[ranjitp1]

Hi,

Whats the best route to do this circuit?Travelling with a 1yr old baby so do not want to do more than 10-11 hours of drive at one stretch.

I was thinking

Day 1: Pune-Blore

Day 2: Blore-Madikeri

Day 3: Stay

Day 4 : Stay

Day 5: Madikeri-Hassan/Chikmagalur

From Day 6 is the confusion-whether to take the NH17 back to Mumbai or go via NH4 to Mumbai.If it is NH17 which would be the best place to halt?Goa?

Thanx in advance.

[jeevmenon]

Since you are in Chikmagalur the logical route would be to go via Shimoga (which is very close by) on the NH206 to Karwar. Stay there. Night walks on the famous beaches (om, kudle.) Then you can go thru Goa just to reach Belgaum (thru Anshi? Not sure how the roads would be) and then take the NH4 north bound to Kolhapur/Pune/Mumbai.

From Chikmagalur the closest NH4 pt would be to reach Chitradurga / Davangere and from there till Haveri its diversions off and on, but atleast 100-150 km shorter and faster and better.

So what do you want - sight-seeing in the last leg??? You will be dead tired after the first 5 days and would want to reach home asap and that would mean connect to Chitradurga or Davangere and then take NH4. And all know where to stay in Belgaum (Sankam residency on the NH - left side) and if you reach Kolhapur (either Opal - 936 for a double or the one we stayed on our return - Hotel Vrindavan Deluxe (Opp Vateshwar Mandir, Near Central Bus Stand, Shivaji Park, Kolhapur) - 0231-2664343 (Doube - 740/-)

[airguitar]

I tend to agree with Jeev, doing an arduous one on the way back may not be what you're looking for.

Also really depends as Jeev says, what you need to get out of it ( and you have not mentioned how many days left after the first 5 in your trip )

Some options :

1. Chikmagalur - Shimoga - Jog Falls ( you can spend some time here ) - Gokarna. 300 kms. Start early.

And then

2. Gokarna - Hubli - Pune ( Hoping you're not a Goa addict )

Another option is to drive through Anshi ( it'll be great ), but I'm not really for it at the end of a long trip : you'll be poorer by a few hours and there is a good chance that you might want to stop over again. for want of time:(


OR

1. Chikkamagalur - Sagar - Jog - Sirsi - Yallapura/Dandeli ( Halt at any, one or two nice but not pricey resorts ), you get more of the forests instead of the sea with this one

2. Yellapura/Dandeli ( Couple of falls in Sathoddi and Magodu ) - Hubli - Pune

Also pardon my lack of understanding of GQ after Hubli : is Pune Bangalore doable in a day with a 1 year old onboard ?

Originally Posted by jeevmenon

Since you are in Chikmagalur the logical route would be to go via Shimoga (which is very close by) on the NH206 to Karwar. Stay there. Night walks on the famous beaches (om, kudle.) Then you can go thru Goa just to reach Belgaum (thru Anshi? Not sure how the roads would be) and then take the NH4 north bound to Kolhapur/Pune/Mumbai.

From Chikmagalur the closest NH4 pt would be to reach Chitradurga / Davangere and from there till Haveri its diversions off and on, but atleast 100-150 km shorter and faster and better.

So what do you want - sight-seeing in the last leg??? You will be dead tired after the first 5 days and would want to reach home asap and that would mean connect to Chitradurga or Davangere and then take NH4. And all know where to stay in Belgaum (Sankam residency on the NH - left side) and if you reach Kolhapur (either Opal - 936 for a double or the one we stayed on our return - Hotel Vrindavan Deluxe (Opp Vateshwar Mandir, Near Central Bus Stand, Shivaji Park, Kolhapur) - 0231-2664343 (Doube - 740/-)

[jeevmenon]

Pune-Bangalore in a day? 14 hrs from Bangalore to Mumbai is the ref time, HVK told over the phone once 12 hrs from Panvel to Bangalore and I have heard on the forum some others say from Chennai 19 to 20 hrs to Mumbai. So, I would put Pune-Bangalore as 12 hrs or so non-stop. Take 2-4 breaks for bf/lunch/infant - it would still be 14 hrs and a 4 am start and end at 6 pm. I agree it would be strenuous but its junior ranjitp1 and so he/she better get used to it - no respite!

ranjitp1: Whats this tour about, if you dont mind? Dates? Diwali/New-Years? Friends/relatives or purely sight-seeing and drive? Starting from Hyd? Just curious.

[ranjitp1]

Thanx a ton guys for all the inputs.This is isnt for me,its for a friend,and we might join up for the Coorg-Hassan leg and then we would return to Hyd.

PNQ-BLR is an easy drive,4 lane constant speeds and plenty of facilities enroute,nothing to worry about.Do it usually in 12hrs.

Junior ranjitp1 whose all of 2years does 16hours at one stretch in a M800,thats the maximum we usually do(Hyd-Bom approx 750kms).

PS:Jeev I have sent you a pm,take a look at it.Thanx.

[ampere]

When is the plan to do this? Immediate?
Nh17 is the logical choice, but also depends on Monsoons.

As others said, since last point is CKM, Take the Kadur road via Sakkarepatna.
Once at Kadur, you can continue on NH206 via Shimoga all the way to Honnavara and then on its NH17.

(If you are staying at Taj in CKM, its just on the Kadur road)


I think Goa would natural break point.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Hi,

Day 5: Madikeri-Hassan/Chikmagalur

Thanx in advance.

From Madikeri to Hassan, the best route is Madikeri-Somwarpet-Shanivarsante-Mallipatna-Arkalgud-Hassan

AFAIK, The road is good from Madikeri to Mallipatna. Mallipatna to Arkalgud (around 10-12 kms) is bad. Arkalgud to Hassan (30 kms) is decent with some broken patches.

From Hassan to Chikmagalur, the road is simply beautiful. The route is Hassan-Belur-Chikmagalur. The distance is 60 kms.

Originally Posted by airguitar

OR

1. Chikkamagalur - Sagar - Jog - Sirsi - Yallapura/Dandeli ( Halt at any, one or two nice but not pricey resorts ), you get more of the forests instead of the sea with this one

2. Yellapura/Dandeli ( Couple of falls in Sathoddi and Magodu ) - Hubli - Pune

Also pardon my lack of understanding of GQ after Hubli : is Pune Bangalore doable in a day with a 1 year old onboard ?

I like this itinerary. Chikmagalur-Santaveri-Tarikere-Shimoga-Sagar-Jog-Siddapura-Sirsi-Yellapur/Dandeli. The roads between Chikmagalur and Shimoga, Jog and Yellapur are good. For Shimoga-Sagar-Jog road, you can refer to the Bangalore-Goa thread.

Originally Posted by ampere

When is the plan to do this? Immediate?
Nh17 is the logical choice, but also depends on Monsoons.

As others said, since last point is CKM, Take the Kadur road via Sakkarepatna.
Once at Kadur, you can continue on NH206 via Shimoga all the way to Honnavara and then on its NH17.

(If you are staying at Taj in CKM, its just on the Kadur road)


I think Goa would natural break point.

If you like driving through the hills, take the Chikmagalur-Santaveri-Lingadahalli-Tarikere route to Shimoga instead of Kadur. The road is good and passes through some beautiful coffee plantations.

[karthik_rao]

Hi to all,
Am planning a road trip from mumbai to Chikmagalur and back. There are no diversions. Plan to leave Mumbai Fri night or Sat morn, and reach Chikmagalur by Sat late afternoon. Travelling with wife, parents, and 2 infants. Plan to leave CKM at around 10 AM on tuesday, to return to Mumbai by tuesday night. need help on the following points:
1. Is this feasible in one shot? If I leave Mumbai at 4 AM Sat, can I reach CKM by 1300 on Sat?
2. Option of leaving on Friday night and stopping somewhere on NH4. Any suggestions on the best place to stay between Pune and Satara? Would be great to hear any recent experiences.
3. The best place to turn off from NH4 to get to CKM. Want the best road, quickest drive.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by karthik_rao

1. Is this feasible in one shot? If I leave Mumbai at 4 AM Sat, can I reach CKM by 1300 on Sat?

I dont think it is possible. We are talking about 850-900km.
You need at least 10-12 hours of drive time.

The route:
Mumbai-Pune-Hubli-Ranebennur-Bhadrawathi-Chikamagulur.

2. Option of leaving on Friday night and stopping somewhere on NH4. Any suggestions on the best place
to stay between Pune and Satara? Would be great to hear any recent experiences.

You can break at Hubli/Belgaum. This seems a better option.

3. The best place to turn off from NH4 to get to CKM. Want the best road, quickest drive.

I think the best option is to exit at Ranebennur. It would be about 100km of SH between Ranebennur to Shimoga.
The section is not all that great. But doable. Good to get other feedbacks too.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by karthik_rao

1. Is this feasible in one shot? If I leave Mumbai at 4 AM Sat, can I reach CKM by 1300 on Sat?

3. The best place to turn off from NH4 to get to CKM. Want the best road, quickest drive.

1. Not possible. You will need atleast 12-13 hrs with 2-3 breaks. I guess you will need more time since you are traveling with infants and may need to have a few more breaks.

3. The turnoff from NH4 would be at Harihar. The route is Harihar-Shimoga-Bhadravathi-Tarikere-Chikmagalur.

Another option is NH4-Chitradurga-Channagiri-Bhadravathi-Tarikere-Chikmagalur. In this route the condition of Channagiri-Bhadravathi is supposedly bad.

[karthik_rao]

Thanks Ampere. I have heard of so many people doing Mumbai-Bangalore in 12 hours. So I hope to do better than 12 hours. Need help to find the best route. I was thinking of using NH4 as far as possible. Maybe upto Chitradurga or Davangere. Then Birur-Kadur-CKM. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the Route Via kadur was very good.
If I leave on Friday night, I will probably leave around 9 PM. So It is unlikely I will make it to Hubli by midnight, which is when we will crash. Looks very likely I will reach Satara. Have done that in 3 hours before.

Thanks again and await more suggestions. Will also post my findings after I am done.

From Bhadravati to CKM, there are 2 routes, one via Kadur, and the other turns off at Tarikere. Which of the two do you suggest?

Originally Posted by ampere

I dont think it is possible. We are talking about 850-900km.
You need at least 10-12 hours of drive time.
The route:
Mumbai-Pune-Hubli-Ranebennur-Bhadrawathi-Chikamagulur.
You can break at Hubli/Belgaum. This seems a better option.
I think the best option is to exit at Ranebennur. It would be about 100km of SH between Ranebennur to Shimoga.
The section is not all that great. But doable. Good to get other feedbacks too.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by karthik_rao

Thanks Ampere. I have heard of so many people doing Mumbai-Bangalore in 12 hours. So I hope to do better than 12 hours. Need help to find the best route. I

A distance of almost 1000 kms at a stretch and a single driver along with other occupants would ultimately call for cruising speeds of 110-120kmph in any car because you cannot drive at 140-160kmph all the times for such a long distance even if the road permits. Although 4AM is a very ideal time to start from Mumbai, you will need approximately 8 hours to Reach Harihar from Pune alone.

From here, you take a deviation off NH4 towards Shimoga that is mostly a single-carriageway which will ultimately bring your average speeds down.

With all this, you are still (and definitely) going to spend 12 hours on road for this circuit.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

A distance of almost 1000 kms at a stretch and a single driver along with other occupants would ultimately call
for cruising speeds of 110-120kmph in any car because you cannot drive at 140-160kmph all the times for such a long distance even if the road
permits. Although 4AM is a very ideal time to start from Mumbai, you will need approximately 8 hours to Reach Harihar from Pune alone.

From here, you take a deviation off NH4 towards Shimoga that is mostly a single-carriageway which will ultimately bring your average speeds down.
With all this, you are still (and definitely) going to spend 12 hours on road for this circuit.

Originally Posted by karthik_rao

Thanks Ampere. I have heard of so many people doing Mumbai-Bangalore in 12 hours. So I hope to do better than
12 hours. Need help to find the best route. I was thinking of using NH4 as far as possible. Maybe upto Chitradurga or Davangere.
Then Birur-Kadur-CKM. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the Route Via kadur was very good.

Karthik,

Go with what Parag and Addy say. They know about Shimoga/CKM/Hassan at the back of their head. And Parag does BLR-Pune routinely.
BLR_MUMBAI 12 hours I think is quite aggressive. Even on 4-lanes, if you cruise at 100-120, still you can manage an average of 80-85 kmph.
With that average and break times, at least I can only get to 12 hours only for BLR-PUNE and that too for out skirts! (May be I am too sedate
in my drive style).

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

1. Not possible. You will need atleast 12-13 hrs with 2-3 breaks. I guess you will need more time since you are traveling with infants and may need to have a few more breaks.

3. The turnoff from NH4 would be at Harihar. The route is Harihar-Shimoga-Bhadravathi-Tarikere-Chikmagalur.

Another option is NH4-Chitradurga-Channagiri-Bhadravathi-Tarikere-Chikmagalur. In this route the condition of Channagiri-Bhadravathi is supposedly bad.

Originally Posted by karthik_rao

Thanks Ampere. I have heard of so many people doing Mumbai-Bangalore in 12 hours. So I hope to do better than 12 hours. Need help to find the best route. I was thinking of using NH4 as far as possible. Maybe upto Chitradurga or Davangere. Then Birur-Kadur-CKM. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the Route Via kadur was very good.
If I leave on Friday night, I will probably leave around 9 PM. So It is unlikely I will make it to Hubli by midnight, which is when we will crash. Looks very likely I will reach Satara. Have done that in 3 hours before.

Thanks again and await more suggestions. Will also post my findings after I am done.

From Bhadravati to CKM, there are 2 routes, one via Kadur, and the other turns off at Tarikere. Which of the two do you suggest?

Originally Posted by paragsachania

A distance of almost 1000 kms at a stretch and a single driver along with other occupants would ultimately call for cruising speeds of 110-120kmph in any car because you cannot drive at 140-160kmph all the times for such a long distance even if the road permits. Although 4AM is a very ideal time to start from Mumbai, you will need approximately 8 hours to Reach Harihar from Pune alone.

From here, you take a deviation off NH4 towards Shimoga that is mostly a single-carriageway which will ultimately bring your average speeds down.

With all this, you are still (and definitely) going to spend 12 hours on road for this circuit.

Just to add to what the Hassan-CKM gurus(Parag & Addy) have said-just did the route in the reverse direction in the recent past:Chikmagalur-Tarikere-Shimoga-Harihar-NH4-Pune-Panvel.Left CKM at 5am and reached Panvel at 9pm with maddening MPEW traffic and huge traffic jams on the Pune-Mumbai Bypass.So overall budget for 15hrs with breaks and account for traffic jams.No problems with roads between CKM and Tarikere and NH4.Account for fog while driving early in the morning(of course this again varies from day to day)

This was the route http://goo.gl/maps/JRCQZ

[karthik_rao]

Thanks to Parag, Addy, Ranjit for your inputs. This is what makes Team-BHP forums the best place for Road Trip advice! I will most likely start Friday night, though I still cant find a good place to stay around Satara. I will leave home around 9 PM, so I expect to cross Pune by 11 PM. Maybe get to Satara around 1230.

Ranjit, I see from your map that you took the forest route from CKM to Tarikere. Is it not a solower route with a ghat and stuff?

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Just to add to what the Hassan-CKM gurus(Parag & Addy) have said-just did the route in the reverse direction in the recent past:Chikmagalur-Tarikere-Shimoga-Harihar-NH4-Pune-Panvel.Left CKM at 5am and reached Panvel at 9pm with maddening MPEW traffic and huge traffic jams on the Pune-Mumbai Bypass.So overall budget for 15hrs with breaks and account for traffic jams.No problems with roads between CKM and Tarikere and NH4.Account for fog while driving early in the morning(of course this again varies from day to day)

This was the route http://goo.gl/maps/JRCQZ