna-Dandeli

Dandeli-Goa

Goa-Kolhapur

Kolhapur-Pune

Pune-Thane

Mumbai-Baroda

This is keeping in mind 4hours of drive in a day.

http://goo.gl/maps/UK9OG

[Neha]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Divert to Chikmagalur from Hassan to see the coffee estates(home to the CCDs)

Chikmagalur-Shimoga-Jog Falls:Not sure if there is water in the falls now

Jog falls to Udupi via Agumbe Ghats

Udupi-Marvanthe-bhatkal-honnavar-gokarna

Gokarna-Dandeli

Dandeli-Goa

Goa-Kolhapur

Kolhapur-Pune

Pune-Thane

Mumbai-Baroda

This is keeping in mind 4hours of drive in a day.

http://goo.gl/maps/UK9OG

@ranjit:
This was the ideal choice, but have recently been to and stayed in Chikamagalur and loved it but not sure if another stay there would feel as good.... any alternate to it?

and yes, we had actually though of covering manipal/Managlore/udupi - so should we skip manipal +mangalore and cover the places you suggested ? Have heard lot about beaches in Manipal..

I guess we would stick to the rest of the route suggested by you, except that Mumbai would be a lot of trouble getting into and out of we've heard. Also heard that Karnataka registered cars are caught more than others... So any other place we can stay over in stead of Mumbai? (had though of Surat as an option)

Originally Posted by ampere

- Do you really want to combine Mangalore and Goa and Baroda?
- Maybe you can keep Mangalore out of it.
- Dandeli is pretty much on the way. After you visit Dandeli you can head to Goa
- From Goa, go via the regular Ajra/Amboli to Kolhapur and there on to the regular route via Pune/Mumbai/Baroda
- Also as HVK said Dandeli would be hot. If you are planning rafting, you can check it out. But other than that not sure if you want to visit the place now.

@ampere:
Not ideal choices i agree, but we are moving from Bangalore to Baroda, want to drive down so just trying to make the best of it Also, we want to avoid driving for more than about 4 hours a day as we do want to cover as many places as possible and relax... We have nice 10 long days in hand so though staying over night in nice destinations might be a good idea.. but bcuz of the weather, we are limiting it to just one night in all these places and will spend more time in Pune....

Also heard that rafting is open during this season... so if we get lucky, might get to do it.

Never been to Manipal but have heard a lot about beaches around there- so thought we could cover manipal/mangalore/udupi in a day... is that a good idea?

Also heard good stuff about Gaganbawda route from goa to kolhapur from ranjitp1 ..

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Dandeli will be too hot now.
Some ideas for detours:
Mahalaxmi Temple, Kolhapur, on the route itself
Bordi Beach, off Talasari, on NH8, off the BOmbay-Vapi road

You can refer my detailed route guide for Mangalore-Gokarna-Goa-Kolhapur-Bombay here,
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzW9...it?usp=sharing

You can refer my detailed route guide for route from Goa to Baroda, via Kolhapur, Puen & Bombay, with specific directions for bypassing Bombay:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzW9...it?usp=sharing

You will see lots of details on hotels to stay in, etc

@ hvkumar:
I agree, its not the perfect time to visit these places but thing is, we are moving from Bangalore to Baroda and really want to drive down. Unfortunately, i guess these are the only places that fall on the way. So actually really hoping to get ideas and suggestions that could make the trip worthwhile despite the weather .

Also, we are expecting evening and early morning to be slightly pleasant so will roam around in these hours and will drive through the afternoons (which is what are we are really looking forward to). Thanks for the info on Bordi beach- was not aware about it and will definitely look into it..

And your route guide looks pretty well detailed, will have to spend some more time with it to use it well.
Thanks for sharing all of this

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Neha

@ranjit:
This was the ideal choice, but have recently been to and stayed in Chikamagalur and loved it but not sure if another stay there would feel as good.... any alternate to it?

in this case you are better off driving bangalore-mangalore-udupi and staying the night in udupi.visit the udupi krishna temple and if more temple inclined,you could drive to the Kollur Mookambika temple and back to Udupi.Udupi & Manipal are almost one and the same and the beaches are closer to Udupi,while Manipal is further inland.Some relatively ok places to stay available in Udupi-Fortune Valley View ,Manish Serviced Apartment are some of them.

Originally Posted by Neha

that Mumbai would be a lot of trouble getting into and out of we've heard. Also heard that Karnataka registered cars are caught more than others... So any other place we can stay over in stead of Mumbai? (had though of Surat as an option)

You need to go through Mumbai to head to Baroda.You could bypass Mumbai by following HVKumar's Mumbai bypass guide which is available in various threads.Well its not a real bypass but in a way you skirt the borders of Mumbai and get onto the NH8 at Ghodbunder.You could stay at Hotel Fountain or Express Inn at Ghodbunder which are budget places.There is no specific treatment meted out to KA registered cars in Mumbai-that is just plain rumour mongering.

If you are not going to be staying in Pune,then I would suggest that you consider looking at staying in Thane or Ghodbunder as Surat to Baroda is hardly any distance.If staying in Pune,then you could easily drive Pune-Baroda at a leisurely pace and considering the fact that you are relocating to Baroda,you could choose to stay in a hotel in Baroda which has far better hotels than Surat.

Originally Posted by Neha

Never been to Manipal but have heard a lot about beaches around there- so thought we could cover manipal/mangalore/udupi in a day... is that a good idea?

Instead you could check out the Marvanthe Beach on the NH17 immediately after Kundapur where you have the Arabian Sea to your left and the river Souparnika flowing to your right.Its one of those rare sights where a highway separates a river and a sea.

Originally Posted by Neha

Also heard good stuff about Gaganbawda route from goa to kolhapur from ranjitp1 ..

You could either opt for Gaganbawda or choose to take the Phondaghat-Dajipur Bison Sanctuary to Kolhapur.

This is the post which has details on how to bypass Mumbai via Panvel Vashi Mulund Thane Ghodbunder NH8

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post1946507

[Neha]

@Ranjit:

Thanks so much for the great advise! Will go through the plan mentioned by you more in detail and might seek your advise again for any other doubt i come up with

We will be staying in and around Pune for sure (lonavala/lavasa/khandla etc)... so we plan to stay there for 2-3 days....

But Pune to Baroda is around 10 hours drive think, thats why we were thinking of breaking it up at Surat.

Accomodation at Surat is not really a problem as we have some close relatives there, and neither it is at Baorda as our parents are there