[kala]

Originally Posted by sivadas

But dont expect Nagarhole route to be super smooth It is decent for a forest route.

That used to be the case the last time I travelled that way - probably about a year ago. There were quite a lot of rough patches on the Hunsur-Kutta stretch, but nothing really that would prompt one to say "avoid that route like the plague".

But HVK's update today seems to indicate that the condition of that road has probably improved. Check out the message here :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2947041

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by kala

That used to be the case the last time I travelled that way - probably about a year ago. There were quite a lot of rough patches on the Hunsur-Kutta stretch, but nothing really that would prompt one to say "avoid that route like the plague".

But HVK's update today seems to indicate that the condition of that road has probably improved. Check out the message here :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2947041

Yes, the Hunsur-Nagarhole-Kutta road is a very good road, but closed between 6 pm - 6 am. Expect lots of wild life on the road, especially in early morning/ evening hours.

[ad75]

Originally Posted by Aston.Martin

Did BLR-Kannur 3 times last week tried all options and HUNSUR-PERIYAPATNA-SIDDAPURA-AMMATHI-VIRAJPET-KOOTUPUZHA-IRITTY is marginally better. others are in very bad state.

been to kannur and back last weekend, i would say its significantly better than gonikoppa route

Originally Posted by sivadas

Hello all, just came back from Kannur..
As mentioned earlier, took the Hunsur-Nagarhole-Kutta-Kattikkulam-Mananthavady route while going. Except for few bad stretches here and there, roads are reasonably good (Srirangapatana-Yelawal part is deteriorating fast).
While returning, wanted to use the same road. Hence did my best to start early (after attending a marriage), eventually started by 1pm. This was more than sufficient! Even after taking a break at Mananthawady, comfortably crossed Nagarhole and reached Hunsur well before 6pm.

Bottom line is, 'at this moment Nagarhole route is the best we have' to go to Kannur!!!

hi sivadas
what would be distance from bangalore to kannur via nagarhole route?
whats the travel time?
also how do we take the nagarhole route from hunsur? wheres the turnoff.

[sivadas]

hi sivadas
what would be distance from bangalore to kannur via nagarhole route?
whats the travel time?
also how do we take the nagarhole route from hunsur? wheres the turnoff.

It will be around 360Kms if you bypass Mysore (SrirangaPatana-Yelawal). Else add another 10Kms. I think the direct route (Gonikoppa one) would be in the range of 320-330.

[xotiq]

Took this route to BLR yesterday, please refer GPS track for details- can be done in 6 hrs with normal driving.


http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/work...l0chervj7fhise

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by ad75

also how do we take the nagarhole route from hunsur? wheres the turnoff.

while coming from Mysore, enter Hunsur town (skip the byepass - take the left of the Y junction) , and keep going straight on the main road until you first find the new bus stand on the right side and then little further the old bus stand on your left side. Take the first left road after the bus stand (there is a BP petrol pump at that junction) and proceed straight for another 2km or so til you find the road curving away to left and one going straight. This left curve goes to HD kote and the straight road here goes towards Nagarhole-kutta. I guess there were direction boards to Kings sanctuary, Nagarhole which you can look out for.

[ak916]

I am in Kannur right now. I did Blr-Kannur via hunsur - periyapatna - Siddapur - Ammathi - Virajpet - Iritty - Kannur.

Periyapatna to Virajpet is bad. I hear the Gonikoppal is to be avoided. If Periyapatna-virajpet road is the better of the two options, I am really scared to even think of how hunsur-Gonikoppal-Virajpet section will be like.

The rest of the route was pretty good except the srirangapatna detour near ranganathithu bird sanctuary. I dont see the point of this detour to Yelawal. I think it is better to go through mysore. I havent actually done this route via mysore but then it cant really be worse than ranganathitthu-yelawal route.

All that inspite of being in a scorpio.

So that was just to give you a perspective.

I cannot be coaxed into returning via virajpet. I am going to try Nagarhole tomorrow. I will let you all know how that went.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by ak916

The rest of the route was pretty good except the srirangapatna detour near ranganathithu bird sanctuary. I dont see the point of this detour to Yelawal. I think it is better to go through mysore. I havent actually done this route via mysore but then it cant really be worse than ranganathitthu-yelawal route.

I cannot be coaxed into returning via virajpet. I am going to try Nagarhole tomorrow. I will let you all know how that went.

Currently, Mananthavady-Kutta-Nagarhole-hunsur seems to be the best option. I am just back from a Bangalore Wayanad trip yesterday and has updated the conditions from Bangalore to Manathavady in this link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2961406

to make things easier, here it is again:
Bangalore-Hunsur is good all the way except the byepasses of Mysore. Took outer ring road while going, and while coming took yelawal-Belagola-KRS road-Ranganathittu road-srirangapatana. Outer ring road has some bad stretches due to road construction, but in between there are very good 6 lane stretches. The belagola KRS road byepass is in horrible condition. I would advice to avoid that route and take Mysore outer ring road if you are heading towards Hunsur from bangalore.
After Hunsur, till Nagarhole forest gate, roads are in excellent condition with almost nil traffic. from forest gate till Kutta, roads are rough with few potholes and lot of humps, but still very much drivable. From Forest exit till Kutta, roads are good. Beyond kutta town till Kerala border at Tholpetty, road has deteriorated badly. But this is only a short stretch of around 6 kms. beyond Tholpetty, all the way roads are excellent with sparkling black top

I have heard that Mananthavady-Nidumpoil via Perya ghats is also in decent condition. Nidumpoil to Kannur is in excellent condition. So perhaps this is the route you have to take while returning. But do keep in mind that Nagarhole forest road is closed between 6PM and 6AM.

[ak916]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Currently, Mananthavady-Kutta-Nagarhole-hunsur seems to be the best option. I am just back from a Bangalore Wayanad trip yesterday and has updated the conditions from Bangalore to Manathavady in this link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2961406

+1 to what sandsun said.

The mysore ring road is a very good option. While coming from srirangapatna, take right near the country club.
This road has superb 6 laning done 60-70% of the way. The rest of the road is not tarred, bouncy and dusty but it is more manageable than the bird sanctuary detour.

Hunsur to Nedumpoil is pretty good. The U turns between Periya and Nedumpoil are in horrible condition though and sedans/hatches can bottom out here if one is not careful.

Otherwise road is good all the way to Kannur except for a few kms after kuthuparamba and just before you reach Kannur.

if you have to travel before the gates close at nagarhole, this is the better option, definitely.

[shreevardhan]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Currently, Mananthavady-Kutta-Nagarhole-hunsur seems to be the best option. I am just back from a Bangalore Wayanad trip yesterday and has updated the conditions from Bangalore to Manathavady in this link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2961406

to make things easier, here it is again:
Bangalore-Hunsur is good all the way except the byepasses of Mysore. Took outer ring road while going, and while coming took yelawal-Belagola-KRS road-Ranganathittu road-srirangapatana. Outer ring road has some bad stretches due to road construction, but in between there are very good 6 lane stretches. The belagola KRS road byepass is in horrible condition. I would advice to avoid that route and take Mysore outer ring road if you are heading towards Hunsur from bangalore.
After Hunsur, till Nagarhole forest gate, roads are in excellent condition with almost nil traffic. from forest gate till Kutta, roads are rough with few potholes and lot of humps, but still very much drivable. From Forest exit till Kutta, roads are good. Beyond kutta town till Kerala border at Tholpetty, road has deteriorated badly. But this is only a short stretch of around 6 kms. beyond Tholpetty, all the way roads are excellent with sparkling black top

I have heard that Mananthavady-Nidumpoil via Perya ghats is also in decent condition. Nidumpoil to Kannur is in excellent condition. So perhaps this is the route you have to take while returning. But do keep in mind that Nagarhole forest road is closed between 6PM and 6AM.

Thanks. Planning a visit to Virajpet and this information helps.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

But do keep in mind that Nagarhole forest road is closed between 6PM and 6AM.

Strangely, the Hunsur side check post is from 6 pm - 6 am, but in the Kutta side, sign board says 5 pm - 815 am!

[ak916]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Strangely, the Hunsur side check post is from 6 pm - 6 am, but in the Kutta side, sign board says 5 pm - 815 am!

maybe the kutta side has the Kerala worker union influence. The tea break timings of the workers manning the checkpost is accounted for. Lol.

[mempheS.D]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Currently, Mananthavady-Kutta-Nagarhole-hunsur seems to be the best option. I am just back from a Bangalore Wayanad trip yesterday and has updated the conditions from Bangalore to Manathavady in this link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2961406

to make things easier, here it is again:
Bangalore-Hunsur is good all the way except the byepasses of Mysore. Took outer ring road while going, and while coming took yelawal-Belagola-KRS road-Ranganathittu road-srirangapatana. Outer ring road has some bad stretches due to road construction, but in between there are very good 6 lane stretches. The belagola KRS road byepass is in horrible condition. .
.
...Beyond kutta town till Kerala border at Tholpetty, road has deteriorated badly. But this is only a short stretch of around 6 kms. beyond Tholpetty, all the way roads are excellent with sparkling black top

I have heard that Mananthavady-Nidumpoil via Perya ghats is also in decent condition. Nidumpoil to Kannur is in excellent condition. So perhaps this is the route you have to take while returning. But do keep in mind that Nagarhole forest road is closed between 6PM and 6AM.

Thanks for this update sir. So, I think my preferred route to Thalassery as per this feedback from you would be blore-hunsur-nagarhole-mananthavady-nedmpoil-thalassery, correct?

As per google maps, the time shown is about 7 hours. I do not mind more distance but prefer a road that is driveable. Planning to start from blore around 4.30am.

Please advise whether this sounds reasonable.

[zoombiee]

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

Thanks for this update sir. So, I think my preferred route to Thalassery as per this feedback from you would be blore-hunsur-nagarhole-mananthavady-nedmpoil-thalassery, correct?

As per google maps, the time shown is about 7 hours. I do not mind more distance but prefer a road that is driveable. Planning to start from blore around 4.30am.

Please advise whether this sounds reasonable.

I think best quality roads would be if you took Bangalore-Mysore-SBathery-Calicut-Kannur route. Except Muthinga to Kalpetta road is apparently very good. It should be about 50-60 kms more but should be better.
Wayanad to Kannur itself would take you about 3 - 4 hours. If you are not planning any breaks I assume 8-9 hours would be a better estimate

[mempheS.D]

Originally Posted by zoombiee

I think best quality roads would be if you took Bangalore-Mysore-SBathery-Calicut-Kannur route. Except Muthinga to Kalpetta road is apparently very good.

Really? The last I travelled that route was in July2011. The route from Calicut to Kannur was horrrrrrrrrrrrrible to say the least. And after Mahe, I almost thought of trading in my Fabia for a boat...

From your suggestion, I think they've repaired this route right?

It's a good route I think as I can meet my brother at NITK too. How about via Coorg? The Mysore-Coorg highway is awesome is what I've heard.