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-   -   Cool Drives within 150 km from Bangalore (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/69723-cool-drives-within-150-km-bangalore-9.html)

Option 2 is ruled out by your constraint.

You can take the muthathi road. Pretty well maintained and has scenic fields. But beware of kids stopping the car and asking for temple donations.

Thank you for the response.

Did the trip. Took the Halguru route both to an fro. The route is a village road..tarred all the way, no potholes but has undulations. One can travel at 40kmph speed.

~maniac

I visited Devarayanadurga last week. Took the right turn on Tumkur road, at Dabaspeta, took a diversion towards Namada Chilume ( nice spot for a picnic, if not for the monkeys !! ) and then reached the temples of Devarayanadurga. It was a pleasant drive, made more pleasurable by rains.

As an added bonus, you can buy fresh vegetables on the way, at really bargain prices. That will ease the pain of the exorbitant toll rates on the NICE PRR ( if you take that to reach Tumkur road ) :) .

If you want to visit Devarayanadurga, you should be there at surise at around 5:30 or 6.
Then finish breakfast at Dobbaspet and be back. After 9AM the place starts getting a bit crowded.

Dont forget to visit the lake at the foothills. A couple of snaps:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post2637054

Can anyone suggest which will be the better route to take for Hogenakkal water falls from Bangalore. Checked in Google maps and it came with 3 options.
Option 1: The NH7 - Dharmapuri route - 174 Kms - http://goo.gl/maps/n5O27
Option 2: Hosur - TN SH-17 - Marandahalli route -156 Kms- http://goo.gl/maps/D8bda
Option 3: NH 209 - Kanakpura - Billgundala route -143 Kms http://goo.gl/maps/BNvPa

I would have gone with Option 1 since Iam familiar with NH-7; though its the longest of all 3 routes I may save time and fuel due to better roads. However since I plan to travel on weekend I dont want to end up in the mad Krishagiri - Hosur traffic.
Option 2 I dont have any idea about road condition, any help would be useful. Eventhough diffrence in distance is not much if roads are good I would prefer this route atleast one side (may be return) and avoid weekend evening traffic on NH7.
Option 3 is the shortest as per map, I travel regularly on NH 209 on Kanakpura- Kollegal route, however no idea on road condition from Kanakpura - Billgundala - Hogenakkal. And as per map it looks like ghats / forested area. Hence any recent update would he helpful.

Please stick to option 1 - fastest and safest.
Option 2 is completely ruled out as it does not do much in terms of distance savings and is not too scenic either.
Option 3 is recommended as an "adventure" trip (preferably on bikes) as it passes through remote/forest sections. An alternate (and possibly better) route is via Hosur (even Attibele) - Denkanaikottai - Anchetty.

I have done route 3 sometime back in my swift. Check out the below link where I have posted some info. This is a slow but very scenic route. I remember the road was being relaid between Kanakapura-Sangama road and Hunasanahalli. This was back in April 2011, not sure what the condition is now.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2324456

Thanks for the input, yes option 2 I dont find intresting since distance wise no much diffrence and also condition of roads is not known. Thinking will take NH7 while going in morning and on return will take Option 3 - Kanakpura route if I get input from locals about better road.

At Anchetty you should ask for Hunasanahalli. Its from here you get to Kanakpura.
That section is on my list too! I was planning to do after a bit of rains.

Please also note Anchetty-Hogenakkal has some real bad sections.

^^ Thanks to all for information. Did Bangalore- Hogenakkal on 15-Sep. Started around 07:30 AM from Bellandur and reached around 11:30 AM at Hogenakkal after stopping at Sholagiri HP bunk and having food from SriKrishna hotel. Road widening work going on between Hosur and Sholagiri did slow down a bit however since it was a Saturday morning there was no much traffic.
Falls are in their full glory after recent rains. Also found that most tourists reach around noon, hence planning to reach early (around 10:30- 11:00 AM) will help you. Since the coracle ride is a round trip where they take you from one falls to another while seeing view points on way an early start will help you beat the crowd.
Also do cross the hanging bridge and check the view of falls from that side, hanging bridge is near Coracle start point (~100 mts).
Had food from TTDC run hotel Tamilnadu, found meals good. Had read posts that food would be unavailable by 2:00 PM on weekends, however we went around 3:00 PM and didn't face any such issues.
Suggested Itenary based on what I experienced :
1. Reach by 10:30 AM
2. Go for Coracle ride (Opt for 2 Hr package, where they will take you to Karnataka side and wait till you swim, bath. This 2 Hr package took us around 3 Hrs though)
3. Once Coracle ride is over return back to start point have lunch. (We had from Hotel Tamilnadu, you have other options too, personally didn't find other option much hygienic though.)
4. After lunch visit Hanging bridge which is near to Coracle ride starting point.

All these points - Coracle ride jetty, hanging bridge, parking and Hotel Tamilnadu is in a 300 mtr radius.

We returned through Anchetty- Hunsanahalli- Kanakpura route as mentioned in option 3 in post #126 above my me. This road is exact opposite to NH-7, village road with hardly any traffic or wayside amenities. Road is very scenic and good apart from two ~5kms patches in between. However saw some people doing survey there, hope repair is soon underway.

Costs:
Entry to Hogenakkal forest area : 30 Rs + 10 (forest guard was literally begging)
Parking at Hogenakkal : 20 Rs.
Coracle ride: You need to bargain a bit, for shorter ride they were agreeing in 120 rs per head, each coracle will seat 6 people. So suppose you are a smaller group you can pay for remaining seat and have one coracle for yourself. We took the ride of 3 hrs by paying Rs 1200. Though some of my friends who visited earlier had said you may get for less.
Lunch at Hotel Tamilnadu : Meals Rs 50

We have been to Heritage winery recently. They have a wine tourism where they explain the process of making wine. Its about 3-4 kms after Chanyapatnam on MYsore road. The last 1 km is bad with gravels.
They charge Rs. 150 per head, which includes wine tasting.

Guys,

I had plans to drive down to the Cauvery (Galibore, Bheemeshwari, etc) tomorrow (2nd Oct) but given the current situation on the Cauvery dispute, have decided against it. Any other place (~ 100 km from Whitefield) where I can spend some time on the banks of a river?

This Achetty-Hunasanahalli section is bad only at the state boundary. Other wise its very good. One of the bad sections that you report I think would be on Anchetty-Hogenakkal section.

But yes, a very very scenic road. It can be a photographer's paradise. Since this section takes a lead on the south of Bannergatta forest range, there are many waterholes, where animals can be spotted. But that the fact these are almost running dry nowadays, situation is bad. I recommend an early morning drive to catch sunrise on the Kanakpura road and then follow it up with drive around this region.

Just drive down to this place. Peaceful and excellent roads all the way, could be done in under 3 hours. Spend some time there and drive back home for lunch by 2/3 pm.