Chennai To Goa - By Road via JOG Falls - Gokarna - Dandeli

It was a wonderful experience from Chennai to Goa by road. It was the month of April 2009 and after a lot of up's and down's in our plans, with 11 members and a FORCE Tempo Traveller, we were all geared up to leave for GOA.


Driving Directions to Goa:

From Chennai, there are actually three different routes to Goa. All 3 of them pass through Bangalore. So you have to reach Bangalore first before deciding any further. From Bangalore, the best suggested route especially if you are only headed to GOA is to drive till Dharwad on the NH4 and then at Dharwad you have to leave the NH4 and head towards Londa where you will reach the NH4A that will take you to GOA.
From Dharwad, you can either head directly to Goa or plan a day at Dandeli which is yet another wonderful place that offers you so many water sports such as White-water rafting, canoeing, Kayaking, coracling etc.
Dandeli also offers you some intresting treks and experiences of staying in tents.

The second route is to drive on the NH4 till Tumkur and take the NH206 via Shimoga and Gokarna.
This route offers you two pictursuqe place namely the JOG falls and Gokarna. Gokarna is a scenic place with beaches enclosed by hills. Gokarna makes you fell an instance of what GOA is all about.
Hilly coastal areas, enclosed beaches and the famous OM beach is all that you can see at Gokarna.

The third route i would prefer is to ignore the NH4 at Bangalore itself and drive till Mangalore. There are a lot of places in between this route but the road might not be as best as the NH4. It might take you a long time to traverse this way but it has some real good scenic beauties especially while driving past the western ghats.
From Mangalore its another neautiful road that goes almost parallel to the eastern cost and you can always have a glimpse of the sea till you reach GOA. Once again the road might not be as best as NH4 nor that its
bad either. It's worth to go this way for you can enjoy the different landscapes of south india.


Our trip :

First DAy :

It was almost 12.00 mid night by the time we could gather ourselves and reach the outskirts of Chennai.
Away from a Busy Traffic, Busy Life, Here we Go...

Initially, our plan was to take the NH4 till Hubli and then divert left from NH4 towards GOA via Dandeli. But we were equally keen in visiting JOG falls and Gokarna which were towards the south of GOA. Hence we had to change some plans enroute to GOA.

So the route we actually went through was -
CHENNAI - Bangalore - Tumkur -Shimoga - JOG Falls - Honnavar - Gokarna - GOA - Dandeli

Bangalore being 288kms from Chennai shouldn't take you more than 6Hrs and Tumkur is just 68 kms from Bangalore which is another 1 Hr.

We reached bangalore by 6.00 AM and stopped at a highway hotel beyond Bangalore for Refreshments and Breakfast.

Jog Falls is 450Kms away from Bangalore and might take you 8-10 Hrs because the road is not at its best. After a Left turn from Tumkur it NH206 and you can no longer expect the road to be like NH4.

But if you decide to visit JOG falls, i dont think i can recommend you a better route than this one via Tumkur and Shimoga.

For us It took 16 Hrs to reach JOG Falls from Chennai after a couple of pitstops beyond Bangalore. JOG Falls was not its best due to its off-season. Though disappointed, we spent some 3 Hrs with other tourists in a game of Volleyball until it was obstructed by a local who insisted that we leave the place. Soon after that evening we headed towards Gokarna but decided to rest at Honnavar for a good BED sleep at night.

At Honnavar, it was our first night (nearly 24 Hrs passed) after we had left from Chennai and people have already started regretting for choosing this time-consuming route from Tumkur and for the fact that JOG falls wasn't that interesting.

The next day morning, we started early at around 6:00 and headed towards Gokarna.

In almost two and a half hours, we reached Gokarna and it was a really splendid place to hang out. Not only
beaches and cliffs from where you can have a look at the Gokarna bay, but it also has a historic Mahabaleshwar temple.

The Om beach is very famous and also has comfortable resorts where you can hangout for a day or two. Other activities to do are a boat ride to an island present nearby.









Wooden Cottages @ Dandeli :

White-water rafting @ Dandeli :

Beaches @ Gokarna & Goa: