[ramki067]

Hi all,
I plan to go to Melkote near Bangalore. Please provide the route which to take and also i've heard that their is no food outlets their. So any recemmondations is also welcome. Thanks.

Ramki.

[sada]

You need to take the Mysore Road and just before you enter Mandya City, you need to take a right (sign boards have been put). It is about 35 kms from that point. Food is not at all a problem in Melkote; i saw many small hotels there. We had food in a small Iyengar mess just opposite to the temple below and it was quite good, Rs.20 one year back. We could not have darshan at the temples (there is one below and one on the top of the hill) as it was closed. If i remember correctly, the temple below closes at 1 pm and the one on the top closes at 2 pm and probably reopens around 4.30 or 5.00. So, plan accordingly.


Raj

[sachin131]

Right Diversion to Melkote is after crossing Mandya.

[Lukeskywalker]

You need to take the Mysore Road and just before you enter Mandya City, you need to take a right (sign boards have been put).

It should read, just after Mandya town, there is a board which says Melkote, as for food joints, nothing worth mentioning, I have eaten in the house of one of the priests on two occasions, I think one needs to call them in advance and hey prepare a basic but very tasty meal for you at a very reasonable cost.

[ramki067]

Thanks very much guys for the help. Will keep in mind all these...
I've one more query though... i googled and found that Melkote is around 150KM from Bangalore and Nanjangud is around 160 KM. So, how about route to Nanjangud. I know one route is go to Mysore and then to Nanjangud, but is their any other better. How much hours does it take to reach Nanjangud if i start say at 6.30 in Bangalore?

Thanks
ramki/

[Lukeskywalker]

Originally Posted by ramki067

Thanks very much guys for the help. Will keep in mind all these...
I've one more query though... i googled and found that Melkote is around 150KM from Bangalore and Nanjangud is around 160 KM. So, how about route to Nanjangud. I know one route is go to Mysore and then to Nanjangud, but is their any other better. How much hours does it take to reach Nanjangud if i start say at 6.30 in Bangalore?

Thanks
ramki/

One alternate route if you go to melkote first is go to Pandavpura after Melkote and then onward to Nanjangud. Road from Melkote to Nanjangud is not so good, but I've travelled on it long ago so don't know about current conditions.
If you are going to Nanjangud from Bangalore, then it is about 45 mins from Mysore including time taken to go through Mysore city.

[nssrini]

I also came across a friend who mentioned a route to Melkote via Hassan Road (NH48) - do not know where the deviation comes - must be after kunigal.

[rohitrag]

Originally Posted by nssrini

I also came across a friend who mentioned a route to Melkote via Hassan Road (NH48) - do not know where the deviation comes - must be after kunigal.

The route to take is the Mangalore Highway upto a place known as Nelligere. This is an excellent toll highway where you will see minimal traffic. This stretch can be covered from Nelemangala in about an hour. From Nelligere, just after the toll booth and passing Malgudi restaurant, you have to take a left towards Nagamangala. Pass Nagamangala and continue on the same road towards Pandavapura, after covering close to 40 KM, you will come to a village where you have to take an almost u-right turn towards Melkote. From there Melkote is a ten minute drive on a scenic and smooth road. The road condition from Nelligere to this point on SH 19 is also quite good. This is a good route to take if you are from North Bangalore. Will save significant time in Bangalore and also saves you the trouble of the back breakers on Mysore Road.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rohitrag

The route to take is the Mangalore Highway upto a place known as Nelligere. This is an excellent toll highway where you will see minimal traffic.

You replied to a 7 year old post !

But yes you are right. The point is called Nelligere. The way to spot it is take the exit after the Belur cross toll. If you spot Coffee on your left, be aware that you have gone past the exit point.

And yes this SH is a beauty to drive with minimal traffic.

[ravib]

Bumping up this old thread.

Completed a quick trip from Bangalore-Melkote-Bangalore last sunday 12th Aug 2018.

Took Hebbal-Nelamangala-Kunigal-Nelligere-Nagamangala-Chinya-Melkote route in both ways. The usual stop over at Swathi Delicacy is awesome for breakfast stop and evening tea break. Nothing new to write about

The roads are 99% in great condition. There is road widening work happening between Nagamangala-Chinya, but it is almost complete. Little pending work is happening due to which you need to drive in under construction road for 2 to 3 minutes. Otherwise, this is the most recommended route to Melkote, but be careful if you are driving after dark. I guess the work should get over in couple of weeks as they were completing it in high speed.
Google maps by default recommends another route via Kanthapura (due to road widening that is happening in Chinya route), but that route has narrow roads via villages with many speed breakers. I drove for few kilometers but retracted back to NH. I suggest to ignore the default recommendation by Google maps and go via Chinya route which is via NH and more safer.

https://goo.gl/maps/3N5NL25mXCo

It was a pleasant weather day with slight drizzle/mild rains, so we enjoyed the scenic places thoroughly.
First we saw the beautiful Kalyani pond (most popular and seen in many movies, but sadly not well maintained now) and then we climbed up stairs to Yoga Narasimha swamy temple. Though there is a small road to drive up and park the car, but frankly it doesn't really save much in terms of climbing steps. Probably only 10% of overall steps is what you skip and remaining you still have to climb the major chunk. Rather, it is better of to climb all the steps completely and leave the car in safe parking space near to pond instead of going via small roads which is packed to park/reverse.

After Darshan at hill top temple, then climbed down and went to Cheluvanarayanaswamy Vishnu temple which is couple of minutes drive/walk from the Kalyani Pond. Once darshan is completed there, we walked further up for another 5 minutes to Raya Gopura (another place seen in many movies, particularly in director Maniratnam movies). By the time we finished it was around 1 pm, so walked back to Subbanna Mess (one of the popular eateries in Melkote). Finished yummy lunch there and drove back to Bangalore.

Overall it was a well spent day and we loved the place.

Few snaps attached taken from Mobile camera. Sorry it was not a bright / well lit day as it was cloudy and raining.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ravib

The roads are 99% in great condition. There is road widening work happening between Nagamangala-Chinya, but it is almost complete. Little pending work is happening due to which you need to drive in under construction road for 2 to 3 minutes.

Got sometime today to download snaps from camera. The first one shows good widened well tarred 2L road and second one shows the way road construction is happening.

-Ravi

[natrajdr]

Recently did the trip to Melkote. With the new Expressway, its both a boon and a bane. Boon part, I think you know - took me about an hour and a half to get to Mandya from south Bangalore. The bane started then, there is no exit to the deviation that Google suggested (via Shivalli). After going back and forth a couple of times around that road on the expressway (for about 30 kms), decided to enter Mandya town to take the Shivalli road. (Lesson: Always check the exits from the Expressway, Google is still learning)

That road again was not so great - not bad, but not a good one either. Reached Melkote in about 3.5 hours.

Temple hours (confirmed today): Narayanaswamy temple 8:30 to 13:00, 16:00 to 18:00 and 19:00 to 20:30 (M to F), 8:30 to 13:30, 15:30 to 18:00 and 19:00 to 20:30 (Sa & Su)
Narasimha Swamy temple 9:30 to 13:30 (M to F), 9:30 to 14:30 and 16:30 to 19:15 (Sa & Su)

About the climb to the Narasimha Swamy temple, while you can drive to the halfway point, the hike even from there is still steep and arduous (about 150 - 200 steps).

On the way back, Google became smart and suggested a longer but better route - via Pandavapura and Byadrahalli railway station to hit the expressway. Much better roads and (except for a little patch near the station) and I made it back in less than 2.5 hours. I'd recommend the same route for the onward journey too (there is an exit to take this route)

[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by natrajdr

Recently did the trip to Melkote. With the new Expressway, its both a boon and a bane. Boon part, I think you know - took me about an hour and a half to get to Mandya from south Bangalore. The bane started then, there is no exit to the deviation that Google suggested (via Shivalli). After going back and forth a couple of times around that road on the expressway (for about 30 kms), decided to enter Mandya town to take the Shivalli road. (Lesson: Always check the exits from the Expressway, Google is still learning)

I have marked the non-existent road (in red circle) in the attached image. If you can confirm it, we can report this to google to get this removed. This will help other map users to get correct directions.

[natrajdr]

Originally Posted by Landkruzer

I have marked the non-existent road (in red circle) in the attached image. If you can confirm it, we can report this to google to get this removed. This will help other map users to get correct directions.

Yeah you got it right. The service road exists - just that there is no exit from the expressway to the service road.

[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by natrajdr

Yeah you got it right. The service road exists - just that there is no exit from the expressway to the service road.

Thanks. I have reported this to google. Google will fix the issue at the earliest if more people report the same issue. So request those who are reading this also to report this issue. ( Select the road marked in the circle and report it as "road doesnt exist").