[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by igniteddriver

I read on the facebook page that lots of new speed breakers, back breakers rather, have been erected on the newly done road, some without markers.

This is not true.. I didn't face any such humps ... all are well marked now

[igniteddriver]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

This is not true.. I didn't face any such humps ... all are well marked now

Thanks for the update.

I took the Periyapatna-sidhapura route on Friday. Except for the first 7-10kms from periyapatna, rest of the route was quite good. Even they are manageable, with no belly scrapping.
There are a few big potholes at the start of the ghat section after the makkutta check post. I saw metal unloaded there, so likely to be patched up soon.

I started at 10.30 from Sarjapura road, bangalore and reached Payyanur at 7.30, with one and half hour break for lunch and snacks. Since it was non peak hour, I didnt experience much traffic on mysore road till periyapatna.

[vinjosep]

Did a Bangalore - Cherupuzha over the weekend.

Onward: Bangalore - Mysore - Kushalnagar - Siddapura - Virajpet - Iritty - Thaliparamba - Payyannur - Cherupuzha (had to visit Pariyaram).

Bangalore to Kushalnagar was a breeze. Kushalnagar to Siddapura had quite a few potholes and some big craters. Siddapura-Virajpet-Iritty: quite a few unexpected craters. Especially the road through the forest. Had to be reeaallly slow to get across a few of 'em. Rest of the route was good.

Return: Cherupuzha- Rajapuram-Panathur-Bhagamandala-Madikeri-Mysore-Bangalore.

Cherupuzha- Rajapuram-Panathur: Roads are ok. Patchwork + repair etc going on at quite a few sections. So should be better in a week or so.

Panathur-Bhagamandala: ~20 kms of non-existent road.

Bhagamandala-Madikeri: Again just about ok. There were no big potholes, hence was able to manage a steady speed.

I would not recommend this route to anyone for sure.

[Nalin Kumar]

Had a drive yesterday evening from Bangalore to Payyanur. Started at 4 and took Mysore-Kushalnagar-Virajpet-Sreekantapuram route. I felt Kushalnagar Virajpet route much better now except a few craters here and there (mostly in the Dubare area, yes some of them unexpected!!). The craters after Perumbady are also being filled up.

[princenoble]

Of late, many of my friends have taken Bangalore, Nilamangala, Mangalore highway to reach Kushalnagar and found it to be a faster option (20+ KM more). Also a good change compared to the same old road which you have traveled 100 times. I am planing to take that road for first time on Saturday morning.

[ssingri]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

Did a Bangalore - Cherupuzha over the weekend.

Onward: Bangalore - Mysore - Kushalnagar - Siddapura - Virajpet - Iritty - Thaliparamba - Payyannur - Cherupuzha (had to visit Pariyaram).

Bangalore to Kushalnagar was a breeze. Kushalnagar to Siddapura had quite a few potholes and some big craters. Siddapura-Virajpet-Iritty: quite a few unexpected craters. Especially the road through the forest. Had to be reeaallly slow to get across a few of 'em. Rest of the route was good.

Return: Cherupuzha- Rajapuram-Panathur-Bhagamandala-Madikeri-Mysore-Bangalore.

Cherupuzha- Rajapuram-Panathur: Roads are ok. Patchwork + repair etc going on at quite a few sections. So should be better in a week or so.


Panathur-Bhagamandala: ~20 kms of non-existent road.

Bhagamandala-Madikeri: Again just about ok. There were no big potholes, hence was able to manage a steady speed.

I would not recommend this route to anyone for sure.

I did the same route last week both ways, BLR - Kannur - Nileshwaram - BLR and I agree with you. The Rajapuram Bhagamandala section is so narrow that we cannot do over 40KMPH even if it were good surface. I was in my Nano so did not have to worry too much about bad roads and potholes, the car is boon if you have to face bad roads but that is if you don't mind being shaken apart inside the car.
It took me 10hrs on the way back with 2 stops in between (90 mins total), how long did you take? I left Nileshwaram at 1.00 PM and was in Madekeri at 05:00 PM so 4 hrs for about 120KM without a break another 6 hours with 2 breaks from there to BLR.
A cousin told me that the road from Kasargod -- Sulia to Madikeri is superb and would have probably taken me lesser time.

[Nalin Kumar]

Originally Posted by princenoble

Of late, many of my friends have taken Bangalore, Nilamangala, Mangalore highway to reach Kushalnagar and found it to be a faster option (20+ KM more). Also a good change compared to the same old road which you have traveled 100 times. I am planing to take that road for first time on Saturday morning.

I had pondered over taking this route many times...it is also shown in Google maps taking the shorter time to Kushalnagar, but I was not sure about the condition of road between Channarayapattana and Kushalnagar. Indeed its a good change (drive to Mysore has become really monotonous, and speedbreakers add further!). I really like the Bangalore - Channarayapattana drive - its a breeze. Waiting for your updates.

[RajeshK]

Came back to Bangalore last night. The Makkutta ghat section is patched up and there no potholes now except the one which is near to the temple.

Took the Siddapura - Periyapatna route. The last 13-14km is really bad but drivable in any cars.

[vinjosep]

Originally Posted by ssingri

I did the same route last week both ways, BLR - Kannur - Nileshwaram - BLR and I agree with you. The Rajapuram Bhagamandala section is so narrow that we cannot do over 40KMPH even if it were good surface. I was in my Nano so did not have to worry too much about bad roads and potholes, the car is boon if you have to face bad roads but that is if you don't mind being shaken apart inside the car.
It took me 10hrs on the way back with 2 stops in between (90 mins total), how long did you take? I left Nileshwaram at 1.00 PM and was in Madekeri at 05:00 PM so 4 hrs for about 120KM without a break another 6 hours with 2 breaks from there to BLR.
A cousin told me that the road from Kasargod -- Sulia to Madikeri is superb and would have probably taken me lesser time.

I started at 5:15AM from Cherupuzha and was in E-city by 13:15. The drive through the forest was a bit creative

So the route from Kasargod-Sulia-Madikeri is good? I might give it a try next time which is tomorrow

[Nalin Kumar]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

So the route from Kasargod-Sulia-Madikeri is good? I might give it a try next time which is tomorrow

Yesterday I had the Payyanur - Bangalore drive and took the Sullia-Madikeri route, after dropping my parents at Kanhangad. My recommendation is not to take this route as the stretch between Sullia and Sampaje (around 20 kms) is really difficult to navigate (in some points road expansion works are on and other stretch full of craters) . Right now I feel the best option would be via Virajpet - Kushalnagar.

[sivadas]

I had been to Kannur on Christmas day and came back yesterday.
I some how like the Nagarhole route and took the same both times. Here are some details:

Bangalore-Kannur
Ecity-Mysore (Breakfast at Hotel Sidhartha -this is decent food similar to Darshini restaurants)-Hunsur-Nagarhole-Kutta-Kattikkulam (short break)-Mananthavadi-Boystown (short break)-Kottiyoor-Nidumpoyil-Koothupramba-Kannur - Overall 8.5hrs with 3 breaks

Except the forest route, roads were in great condition. Once you cross the forest checkpoint (open between 6am to 6pm only), road is bad for around 5 kilometers (can be managed easily). Rest of the forest road is quite decent.
Again at Kutta (after taking the U-turn at bustand) road is in bad condition for some 200 mtrs.
As I was going via Boys town for the first time (!), unnecessarily went back to Nidumpoyil instead of Iritty-Mattannur route.
Surprise! This time did not see any animal (normally see hordes of deers and few elephants also) at all.
My horn stopped working while crossing the forest area and then onwards I had to cut down the pace. Replaced it at Kannur, but had to settle for the normal one instead of the original Skoda one, eager to change it back.


Kannur-Bangalore
Kannur-Mattannur-Iritty-Peravoor-Kottiyoor (short break)-Boystown-Mananthavadi-Kattikkulam (Breakast at Mountain Savour restaurant - I like this one and would recommend for tasty cost effective food with good service) -Kutta-Nagarhole-Hunsur-Yelawal-Srirangapatana-Maddur (Break at Break-inn)-Ecity - Overall 9hrs with 3 breaks.

As many people have pointed out, road just before KRS turn is in horrible condition (some 300mtrs).

Mysore Road becomes very crowded by evening especially on Sundays. Better avoid it between 4-9pm if possible.

[wanderluster]

Has anyone done the Hunsur-Gonnikoppal route recently? (does one take the Perumbadi road?) (This route)

We're planning to drive down to Kannur from Bangalore and wanted to check on this route.

Else, we plan to drive via Siddapura. (This route)

We're doing this in a Scorpio and will have my 2 yr old son in the car.

Look forward to your inputs. Thanks.

[vinjosep]

Originally Posted by Nalin Kumar

Yesterday I had the Payyanur - Bangalore drive and took the Sullia-Madikeri route, after dropping my parents at Kanhangad. My recommendation is not to take this route as the stretch between Sullia and Sampaje (around 20 kms) is really difficult to navigate (in some points road expansion works are on and other stretch full of craters) . Right now I feel the best option would be via Virajpet - Kushalnagar.

Thank you. How bad is the mentioned 20kms? average speeds doable on those roads in a small car?

[sivadas]

Originally Posted by wanderluster

Has anyone done the Hunsur-Gonnikoppal route recently? (does one take the Perumbadi road?) (This route)

We're planning to drive down to Kannur from Bangalore and wanted to check on this route.

Else, we plan to drive via Siddapura. (This route)

We're doing this in a Scorpio and will have my 2 yr old son in the car.

Look forward to your inputs. Thanks.

Please see the note from RajeshK (previous page). And the route mentioned by you with Google map(Via Siddapura) is not actually marked properly. It is showing Periyapatana to Gonikoppal instead of Siddapura.

[Nalin Kumar]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

Thank you. How bad is the mentioned 20kms? average speeds doable on those roads in a small car?

It is bad for at least 10+ kms, and it is difficult to do it in average speed in a small car (may also depend on how much you love your car!). You have to slow down, stop and proceed at many points as some of the craters are deep. The areas where road work is in progress (a few diversions) surface is smoothened with laterite, but kicks in lots of dust making it even dangerous at nights.