[Ferrari1976]

What is the best route to Mysore from Pune with the current road conditions?

[procrj]

Originally Posted by Ferrari1976

What is the best route to Mysore from Pune with the current road conditions?

Pune - Hiriyur - Huliyar - Bellur Cross - Nagamangala - Pandavapura - Mysore should be the best bet. I think apart from patchy roads in the Hiriyur Huliyar the rest are all good 2L roads from Hiriyur to Mysore. I know that most speedbreakers are marked in the Bellur cross - Nagamangala - Pandavapura stretch.

[Ferrari1976]

Originally Posted by procrj

Pune - Hiriyur - Huliyar - Bellur Cross - Nagamangala - Pandavapura - Mysore should be the best bet. I think apart from patchy roads in the Hiriyur Huliyar the rest are all good 2L roads from Hiriyur to Mysore. I know that most speedbreakers are marked in the Bellur cross - Nagamangala - Pandavapura stretch.

How much time will it take to cover this distance? Is it feasible to do in a day?

[procrj]

Originally Posted by Ferrari1976

How much time will it take to cover this distance? Is it feasible to do in a day?

Pune-Hiriyur should be about 10 hrs, Hiriyur-Bellur Cross is ~2 hrs & Bellur Cross-Mysore ~3 hrs. Hence that's 15 hrs of driving time. With a 4am start you might be able to do it in a day but if you are driving with family/kids the sane thing to do would be to break near davangere/Hiriyur & then continue next day.

[Bigzero]

A quick check at the Pune-Mysore route options in Google Maps shows a change in the preferred (fastest) route. Google maps now shows Pune - Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur - Mysore as the fastest route, though its around 20km longer.

Have anyone tried this route? It looks like a good compromise option, in which the 2-lane section can be reduced to around 95 kms ( the Hiriyur turn is approx double of that ).

The last time I had driven to Mysore - a little more than a year back - I had to contend with at least an hour and a half of driving through the two lane section after sunset, and it wasn't fun with no one lowering their headlight beams. And this after you have put around 10+ hours on the road already.

A relative of mine had also turned right at Sira a couple of months back - but he complained of bad roads in the initial couple of sections after the turn.

I might do the Pune-Mysore drive ( and off to Kerala from there ) this December, and hopefully will be able to update on conditions and options I have taken, if it happens.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

A quick check at the Pune-Mysore route options in Google Maps shows a change in the preferred (fastest) route. Google maps now shows Pune - Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur - Mysore as the fastest route, though its around 20km longer.

Tumkur - Kunigal is a good 2 lane road. Not exactly sure on Kunigal to Maddur route.

Kunigal to Maddur is 55 Kms and maps show 70 Minutes.

Now sample this:

-Kunigal to Mysore via same Maddur option - 152 Kms, 3H8M
-Kunigal to Mysore via usual Nelligere - Pandavapura - 148 Kms, 3H11M

Hence, the usually tried and tested Nelligere - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna route to reach Mysore is only 3 Minutes more than the Maddur Route.

With both the routes, there is about 65-70 Kms of 2 lane driving from Kunigal onward.

Have anyone tried this route? It looks like a good compromise option, in which the 2-lane section can be reduced to around 95 kms ( the Hiriyur turn is approx double of that ).

Well, if you want to reduce 2 lane by some more, you can do Tumkur to Kunigal via Nelamangala with 2 toll booths in between.

-Tumkur Bypass - Nelligere Turn off via Nelamangala and all 4 lane - 1H36M, 111 Kms
-Tumkur Bypass - Nelligere Turn off via Kunigal , 4 lane after Kunigal - 1H23M, 73.7 Kms

So you take your pick .

The last time I had driven to Mysore - a little more than a year back - I had to contend with at least an hour and a half of driving through the two lane section after sunset, and it wasn't fun with no one lowering their headlight beams. And this after you have put around 10+ hours on the road already.

This is exactly the reason why 2 lane after a long stint on 4 lane/divided highway becomes a task for itself.

Options:

--Tumkur - Nelemangala - Kunigal - Nelligere - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna - Mysore
--Tumkur - Nelemangala - Kunigal - Maddur - Mandya - Mysore
--Tumkur - Kunigal - Nelligere - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna - Mysore
--Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur - Mandya - Mysore

The first one will be longest but still take similar time but with just 60kms of 2 lane (Nelligere to Srirangapatna).
The last one will have maximum 2 lane because of doing Tumkur - Kunigal -Maddur directly.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

A quick check at the Pune-Mysore route options in Google Maps shows a change in the preferred (fastest) route. Google maps now shows Pune - Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur - Mysore as the fastest route, though its around 20km longer..

Pune to Tumkur is a smooth AH-48 (old NH-4) which is 4 laned all along save for the Dharwad – Hubli bypass which is 2 laned toll road with heavy truck/ bus traffic.

Recent patches have been done in the Pune-Satara stretch and overall the road is in great condition. Maddur to Mysore is again a 4 laned road and in great condition, though you will encounter heavy traffic and speed breakers at Mandya et-al. However, I have never taken the Tumkur Maddur route and cannot comment on its present condition.

I did Mumbai to Srirangapatna (20 Kms odd before Mysore) during May 2017 and the route taken was follows,

AH-48 for Mumbai – Pune –Satara- Belagavi – Davangere – Tumkuru – Nelamangala.

Then switched to NICE road (I suppose) near some Jindal set up (could not figure out it was factory or a township) then to Ramnagara – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatna.

Though longer, I preferred this route for it being in very good condition.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by King_pin09

Then switched to NICE road (I suppose) near some Jindal set up (could not figure out it was factory or a township) then to Ramnagara – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatna.

Though longer, I preferred this route for it being in very good condition.

The only reason not to do NICE and then usual Bangalore - Mysore road is because of the time it takes and unwanted detour.

So, instead of driving from Nelemangala all the way to NICE and then driving on NICE for Mysore road and then passing all the petty towns in between Bangalore and Mysore, the choice of doing Nelemangala - Nelligere - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna saves a times and efforts to drive too.

This route has 60 kms of good 2 lane road but rest of all is 4 lane including Nelemangala - Nelligere which is 85 Kms of 4 lane and part of Bangalore - Hassan - Mangalore NH.

[sumukha]

Originally Posted by King_pin09

Pune to Tumkur is a smooth AH-48 (old NH-4) which is 4 laned all along save for the Dharwad – Hubli bypass which is 2 laned toll road with heavy truck/ bus traffic.

This is the best road to drive.From nelamangala ( Bangalore ) keep looking for the NICE road entry point on your RIGHT. Take NICE road and EXIT mysore road junction. This is a toll road. From here it is 4 lane, though you have traffic, its OK.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

So, instead of driving from Nelemangala all the way to NICE and then driving on NICE for Mysore road and then passing all the petty towns in between Bangalore and Mysore, the choice of doing Nelemangala - Nelligere - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna saves a times and efforts to drive too.

Thanks a lot sir. Your suggestion surely helps. I would be doing Mumbai - Srirangapatna again during May 18 and this time I would follow the route you had suggested.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

Pune-Mysore drive

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Nelemangala - Nelligere - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna

Originally Posted by King_pin09

Mumbai - Srirangapatna again during May 18

+1 to Parag's recommendation. NICE - Bangalore - Maddur - Mysore is just adding misery to your already long drive unless you plan to hit BLR - MYS road after 10 PM.
Nelemangala - Nelligere - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna - Should be default even though its 2L and has some unmarked speedbreakers. I drove this in daytime couple of weeks ago and a lot of the patchy sections have nice new tarmac because of which a lot of the speedbreakers have become small road undulations. Not sure if new breakers have been installed now.

[Bigzero]

I have now comepleted the drive and am back in Pune.

I took the Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur option.

Some observations:

- this option means driving through Tumkur town, and it was not too bad overall. it was fairly simple to negotiate, though a bit slow.

- Kunigal town also slowed you a bit.

- but apart from these I must say I was totally impressed by the quality of the newly laid road between Tumkur and Maddur. Superb surface, clear markings on the road, zebras and some well-marked humps , and good signages too ( caution signs and curve indicators ). There are some small sections here and there that are still in progress - those require you to slow down and go through one or two villages. Of these, I could see a bypass under construction in Huliyur Durga town, which once done, should speed up things considerably.

Overall full marks for the newly laid two-lane road that allows one to cruise happily at 80+.

And perhaps since it was a Sunday evening, I did not encounter a lot of traffic between Maddur and Mysore.

All through the trip, I was driving sane speeds, mostly cruising at 100-110 on the Pune-BLR highway and not crossing 120 , and I did manage to reach Mysore at around 8:30 pm, with a 4:30 am start from Pune, and sufficient number of relaxed breaks in between.

The biggest relief for me was that I didn't have to worry about potholes appearing all of a sudden ( like it happened to me between Hiriyur and Turvekere during my earlier trips, once bending my front rim and causing a flat tyre. ), though the distance overall was a bit on the higher side ( timewise I would say it took me around the same time. From the fuel & tea stop I made at Sira Kamat Upachar, I reached Mysore in around 3 hours 35 minutes or so ( around 200 km via Tumkur , Kunigal , Maddur). And on the way back, my google log shows 4 hrs 10 minutes from Gundlupet breakfast stop to the VRL restaurant a few kilometers after Tumkur.

A pic below taken somewhere between Tumkur and Kunigal on the drive from Pune to Calicut.

[Bigzero]

Another drive coming up this weekend: taking it easy this time, considering the fact that speeds might be slower because of rains. The plan is like this

Day 1 - Pune to Davanagere - approx 580km
Day 2 - Davanagere to Calicut - similar distance.

I thought i will take two days of comparatively relaxed driving, rather than trying to stretch to Mysore on Day 1.

A new hotel option chosen this time, a place called Hotel Southern Star in Davanagere.

Will give feedback on route and conditions after I am done with the trip.

The day 2 route will be Davanagere - Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur - Mysore (byepass ) - Calicut .

Still not decided whether to go through Nadugani ghat or Thamarassery - researching a bit on the conditions on the ghat . If anyone has updated info, please let me know. ( have asked in an appropriate thread separately, since this one is specifically for the Pune-Mysore route ).

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

Still not decided whether to go through Nadugani ghat or Thamarassery - researching a bit on the conditions on the ghat . If anyone has updated info, please let me know.

Though distance wise its similar, day 2 will be longer thanks to majority of section having 2 lane road. I don't think much can be done on that part, however just saying.

Regarding Thamarassery ghat section, you can get information on Bangalore- Calicut thread. As such, nothing to worry.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

Davanagere - Tumkur - Kunigal - Maddur - Mysore (byepass ) - Calicut

Wouldn't Hiriyur > Huliyar > Bellur Cross > Pandavapura > Srirangapatna > Mysore be faster than the planned route? Last update a few months ago was that Hiriyur - Huliyar - Bellur cross is decent and the next section via Pandavapura also has new roads except for a couple of places where there is road widening in progress. Do check the BLR - Mysore thread for recent updates.