The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi

rajshenoy · 26th March 2009, 15:24

Lol and i was planning to go to goa from there(not yet fixed) i might come back to Bangalore as well.
I am going to attend a wedding plus some work on the first weekend(leaving on thursday and returning tuesday)

JMaruru · 26th March 2009, 21:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

JMaruru, What abt the traffic on this route, esp those mining trucks ? has recession affected them in anyway ? bad roads coupled with heavy traffic is a pain that too with Charmadi closed. Did you observe any heavy traffic ?

Raj,

Truck traffic seems reduced a bit, but for me unusual part was about the express buses from state transport corporaton, as there were so many of them. They might have been fed up of all the other alternate routes, and thought of falling back on the original option, never know.

lohithrao · 27th March 2009, 08:32

hehe in that case we can meet somewhere on the way, that is if we are traveling on the same day..sametime. might be marvanthe

kidding

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Lol and i was planning to go to goa from there(not yet fixed) i might come back to Bangalore as well.
I am going to attend a wedding plus some work on the first weekend(leaving on thursday and returning tuesday)

Have seen the mining truck trafi c varies in Jan when i was there while going i hardly i found any but while on my way back found quiet a few.

addyhemmige · 30th March 2009, 01:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by praful

2. Bangalore-Neelamangala-Channaryapatna-Hassan-Belur-<Fill in the blank>
Again have been till Hassan and the roads are pretty good till there and Belur even. What I am confused about is where to head from Belur, I have a few options in front of me :-
a) Belur-Mudigere-Hornadu-Kudremukh-Karkal(Slightly Off this)-Udupi
b) Belur-Mudigere-Koppa(Via Muthodi Sanctuary)-Tirthalli-Agumbe-Manipal-Udupi
c) Belur-Chikmagalur-Koppa(Via Muthodi Sanctuary)-Tirthalli-Agumbe-Manipal-Udupi
d) Are there any other better/faster options

This route would be longer than Route#1 for me, but then I can cover either Agumbe or Kudremukh on one day itself, and these two places are on my to-do list for this trip anyways.

Praful, sorry if I posted this reply late.

Just as I had stated in my earlier post, if you are going towards Udupi, the Madikeri route will be very circuitious.
Out of the 3 routes you have stated in option 2, Route (a) is feasible but roads are not that good. This is also the shortest route after Charmadi & Shiradi.

The other routes which you have stated are feasible to some extent. Going through Muthodi sanctuary, Koppa and to Thirthalli is not at all necessary (unless you want to visit these places)

The best route other than the Kudremukh route would be

Belur-Chikmagalur-Aldur-Balehonnur-Jayapura-Sringeri-Agumbe-Someshwara-Hebri-Manipal-Udupi. You will encounter good roads until Agumbe and Hebri

Since you know roads upto Belur, i'll continue from there.
Belur-Chikmagalur stretch is very good with long straights.
After Chikmagalur, turn towards Mudigere. The Mudigere road is broken in places. Turn right near Vastare village towards Aldur.
Aldur to Balehonnur there is a good 2 lane road except for a few kms in the forest. But it is easily manageable in a bike.
Balehonnur-Jayapura is also a beautiful winding road. At Jayapura take a left 'U' turn towards Sringeri. Straight goes to Koppa. Only buses take the Koppa-Agumbe Koppa-Sringeri route because they can't handle the short curves.
Good road Sringeri to Agumbe.
Agumbe to Someshwara, ghat road broken in a few places.
Someshwara to Hebri single lane road but smooth surface.
Hebri to Manipal 2 lane road but rough.

This is the shortest route to Agumbe from Bangalore

rajshenoy · 30th March 2009, 10:55

Yeah, i too have heard this is a good road to udupi(a bit confusing though since it passes through small villages)

lohithrao · 30th March 2009, 11:02

raj, i feel the shiradi as the easiet route and less consuming..but thanks to the condition we are looking at other options. have taken kuremukha route few times i feel its one interesting route but need to have loads of patience

twisty/narrow roads take more time...

BTW how does your swift perform on ghats...winding road last weekedn i took a drive in vxi and i felt it lacked torque while vdi had adequate( just my thoughts)

rajshenoy · 30th March 2009, 11:13

Going down is smooth, but while climbing i need to change gears frequently due to lack of torque as you pointed

This applies not just for ghats but also while overtaking(need to switch to 3rd or 2nd to get that power)

No wonder my mileage doesnt go over 14-15 kmpl

praful · 30th March 2009, 11:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Praful, sorry if I posted this reply late.

Just as I had stated in my earlier post, if you are going towards Udupi, the Madikeri route will be very circuitious.
Out of the 3 routes you have stated in option 2, Route (a) is feasible but roads are not that good. This is also the shortest route after Charmadi & Shiradi.

The other routes which you have stated are feasible to some extent. Going through Muthodi sanctuary, Koppa and to Thirthalli is not at all necessary (unless you want to visit these places)

The best route other than the Kudremukh route would be

Belur-Chikmagalur-Aldur-Balehonnur-Jayapura-Sringeri-Agumbe-Someshwara-Hebri-Manipal-Udupi. You will encounter good roads until Agumbe and Hebri

Since you know roads upto Belur, i'll continue from there.
Belur-Chikmagalur stretch is very good with long straights.
After Chikmagalur, turn towards Mudigere. The Mudigere road is broken in places. Turn right near Vastare village towards Aldur.
Aldur to Balehonnur there is a good 2 lane road except for a few kms in the forest. But it is easily manageable in a bike.
Balehonnur-Jayapura is also a beautiful winding road. At Jayapura take a left 'U' turn towards Sringeri. Straight goes to Koppa. Only buses take the Koppa-Agumbe Koppa-Sringeri route because they can't handle the short curves.
Good road Sringeri to Agumbe.
Agumbe to Someshwara, ghat road broken in a few places.
Someshwara to Hebri single lane road but smooth surface.
Hebri to Manipal 2 lane road but rough.

This is the shortest route to Agumbe from Bangalore

Thanks for the exhaustive route info!

I did take the Madikeri Route, it was a total of 460 Kms till Brahmawara (14 kms ahead of the Malpe Beach turn-off). The roads were good almost all the way except for 30 kms before and 30 kms after Madikeri. And ofcourse the painful entry to Mangalore. But the other better stretches helped in maintaining a decent avg. speed. From home to Udupi took me 8.5 hrs.

On my return trip I came Via Kudremukh-Kalasa. The roads post Kalasa just detoriate for almost 30-40 kms and most of it is hilly so lost loads of time there. Once past Kotigehara the roads do improve a lot though. Mudigere to Belur was in a not so good shape either, but being on a bike I could stick to the centre line of the road which was relatively pothole free. Again from Brahmavara to Home (Bangalore) was 497kms and took me 9.5 hours.

Incase someone wants to reach Kudremukh I'd suggest looking for alternative route to avoid Kalasa-Mudigere, unless one has ample time at hand!

rajshenoy · 30th March 2009, 13:03

I guess you got addyhemmige's msg a bit late brother

praful · 30th March 2009, 13:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

I guess you got addyhemmige's msg a bit late brother

I did, but I can always use the info provided by him next time!

chandan · 30th March 2009, 18:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by lohithrao

have seen the mining truck traffic varies in Jan when i was there while going i hardly i found any but while on my way back found quiet a few.

The mining trucks do the shiradi stretch at night.I've counted upto 60 trucks starting off near Donigal around 10 p.m.As for the KSRTC buses,it's holiday season & they have extra buses running.

paragsachania · 31st March 2009, 13:27

Guys,

I did Bangalore – Karkala over the long weekend that passed in my WagonR and here is what I felt :

1.On 27th, I Started from Bangalore at 5-00am from near BEL Campus only to reach Nelamangala by 5-55, thanks to a massive jam around 5-20am where NICE connects NH4. Still don't know the reason
2.Nelamangala to Hassan was a smooth journey barring a few stretches till CR Patna where patchworks to do away the potholes irritate you and the 4 laning work has dangerously dug up roads without any warning signs. A short break of 20 mins for breakfast was at Udayapura (Atithi).
3.Hassan bypass is drivable now (acceptable patchwork over the potholes that one can maintain 70-80kmph all through)
4.Hassan – Belur was a bliss as many would agree. Reached Belur (my hometown) at 8-15am, took a break at my place for an hour.
5.Started again from Belur at 9-30am, and passed through a few bad stretches till Mudigere Handpost (They weren’t bad for a WagonR, so bigger cars may not even feel it)
6.Mudigere – Kottigehara was amazing. Took a right towards Kalasa and the road is good for about 13 kms till you take left to take the MDR route to Kalasa from where the next 30 Kms is bad enough to force you to maintain speeds anything between 30-60Kmph, but scenic one with lush green Hills and valleys surrounded by Tea and Coffee estates.
7.Kalasa to Samse was better and the best was Between Kuduremukha till Bajagoli through the national park. Excellent road with curves, good enough to give you a feel of a WRC driver (of course, when you have a good car!!)
8.Reached Karkala at 1-30Pm covering a total distance of 375Kms in 8 Hours and 30 minutes with 2 breaks and one bottleneck early morning in namma Bengaluru totaling 2Hrs in all. So the actual drive was only for 6 hr and 30 Minutes attained with decent speeds between 80-100kmph in good stretches.

Overall, I felt more time is spent in that 35-40Kms stretch between Kottigehara and Kalasa barring which the whole route is drivable. Also, It would always be best to stick to the left after Belur all the way till Karkala due to Narrow and winding roads and more so, for the fact that even if the locals will give you way by getting off the road, most of our Bengaluru drivers will ensure that they somehow occupy the whole road and also indulge in dangerous overtaking blocking oncoming traffic.

Finally, I feel this route is never bad at all and is still worth driving.

The Return journey was with an overnight break in Belur through the same route.

JMaruru · 1st April 2009, 23:42

This is little OT. I would like to know about good food joints on NH48, especially between nelamangala junction and sakleshpur. The food joints i know of is "mayura restaurant" which is after bellur cross and "kamat yatri nivas" which is after channarayapatna. Is there any alternatives to these joints ? Please let us know.

rajshenoy · 2nd April 2009, 04:03

If we continue further on NH48, just before Sakleshpur there is another place i forgot its name..but something like Aruru or something(correct me here) its almost at a midpoint so ppl can break for a while here too(on the same side of road as that of kamat) and a bit posh looking place from outside..yes i didnt go inside but just noted this place during my last drive. Just didnt have the courage to go via shiradi after that

lohithrao · 2nd April 2009, 06:46

paragsachania, thats a nice report!

Jmaruru, there is a restaurant once you enter sakleshpura, just when the winding road starts to the right. its quiet new one forgot the name though.

26th March 2009, 15:24	#496
rajshenoy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore Posts: 2,885 Thanked: 2,230 Times View My Garage	Lol and i was planning to go to goa from there(not yet fixed) i might come back to Bangalore as well. I am going to attend a wedding plus some work on the first weekend(leaving on thursday and returning tuesday) Last edited by rajshenoy : 26th March 2009 at 15:26.
	() Thanks

30th March 2009, 10:55	#500
rajshenoy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore Posts: 2,885 Thanked: 2,230 Times View My Garage	Yeah, i too have heard this is a good road to udupi(a bit confusing though since it passes through small villages)
	() Thanks

30th March 2009, 11:02	#501
lohithrao Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Kudla/Mangaluru Posts: 3,204 Thanked: 225 Times View My Garage	raj, i feel the shiradi as the easiet route and less consuming..but thanks to the condition we are looking at other options. have taken kuremukha route few times i feel its one interesting route but need to have loads of patience twisty/narrow roads take more time... BTW how does your swift perform on ghats...winding road last weekedn i took a drive in vxi and i felt it lacked torque while vdi had adequate( just my thoughts)
	() Thanks

30th March 2009, 11:13	#502
rajshenoy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore Posts: 2,885 Thanked: 2,230 Times View My Garage	Going down is smooth, but while climbing i need to change gears frequently due to lack of torque as you pointed This applies not just for ghats but also while overtaking(need to switch to 3rd or 2nd to get that power) No wonder my mileage doesnt go over 14-15 kmpl
	() Thanks

30th March 2009, 13:03	#504
rajshenoy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore Posts: 2,885 Thanked: 2,230 Times View My Garage	I guess you got addyhemmige's msg a bit late brother
	() Thanks

31st March 2009, 13:27	#507
paragsachania Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Belur/Bangalore Posts: 7,148 Thanked: 27,140 Times	Guys, I did Bangalore – Karkala over the long weekend that passed in my WagonR and here is what I felt : 1.On 27th, I Started from Bangalore at 5-00am from near BEL Campus only to reach Nelamangala by 5-55, thanks to a massive jam around 5-20am where NICE connects NH4. Still don't know the reason 2.Nelamangala to Hassan was a smooth journey barring a few stretches till CR Patna where patchworks to do away the potholes irritate you and the 4 laning work has dangerously dug up roads without any warning signs. A short break of 20 mins for breakfast was at Udayapura (Atithi). 3.Hassan bypass is drivable now (acceptable patchwork over the potholes that one can maintain 70-80kmph all through) 4.Hassan – Belur was a bliss as many would agree. Reached Belur (my hometown) at 8-15am, took a break at my place for an hour. 5.Started again from Belur at 9-30am, and passed through a few bad stretches till Mudigere Handpost (They weren’t bad for a WagonR, so bigger cars may not even feel it) 6.Mudigere – Kottigehara was amazing. Took a right towards Kalasa and the road is good for about 13 kms till you take left to take the MDR route to Kalasa from where the next 30 Kms is bad enough to force you to maintain speeds anything between 30-60Kmph, but scenic one with lush green Hills and valleys surrounded by Tea and Coffee estates. 7.Kalasa to Samse was better and the best was Between Kuduremukha till Bajagoli through the national park. Excellent road with curves, good enough to give you a feel of a WRC driver (of course, when you have a good car!!) 8.Reached Karkala at 1-30Pm covering a total distance of 375Kms in 8 Hours and 30 minutes with 2 breaks and one bottleneck early morning in namma Bengaluru totaling 2Hrs in all. So the actual drive was only for 6 hr and 30 Minutes attained with decent speeds between 80-100kmph in good stretches. Overall, I felt more time is spent in that 35-40Kms stretch between Kottigehara and Kalasa barring which the whole route is drivable. Also, It would always be best to stick to the left after Belur all the way till Karkala due to Narrow and winding roads and more so, for the fact that even if the locals will give you way by getting off the road, most of our Bengaluru drivers will ensure that they somehow occupy the whole road and also indulge in dangerous overtaking blocking oncoming traffic. Finally, I feel this route is never bad at all and is still worth driving. The Return journey was with an overnight break in Belur through the same route. Last edited by Rehaan : 31st March 2009 at 15:40. Reason: Please see the ANNOUNCEMENTS section regardin [FONT] and other tags that have been removed from this post. Thanks.
	() Thanks

1st April 2009, 23:42	#508
JMaruru BHPian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: BLR/EWR Posts: 780 Thanked: 368 Times	Food joints on NH48 This is little OT. I would like to know about good food joints on NH48, especially between nelamangala junction and sakleshpur. The food joints i know of is "mayura restaurant" which is after bellur cross and "kamat yatri nivas" which is after channarayapatna. Is there any alternatives to these joints ? Please let us know.
	() Thanks

2nd April 2009, 04:03	#509
rajshenoy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore Posts: 2,885 Thanked: 2,230 Times View My Garage	If we continue further on NH48, just before Sakleshpur there is another place i forgot its name..but something like Aruru or something(correct me here) its almost at a midpoint so ppl can break for a while here too(on the same side of road as that of kamat) and a bit posh looking place from outside..yes i didnt go inside but just noted this place during my last drive. Just didnt have the courage to go via shiradi after that
	() Thanks

2nd April 2009, 06:46	#510
lohithrao Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Kudla/Mangaluru Posts: 3,204 Thanked: 225 Times View My Garage	paragsachania, thats a nice report! Jmaruru, there is a restaurant once you enter sakleshpura, just when the winding road starts to the right. its quiet new one forgot the name though.
	() Thanks