Hello, I am writing our experience about a road trip to the places in western part of India. We have a plan to get our vehicle from Gujarat to Andhra, instead of sending through the cargo, we have decided to drive the car to reach our destination. During our Journey, we have covered the following places.
Daman > Vapi > Lonavala > Satara > Kolhapur > Dudhsagar > Gokarna > Jog Falls > Hampi
Our journey started on 15-July-2019 and ended on 22-July-2019
Day 1 :
Started our journey with one of the union territories in India and once the Portuguese colony, Daman which was famous for the beaches and fort. We have reached to Daman by 12 PM had our lunch and headed towards Jampore beach. One of the prime beaches in the Daman where we can see shacks very close to the shore. One can enjoy the beautiful sea view and enjoy the food in those shacks.
We headed towards the fort followed by Jetty, Devika Beach and return back to Vapi.
Day 2 :
We have started our trip with Gujarati Breakfast [Fafda and Dhokla] and headed towards Thane and then switched to Panvel - Bengaluru Highway which itself includes Pune Expressway. This expressway is famous for the long tunnels and beautiful landscapes which gives you beautiful experience throughout the journey. We have a plan to visit Lonavala during this trip and reached there by 5 PM. As soon as we reached Lonavala, we have headed towards Bushy Dam which is famous for the Step falls but it was closed at that time. And the next point of attraction here is the Tiger Valley viewpoint. After experiencing the beautiful valley view, we have explored the streets of Lonavala which is famous for Chikki and Fudge.
Earlier, we planned to reach Kolhapur but it was already late and decided to stay at Satara. Booked a hotel in Satara and reached there by 11 PM.
Day 3 :
We don't have any plan to visit Satara and it is not in our itinerary either. But due to some unavoidable circumstances, we stayed there. If we didn't stay at Satara, we would have missed the opportunity to explore the beautiful Kaas Plateau and scenic landscapes in and around the Satara. We had a delicious breakfast and started our journey towards Kaas Plateau [25 km from Satara], Paabal waterfalls followed by a confluence of two tributaries of Krishna with Krishna itself.
Kaas Plateau, UNESCO World Natural Heritage comes under the Indian subcontinent region is famous for various types of seasonal wildflowers blooms between October to March. If anyone planning to Visit Satara and Kaas plateau, Best time to visit is October to March. So please make sure to plan during this period.
After spending time near the Kaas plateau we reached to Satara and then had a lunch in Hotel Manas which was famous for delicious non-vegetarian dishes like chicken rasa and mutton rasa.
We resumed our journey towards our next stop Kolhapur which was famous for the temple of Goddess Mahalakshmi and also one of the Shaktipeetahs. We have parked our vehicle and went for Darshan which took less than 1 hour and resumed our journey towards next stop which was in the state of Karnataka, Belgaum.
Day 4:
Our day started with authentic Karnataka breakfast masala dosa and resumed our trip towards Dudhsagar. Dudhsagar is famous for one of India's highest waterfalls which were formed from the Mandovi river.
Dudhsagar can be accessed through Road and Rail through Kulem. Since we're coming from Belgaum on our own vehicle, there is the very least possible to reach till falls as the road leading to the falls was very slippery and not advisable to go there. One can go through public transport which was available from Kulem. We have decided to go to Castlerock and then think of going to Dudhsagar. After reaching the Castlerock, we found a train that was going towards Vasco stopped at the station. We parked our vehicle at the station premises and took the ticket to Kulem. Dudhsagar is an intermediate station between Castlerock and Kulem, almost no train stopped in Dudhsagar station. On the way to Dudhsagar, so many tunnels will encounter in the journey. Luckily we got a place to stand at the door which gives us a clear view of the falls. Please refer below link for the video of the falls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rxXbDq-s7Q
Luckily a train going towards Castlerock arrived at the Kulem station. We got tickets within less span of time and boarded into the train and reached Castle rock.
Our next destination is Gokarna, as we parked our vehicle at Castlerock, we took our route towards Dandeli - Yellapur to reach Gokarna. During this stretch, we had our dinner at Hotel Mumtaz in Yellapur. If anyone traveling through NH67, if possible check-in to this hotel for authentic food. Finally, we reached Gokarna by 11 PM and checked into our hotel.
Day 5 :
We resumed our trip with beaches of Gokarna, OM Beach, and Kudle Beach. We thought of having a bath in the beach but due to heavy tides and the rain, we didn't get a chance for that. We spend some time on the beaches and return back to the hotel and freshened up. Gokarna is also famous for one of the temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, worshipped as Mahabaleshwar. Temple was closed when we reached there, we have waited for 30 mins and had our darshan. After that we had our lunch at a local restaurant and headed towards Jog Falls which around 110 Km from Gokarna and reached Jog by 4 PM.
Since it was raining at the time we reached, we didn't get a chance for the clear view of the falls. After spending quality time near Jog, we have continued our trip and headed towards Davangere 170 km away from the Jog for our night stay. Reached Davangere by 9 PM and checked into the hotel that we booked online. Based on the review, ordered food online for dinner.
Video of the waterfalls available here :: https://youtu.be/GQj6RkilzSk
Road is full of fog, on the way to Jog waterfalls :: https://youtu.be/QLJXYXq232U
Day 6 :
We resumed our trip after had a Davangere famous breakfast Benne Dosa in Sri Guru Kottureshwara Butter Dosa Hotel near Medical college and headed towards our next pit, Hampi which is around 135 Km. we started from Davanagere at 10 AM and reached Hampi by 1 PM. During this journey, you can find so many wind turbines along the route [Most of them at Harapanahalli].
Hampi is one of the Unesco Heritage sites in India famous for a group of temples which includes Virupaksha Temple, Vittala Temple, Stone Chariot, and many more temples spread across the town.
This is my second-time visit to Hampi, I have already published an article regarding Hampi, you can find additional information here.
https://www.tripoto.com/karnataka/trips/hampi-city-of-glory-580c8e9443d61
When compared to the remaining places during our trip, the climate in Hampi is a little bit high. We have booked a hotel in Hospet for our night stay which is around 18 Km from Hampi and had ordered our food online.
This comes to an end of our trip which traverses across 4 States and 1 Union Territories of Indian Sub Continent with an approximate distance of 2000 km
Day 7 :
We have started at 11 AM after having breakfast in Hospet towards Bellary, Kurnool, Nallamala Forest and reached Vijayawada by 1 AM.
During this journey, you can find places like Bellary know as Steel City, Beautiful landscapes of Rayalaseema, dense forest Nallamala famous for Tiger Reserve, Tripurantakam [Famous of Lord Shiva temple] etc.
Pits During our journey for food:
