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Originally Posted by pramodpk I am planning a trip to Bananki home stay Thirthahalli on July 7th. I do not plan any site seeing. Only aim is to relax in the homestay enjoying the rain. How long does it take to reach this place from Bangalore? How are the roads esp the one leading to the home stay?
Thanks. |
This past weekend I went to Thirthahalli.
While going took NH206: Bangalore - Tumkur - Tiptur - Arsikere - Kadur - Birur - Tarikere - Bhadravati - Shimoga - Thirthahalli
Return journey: Thirthahalli - Shimoga - Bhadravati - Channagiri - Chitradurga - Tumkur - Bangalore
Roads are excellent except for the Bhadravati - Channagiri stretch which is really bad. There is another route connecting Shimoga and Channagiri directly which is supposedly in better shape. Both google maps and MapMyIndia mislead me to go via Bhadravati for Shimoga - Chitradurga.
The homestay owner advised me against taking the Chitradurga route as there is some work going on on NH4 Chitradurga - Bangalore portion, but I took it anyway. His advise was to go via NH206 till Arsikere, then take the route to Channarayapattana which is on the Mangalore - Bangalore highway (NH75 ???). In retrospect, I feel the Chitradurga route is better than the NH206 route inspite of the few diversions and being a bit longer, however you have to watch out for the heavy lorry traffic and some monkeys who seem to lose their fear of death on these spectacular tolled highways.
We did not encounter much rain in Thirthahalli, only in and around Agumbe mild showers were encountered intermittently. However it is all green there now, must have rained before I came. I must admit, this region is one of the most beautiful places I have traveled to and especially to drive around in a car.
I stayed in Thirthahalli town itself in "HiPoint Homestay". [I found the homestay from
this website where you can checkout other accommodation as well]
HiPoint Home Stay website
My reasons for choosing this homestay:
1. I travel with a kid and therefore prefer to stay near civilization. Mobile and wireless internet dongle signal is very strong. Infact I could carry on an official meeting over webex.
2. This person charges for the accommodation whereas others charge per person for accommodation and food. The flip side is you have to arrange your own food but there are restaurants nearby and he also offered me to use his gas stove for warming milk for the kid etc. though we did not need to use it. We stayed in the portion which is a suite accommodation on the first floor. This has a *big* bedroom, attached bathroom and a king sized living room where you can virtually play football if you like. Has sleeping arrangement for five persons but can easily accommodate ten people, IMHO. There is a Tata sky TV in the living room with all English news, Hindi soap and cartoon channels to keep everybody happy. Also, I could park my car inside his premises at night. The owner and his family stay on the ground floor. Charges - Rs.1500 for the above and 24 hours checkout. Note - these charges were for two adults and a five year old kid. There may be different rates for larger groups.
An added advantage is that this guy is the owner of the HP petrol pump on the Koppa road. I was worried about adulterated fuel in a small town like Thirthahalli, but this person came across as well educated, sober, thoughtful and extremely polite, so did not hesitate to fill from his pump. And my car did not complain.
Some pics below:
1. The homestay and the owner (Mr. Gautam):
2. A picture of Kundadri hill.
3. On top of Kundadri Hill. We went up that hill to visit the Jain Temple. Mind you, the road is very narrow and definitely not for the faint hearted. I doubt I will attempt it a second time. However the tar was fresh and well laid out and full marks to the car.
4. At Kuvempu Kavishaila