[ampere]

Originally Posted by Shubbi

The route is Tirthahalli - Kaimara - Yadur - Mastikatte, and then Hulikal ghats descent. This is the usual bus route too (including many Bangalore-Kundapura night buses) and doesn't touch Nagara. Back in November, this section was pretty good. Mastikatte junction has a restaurant, then at Hosangadi down the ghats. Fuel tankers and gas cylinder containers make up the bulk of the traffic here.

Thanks for pointing that out. I thought you were referring to the road to Nagar. But I guess what you mention is the road goes around Kaval Durga and close to Mani (deviation from Mulubagilu). Yes this is a good option and one can bypass Nagara too. I was not sure if this is a regular traffic road.


And yes for that matter even the Ayanur-Ripponpet is pretty desolate. But I must say both are amazingly beautiful stretches !


An early morning around Ampar-Hosangadi





Around Kavaldurga. The Mani backwaters.




The ever beautiful Ayanur-Ripponpet stretch

While Tarikere-Lakkavalli-Bhadra dam & Muduba-Tirthahalli stretches are good, the worse part of @cnu's route is Bhadra dam to Muduba. Back when I drove, this had many sections where a hatch/sedan easily scraped its bottom, but I have heard there has been an attempt to patch them up off late.

One option here may be to go all the way and take Bhadra bypass and then turn to Mandagadde via Umblibail. Not sure how this section of SH65 stands today.

[Sanbhat1611]

Originally Posted by rahulb22

Please take option 2 as the roads are currently in much better shape. Though the bad stretch on the Shiradi route is only about 15-20 kms, sedans and hatchbacks are quite likely to scrape the underbelly, especially if full load.

Thanks Rahul, went via Option (2) --- Roads were good throughout !

[balenoed_]

Was brave enough to attempt to take Shriadi ghat route today for a drive from Mangalore to Bangalore. No surprises, as usual, terrible roads all over Sakleshpur.

BC Road to Nellyadi: Road work in progress, lots of diversions and you sometime end up jumping to the lane which is in complete. Pain to drive.

Ghat section: Absolutely fine

From ghat top till Sakleshpur town: Worst roads on earth. I wonder what on earth stops the authorities to fix this stretch? Even KSRTC's couldn't survive this, saw one with a broken axle.

Sakleshpur to Hassan: Bad roads and usual under construction road beside and frequent diversions back and forth. At one point, there wasn't any diversion and I went on to drive on the newly laid concrete road happily only to realise at the end that it doesn't go further. And had to reverse all the way to come back and divert back to the actual old road.

Hassan onwards: Roads are good but lots of road expansion and flyover construction happening throughout the 4 lane stretch, guess until Kunigal. Diversions to single lane service road mutliple times.

[JMaruru]

Has anyone traveled on the Uppinangady > Kadaba > Bisle > Shanivarsante > Channarayapatna section, recently?

I would like to know the road conditions and whether we can do this on a hatchback.

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Has anyone traveled on the Uppinangady > Kadaba > Bisle > Shanivarsante > Channarayapatna section, recently?

I would like to know the road conditions and whether we can do this on a hatchback.

I have driven on this exact route last month and excellent roads all the way from Uppinangady to Channarayapatna.

[rakirank]

Driving to Kundapura this Thursday night (17th March) night drive and back to Bangalore on Sunday 20th, day drive.

Car: Laura
Pax: Me + 3 adult men (all well fed)

Would appreciate it if someone can suggest the ideal route. Definitely aim to avoid bad roads.

Google maps is showing me the following options both via Agumbe. Would Agumbe be open for onward journey which is a night drive? Leaving Blr circa 10 PM, plan to reach Kundapura about 8 AM on Friday.

Blr-Hassan-Belur-Balehonnur-Hariharapura-Agumbe-Halady-Kundapura about 400km

Blr-Tumkur-Hiriyur-Thirthahalli-Agumbe-Halady-Kundapura about 430km

Thanks in advance.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by rakirank

Driving to Kundapura this Thursday night (17th March) night drive and back to Bangalore on Sunday 20th, day drive.

Car: Laura
Pax: Me + 3 adult men (all well fed)

Would appreciate it if someone can suggest the ideal route. Definitely aim to avoid bad roads.

I drove to Kundapur in my BMW 320d in February. We drove via Bangalore-Hassan-Chikamaglur (CKM)-Sringeri-Agumbe-Kundapur route. Excellent roads throughout. I would definitely suggest this road if you are looking at the close to shortest distance and good roads throughout.

Please note that your Google Maps suggestion includes a shortcut from Belur to Balehonnur. I have driven on that road in September and also again in October, and I can tell you that is not a great road. That is technically the shortest distance, but actually a very narrow road with broken patches. Not recommended for a sedan. Therefore, the relatively longer road (but adds only about 10 minutes of extra time overall) is via CKM. Therefore, I would recommend Belur-CKM-Sringeri path over the shortcut suggested by Google.

While returning, we returned via Charmadi ghat. While those roads are good too, that is a longer route for sure. So I suggest returning again via Agumbe-Sringeri, unless you want to explore this longer road via Charmadi.

Check out our travelogue which has the map and also pictures of the roads to give you an idea of what to expect.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by rakirank

Google maps is showing me the following options both via Agumbe. Would Agumbe be open for onward journey which is a night drive? Leaving Blr circa 10 PM, plan to reach Kundapura about 8 AM on Friday.

If you go back one page, you will learn that Agumbe is closed right now. Will it open by 17th, no one really knows.

[ampere]

Like we discussed earlier, I guess the best option is to take the Hulikal ghat.

Either: Thirthahalli-Hosangadi-Ampar-Kundapur
or
Shimoga-Ayanur-Ripponpet-Nagar-Hosangadi-Ampar-Kundapur

For both the option, a morning drive is preferable. Roads are narrow and twisty. Not worth a night drive. (At least I won't)

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

I have driven on this exact route last month and excellent roads all the way from Uppinangady to Channarayapatna.

I did travel on this route on last tuesday, and as mentioned above it was good all the way. The roads are narrow in the ghats, and one should be careful on the turns.

BTW, heard that there has been some patch-up work done between sakleshpur <> maranahally towards shirady. Can someone who traveled in the recent past, please confirm the same?

[gypsyFreak]

Originally Posted by rakirank

Driving to Kundapura this Thursday night (17th March) night drive and back to Bangalore on Sunday 20th, day drive.

Similar scenario here, driving to Kundapur in April, but with my family in SUV and no night drive.

Apart from routes by Google maps and Hulikal ghat, aslo considering that Agumbe is still closed, how is the below route:

Bangalore - Hassan - Charmadi - Mudabidri - Hejamadi - Kundapur : https://goo.gl/maps/N19QRRPLRtcNWRRR6

Is Mangalore (Hejamadi) to Kundapura fully 4 laned?

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ampere

An early morning around Ampar-HosangadiThe ever beautiful Ayanur-Ripponpet stretch

My god, those are breathtaking photos! Like travel photos from a more peaceful past. Have to go on this stretch and soon! Thanks for sharing.

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by gypsyFreak

how is the below route:

Bangalore - Hassan - Charmadi - Mudabidri - Hejamadi - Kundapur

Take Charmadi Belthangady Guruvayanakere Nellikar Aladangadi Naravi Bajagoli Karkala Padubidre Kundapura. The roads have been done up recently on this stretch.

The Karkala Manipal stretch is also equally good but a bit rough for about 2kms around Manipal as road are being widened.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by am1m

My god, those are breathtaking photos! Like travel photos from a more peaceful past. Have to go on this stretch and soon! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you!

These places are amazing but we need that time to lazily drive through these locations. Then such moments do hit you.

[cnu]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Agumbe ghat is closed starting today...

https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le65187244.ece

Originally Posted by ampere

On second thoughts this should also be good option as it gives access Thirthahalli and we can break for food in that town.

Originally Posted by Shubbi

The route is Tirthahalli - Kaimara - Yadur - Mastikatte, and then Hulikal ghats descent.

While Tarikere-Lakkavalli-Bhadra dam & Muduba-Tirthahalli stretches are good, the worse part of @cnu's route is Bhadra dam to Muduba. Back when I drove, this had many sections where a hatch/sedan easily scraped its bottom, but I have heard there has been an attempt to patch them up off late.

Thanks guys for all the inputs. Drove from Bangalore to Kundapura last week and followed the below route and it was a breeze to drive:

BLR - Hiriyur - Hosadurga - Tarikere - Lakkavalli (Bhadra) - Hunasekatte - Muduba - Thirthahalli - Kaimara - Yadur - Masthikatte - Hulikal Ghat - Kundapura

Except for a couple of short rough patches (no potholes though) after Tarikere and after Hunasekatte, the entire route is smooth. Watch out for good number of twists and turns and few narrow stretches here and there between Lakkavalli and Muduba. The road between Lakkavalli and Hunusekatte is newly laid. Need to follow GMaps closely between Lakkavalli and Muduba as its easy to miss the turns. Keep the drive relaxed and enjoy the scenic views.

We started in BLR (Marathahalli) at 7am and reached Kundapura by 4.30pm including two 30min breaks for breakfast and lunch. If you are starting in the morning, I would suggest to stop for breakfast before Tumkur and at Thirthahalli town for lunch.