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Summary: Banashankari-Varca via Hubli : 11.5 hrs, 45 mins break. 45 mins for toll booths.

Few details:

Started at 5AM. Took the ring road instead of NICE road. No issues at all. Dense fog after Nelamangala.

Chitradurga-Hubli: Construction. Nothing unmanageable.

Hubli-Kalghatgi: Construction. Very haphazard. But you will somehow pull through. I suggest going through Bankapur-Mundgod to Yellapur. The above posts have cleared the route for safe travels.

Kalghatgi-Karwar: Awesome roads. Short bad patches during hairpin bends in ghat section.

Karwar-Goa Border: Construction. You will lose track of which direction you are driving and the sense of roads. Right or left but somehow keep moving ahead and you will make it.

Goa border-Varca: Narrow roads, Cows and Cows. Be careful please. In the whole trip, cows and monkeys gave me grief like nothing else.

FastTag has become FarceTag. It works sometimes if you end up in the right lanes.

In the end, given the construction and cows (cownstruction?), driving 630+ kms in one go is an exercise in insanity. But very enjoyable for passengers!

Safe trip everyone!

I am driving down from JP Nagar Bangalore to Betalbatim ,starting on 24th, with overnight stay in the Linganamakki backwaters.
Planned route is 24th start around 7 am and reach Gundimane by 5 pm
Blore- Tumkur-Hiriyur-Tarikere-Shimoga-Sagara-Gundimane 432 Km ~ 8 hours

Day 2: 25th Dec, Start from Gundimane around 9 am. Need suggestions on picking NH206 to Honnavar Vs Sirsi-Bankapura-Ankola-Karwar. I drove NH 206 in 2013 during the Monsoon, and quite enjoyed the Ghat drive. How is the Ghat road condition from Sagara to Honnavar , and the NH66 from Honnavar to Karwar ? Also being Xmas day, would there be traffic congestion once inside Goa ?

Return plan on 30th is the standard Goa - Karwar - Ankola - Yellapura - Mungod - Bankapura -Chitradurga- Bangalore as we are not planning a night halt. But reading bsdbsd's post above, may take a halt if needed, I keep my endurance events restricted to cycling Brevets, in the Car I tend to take it easy !

Anmod ghat will not be closed until 10th of Jan. I took it day before yesterday to reach Belgaum from Goa. Road widening work on KA side is in full swing but they have not touched the real ghat section as of now.

Sorry for a late update. (Festive season :uncontrol ) And many greetings to all of you!

Anmod Ghat is very much open, as many have confirmed above, and will remain open (at least) till Jan 10th as per border police people.

Surface quality is excellent for about 80% of the way, only the stretch in the beginning (around 7-8 km) is entirely bad, and there are patches in between where either some road work is happening or just badly laid roads.

We left from Belgaum at 9am exactly, and we reached Palolem Beach at 1:15 pm which is not far off what I was expecting.

We are planning to go back on the 29th via the same route, will update if there is any significant change.

Have a fabulous new year, everyone!!

Cheers,
R_S

I will be driving down to north Goa tomorrow early morning say 5am from Bangalore. Hopefully the anmod section will still be driveable. Will update once I reach.

Where should I stop for Breakfast? Any pointers ?

Since you're planning to take Anmod route, you can stop at Mysore Cafe at Chitradurga on service road left side next to the Nijalingappa memorial. They generally open around 6:45-7, so the timing should be good for your 5am start.

Thanks that might be a bit early. What options if I want have a bit later like 9am?

Kamath in Ranebennuru can be an option for breakfast around 9:00 a.m. If you don't mind a little detour from the highway for a good breakfast, then two options are there in Davanagere - 1) Kottureshwara Benne Dosa and 2) Sagar Benne Dosa. Both are exceptionally good but would need a deviation of around 12-16 kms from the highway. Hope this helps. Thanks.

Sure thanks. Will keep these as options.

What about Lunch? where to stop around 1PM or so. I am also planning for a drive with family and my 18mths old kid on 5th Jan.

Drove back from Varca to Bengaluru on 28th December. Once again, summary is below:

1. Became a bravehearta and took the Yellapura-Bankapura route, bypassing Hubli.
2. Drive time 12 hours. 1-1.5 hours of various breaks in between.

Road conditions:

1. Varca-Goa border : Narrow roads, heavy traffic, innumerable speed breakers, 2-3 ghat sections.

2. Goa border-Karwar: Average speed 60 kmph. Construction zone, but no issues.

3. Karwar-Yellapur: Road conditions are quite ok, except for turns in Arabail ghats.

4. Yellapur-Bankapur: Made a big mistake taking this road. The road fits a Santro or similiar sized car only. Narrowest road I have ever seen. Numerous, unmarked speed breakers. Road dug up near Mungod further reducing the margins. You will have to go off road when a vehicle comes in opposite direction. Numerous impediments on the way. No easy access to NH once you reach Bankapur. You will have to pass through narrow roads of Bankapur, wondering where exactly you are headed to.

Please avoid this road like plague and stick to NH-Hubli-Yellapur. I saved 15 minutes, maybe, and 50 kms. But at a big cost.

Bankapur-Chitradurga: Uneven roads but quite manageable. Road quality slightly below average. Speed breakers at various places - yes on NH. Only in India.

Chitradurga-Tumkur: High quality roads. No issues anywhere.

Tumkur-Banashankari: Average roads, no issues anywhere.

If you need more details, let me know. Please avoid the Bankapur-Yellapur shortcut. Its not worth it - strictly my personal opinion.

Drove down from Bengaluru to Varca, Goa yesterday-29th Dec. Used the Bangalore- Hubli- Anmod- Mollem- Varca option. Starting at 5:30am, we reached comfortably at 3:30pm with couple of 30min breaks. Luckily there was not much traffic while exiting Bengaluru and at the toll booth's.

Though there were lots of diversions owing to road widening work along the highway, it will not slow you down.

Anmod ghat road does have a sign board stating that the road ahead is closed, however is open to traffic. Here again there are multiple muddy patches owing to the widening work, will not recommend for late evening or night passage. Given the current scale of widening work, I don't thing this route will reopen any time soon once closed.

Returned today and took the Betalbatim-Ponda-Mollem-Anmod-Dharwad-Hubbali- NH4 route. Started at 9.30 am, and reached JP Nagar at 9 pm, with 2 short breaks.

Road is mostly ok, with few patches and lot of road widening in the Anmod Ghat section.
And the usual mess from Tumkur to home accounted for the last 3 hours of the total time. Is there any time when the Tumkur-Peenya stretch is an easy drive ?

We have returned from Goa to Bengaluru on 28 December and took Colva - Ponda - Mollem - Anmod - Ramnagar - Dharwad Hubli Bypass - Bengaluru route. Started at 11 am and reached home at mid-night with breaks for lunch, evening tea and dinner.

I had earlier taken this route to avoid Bankapur - Mungod - Yellapur.

Onward (22/12/2018):

Bangalore - Tumkur = Improved vastly.

Tumkur to Chitradurga = Just about OK.

Chitradurga - Hubli = poor road conditions. Plenty of diversions and parts of the road remain unmaintained.

Hubli - Dharward - Anmond = just about OK.

Anmond - Mollem = Road closed, questionable surface, practically no roads for certain sections. Avoidable.

Mollem - Varca = just about OK.

Return (29/12/2018):

Varca - Karwar = Decent, plenty of road works and road widening closer to KA border.

Karwar - Ankola = Road widening in progress.

Ankola - Yellapur = Decent / good except for the Ghats which are in poor shape.

Yellapur - Hubli = Decent except for the portion just before the Hubli bypass which is undergoing road works.

Hubli - Davangere = Below average. Road widening in progress. Existing road is riddled with potholes and undulations.

Davangere - Chitradurga = Just about OK.

Chitradurga - Tumkur = The best section of road throughout our journey. Relatively smooth and an average of 100-120 can be achieved without a fuss, subject to truck traffic.

Tumkur - Bangalore = Improved especially at Tumkur bypass.

On our return from Varca on the 28th, we had taken the Yellapur route and it was pretty decent barring the Ghats where the surface has been battered and remains unmaintained.

However, about 20 km before the Hubli bypass, the route seems to be undergoing some roadworks and it appears that a few culverts are being built. Avoid if you're ina sedan!