[binand]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Hope this helps.

Heh. I'll make do with this, thanks. :-)

The restaurant you mention (Aramana) is about 5.5 hours from Bangalore via Hiriyur. Anything in the 3-3.5 hour timeframe? I have a Kamat Upachar bookmarked at the 3-3.5 hour range near Sira but I suspect it will be too early. Anything between these two towns (Sira & Hiriyur)?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by binand

The restaurant you mention (Aramana) is about 5.5 hours from Bangalore via Hiriyur. Anything in the 3-3.5 hour timeframe? I have a Kamat Upachar bookmarked at the 3-3.5 hour range near Sira but I suspect it will be too early. Anything between these two towns (Sira & Hiriyur)?

• Kamat Upachar right before Sira, Should take you 2 Hours to reach if you start at 0400. So rule this out
  
• Hotel Sai Palace a little ahead of Sira bypass, again might be too early
  
• Hotel Nakshatra Palace, before Hiriyur - Strictly OK. Don't have high expectations
  
• Udaya Family Restaurant, soon before you turn off at Hiriyur for Hosadurga

There is really nothing I can recommend between Hiriyur and Tarikere as this section is really "dull" but I am sure one of the above options might still help.

The problem I see here is your departure time. I drove to Pune last Tuesday and by 3 Hours I was already in Davanagere (270 Kms) from home without exceeding 120 KMPH. Hiriyur is easily 75-90 minutes faster to reach than Davanagere and ideally takes anything from 2.5 to 3 hours from Bangalore depending on where you start.

For your restroom needs, you can still vouch for BPCL COCO station at Sira and you can still reach Aramane Vaibhava in 4 to 4.5 hours. I would be one of those frequent travelers who had not minded visiting a fuel station and asking for the keys for the ladies restroom. I reiterate this again to many other travelers on the forum too that your sanitation needs when there is nothing else are taken care by these fuel stations.

[binand]

Got back from Kollur. Very pleasant trip overall. Thanks for all the help.

We eventually ended up taking the same route both ways between Tumkur-Tarikere: Tumkur-Hiriyur-Hosadurga-Tarikere.

Outbound: Took Tarikere-Lakkavalli-Muttinakoppa-Thirthahalli-Nagara-Kollur (Thirthahalli-Nagara was not via SH 52).

Return: Kollur-Nagara-Hosanagara-Ayanur-Shimoga-Tarikere.

Because it was a large party, the 4 AM start got delayed to 4.45-ish. Therefore by the time we exited NBTL and joined the main NH 4 there was quite some traffic. Still we managed a decent speed and eventually reached our breakfast point of Aramene at Tarikere by 8.45 AM.

After breakfast I handed over the car to my wife and was fast asleep soon after we crossed the Bhadra dam. We reached Kollur around 1 PM (3.5 hours from Tarikere).

In the return direction we started from Kollur at 8.30 AM on Sunday. Ditched the longer route plan (via Chikmagalur) since some of the party had commitments in Bangalore in the evening. One nasty surprise was that there aren't any fuel pumps at Kollur; the nearest one was about 5 km towards Vandse. So that involved a 10 km extra drive plus the time spent at the pump (thankfully, they accepted my credit card) which meant that we started at around 9 AM.

I was pleasantly surprised with the 4-lane, dual carriageway NH 69 leading into Shimoga. Google Maps directed us through the city rather than a bypass probably because it was a Sunday. Reached Aramane again at 12.30 where they said there'd be a short wait for lunch. We chose to wait, had lunch, and then joined the GQ at Hiriyur again.

Took the Dabaspete-Doddaballapura-Yelahanka route to enter the city rather than go through Nelamangala. This resulted in excess time of about 15-20 minutes but I imagine a much more peaceful drive. This route has a cash toll (no Fastag) of Rs. 17 one-way at about half-way between Doddaballapura-Yelahanka.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by binand

Got back from Kollur. Very pleasant trip overall. Thanks for all the help.

Couple of queries since we are planning to go next weekend.

- Read about heavy water shortage in Kollur, did you face any difficulties.
- How was the rush in the temple, heard it can be crowded during the school vacations

Thanks in advance

[ampere]

Originally Posted by binand

Outbound: Took Tarikere-Lakkavalli-Muttinakoppa-Thirthahalli-Nagara-Kollur (Thirthahalli-Nagara was not via SH 52).

If it was not SH52 can you explain which route was that?

Still we managed a decent speed and eventually reached our breakfast point of Aramene at Tarikere by 8.45 AM.

Aramane has been a very good development on this route in the recent times. Even the location seems to be fairly well thought. It caters to all kind of routing viz. Tumkur-CR Patna-Arsikere, Tumkur-Arsiker (206), Tumkur-Hiriyur-Arsikere

One nasty surprise was that there aren't any fuel pumps at Kollur; the nearest one was about 5 km towards Vandse. So that involved a 10 km extra drive plus the time spent at the pump (thankfully, they accepted my credit card) which meant that we started at around 9 AM.

Yes this is a problem. Very few use the ghat section entry/exit to Kollur. Hence most loop through Vandse side of Kollur.

I was pleasantly surprised with the 4-lane, dual carriageway NH 69 leading into Shimoga.

Its been a good development here as well. Also the Ayanur-Ripponpete-Hosangara is an awesome stretch to drive with some nice forest canopies.

[binand]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

- Read about heavy water shortage in Kollur, did you face any difficulties.
- How was the rush in the temple, heard it can be crowded during the school vacations

Didn't face any water shortage problems.

The town was like say, Commercial Street on a Sunday.

We were at the Hotel Mahalakshmi (https://goo.gl/maps/fzfJDVgEvaQ8RDtUA) which is bang opposite to the temple's main entrance, btw.

Originally Posted by ampere

If it was not SH52 can you explain which route was that?

This is how Google Maps routed us. Minor countryside roads, narrow and very twisty, good surface, hardly any traffic. I was napping so didn't realise the wife took this routing - might have chosen the SH 52 route if I were driving.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by binand

Didn't face any water shortage problems.

The town was like say, Commercial Street on a Sunday.

We were at the Hotel Mahalakshmi

Attachment 1880368

Thanks. We have booked in Jyothis Residency which is on the other side of the temple. Having used Mahalakshmi & Jyothis in the past, both are equally good.

Now that school reopening is postponed in both Karnataka and Kerala, I can expect a similar rush coming weekend

[gadadhar]

Took the same route as binand.

Passing through Bhadra sanctuary and beside the dam was a pleasant experience, this route would have taken another 20 mts additional if google is right. There was heavy truck traffic till Hiriyur though it was only around 6 am. Breakfast was at Kamat Upachar right Sira, for lunch we found a tiny place serving hot simple homely meals on plantain leaf at Nagara.

We had good darshan's though it was crowded. They have special darshan at Rs 100 and Rs 500 for 2 people, these lines are crowded only in the high-peak hours. We did normal darshan on Saturday evening around 5.45 pm, queues got lengthy after 6.30 pm. Took Rs 100 darshan on Saturday around 5.30 - 6.30 am when the normal queue was bit lengthy, Rs 100 queue was empty them, but even both the special darshan queues got lengthy little later.

Started back at 10.30 am, took Shimoga route , had lunch at Hotel Ashoka Grand (food was not great, also they overcharged us on few items that we didn't buy which was rectified after being pointed out) and reached JP Nagar at 7 PM.

[sud]

Had a weekend trip to Mookambika and Kollur. We had awesome darshan in both places. Mookambika it was super free and hardly any people. Kukke was full of rush and it took couple of hours to get darshan.

Onward journey: Bangalore - Tumkur - Hirayur - Hosadurga - Tarikere - Shivamogga - Ayyanur - Hosanagara - Nagara - Nittur - Kollur. The roads were good all throughout.

Return journey: Kollur - Hallady - Hebri - Bajegoli - Belthangady - Uppinangaadi - Koila - Aithoor - Kukke - Gundya - Shakleshpur - Hassan - Bangalore. Roads were good mostly barring some rough patches and construction areas (in the kukke hassan stretch)

Overall beautiful roads and scenery with monsoon glory. Heavy to moderate rains (on and off) in most of the western ghat sections. Tree falls and minor mud slides here and there. Just few kms before Kollur there was a fresh tree fall and the traffic got halted. But with the public support the huge tree was moved off.

Stayed in Jyothi's residency in Kollur. Very close to the temple - hardly a minute walk. Clean rooms and good staff.

[Lambydude]

Had a trip to Kollur last weekend. Agenda was temple visit and enjoying the rain. It was raining throughout our stay.

Saturday morning started at 5 am from Bannerghatta road. Nice road- Tumkur - hiriyur- Tarikere- shimoga- nagara- Kollur was the route taken. Roads were awesome throughout. Only glitch was breakfast location. We reached Aramane, Tarikere by 8:30 am.Although the location is good and the place is clean, food was sub par. It would have been better had I waited till Shimoga for breakfast.
Return was through Agumbe. It was a heavenly experience driving up agumbe ghats. Rain and mist was really magical. Google maps suggests many internal roads to reach Hassan from Agumbe. Although road condition is good, average speed drops drastically till you reach Hassan.
Not many good restaurants on agumbe - chikamagalur- Hassan stretch. So we stopped at the first good restaurant we saw - Hoysala Village. It is a nice resort but we reached by 5pm and the kitchen was closed for cleaning. Omlette/ toast and chicken sandwich they served was nothing to write home about. Once we entered Hassan we saw many good restaurants and in hindsight should have waited till Hassan for food.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by Lambydude

Google maps suggests many internal roads to reach Hassan from Agumbe. Although road condition is good, average speed drops drastically till you reach Hassan.

The best route IMHO to get to Hassan from Agumbe is Agumbe - Sringeri - Balehonnur - Aldur - Mudigere - Belur - Hassan. Beautiful twisty tarmac all the way till Aldur. OR you can take Agumbe - Sringeri - Balehonnur - Aldur - Chikkamagaluru - Belur - Hassan depending on time and comfort. Options for lunch/dinner are very minimal in the above stretch and best bets would be:
1. Hotel Mayura - Chikkamagaluru
2. Town Canteen - Chikkamagaluru
3. Hoysala food court - Just before Hoysala village resort

[Lambydude]

Originally Posted by procrj

The best route IMHO to get to Hassan from Agumbe is Agumbe - Sringeri - Balehonnur - Aldur - Mudigere - Belur - Hassan. Beautiful twisty tarmac all the way till Aldur. OR you can take Agumbe - Sringeri - Balehonnur - Aldur - Chikkamagaluru - Belur - Hassan depending on time and comfort. Options for lunch/dinner are very minimal in the above stretch and best bets would be:
1. Hotel Mayura - Chikkamagaluru
2. Town Canteen - Chikkamagaluru
3. Hoysala food court - Just before Hoysala village resort

Yes, I took the first route that you mentioned. Roads are good throughout. However, Google keeps on suggesting short cuts and some places it was so narrow that I thought of turning back.

Since I was new to this route , I couldn't figure out that it is a short cut. The road maybe wide at the beginning but narrows significantly down passing through lane of houses. These happens when one stretch of road is getting connected to another bigger road. We didn't even enter chikamagalur town nor mudigere town.

Thanks for the restaurant suggestions. Will keep in mind for the next trip.

[coolrats]

I am planning to do this trip first week of September. Please let me know if the floods have affected this route or we are good to go as travelling with old parents

[gops2009]

Dear BHPians, has anyone on this forum made a recent visit to Kollur from Bangalore ? Plan to go there in the first week of October and wanted to know the post monsoon condition of roads and based on this, which the best route to follow would be. Plan to start from Yeswanthpur at around 5 :00 AM. This being a drive with the family, we plan to have a couple of stops at the least for say, breakfast and lunch . The trip is for temple visits to Kollur and Udupi and drive back to Bangalore the next day.Any suggestions or tips for this route is most valuable

[NPV]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Thanks. We have booked in Jyothis Residency which is on the other side of the temple. Having used Mahalakshmi & Jyothis in the past, both are equally good.

Couple of good friends have recommended these 2 hotels (each stayed at one of them), hope both have parking ? Tariff wise, Jyothis is slightly on the higher side (almost negligible ~Rs.250).

Since you have stayed at both, is there any other factor to consider one over the other ?

*Even distance wise both are 170m from the temple by walk

----
On the route - Hiriyur-Shimoga route or Chitraduraga-Shimoga ? Remember reading about a broken bridge on Hiriyur route and also some rough sections on Chitradurga-Channagiri route & the NH 6 laning work near Chitradurga ?