[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by BIL2_HGi10

Dear Tribe,
I am starting from Bellandur in Bangalore on 25th night to Palolem, it will be an overnight drive.
Kindly suggest -
1. Which route would be the safest to go. (given the heavy rains/landslides situation)
2. Where all can I take pit stops for a quick tea/coffee break or maybe even a nap in case I feel very sleepy.
3. What all precautions do i need to take? Or what do I need to be careful about?

Kindly suggest!
Thank You and Best Regards

Your destination is Palolem which is one of the southern most beach in Goa and about 20 -25 kms from Karwar (Karnataka border).

That means the Anmod route, Chorla ghat etc all are out of reckoning as they are suitable if your destination is North Goa.

You are proposing to drive in the night. So safety is paramount. Sticking to a 4/6 lane NH for as long possible should be your aim.

So, that leaves the Bankapur - Mundgod - Yellapur road is out. Because it's a single road passing through forest areas and in monsoon it could be tricky (treacherous) for an unsuspecting driver in night. Better to avoid night driving in this road.

That leaves only one option that's already suggested earlier. Bangalore to Hubli (NH). Take bypass to Kalghatgi - Yallapur - Ankola - Karwar - Goa. This road has heavy night traffic as the long distance buses and trucks use this road. So, safety is better and there are some whole night open restaurants on this route.

Pitstop may be at some all night restaurants along the NH upto Hubli (there are quite a few of them), Yellapur has an eatery or two. The night buses halt at some places in this stretch (Hubli to Ankola). The restaurants are well lit and you can't miss them. The road is reasonably good.

Safety wise, the route is a heavy traffic route, so relatively safe. You can take a nap while parked at one of the all night restaurants along the route. Do not stop for pee break on the unknown roadside in the night. Instead use the restaurant rest rooms. Drive safely and you are covered.

If you were driving in daytime, then you could try the Bankapur - Mundgod - Yallapur road that is 50 kms shorter over Hubli route and also saves one hour travel time. But it's a NO for night driving as it's a single road with no signage and through forest area and it's monsoon season too.

[Rajgir]

From a safety perspective, How does this route compare to the Hubli-Yellapur, if one drives at night with family?

Originally Posted by ashkamath

That means the Anmod route, Chorla ghat etc all are out of reckoning as they are suitable if your destination is North Goa.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by Rajgir

From a safety perspective, How does this route compare to the Hubli-Yellapur, if one drives at night with family?

From a safety perspective, Anmod and Chorla are quite safe for night driving with family. There's decent traffic on both these routes. The actual ghat section is very short and there are villages along the route. Both routes are safe.

However I have heard that Anmod some small section road is very bad and so is with Chorla ghat. Other than that they are safe to travel in night.

But again, I will chose these 2 routes only if my destination is North Goa such as Calangute, Baga, Candolim, Anjuna, Siolim, Morjim etc. For anything in South Goa such as Palolem I think Yallapur - Karwar route is better as it is shorter to destination and saves lot of time traversing through Goa from north to south.

[Hells Bells]

Any update on the rain situation for the Goa routes? I am not hearing any pointed news and I am assuming no news is good news.

[aka_iitd]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

Any update on the rain situation for the Goa routes? I am not hearing any pointed news and I am assuming no news is good news.

I am also looking for this information as planning to start early morning on 1st Aug from Bellandur. Hells Bells - When you are starting

[Hells Bells]

Originally Posted by aka_iitd

I am also looking for this information as planning to start early morning on 1st Aug from Bellandur. Hells Bells - When you are starting

DM'ed you on your query.

[fogg_23]

I am traveling to Goa from Yeshwanthpur on 3rd August (daytime). Can you please DM me to discuss the current road conditions? I am not sure I have an option to DM you. Thanks.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by fogg_23

I am traveling to Goa from Yeshwanthpur on 3rd August (daytime). Can you please DM me to discuss the current road conditions? I am not sure I have an option to DM you. Thanks.

There is no need to DM. Discussions on the thread will be useful to other users.

[Hells Bells]

For transparency, my DM to aka_iitd was essentially around the "intent" for our respective travel. He mentioned that he will be taking the Anmod route and I am awaiting his feedback on how does that option turn out to be! I dont have fond memories of Anmod's route with all those humungous vertical drops between the concrete stretches.

[aka_iitd]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

For transparency, my DM to aka_iitd was essentially around the "intent" for our respective travel. He mentioned that he will be taking the Anmod route and I am awaiting his feedback on how does that option turn out to be! I dont have fond memories of Anmod's route with all those humungous vertical drops between the concrete stretches.

Hi all - Just now I reached Goa - roads are good with no bad conditions. My route - Dharwad - Ramnagar - Anmod - Ponda - Verna - BITS.Last 160 km from Dharwad to Goa was ok types with intermittent rains .. almost 4 hrs .. Caution just after that section we have police check post for over speed 😊 No issues of flood warning near Haveri

[aka_iitd]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

For transparency, my DM to aka_iitd was essentially around the "intent" for our respective travel. He mentioned that he will be taking the Anmod route and I am awaiting his feedback on how does that option turn out to be! I dont have fond memories of Anmod's route with all those humungous vertical drops between the concrete stretches.

No deep trenches when moving from concrete to tar road or vice versa in ghat section but tar roads are not in good condition but still manageable. Keep 3.5 to 4 hrs from Dharwad to Goa

[Dr.AD]

I, along with some BHPian friends, drove from Bangalore to Goa last week.

We took Dharwad-Ramnagar-Tinai Ghat-Anmod-Molem route.

Ramnagar to Anmod section was very had. Tons of potholes and broken tarmac, and then a few diversions because of road work too. Overall the conditions in that stretch were terrible. The rest of the road was very good and a fantastic scenic route.

However, if you are driving a sedan, please be very careful in Tinai Ghat. I was driving my Thar (we were all driving our SUVs for this trip), and therefore, had no issues. But I could imagine that section would be a pain in a sedan. It was also raining very heavily that day. There was also a thick fog at the top of the Tiani Ghat, and visibility was very low.

Here is a shot from my windshield, somewhere in Tinai Ghat, that shows the road conditions there last week:



Once you enter Goa, the roads become fantastic.

Here is a picture of the road after Molem, Goa:

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

We took Dharwad-Ramnagar-Tinai Ghat-Anmod-Molem route.

Ramnagar to Anmod section was very had. Tons of potholes and broken tarmac, and then a few diversions because of road work too. Overall the conditions in that stretch were terrible. The rest of the road was very good and a fantastic scenic route.

A section of Ramnagar to Anmod has been in bad shape since many years. Every driver who uses this road mentions this bad stretch of road.
I don't know why the concerned pwd (state or centre) doesn't look into it and repair the road. Perhaps no one interested or the topography is such that immaterial of how many times you repair the road, it again goes bad. (Something like Shiradi Ghat that's work in progress since multiple decades and still work in progress).

No amount of patch work seems to rectify these stretches of roads. We just have to live with it.

[pramod]

I drove bangalore to Mapusa on July 31 morning. Had reached bangalore to davanagere on previous night which is what I do these days to avoid early morning rush. I started from davanagere at 9 am sharp. Reached Moira village goa by 3:30 pm. So it was a good 6.5 hour drive. The route taken was bangalore - davanagere - hubli-dharwad bypass - kittur - mkhubli left turn - Khanapura - jambooti - sinquerim - mapusa. I drove a skoda Octavia 2017 petrol with avg ground clearance. But I could manage with just a couple of under chassis minor brushing to the ground. I wasn't really worried about the overall condition of the road. It was decent after mkHubli with a few potholes, cracks, mild water logging and incessant rain.

[Hells Bells]

I drove over to Anjuna on 3rd but took the decision to do a layover at Hubbali as I chose to start late from Bangalore. Started off for Anjuna on 4th morning and the intent was to take the MK Hubli route as had been suggested by pramod in the last post. Unfortunately, gmaps has a mind of its own and it took a unilateral decision of taking a "faster route" to save me all of 4 grand mins. I didnt realize it has altered the route till I saw myself entering Dandeli!

Anyway, it was too late so I carried on. Long story short - the route from Ramnagar to Anmod is bad across the broken patches but it is not longer as bad as it was when the hastily thrown tar wasn't present. Mind you, it is a relative statement. In absolutes, it is still a crappy road but I wasn't worried about damage to underbody of my Micra. I might have been more worried in my vRS but I am sure even it would have scraped through with careful driving.

There was no risky water situation even though it continued to rain throughout the drive. And yes, I was still caught with surprise when I was flagged by the cops even though aka_iitd had warned about them. I must have been doing 75 odd and the first sign of speed limit of 60 comes up very conveniently just after their patrol vehicle. Lucky me that I was not carrying any cash on me and I was OK to pay the original challan. It seemed they were least interested in giving challans and since there was no cash for their side-business, they just let me off with a friendly warning that they are OK to give a buffer till 10 kmph over their speed limits within Goa.

I intend to take the route back via Chorla ghat (MK Hubli route) when I head back in two weeks. Goa itself seems normal on account of rain (usual wet and humid Goa).