[kadri007]

Originally Posted by s3va

Yeshwant. From Old Airport Road, how do i get onto the Magadi road ?

Since you are leaving early morning the best way is to go through

Old airport road - MG Road - Majestic - Isolation Hospital - Magadi Road. This would be shortest route.

[bullinb]

Originally Posted by kadri007

Since you are leaving early morning the best way is to go through

Old airport road - MG Road - Majestic - Isolation Hospital - Magadi Road. This would be shortest route.

No! Please don't take this road. It is damn confusing and littered with unmarked road bumps and huge potholes. Yashwant, dude! it is better to keep quiet than mislead people. I know you did it with good intention, but traveling by bus is way different from driving your own vehicle at dead of the night on unknown roads. In fact Magadi road is terrible until you cross the city. Best way is to head to Bannerghatta road and take NICE road until Magadi road exit. It is a bit longer, but roads are excellent and you are sure of not getting lost in the maze of Vijayanagara with all the construction and diversions abound. Last time I took this road, I missed being run over by a BMTC bus coming down a narrow one way at full speed by inches.

NICE road - Magadi - Kunigal is unbelievably good. I may even venture upto saying it is as good as SH19 (Hiriyur - Bellari) or Hassan-Belur road. Perfectly banked curves and well marked.

Your total journey to CKM should take about 4 hours without stop - considering that you are starting early. I usually start around 2:30am from Indiranagar and reach CKM by 6 for the first fuel stop en route Udupi - my home town.

If you are planning to stay over for a night at Kemmannugundi, which you should, book the accommodation in advance. There is only one government run resort up in the hills. We had a tough time getting a room last time I was there. Baba Budan Giri is a must visit around Kemmannugundi. The views from the peak are not to be missed as is the drive up the hill.

Have a nice time and a safe trip. Keep your eyes pealed for all those million diversions between Kunigal and CR patna.

[s3va]

@bullinb ..Thanks much for your directions and inputs. When I looked up Google maps, even I felt NICE road-Magadi Road stretch would be easier than using city roads.

Originally Posted by bullinb

No! Please don't take this road. It is damn confusing and littered with unmarked road bumps and huge potholes. Yashwant, dude! it is better to keep quiet than mislead people. I know you did it with good intention, but traveling by bus is way different from driving your own vehicle at dead of the night on unknown roads.

And hey, take it easy on Yeshwant's inputs as I have used his directions before(BLR to Kundapur) and every direction I have obtained from him was precise and hassle free. Yes, you may be right on the bus vs car drives, but it aint that bad !

[bullinb]

Originally Posted by s3va

And hey, take it easy on Yeshwant's inputs

Yes on second thoughts my remark wasn't called for. Yeshwant, sorry mate no offense meant .

[kadri007]

Originally Posted by bullinb

No! Please don't take this road. It is damn confusing and littered with unmarked road bumps and huge potholes. Yashwant, dude! it is better to keep quiet than mislead people.

Hi Bullinb, First of all the word "Misleading" is quite offending to see in the blog. I am not forcing anyone to take the Magadi route only. Based on my experience on both Magadi and Nelmangala route last month and seeing the condition of the road only then I suggested this route.

Originally Posted by bullinb

I know you did it with good intention, but traveling by bus is way different from driving your own vehicle at dead of the night on unknown roads. In fact Magadi road is terrible until you cross the city. Best way is to head to Bannerghatta road and take NICE road until Magadi road exit. It is a bit longer, but roads are excellent and you are sure of not getting lost in the maze of Vijayanagara with all the construction and diversions abound. Last time I took this road, I missed being run over by a BMTC bus coming down a narrow one way at full speed by inches.

I know travelling by bus is different, but if you take the Nelmangala route in bus, then you will come to know how the road condition is. When a bus itself is finding difficult in these road, you can think of a car making this stretch. For me the road in the Nelmangala - Kunigal stretch seem to be quite unsafe. The roads are uneven and the road edges are very sharp.

Compared to all this Magadi road would be ideal while travelling with Family on board.

And early morning at 4AM, I dont think you will get any traffic in the city to hit Magadi road. The NICE raod is wonderful but taking such a long route early morning?? I dont feel it would be worth a drive.

Its upto people to decide which route to take. You might had a bad experience but I had a good experience on Magadi road. I have experienced this route both in bus and bike I didnt find the road so bad which needs to be offended. Many people in the Bangalore-Mangalore thread have tried this route and no one seem to have problem.

Originally Posted by bullinb

Your total journey to CKM should take about 4 hours without stop - considering that you are starting early. I usually start around 2:30am from Indiranagar and reach CKM by 6 for the first fuel stop en route Udupi - my home town.

Reaching CKM in 4 hrs... Not a good idea when your wife would sit next to you. It would take around 5+ hours when you have family on board and you are driving on a average of 60KM with a tea break.

Originally Posted by bullinb

Yes on second thoughts my remark wasn't called for. Yeshwant, sorry mate no offense meant .

Not a problem Bullinb.. You are free to express your views...

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by kadri007

Since you are leaving early morning the best way is to go through

Old airport road - MG Road - Majestic - Isolation Hospital - Magadi Road. This would be shortest route.

Isolation Hospital??? You must be referring to the Leprosy Hospital. Isolation hospital is way across town on Old Madras road.

Originally Posted by bullinb

No! Please don't take this road. It is damn confusing and littered with unmarked road bumps and huge potholes. Yashwant, dude! it is better to keep quiet than mislead people. I know you did it with good intention, but traveling by bus is way different from driving your own vehicle at dead of the night on unknown roads. In fact Magadi road is terrible until you cross the city. Best way is to head to Bannerghatta road and take NICE road until Magadi road exit. It is a bit longer, but roads are excellent and you are sure of not getting lost in the maze of Vijayanagara with all the construction and diversions abound. Last time I took this road, I missed being run over by a BMTC bus coming down a narrow one way at full speed by inches.

Dude, at 4 am in the morning, does it make sense to go all the way to NICE road and also pay toll when you have a straight forward route with no traffic. Yes, the Magadi road is bad from Sunkadakatte to NICE road, but it should be a max of 4 kms. So, to avoid just 4 kms of bad roads, you want to take a detour of 25-30 kms. At 4 am, the roads are practically empty. People mainly use the NICE road to avoid city traffic to get to their destinations. When the roads are empty, why not make use of them. You don't have to use NICE road just because it is there.

BMTC buses are everywhere in the city. So, if you have an encounter with a BMTC in Vijayanagar, should you stop going there? According to your argument, you can never get out on any road used by the BMTC.

Have a nice time and a safe trip. Keep your eyes pealed for all those million diversions between Kunigal and CR patna.

The traffic diversions end just after Bellur Cross. After that it is a smooth drive till Chikmagalur.

Finally, nobody here is forcing anybody to take any route. If the people who are traveling are comfortable with the route description, they will take it. If they are not comfortable, they will not take it. That's it, end of story. There is no need to accuse others of misleading anybody. There is nothing wrong with the route Yeshwanth has mentioned. Anybody can safely take the route.

Please take this in the right spirit. I am not defending nor accusing anyone here.

[gajadonga]

I will be travelling from Hyderabad to Nagamangala through Devanahalli- Dodaballapur -Neelamangala-Belur cross.Is the road from Neelamangala to Belur cross under renovation

[kadri007]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Isolation Hospital??? You must be referring to the Leprosy Hospital. Isolation hospital is way across town on Old Madras road.

Oh yes addy I was refering to Leprosy Hospital.

The route is actually pretty simple to hit Magadi road.

Majestic - Railway startion road - First Left towards Rajaji Nagar - after that an Indian oil pump comes after that take the left road. It reaches Leprosy hospital from there take a right. Thats the Magadi road.

[s3va]

Guys..Thanks a ton for your responses.

I am starting at 4 am tomorrow, yes I am still awake , and will be following your routes.

I shall provide an update on the latest road conditions once I am back !

[s3va]

MODs, I accidentally created 2 threads, request you to delete the above thread.

Came back after my weekend trip to CKM with an unexpected event !!! The car that we drove, broke down due to jammed clutch plates! How and why.. I shall post in detail later.

Now coming to the routes that we traveled,

Bangalore-Nice road :
I dont need to say it as everyones knows, it is excellent !

Nice road-(left diversion to Magadi Road)-Magadi-Kunigal :
Mix of Excellent, Good and Bad roads. The good thing is the bad roads last hardly 5 kms. But the biggest advantage by driving through Magadi road is to avoide all those crazy traffic and diversions through the BLr-Nelamangela-Kunigal stretch.

Kunigal-CR Patna-Hassan :
Though not excellent, the roads were good with loads of diversions and few stretches of rough terrain. As we driving a CIVIC, this was not a big deal for us and we could maintain an average of 120 kmph that includes a stretch where the drive was maintained at 150 kmph for a while.

Hassan-Halebidu :

90% of the above stretch were bad(probably due to the village roads), and your drive speeds will come down to 20-40 kmph max. But quite scenic and the Halebidu temple is worth a stop.

Halebidu-Belur :
The roads on this stretch are just ok.

Belur-Chikmagalur :
Good roads with few stretches of rough terrain, though not a major concern.

Total distance during our towards journey - 260 kms
Time spent driving - 6 and 1/2 hours including 1 and 1/2 hours stop.
Breakfast at Kamat, CR Patna.

During our return, as I mentioned earlier, due to clutch issues the car had to be towed and the truck came through Nelamangala. I would ask everyone here to avoid Nelamangala due to road work and crazy traffic.

Thanks a bunch kadri, addyhemmige, ampere, ravikn, bullin for your inputs, truly helpful !

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by s3va

Hassan-Halebidu :

90% of the above stretch were bad(probably due to the village roads), and your drive speeds will come down to 20-40 kmph max. But quite scenic and the Halebidu temple is worth a stop.

Siva, where exactly did you take deviation for the Halebid road?

There are 2 ways to go to Halebid from Hassan. One is to go through Hassan city onto Salagame road and direct to Halebid via the ISRO Master Control Facility, the second one is to take Belur road and take a right Hagare village. The former is the shorter & better route.

It has been quite a while since I traveled on that road. The Hassan - Halebid road was relaid a few years back and it was a major alternative to the Hassan-Belur road (which was in a pathetic state at that time).

[s3va]

@addyhemige..

This was the trickiest part of my whole travel. I had the directions that I obtained from the forum about a bye pass to avoid Hassan city to reach Halebidu and Belur. This was supposed to be a right deviation from the CR Patna - Hassan stretch. Though I constantly looked out for the deviation, I never found one, instead we took the right as per the sign boards that said Chikmagalur was towards right, at Hassan !

We did pass thru the MCF and indeed saw wind mills on top of the hillock on the way to Halebidu. So I presume we have taken the former route as per your post. Since this was my first drive thru this stretch, Salagame and Hagare are totally unknown to me and I dont know if even passed thru those villages.

later we joined the Belur road at a junction where we took right to CKM and obviously the left would have been back to Hassan.

As for the roads there is plenty of scope for imrpovement, or I dont know if it was due to Civic that is famous for its low GC. There was a Zen who zoomed by us as if he didnt see the crater at all while we were slowly negotiating the same. But even the otherwise the levels of the roads were very uneven causing discomfort to the passengers in the back seat.

I hope I made sense.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by s3va

@addyhemige..

This was the trickiest part of my whole travel. I had the directions that I obtained from the forum about a bye pass to avoid Hassan city to reach Halebidu and Belur. This was supposed to be a right deviation from the CR Patna - Hassan stretch. Though I constantly looked out for the deviation, I never found one, instead we took the right as per the sign boards that said Chikmagalur was towards right, at Hassan !

We did pass thru the MCF and indeed saw wind mills on top of the hillock on the way to Halebidu. So I presume we have taken the former route as per your post. Since this was my first drive thru this stretch, Salagame and Hagare are totally unknown to me and I dont know if even passed thru those villages.

later we joined the Belur road at a junction where we took right to CKM and obviously the left would have been back to Hassan.

As for the roads there is plenty of scope for imrpovement, or I dont know if it was due to Civic that is famous for its low GC. There was a Zen who zoomed by us as if he didnt see the crater at all while we were slowly negotiating the same. But even the otherwise the levels of the roads were very uneven causing discomfort to the passengers in the back seat.

I hope I made sense.

Yep, you did.

Indeed, if you have passed the MCF, you were on the direct Hassan-Halebid road. Just FYI, Salagame is the village just after the MCF and Hagare village is on the Hassan-Belur road.

I guess you drove through the city to reach the Halebid road. Regarding the bye-pass, there is no deviation after CR Patna until you reach the outskirts of Hassan. If you have made your way through the city, you might have noticed Hassan Dairy to your left and you would have taken a left turn here. The right goes to Tiptur/Arsikere. This is at the entrance to Hassan and after the NH-48 bye-pass.

At the Hassan dairy, instead of taking a left, you should have gone straight. This is the Hassan ring road. This is a very good 4 lane road which ends at Halebid road, passing through the outskirts. You had to take a right here. There would have been absolutely no traffic at all. This road was supposed to connect to Belur road and BM road just before the NH-48 bye-pass, but completed only till Halebid road.

There are no boards indicating direction through this road. It would save people some time if they took this road to Halebid. I guess the govt should have put some boards here.

EDIT: Google maps does not show the entry to Hassan, but it shows the Ring Road

[s3va]

I guess you are right. We joined the Halebidu road through the Hassan city and luckily we didnt find any traffic due to morning times. And you are absolutely right about the missing signages as we were directed promptly by few local folks.

I think at such important junctions where there is a missing signage, we should just go ahead and place the signage along with prominent TBHP logos rather waiting for Govt to post one

[amitoj]

Guys, what is the best route to CKM from Bangalore?
Via Hassan or via NH206?

I will be starting from close to NICE road - Bannerghatta Road intersection.