[ashwinsid]

Hello to fellow TBHpians after a long time.

A friend from Mumbai is visiting Karnataka for the first time and she wanted to visit some places with natural beauty during monsoon and explore Karnataka. I have planned this trip. Need your suggestions

Car: Maruti AltoK10
No. Of Days: 8 Days

3 July Sunday

- Bangalore - Shivanasamudra - Srirangapatna - Mysore
- Check in at Mysore. Shopping. Mysore Palace. Evening lights at Palace. Rest


4 July Monday

- Chamundi Hills - Lalit Mahal Palace - Karanji Kere
- Shopping - KRS - Musical Fountain at KRS in the evening - Back to hotel


5 July Tuesday

- Mysore - Dubare Elephant Camp (reach by 8:30 AM)
- Bylakuppe - Madikeri Small trek,walk - Abbey Falls - Udupi. Rest


6 July Wednesday

- Udupi Sri Krishna Temple
- Kaup beach - Malpe Beach - Marvanthe Beach - Manipal - Udupi.Rest


7 July Thursday

- Udupi - Kollur - Jog Falls - Sringeri - Kudremukh - Horanadu. Rest
(if time constraint or too tired, halt at Sringeri)


8 July Friday

- Horanadu - Chikmagalur. Check into homestay. Kudremukh.Home stay.


9 July Saturday

- Chikmagalur - Belur - Halebeedu - Bangalore
(if time constraint, stay in Chikmagalur and leave for Bangalore on 10 July)

Friend has return flight from Bangalore on 10 July at 4 PM. So should be at Bangalore airport by 2PM even if we leave Chikmagalur on 10th July.

I am not sure if the itinerary is too much for the given time frame. We don't plan to stay at every place at our own leisure but we don't want it to be touch and go. My friend should enjoy and go back with pleasant memories. Need your help in planning the drive folks. Thanks!

[ampere]

@Ashwin, This seems hectic. Here are my comments.

Hello to fellow TBHpians after a long time.

A friend from Mumbai is visiting Karnataka for the first time and she wanted to visit some places with natural beauty during monsoon and explore Karnataka. I have planned this trip. Need your suggestions

Car: Maruti AltoK10
No. Of Days: 8 Days

3 July Sunday

- Bangalore - Shivanasamudra - Srirangapatna - Mysore
- Check in at Mysore. Shopping. Mysore Palace. Evening lights at Palace. Rest


4 July Monday

- Chamundi Hills - Lalit Mahal Palace - Karanji Kere
- Shopping - KRS - Musical Fountain at KRS in the evening - Back to hotel

Ok till here

5 July Tuesday

- Mysore - Dubare Elephant Camp (reach by 8:30 AM)
- Bylakuppe - Madikeri Small trek,walk - Abbey Falls - Udupi. Rest

You wont be able to do Madikeri, trek and also reach Udupi by evening. You should halt at Coorg itself. Madekeri-Sulya road is closed. So you need to goto Hassan and take the route from there. (Madikeri-Saniswharsanthe-Arkalgud-Gorur-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Gundya-Belthangady-Karkala-Udupi) This would be more than 300Km. So assume 6-8 hours of driving easily.

6 July Wednesday

- Udupi Sri Krishna Temple
- Kaup beach - Malpe Beach - Marvanthe Beach - Manipal - Udupi.Rest

This is fine

7 July Thursday

- Udupi - Kollur - Jog Falls - Sringeri - Kudremukh - Horanadu. Rest
(if time constraint or too tired, halt at Sringeri)


8 July Friday

- Horanadu - Chikmagalur. Check into homestay. Kudremukh.Home stay.


9 July Saturday

- Chikmagalur - Belur - Halebeedu - Bangalore
(if time constraint, stay in Chikmagalur and leave for Bangalore on 10 July)

Best is halt at Sringeri. Accommodation is better. You can finish Horandu/Kalasa the next day and head to CKM.

Friend has return flight from Bangalore on 10 July at 4 PM. So should be at Bangalore airport by 2PM even if we leave Chikmagalur on 10th July.

I am not sure if the itinerary is too much for the given time frame. We don't plan to stay at every place at our own leisure but we don't want it to be touch and go. My friend should enjoy and go back with pleasant memories. Need your help in planning the drive folks. Thanks!

May be you can cut one or two places. Example instead of going roundtrip to Udupi/Kollur, You can do Kalasa/Horandu and Sringeri.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by ashwinsid

4 July Monday

- Chamundi Hills - Lalit Mahal Palace - Karanji Kere

The plan is to have food at Lalit Mahal Palace? (it is converted to a hotel). OR did you mean Jaganmohan palace, which is a museum.

BTW, there are too many water falls in the plan and most of them would be running a thin channel of water (unless it rained the previous night). You may want to drop a few and make the itinerary little relaxed.

Prasad

[ampere]

@Prasad, I thought Lalit Mahal is a heritage hotel (5 Star). They should be having a restaurant. (Or am I missing something)

[ashwinsid]

Originally Posted by ampere

You wont be able to do Madikeri, trek and also reach Udupi by evening. You should halt at Coorg itself. Madekeri-Sulya road is closed. So you need to goto Hassan and take the route from there. (Madikeri-Saniswharsanthe-Arkalgud-Gorur-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Gundya-Belthangady-Karkala-Udupi) This would be more than 300Km. So assume 6-8 hours of driving easily.

Oh. Then staying at Coorg and leaving for Udupi next means less time to visit the beaches. Is there no other route from Madikeri. Via Bekal, Kasaragod?

Originally Posted by ampere

Best is halt at Sringeri. Accommodation is better. You can finish Horandu/Kalasa the next day and head to CKM.

Will do. Even I felt it would be better and early morning drive through Kudremukh will be good.

Originally Posted by ampere

May be you can cut one or two places. Example instead of going roundtrip to Udupi/Kollur, You can do Kalasa/Horandu and Sringeri.

Friend wants to visit Mangalore/Manipal (en route to Udupi), Jog Falls. hence that route.

Originally Posted by prasad14

The plan is to have food at Lalit Mahal Palace? (it is converted to a hotel). OR did you mean Jaganmohan palace, which is a museum.

BTW, there are too many water falls in the plan and most of them would be running a thin channel of water (unless it rained the previous night). You may want to drop a few and make the itinerary little relaxed.

Prasad

Lalit Mahal Palace just a visit and maybe have Tea. Food at their prices not worth for a non occasion. Jaganmohan Art gallery will visit if we have time.

Water falls, beaches, greenery, fog is what my friend wants. July monsoon rains would have arrived and I am assuming waterfalls would be good?

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by ampere

@Prasad, I thought Lalit Mahal is a heritage hotel (5 Star). They should be having a restaurant. (Or am I missing something)

Ampere, you are right its a heritage hotel by the Ashok group (is this ITDC or some other govt undertaking?). Here is the link Welcome to Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel - Index.

They do have a restaurant, which is expensive.

Prasad

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by ashwinsid

Oh. Then staying at Coorg and leaving for Udupi next means less time to visit the beaches. Is there no other route from Madikeri. Via Bekal, Kasaragod?

You can possibly try:
Madikeri-Bhagamandala-Panathur-Kasagod-Mangalore. The road b/w Bhagamandala-Panathur is a single, very very lonely, but an adventurous one per BHPians. I have never traveled but its in my priority list.

Originally Posted by ashwinsid

Water falls, beaches, greenery, fog is what my friend wants. July monsoon rains would have arrived and I am assuming waterfalls would be good?

Mea culpa. Overlooked the fact that the trip is in Jul. Abbey falls would definitely be very good. Not sure of Jog and Shivasamudra as the dams upstream will take some time before discharging. However, it would be much better than the one during summer.

Prasad

[ampere]

@Prasad, Thanks I thought the same too.

@Ashwin,

I will let North Karnataka experts to suggest an alternative for Coorg-Udipi other than Hassan.


If Mangalore/Udupi is a must, then you can directly drive to Mangalore/Udupi itself and cut off Mysore/Coorg from the trip. But I also see quite some places in Mysore which you want to visit. Hence cannot comment on that.

[Samurai]

There is no need to go via hassan. Madikeri-Somwarpet-Saniwarsante-Kodlipet-Donigal-Gundya-Dharmasthala-Karkala-Manipal-Udupi is the route.

If you have a SUV and are brave at heart, you can try the stunning but scary Bisle ghat monsoon experience. That would be Madikeri-Somwarpet-Shantalli-Kundalli-Bisle-Subramanya-Gundya-Dharmasthala-Karkala-Manipal-Udupi.

[ashwinsid]

Originally Posted by Samurai

There is no need to go via hassan. Madikeri-Somwarpet-Saniwarsante-Kodlipet-Donigal-Gundya-Dharmasthala-Karkala-Manipal-Udupi is the route.

If you have a SUV and are brave at heart, you can try the stunning but scary Bisle ghat monsoon experience. That would be Madikeri-Somwarpet-Shantalli-Kundalli-Bisle-Subramanya-Gundya-Dharmasthala-Karkala-Manipal-Udupi.

I just read your off roading at Bisle travelogue . Now I really want to go on that route as my friend from Mumbai would totally enjoy the natural beauty and you mention there are 20 water falls. Question is can an AltoK10 manage on that road? I am confident of navigating potholes and am careful. If Alto can do it, what would be the drive time from Madikeri-Dharmasthala? Again, wow I want to drive on the route.

[Samurai]

I have seen Alto or even M800 being driven on that road. So it is up to you, the road condition will be guaranteed to be terrible. But it is an amazing experience to drive through. Madikeri to Dharmasthala should take 4-5 hours because of bad road conditions.

This is the Bisle park during non-monsoon time. It will be mostly hidden in fog during monsoon unless you are lucky.



Recently coverage of Bisle is here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ex...ml#post2293345

[ampere]

Samurai-san,

I have seen that snap of yours so many times and each I time I see, I want to be there more than ever. As per what you say, would Jan-Mar be a good time to go that route? Monsoons over and some patchwork would have been done.


Coming back to Ashwin's querry,

The route you mention, is it where one needs to turn off from Sanivarsanthe to Gundya and hit NH48?

I dont see this route stretch (Gundya-Kodlipet) neither in Google maps, MMI or Wikimapia.
Can you please help? Does one need to go via Sakleshpur?

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ashwinsid

Oh. Then staying at Coorg and leaving for Udupi next means less time to visit the beaches. Is there no other route from Madikeri. Via Bekal, Kasaragod?


Will do. Even I felt it would be better and early morning drive through Kudremukh will be good.



Friend wants to visit Mangalore/Manipal (en route to Udupi), Jog Falls. hence that route.




Lalit Mahal Palace just a visit and maybe have Tea. Food at their prices not worth for a non occasion. Jaganmohan Art gallery will visit if we have time.

Water falls, beaches, greenery, fog is what my friend wants. July monsoon rains would have arrived and I am assuming waterfalls would be good?

Originally Posted by ampere

Samurai-san,

I have seen that snap of yours so many times and each I time I see, I want to be there more than ever. As per what you say, would Jan-Mar be a good time to go that route? Monsoons over and some patchwork would have been done.


Coming back to Ashwin's querry,

The route you mention, is it where one needs to turn off from Sanivarsanthe to Gundya and hit NH48?

I dont see this route stretch (Gundya-Kodlipet) neither in Google maps, MMI or Wikimapia.
Can you please help? Does one need to go via Sakleshpur?

My two cents

a) Take your friend to Kukkanahalli Lake in Mysore University premises for an ealrly morning walk. It is just lovely!

b) Have meals at The Green hotel. The hotel is run very well by old British couple and is a Heritage property.
The Green Hotel, Mysore

c) If he is coming with Kids, a visit to Museaum of natural history - with huge Dinosauraus models - will be loved by Kids.

h) Since you will now will be staying in Madikeri, include Iruppu falls in itenarary.

i) Is your friend sea food lover? Make a halt at Shetty Lunch home at Kundapur for Kane fry and Chicken Ghee roast!!

j) Make him eat fried idlis and Gadbad ice cream at Diana hotel and Iconic Masale Dose and Goli bajji in Mitra Samaja restuarant in Udupi.

i) After Jog, it will be better to stay in Tirthahalli/Koppa which has good home stay options than Sringeri. Next day you can visit Sringeri, Horanadu and then reach CKM comfortably.

j) When you come from Jog, try and cross backwaters at Sagara to Sigandur in ferry - instead of driving down - to give your friend out of the world experience and drive down and stay in Tirthahalli.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by ampere

The route you mention, is it where one needs to turn off from Sanivarsanthe to Gundya and hit NH48?

I dont see this route stretch (Gundya-Kodlipet) neither in Google maps, MMI or Wikimapia.
Can you please help? Does one need to go via Sakleshpur?

Sometimes, Google map doesn't see the obvious.

Point A is Donigal station.

[ampere]

Thanks That explains it. I guess I thought there is a direct route from Kodlipet to Gundya (where the route joins NH48 at Gundya. Realized that one would hit NH48 @ Donigal).