[Irwin]

Originally Posted by Rocketqueen22

Hi,

Thank you. Saw your response post my arrival into Goa. I took the BWS route as well. I was alarmed as soon as i took the right into the BWS road off the pristine Khanapur highway. Went really slow through the bad stretches. My Ignis held fort pretty well.

Abt 5-7 kms of really really bad roads..but the rest of it was a pretty good drive.
Honestly now I am in 2 minds as to which route to take on my way back. Will surely encounter slow traffic at Karad and Lonavala which I did Outbound as well!!!!

Thanks Rocketqueen,

Regardless of how bad they are, the bad roads of BWS are quickly forgotten once you get back on the good roads, either from Anmod towards GOA or from Khanapur to Belagavi & onwards.

I suppose regardless of which connector/route we take from NH48 to NH66, we can or perhaps will encounter/expect to have bad to very bad roads cumulatively between 5 to 10 kms from Mumbai - GOA - Mumbai.

One of the objectives for me is to avoid heavy trucks/vehicles/luxury buses/taxi traffic along the way on 2 lane roads.

One has to be extremely careful while driving down or up the Anmod or any narrow Ghats while negotiating the curves/hair pin bends, not to try to enter/leave/overtake on those bends when a truck/bus is ahead of you. Chances are that the rear end of the truck/bus will unintentionally swerve & hit your car while they are negotiating those bends/curves, especially when they are turning towards the left curve and your car is on the right-hand side of the bus, the right side of the bus/truck swerves towards the right.

I saw one truck ahead of me on 11th of May hit the right side of a Swift Car and damage it very badly while the truck was taking a left turn on the bend/curve, not sure who is at fault, but as far as I am concerned, I wait for them to pass those curves/bends and then proceed, or atleast maintain a good distance/gap between my car and the trucks/buses.

After reading the post by denzdm, I am very much encouraged & inclined to take the Mumbai-Karad-Malkapur-Anuskura Ghat-Saundal-Oni-GOA/Margaon.

[dvl666]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

I am planning a monsoon drive to Mumbai from Bangalore. Unlike previous drives all along NH48, this time I am considering a detour of sorts with additional days factored

Bangalore - Murudeshwar
Karwar - Goa - Continue along NH 66 through Goa into MH
Ratnagiri - drive along NH66 to Chiplun - Mangaon - Pen - through Karnala - Navi Mumbai

Would appreciate feedback on the condition of NH66 in KA, GA and MH sections

Planning to drive into Goa with a friend using NH48 - Karad - Malkapur - Anuskura - Candolim on Monday (5 June) and plan to return using NH66 over the weekend (9 June)

Even I want to know if its advisable to use the scenic route all the way to Bombay? Anything to be careful of?

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

Murudeshwar -
Karwar - Goa - Continue along NH 66 through Goa into MH

This stretch is very beautiful; entirely concrete from Goa up to about Lanja in MH. You'll find some traffic near Panaji in Goa, but apart from that, it is very scenic.

Ratnagiri - drive along NH66 to Chiplun - Mangaon - Pen - through Karnala - Navi Mumbai

This, will be misery as it is not complete. If you absolutely want to enjoy how the mountains and coast light up in the monsoon, you can instead instead join Amba / Anuskura ghat after Lanja, get back on NH48 up to

a) Wai - Mahabaleshwar - Ambenali - Poladpur - Mumbai
b) Pune - Tamhini - Mangaon - Roha - Pali/Pen - Mumbai / Pune Expressway - Mumbai (the better of the two)

This is if you want to enjoy the route at the cost of time taken to travel.

[AjinkyaP]

Travelling to Madgao this weekend from Kolhapur.

Need to know the faster/better route. Since many on this forum have reported bad road conditions towards Nipani - Ajra- Amboli route.

Is the other route , Belgavi - Khanapur- Bhimgad- Mollem better ?

I remember traveling through Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in March 2021 and the road was horrible.

Please advice.

[AjinkyaP]

Originally Posted by AjinkyaP

Travelling to Madgao this weekend from Kolhapur.

Need to know the faster/better route. Since many on this forum have reported bad road conditions towards Nipani - Ajra- Amboli route.

Is the other route , Belgavi - Khanapur- Bhimgad- Mollem better ?

I remember traveling through Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in March 2021 and the road was horrible.

Please advice.

Attachment 2460213

Update - I took the route via Nipani Amboli Banda.

Road widening work is still going on but current condition of the active lane is not that bad , rough surface with loose gravel, not a concern , just a small patch.
Rest of the road till South Goa is good.

[dvl666]

Originally Posted by dvl666

Planning to drive into Goa with a friend using NH48 - Karad - Malkapur - Anuskura - Candolim on Monday (5 June) and plan to return using NH66 over the weekend (9 June)

Even I want to know if its advisable to use the scenic route all the way to Bombay? Anything to be careful of?

Update on my trip.
Left Mumbai late, took a stopover in Fern Veeksar Kolhapur. Left at 8am next morning & went through the Nipani route. The road work is still going in lot of patches after the main ghat. Didnt measure the km but was almost an hour from the first bad patch till the last one. Reached GOX in 4 hours & Candolim in 5 hours. Total trip time was 13 hours with total 2 hour break.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

This stretch is very beautiful; entirely concrete from Goa up to about Lanja in MH.

If you absolutely want to enjoy how the mountains and coast light up in the monsoon, you can instead instead join Amba / Anuskura ghat after Lanja, get back on NH48

Thanks to this update, we returned via NH66 as per @libranof1987 advice. We turned at Watul (after Oni before Lanja) towards Amba ghat - Malkapur - Kokrud - Ond towards NH48 where Gmap suggested an interior single lane road to cut thru the roadworks and exit at Malkapur (on NH48). We followed it and missed the traffic.

The new roads in this complete stretch (NH66 - SH175 - NH166 - SH144) and the roads in Goa were a bliss. Not a single pothole till you hit NH48
We managed to come without any halt in 12 hours with 2 hour break.

Will post detailed update with pictures in coming week.

[rpunwani]

Originally Posted by dvl666

Update on my trip.
Left Mumbai late, took a stopover in Fern Veeksar Kolhapur. Left at 8am next morning & went through the Nipani route. The road work is still going in lot of patches after the main ghat. Didnt measure the km but was almost an hour from the first bad patch till the last one. Reached GOX in 4 hours & Candolim in 5 hours. Total trip time was 13 hours with total 2 hour break.

Thanks to this update, we returned via NH66 as per @libranof1987 advice. We turned at Watul (after Oni before Lanja) towards Amba ghat - Malkapur - Kokrud - Ond towards NH48 where Gmap suggested an interior single lane road to cut thru the roadworks and exit at Malkapur (on NH48). We followed it and missed the traffic.

The new roads in this complete stretch (NH66 - SH175 - NH166 - SH144) and the roads in Goa were a bliss. Not a single pothole till you hit NH48
We managed to come without any halt in 12 hours with 2 hour break.

We did exactly the same, travelled from Mumbai to Kolhapur on 13th June and after an overnight halt at Veeksar Fern, we drove to South Goa on 14th June. I took the Kolhapur - Nipani - Ajra - Amboli - Banda - South Goa route. Roads were in good condition except for patches before Ajra for about 20-25 kms due to road widening/concreting work.

Since we were in a Ford Ecosport we could drive without any problems at 35-40 km/hr in these rough patches. Apart from that the roads were in good condition, incl Amboli ghat all the way upto Banda.

Planning to take route suggested by you via NH66 as per @libranof1987 advice. Please share the exact route, thanks in advance

[Irwin]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

We did exactly the same, travelled from Mumbai to Kolhapur on 13th June and after an overnight halt at Veeksar Fern, we drove to South Goa on 14th June. I took the Kolhapur - Nipani - Ajra - Amboli - Banda - South Goa route. Roads were in good condition except for patches before Ajra for about 20-25 kms due to road widening/concreting work.

Since we were in a Ford Ecosport we could drive without any problems at 35-40 km/hr in these rough patches. Apart from that the roads were in good condition, incl Amboli ghat all the way upto Banda.

Planning to take route suggested by you via NH66 as per @libranof1987 advice. Please share the exact route, thanks in advance

Hi,

After coming down from Amboli Ghat, did you take the left turn after Danoli Market towards Banda or went straight towards Sawantwadi-Banda-South Goa.
Apparently the left turn road is not in a very good condition, a lot construction of culverts/bridges has been put on hold/slow progress.

Have the rains caused the Ajra-Amboli roads to deteriorate & become slushy?

[rpunwani]

Originally Posted by Irwin

Hi,

After coming down from Amboli Ghat, did you take the left turn after Danoli Market towards Banda or went straight towards Sawantwadi-Banda-South Goa.
Apparently the left turn road is not in a very good condition, a lot construction of culverts/bridges has been put on hold/slow progress.

Have the rains caused the Ajra-Amboli roads to deteriorate & become slushy?

We took the left from Danoli to Banda; did not go to Sawantwadi. Roads were in fairly good condition except for a few patches.

There is a lot of road expansion/concreting work between Ajra & Amboli so the roads are gravel and two way traffic on half the road. If two buses or two big vehicles cross each other the traffic slows down considerably/small jam is created.

[dvl666]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

Planning to take route suggested by you via NH66 as per @libranof1987 advice. Please share the exact route, thanks in advance

In google maps put the following stops between your location & vashi::
1) Oni or Watul (in case watul doesnt show up)
2) Pachal phata

This will route you properly.

Be sure to tank up, check air pressure, take washroom breaks, etc before Oni. There is a small tea shop in an array of shops behind a bus stop after oni. They had good tea & coffee and sold biscuits. We reconfirmed our directions with them and discovered the freshly laid watul route & we didnt need to go till lanja.

Another thing to note that this is a scarcely used route so gmaps shows traffic where there is none (on bends, near villages, in ghats, etc). The orange & red rarely mean anything so trust your senses more than gmap.

In case there is a jam before karad on NH48, google suggests a narrow single lane road which is freshly laid. However dont expect avg speed of over 20-25 on it. You will have to take your pick.

Enjoy the drive.
Safe Travels!

[dvl666]

Originally Posted by dvl666

Enjoy the drive.
Safe Travels!

Pictures of the NH66 and rest of the route till Karad NH48
The first 3 are of NH66
The next 2 are after the turn at Watul
The last 2 are of the ghats

All through freshly laid roads.

[Irwin]

Originally Posted by dvl666

In google maps put the following stops between your location & vashi::
1) Oni or Watul (in case watul doesnt show up)
2) Pachal phata

This will route you properly.

Be sure to tank up, check air pressure, take washroom breaks, etc before Oni. There is a small tea shop in an array of shops behind a bus stop after oni. They had good tea & coffee and sold biscuits. We reconfirmed our directions with them and discovered the freshly laid watul route & we didnt need to go till lanja.

Another thing to note that this is a scarcely used route so gmaps shows traffic where there is none (on bends, near villages, in ghats, etc). The orange & red rarely mean anything so trust your senses more than gmap.

In case there is a jam before karad on NH48, google suggests a narrow single lane road which is freshly laid. However dont expect avg speed of over 20-25 on it. You will have to take your pick.

Enjoy the drive.
Safe Travels!

Hi,

With the waypoints you mentioned ONI/WATUL & PACHAL PATA, the route goes through Amba Ghat & joins at Malkapur instead of Anuskura Ghat isnt it?

Looking at the pictures of the Ghat Roads, if they are Amba Ghat, then it appears that all the roads on the route you mentioned are in pristine conditions!!

[dvl666]

Originally Posted by Irwin

Hi,

With the waypoints you mentioned ONI/WATUL & PACHAL PATA, the route goes through Amba Ghat & joins at Malkapur instead of Anuskura Ghat isnt it?

Looking at the pictures of the Ghat Roads, if they are Amba Ghat, then it appears that all the roads on the route you mentioned are in pristine conditions!!

Hi,

We were planning Amba ghat via Lanja as per original suggestion but got rerouted via Watul by the tea stall guys.

Even the locals adviced against Anuskura ghat.

[rpunwani]

Originally Posted by dvl666

Update on my trip.Thanks to this update, we returned via NH66 as per @libranof1987 advice. We turned at Watul (after Oni before Lanja) towards Amba ghat - Malkapur - Kokrud - Ond towards NH48 where Gmap suggested an interior single lane road to cut thru the roadworks and exit at Malkapur (on NH48). We followed it and missed the traffic.

The new roads in this complete stretch (NH66 - SH175 - NH166 - SH144) and the roads in Goa were a bliss. Not a single pothole till you hit NH48
We managed to come without any halt in 12 hours with 2 hour break.

I returned yesterday from Dona Paula to South Mumbai. Took the Amboli - Ajra - Nipani route. We left Dona Paula at 0700 hrs and we stopped for breakfast at Amboli. On the way to Ajra, I missed the left turn and was heading to Belgavi. Luckily I realised this and drove back to take the Ajra road. Lost about 15 minutes there. Road work as stated by me earlier between Amboli & Gavre (beyond Ajra) slowed us down. Fortunately traffic was sparse.

We crossed Kolhapur by 12:00 hrs, and inspite of the diversion at Karad we managed to reach Satara by 14:00 hrs. Stopped for lunch at Vitha Kamat and entered Pune bypass at 16:00 hrs. Got onto the Mumbai - Pune Expressway at 16:30 hrs and were home at 19:00 hrs. Took a few loo breaks / stretch breaks along the way.

Kept within the speed limits on the highways and did not exceed 80 on state roads.

[Anim8349]

Thank you so much for putting up this post. I was traveling from South Goa to Pune.

This route helped so much to bypass Kolhapur when the NH-48 was blocked because of riots. The highway was blocked for 50 kms while crossing Kolhapur.
The Oni to Karad roads were very good via Anuskura ghat.

The requirement on this route is an experienced driver only to navigate the ghats.