Mumbai-Goa road trip

We try and find an excuse to go to Goa for our short vacations!! We just love that place – beautiful houses, lovely beaches, friendly people – it is all too enticing!!We were pretty excited about doing this long road trip – there were some apprehensions too as we were travelling with our five year old daughter and were not too sure if she will be able to put up with this long drive and whether we will be able to put up with her non-stop chattering for 9-10 hours.
There were 2 routes that we were evaluating for the travel – one was the traditional route through Panvel-Pen-Chiplun and the other one was through Pune-Satara-Kolhapur. We spoke to a friend who had used the Panvel-Pen-Chiplun route about a couple of weeks back and it seemed like a slightly more troublesome route to travel with small children given the large sections of driving through the ghats on the route. Pune-Satara-Kolhapur route, on the other hand, was supposed to be longer but consisted of good roads and comparatively lesser sections of ghats. I guess, the choice for us, then was obvious – we decided to take the Pune-route.
The journey
To beat the morning traffic, we decided to start really early – and to our surprise, we were all ready to leave from Wadala by 4.45 AM!! This was another first for us – we have never woken this early on Saturdays!!
The journey from Wadala via Panvel to Pune was extremely smooth. We took our first break at the Foodmall at the HP petrol pump after Khalapur toll junction. This early morning journey was an adventure for our daughter too as she was up and chattering till then and making sure that even we are wide awake!! After the brief refreshing break, we decided that we are not going to stop for the next 3-4 hours – my target was Satara.
Since it was early in the morning, driving was a pleasure. We were not driving at breakneck speeds – at 100-110 kmph on the express highway, we were cruising along well on the expressway.
We got a bit of traffic while coming out of Pune. The road is a 4-lane road and that restricts the speed. Apart from that, there was traffic of the tractors and the trailors in the outskirts of Pune. However, it was not all bad – we were still doing about 80-90 kmph comfortably. One has to be a bit more careful in avoiding the bad drivers – especially the taxi drivers, who drive their Sumos and Tempos as if they own the roads – but then that is a given on the Indian roads – isn’t it?
Driving from Pune to Kolhapur was a pleasure – the only breaks that you need to take are at the toll gates – that dot the entire stretch. Given the excellent condition of the roads, driving on this road is extremely stress-free. The roads are not very scenic – we were okay with that. It was lovely cruise at 90-100 kmph with the music system playing some of our favourite songs keeping us peppy and upbeat. Ananya was having a ball watching the various small villages passing by along with the some lovely flowering trees dotting the landscape.
Our next break was at Karad. It was already 10.45 AM and we were getting hungry. Ananya was also getting restless – having exhausted all her word games and was now trying to invent some games that were getting on our nerves!! We were trying to politely tell her to restrict her creativity and take a break from creating those games! However, our subtle hints were lost on her – creating frayed tempers in the car. So it was time to take a break. We stopped at a large hotel on the wayside – it claimed to be the only 3-star hotel over there. The restaurant looked like a war zone !!! The manager explained that a bus full of people had just left – and hence the unappetizing environment!! Well, they were cleaning it, the menu was limited to snacks – but thankfully the food was good and cheap!!
We then left for Kolhapur. There was a bit of confusion in Kolhapur about the best route to take – however, after a bit of fact finding we realized that we did not have to take any turn and get into the city – we had to come back to the highway and go to Nipani. The road till Nipani again was fantastic – it was even better than the 4-lane highway that we were travelling on – it was an 8-way national highway!! Just after crossing Nipani, we started on what turned out to be the first ghats of this route – Tavandi Ghat.

Once you reach the top of Tavandi ghat, which is about 10min. drive on the 8-lane highway, you come across a couple of highway dhabas at the top. You will have to take the small road at the right from the dhaba on the right hand side of the road. It does not look like a road that will go to Goa – especially after travelling on braod smooth roads for the past 6-8 hours. However, this is the road that leads to the Amboli Ghat, Sawantwadi and then Goa!! Contrary to our initial fears, the road is narrow but good. There are very small road signs – and so you have to be on the lookout all along for the directions. You will be passing through Nesari, Azra (a small town), Nangartass (has a small sugar factory) and the scenic Amboli Ghat enroute to Sawant wadi. This entire journey tool us about 3 hours as we were not really speeding through the roads – you can still drive fairly comfortably at 60-70 kmph on most of the stretches – obviously except the ones near the smaller towns.

We then finally reached Sawantwadi at about 3.30 PM and decided to take break as out stomachs were rumbling and our daughter was also getting pretty restless. We stopped at Kamat’s in Sawantwadi. Actually we tried a couple of other famous places that serve the local cuisine – but 3.30PM was closing time for these place and hence we had to stick to good ol’ Kamat’s.

We left Sawantwadi at 4.30 PM. The journey from Sawantwadi to Goa was hardly any concern. It took us barely 50-55 min. as we were travelling on a very good highway. The roads were not very busy – and there was minimal truck traffic. We had already booked our acco at Laguna Resorts (www.lagunaresort.com) in Anjuna and hence we did not need to travel all the way to Panjim. We took the turn from Mapusa – into what looked like a small lane again and were soon driving past the chaos and beauty that is Goa!! Lovely houses, winding streets, people zipping around on the rented bikes and every other shop painted red in the Beer brand!!

The Destination
I must say we were slightly disappointed when we reached Anjuna – it looks very unkempt as compared to the more developed stretches of Baga and Calangute – especially the roads. The roads are narrow and bumpy. But it was all fine once we reached our resort. “Laguna Resort” is a wonderful place – scenic and idyllic and all this at fairly affordable prices for the kind of facility that we saw. This resort has only cottages that were designed very well. The one that we were provided, had a huge seating area that was done really well and a bedroom with attached bathroom that was also done very aesthetically. Some of the other cottages do not have a large seating area. My only concern was travel to some of the other areas nearby like Baga and Calangute and safety of travelling in the night from Anjuna to these areas – however, that too proved unfounded as we learnt over the next couple of days.

Our agenda for the Goa trips generally to laze, have some beer, roam around and then have some more beer. Calangute and Baga areas were more crowded over the weekends – as it is the season Indian tourists visit Goa. But generally it is good fun walking in the market areas in the road that goes to Baga beach, browsing through the shops. Our dinners were typically on Baga beach – Brito’s (was really crowded and maybe that has affected the overall quality. The food was much better last year!!) and some more restaturants dot the beach. We would recommend sitting outside on the beach and having your dinner by the candlelight!! Simply the best!!

We also spent mornings on Anjuna beach – which like most of Anjuna, was empty!! There was virtually no one as this was off season. Moreover, with the impending advent of monsoon in Goa, we were told that most of businesses were preparing to close and getting ready for off-season. The other place that we discovered was the stretch near the bridge on Baga river – some of the restaurants over there looked very interesting – we debated a lot over trying some of those places also – but the desire to eat Goan food over Mexican or French food in Goa got better of us!!

We also spent of lot of time in Laguna Resort – it has a nice pool. The breakfast is good – though the spread is limited. It was good fun to spend the mornings in the pool with beer for company!! It was like a dream come true – sun, sand and beer!! Viva Goa!!

Since all the good things must come to an end, our this trip was also drawing to close. With very heavy hearts we headed back to Mumbai – promising ourselves that we will head back to Goa at the first opportunity that we get again!!

Detailed trip log of Mumbai to Goa trip

Time Place
Distance (KM)
Remarks
5:00 AM
Wadala East
0
We were raring to go – otherwise nothing can drag us out of our beds at 5 AM!!
5.15 AM
RCF Circle
4.5
What a relief to see this place empty!!
5.25 AM
Vashi Tollgate
16.6
Breeze through!! Another first!!
6.15 AM
Khalapur Tollgate on Pune – Mumbai expressway
67.6
Time for a short break!! Paid Rs.140 toll – time to loosen the purse strings also!!
6.17 AM
Break at Foodmall on the expressway
69.3
Not feeling sleepy at all!! Goa and the road trip is a great motivator!!
6.45AM
Start from foodmall


7.30 AM
Talegaon Tollgate at the exit of expressway
118.6

8.05 AM
New Katraj Bridge
168
Wow!! Have never come out of Pune so fast!! Waking up early has its advantages!!
8.15 AM
Toll Plaza Satara
173.4
Another 50 bucks gone into someone else’s pockets
9:00 AM
Khambatki Ghat
214.5

9:30 AM
Bhuij Toll Booth
251
25 bucks
10:30 AM
Taswade Toll Plaza
298
25 bucks
10:40 AM
Stopped at Hotel Pankaj, Karad
310

11:20 AM
Start from Karad


11:55 AM
Kini toll plaza

47 bucks
12:20 PM
Kolhapur
377
Keep going straight to Nipani
12:55 PM
Toll towards Nipani
403
25 bucks
15:30 PM
Sawantwadi - break