Take a road trip from Bangalore to GOA
GOA has always been one of the most attractive tourist destinations, there is something about GOA.. be it the relaxing beaches or the buzzing nightlife, be it a beachfront stays or the mesmerizing sunset view off a cliff, be it the colonial Portuguese architectures or the lush green islands...It has it all.
GOA is one destination where you don’t need to plan everything before, It doesn't matter for what you are going there, if you are an adventure seeker or looking out for a weekend to relax, if you are traveling solo or as couples or with your family.. there is always something for everyone.
Here is a Travel Vlog on our road trip to GOA. Do visit our youtube channel and view our vlog on the road trip.
It was starting of March 2022, the third wave of covid had just subsided and travels were opening up. It had been few months me and my wife had started a travel vlog and we were looking forward for restrictions to ease down. As soon as the travels opened up in March, we decided that we should take this opportunity and plan a workation in GOA. Yes, you heard it right “Workation” , this is the first time we were also doing it, Work+Vacation from GOA. We were still not comfortable to take public transportation and hence we decided we will drive down to GOA from Bangalore.
This blog is about our road trip from Bangalore to GOA.
Route preview
A road trip from Bangalore to GOA is something everyone must attempt once. There are multiple routes that you can take from Bangalore to GOA, Whichever route you take, the routes are covered with lush green scenic beauty of the western ghats, On few routes you can even drive along the coast of Arabian sea. If you are planning to drive down in monsoon, you can even take little deviations to see beautiful waterfalls along the route.
We took the Hubli — Anmod Ghat route from Bangalore, since Google maps suggested that to be the shortest about 600Kms with a traveling time around 9 hrs 45mins
Below is the Google map preview of our road journey
Bangalore → Nelamangala → Tumkur → Sira → Chitradurga → Davangere → Hubli → Dharwad → Ramnagar → Anmod → Panaji
We left early by 6AM so that we can beat the city traffic, we were outside the city, near Nelamangala within an hour and after Nelamangala the truck traffic also reduced a lot. Its always advisable to leave early in the morning so that you can avoid the city traffic.
We had packed some fruits and snacks for the journey, because we wanted to cover as much as possible fresh in the morning, So we drove past Tumkur and reached near Chitradurga without any stops. The landscape starts changing as soon as you near Chitradurga, you will see a lot of windmills all along the sides and its a beautiful view from the highway.
We crossed Chitradurga and it was about 9:30AM we were nearing Davangere. We had heard about the famous Davangere Benne Dosa, we thought why not give it a try for our breakfast. Its about 4 KM deviation from the NH48, you will have to enter the Davangere town and follow the main road to reach the small hotel called “Sri Guru Kottureshwara Butter Dosa Hotel”. This hotel has only two items on Menu — Benne Dosa ( Butter Dosa ) , Khali Dosa ( Plain Dosa ).
They charge you 80/- per plate and they give you two dosa’s per plate which is very filling. They also give you Aloo sabzi which is very different than what you get in south indian hotels with the masala dosa’s. This one looks more like the Aloo patty they give with sizzlers. However the taste of this sabzi is very good. I think they might grind it with onion and green chili to get this taste. Since this was a weekday, there was not much waiting time. But I have heard weekends are usually crowded and there is atleast a 15–20min waiting time.
We quickly started back on NH48 and there are not a lot of food options after this on the NH48. There are some dhabhas and hotels but not really sure how good they are, so we didn't really make any stop further.
The NH48 from Bangalore to Hubli is super smooth. Even though its a mix of three lane and two lane roads you will reach Hubli in 5hrs easily. You can easily maintain the speeds of 80–100KMPH. Some of the stretches you can even see the speed limit boards mentioning 100KMPH. The road after Hubli until Dharwad is a single lane road. Its about 30KM and with lot of trucks where you will have to slow down a lot and follow the lane.
By the time we reached Hubli, we had crossed 8 tolls and most of it was not much of waiting due to the automated fast tag toll gates.
You need to take a left near Dharwad and enter the Dharwad → Ramnagar → Anmod → Mollem road. As you take the left turn , there are few broken roads for a kilometer or two until you get to a Toll booth. This Toll booth is not automated and hence you need to pay cash of 55/- for a car. From here you enter the green cruvy roads feels like a lower part of the ghat section.The roads even though single lane are much wider and most of the part of it is concreted. There are couple of railway crossings also which you will pass.
Couple of things to watch out before you hit the accelerator in this stretch is,
- Some patches of road where the one lane is under construction and the road becomes single lane, so you have to wait and allow the other lane vehicles to pass through before you go on their lane.
- And few places there are sudden drops due to the misaligned concreting, so if you are at high speed, it will damage the suspension of the vehicles.
However, these are still a very short disruption to the overall stretch of the road which is smooth and pleasurable to drive.
This route takes you very close to castle rock and Dudhsagar water falls. Castle rock is where you start the railway track trekking to Dudhsagar water falls. Since we were going to North Goa, we decided to continue further and not stop in between.
There is no fuel stops also, so ensure to have enough fuel to cross the ghats.
It was about 160Kms from the turn near Dharwad to the place where we are staying in North Goa. I’m guessing the total ghat section will be around 80–100KMs in this whole stretch and some 30KM of steeper hair pin bends as we reach near Anmol → Mollem. The view of the ghats are also mesmerizing, the whole road is very good not even a single pot hole was there…
There roads are even better after we enter the GOA border. Here are some of the roads in the ghat section
There is a Karnataka checkpost and lot of tourist vehicles who were entering Karnataka from GOA were being stopped there to do a routine alcohol check. However there was no checks for entering from Karnataka to GOA.
Once we reached Mollem, you can also visit Bhagawan Mahaveer wildlife sanctuary. You will also find petrol pumps and eating places near Mollem. After this the roads were also neat and we went for some more distance and entered Ponda region before stopping by for our lunch at the restaurant called Goan Bay. It was about 3 PM by the time we reached here.
From here, It took us about another 40mins reach our stay near GoaVille near Baga beach in North GOA. The roads inside GOA are very good, not even a single pot hole in the whole stretch. The ring road connected directly from Ponda to Panaji which is a easier stretch. Once you cross Panaji and enter North Goa there is some traffic to reach towards Baga beach. The locality where stayed is called Bardez and it is 5mins drive from Baga beach.
We reached here at 3:45 PM in the evening.. Hope you enjoyed my blog on the road trip, I will be sharing a lot more of our experience on the Workation and the amazing GOA, stay tuned..
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