[hvkumar]

Refuel at Mahe, which is the petrol tax haven. Mahe is part of Pondicherry State and falls halfway between Calicut and Kannur (also between Wadakara and Talaserry). Although someone in the forum has reported adulteration of fuel in Mahe, I have been refuelling at Mahe for years whenever I am on that route and I never faced any problems. Typically, on my Trivandrum-Bombay drives, after TVM, I used to refuel at Mahe and plan next refuelling at Goa (another tax haven), to avoid high fuel costs in the intervening Karnataka State.

There are several day backwater tours starting at Alleppy.

[rudrah]

Originally Posted by deepclutch

^I think so.you may be able to book one from Ernakulam(marine drive) area.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

There are several day backwater tours starting at Alleppy.

Ok. That means we can go there and book the tour for ourselves and day tour is possible in Allepey. Booking should be done in Ernakulam.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Refuel at Mahe, which is the petrol tax haven. Mahe is part of Pondicherry State and falls halfway between Calicut and Kannur (also between Wadakara and Talaserry). Although someone in the forum has reported adulteration of fuel in Mahe, I have been refuelling at Mahe for years whenever I am on that route and I never faced any problems. Typically, on my Trivandrum-Bombay drives, after TVM, I used to refuel at Mahe and plan next refuelling at Goa (another tax haven), to avoid high fuel costs in the intervening Karnataka State.

Will do that way. Will get to Goa and then to Belgaum to Kolhapur and return.

[rudrah]

Hi, got hotel bookings done. Thanks for all your help.

Paid all in all Rs. 23,000 for that.

Any updates on Madurai-Rameshwaram road. Is that recovering from bad to good one?

[Harshavarthan]

Originally Posted by rudrah

Hi, got hotel bookings done. Thanks for all your help.

Paid all in all Rs. 23,000 for that.

Any updates on Madurai-Rameshwaram road. Is that recovering from bad to good one?

No maintenance work carried out between madurai and rameswaram. And dont expect that to happen in near future too. May be the government is waiting for approval to four-laning this stretch.

[Suneet]

I am just back from a Mumbai Mysore [ via Bangalore] Masinagudi [ Bandipur & Madhumalai] Wayanad and Back via Mysore. It took me 15 hrs to Bangalore and on the way back from Mysore it took me 17 hrs with an overnight halt at Belgaum. The Road is very good upto Hubli [ 4 lanes] . The road is good upto Dharwad [2 lanes] after Haveri there are diversion as work is going on in stretches . After Chitradurga the road is good till Tumkur The worst is the Tumkur Road to B'lore for it's trsffic and road condition. 18 km before B'lore at Neelmangala is the 'NICE; road. Find out in advance how you can use it to reach your destination in B'lore. The drive from Bangalore upto Wayanad is good except for a small patch before Bandipur if you planning to use the Masinagudi Guddulur route to Wayanad and Calicut. The places we visited are very beautiful and we enjoyed our stay everywhere. All the best
RGDS
Suneet.

[rudrah]

Thanks Harshavardhan.

Suneet, thanks for the info. How to find NICE road near Neelamangala? Is that different from NH4?

I looked at google maps, but couldn't figure it out.

I have attached the google map file. How to reach Dr. Rajkumar road? The Neelmangala Power station can be seen at top-left corner of rectangle.

From other threads I found that it has lot of Toll. But that is fine for one time visitor like me.

[aka_iitd]

Rudrah,
Any particular reason to find Dr. Rajkumar road. It is just on your way or you need to stop and meet someone. I can help you as I stay in Bangalore
Toll is not very high. It would be I guess 20 to 25 bucks as they have reduced the toll charges by 25% from 1st Jan.

[rudrah]

Originally Posted by aka_iitd

Any particular reason to find Dr. Rajkumar road. It is just on your way or you need to stop and meet someone. I can help you as I stay in Bangalore
Toll is not very high. It would be I guess 20 to 25 bucks as they have reduced the toll charges by 25% from 1st Jan.

Iskon temple in Bangalore - It is near that place somewhere. Booked stay at Hotel Geo in Bangalore. but before entering hotel, want to visit that temple.

Can you help me figure out what are the landmarks to look for traveling from Tumkur / Neelmangala to Iskon temple and then to Hotel Geo which is near the Vidhan Bhavan?

I think it is only the afternoon 2-3 pm. when crossing this section. BTW, is the NICE road and NH4 are same?

[highway rider]

Did Mumbai Bangalore and back recently. On the trip towards Bangalore , Ranebennur continues to be stop and go traffic particularly if you are caught up in either of the level crossings and the Davangere hiriyur stretch is better , but not of the same quality as the rest of the journey. Tumkur bypass is still incomplete and would recommend the NICE by pass instead of Yeshwantpur.

[csentil]

Originally Posted by rudrah

Iskon temple in Bangalore - It is near that place somewhere. Booked stay at Hotel Geo in Bangalore. but before entering hotel, want to visit that temple.

Can you help me figure out what are the landmarks to look for traveling from Tumkur / Neelmangala to Iskon temple and then to Hotel Geo which is near the Vidhan Bhavan?

I think it is only the afternoon 2-3 pm. when crossing this section. BTW, is the NICE road and NH4 are same?

Ok. If you want to get to ISKON then you don't need to get into the NICE corridor or take the NH4 bypass. You head straight down from Tumkur - Neelamangala - Peenya - Yeshwantpur. You will see Yeshwantpur railway station on your left side. You will also hit a flyover once you cross the station. Keep to the left lane and head straight on. The road will curve a little bit to the right and then another road will merge with your road. Just ahead will be a roundabout. Take the right here to go towards ISKON. ISKON will be on the left side.

I suggest you take a look at wikimapia. Search for Yeshwantpur railway station and ISKON and you can figure out what I'm saying easily.

Do you mean Vidhan Soudha?

NICE road and NH4 are different. NH4 connects Chennai to Mumbai. The road you are driving down from Tumkur would be NH4 (This is the GQ btw) NH4 veers off to the left once you hit Peenya and becomes the ORR. You need to head straight into Yeshwantpur. NICE corridor starts on the right side just before the NH4 turnoff and connects to Mysore road, Kanakapura Road and finally to Hosur Road.

[rudrah]

Thanks highway_rider, nice to hear Davangere Hariyur stretch is better.

Originally Posted by csentil

I suggest you take a look at wikimapia. Search for Yeshwantpur railway station and ISKON and you can figure out what I'm saying easily.

Thanks csentil, That made me absolutely clear thanks. So wont take the bridge after the Yashwantpur railway station. Thanks .

Originally Posted by csentil

Do you mean Vidhan Soudha?

yes.

[andescondor]

[quote=hvkumar;1070461]Lots of resorts further down from Bandipur/Mudumalai at Masinagudi.

Dear All,

Some of these may be repetetive questions, but I definitely need your grey haired advice.

My wife and I are planning to go for a two day trip to Bandipur (and Mudumalai) National parks. My route would be from Bangalore - Mysore – Nanjangud – Gundlupet – Hangala – Bandipur - ??? - Mysore - Bangalore.

Itinerary:
Start from Bangalore at 5:00 AM
Breakfast Enroute (Any suggestions?)
Reach Bandipur by 9:00 or 9:30 AM (is it practicable?)
Checkin to Jungle Home Vacation In India Wildlife Tour India Enjoy Trekking Bird Watching Tiger Safari Fishing. I found this to be reasonable. Are there any budget places to stay that you would
recommend? it is just two of us. Like any other human beings, hot water, clean toilet and decent food are our needs.
Take the evening safari. Which is better - Bandipur or Mudumalai? Do I need to book for this ride in advance?...
Reading on the web says that this "safari" finishes in one hour or so. Correct? If so, how can I spend from 4:30 PM to 6 PM etc. Is there anything nearby worth visiting?
Spend the night.
After breakfast nect day, checkout - maybe, 8:30 AM
My plan is to drive to Mudumalai --> Gopalaswamy Betta --> Pykara lake (is it ooty already?) and aim to be back to Bangalore by 6 PM. Is this practicable?

I need your valuable insight on how to kill the time between 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM, before I start heading back to Bangalore. Also, my Indica registration is KA. Do I need to pay any road tax or service tax before entering Tamil Nadu? Other than the normal vehicle documents, do I need to carry anything extra like ID cards etc?...

Any precautions that I should take during the travel and any to-do items?
That's a long list of questions from a first-timer. Your time and valuable suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks a ton!

[csentil]

andescondor, first of all, wrong thread. There are plenty of Bandipur/Mudumalai/Ooty threads. Just do a search for them. Anyways i'll try to answer all your questions.

If you start from Bangalore at 5 am you should be in Mysore by 7.30-8.00 max depending on your driving skills. (assuming you take 30 minutes to reach Mysore road). You can have breakfast in Mysore itself.

If you don't stop in Mysore for breakfast you could probably reach Bandipur around 10 am. Gundulpet - Bandipur forest area entrance road is in bad condition. This 20km or so will take you sometime to navigate. Also its preferable to drive slow through the forest area till you reach the Bandipur National Park buildings as you could potentially site a lot of animals enroute.

I don't think you need to book in advance, just be there early so that you can get a ride. Distance between Bandipur and Mudumalai is not great. Anyways seeing animals is a matter of great luck and patience. You might not see anything inside the park but could see a lot on the side of the road itself !!!

If you finish the ride early in Bandipur you could drive down till Mudumalai and then return back. You could spot a lot of animals. One never knows. This drive too and fro could take more than an hour.

Gopalsamy Betta is between Gundulpet and Bandipur and not between Mudumalai and Ooty. You need to take a right from the main road around 12-15kms from Gundulpet. So you need to plan this right.

Pykara lake is probably 15-20 kms before Ooty if you take the Gudalur route. From Mudumalai this is like a 90 minute to 2 hr drive on an average.

I would suggest that you checkout early morning, drive till Mudumalai and probably take the safari there. You can then drive back and then head towards Gopalsamy Betta. Or you could just hit Gopalsamy Betta in the morning. Its supposed to be very beautiful in the mornings and evenings and you could site animals there as well.

You could probably go to Ranganathitu on the way back to Bangalore if you are interested.

You don't need any additional documents to enter TN. As long as you have your RC, insurance and DL with you, one needn't worry.

There are separate threads on what to carry and check if you are driving long distance. I suggest you take a look at those threads. Its amazing the amount of information you get in TBHP if you search for it. Whatever I've said here is already there in this site.

[andescondor]

csentil, thanks for taking the time to respond. Yeah, I noticed it was the wrong thread, after posting yesterday.

Will broaden my serach on the existing threads.

[rudrah]

Hello all,

How to go to Saundatti? Which road to take, from Kolhapur via 1) Sankeshwar, 2) Belgaum or 3) Dharwad?

Halt at Kolhapur is most likely dropped and instead halt at Hubli is getting planned.

Please suggest the route.