The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi

[roamingrao]

NMA,

Bangalore to Sringeri - approx 320 kms - good roads throughout except for 8 kms from C'lur to Vastare. Balehonnur to Sringeri via Jayapura ( 35 kms ) is also good - smooth, broad, winding roads. Normal driving with breaks should take you there in 6.5 to 7 hours.

Note - Sringeri temple is closed in the afternoon - opens only at 5 pm.

Sringeri - agumbe - someshwara - Hebri - udupi : 77 kms - doable in 2 hours - single road, good. Agumbe ghat - loose / broken road slabs - not major.

Return : Udupi - Karkala - Kudremukh - Kalasa - Balehonnur - C'lur - Hassan - Bangalore - 435 kms is doable in 9 - 9.5 hours ( with breaks ).
It is advisable to reach c'lur before dusk.

Regards,
Rao

[ST7677]

I am planning a 4 day tour to western Karnataka with family (small kids), please advise if it is feasible... and on road conditions (if some patch is really bad). After reading through multiple threads I have come up with the following plan:

Day 1
Bangalore - Tumkur (71) - Shimoga (280) - Jog falls (380) - Murudeshwar (455)
Sight seeing stops: Jog falls, Sunset point (Murudeshwar)

Day 2
Murudeshwar - Marvanthe (50) - Kundapur (65) - Udipi (103) - Agumbe (160)
Sight seeing stops: Marwanthe beach, Krishna Mutt, Malpe Beach, St Mary's Island, Sunset point (Agumbe)

Day 3
Agumbe - Sringeri (43) - Jaypura - Basarikatte - Horanadu (128) - Kudermukh - Bajagoli - Guruvayankere - Ujire - Dharmasthala (220)
Sight seeing stops: Shradamba & Vidyashankara Temple (Sringeri), Annapurneshwari Temple (Horanadu)

Day 4
Dharmasthala - Kukke (62) - Sulya - Madikere (147) - Kushalnagar - Honsur (167) - Mysore (262) - Banaglore (412)
Sight seeing stops: Kukke

Also do let me know if I am missing on some good destination on this route which family can enjoy or some destination which I can skip...

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by ST7677

Day 2
Murudeshwar - Marvanthe (50) - Kundapur (65) - Udipi (103) - Agumbe (160)
Sight seeing stops: Marwanthe beach, Krishna Mutt, Malpe Beach, St Mary's Island, Sunset point (Agumbe)

Day 3
Agumbe - Sringeri (43) - Jaypura - Basarikatte - Horanadu (128) - Kudermukh - Bajagoli - Guruvayankere - Ujire - Dharmasthala (220)
Sight seeing stops: Shradamba & Vidyashankara Temple (Sringeri), Annapurneshwari Temple (Horanadu)



Also do let me know if I am missing on some good destination on this route which family can enjoy or some destination which I can skip...

On day 2 I would suggest you to stay in Sringeri than staying at Agumbe, Coz in Agumbe you don't have many good hotels to stay, So sringeri would be a better option. Also on day3 you can save considerable amount of distance if you atay at sringeri.
Rest everything seems fine , also add kudremukha - Lakya dam to your Visit list

[roamingrao]

Well planned, ST7677,

As sushrutha suggests, stay in sringeri at end of day 2.

Bad stretches :

Arasikere - Kadur - Tarikere ( rough )
Jog falls - Honnavar ( Ghat road ) - rough
Kundapura - Udupi ( esp. saligrama to Udupi ) - very bad
No idea of Jayapura - basarikatte - Horanadu road condition
and lastly, Sulya - Madikeri - Periyapatna - rough

Could also cover
Idigunji Ganapati temple - 20 kms from honnavar towards Murudeshwara.
Kollur Temple may seem off route - deviation from bhatkal
Tibetian Golden temple at bylakuppe - Near kushalnagar - worth visiting.

Hope this helps,

Rgds,
Rao

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by roamingrao

Well planned, ST7677,

As sushrutha suggests, stay in sringeri at end of day 2.

Bad stretches :

Arasikere - Kadur - Tarikere ( rough )
Jog falls - Honnavar ( Ghat road ) - rough
Kundapura - Udupi ( esp. saligrama to Udupi ) - very bad
No idea of Jayapura - basarikatte - Horanadu road condition
and lastly, Sulya - Madikeri - Periyapatna - rough

Could also cover
Idigunji Ganapati temple - 20 kms from honnavar towards Murudeshwara.
Kollur Temple may seem off route - deviation from bhatkal
Tibetian Golden temple at bylakuppe - Near kushalnagar - worth visiting.

Hope this helps,

Rgds,
Rao

Add to it the bad stretches between Honnavar - Byndoor.
At Bhatkal the road was horible in october end(08)
To go to Kollur, you need to take left at Byndoor, not at Bhatkal.

[lohithrao]

Kollur to Bhatkal the road is not ina very good shape but it is manageble. later part till honnavr its very nice.

[ST7677]

Thanks for your wonderful inputs.
I would post a detailed travelogue once I am back. The tour is planned between 25th Dec to 28th Dec. Hopefully I would be able to get a GPS also by then and do some geotagging on the photographs.

For day 2, I would stay over at Sringeri instead of Agumbe as suggested.

Also I am not sure on what is the best way back to Bangalore from Kukke Subramanya. If roads from Sulya - Madikere - Pinyapatna is rough than is it still worth taking that route?

I am driving a Civic (low GC and long wheel base issues), the car is also expected to be fully loaded. I can live with rough patches etc, but I do not want to get stuck in any patch where road is really bad or get an underbody damage.

[lohithrao]

ST, then never venture in to SHiradi...road condition is bad their.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by ST7677

Also I am not sure on what is the best way back to Bangalore from Kukke Subramanya. If roads from Sulya - Madikere - Pinyapatna is rough than is it still worth taking that route?

I am driving a Civic (low GC and long wheel base issues), the car is also expected to be fully loaded. I can live with rough patches etc, but I do not want to get stuck in any patch where road is really bad or get an underbody damage.

My BIL drove in that route.. in an alto..

So i am sure you can manage with your civic which has broader tyre profile

What i came to know from him was only stretch between sullia-madikeri is bad.. but considering the other options, this seems to be the best option

[akroy]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

My BIL drove in that route.. in an alto..

So i am sure you can manage with your civic which has broader tyre profile

What i came to know from him was only stretch between sullia-madikeri is bad.. but considering the other options, this seems to be the best option

Pls dont under estimate Alto and make it a benchmark to compare with Civic. Civic is notorious as far as GC is concerned.
There are occassions where Altos go peacefully and Civic / Optra etc touch their belly (because of their length and width and low GC added poor driver skills).

Abhi

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by ST7677

Day 2
Murudeshwar - Marvanthe (50) - Kundapur (65) - Udipi (103) - Agumbe (160)
Sight seeing stops: Marwanthe beach, Krishna Mutt, Malpe Beach, St Mary's Island, Sunset point (Agumbe)

Day 3
Agumbe - Sringeri (43) - Jaypura - Basarikatte - Horanadu (128) - Kudermukh - Bajagoli - Guruvayankere - Ujire - Dharmasthala (220)
Sight seeing stops: Shradamba & Vidyashankara Temple (Sringeri), Annapurneshwari Temple (Horanadu)

You missed the Team-BHP hermit on the hill on the second day.

Anyway, according to me your second day is too packed and third day is barely packed. To reach Agumbe sunset point by 5:30PM (any later is useless), you have to leave Malpe by 4PM. St.Mary's can take up to 2 hours, Malpe beach deserves an hour, but you are going there in afternoon sun, which can be very harsh. Krishna mutt takes about an hour, etc, etc. Besides, Agumbe view is very iffy, a cloudy day can completely rob you the view.

Meanwhile your third day itinerary will be complete by afternoon.

I suggest you break your 2nd day in Udupi/Manipal, that will give more things to do on 3rd day. Plus we can meet in the evening. On 3rd day morning, take off to Karkala, see the Gomateshwara, then take off to Agumbe via Hebri according your original plan. Still, you can reach Dharmastala by evening light.

PS:Alto is a SWB car and can deal with bad roads much better than LWB sedans.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by akroy

Pls dont under estimate Alto and make it a benchmark to compare with Civic. Civic is notorious as far as GC is concerned.
There are occassions where Altos go peacefully and Civic / Optra etc touch their belly (because of their length and width and low GC added poor driver skills).

Abhi

Hey Abhi..if i offended any Alto guy, i deeply regret

May be this was a personal experience since i got stuck with flat tyres on this perticular car on mangalore-suratkal road a year back multiple times, which made me think the tyres just wont stand the bad roads

This made me feel that if the same car managed madikeri route, with better tyres..atleast you wont get stuck

[ST7677]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I suggest you break your 2nd day in Udupi/Manipal, that will give more things to do on 3rd day. Plus we can meet in the evening.

What an Idea! Done, 2nd day stay will be in Udipi / Mangalore.

From Marawanthe I would come straight to Udipi, visit Krishna Mutt and then check into a hotel. In early evening go to Malpe and St Mary's Island. And rest of the evening for the Hermit on the hill

[nma83]

Originally Posted by roamingrao

NMA, Please do not drive sringeri to Udupi through Kudremukh. ......
Instead, drive to agumbe, down the ghats and to udupi through someshwara and hebri.

On way back, you can drive through karkala, Kudremukh and kalasa.

rgds,rao

Hi, did banglore to udupi yesterday in the reverse of what was suggested above. Started from jp nagar at 1pm and were cruising through kudremukh by 8pm. I know its not recommended to go there after dusk but we had time constraints.
Reached udupi at 10pm. Journey took 8.5 hrs without break. Road near kotigehara was bad for around 20kms which we took more than 1hr to cover.
I will be leaving udupi today afternoon and planning to cover sringeri on the way back.

NMA

[bkishore_77]

Could anyone guide me the route I have to take from chikmagalur to Karkala via Kudremukh. I know the road condtion from B'lore to chikmaglur is good. My destination is Suratkal and planning for a trip in couple of weeks's time. I would like to know the Kilometer wise break-up and the present road condition.
Thanks in advance