[blackstallion76]

Friends,

I am planning to the following for the coming weekend. (Sept 3,4,5).

DAY1:
BLR-Shimoga-Kollur: Approx-425kms
Kollur Temple Visit
Visit Ramachandrapura Mutt if possible
Stay at Hotel Aswathi, Kollur

DAY2:
Kollur to Sagar:Approx-110kms
Visit Sridhara Ashrama
Visit Sigandoor
Stay at Hotel Durga Lodge, Sagar

DAY3:
Sagar to Honnavar: Approx-90kms
Visit Idagunji Temple
Visit Murudeshwara
Back to Bangalore

I wanted to know the road conditions from Shimoga to Kollur, Kollur to Sagar, Honnavar stretch.
Murudeshwar to Bangalore the distance is around 450+kms.
What would be the good time to start from M'war. (after lunch/before lunch). PLanning to reach Bangy by atleast 10pm.

Any nice eating points for vegetarian family.
Travelling with wife, kid and in-laws.



Please advice.

[hvkumar]

Aren't you going up and down?
Why not plan Bangalore-Kollur-Murdeshwara-Honavar-Sagar-Shimoga-Bangalore?

You could go to Kollur via Charmadi or Agumbe and then return from Shimoga via Tiptur (although road via Arsikere is bad) or even better still (more scenic route) via Chickmagalur?

[roamingrao]

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

DAY1:
BLR-Shimoga-Kollur: Approx-425kms
DAY2:
Kollur to Sagar:Approx-110kms
DAY3:
Sagar to Honnavar: Approx-90kms

Blackstallion,

good idea of a temple trip !

suggesting : Bangalore - Kollur - Murudeshwara - Honnavar - Sagar - Bangalore or the other way round - you could avoid going up and down the ghats twice over !

Please stick to your plan if you do not wish to venture near baindur / bhatkal as the roads are bad in stretches.

Member Revy had been on the same route in august.

[Lukeskywalker]

My ideal route for this journey would be:

Bangalore-Shimoga-Sigandoor-Sagar (halt)
Sagar-Honnavar-Murudeshwar-Kollur (halt) and then back to bangalore via the route suggested by HV above.

[blackstallion76]

Thanks for the route info.
Actually, I planned this way knowing the bad stretches of baindoor/bhatkal and interiors of kollur to other places.
I am ok with up and down from kollur. Do not want to take charmadi ghat observing weather conditions. Somehow not confident.

I think @lukeskywalker suggestion makes sense. But, not able to get accomodation in Sagar on Fri. Either at Varadasree or Durga Lodge.

[Lukeskywalker]

Hey Blackstallion, if you intend to take the route I suggested then there is one more option for stay near jog, you can check availibilty at the following place:

www.matthuga.in , it is supposed to be a homestay.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Aren't you going up and down?
Why not plan Bangalore-Kollur-Murdeshwara-Honavar-Sagar-Shimoga-Bangalore?

You could go to Kollur via Charmadi or Agumbe and then return from Shimoga via Tiptur (although road via Arsikere is bad) or even better still (more scenic route) via Chickmagalur?

Rightly said HVK.

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker

My ideal route for this journey would be:

Bangalore-Shimoga-Sigandoor-Sagar (halt)
Sagar-Honnavar-Murudeshwar-Kollur (halt) and then back to bangalore via the route suggested by HV above.

This route also looks fine.
I Had been to Sigandoor a month back. Route till Sagar is in good condition, but from thereon 35kms to Kalasavally is in very good condition+ very bad condition. It's part by part good n bad.

[ravibhat]

In any of the route there is very bad stretch. My pick: day1: bangalore-shimoga-sigandoor-cross the river by barge or travel via hosanagara ramchandrapura matt-kodachadri and stay there. next day morning visit Kollur have darshan - baindoor-bhatkal-murdeshwara-honnavar-sharavati kolla-jog falls-sridhar swamy matt-sagar and halt. day3: sagar - shimoga-bangalore. here you may visit tunga dam which is 10km from shimoga.

Around kodachadri there are 2-3 homestay/resorts.
sagar decent hotel. in both the places pleasant climate compared to kollur/honnavar.

In honnavar food and stay no good options.

Shimoga try jewel rock for food, good one for stay too. 2km from shimoga left side IOC bunk is very good accepts card too most of the time. while turning to sagar highway from nh17 in honnavar there is HP bunk which is good one.

Don't worry about bad stretch bad roads are there everywhere in karnataka.

Ravi.

[anandbhat]

OK... writing this sitting in the midst of the jungle between Sagar and honavar...
not in Muttuga though.. May be this suggestion is coming late but may be of some help.

Latest road condition between Shimoga-Honavar:
Shimoga till sagar Road is pretty good, no major pot holes anywhere.
From Sagar till Jog (Maavina Gundi) roads are OK, may be a handful of pot holes in this stretch.
But beware of real bad stretch of about 30-40kms between Jog and Gersoppa+10kms.
Which car are you driving? Drove my spark today from Honavar to Shimoga and back, over all I'm still not tired as much so to say...
Had real bad experience driving down the ghat during night.

From Sagar towards honavar and return is advisable to drive during day light.
Problem is, this stretch is deserted, roads are not good, lot of trucky curves to handle and tonnes of pot holes to maneuver. If it rains and dark, there is zero visibility.

For stay, try Muttuga as suggested above. have seen it couple of times, but never stayed there, so I can't rate it, but have read good reviews.
As far starting from this side of the karnataka to bangalore, if you want to reach blr by 10PM, and if you're staying in Mutthuga, you will save some distance as well, it would be about ~400kms.
If you start at around 2PM having lunch is best option as you wouldn't need to stop for long time enroute. you can safely reach bangalore by 10PM or earlier depending on which part of blr u stay.

Between Shimoga and blr, there are few bad stretches, but I don't think that would be of too much worry.
May be if you stay in Mutthuga on 4th night, 5th early morning (7-8am) you could come till the ghat between jog and honavar and take good pictures.
today it was misty through out the ghat till 9AM!

other option for stay is Kamath executive in Honavar, i have heard the rooms were good couple of years back, but donno the condition now.

[Getzzzzzzzy]

Hello All,

Can somebody suggest me a good route to kollur from bangalore. i heard the road via shimoga > hosanagara is bad now. am planning to head to murudeshwar from kollur and back to bangalore via udupi and managalore. any suggestions fron bhpians

Regards
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Getzzzzzzzy

[/FONT]

[ampere]

Two standard routes I guess:

One via Shimoga/Tirthahalli and one via Chikmagulur/Tirthahalli.

Beyond Tirthahalli its Nagar/Mittur/Kollur. I guess the last stretch would be the same. I think Shimoga option would be better as its less crowded.
(But you would find less hotels/toilets as compared to the Hassan/Belur/CKM stretch.)

[airguitar]

Thirthahalli - Nagara - Kollur is OK, some bad patches, did a couple of weeks back, but is not bad, usual country roads thrashed by ferocious rains that's all . Be sure to start early from Bangalore ( it's the longer of the 2 and give yourself atleast 10 hours to be safe at a slightly below average speed ) .

But you should know that the route via Shimoga - Ayanur - Hosanagara - Nagara - Kollur is the most preferred. I did the Kollur - Nagara - Hosanagara bit as part of the same trip and nothing to worry there ( still, be ready to face bad patches ), although I didn't do the Hosanagara - Ayanur bit. Ayanur - Shimoga is the usual NH 206 and good.

BTW, I couldn't help reading through the entire thread :

I dont' see anyone listing the SH 55 route from Bhatkal to Sagar via Kargal. This is one beauty of a road that runs through the Sharavathy valley. If you can forgo the Jog road from Honnavar, you can do Murudeshwara - Bhatkal - Nagavalli - Kargal - Choorikatte - Sagar - Shimoga.

Goes over the Mahatma Gandhi Hydel proj dam and passes close to Linganamakki. Nothing touristy about this road, but probably an unforgettable road to savour the malnad valleys! I did it in May this year ( the road was good except for the flaky concrete pieces on top of the dam ), can anyone who's done this recently can vouch ?

The maniac in me would have done

1. Bangalore - Tumkur - Kadur - Shimoga - Sagar - Honnavar
2. Honnavar - Murudeshwara - Bhatkal - Kargal - Sagar - Shimoga
3. Shimoga - Sagar - take the launch over Sharavathy - Adugodi ( fleeting glimpse of Kodachadri peak )- Nittur - Kollur
4. Kollur - Thirthahalli - Shimoga - Channagari - Chitradurga - Bangalore

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by ampere

Two standard routes I guess:

One via Shimoga/Tirthahalli and one via Chikmagulur/Tirthahalli.

Chikkamagalur - Balehonnur - Narve - Jayapura - Koppa - Thirthahalli is an amazing stretch but much time may be lost :( as it's around 120+, the last time I did it was time cnosuming but enjoyable nevertheless. Shimoga + Thirthahalli would be about 20 kms less than CKM + Thirthahalli and moreover relatively "fast" roads.

[ampere]

Thats what MX was saying. NH17 around Bhatkal has opened up and is horrible to drive in these times.

As per what he said, the word "horrible" itself is an understatement!

[anandbhat]

From about 15km from Honavar till all near Byndoor NH17 is just "horrible", took me about 3.5 hrs to cover Honavar to Kundapur, which in good conditions takes just over an hr!
From Jog towards Honavar as well, road is not good for about 30-40kms, you can drive not beyond 30-40kph in this stretch, and this being ghat section!