[jaguar.runs]

Hello Guys,

It's time for another vacation from the desert. It's funny, Indians come to UAE for vacation and Indians in UAE long for their vacation in India.

I had no set plans for a long drive during this vacation till yesterday. Idea was to drive somewhere remote with the family and relax for few days. Yesterday my colleague invited me for his wedding in Moodabidri and I instantly confirmed to him that I am coming.

Now to the route planning. I am landing in Kerala on 1st August and the marriage is on 4th August. I was planning to visit Kollur and Parassinikadavu in my trip, may do so depending on the day I would start the journey. Kollur visit definitely needs to be before 4th as we abstain from having non-veg couple of days before visiting the temple. Parassinikadavu visit can be on the way back.

Route is pretty straight forward up to Mangalore. Need guidance on the sector between Kollur, Mangalore & Moodabidri. Also need suggestion on places to stay at Kollur and Moddabidri. I can also extend the trip if there are suggestions for must see places. Coorg is one of such destinations.

Awaiting your valuable input.

Thanks

[ampere]

Originally Posted by jaguar.runs

Route is pretty straight forward up to Mangalore. Need guidance on the sector between Kollur, Mangalore & Moodabidri. Also need suggestion on places to stay at Kollur and Moddabidri. I can also extend the trip if there are suggestions for must see places. Coorg is one of such destinations.

- You can choose to stay at Manipal/Udupi.
- It would take a day for you to visit Kollur and be back. (Udupi-Kundapur-Kollur)
- From Mangalore you can take the road to Karkala. Visit Moddabidri and continue via Karkala tu Udupi/Manipal.
- There a many good places in Udupi/Manipal, where as choices may be limited in Kollur.
- Be aware of monsoon too.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by jaguar.runs

Route is pretty straight forward up to Mangalore.

Awaiting your valuable input.

Thanks

As far as possible, take this route in the night, else you will be wasting your precious vacation time on the northern Kerala traffic. In my last trip the average speed was just 33km/hr during day time. The absence of autowallas and bikes make a huge difference!

Offtopic - nice too see a bhpian from chalakudy.

[vindrider2626]

By the time you come rains must have started in karnataka and it is a wonderful sight waiting for you in the monsoon.You can visit chickmagalur if you have time

[jaguar.runs]

Originally Posted by ampere

- You can choose to stay at Manipal/Udupi.
- It would take a day for you to visit Kollur and be back. (Udupi-Kundapur-Kollur)
- From Mangalore you can take the road to Karkala. Visit Moddabidri and continue via Karkala tu Udupi/Manipal.
- There a many good places in Udupi/Manipal, where as choices may be limited in Kollur.
- Be aware of monsoon too.

Thanks ampere! The idea is to reach Kollur in the evening and to darshan same day and next day morning. That is the reason for a preferred stay at Kollur. Then I have to reach Moodabidri by 3rd evening to attend the wedding next day.

Originally Posted by arjithin

As far as possible, take this route in the night, else you will be wasting your precious vacation time on the northern Kerala traffic. In my last trip the average speed was just 33km/hr during day time. The absence of autowallas and bikes make a huge difference!

Offtopic - nice too see a bhpian from chalakudy.

This is a surprise! A bhpian from Chalakudy!

I am planning to start early morning and drive all the way to Kollur in one stretch. I might start late night also, not sure. I had done Chalakudy - Thirunelly in 7-8 hours starting early morning during my last vacation. That is giving me a little bit of confidence to do this trip in one stretch.

Originally Posted by vindrider2626

By the time you come rains must have started in karnataka and it is a wonderful sight waiting for you in the monsoon.You can visit chickmagalur if you have time

Thanks for the tip vindrider! The plan it getting bigger now, may end up doing a one week trip.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by jaguar.runs

I am planning to start early morning and drive all the way to Kollur in one stretch. I might start late night also, not sure.

The 'fun' part starts after Calicut. Believe me, you will hate a full day drive across this route and will be very tiring. On top of the traffic, there are road 4 laning work happening post Mangalore. When I drove last year, road conditions were bad after Kasaragod in many places. Others, please comment on the road conditions now.

My suggestion to you is to start by 10 PM, reach Kollur next morning and have a good sleep instead of you reaching there in the evening very tired and frustrated. SUV will be better for this trip if the road conditions havent improved.

I always stay at Hotel Devikripa @Kollur. A basic hotel with very basic amenities. You can google for their phone number.

If you have time, trek all the way up to Kudajadri (or there may be jeep services depending on the road conditions). Trekking will be better to feel the beauty of nature. One way trek and other way jeep travel is also possible.

You can find my most recent triplog here

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by jaguar.runs

I was planning to visit Kollur and Parassinikadavu in my trip, may do so depending on the day I would start the journey. Kollur visit definitely needs to be before 4th as we abstain from having non-veg couple of days before visiting the temple. Parassinikadavu visit can be on the way back.

Route is pretty straight forward up to Mangalore. Need guidance on the sector between Kollur, Mangalore & Moodabidri. Also need suggestion on places to stay at Kollur and Moddabidri. I can also extend the trip if there are suggestions for must see places. Coorg is one of such destinations.

Expect roads to go bad on the NH17 sector post July so please factor that into your drive timings.I am not sure if you would be in the right frame of mind and shape to do a darshan after a 13-15hr drive from Chalakudy to Kollur.

Instead why dont you break journey at Parssinikadavu and start the next day to kollur early in the morning.would help you to beat the daytime traffic and you would arrive in good shape for the kollur darshan as well.Das Residency is a very good place-new one http://dasresidency.com/ Right across the temple.Else you can also stay at the budget KTDC Tamarind on NH17 itself.If you leave in the morning from Chalakudy,you should be able to
reach the temple for a late lunch.You could stay the night there and leave for Kollur next morning on time to reach the temple for darshan.

You could come back to Chalakudy via Madikeri.You could also choose to go to Ooty and back to Chalakudy

[jaguar.runs]

Originally Posted by arjithin

My suggestion to you is to start by 10 PM, reach Kollur next morning and have a good sleep instead of you reaching there in the evening very tired and frustrated. SUV will be better for this trip if the road conditions havent improved.

If you have time, trek all the way up to Kudajadri (or there may be jeep services depending on the road conditions). Trekking will be better to feel the beauty of nature. One way trek and other way jeep travel is also possible.

I reach Kerala only on 1st August early morning. I was planning to start from Chalakudy the same day night or early next day morning to Kollur so that I have entire 2nd to reach Kollur. Plan is to do darshan 2nd evening (if possible) and 3rd morning and go towards Moodabidri by afternoon.

Kudajadri is out of question as I have very limited time after darshan at Kollur. I would love to visit Kodajadri, but may not be a good idea to do it this time.

I will be using an Innova for the drive.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Expect roads to go bad on the NH17 sector post July so please factor that into your drive timings.I am not sure if you would be in the right frame of mind and shape to do a darshan after a 13-15hr drive from Chalakudy to Kollur.

Instead why dont you break journey at Parssinikadavu and start the next day to kollur early in the morning.would help you to beat the daytime traffic and you would arrive in good shape for the kollur darshan as well.

If you leave in the morning from Chalakudy,you should be able to reach the temple for a late lunch.You could stay the night there and leave for Kollur next morning on time to reach the temple for darshan.

You could come back to Chalakudy via Madikeri.You could also choose to go to Ooty and back to Chalakudy

500+ km drive in one stretch is definitely a concern for me also. I have done 1K+ drives before in one go, but in this part of the world. Drives in India were more in the range of 250-300 km in one stretch. I may take a break in between to freshen-up and to catch up with the sleep for a few hours.

Breaking the drive at Parassinikadavu means I have to be there at 2nd late afternoon. Do darshan there and start late night or early morning on 3rd to Kollur . This might get tight with the schedule as I am planning to be in Moodabidri on 3rd evening. Attending the marriage is the prime target of this trip (at least that is what I am planning to tell my parents ).

I might visit Madikery. Ooty is of no interest to me now as I have been there several times. It was a regular destination as my sister used to work there.