[Lambydude]

My 2 cents on the Mookambika route confusion.

Google showed the best route to be Bangalore- Tumkur - Davanagare -harnahalli - Ayyannur - Ripponpet - Hosanagara -Kollur. I shall call this route 1 from here on.
However, many in this forum have mentioned that the Route 2 which is, Bangalore - nelamangala -CR patna - Arsikere - Shimoga - ayyannur - Ripponpet - Hosanagara -Kollur, is shorter and quicker.

I have done a trip to Kollur last weekend and here are my observations.

1. Route 1 is quicker & safer (subjective) as for the first 270 km (approx) you drive through 6 lane highway which is walled on both sides for most of the route. It's better to bring along your food as you wouldn't find many good restaurants. However, there are many small joints where you can use the "Pay and use" toilets. After you deviate from the highway and take the route to Harnahalli, the road is not in good condition for around 15 km. You tend to lose some time there and even after that the roads, although is good, is single lane through villages. Hence, you may not be able to maintain high speeds.
2. Coming back from Kollur I took route 2 and the section from Shimoga to Arsikere (75kms) was a royal pain in the butt. Especially in the evening. Although the road in decent shape, villages, bikes and being single lane translates to heavy drive fatigue and slow avg. speeds.

Many have mentioned that route 2 has better restaurants which is partly true. However, my experience was route 2 is not significantly better than route 1 in that aspect too. Unless you drive through Shimoga city area, there aren't many good restaurants in route 2 as well. Not to mention that driving through Shimoga city and not taking the bye pass will bring down the average speed as well.

Hence, my suggestion would be - pack your food and take Route 1.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Lambydude

1. Route 1 is quicker & safer (subjective) as for the first 270 km (approx) you drive through 6 lane highway which is walled on both sides for most of the route. It's better to bring along your food as you wouldn't find many good restaurants.

Agree to this in part. Earlier you did not get good options even on the 6 lane once you go past Dobbaspet. Which I think is true to some even today. Hence my preference to suggest Hassan highway which is also 4-laned.


And during the time I suggested CR Patna-Arsikere, there were rarely people using these routes. I think traffic has increased many fold since then.

Arsikere-Shimoga always will be a bit high on local traffic because of it being 2-lane. So yes to some extent you need to weather that storm. Early morning that section is very nice.

Also during initial days, the return traffic on Hassan 4-lane was not as high as it is these days. Hence again it was better to take this 4-lane instead of facing the Tumkur-Bangalore traffic which is insane most times.

But now it looks like even!

Hence, my suggestion would be - pack your food and take Route 1.

I understand your point of view. What I would suggest is to take the Hassan option while going and the Davanagere option while coming back.

[kavu75]

Originally Posted by Lambydude

Google showed the best route to be Bangalore- Tumkur - Davanagare -harnahalli - Ayyannur - Ripponpet - Hosanagara -Kollur.

Thanks Lambydude.
I have taken this route on October 30/31st, both the way I took the same route. After deviating from highway, initial 10 km section was bad, very bumpy drive and few pothole as well. Again in between some 5km section was bad. Otherwise excellent roads.
Started from Bellandur at 5.30AM and reached Kollur at 1.30PM, via nice road its 495km.
Took a breakfast break at Ratham before Tumkur and short break at Honnur, little before deviating from Highway(there is a good IOC Petrol bunk and a CoffeeDay next to the bunk).
Stayed there in Mahalakshmi Residency, very decent place with restaurant. I think this is the best place available in Kollur now. Getting into the hotel is little tricky, hotel person/security has to be there to open the temple side gate.
http://www.mahalakshmiresidency.com/

[procrj]

Planning Blr - Sringeri - Kollur - Blr. I have 2 option from Sringeri to Kollur:
1) Tirthahalli - Nagara - Kollur
2) Agumbe - Goliangadi - Neralkatte - Kollur
Anyone here who can share an update on road conditions?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by procrj

Planning Blr - Sringeri - Kollur - Blr. I have 2 option from Sringeri to Kollur:
1) Tirthahalli - Nagara - Kollur
2) Agumbe - Goliangadi - Neralkatte - Kollur
Anyone here who can share an update on road conditions?

In my opinion, take the regular option.

Sringeri-Agumbe-Someshwar-Ampar-Vandse-Kollur

[gadadhar]

We are making a weekend trip from Bangalore to Kollur Mookambika, plan is to start by 5 am take the CR patna Shivamoga route both ways. We are a large group and will be using a Fortuner and XUV, so we don't mind the road being slightly broken. It is important to have decent hotels and restrooms on the way (assuming we may have breakfast and lunch on the way) since there are many kids and ladies in the group. Considering above factors, please suggest if CR Patna Shivamoga is the best option to take. Google shows Davanagare as 1st option and below as the alternate option. It will also help if you can suggest place for breakfast and lunch.

Looking for your inputs

[NPV]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

We are making a weekend trip from Bangalore to Kollur Mookambika, plan is to start by 5 am take the CR patna Shivamoga route both ways.
...

I think Davangere-Shivamogga is an overkill without too much of an advantage, similar is the case with Chitradurga-Shivamogga too.

Instead, you can take Bangalore-Nelamangala-CR Patna-Arsikere-Shivamogga-Tirthahalli-Agumbe-Someshwara-Halady-Kollur

Your stop for breakfast could be Swathi Delicacy/Adigas Grand near Yediyur or Mayura at Bellur Cross.
Lunch stop could be near Tirthahalli.
At Kollur, you can stay at Mookambika Palace or other hotels recommended in this thread.

*I think Agumbe ghat has recently been resurfaced and opened for traffic, please do confirm this.

You could also do Shimoga-Ayanur-Ripponpet-Nagara-Hosanagara-Nittur-Kollur, remember reading reports last year that this route is also good but not sure about current conditions. If good, this could be your return route with lunch stop at Shivamogga.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by NPV

I think Davangere-Shivamogga is an overkill without too much of an advantage, similar is the case with Chitradurga-Shivamogga too.

Instead, you can take Bangalore-Nelamangala-CR Patna-Arsikere-Shivamogga-Tirthahalli-Agumbe-Someshwara-Halady-Kollur

Your stop for breakfast could be Swathi Delicacy/Adigas Grand near Yediyur or Mayura at Bellur Cross.
Lunch stop could be near Tirthahalli.
At Kollur, you can stay at Mookambika Palace or other hotels recommended in this thread.

*I think Agumbe ghat has recently been resurfaced and opened for traffic, please do confirm this.

You could also do Shimoga-Ayanur-Ripponpet-Nagara-Hosanagara-Nittur-Kollur, remember reading reports last year that this route is also good but not sure about current conditions. If good, this could be your return route with lunch stop at Shivamogga.

Thanks, Thirthahalli Agumbe sounds interesting though it takes almost 40 Mts more than Option 1 of Chikamangalore Agumbe.

Will make note of the breakfast and lunch suggestions.

It will help to know feedback on Option 1 of Chikamangalore Agumbe

Will also look for update Agumbe ghat road

[gadadhar]

Planning to stick to the Google suggestion of Bangalore - Hassan - Chikmangalore - Sringeri - Agumbe - Kollur while going. This will help to make a quick visit of the Sringeri temple (not sure about the crowd and how long it can takes - anything more than 1 to 1.5 hours can be tough to do). Hope there is nothing too bad about this option since I could not see this being discussed much in this thread.

Still trying to identify the best route for return taking in to account a 10 AM start on Sunday from Kolur.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

trying to identify the best route for return taking in to account a 10 AM start on Sunday from Kolur.

If you plan to visit Sringeri on Saturday, then there might be a lot of local traffic as it's pongal/sankranti.

Would suggest you stick to the Agumbe - Chikmagalur - Hassan - Bangalore for return as well as you can easily do Chikmagalur - Nelamangala in 5.5 hrs with a break and even though it's a Sunday, traffic should be manageable.

[sayoojl]

I did a trip to Kollur Mookambika Temple last week.

Onward journey:Bellandur-NICE Road-CR Patna-Arsikere-Bhadravati-Shimoga-Ayanur-Ripponpet-Hosanagar-Nagara-Nittur-Kollur.
Started at 5am and reached around 2pm.Had breakfast at Mayura and took a small break at Ashoka Grand in Shimoga(https://goo.gl/maps/wdP3jt4Dqq52) which had clean restrooms.Roads are mostly in good condition except for few rough surfaces/few potholes here n there.Between CRPatna and Shimoga, there are lot of speedbreakers of various sizes and shapes.From Ayanur till Kollur good winding roads with few culvert construction work at few places.

Return-
Kollur-Vandse-Shankaranarayana-Halady-Agumbe-Sringeri-Balehonnur-Aldur-Chickmagaluru-Belur-Hassan-CRPatna-Nelamangala-NICE Road-Bellandur.
Started at 7am and reached around 530pm including a visit to Belur temple.Road surface is slightly better in this route and has lot of curves which can bring down the average speed depending upon the traffic.Didnot find good food options and ended up having late breakfast at chickmagaluru.Had lunch from Swati Delicacy which was very crowded.However the food was nice.

Route1 is faster and has more facilities enroute. Route2 is longer by around 10-15kms but is more scenic.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sayoojl

Route1 is faster and has more facilities enroute. Route2 is longer by around 10-15kms but is more scenic.

Any day for Kollur I will prefer route-1. Simply because of less fatigue thanks to less curves on the road. Food options are another problem.

Did you not see Bhadra Coffee Shop just after Balehonnur? Thats an awesome place to break!

[sayoojl]

Originally Posted by ampere

Did you not see Bhadra Coffee Shop just after Balehonnur? Thats an awesome place to break!

I am not sure whether I spotted Bhadra Coffee shop or not.I remember seeing a hut kind of setup with a similar name on the way.I slowed down and was about to stop when family suggested it will be better to go to Chickmagalur as clean washrooms was also on high priority. will try next time. thanks for the info ampere.Hope this shop is family friendly also.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sayoojl

I am not sure whether I spotted Bhadra Coffee shop or not.I remember seeing a hut kind of setup with a similar name on the way.I slowed down and was about to stop when family suggested it will be better to go to Chickmagalur as clean washrooms was also on high priority. will try next time. thanks for the info ampere.Hope this shop is family friendly also.

Thats the one! Coffee is awesome. Decent Mangalore Buns. Location : fantastic! Very decent for families too.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post3853210 (Road trip to Horanadu and Sringeri)

(Cross posted here)

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thats the one! Coffee is awesome. Decent Mangalore Buns. Location : fantastic! Very decent for families too.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post3853210 (Road trip to Horanadu and Sringeri)

(Cross posted here)

It is OK. Not great. We also thought this will be good as it is managed by Balanoor Plantations which is part of MRF group.