Best driving roads: Banglore to Goa via Anmod
India is infamous for its shabby roads but at the same time, there are many fantastic driving roads spread through the length and width of our beautiful country. OVERDRIVE has been fortunate enough to experience quite a few of these roads, and we want to share the joy with a weekly feature of a fantastic road that you should aspire to experience someday.
NH48 is smooth and super fast. It probably is among the best roads we've experienced
We have travelled on the Banglore to Mumbai to highway on numerous occasions and have reveled in the fantastic riding experience that this road offers. Smooth, fast and safe, thanks to brilliant sight lines NH48 (formerly NH4) is a treat. This time, however, we headed from the capital of Karnataka, to the party capital of the country, Goa. We've usually travelled to Goa from Mumbai, and it's a pretty good road via Amboli ghat. The route from Banglore, however, is like a treasure trove.
This Cafe Coffee Day near Tumkur is a great refreshment halt after exiting Banglore
The ideal time to get out of Banglore is any time before 8am, otherwise you'd be wasting an hour to negotiate your way out of the city's maddening traffic. Once on NH48, the you can easily cruise at speeds over 100kmph. Traffic thins out post Tumkur and from then on you are greeted with smooth tarmac and fenced towns. In fact, if you are in a bit of a rush, NH48 is where you can maintain a quick pace.
Once past the Dharwad intersection, the road narrows into a two lanes and you need to exercise caution while overtaking on this stretch. The turn off for Goa is just next to the Kelageri Lake and cars have to pay a nominal toll to ply on SH34.
The SH34 is quite scenic and its recommended that you dial down the pace and soak in the view
The roads in this section are butter smooth and the scenery is simply spectacular. Most of section passes through a forest and there are numerous boards advising motorists to drive slowly as wild animals cross over.
The descent into Goa via Anmod is a rider's paradise and it's easily one of the best ghat sections we've experienced. Sight lines are fantastic and it surely is a corner carver's delight. Traffic on this stretch is sparse, however, it's wise to keep an eye out for traffic around tight corners.
There are a few refreshment points along the way, like the Café Coffee Day at Tumkur and the Doodhsagar Resort.
If you've travelled on this route, tell us what you think of it in the comments below.
