[MCR]

Does one need a negative RT-PCR report to enter goa?
Similarly, do we need negative RT-PCR to re-enter Karnataka from Goa?

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by MCR

Does one need a negative RT-PCR report to enter goa?
Similarly, do we need negative RT-PCR to re-enter Karnataka from Goa?

Short answer is No for both sides. Just keep the vaccination certificate with two vaccinations.

KK

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by shaleenvashisht

There is one additional route that i am exploring- it is via Karwar->Kumta->Sirsi->Haveri->Bangalore.

I had tried this route multiple times in past. Not sure about ghat section but route is very slow as it passes through multiple villages. Haveri to Sirsi section is a boring one. You may wish to accelerate by seeing low traffic but pot holes, speed humps will keep you under control and that makes it a frustrating drive. My data is 4 years old but I do not expect radical changes since then. The devimane ghat too was not in great shape then but manageable.
But not a bad idea to explore for fresh data and update other bhpians here if you have time.
Other similar but slower choice is Chitradurga-Shimoga-Sagar-Honnawar-Karwar-Goa, the roads seem to be better but a slow route.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Did a Bangalore to Agonda (South Goa) ride on the 25th November, 2021. The route we took was Bangalore - Hassan - Belur - Banakal - Jayapura - Sringeri - Agumbe - Kundapura - Karwar - Agonda. The roads are good except from Banakal to Jayapura stretch where they are a bit patchy. The route is very scenic and has several curves and twisties.

From Kundapura to Karwar there are a few deviations since the 4 laning work is going on. Beware of stray cattle between Kundapura to Karwar. They are left to fend for themselves on the highway and in the dark it becomes difficult to notice them.

On our return leg, we rode down to Udupi and from Udupi we took the Belthangadi - Dharmastala - Ujre - Charmadi Ghat - Belur - Hassan - Bangalore route. This route is very scenic and the roads are good as well except for a bad patch just after Charmadi Ghat. There's road work going on for around 5-6 kms after Charmadi Ghat exit and after that until Banakal the roads are a bit patchy. Post Banakal, the roads are good all the way until Bangalore.

No COVID vaccine certificates/RTPCR Negative reports were checked both while entering and exiting Goa. We were allowed to enter and exit freely without being stopped. Heard that two wheelers are not being stopped for checking while entering / exiting Goa.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by shaleenvashisht

Have seen few comments about the Yellapur route. Not seeing any comment about the Sirsi route since some time. Can anyone give the feedback about the quality of the roads via either of the routes ? I will be driving sedan ( Honda City VX CVT iVtec ) and want to drive via better route even if it means driving 20-30Km extra.

Taking the Sirsi route is tricky, as you can easily lose way and following Google will be a mistake. Last year during New Year's while going to South Goa we travelled through Sirsi and google took us through some interior forest route with no road at all. There were hardly any vehicles too. The route passed near by Yana caves and finally we joined in Hubli Karwar road after Yellapur. That 30 kms stretch took around 2 hours and one among the worst roads I travelled in my life. Being in low sedan like Octavia, my heart was in the mouth
But when I think about it now, it was a very adventurous drive too. So my suggestion would be to avoid this unless you are familiar with the route.
The normal route that I travel always (since years) is Bangalore - Hubli - Yellapur - Karwar - Goa. This will add around 100 kms extra, but additional time taken is negligible.
This time I am planning to travel Hubli - Davangere - Tinai Ghat - Anmod route based on many positive feedback in previous posts

[victoriacc]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

The normal route that I travel always (since years) is Bangalore - Hubli - Yellapur - Karwar - Goa. This will add around 100 kms extra, but additional time taken is negligible.

@sunikkat - Thanks for the info. Is the above route that you mentioned same as #2 below, amongst the options I had listed above.

1. Via Karwar-Ankola-Yellapur-Mundgod-Bankapura-Haveri-Davangere
2. Via Karwar-Ankola-Yellapur-Kalaghatgi-Gabbur-Davengere (without going to Tadas and rather taking a longer route towards Hubli)
3. Via Karwar-Ankola-Yellapur-Kalaghatgi-Tadas-Bankapura-Haveri-Davengere (Is this Tadas diversion a recommendation to avoid bad roads on Mundgod route?)

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by victoriacc

@sunikkat - Thanks for the info. Is the above route that you mentioned same as #2 below, amongst the options I had listed above.

1. Via Karwar-Ankola-Yellapur-Mundgod-Bankapura-Haveri-Davangere
2. Via Karwar-Ankola-Yellapur-Kalaghatgi-Gabbur-Davengere (without going to Tadas and rather taking a longer route towards Hubli)
3. Via Karwar-Ankola-Yellapur-Kalaghatgi-Tadas-Bankapura-Haveri-Davengere (Is this Tadas diversion a recommendation to avoid bad roads on Mundgod route?)

No, I wanted to take route 1 from your list. But I ignored Google on one of the turn towards Mundgod as the entry was very small. There after Google got angry and directed me through Hangal, Sirsi and near by Yana caves and finally exited at Hubli - Karwar highway.

[Kiyon]

Originally Posted by aNerdyCarGuy

We're planning a trip to South Goa on 28th November. We'll be 2 people traveling in a Sedan.

Since we're planning for South Goa, we wanted to avoid the Ramnagar - Mollem route.

Based on the feedback of roads on this thread, we plan to take the BLR > Tumakuru > Chitradurga > Shivamogga > Jog Falls > Honnavar > Karwar > Canacona route on the onward journey.

While for the return, we're planning to take the Canacona > Karwar > Yellapur > Bankapura > Haveri > Davanagere > Chitradurga > Tumakuru > BLR route.

I'll let the thread know once we're back on the road conditions on the routes we ended up taking and their situation.

If any of you have any suggestions for us, please do let me know.

@aNerdyCarGuy

Did you go via this route ?
BLR > Tumakuru > Chitradurga > Shivamogga > Jog Falls > Honnavar > Karwar > Canacona

If so can you please let me know how is the road condition and travel duration in this route as I plan to do a stop over at Shivamogga. I am travelling with a toddler so would like to break at 5 hrs. till Shivamogga and continue in the morning after Jog visit.

[aNerdyCarGuy]

Originally Posted by Kiyon

@aNerdyCarGuy

Did you go via this route ?
BLR > Tumakuru > Chitradurga > Shivamogga > Jog Falls > Honnavar > Karwar > Canacona

If so can you please let me know how is the road condition and travel duration in this route as I plan to do a stop over at Shivamogga. I am travelling with a toddler so would like to break at 5 hrs. till Shivamogga and continue in the morning after Jog visit.

Hey,

Yes we took this route. Overall the route was good. There's a few bad patches but nothing that you can't manage if you live and drive in Bangalore.

We travelled in a sedan and the route was manageable. If you have an SUV, then you've got absolutely nothing to worry about.

It took us ~10.5 hours of drive time. (We started from Whitefield)

One note of caution though, once you take the diversion from Chitradurga, there's not a lot of hotels for washrooms. There's decent number of petrol bunks, but they don't allow you to use the washrooms unless you fill up fuel. My wife and I don't understand/speak Kannada, so that could be a factor too so your mileage may wary. Just thought I'd call out.

[nirmaljusdoit]

Folks, am planning to travel to South Goa by road in a sedan with low ground clearance, please suggest a suitable route to reach, which is manageable, I’m ok with a longer route !

Thanks in advance !

[aNerdyCarGuy]

Hey all,

Following up on my previous post here for an update on the route we took while coming back to BLR from Goa.

We took the Canacona > Karwar > Yellapur > Kalaghatgi > Tadas > Shiggaon > Haveri > Davanagere > Chitradurga > Tumakuru > BLR route.

Since it was raining pretty heavily in Goa, we departed at 7 instead of 6 that we had originally planned.

The Canacona to Karwar route is good. There's 4 lane-ing going on on the route so there's a fair bit of diversions but nothing that you should be worried about. The road till Ankola (till the left that you need to take just before Ankola) is also pretty good with 4 lane almost all the way.

[start: Rant]
The Ankola to Yellapur route though is another story! It's one of the worst roads we've driven on in recent times. I am not sure if it's due to the incessant rains in the past couple of weeks or what but it's plain terrible. There's some really really bad patches with potholes so damn deep that you can swim in them! Couple that with more than a hundred trucks that we had to cross and you get a combination worse than Orange Juice and Toothpaste. Also, did I mention the green KA busses? Yeah, there's a bucket load of them too and all of them making the worst possible overtakes on the blindest of blind corners and overtaking at least 2-3 cars/trucks in one go. Be it in your direction or opposite.
[end: Rant]


At one point, it felt like we're getting punished coz we took the great Jog Falls route while coming to Goa.

Apologies for the rant, but, this could just be bad luck too and you might not get traffic at all. But I just thought I'd call out my experience.

Once you cross Yellapur, the roads do become a little better till Kalaghatgi. The Kalaghatgi - Tadas is also not great but manageable.

Once you touch the highway, it's a breeze of course. This is where we covered a good amount of time. You still need to be cautious on this 6 lane highway as you can easily reach high triple digits without realizing it. The road before Tumkur is recently patched I think so it was good. The Tumkur to Bangalore stretch was getting repaired so was a bit packed since only 1 lane was open.

We did take a diversion on the Devanagere bypass to visit the Shell Petrol Pump in the city and back. This road too, is surprisingly, pretty good.

We touched Bangalore at about 5.30 PM I think. Attaching a pic of the ODO when we ended the trip in Whitefield.

Overall, I'd recommend avoiding the Yellapur - Karwar/Ankola stretch. Especially if you're traveling from BLR to Goa and plan to hit this stretch in the evening.

[shivasuma]

Originally Posted by aNerdyCarGuy

Overall, I'd recommend avoiding the Yellapur - Karwar/Ankola stretch. Especially if you're traveling from BLR to Goa and plan to hit this stretch in the evening.

Attachment 2240726

Hi, thanks for this. I am planning to travel to Goa on 7th Dec. Do you suggest taking the Jog route then instead of Yellapur/Karwar? I will be traveling in a BMW sedan.

[aNerdyCarGuy]

Originally Posted by shivasuma

Hi, thanks for this. I am planning to travel to Goa on 7th Dec. Do you suggest taking the Jog route then instead of Yellapur/Karwar? I will be traveling in a BMW sedan.

Yeah. I'd recommend avoiding the Karawar - Yellapur route. I drove the Skoda Superb, and it was stressful.

I had a good experience with the Jog Falls route on my BLR to Goa journey. Although, if you're traveling to North Goa, you might want to go straight to Hubli since the highway is pretty good and follow the Mollem route. Check previous posts for that route's conditions, though.

Happy Journey!

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by aNerdyCarGuy

Hey all,

Following up on my previous post here for an update on the route we took while coming back to BLR from Goa.

Attachment 2240726

Thanks for the details, this clears things for me now.
I am driving to Calangute on 29th Dec and was confused between my normal route 1) Hubli - Yellapur - Karwar - Goa and 2) Hubli - Dharwad - Tinai Ghat - Anmod.
Route 1 is what I take every time, though longer by 100 kms it was always a breeze to drive. However based on the recent feedback was thinking of taking route 2. But I will avoid route 1 based on your feedback, no point travelling those extra kms if the roads are not good. Also I am driving Octavia with 45 profile tyres, do not want to risk.

[aNerdyCarGuy]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

Thanks for the details, this clears things for me now.
I am driving to Calangute on 29th Dec and was confused between my normal route 1) Hubli - Yellapur - Karwar - Goa and 2) Hubli - Dharwad - Tinai Ghat - Anmod.
Route 1 is what I take every time, though longer by 100 kms it was always a breeze to drive. However based on the recent feedback was thinking of taking route 2. But I will avoid route 1 based on your feedback, no point travelling those extra kms if the roads are not good. Also I am driving Octavia with 45 profile tyres, do not want to risk.

BTW is that a Superb or new Octavia?

Yeah. I was also surprised at the quality of this stretch since I read decent reviews of this road in the past couple of weeks. I guess the recent outpour of rains is to be blamed!

I'll try to get some pics/short videos of the stretch from my dashcam in a day or 2.

And that's the Superb!