[Sandy28]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Depends on your time of travel.. for timings between 9pm and 6am (as well as timings just before or after this period), it will not show forest route as even an option since it will be closed .. same case for Bangalore-Gudalur-Nilambur-Kozhikode route.

Where are you starting from in Bangalore? Depending on that, your Bangalore-Mysore route will also be different based on timings and traffic conditions during your travel time

Thanks Ajit. I will be starting from Sarjapura road and hoping on to NICE road and planning to take Kanakpura Malavalli route. But yesterday I was told that even that road is in bad shape. Any idea?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Thanks Ajit. I will be starting from Sarjapura road and hoping on to NICE road and planning to take Kanakpura Malavalli route. But yesterday I was told that even that road is in bad shape. Any idea?

The road till Kanakpura is mostly patchy and in some stretches bad, beyond Kanakpura, it is all good. If you are starting early,.navigating the stretch from NICE exit to Kanakpura should not be an issue.

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Thanks Ajit. I will be starting from Sarjapura road and hoping on to NICE road and planning to take Kanakpura Malavalli route. But yesterday I was told that even that road is in bad shape. Any idea?

I am in Indiranagar area... I went to Mysore-Ooty during the week of Vishu... I got into Outer Ring Road and then drove non-stop to Yeshwantpur to join Tumkur Road(same highway to Pune, Mangalore as well), then took the elevated toll road towards Nelamangala, took left exit to enter Mangalore Highway... super no-traffic 4-lane highway with divider (just like current Mysore Road) till you enter Mandya district, then turn left at Bellur Road and again superb road (2-lane though, but wide enough with lavish shoulders) till Srirangapatnam... with a 7am start, I could reach Mysore by 11am ..the last 30 minutes was for the last 15 minutes when I joined back Bangalore-Mysore highway just before 1st Cauvery bridge at Srirangapatnam ... and in Mangalore highway, there are good number of decent restaurants around Yediyur area with lavish parking area and good toilets... we stopped at Hotel Dwaraka but could see atleast half-a-dozen good ones in the same stretch... which will be about 2 hours from Bangalore home(say Marathahalli or K.R.Puram) at a normal average speed.

Also, please see post #1057 above.

Honestly, I think NICE Road is not worth anymore... so on return trip, I took Nanjangud-(right at first traffic signal before entering Mysore)-Bannur-Malavalli-Maddur-Kengeri-City Market (Kalasipalaya) flyover-Richmond Circle flyover-M.G.Road-Indiranagar route... and there was not much traffic or delay as I touched NICE Road entry just before Kengeri around 7pm, and then Indiranagar home by 8.30-8.45pm... guessed that there is a high possibility that NICE Road toll gate(delays to enter and exit NICE Road itself when queue is long)-Hosur Road-Madiwala-Koramangala-Inner Ring Road-Indiranagar would have taken more time than straight through city...!

[mpksuhas]

Bangalore - Calicut : 30 April

Started from Haralur road at 04.10AM, took NICE road and exited at Kanakpura road. Difference in wait times at NICE road toll booth now that Fastag is implemented here is noticeable even in the non peak hours like this.

Kanakapura road is in much better condition now after the patch work and resurfacing done couple of months back. However, the road widening work seems to be still at standstill.

Was able to reach Kanakapura town in an hour, past that road opens up and also traffic was thin and was able to reach Mysore ring road - NH 212 side by 06.18PM.

Reached Sulthan Bathery at 07.50AM, few trucks which had crossed over at 06.00AM after checkpost opening up had reached around Bathery and Kalpetta, however thankfully there was no major holdup due to that.

Soon after Chundail, there is road surfacing work happening, due to which one carriageway is blocked and traffic is let to pass in one direction at a time. Since traffic was thin, it was not that. However, it may be difficult during peak times till work is completed.

Came via Kalpetta town instead of bye-pass to avoid bad roads, noticed that at few sections road is slightly widened, with shoulders been worked on.

Past this, there was no block or slow moving traffic as such. Reached Malaparamb junction at 10.16AM.

One noticeable difference is the exceptionally higher percentage of 2 wheelers in the traffic.

This is the pic from Malaparamb junction while waiting for signal.

[capnemo]

Wow - that is a door-to-door time of around 6 - 6.5 hours.
For comparison, I have seen similar door-to-door times with the Blr - Kozhikode flight. Kudos for keeping such a great pace !

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Bangalore - Calicut : 30 April

Past this, there was no block or slow moving traffic as such. Reached Malaparamb junction at 10.16AM.

[ajithbr]

Anyone made a Bangalore-Kozhikode or reverse trip recently ?
If yes, which route(s) are good for an early morning, say 5 AM, start from Bangalore? Assuming to reach Kozhikode by lunch time, any recommendations for breakfast stop alone enroute these days?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Anyone made a Bangalore-Kozhikode or reverse trip recently ?
If yes, which route(s) are good for an early morning, say 5 AM, start from Bangalore? Assuming to reach Kozhikode by lunch time, any recommendations for breakfast stop alone enroute these days?

Travelled in May. With a 5am start, both Kanakpura- Malavalli- Bannur-Mysore and the regular Mysore Highway will be fine. Kanakpura road which was bad till Kanakpura is now relaid and smooth. If you have to stop for breakfast then take Mysore road and pick one of the options closer to Mysore. Although there are not many good ones now.

Personally, we carry some light breakfast to eat on the go and then stop at Jubilee in Bathery for some nice tea and snacks.

[binand]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Anyone made a Bangalore-Kozhikode or reverse trip recently ?
If yes, which route(s) are good for an early morning, say 5 AM, start from Bangalore? Assuming to reach Kozhikode by lunch time, any recommendations for breakfast stop alone enroute these days?

I went Bangalore-Calicut last Friday (10/6). Took HSR Layout-Hosapalya Main to connect to Hosur road instead of via Silk Board, which I thought went very well. There are car blockers installed on the service lane immediately ahead of Hosa Road signal so don't try to access NICE Road this way - go further ahead and use a gap in the fence instead.

My route was Kanakapura-Malavally-Bannur-Mysore-Gundlupet-Sulthan Bathery-Kalpetta-Calicut and start time was 3 PM. I don't share Rajeev's view that Kanakapura Road is a smooth experience - heavy traffic and not-so-great roads in various stretches made it a slow and painful affair. I reached MRR only at 6.15 PM - even on bad days I would do this much in 2h 45min via BM Road. Maybe it is good during early morning hours.

If you start at 5 AM you will reach Mint Flower for a late breakfast. If you can't wait till then it is probably best to have breakfast at Mysore and proceed.

[ajithbr]

Thanks for your detailed reply.

I had done an Ooty trip on Vishu-Easter week.

I stay in Indiranagar area and ORR (at K.R.Puram) is just 10 minutes drive from home.. so I drove towards Mysore via ORR and Mangalore highway... took left at Bellur Cross to Srirangapattanam.. just 3 hours drive (excluding 30 minutes breakfast stop just after Yediyur) from Thippasandra home to Palace gate...

In summary - Hop onto ORR in 10 minutes at K.R.Puram... then nonstop signal-free drive to Yeswantpur... then elevated toll road to Nelamangala... get onto Hassan-Mangalore highway... as soon as we enter Mandya district, take left at Bellur Cross (Shimoga-Mysore highway... supergood surface and minimal traffic) towards Srirangapattanam.. join back BLR-MYS just before first Kaveri bridge

[ajithbr]

Indiranagar, Bangalore... 5.30am

Took Richmond Circle and Mysore Road...
Reached Hotel Sidhartha, Mysore.. 8.30am to 9.30am

Took Gundlupet-Gudalur route..
Gudalur ... 11:15 am (turn right for Kozhikode route)

Took Devala-Meppadi route...

Chundale... 1pm ... joining back usual highway about 10 kms before Ghat section

Mankavu bye-pass junction... 3pm

[Drak]

I have travelled to Mysore from Calicut about 6 times to and fro in the past two months.

Unfortunately first few times were trial and error as I came across this thread in the forum little late.

I work in Calicut and my hometown is Mysore, and work gets over at 8 pm, so the options I had were to either take a bus to Mysore or drive myself.

Travel by bus

Pros

-Can leave to Mysore or Bangalore on the same night
-Can avoid night driving ( I found the route to be challenging to drive )

Cons

-Finding conveyance to the bus stand (I live near the Thondayad bypass ), auto rickshaws are available on the way back.
-KSRTC Airawata takes nearly 7 to 8 hours to reach Mysore, Starts around 9:45 pm and reaches by 4:30 to 5:00 am.
-Personally find the seats cramped and has given me back aches.
-Be prepared for lots of loud snoring all around you

Travel by car

Pros

-avoids all the above mentioned cons
-can start by 3:00 am to 3:30 am and comfortably reach Mysore by 7:30 am ( starting earlier doesn’t offer any advantage as it takes about 2 to 2 and 1/2 hours to reach Muthanga checkpost just when the gates open, gates at Karnataka border open at 6 am sharp.

Cons

-This route is not a joke, among all three options shown in Google maps, NH 766 is the best one in terms of road quality and safety in my experience, but I must add that I have not taken the Iritty-Virajpet-Mysore route.
-I’m not sure if there are checkposts along this border that remain closed, it is also much longer than the other two.

[mpksuhas]

Bangalore - Calicut - 3 Sep

Started from home at 03.45 AM, took Mysore road instead of the usual Kanakapura road.

Road conditions till Mysore mentioned here (Driving between Bangalore and Mysore).

Crossed forest checkpost around 6.45 AM, was surprised to find there there was a long line of private cars which was coming in opposite direction. I am guessing its people on their vacation now that schools are closed.

Even the truck traffic was heavy towards Kerala, at RTO checkpost there was bit of a traffic jam. However, was able to get through in couple of minutes, at excise checkpost, there was a funny incident, listed here (Funny Incidents - Can happen only in India).

There been lots of news about bad road conditions in KL, so was anticipating lot more bad roads. However, thankfully it was not as bad as anticipated. There are patches just before Batherry, then similar way few bad pathches at final few hundred meters of ghat towards Adivaram.

At Kalpetta took road through town instead of bye-pass since it was early. So not sure if road has been patched up there. But I doubt that considering the road condition at end of byepass on Calicut side of town - near fire station/ circle with banyan tree.

Again around Engapuzha there are few sections where top layer has gone off. Past Thamarassery, one has to keep eye for the patched section after IOC-Adani gas pipe work, may places this covered and patched sections have come off. This causes two wheelers to suddenly change track to avoid pot holes making them come in front of you.

Was able to reach home by around 10.15AM inspite of the heavy traffic at Kerala side. This was mostly due to the time saved at Bangalore - Maddur section. I hope once full lenght of Bangalore - Mysore section is done by next year, it will be possible to do Bangalore - Calicut below 6 hours comfortably with an early morning start.

[binand]

A PSA that the Bharat Jodo Yatra arrived today at Gundlupet and is proceeding along NH 766 towards Mysore from the look of it. Today's schedule is Gundlupet-Begur and we can expect it to do Begur-Nanjangud tomorrow and Nanjangud-Mysore on Sunday. This means that NH 766 could see some blockades/jams during the weekend. All weekend/holiday drivers are advised to keep an eye on the ground situation and take alternate routes where possible. :-)

[sachinpk]

Need to make a Bangalore-Mysore-Bangalore trip during this coming week end. Planning for an early morning start like at around 5:00Hrs. What would be the better route to take?
1. Ramanagara-Mandya-Srirangapatna-Mysore
2. Kanakapura-Malavalli-Bannur-Mysore

This is considering all the road work, traffic movements etc.

[binand]

I drove back from Calicut to Bangalore via the straightforward Calicut-Kalpetta-Sulthan Bathery-Mysore-Mandya-Bangalore route on Monday. Some observations:

1. Started at 9.15am and at around 12.05pm I was at Kallur for my first tea break. This in Kerala terms is good timing for 100 km. Either it was a holiday (which I doubt, seeing the number of school buses on the road) or the network of roads rebuilt around Calicut has helped (I came via one such, Medical College-Mundikkal Thazham-Kottamparamba-Kunnamangalam - great roads with minimal traffic once you're past the medical college).

2. Didn't notice how long it took via the under-construction BMEW, but looking at Fastag logs I have 2.18pm for KN Hundy and 5.19pm for NICE Hosur Road exit. That is an almost even 3 hours for MRR+BMEW+NICE Road, plus a couple of breaks that added up to maybe 30 minutes.

3. BMEW is I think about a year away for completion. As soon as you turn from Columbia Asia signal you see this brilliant 6-lane road ahead of you, but that joy is short-lived; you are diverted within 1.5 km to a temporary road and need to stay there for the next 60-odd km (with short stretches of the EW accessible to you). You can see the Srirangapatna and Maddur bypasses separating but with no access to them.

4. Beyond Maddur the second half of the EW is almost fully done (one underpass left, plus a couple of places where last-minute touchups are happening). This is brilliant but nearer to Bangalore you'd start wondering if 3 lanes each way is going to be sufficient given the traffic density.

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Need to make a Bangalore-Mysore-Bangalore trip during this coming week end. Planning for an early morning start like at around 5:00Hrs. What would be the better route to take?

Better to ask in the Bangalore-Mysore thread (Driving between Bangalore and Mysore)?