[Acharya]

Hi
I am planning to drive tomorrow morning to Chickmangalur via Nelamangala and Hassan.
Any recommendations for breakfast places 1.5 - 2 hrs from Bangalore?
Planning to start around 0630AM and target to reach Vastare by 1230-1300.
Thanks!

[amavin]

Originally Posted by Acharya

Hi
I am planning to drive tomorrow morning to Chickmangalur via Nelamangala and Hassan.
Any recommendations for breakfast places 1.5 - 2 hrs from Bangalore?
Planning to start around 0630AM and target to reach Vastare by 1230-1300.
Thanks!

Hotel Mayura (https://g.page/hotel-mayura?share) is a good place in the 1:45/2hr bracket.

[gogo_gogo]

Created this thread in 2009 and now I am planning to visit this place again.

I find 3 routes on Google maps.



Route#1 - 299 KM (Hassan/ Bellur)
Route#2 - 290 KM (CR PAtna/ Arisikere)
Route#3 - 300 KM (Sira)

Which would be best one ?

Thanks in advance.

P.S - BLR - Hassan is OK ( I drove this month to Sakleshpura)

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by gogo_gogo

I find 3 routes on Google maps.

Which would be best one ?

Looks like your destination is the Blossom Resort. I visited the same resort in November 2021.

I went by the usual Hassan-Belur-Chikmagalur road (your Route #1). That is not a bad option, but just that there is a lot of traffic on that road, and also there are some small bad patches between Hassan and Belur, and also between Belur and Chikmagalur.

For return, I took a route different from all three of your routes. I drove from Blossom Resort to Tarikere, and then took Tarikere-Hosadurga-Hiriyur-Bangalore road. That is a bit longer, but definitely lot more scenic with much lesser traffic. I usually use this road for returning from CKM. You could try the same road if you are OK with a bit longer route.

Here is the route map of the complete loop I did in that drive:


You could try a similar loop drive, so that you get to enjoy different roads and different scenic views.

Hope this helps.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by gogo_gogo

Route#1 - 299 KM (Hassan/ Bellur)
Route#2 - 290 KM (CR PAtna/ Arisikere)
Route#3 - 300 KM (Sira)

Which would be best one ?

Take the first one via Hassan Belur Chikmagalur. The route will be faster and have plenty of options for you to break unlike the other routes. But if you are in a mood to explore, like Dr. AD says, you can always take another route for either the return or onward legs.

P.S - BLR - Hassan is OK ( I drove this month to Sakleshpura)

But - Hassan to Belur was bad and then Belur to Chikmagalur till Magadi handpost was very bad. This was in November.

I drove to Chikmagalur over the last weekend and I can tell you that Hassan to Belur was getting patched up and almost 90% complete. Belur to Chikmagalur is all patched up very well too.

With the Chikmagalur route you will have to enter and exit the town end to end and during a normal day this should not take more than 12-15 minutes max. Once you are at the other end of the town (Ratnagiri Bore as they call), it is a matter of 30 minutes for the resort/destination.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by gogo_gogo

Route#1 - 299 KM (Hassan/ Bellur)
Route#2 - 290 KM (CR PAtna/ Arisikere)
Route#3 - 300 KM (Sira)

Which would be best one ?

I would suggest the second option; however I must add the caveat I haven't done this route for ~3 years. But last time when I went on that route, it was a lovely & scenic 2 lane road with hardly any traffic and I could maintain pretty decent speeds (70 - 90 kmph) on an INT650 bike. Food stops options are limited and only at the towns (Arsikere, Kadur, etc.) but you'll see several (sugarcane) juice outlets midway.

You can see some images of the road here (Trails of a Biker: A ride to Kemmangundi & Hebbe Falls).

Route 1 (in my experience) gets bad once you get to Hassan (dated view though).

[Arayan5614]

Hi,

Has someone recently been to Chikmagalur? Heard from someone that the location is lush green in rain but dry and dull in December.

If you have been recently there, can you please share some pics of the location - want to see how is the weather and greenery

[vsathyap]

Just back from a drive to CKM and found it surprising that Bangalore was cooler than the hill town! The roads are standard fare till Hassan - a handful of diversions for the under construction ramps or underpasses with no major drama.

However, I must say that the Hassan Belur Chikmagaluru Stretch is probably the worst road to drive on in peak season. The road condition is deteriorating rapidly with unevenly laid "patches" or randomly appearing pot holes. While you are trying to avoid these bad patches, unmarked speed breakers join the party uninvited. The stretch is lined with trees and this creates this "bright - shadow - bright - shadow - bright - shadow" situation while driving. If you are at a situation where you just came into a shadow stretch after driving in the brights - be very careful as there may be a speed bump lurking in the shadows thats bound to take your suspenion, tires, or the entire front end to the ground.

To add to this, moronic drivers on the oncoming side are hell bent on finishing their overtake on a blind curve on a lake embankment dont care two hoots to run you over into the gravel which is at a sharp cut off from the paved surface, or worse, push you into the lake itself! Oh, and these are not KSRTC drivers - these are a different breed who seem to have been inspired by the movie Speed - they cannot drive below 50kmph - whatever the situation is! Just to add to the fun, we have some random 2w driving at 35kmph occupying the center of the entire highway. Other similar patience testing things like tractors, 3 wheelers, bikers who wander undecided and suddenly decide to take a u turn right in front of your vehicle, etc exist on this route.

Note - There is a massive hump just before the Yagachi village (if you are driving towards Hassan) and the stretch around Magadi just after CKM.. is pathetic. Do yourself a favour and avoid this route and try any other way to reach Hassan, because all the relaxation and peace and quite you enjoyed in the mountains of CKM will be lost as soon as you exit the Hiremagalure flyover.

[Arayan5614]

I drove this weekend to Chikmagalur! highlights here; the overall trip was a good one!

1. Starting with the road condition - Nelamangala - Hassan - Bellur - Ckm: The overall road is good; BLR to Hassan is an almost flawless highway you can cruise at ~80kmph for most of the road

2. Hassan to Bellur - the outer ring road has bumps, but hey! aren't we from Bangalore? the national capital of road bumps!! honestly, most of these bumps are kind except one which needs careful transition

3. Bellur to CKM - the road is single lane - some path holes but not too bad to drive ( drove Chevy UVA)

4. Stay & Food - Best stay in CKM could be in coffee plantations/resorts, we were late in booking and could get a hotel instead - not bad! you get almost all kinds of food on Swiggy / Zomato and they happily delivered to hotel rooms

5. Sightseeing - We took a local taxi through Justdial for INR 3.2k whole day covering most of the points - didn't want to drive up hills, and seeing city drivers struggling up hills realised this was a good decision to enjoy the sight

The secret to having a great driving experience from BLR to CKM is - to leave early!

We left 5:30 am BLR and almost didn't find any traffic/buses overtaking etc., reached the hotel by 11 am with about a 45minutes breakfast break in the route
while coming back - we started late around 11 am and regrated it badly - faced buses overtake, drivers straight from 'fast & furious' on the road... once you reach Hassan highway though you have a breather.

you may consider visiting Chennakeshava Temple, Belur while coming back - the architecture of the temple is simply breathtaking - I'll go on to say 'this 12th-century architect beauty' is far more beautiful than the taj mahal.

sharing a few pics from CKM and the temple:





















Attachment 2399223

google is best source to track the weather

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Arayan5614

I drove this weekend to Chikmagalur! highlights here; the overall trip was a good one!

Incidentally I drove to Belur/Halebid on 25th and to Chikmagalur over the year end.
I see that you visited Jhari falls, which we had planned to see but could not manage. Were you able to get the ride till the water falls or did you had to trek?
Looks like the last photo is from a trek to Mullayanagiri? I had planned to get there to witness the sun set but after seeing the traffic jam on the narrow Baba Budan Giri Rd during day time, I didn't dare to drive on the same road during evening (pls the issue of having to climb 400+ steps to see the sunset!)

[Arayan5614]

Originally Posted by Guna

Incidentally I drove to Belur/Halebid on 25th and to Chikmagalur over the year end.
I see that you visited Jhari falls, which we had planned to see but could not manage. Were you able to get the ride till the water falls or did you had to trek?
Looks like the last photo is from a trek to Mullayanagiri? I had planned to get there to witness the sun set but after seeing the traffic jam on the narrow Baba Budan Giri Rd during day time, I didn't dare to drive on the same road during evening (pls the issue of having to climb 400+ steps to see the sunset!)

Nice to know!

The final tranch road to the jhari fall is through a jungle. You get Mahindra classic & Thar plying at Rs 100 per head for both sides.

The ride isn't for the faint of heart. It's quite an off-road commute with absolutely fearless drivers that offer you a quite a few jumps and sharp turns.

The fall is a natural beauty! We didn't go tracking Mullayanagiri. Instead, we took pics and enjoyed the view from the foothill, no mood to sweat after driving a manual 250km a day ago.

We went to Baba Budan Giri and shooting point.

Came across this update a while back;

[ankan.m.blr]

Has anyone visited Kyatanamakki hills recently? Need information on booking jeep and trekking. I will be staying at Kudremukha JLR and planning to drive till the jeep stand. From there, I plan to do the trekking with my family. Any information on where to book jeep from or any contact for trekking guide will be very helpfull.

[dailydriver]

CHIKKAMAGALURU - A FEW UPDATES

ROUTE

Hassan to Belur stretch had been in disrepair for a while. It has now been temporarily patched up and therefore the 'avoid the potholes' games are no longer necessary.

However, the arterial Mahatma Gandhi Road inside Chikkamagaluru will remain off limits for vehicles this week.

The weather is chilly (woollens pls) and the mornings foggy. The latter will be an issue if one is departing from Chikkamagaluru before sunrise and heading towards Beluru-Hassan.

EVENTS

The town is currently decked up in colors and lights as the CHIKKAMAGALURU HABBA is going on. It will last till 22nd January.

Although it isn't really an attraction by itself, warranting a 500 km round trip from Bengaluru, if you are anyway in Chikkamagaluru this weekend, do explore the following attractions and activities that are part of the Government sponsored festival.

1. Water Sports at Nalluru and Ayyanakere lakes.
2. Food Mela next to the Subhas Chandra Bose District Stadium.
3. Helicopter Rides starting at IDSG College.
4. Half Day Trekking to Mullayyanagiri and Kavikalgandi.
5. Flower Show and Assorted Exhibition at AIT College.

[gajadonga]

Planning for a trip to Sringeri.
Will be driving through Nelamangala.
After Hassan is it better to drive through Sankleshpur better or through Belur and Chikkamangluru

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Planning for a trip to Sringeri.
Will be driving through Nelamangala.
After Hassan is it better to drive through Sankleshpur better or through Belur and Chikkamangluru

For Sringeri, Belur-Chikmaglur-Aldur-Balehonnur- Jayapura- Sringeri is the best and fastest option . You may want to follow the below thread for more recent and relevant updates.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ueries-25.html (Bangalore to Dharmastala / Kukke / Sringeri / Horanadu : Route Queries)