[shandilyapiyush]

Hey!

I'd always wanted to drive up to Goa from Bangalore. I'd been to Goa only once before this visit and absolutely loved how easygoing the place seemed to be specially compared to what feels like a very fast paced environment in Bangalore.
The first week of February approached, a super quick travel plan was hatched out and the airbnb booking was done. It was a group of 4 of us who wanted to have a good time! I was super excited for the drive and knew that Goa would not disappoint.

Car - Maruti Suzuki Ertiga 2013 petrol.

Route



Bangalore - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Ranebennur - Hubli - Dharwad - Ramngar - Anmod ghat - Goa.

The same route was taken on the return leg of the journey too.
Roads are awesome until the Belgavi-Panjim road, this road has quite a lot of potholes. The ghats had a little bit of road work going on in a few places.

Day 1

Started off early in the morning from Bangalore by around 245am. Had a quick breakfast stop at the Big Mishra Cafe after Hubli. Reached Goa by 1230pm.







First refueling stop was just after the Bankapur Toll Plaza.









Checked into our airbnb and went to Davide's Pizzeria for lunch. The tiramisu is one of the best I've ever had. We then proceeded to the Fort Aguada area and hiked to Devil's Finger viewpoint and spent the evening there, completely mesmerized by the sunset's beauty.

At Davide's,









Mamma Gianna's Tiramisu


Devil's finger, Fort Aguada,









The sun slowly disappeared below the horizon.

Visited Romeo Lane and ended the day post the party!

Romeo Lane,

Lovely place, extremely vibey and that night's performer - Ismail Aamir played an awesome set! Good time here.





Day 2

Started the day with brunch at Burger Factory, Morjim. Headed to Mandrem beach and spent the afternoon through evening chilling at the beach and then witnessing the ever beautiful sunset. Our airbnb was situated in Arpora and this made it easy for us to roam around north Goa.

Photos of the 2nd day,





Veg Jack BBQ burger, Burger Factory.



Morjim beach.



Outside Mandrem beach.





Played some beach cricket with a few locals, majority of the Goans are very welcoming and jovial. Had loads of fun!



Sunset, Mandrem Beach.



Odo hit the 90k km reading.


Washed ourselves after all the beach fun and headed to Ping's Bia Hoi for a wonderful dinner. Super calm ambience and I loved the food.

At Ping's Bia Hoi,







Called it a night after a good yet tiring day.

[shandilyapiyush]

Day 3,
Started off rather lazily and all of us swam in the pool and had some fun in the morning before getting on with our day.

Visited 'Noah' for a late lunch and stayed there until the sunset. The place gets very lively after it's dark. Lots of live performances and I was told that there'd be a party too but, we went to Diaz that night.



Noah,Goa.













XP95 diet.

At Diaz,

Diaz is a super fun place, the place gets filled only a little late in the night and there were some absolutely amazing performances. The DJ set was alright but the dance floor was completely full.

Photos from Diaz,









Day 4,

Finished breakfast and checked out from our Airbnb. Started driving back home by 1230pm from Goa.

I was extremely bummed over the fact that someone had touched my car's rear left door overnight in the parking lot and the paint had come off. There was no major dent but the inner layer was white/bluish and looked sore on the grey door panel.



Had no option other than making peace with it.




On the Atal Setu. Goa Police are very strict about the speed limit on this bridge and multiple vehicles were stopped and penalized for over speeding.



Our car was stopped at the Goa-Karnataka border but the cops did not check. They just asked if us if were carrying any alcohol to which I replied- "No sir". One of the senior cops came and warned us that they'd be checking and we'd get into trouble if we'd lied to him and I told that cop that we'd be completely okay with them checking, after which they just asked us to drive on and didn't check. This was surprising cause it was a group of 4 of us and all of us in our 20's. The last time I'd been to Munnar with a similar group of friends, the cops had literally strip searched every suitcase we had, I was mentally prepared for that and this came as a surprise.

The drive back home was easy. A good speed of 100kmph could be easily maintained on the 6 lane NH. We took 2 breaks for lunch and dinner. Big Mishra Cafe for lunch, the same place we'd stopped for breakfast on the way to goa, stopped at Paakashala,T Begur for a quick dinner. Traffic post Nelamangla was horrible though.







Reached home by 12am.



I will dearly miss the beautiful sunsets and vast waters. Dawn colours are extremely mesmerizing. This trip was a mix of parties and a good bit of nature. The parties are pretty unusual for me as I'm not very keen on partying. Nature on the hand definitely has a big place in my heart.
Thank you Goa, you were good!

Trip stats



Overall distance - 1432.2km

The tyres were inflated to 33psi for the front and 35psi for the rear.

Fuel efficiency - 13.4kmpl.

It was a super fun trip and the drive was good all through both, roads and good company


Thanks for reading along.
Cheers,
Piyush.

[graaja]

Moving thread from Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thank you for sharing!

[Rehaan]

Ooh a missed opportunity to use the word "Ertigoa" in the thread title


Thread will be going to the Team-BHP Homepage tomorrow.