[SharathScorp]

Sorry for posting this late.

While going from Bangalore to Kannur, we took Sultan Bathery - Mananthavady - Thallassery route. The reason being, we were not sure of checkpost in Mysore - Iritty route and our cab driver was more inclined towards this as he was well familiar.

Road conditions after Sultan Bathery was not good. We started Bangalore (Banashankari) at 4pm and reached Sultan Bathery at 9:15PM. We did without stops as we had target to cross Karnataka forest checkpost well before 8pm. We reached our destination Tottada beach at 2:30am.

Breaks: 30 Mins stop at Forest checkpost, 1.5 hours break for dinner in Sulthan Bathery, 20 mins break in Mananthavady. I can also count 30 mins of delay while finding proper routes to the homestay we had booked in Tottada, it was very much interior.

During return we decided to try Iritty Mysore route. We started Kannur town at 9:30pm on Sunday night and reached Bangalore (Banashankari) at 5:15am. 2 breaks of 10 mins each for tea. And we found certainly there is checkpost here also, and you can pay tax.

Road till Coorg Karnataka checkpost was very good but curvy. For me, it is fun to drive in these roads. As I was not in a mood to talk too much with driver in midnight, i left it out to him and he instead of taking Virajpet route, he took bye pass and reached Gonikoppa and from there Hunsur. From checkpost till Hunsur, road conditions were bad. Initial 12 to 15 kms were worst. Still, if anyone travelling Kannur, i would suggest them to take this route but just try to avoid Gonikoppa and Virajpet bye pass stretch.

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by princenoble

Another option,
Drive up to Periyapattana on Hunsur-Madikeri highway (20 Km from Hunsur), take left and road will lead you to Coorg entry check post on Hunsur-Gonikoppa road (12 KM from Pariyapattana. This cross road is in just average condition-but taking this diveation will limit your bad stretch to just 12 KM. Rest of your journy will be in excellent to good roads.
So, route will be as follows,

Srirangapattana, Yeiwala, Hunsur, Periyapattana (take first left after entering town), another 12 KM, you will join back Hunsur Gonikkopa road at coorg forest cehck post,then follow usual road via Gonikkopa, Virajpet & Makkuta

@princenoble, I have suggested this route to few of my contacts who drove to Kannur for Onam. This is really helpful and they also have the same openion of yours. The road is narrow and damaged, but we can limit the total damaged road only to 12km

Thanks
Rajesh

[vnambiar]

Did payyanur-nileswaram over weekend
Route: Bangalore-Mysore ring road-Hunsur-Periyapatna-Gonikoppa-Viraajpet-Irrity-Srikandapuram-Thaliparambu

Preferred mysore ring road instead of brindvan garden bypass, as roads are better on ring road. ride is smoother despite traffic and time taken versus bypass similar

Road from bangalore to peripyapatna 220kms was excellent.

Went to periyapatna instead of taking byepass to virajpet. advantage 1. can break at cofee day 2. road is terrible on byepass, but no better via left turn on periyaptna, atleast damage is limited to 12kms as mentioned by earlier members

gonikoppa to virajpet road is bad, compensated by awesome mist.

avoided virajpet byepass, city road was better. a vehicle ahead of me took byepass, touched him after city, so no advantage of byepass.

the ghat roads were fab and weather was toast. great roads all the way to thaliparmbu, save some kms in irrukur and other towns. the roads on kerala and ghats were savior indeed.

all in all, suggest avoid the erstwhile shortcuts and stick to main routes.

[RajeshK]

Came back from Payyanur on yesterday evening. Took the Thalipparamba - Iritty - Virajpet - Siddapura - Kushalanagara - Srirangapatna - Bangalore. Didn't try the Gonikkoppal - Hunsur route, instead came via siddapura - kushalanagara route. This is longer by 30-35km and easily takes 2hrs to reach Hunsur from Virajpet. The road condition is not at all great. There are lots of potholes and you cannot drive more than 50km at any stretch. I suggest this route only if the Gonikkoppal - hunsur road is completely ruined.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

came via siddapura - kushalanagara route. This is longer by 30-35km and easily takes 2hrs to reach Hunsur from Virajpet. The road condition is not at all great. There are lots of potholes and you cannot drive more than 50km at any stretch.

The direct road from Siddapura to Peryapatna, passsing through a forest and some villages, byepassing Kushalnagar was not all that bad. The road is broken for around a distance of 5-8 kms and the rest is in decent shape. The overall increase in distance would be around just 10-12 kms or so.
PS: this was the status around 2 months ago. Don't know what further damage monsoons would have done on the road! If anyone has traveled recently, please update.

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

The direct road from Siddapura to Peryapatna, passsing through a forest and some villages, byepassing Kushalnagar was not all that bad. The road is broken for around a distance of 5-8 kms and the rest is in decent shape. The overall increase in distance would be around just 10-12 kms or so.
PS: this was the status around 2 months ago. Don't know what further damage monsoons would have done on the road! If anyone has traveled recently, please update.

The road till Siddapura from Virajpet is bad and there are lot of potholes. The condition is better from Siddapura to Kushalanagara. So once you are in Siddapura, taking this route is better.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

The road till Siddapura from Virajpet is bad and there are lot of potholes. The condition is better from Siddapura to Kushalanagara. So once you are in Siddapura, taking this route is better.

When I traveled in May, the road from Siddapura to Virajpet via Ammathi was in decent condition, though narrow with medium traffic! Then monsoons would have taken toll on that road!
Very sad, all these years we had to deal with the terrible condition of the Makutta ghat road and now when that road is in excellent condition, we have to deal with bad roads else where! Is there no solution in sight?
One more point that is slightly OT, the condition of the roads (like Virajpet-hunsur, Gonikoppal-Srimangala-Kutta etc) forces me to start believing in the allegations by many that coorg region gets step motherly treatment and is always ignored by successive governments in Karnataka!!

[sivadas]

Did a trip to Kannur and back couple of days back.
While going to kannur, took the Gundlupet-Batheri-Mananthavadi route (wanted to check it out as I did not try this route for quite some time - after Iritty route was opened up).
After crossing Gundlupet, I had a major scare assuming that forest road would close by 6pm (it was already 7).
Cleared this fear after talking to a friend. Then got trapped with a pile-up of trucks at Muthanga which took around 45 minutes to clear.
After Nidumpoyil, we were hit with heavy rain which made the progress further slow. Eventually reached Kannur only by midnight (took more than 9 hrs).
Though roads were godd, overall journey was frustrating, additional 70-80 Kms adding to the pain.

Return trip was via Iritty- Virajpet- Siddapura- Periyapatana- Hunsur route. Thanks to the 'Hartal, crossed Koottupuzha by 6am.
There are few bad stretches between Virajpet - Siddapura and Siddapura - Periyapatana sections. But overall road condition is decent I would say.

Still best route according to me is Nagarhole one which I had used a month back (Mananthavady-Tholpetty-Nagarhole-Hunsur route).
Forest part is narrow and a bit rough, but quite bearable. Again sure to see spotted dears and few other animals.

[ad75]

need to go to kannur by 12-13 oct. any latest updates on raod conditions hunsur- kannur ?

[RajeshK]

One of my friend has just came back from Kannur. According to him taking the normal Hunsur- Gonikkoppal will be the best even though the road is not so good. All other roads are equally bad and consumes more time and fuel.

Also please watch out for the on going strike and roadblocks near Mandya due to the Cauveri water sharing issue. May be night travelling will be better till this is sorted out

[kannan666]

Is is viable to get to Kannur via HD Kote - Mananthavadi - Kuttyadi - Nadapuram Road - Mahe - Thalaserry ? I know the distance is longer but are the roads in a better condition than the Gonikoppal - Iritty - Mathanur one ?

[mempheS.D]

Originally Posted by sivadas

Did a trip to Kannur and back couple of days back.
While going to kannur, took the Gundlupet-Batheri-Mananthavadi route (wanted to check it out as I did not try this route for quite some time - after Iritty route was opened up).
After crossing Gundlupet, I had a major scare assuming that forest road would close by 6pm (it was already 7).
Cleared this fear after talking to a friend. Then got trapped with a pile-up of trucks at Muthanga which took around 45 minutes to clear.
After Nidumpoyil, we were hit with heavy rain which made the progress further slow. Eventually reached Kannur only by midnight (took more than 9 hrs).
Though roads were godd, overall journey was frustrating, additional 70-80 Kms adding to the pain.

Return trip was via Iritty- Virajpet- Siddapura- Periyapatana- Hunsur route. Thanks to the 'Hartal, crossed Koottupuzha by 6am.
There are few bad stretches between Virajpet - Siddapura and Siddapura - Periyapatana sections. But overall road condition is decent I would say.

Still best route according to me is Nagarhole one which I had used a month back (Mananthavady-Tholpetty-Nagarhole-Hunsur route).
Forest part is narrow and a bit rough, but quite bearable. Again sure to see spotted dears and few other animals.

This is very helpful information indeed sir. Thank you so much. I ll need to make a trip to thalassery in about 10 days with a boot load of stuff so will definitely need to drive. I wish I can still avoid it.

I was planning to take the Mysore - Coorg - Virajpet - Iritty route to Thalassery as my last trip in Feb 2012 tasked me with some bad roads for only about 40kms or so between Coorg and Virajpet. Is this a bad idea now?

I've head the new concrete roads on the Thamarassery hairpins are really good. I do not mind spending additional time on the roads if I get a smooth and safe journey all the way to Thalassery. Please advise.

[sivadas]

If it is day trip, Nagarhole route should be OK. I mean this route may not be as smooth as Calicut one, but you dont have to face reckless buses (Calicut-Kannur) for sure.

[su48]

Hello All,

I am planning to do Bangalore - Kannur via Virajpet this Saturday. I heard that the protestors have set up roadblocks near Mandya and they are not allowing vehicles to pass through. How is the situation near Mandya now? Is it ok if I start from Bangalore early, say 4 AM? Or, is there any alternate route that I can take to reach Mysore?

Please help!

Thanks,
SU48

[kannan666]

Too early to tell what the situation in Mandya will be on Saturday. Just heard from a friend that the news is that Karnataka has been asked to release further water and if that is the case, expect trouble. Alternate route from Bangalore to Mysore is either through Kanakpura - Malavalli - Bannur (160kms) or through Nelamangala - Kunigal - Bellur Cross - Nagamangala - Pandavpura (190kms). Then again, we don't really know whether towns on these routes will be trouble free either.