[sreejith.j]

Originally Posted by prasadee

Thanks for your response. Is the bamboo cottage same as the Tree house?
I am looking for a decent size pool, ping pong, & hiking trails for photography. I liked what I see on the Banasura Hill resort website. Any first hand reviews would be much appreciated.

They are pretty nice and hospitable. The earthen structure is nice. I had a word with the owner when i stayed and was surprised that its one of the largest earthen structures made of complete mud. You get a chilled feel of AC even without one as the walls are breathing. Even the food was great.

The only gripe is that approach road for the last couple of kms is not in great shape.

[airbus]

Originally Posted by binand

No confusion. Hit Mysore road using the best route based on your start time. At Columbia Asia signal at Mysore take the left turn to Mysore Ring Road. Turn left again onto NH 212 (Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet road). At Gundlupet just beyond the town limits turn right towards Calicut. Cross the forest zone to arrive at Sulthan Bathery. It will be about 260 km totally (depends based on where you are going).

Thanks for the details. Is there any Forest check gate in this route? I am particularly interested to know if there is a closure time of Forest check gate, if any.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by airbus

Thanks for the details. Is there any Forest check gate in this route? I am particularly interested to know if there is a closure time of Forest check gate, if any.

Yes the Muthanga forest has the restrictions. Vehicles are allowed between 6 am to 9 pm. (8.30 pm may be the cut off time for entering the forests). Forests are closed for vehicle movement except for a few government buses and emergency services between 9 pm and 6 am.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by airbus

Please suggest route options and good places for having breakfast/lunch.

Places to eat breakfast:
Mysore road is full of options, most open around 6:45-7am so you need to time your start accordingly. Some popular ones are Kadu Mane near Bidadi, Kamat Lokaruchi at Ramanagara, Indradhanush, Shivalli MTR that are beside each other near Maddur, Adigas and Thimmadas opposite each other near Maddur, couple of food courts too and one of them even has an A2B (Adyar Ananda Bhavan). On the Nanjangud road opposite the Mysore palace, Kamat Madhuvan is good but if you take the ring road as @binand suggested, you will have to turn right when you hit NH 212 and in about 1-2 km you will see Kamat on right (so you will be in the direction towards Mysore for a breakfast stop and then head back towards Calicut direction).

If you start by 5am, you should be at your destination by lunch time. Mysore road sees very heavy traffic on weekends and holidays so 5am should be a good time to start.

[MeetSC]

Is it safe to travel on the route from Bangalore to Wayanad via Maddur-Mandya-Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet in the night? I have heard that robberies and attack happen in the night. I was planning to leave around 2 am or so from Bangalore so that I can reach the Bandipur Forest Checkpost in time for it to open but concerned if it's safe to travel in this route at that time.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by MeetSC

Is it safe to travel on the route from Bangalore to Wayanad via Maddur-Mandya-Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet in the night? I have heard that robberies and attack happen in the night. I was planning to leave around 2 am or so from Bangalore so that I can reach the Bandipur Forest Checkpost in time for it to open but concerned if it's safe to travel in this route at that time.

There was a recent incident on the Bangalore Mysore stretch, previously there have been incidents, but those also have been on the Hunsur-Gonikoppal areas. Overall, it is more the exception than the norm.

Would suggest you target to reach the check-post by 6.30am. It opens at 6 and there will be a small rush of vehicles at that time, by 6.30, it would have cleared. Leaving around 3 or just before should get you to the checkpost by 6.30am.

[krishchatterjee]

Did a short weekend trip to Wayanad and Calicut last week (22nd - 24th July). This was our first trip on our new Brown Cheetah

Route Taken
Onwards

Bangalore(HSR Layout)>NICE Road > Srirangapatna> Nagarhole> Kutta>Ambalavayal (Waves Resort) 302 Km (8 hours, including lots of wildlife photography (read spotted deers only), coffee break at CCD Maddur and a roadside breakfast break before entering Nagarhole)

Left Home at 4.30 in the morning, reached Srirangapatna in about couple of hours. From there it took us an hour and a half to reach Nagarhole National Park. The vehicle density in the park is definitely low and surprisingly no speed breakers, but the road condition is definitely not at par to the Bandipur route and that takes the fun out of the drive

From Kutta to Ambalavayal the roads are good though very narrow at some spots without any proper shoulders


Next Day morning did a short trip to Calicut. It is always a fun to drive down on Sundays, roads are peaceful, and no traffic jams at Thamarassery or Kunnamangalam. One can reach down in less than 3 hours
Had a lunch at the iconic Paragon Restaurant followed by a little trip to the beach and returned back to the resort before the sunset
Return
Monday checked out early (6 am) as I had some office meetings later in the day.
Took the Bathery>Bandipur>Gundlupet>Nanjadgud>Mysore Ring Road>NH275>NICE Rd>HSR Layout route. (5 hours 20 mins, including one 15 mins break at McDonalds at Belekere)
This time I actually counted the number of speed breakers at the Bandipur stretch… there are 32 speed humps for a distance of 34.1 km and at some stretch there is a hump at every 100- 200 meters
Total distance covered 858 Km. Cheetah returned with an average mileage of 12.4 km


Thanks for reading

[Ankush Bahri]

Hi Guys,

I will be heading to Sulthan Battery in Wayanad on the 25th Aug weekend from Whitefield. Just wanted to check as to what can we expect in terms of the weather once we are in Kerela? Is it pouring? .. and also looking for suggestions for any famous restaurants in Wayanad (pure non vegetarian restaurants! )

Thanks in advance !

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Ankush Bahri

Hi Guys,

I will be heading to Sulthan Battery in Wayanad on the 25th Aug weekend from Whitefield. Just wanted to check as to what can we expect in terms of the weather once we are in Kerela? Is it pouring? .. and also looking for suggestions for any famous restaurants in Wayanad (pure non vegetarian restaurants! )

Thanks in advance !

Difficult to predict how the weather would be on your day of arrival,but it is the monsoon season in Kerala so be prepared for rains.

[prasadee]

I replaced the windshield wipers on my Ritz in Mysore as there was chance of rain. And boy, it rained cats and dogs. Rained all day. We had no plans of going anywhere, so it worked very well. We stayed at Silverwoods, played indoor sports and ate well.

As our visit was during mid week, the roads had fewer cars, and resort had fewer guests. The resort did not have buffet, but they asked us to order whatever we wanted from the menu. It was all included in meal plan. Worked great!

I definitely recommend a mid-week visit.

[MeetSC]

Armed men rob two passengers of Kerala bus

Beware of such instances in this route!

A gang of four armed men robbed two passengers of a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, on the outskirts of Channapatna, in Ramanagaram district early on Thursday. They took away their cash and a gold chain.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...le19594552.ece

[createrkid]

Hey, I'm planning a trip to wayanad tomorrow and I'd like to go through nagarhole but Google maps' suggested route is different. Please take a look at at the screenshot I've uploaded and tell me what is the most scenic route. My family wanted to see how different nagarhole is compared to bandipur. Please advise.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by createrkid

Hey, I'm planning a trip to wayanad tomorrow and I'd like to go through nagarhole but Google maps' suggested route is different. Please take a look at at the screenshot I've uploaded and tell me what is the most scenic route. My family wanted to see how different nagarhole is compared to bandipur. Please advise.

Assume you tried the routing around the time you posted here. Since the Nagarhole route is closed from 6pm to 6am , Google will not show it. You try tomorrow morning it should show you the route that goes through the sanctuary. From a scenary perspective I don't think it will look drastically different. Better chances of some spottings though.

[ankan.m.blr]

A little OT
Does anyone know the current road condition of Kutta -> Gonikoppal -> Virajpet -> Madikeri (Specially Kutta to Gonikoppal ). We'll be driving a swift, so need to know whether this stretch is do-able.

[kala]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

A little OT
Does anyone know the current road condition of Kutta -> Gonikoppal -> Virajpet -> Madikeri (Specially Kutta to Gonikoppal ). We'll be driving a swift, so need to know whether this stretch is do-able.

Gonikoppal-Kutta was quite decent about a month or two back. Not sure about the effect of the current monsoon - I travelled that way before the rains set in.