[zurura023]

I travelled from Bombay to Malvan and from there on to Goa on Sunday and Monday. I followed Bombay - Pune - Kolhapur-Gaganbawda-Malvan for the first leg and pinternal state road Malvan-Chippi-Vengurla-Shiroda-Terekhol-Arambol-Anjuna route for the second leg. I was quite surprised at Maharashtra roads being this good consistently. Definitely a first for me.

Pune - Kolhapur section was quite good compared to my trip back in January this year. As reported here, the work on this section has been completed. Now we pray that this holds up well against the monsoon.

Gaganbawda road quality was great as well. It seemed freshly laid as pointed by fellow members. About 5-10% of few sections were slightly rough. Talere - Kankavli - Kasal on NH66 was a surprise with the four laning complete in that section. I was able to stay at 95kmph throughout on this section owing to good roads and bare minimum traffic.

Even the internal roads from Malvan to Vengurla via Chippi was great and seemed like a recent completion. Was a pleasure driving on this picturesque road which is not to be opted for speed but the views and Konkan feel. Hope these roads stay well in monsoon as well.

I am thinking of coming back using Radhanagiri and Dajipur as I'll be halting at Malvan again on my way back. I remember doing this in our then new Vento around 11 years back and I loved the secluded feel.

Any feedback on the recent road condition there is appreciated.

[gpagedar]

I will be travelling to South Goa (Margao) on 19th June. Am looking at Chorla or Anmod route. Plan to start at 6am from Mumbai.

How are the road conditions on these 2 routes? Which one would be better?

[Bigzero]

Originally Posted by gpagedar

I will be travelling to South Goa (Margao) on 19th June. Am looking at Chorla or Anmod route. Plan to start at 6am from Mumbai.

How are the road conditions on these 2 routes? Which one would be better?

I did a trip three weeks back from Pune - Took Anmod Ghat to Goa, and Chorla on the way back.

To get to Anmod Ghat, google suggested to take a right immediately after Khanapur. From that point to Anmod ( when you touch NH748 Dharwar-Panaji via Anmod ), the road is a narrow and quite scenic road , partly through the Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary. The speeds will be low for most part, and there is a stretch of 10 km or so of very bad roads, with no surface to speak of at many points. At that point we were a convoy of 4-5 cars, and were following the lead car, who had the tough job of finding the best path through the crater-filled surface.

There is a longer route from Khanapur to touch Ramnagar on 748 ( if I remember correctly, Google suggested 16+ more minutes ). Perhaps I should have taken it. But no regrets, the drive through the sanctuary was nice too, but for the road.

The Ghat itself is quite ok, freshly concreted in many parts on the KA side ( be careful not to stray off the edge though ). Once you cross over to Goa, the road surface improves significantly.

On the way back through Chorla, somewhat similar story on road surfaces, good surface in Goa, and a moderately ok surface on the Karnataka side of the Ghat. But overall quite an easy drive to reconnect a few km before Belgaum.

I found the traffic too to be quite thin and manageable both ways.

Hope this helps!

[gpagedar]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

I did a trip three weeks back from Pune - Took Anmod Ghat to Goa, and Chorla on the way back.

……

Hope this helps!

Sure does. Thanks.

Will try the scenic route through the BWS.

I believe the road closes in the evening by 5:30 or 6:00 pm so need to make it before that. What point do I need to reach before this time so that I can pass through?

[TechLiveMANA]

Just came back after a trip to Tarkarli and Ganpatipule. The roads were superb all through.

Took the Pune - Kolhapur - GaganBawda - Tarkarli route while going and barring a few rough patches the road was awesome.

Took the MSH4 from Tarkarli to Ganpatipule and it is one of the most scenic routes I have driven on. You can literally enjoy the beach view without even getting out of the car.

While returning from Ganpatipule, took the Ambaghat route and the road conditions were even better than the Gaganbawda route. Would recommend both these routes to anyone traveling in the near future.

[zurura023]

Just came back from Malvan and took the Phonda-Radhanagari-Dajipur [Phonda ghat/Fonda ghat] route on my return yesterday. The entire route had good roads barring a couple of kms around Phonda.

The route was quite scenic and the minimal traffic added to the experience. It would be much more pleasurable with monsoons if the roads hold up good. We made it home [Thane] in 11 hours and 15 minutes [including a 45 min and a 30 minute break]. This was the fastest I have ever reached home from Malvan-Goa belt of relatives. I think I can attribute that to Monday traffic, better roads this time and the confidence inspired by the Compass.

[Meer]

I drove from Pune to South Goa over the weekend and took the Anmod Ghat route passing through the Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary. The 10 kms of bad roads were bone jarring and also the road is narrow. Post this stretch, as everyone has confirmed, there is a cement road stretch through the ghat where suggest you be careful of the oncoming traffic as there is a steep gap at the sides of the cement road. Apart from these the road was good throughout.

Returning tomorrow and now planning to use the Chorla ghat route. The reason being the road through the Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary - while coming to Goa there was very light rain when I came through so it was manageable as I could see and navigate the crater like potholes but with heavier rain it will be difficult to guage the depth of these potholes and I am in the Baleno, so have to be extra careful.

Will update my experience once I reach Pune.

[Meer]

Back to Pune today from South Goa, apologies for the back to back post, started 7 am and reached pune 3 pm. Read through the recent posts on the routes after my post above, thank you all who posted their experiences and again went for the same route through which I went there (Anmod Ghat), stuck to the known devil. Will again warn everyone going from Goa to Anmod ghat to be very careful about the traffic coming down the bends / slopes. I had to take evasive action couple of times even with less traffic. Realised that the small drive through BWS was bearable.

Traffic was very sparse, except traversing through Belgaum / Belgavi. And then bike traffic post Kolhapur.

Pinched myself when I crossed Khed Shivpur toll booth in few seconds. There is definitely a logic in traveling on weekdays, helps reduce driving stress many fold.

One thing I observed was that the Shiv Shahi buses are rashly driven and they are wide bodied too. The usual Red MSRTC buses follow better discipline. Maybe its just coincidence, but advise to be careful when you are looking to overtake them.

[gpagedar]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

I did a trip three weeks back from Pune - Took Anmod Ghat to Goa, and Chorla on the way back.

To get to Anmod Ghat, google suggested to take a right immediately after Khanapur. From that point to Anmod ( when you touch NH748 Dharwar-Panaji via Anmod ), the road is a narrow and quite scenic road , partly through the Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary. The speeds will be low for most part, and there is a stretch of 10 km or so of very bad roads, with no surface to speak of at many points. At that point we were a convoy of 4-5 cars, and were following the lead car, who had the tough job of finding the best path through the crater-filled surface.

There is a longer route from Khanapur to touch Ramnagar on 748 ( if I remember correctly, Google suggested 16+ more minutes ). Perhaps I should have taken it. But no regrets, the drive through the sanctuary was nice too, but for the road.

The Ghat itself is quite ok, freshly concreted in many parts on the KA side ( be careful not to stray off the edge though ). Once you cross over to Goa, the road surface improves significantly.

On the way back through Chorla, somewhat similar story on road surfaces, good surface in Goa, and a moderately ok surface on the Karnataka side of the Ghat. But overall quite an easy drive to reconnect a few km before Belgaum.

I found the traffic too to be quite thin and manageable both ways.

Hope this helps!

We took the route suggested by you for our travel to Goa yesterday and concur with your observations. Road from Khanapur to Ramnagar is quite bad (a stretch of about 27kms, but once you cross this the road is great all the way through. Freshly laid asphalt roads once you cross over to Goa are beautiful.

And the route itself is extremely scenic. Strongly recommended if one has to travel to south Goa. However, would suggest that this route be covered during the day.

One other thing, tank up at Khanapur since there is nothing available till you reach Mollem. Or you may need to go into Ramnagar town. DTE on the Sonet was showing 22 with my bp rising fast by the time we reached Mollem.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

On the way back through Chorla, somewhat similar story on road surfaces, good surface in Goa, and a moderately ok surface on the Karnataka side of the Ghat. But overall quite an easy drive to reconnect a few km before Belgaum.

The road that goes via Ramnagar to Khanapur will be terrible in monsoon since it is incomplete and non existing in many places in between. I took it in May to travel from Goa to Pune. Route from Dharwad to Ramnagar is way better but if I take it, I will be going for a very long route before hitting NH48.
Since I will be travelling to Pune in midst of monsoon, planning to take Chorla but need to cover some distance from south Goa to Sanquelim.

What is your recommendation?

[gpagedar]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

The road that goes via Ramnagar to Khanapur will be terrible in monsoon since it is incomplete and non existing in many places in between. I took it in May to travel from Goa to Pune. Route from Dharwad to Ramnagar is way better but if I take it, I will be going for a very long route before hitting NH48.
Since I will be travelling to Pune in midst of monsoon, planning to take Chorla but need to cover some distance from south Goa to Sanquelim.

What is your recommendation?

With good roads in Goa, covering the distance from south Goa to Sanquelim should not be a problem. I am planning to take this route on the way back from Colva to Mumbai in a couple of days.

Will update in a few days time.

[gpagedar]

Originally Posted by gpagedar

Will update in a few days time.

Traveled back from south Goa yesterday via Chorla route. Part route shown up to Chorla.



Would suggest slight change of route as shown in red below. Slightly bigger road although one the I took had no issues whatsoever.



Left Benaulim at 5:45am and reached Belgaum at 9:00am sharp.

Road from Benaulim up to the Karnataka-Goa border are fantastic. Nothing to worry about. Reached the border within 1 hour 45 minutes of starting.

Scenic drive all through.

A photo taken at the border.


The roads on the Karnataka are not too good. Roads are interspersed with craters that have a tendency to suddenly pop up at the most importune time. But nothing that cannot be navigated with some watchful driving.

This is definitely a better option to the Anmod route that we took to reach Goa.

Hope this helps.

Note for Mods - Since there were no posts since I last posted a few days ago, this has ended up being a back to back post. Trust that is ok.

[throttlehead]

Hello Everyone,

I’m planning to make a quick solo trip to Kankavli next weekend. The plan is to take the Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Gaganbawda route while going and return via Mumbai-Goa. Any tips on road conditions or recommendations for route? Plan is to depart Saturday and return on Monday.

[gpagedar]

Originally Posted by throttlehead

Hello Everyone,

I’m planning to make a quick solo trip to Kankavli next weekend. The plan is to take the Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Gaganbawda route while going and return via Mumbai-Goa. Any tips on road conditions or recommendations for route? Plan is to depart Saturday and return on Monday.

Traveled from Poladpur to Mumbai in November last year. 4 laning work left half done. Road condition is very bad with many diversions.

Suggest you take the same route back if the road conditions on Gaganbawda route are ok.

[ajay0912]

Hi all,

I am planning to travel from Pune to Candolim on 9th July and back on 13th july with my Spouse and Kid 4 yr old. Never travelled to Goa during Monsoon. Wanted to know if it is safe to travel during these dates? Would be taking Amboli route.