[ampere]

Very nice views there @guyfrmblr.

And not add to @ guyfrmblr's post, make you stock food for post CR Patna journey, in case you dont find places.

Before CR Patna, you have Sawathi around Kunigal and CCD at Belur cross.

[babhishek]

All,
I needed some guidance on a trip planned for next Saturday. The trip is from Bangalore to Kabini, JLR Lodges.
I am looking for some advice on the best route to take and any guidance is appreciated. The car is a Honda Jazz (low ground clearance) and am happy to do a few extra miles for a peaceful drive through good roads and I plan to avoid the bad roads based on your guidance!

Please throw in your suggestions, thanks!

[kala]

Originally Posted by babhishek

All,
I needed some guidance on a trip planned for next Saturday. The trip is from Bangalore to Kabini, JLR Lodges.
I am looking for some advice on the best route to take and any guidance is appreciated. The car is a Honda Jazz (low ground clearance) and am happy to do a few extra miles for a peaceful drive through good roads and I plan to avoid the bad roads based on your guidance!

There are very few options to get to that place. You'd have to go through about 7-8 kms of (what used to be) horrible roads whichever way you go. The SH33 (Mysore-HDKote Fingerpost-Kabini-Bavali-Mananthavadi) was quite decent till the Wildlife Sanctuary entrance when I last travelled that way (which I'm afraid is about 5-6 months ago, no feedback from anyone since then).

The next 15 kms was very bad in those days (JLR comes somewhere in the middle of that), but the last report about that stretch was that it was being relaid. Other than bad stretch, the road used to be a pleasure to drive when I went that way last with very little traffic, good road surface and very pleasant greenery all around.

So may be you can give us the feedback on how much of that relaying work has been completed.

Originally Posted by androdev

Folks, planning to drive to Bekal from Bangalore. Any information on:

1. Bangalore > Sakleshpur > Jalsoor > Bekal
2. Bangalore > Mysore > Hunsur > Madikeri > Jalsoor > Bekal

Originally Posted by ampere

Bangalore-Nelamangala-Channarayapatna-Holenarasipur-Arkalgud-Shanivarsanthe-Somwarpet-Madiekeri-Sulia-Jalasoor-Bekal

The Madikeri Jalasoor stretch is reportedly in very bad condition. May be better to take a chance with the Madikeri-Bhagamandala-Panathur-Kanhangad-Bekal route. Even if the road turns out to be not that great the drive is an extremely scenic one, and the distance may be slightly less as well.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

If you decide on Sakaleshpur, I guess you are planning Sakaleshpur - Mangalore (through University, Deralakatte, Thokkotu) - Kasargod - Bekal. Gundya - Mangalore is good. Four lane conversion is happening between Mangalore - Kasargod and expect some sudden traffic jams. The jam happens mostly between Ullal - Pumpwell so it shouldn't be an issue if you take the university route. I know some very good inner roads to reach Jalsoor from Gundya but it'll be confusing if you are driving there for the first time.

@guyfrmblr @ampere thanks for your replies. I have a mandatory stop at Sakleshpur, how do I head to Bekal from here? Travelling with kids, so want a safe option, can't afford to get stranded without cellphone signal :-)

My person in Bekal asked me to take Sakleshpur > Gundya > Uppinangadi > Vittal > Badiyadka > Bekal.

How bad is Sakleshpur > Gundya > M'lore university > Kasargod > Bekal as it is only marginally longer than other options like (Uppinangadi, Jalsoor)

How about Sakleshpur > Mudigere > Charmadi > M'lore university > Kasargod > Bekal? But I am not sure of Sakleshpur - Mudigere stretch.

Can I do this stretch in 5 hours (leisurely)?

Appreciate your inputs. Thanks.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by androdev

@guyfrmblr @ampere thanks for your replies. I have a mandatory stop at Sakleshpur, how do I head to Bekal from here? Travelling with kids, so want a safe option, can't afford to get stranded without cellphone signal :-)

In that I would have suggested the following:

Sakleshpur-Kodlipet-Shanivarsanthe-Somwarpet-Madikeri-Suliya-Jalasoor-Bekal.


But looks like even Suliya-Sampaje road is broken. See here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3258180


What your person said may turn out to be a better option. But good to check with others. Not sure about this.

My person in Bekal asked me to take Sakleshpur > Gundya > Uppinangadi > Vittal > Badiyadka > Bekal.

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by androdev

@guyfrmblr @ampere thanks for your replies. I have a mandatory stop at Sakleshpur, how do I head to Bekal from here? Travelling with kids, so want a safe option, can't afford to get stranded without cellphone signal :-)

My person in Bekal asked me to take Sakleshpur > Gundya > Uppinangadi > Vittal > Badiyadka > Bekal.

How bad is Sakleshpur > Gundya > M'lore university > Kasargod > Bekal as it is only marginally longer than other options like (Uppinangadi, Jalsoor)

How about Sakleshpur > Mudigere > Charmadi > M'lore university > Kasargod > Bekal? But I am not sure of Sakleshpur - Mudigere stretch.

Can I do this stretch in 5 hours (leisurely)?

Appreciate your inputs. Thanks.

Charmadi ghat is good, but Sakaleshpur - Mudigere was very bad around 6 months back. There was a strike at Sakaleshpur and hence the traffic was diverted through Sakaleshpur - Mudigere - Belur - Hassan and it took around 1 hour to negotiate the Sakaleshpur - Mudigere stretch. Charmadi is the option only if you use Hassan - Belur - Mudigere - Kottigehara route.

Kalladka(NH-48) - Vitla - Perla - Badiyadka is not so good. The roads around Perla are infested with pot holes. But the traffic is very sparse except some private buses. Badiyadka - Kasargod is good. This was the scenario 6 months back. You can ask your person at Bekal to check if they have repaired the roads around Perla. If yes, you can take Perla route, else the Mangalore University route is a safe bet since you'll be traveling in NH for most of the time.

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by androdev

My person in Bekal asked me to take Sakleshpur > Gundya > Uppinangadi > Vittal > Badiyadka > Bekal.

This is the route, I used to travel years back to Payyanur ( instead of Bekal direct to Kanhangad, Payyanur). I really don't know the present condition of the road. You have to take left at Uppinangadi after the bridge and go towards Puttur. You can byepass the town and go to Vittal, and take left to Cherkala. At Cherkala, you can either go to Kasargod and take left to Bekal or go to Chattanchal and take Kalanad road / right at Poyinachi to Bekal.

As I said, I am not sure about the road condition. It was good 3-4years back.

Thanks
Rajesh

[androdev]

Thanks @ampere, @guyfromblr, @rajeshk for your replies. Looks like every route has a bad stretch (sakleshpur-gundya, sakleshpur-mudigere, perla sulya, etc.). Let me just grit my teeth and follow Gundya, M'lore univerisity road, kasargod and Bekal route.

Any good places to stop by for food?

Thanks.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by androdev

Any good places to stop by for food?

Actually quite a few places, but I'd suggest these:
1. Swathi Delicacy on right side nearing Yediyur approximately 100Km from Bangalore - see earlier post
2. Less than 10 Km ahead of Swathi Delicacy, at Bellur Cross you will find Mayura on left side

After these you have Kamat at Channarayapatna, Athithi near Sakleshpur and several others on the way, haven't tried them.

[JLN]

Just got back from Bekal to Bangalore. I will post a detailed trip report tomorrow. I took the route suggested by Ampere: Bekal -Thalipramba - Iritty - Madikeri -Kushal Nagar - Hunsur - Mysore. I expected Bekal to Madikeri to take about 3-4 hours and Madikeri to Bangalore to take about 4.5-5 hours with reasonable breaks. Bekal to Madikeri took 5 hours 15 min and then Madikeri to Bangalore (Sarjapur) took 5.5 hours. So I had to drive almost 11 hours. While the roads were good all through (with some really short bad sections once in a while - nothing worrisome), I felt that the much shorter route to get to Madikeri from Bekal (via Jalsoor, Sulia or the Panathur-Bhagamandala) may have been better (despite some 30 km of bad roads) and about 1-2 hours less time consuming. I will post a detailed report tomorrow.

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by JLN

Just got back from Bekal to Bangalore. I will post a detailed trip report tomorrow. I took the route suggested by Ampere: Bekal -Thalipramba - Iritty - Madikeri -Kushal Nagar - Hunsur - Mysore. I expected Bekal to Madikeri to take about 3-4 hours and Madikeri to Bangalore to take about 4.5-5 hours with reasonable breaks. Bekal to Madikeri took 5 hours 15 min and then Madikeri to Bangalore (Sarjapur) took 5.5 hours. So I had to drive almost 11 hours.

Why did you took it via Madikeri..? Its actually longer. You could have taken the Iritty - Virajpet - Siddapura - Periyapatna or Iritty - Gonikoppal - Anechowkur - Periyapatna route if there was no need of going to Madikeri.

[androdev]

I have taken this route: B'lore > Kunigal > Sakleshpur (overnight stay) > Mudigere > Charmadi > Bantwal > Melkar (lunch at Birwa centre) > Mangalore University > Thokottu > Kasaragod > Bekal.

My person in Sakleshpur advised me to avoid Sakleshpur-Gundya section as it took him 1:30min just for 30KM the previous day.

Sakleshpur - Mudigere: Single lane road, not much traffic. May have to get off the road for an oncoming vehicle (courteous drivers mostly). Some parts are very uneven due to years of patching. Overall no potholes and avg speed of 30kmph can be maintained.

Charmadi route: Good roads except for the occasional broken parts. Good amount traffic and plenty of twists/bends. Again average speed of 30kmph.

Melkar > Mlore university > Thokottu: Not much traffic, some broken sections but manageable. Wide enough for two-way traffic. 30kmph avg speed.

Thokottu > Kasaragod: Patched up road, lot of truck traffic with other vehicles constantly trying to overtake etc. with busy two-way traffic.

Kasargod > Bekal: Mostly uneven/patched up road with busy two-way traffic.

So overall this route was pretty stress free route but low average speed of 30kmph. Sakleshpur to Bekal took 7:30 hours (journey time excl stops) out of which 15-30min could have been avoided due to "missed-route". Nelamangala to Sakleshpur hardly took 3 hours. So an overall journey time of 10:00-10:30 from Nelamangala to Bekal.

I may try the Bekal > Madikere > Mysore Blore route depending on my stopover options.

[JLN]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

Why did you took it via Madikeri..? Its actually longer. You could have taken the Iritty - Virajpet - Siddapura - Periyapatna or Iritty - Gonikoppal - Anechowkur - Periyapatna route if there was no need of going to Madikeri.

I wanted to avoid the bad roads on the Gonikoppal route. Wasn't sure about the Siddapura route - so just stuck to ampere's suggested route. Like I said, while long the road conditions were excellent throughout (except for some small patches here and there). Also the Bekal - Virajpet was the one that took significantly longer than I expected.

I must also mention that the Taj travel desk guy told me to take the Bekal - Jalsoor - Sulia - Madikeri route. He told me that the road was bad in patches, but doable and getting to Madikeri would only 3 hours. But I guess TBHP reports suggest that the Sulia route is virtually un-doable.

[guyfrmblr]

Thanks for the update androdev.

Originally Posted by androdev

Sakleshpur - Mudigere: Single lane road, not much traffic. May have to get off the road for an oncoming vehicle (courteous drivers mostly). Some parts are very uneven due to years of patching. Overall no potholes and avg speed of 30kmph can be maintained.

I guess they have patched up this stretch. It was horrible when I drove there.

Charmadi route: Good roads except for the occasional broken parts. Good amount traffic and plenty of twists/bends. Again average speed of 30kmph.

I guess everyone are taking this route instead of Shiradi. I encountered very sparse traffic when I drove there twice earlier this year.

So an overall journey time of 10:00-10:30 from Nelamangala to Bekal.

10.5 hours from Nelamangala to Bekal . 8 hours used to be common earlier. Sigh! But its a decent time considering the route you have taken.

I may try the Bekal > Madikere > Mysore Blore route depending on my stopover options.

I'm planning to go to Sullia on November 1st week. I'll wait for your feedback of this route. If its bad, I don't mind taking Hassan - Charmadi - Uppinangady - Puttur - Sullia route.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

+1 to Ampere's route. The Channarayapatna - Holenarasipur - Shanivarasanthe - Somawarapet - Madikeri is an ideal route for stress free driving.

On my return trip, I plan to do Bekal > Sullia > Madikeri > CR Patna > Kunigal > Bangalore.

I see two options for Madikeri - CR Patna:

1. Madikeri > Somwarpet > Shanivarasanthe > Arakalagud > Holenarasipura > CR Patna
2. Madikeri > Kushalnagar > Ramanathpura > Arakalagud > Holenarasipura > CR Patna

Any information on these two routes? Don't like the Mysore route because of the speed breakers, busy traffic, etc.

I'm planning to go to Sullia on November 1st week. I'll wait for your feedback of this route. If its bad, I don't mind taking Hassan - Charmadi - Uppinangady - Puttur - Sullia route.

Sure, will post my experience later today.