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-   -   The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/91125-art-travelling-between-bangalore-mangalore-udupi-630.html)

that stretch between Ujire - belthangady was bad the last time I drove by. Is that all fixed?

YES - the road seems to be fixed, I didn't notice any bad patch, the road was good.

Just travelled from Bangalore to Udupi today via Charmady.
Started from Bangalore Kalyan nagar at 5:00 a.m and reached nellamangala at 5:40 am. Had a fuel up stop and then resumed at 5:50 and then stopped for breakfast at Dwarka veg at 6:30 a.m. Left the hotel at 7:05 am and reached the Hasan - Belur road junction at 8:30 am.
Route from nellamangala to Hassan usually takes us 2 hours but today it took two and a half because none of the flyovers are really open and there are a lot of diversions. The road is generally good.
Continued towards belur from 8:30 am, till 9:45 am the next stop, our usual Fresh bean cafe at Kottigehara. The roads were pretty good through this stretch.yes, a couple of potholes spring up suddenly but nothing to cause harm. We drive a Honda City so when we say no harm, it means no harm lol:
Started from Fresh bean at 10:20 am, and started the descent on Charmady, roads were smooth but there was some traffic.We got stuck behind a Ksrtc bus for most of the route which slowed us a bit. The roads , while single lane were mostly good. Traffic eased up after reaching Ujire , so we carried onto the next stop Guruvayankere , reache there at 11:35 am. After a quick pickup, we resumed at 11:50 towards Karkala.

The route to karkala had some patchy sections but again nothing worrisome. We reached my place in Udupi by 1:25 pm in time for lunch :)

We were on the road for 8.5 hrs but the drive time was 7 hrs

We decided to get a little adventurous during our trip from Bangalore to Udupi. We’ve been traveling via Charmadi for a long time and missed taking the Shiradi route. The last time I drove via Charmadi was 3 weeks ago. The last time I drove through Shiradi was in May 2020.

We left at our usual 2 am time. I prefer to get 4 hours of sleep and leave early, mainly since we have a 2 year old and the more the kid sleeps, the more peaceful our drive is. Electronic City to Hassan was uneventful and took about 2 hours 45 mins. I was really surprised going through the Hassan-Sakleshpur concrete stretch. It’s pretty okay when compared to the last time we drove here. The diversions are a pain and the road gets really bad sometimes, but overall nothing major to complain about and Sakleshpur is reached in 40 mins.

The moment we cross Sakleshpur, the road disappears and we’re left navigating through what can only be described as dirt, stones, craters and dust. The moon would probably have a smoother surface than this.

The concrete section feels like a breath of fresh air. It goes by pretty fast though. After that, driving all the way till BC Road is a mixture of feelings. Sometimes the road seems nice, then a broken section appears, then a diversion, then good road, diversion, then broken and so on it goes until we reach BC Road. Really very tiring. There was huge traffic jam on the Netravati bridge, and Google maps suggested an alternate route via the smaller bridge, which I was dumb enough to take. Driving a brand new car though that bridge amidst traffic was nothing short of a nightmare, but somehow we went through without a scratch. BC Road to Udupi was pretty fast and roads are good/great for the most part.

We took plenty of 5 min breaks since our kid feels nauseous after every few mins while going through curvy roads. Breakfast was at Hotel Aditya, Uppinangadi. Reached Udupi at 11 am.

I definitely do not recommend this route. Charmadi is miles better.

What are the good fuel stations to tank up with diesel in Manipal? There seem to be no COCO pumps here at all! Google search reviews weren’t very helpful too.

There is a BPCL pump at Tiger circle. I have tanked up couple of times and have nothing to complain about. Entry is a bit tedious during early morning due to parked private buses around this place.
Otherwise there is a HPCL outlet and IOCL outlet side by side in Gundibail which are also good.

Travelled from Bangalore - Surathkal yesterday. There is road repair work going on between Hassan - Belur to fix the potholes, at the time I passed that area the work was complete till Kalkere lake.

Took a detour from Belthangadi to witness Ballamanja jodukere Kambala.



Rest of the photos of Kambala are here

Planning for Mangalore to Bangalore trip during the coming week. Considering the following options:
1) via Charmadi route
2) via Madikeri, Mysore route

Any recommendations? Does anyone have the Google Maps route via Charmadi?

Many thanks!

I have to travel to Mangalore this weekend with a detour to Shivamogga. What’s the current best route from Shivamogga to Mangalore? GMaps suggests taking Shivamogga - Thirtahalli - Agumbe - Hebri - Karkala - Nitte - Padubidri - Mangalore. Should I stick with this route or is there any better alternative?

I think that's the best option. If there is a better option to hit the 4-lane near Udupi, it would be worth a try. But am not sure.

Charmadi option is better
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xJqXV2fPMha6QPic8

Just drove from Udupi to Shimoga on this route on 20th December. This route is great to drive, a few road widening work in progress near Udupi but road surface is great, even in the diversions. Took about 3 hours for a slow leisurely drive.

You can very much do Hebri Bhramvara directly after which you glide through the bypasses all the way to Mangalore on NH66.

Hebri to Bhramavara roads are very much doable, witnesses lesser traffic over Hebri to Udupi or Hebri to Karkala (esp. private bus traffic), no need to navigate through multiple rumbler strips and trapezoidal speed-breakers between Karkala and Padubidre.

This route will take same time or even better over traversing from Agumbe to Padubidre via Hebri Karkala Nitte Belman.

I plan to travel to Sri Kukke Subrahmanya temple on 26th. Which is the best route to take? Thanks in advance.

Parag or anyone else,
Would you suggest the Tumkur-Hiriyur, Thirthahalli- Agumbe route to be best for landing directly in Udupi, instead of passing through Mangalore?
I heard that sakleshpura sector is in a very bad state.
I am driving tomorrow morning, planning to start around 4 am from my residence in Kannur (Bangaluru)