The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by bullinb

Think you went by Belur - Gonibeedu - Mudigere route. Instead go all the way upto Chikmagalur and then divert towards Charmadi (KM road). Roads are lot less curvy with excellent surface.

Belur - Mudigere is 35 kms and so is Ckm-Mudigere.

This will add another 25 kms extra if you go to Chikmagalur from Belur.
Moreover, the KM road stretch from Ckm to Mudigere is not in great shape either and I think the Belur - Mudigere and Ckm- Mudigere are almost in same conditions.

From Mudigere you will still take the same road to Charmadi and onwards.

[bullinb]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Moreover, the KM road stretch from Ckm to Mudigere is not in great shape either and I think the Belur - Mudigere and Ckm- Mudigere are almost in same conditions.

No way. I drove on both the stretches last weekend. CM to Mudigere is MUCH better than Belur - Mudigere. Wider road and almost no potholes.

[prabhusati]

My family had to travel to Mangalore for Gowri Ganesha festival. The plan was to start early morning on the 21st Aug along with my brother's family. The route options were via Shiradi, Charmadi, Madikeri & Kudremukha. Based on inputs from this forum we decided to travel via Madikeri. But then called a few relatives in Mangalore who had travelled on this route recently. They mentioned that the route from Kushalnagar to Sampaje was bad and advised us to to avoid this route. So the next option was Charmadi. Again enquired about the Ujire - Belthangady - BC Road route with relatives in Belthangady and they mentioned that Ujire-Mangalore via BC Road will take minimum 4 hours and the road condition is bad. Finally, myself and my brother decided to take the Kudremukh route. Tanked up my vehicle on 20th Aug night at HP petrol pump in HBR Layout and also got the air checked. Me & my wife woke up at 3.30am, got ready, woke up my children (since we had to travel, children woke easily, otherwise very difficult to wake them up even at 7am) loaded our luggage in the vehicle, lock the house, check & re-check and finally started off at 4.55am. Brother was waiting at Hebbal flyover in his Maruti Omni. At BEL Circle took a right turn and travelled via HMT Factory to reach Tumkur Road. At Goraguntepalya, we continued on the ring road to reach Magadi Road Junction; took a right turn and continued on Magadi Road, passed Magadi town and reached NH 48 just before Kunigal at 6.30am.







Stopped at Kamat Upachar-Udayapura for breakfast. Road from Kunigal to Udayapura (just after Channarayapatna) is decent. 4 laning work is going on, but may take another year to complete. Had idli vada and dosa for breakfast along with filter coffee. With everyone's stomach filled up, we continued our journey. Since it was early morning, traffic was not much and roads upto Hassan is good. Reached Hassan bypass at 9.45am. Enquired about the fastest route to go on Hassan - Belur road with people on the bypass. The Hassan bypass is in a pathetic state. Full of potholes and one has to drive slowly. Should have taken the last right turn into the city of Hassan, but by oversight took the one previous and had to endure extremely bad roads in Hassan city and extremely slow moving traffic. Finally managed to reach the diversion to Belur and the road is a pleasure to drive.



Reached Belur cross at 10.30am and look the left turn towards Mudigere. Road conditions starts to deteriorate as we progress. Road also narrows and if there is a bus or truck coming from the front, then they try to force you to go off the road. Travel speed comes down and we reach Mudigere at 11.20am.



From here to Kalasa, the road condition is bad and extremely winding. Speeds cannot cross 40km and most of the time it is between 20 to 30km/hr.











to be continued......

[lohithrao]

Prahbhu thanks for the report/pics. yea route via kalsa is pretty tiring....now am very confused:(

[prabhusati]

We reach Kalasa at 1:05 pm. Could not find a decent hotel. Did try one (not able to recollect the name), but the cleanliness was not ok and hence decided to skip lunch and continue. Looks like Hotels will not do good business in Kalasa due to Hornadu Annapoorneshwari temple. Most of the people visiting Kalasa will travel to Horanadu. With free food served to all pilgrims in Horanadu, the customers for Hotels will be very limited. The scenery around us as we drive from Kalasa to Kudremukh and from Kudremukh to Karkala was fantastic. Words cannot describe the beauty of nature during monsoon. Everyone of us enjoyed the greenery and the scenic beauty around us.





















Traffic is very less on Kalasa - Kudremukh - Karkala route with the occasional taxi taking people to & fro from Horanadu / Sringeri. We reach Gurupura at 4.15pm and stop at Hotel Janata to eat dosa, mangalore bajji, vegetable bonda and some hot tea. With everyone's stomach filled up, we continue our journey and reach our home in Mangalore at 5.40pm. Total distance is 442 kms (door to door). Time taken is 12 hours 45 minutes with breaks accounting for 1 and 1/2 hours. Luggage is unloaded, weary limbs are stretched, I go to Shell petrol bunk at Lady Hill and top up the tank. It took in 27.5 litres giving a FE of 16.07 kms/ litre. This is the best that i have got so far in my Innova.

.....to be continued

[StarVegabond]

Hi Satish, Photos are worth more than thousand words
thanks for the update, i plan to go to Udupi on 17th Sept
hope the roads improve by that time.

[lohithrao]

Prabhu, looks like this route is worth taking? just the travel time is gona be long. i did take this about a year back and i guess took about 11hrs...

Btw even i fill in "lady hill shell bunk" they are not crowded so get lots of importance..

@ star :hope the roads improve by that time.

Hoping for miracles

[prabhusati]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Prabhu, looks like this route is worth taking? just the travel time is gona be long. i did take this about a year back and i guess took about 11hrs...

Btw even i fill in "lady hill shell bunk" they are not crowded so get lots of importance..

Lohit, Belur to Mudigere is average, but Mudigere to Kalasa is poor roads. If you have the time to enjoy nature in full glory, worth taking this route.

You are right, the Shell bunk at Lady Hill is not crowded at all and they provide you good service.

[bullinb]

Originally Posted by prabhusati

Lohit, Belur to Mudigere is average, but Mudigere to Kalasa is poor roads. If you have the time to enjoy nature in full glory, worth taking this route.

Rightly said. If reaching your destination ASAP is the ultimate goal, this is not the route to take - specifically not Kottigehara - Kalasa.

Lohith, go via Madikeri. A colleague of mine just drive back from Puttur and said the bad patch is quite manageable.

[lohithrao]

Presently am confused

Both Madikeri and Kudremukha root is lil longer.

Has anyone travelled via SHiradi & BC road?

[zteg]

Guys please let us know the road condition of shiradi ghats if any of you have travelled on it. Am drving down to Mangalore on the 3rd.

[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by zteg

Guys please let us know the road condition of shiradi ghats if any of you have travelled on it. Am drving down to Mangalore on the 3rd.

zteg even i might be driving on the same day to Mlore..

On SHiradi, i feel th ghat might be manageable but after gundya is what have heard that rads are lil bad at curves. This is the common scene every monsoon.

Also the BC road condition...

[prabhusati]

I travelled via Shiradi ghat on my way back. Did not travel via BC Road. People known to me in Mangalore strictly advised to avoid this mess!!

I took the pumpwell - thokkottu - towards Mudipu - Melkar - join NH48 after the Nethravathi bridge at Bantwal.

NH48 from Melkar to Uppinangady is ok. But beyond Uppinangady starts to get worst. As you near Gundya, all the curves are badly damaged and slows down your speed.

Road condition on the ghat is bad and full of potholes. You will be driving at 10 to 20kmph speed. We started at 6.20am and reached Bangalore at 5.30pm.

I will try to update with pictures by tomorrow.

[zteg]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

zteg even i might be driving on the same day to Mlore..

On SHiradi, i feel th ghat might be manageable but after gundya is what have heard that rads are lil bad at curves. This is the common scene every monsoon.

Also the BC road condition...

Hey Lohith, i will be starting most probably by 6 or 7AM. what time are you planning to start. Are u travelling in your Fiat. If yes I will look out for a Fiat adventure on the road

Thinking of taking chances on the Shiradi ghats this time. How about you?

Hey prabhu, kindly post the pics. It may change my mind

[lohithrao]

hi zteg, yes will be taking my Adventure. Which car you will be driving?

Am confused man

Seems like all routes are messed up Prabhu/bull which route you guys prefer?