[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

This is really not true. Both of these routes almost take similar times depending on the time of the day and traffic pattern.

Having taken both these ghats on quite a regular basis, I would say the difference between both these routes won't be anything more than 10-15 minutes anyway.

The only thing with Charmadi is that due to the terrain and ghats, it feels a lot slower than Shiradi.

Hi Parag, during my onward and return journey I did not encounter much traffic. But I felt the number of twists and turns were more on the Charmadi route as against the Shiradi route. For the onward journey I took the Charmadi ghats and it was predominantly down hill drive which prompted me to try the Shiradi route for the return journey.
In my case it was close to 1 hr time difference between driving on Shiradi and Charmadi Ghats. The only plus point is the good condition of roads throughout on the Chamadi Ghats.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

But I felt the number of twists and turns were more on the Charmadi route as against the Shiradi route.

True Suresh. Hence I mentioned that the ghats are more twisty compared to Shiradi.

For the onward journey I took the Charmadi ghats and it was predominantly down hill drive which prompted me to try the Shiradi route for the return journey.

The uphill as well is pretty fast with similar traffic conditions. However, the tough one would be to get stuck behind a slow moving buses or trucks till you get a chance to overtake.

In my case it was close to 1 hr time difference between driving on Shiradi and Charmadi Ghats.

That's really a massive difference. May be you were indeed slower in certain sections. Because if you were 1 Hour slower on Charmadi even with the present road conditions on Shiradi, it would mean you will be more than 75-90 mins faster on Shiradi when the road gets repaired!

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

I felt the number of twists and turns were more on the Charmadi route as against the Shiradi route.
In my case, it was close to 1 hr time difference between driving on Shiradi and Charmadi Ghats. The only plus point is the good condition of roads throughout on the Chamadi Ghats.

I did not find the Charmadi route taxing as such.

You are right about the time difference of 1 hour for new drivers, but driving from Belur to Hassan is a breeze compared to Sakleshpura and Hassan. I always prefer Charmadi ghats for the return journey. The chance of overtaking a slow-moving vehicle is limited on Charmadi ghat, but it is a safe route for night driving.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by deehunk

You are right about the time difference of 1 hour for new drivers, but driving from Belur to Hassan is a breeze compared to Sakleshpura and Hassan. I always prefer Charmadi ghats for the return journey.

Having driven on other ghat section routes before, I did not find the Charmadi route taxing as such. As regards the time difference, may be a slower vehicle was ahead of me for quite some time or overtaking had to be careful as it was slowly getting dark.

On the Charmadi route as well, I did notice one particular stretch (not sure of the exact location) where it was only mud road and no tarmac. But very much doable

[ukamath]

Wanted to share my experience of driving via Charmadi last week. Post a nice breakfast at Swati Delicacy at Kunigal (highly recommended for some great food - vast choices, clean restrooms, kids play area and gigantic parking lot), we passed via Hassan to Belur. Stopped for some awesome watermelons (so refreshing on a hot day) and took a pit stop at the Fresh Bean Café at Mudigere (the food range is not so good, but still good food and clean restrooms - attached to a IOC pump - clean fuel with CC acceptance). The tarmac from Mudigere to Charmadi was awesome. Brilliant winding roads with sparse traffic. Fresh tar was being laid on roads in Charmadi (assuming they are going to divert traffic here once Shiradi is closed). Except for a few small tiny stretches, roads were really awesome. Compared to Shiradi, the roads are narrow, but fun to drive. Overtaking buses needs some forward thinking due to the width. Came across a few accidents (purely human error I would say looking at the carnage). Long winding and slow movement into Ujire and then to Bantwal and Mangalore. Took back the same route with a pit stop at Sri Krishna Bhavan just after Hassan.

Until Shiradi comes back to its old glory, I highly recommend using the Charmadi route to Mangalore (just follow Google maps via Belur, Charmadi, Ujire to Mangalore). It is fabulous - the twists and turns make the drive a dream. The views along the way just add more zing to the drive.

Thanks to guidance and recommendations from Parag, Suresh, DragonHawk and others for making this a memorable drive for us.

[sasi@8689]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

I have used option 2 multiple times. You can easily reach Mangalore by lunch. I mostly start around 5 and cross Mangalore around 12 to reach udupi before 1

Originally Posted by paragsachania

After deciding to take plunge by starting on a noon of an extended weekend 2 years back, we were pretty fast till Hassan and after that it was literally crawling all the way to Sakaleshpur only because we had many cars who would not overtake a tanker and just follow that and the same folks would not allow you to overtake them.

This ensured Hassan Sakaleshpur took me and another friend 75 Mins....................
I will any day choose bad roads over traffic prone roads and still relish that and yes, Charmadi (road) in its present state is heaven compared to Shiradi.

Suresh, it is no brainer that if you are driving till Hassan, Charmadi is the most sensible route to take for Mangalore than any other. This is as simple as that.
..........................

As an alternate to the same route above, you can as well do:

Bangalore - Nelamangala - Kunigal - CR Patna - Hassan - Belur - Mudigere
Handpost - Kottigehara - Charmadi - Ujire - Belthangady - Guruvayanakere - BC Road - Mangalore

................................
Charmadi Ghat itself remains good except hair pin curves where roads are only a bit rough and marginally bad. But that is all. There will be 11 Hair pins to tackle and if you are used to it, a very good alternate to Shiradi any day.

Thanks a ton for both of you. Did BLR-MLR last week and stuck to the route mentioned above. Road conditions are good throughout and it took around 5 -5.30 hours of driving time from Hassan to Mangalore (relaxed driving with one or two breaks in between). Don't know the reason, but noticed that major amount of traffic prefers Shiradi ghat (even though its only shorter by around 15-17 kms as per google); even i was tempted to try Shiradi while returning, but remembering your posts on road conditions of the ghat and traffic between sakhleshpur and hassan, stuck again with charmadi and reached Bangalore peacefully

Sasi

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by sasi@8689

Don't know the reason, but noticed that major amount of traffic prefers Shiradi ghat (even though its only shorter by around 15-17 kms as per google);

Wider Roads, Less twister, Faster sections and above all, the feeling of passing ghat roads is minimal via Shiradi than Charmadi - These are the reasons apart from little better facilities too.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Wider Roads, Less twister, Faster sections and above all, the feeling of passing ghat roads is minimal via Shiradi than Charmadi - These are the reasons apart from little better facilities too.

Precisely the reason i have been taking Shiradi till date. Winding roads are only great for me(or may be the MPV) if there are no passengers in the back seat

Charmadi(Mangalore) or Agumbe(Udupi) are any day more scenic and preferred route if driving alone

[hemanth.anand]

We had been to Sakaleshpura for a 5-family outing in the last week of Last year in 3 cars.

26th December:
Morning 06:15 we started from NECE-NH48 junction.
Heavy mist after joining NH75 till Kunigal.
Reached Swathi Delicacy at 07:30 for breakfast
Left Swathi Delicacy at 08:45 and reached Hanbal at 12:00

After staying there for two nights, we had planned to come back on 28th.
But due to some plan changes, all three cars headed in different directions. 1 car went back to Bangalore, one went to Coorg, and I had to go to Surathkal.

28th December
I started from Hanbal at 13:30 via CharmaDi
Halfway, we stopped for lunch at 15:30 at Ujire
Resuming the journey at 16:15, We reached Surathkal at 18:15

Good roads through out except 3 U-turns where the road is rough and in one of those, there was an earth mover operating to repair it. Loved driving on the curvy and scenic roads. Traffic was really bad from BC road to Surathkal with a couple of really dark red stretches on Google maps. I don't use maps in this part of the country, but since I was stuck for long periods of time, I checked for possible alternate interior routes.

29th December
After having lunch at Pabbas ice creams at Mangalore, started at 13:30
Came back also via CharmaDi and drove non-stop to Hanbal at 16:30 (1 hour less drive time than the onward journey)
We stopped at my grandparents place for coffee and snacks and resumed our journey at 18:30.
I drove non stop to Bangalore and reached home at 22:00 for Dinner

[goandude]

Originally Posted by indusboy

We took this during the Christmas break, and I would recommend this to anyone going to Manipal/Udupi. Picturesque and way less traffic. A little bit of bad surface for 10-15Kms after Chikamagalur, other than that very nice and smooth.

Do you have to pass chickmangalur? Or can one go via Aldur and Maravanthi as suggested by GM?

[indusboy]

Originally Posted by goandude

Do you have to pass chickmangalur? Or can one go via Aldur and Maravanthi as suggested by GM?

No idea, I guess you can. We went via Chickamaglur.

[explorer09]

Originally Posted by goandude

Do you have to pass chickmangalur? Or can one go via Aldur and Maravanthi as suggested by GM?

Its best to stick to Chikmagalur. I can see that it saves about 8-10 Kms - dont think you'll gain any time.

[Thilak29]

The Shiradi Ghat stretch will be closed on January 20 to allow the improvement of the 13-km-long road.

Report

[samaspire]

Here's the report in Indian Express with alternative routes.



Where is this Uzare?

[dkamath]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Where is this Uzare?

It's a typo. Must've been spelt as Ujire. That's not a good choice of route for night buses, i feel. Diverting via. Madikeri -> Kushalnagar -> Holenarasipura -> CR Patna, as they did before, would've been a better option.