Our amazing Goa trip

In the last week of December 2022, we toured Goa and stayed there for 5 nights. We drove down from Bangalore. Among several options, the route that we took was Bangalore > Tumkur > Chitradurga > Hubli > Dharwad > Ramnagar > Anmod Ghat > Calangute. Till Dharwad it was NH48. The drive was a breeze till Hubli. We covered the first 400 kms till Hubli in 6-7 hrs with 2 breaks in between. Post Hubli the road becomes a 2 lane road and we encountered heavy traffic and congestion. It took us more than 1.5 hrs to cover the 30 km odd distance between Hubli and Dharwad. After Dharwad we took a left turn to NH67 and then onto NH748. In all, we paid a total toll of INR 600. The last toll was collected at the entry point of NH67, there is no FastTag there as of today, so you need to pay a cash of INR 55. The 180 km stretch between Dharwad and Goa is a ghat section with multiple hair pin bends and several twists and turns and of course accompanied by some breath-taking views of the western ghats. It took us around 5 hrs to cross this ghat section with a lunch break in between. There are too many good lunch options in NH 67, there are a few decent eateries in the initial stretches on NH67, so it’s better you wrap up your meal before getting deeper in the ghats. Once we entered Goa, we encountered a lot of traffic in the narrow roads, and we finally reached the hotel at around 7 pm. If you are driving down to Goa, I would advice you to start early so that you enter the ghat section by 1 PM so that you cross that section while there is day light. Also, be prepared to negotiate through traffic in the narrow roads of Goa. But, taking your car will only make your stay and roaming around in Goa much easier.

If Day 1 was driving down to Goa, we hit the beach the very next day. On day 2, we spent time in Calangute beach and Baga beach, on day 3 we visited Aguada Fort, Seaquarium beach and Candolim beach. On day 4, we spent time in the Dil Chahta Hai movie fame Chapora Fort and Vagator beach. On day 5, we took a trip down to south Goa (90 kms from our hotel) and visited Palolem beach and from there we took a boat ride to the pristine Butterfly beach and Honeymoon beach. There is no natural entry into Butterfly beach, either you have to trek through forests and hills for 1.5 hrs or take a boat ride from Palolem beach. On day 6, we returned home by the same route. We started at around 7 AM as it was dark until 630 AM. It was much easier this time as we avoided the Goa traffic and the traffic on the Dharwad-Hubli stretch as it was early in the day. We reached home safely at 6:30 PM. Our picks in Goa were Chapora Fort, Vagator beach, Seaquarium beach, Palolem beach and the boat ride to Butterfly and Honeymoon beaches. Even though we had plans to visit Anjuna Beach, Arambol & Morjim beaches in North Goa and Colva and Cavolessim beaches in South Goa, we couldn't due to time constraint. My observations regarding the beaches are - Calangute & Baga beaches are highly commercial, so I would advise don't spend too much time in these beaches as there are many more beaches that have a far better aesthetic appeal.