[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by NPV

On both routes Chitradurga-Hospet and Hiriyur-Challakere there are almost no decent places for a break after turning off from the NH. If taking Chitradurga-Hospet route, you can stop at Ravi Mayur Kamat on service road (hope I got that name right, search earlier posts and you will even find a picture of the place). Alternatively, you can drive a few km ahead on the NH, stop near the Nijalingappa Memorial that has a Mysore cafe adjacent to it. You can then make a U-turn and head back towards the Hospet turn off.

If you're taking Hiriyur-Challakere route then maybe the eatery inside VRL bus hub or the Kamat in Sira (right side) are options.

*There is also Upadhya veg on right side near Hospet turn off, Chitradurga.

Thanks NPV. Saw the details on Ravi Mayur. Unfortunately I have a couple of people picky about the stopping options in my group for this trip. From the looks of it, Ravi Mayur seems good as a backup option.

Kamat at Sira seems to be a good option.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Unfortunately I have a couple of people picky about the stopping options in my group for this trip.

On the topic of food/breaks...
En route not too many options.

While at Hampi, around Hospet some good options for food are at Royal Orchid, Hotel Malligi and there's even a Swathi Delicacy.

There's a Clarks Inn close to Kamlapur, but don't know if their restaurant is good, this is probably the nearest option from the Hampi ruins. The KSTDC property at Kamlapur is sprawling, but the restaurant and service are average. Evolve Back (formerly Orange county) is the option if you want to splurge.

**The Kamats on the highways are average for the food, but very few of their properties are well maintained, so rest rooms may not be very neat.

[ant_vas]

I too did Bangalore-Hospet-Banashankari-Ilkal-gangavati-Hampi-Bangalore trip from 17 - 19.

Started at 6 PM on 17 Aug. took me exactly 3 hours to reach chitradurga. The holiday declared due to demise of our ex-PM Atalji also help me as there was very less traffic on bangalore roads.

After dinner at Ravi Mayur kamat we started from Chitradurga at 9:45 and reach the hotel at hospet at 12:15AM. This stretch usually takes minimum 3 hours but i was able to complete this 2:30 Hrs this time. Yes there are quite a few bad patches especially when there is a village to be crossed. Rest of the stretch one side of the 4 lane road has been opened and you can do good speeds.

On the way back yesterday i took the same route. started at 2:15 PM from hospet and reached chitradurga at 5:15 PM after a short stop at the gunda forest and besides a sunflower field on the way for some photo op.

Stopped at Upadhya Veg after taking left to join the NH at chitradurga. This is a decent place just under the windmills to your left. Food is good, coffee is great. after having our fill we started for bangalore only to encounter almost KM long lines at most of the toll booths :-( finally reached bangalore at 9:!5 PM.

For the stretch between chitradurga to Hospet i would say almost 80% of the road is good where avg speeds can be around 80 - 100. the most pathetic stretch is on the kudalgi bypass. its in horrible state.

[Highh5]

Hi Everyone,

Will be visiting Hampi this friday. Planning to leave early around 5:00 am from Indiranagar. Any route suggestions will be highly appreciated.

[Hells Bells]

Read up posts from page 48-50 which focus on travel to Hampi in the month of August. Overall 3 routes from Bangalore with their own respective pros and cons.

[sud]

Originally Posted by Highh5

Hi Everyone,

Will be visiting Hampi this friday. Planning to leave early around 5:00 am from Indiranagar. Any route suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Today I took the Bangalore - Chitradurga - Jagaluru - Hosapet. Bangalore to Chitradurga it is breeze. But post that it was horrible (I am not sure how it compares against other routes) with lot of truck traffic, road construction work, and treacherous sections. I managed to have stone cut my tyre just at the edge of the inner side wall. Luckily it was small enough to get it fixed in a puncture shop. Definitely do not take the Jagaluru diversion from NH50 if you are travelling in night.

For other route status you can look at the status posted by others.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by sud

Today I took the Bangalore - Chitradurga - Jagaluru - Hosapet. Bangalore to Chitradurga it is breeze. But post that it was horrible (I am not sure how it compares against other routes) with lot of truck traffic, road construction work, and treacherous sections. I managed to have stone cut my tyre just at the edge of the inner side wall. Luckily it was small enough to get it fixed in a puncture shop. Definitely do not take the Jagaluru diversion from NH50 if you are travelling in night.

For other route status you can look at the status posted by others.

I second your experience, I too covered the section on Aug 22nd. Had horrible travel from chitradurga to hampi via jagaluru. Had a big nail in my rear right tyre. Maybe better to take direct route to kudgli from chitradurga. Avoid any route via Ujjaine, pathetic roads.

[Sandy28]

Originally Posted by sud

Today I took the Bangalore - Chitradurga - Jagaluru - Hosapet. Bangalore to Chitradurga it is breeze. But post that it was horrible (I am not sure how it compares against other routes) with lot of truck traffic, road construction work, and treacherous sections. I managed to have stone cut my tyre just at the edge of the inner side wall. Luckily it was small enough to get it fixed in a puncture shop. Definitely do not take the Jagaluru diversion from NH50 if you are travelling in night.

For other route status you can look at the status posted by others.

I took this route on Aug 15 when returning from Hospete. This was an alternate route suggested by Google for the Chelekere route which I had taken while going. Chelekere was a much beter option compared to the Jagaluru route. AND a big NO for a night drive on this route

[androdev]

Just finished a road trip to Hampi. While going took the Chitradurga Hospet highway (ignored Google suggestion of Jagaluru and continued on the regular highway).

The road is getting completed, nothing too bad to warrant an alternate route. Just the usual diversions and about 30% unfinished old patchy road. The big turn off was the dense truck traffic.

While coming back took the Hospet, Kudigi, Gudekota, challakere, Hiriyur route.

This is a fantastic option and I really enjoyed the empty roads. Gudekota village road is 50% scenic and smooth, the rest is patched up uneven road but can still maintain 40-50kmph on the bad patches. Challakere road is smooth and empty. Even after Chitradurga-Hospet highway is completed, I expect this challakere Gudekota route to be popular alternate option due to lack of traffic and a bit more scenic. It has got a nice relaxed vibe to it. However there are no decent places to stop for a break on this route, which will not be the case for Chitradurga once 4 laning is completed.

[manjubp]

For those, who are looking for good Petrol pump (both petrol and Diesel) in Hospet, I would recommend AR Udyog Petrol Pump. It is in congested, city center. However I think it works 24 hours.
Last 5 visits to Hospet I have filled from here. Every time I have got a pretty good quality fuel. This time around I went out at around 5:30-5-45AM, it was open with less crowd, still had to wait for 5 minutes for my turn, too many LCVs and tractors. Here is the location.

https://goo.gl/maps/gnTdpgjpvM32

Considering the location and crowd, I would suggest to go early in the morning or late in the night, to avoid waiting and pain of driving through the city center.

PS: I am not associated with AR Udyog Petrol Pump at Hospet, directly or indirectly. I am just one of the customer, sharing my experience.

[Hells Bells]

On the good quality petrol front, I chose to tank up in Hospet from the only Reliance petrol pump in the town. Having seen the horrible impact of poor quality fuel (heavily adulterated with kerosene and water) on a fellow vRS owner, I wanted to be very careful on where I tank up. Happy to state that the Reliance bunk's petrol was perfectly fine and caused zero issues for me with no loss of power or smoothness.

This bunk is very close to entry point in Hospet from the highway but within the city limits so it depends on where are you coming from. As I was in Heritage resort when I chose to tank up, I ended up going through the city to reach the bunk but for those who are coming into the city, it is conveniently located.

[sud]

Originally Posted by sud

Today I took the Bangalore - Chitradurga - Jagaluru - Hosapet. Bangalore to Chitradurga it is breeze. But post that it was horrible (I am not sure how it compares against other routes) with lot of truck traffic, road construction work, and treacherous sections. I managed to have stone cut my tyre just at the edge of the inner side wall. Luckily it was small enough to get it fixed in a puncture shop. Definitely do not take the Jagaluru diversion from NH50 if you are travelling in night.

For other route status you can look at the status posted by others.

On return today, I took the Toranagallu - Kudatini - Bellary Ring Road - Uravakonda - Anantapur - Bangalore. In my opinion this route was much better. There are some rough patches till you cross Bellary ring road but I felt that this is much better than Chitradurga - Hosapet stretch. Post that the road is super good.

[ampere]

Amazing to see how topology and routing changes with updates to road scenario. I just hope once we see an increase of traffic on NH7, more eat outs and break areas open up.

[Rajeevraj]

Did the Bangalore-Hamp trip last Thursday to Yesterday. After much deliberations finally took the Hiriyur-Challakere-Rampura-Ubalagandi route to join the Kudligi-Toranagallu road. From there, instead of going ahead to Tornagalu and joining the Bellary-Hospete Road, google maps diverted to another small narow 'Hospete Road'-Marked with the red circle.(Route Map below)

As already mentioned, beautiful, wide freshly laid road between Hiriyur and Rampura. Very little traffic. From Rampura for roughly 20 km, the road is quite narrow and patchy in parts. It then joins what is marked as SH 131. This is another 25 km stretch till the Kudligi Road. Good surface and wide enough for vehicles to pass comfortably. As already mentioned, this 45 km stretch is deserted and has limited mobile signal. We were in 2 cars and hence had decided to take this route. (Marked with the black circle)

The Google recommended stretch from Kudligi Road to the Bellary Road was again a very narrow road with some bad patches. Overall was ok. The plus point was that it joined the NH 10 km outside of Hospet. Which basically meant we had a traffic free, stress free drive almost all the way to Hospet.

On the return, pretty much the same route except for the fact that we continued on the Bellary Road and turned off at Toranagallu and then followed the same route. The 20-25 km on Bellary road itself was irritating due to the work in progress and truck traffic.

While going had carried breakfast and stopped only at the CCD for a rest room break. On the return stopped at the Kamat after Sira. Pretty good food. Started pouring heavily as we crossed Tumkur. Google's direction of exit from the NH to NICE was not correct. There are 2 exits next to each other and although they get you into the same service road, the first takes you directly to NICE and the other is the regular service road below the flyover. There is no way to get on to NICE road if you take the 2nd exit and Google indicate that. Had to go all the way around and take the NICE again from the other side.

Hampi was pleasant and surprisingly not crowded. Stayed at Hotel Malligi and went resort hopping for a couple of meals (Royala Orchid, Heritage and even Evolve Back-Orange County). Few random pictures. With the recent rains, Tungabhadra Reservoir was full and shutters were still open. Made for a good sight both from the dam view point as well as from Anjaneya Hill

Below are photos of Orange County-Evolve Back Resort. Went visiting. Constructed in line with Hampi Architecture.

Edit: The Panorama pics will need to be zoomed in.

[ThilakNex]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Did the Bangalore-Hamp trip last Thursday to Yesterday. After much deliberations finally took the Hiriyur-Challakere-Rampura-Ubalagandi route to join the Kudligi-Toranagallu road. From there, instead of going ahead to Tornagalu and joining the Bellary-Hospete Road, google maps diverted to another small narow 'Hospete Road'-Marked with the red circle.

A couple of months back we did the same route to reach Hampi. As Rajeev has mentioned, this drive is breeze till Rampura. But road scene will change once you take left at Rampura to join Kudligi road and then again left to reach Kamalapura via Joga. This stretch is very narrow and full of huge road humps and occasional villages on the way. If you are one who prefers interior routes rather than highways like us, this route is recommended.
Below is my perspective on the route:
Bengaluru - Tumakuru: Good
Tumakuru - Hiriyuru - Challakere - Rampura: Very good
Rampura- Kudligi road - Joga - Hospet Bellary Road: Bumpy, rough patches, narrow and with huge road bumps at some places.
Hospet Bellary Road - Hampi: Good

Recently I have made a vlog on the route condition for this very particular stretch. Have a look to get a better idea.

http://youtu.be/BMIRClGFLp0