[vnambiar]

Originally Posted by @ri

Planning a trip to Manipal this weekend to start from Bangalore on Saturday.
I am intending to take the route Bangalore --> Tumkur --> Shimoga -- > Thirtahalli --> Agumbe -- > Manipal. Couple of years back , had taken the same route which was quite good, except for a stretch after coming down the Agumbe ghat. Would be great if someone could give me info on this route as to the situation now.
Also a thought that crossed my mind was to drive down to Jog from Manipal on sunday morning and then come back to bangalore. Would this be too much of a stress as I am traveling with my parents. Initially was intending to do a stop over at Murudeshwar but unable to get bookings there.

Shimoga- tirthalli stretch is narrow roads, Monsoon washes away the sides of road and you have to slow down and get off for buses. Budget lower average speeds, perhaps 30km or less. I had taken route from shimoga to byndoor. There is a good beach resort sai vishram in byndoor. Awesome view and water sports. No alcohol and vegan place though.

[sandeep joshi]

Originally Posted by ampere

If the Sulya road is open, then thats the best option.
But if not, then its better to go to Mysore first

But distance will be double from udupai to mysore and then u turn again for madikeri , i guess its better to drop mysore in this trip.
I am coming from Pune and after covering coastal karnataka and udupi , after that planning to visit madikeri then mysore and back to pune but now i think distance wise its double now (from udupi to madikei) due to closure of that sulya road.
Any other option ?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sandeep joshi

But distance will be double from udupai to mysore and then u turn again for madikeri , i guess its better to drop mysore in this trip.
I am coming from Pune and after covering coastal karnataka and udupi , after that planning to visit madikeri then mysore and back to pune but now i think distance wise its double now (from udupi to madikei) due to closure of that sulya road.
Any other option ?

The other option is take the Shiradi ghats and come down till Donigal.
Take the diversion to Shanivarsanthe via Kodlipet and you land up in Madikeri via Somwarpet. I have no idea of the road condition.

So the route becomes:

Udupu-Karkala-Uppinangaddi-Donigal-Kodlipet-Shanivarsante-Somwarpet-Madikeri

But please check with others (esp Samurai or Addyhemmige) for status of the roads.

EDIT:

Here is the route link:
Udupi to Madikeri Route link

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by ampere

Now for return to go back to Hassan from Coorg, there is an option via Arkalgud and Gorur.

I saw the news in hassan local paper this road has gone from bad to worse, when i had been to Hassan in weekend. People there blocking road and protesting for Road repairs.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by shamanth

I saw the news in hassan local paper this road has gone from bad to worse, when i had been to Hassan in weekend. People there blocking road and protesting for Road repairs.

I was aware that it was decent at best. Did not realize that it has gone worse.
Thanks for sharing.

[RaguHolla]

Originally Posted by vnambiar

Shimoga- tirthalli stretch is narrow roads, Monsoon washes away the sides of road and you have to slow down and get off for buses. Budget lower average speeds, perhaps 30km or less. I had taken route from shimoga to byndoor. There is a good beach resort sai vishram in byndoor. Awesome view and water sports. No alcohol and vegan place though.

Not sure when you took this route. Between Shimoga & Tirthahalli roads are two lane, roads are very good to good, with one or two potholes. There are many rumble strips in sharp corners. Two of the are not marked from shimoga to Thirthahalli side. I could able to maintain 80kmph average in this road considering the it is rainy day!

This was the state when I last took this route in September this year. State of Hulikal ghat may be what you described,I could maintain only 15kmph speed till Thirthahalli in Jan this year. Roads aren't repaired and further deteriorated (as per brother who drove this stretch in August). Many places its just a single lane with huge level difference in both side, add egoistic local buses drivers make your life difficult.

[iPai]

Made a trip from Karkala to Bangalore on my i10 this Sunday. Took the following route to avoid Shiradi:

Karkala - Guruvayankere - Ujire - Charmadi - Mudigere - Gendehalli - Belur - Hassan - Nelamangala - NICE - Electronic City - Bellandur

The roads till Belur were overall bad. I wouldnt suggest anyone to take this route to avoid 14 kms of Shiradi Nightmare. I guess tolerating those 14 kms worst stretch is better than nearly 150 kms of sustained badgering on these roads. Firstly these were single roads. The edges were rough. And the drivers there literally force you to get down when two vehicles come face to face. They simply stop and make you go down. Nobody cooperated. We simply started getting off the road and continued our journey but the attitude of the people was very disheartening.

Left Karkala at around 8 30 and reached home at Bellandur at 5 30 in the evening with about 1 hour of break time.

Bad experience: The Charmadi Ghat is narrow. There was a 10 min jam which thankfully didnt aggravate. But this is a risk. The KSRTC drivers drive very rashly and one bus came on the extreme right. Our car had nowhere to go. The bus brushed the right ORVM. It could have been worser if the driver hadnt managed the car well. We got down and gave a piece of our mind to the reckless driver.

My suggestion:Please stick to Shiradi route.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by ampere

I was aware that it was decent at best. Did not realize that it has gone worse.
Thanks for sharing.

This stretch of road has been going bad to worse from the last year or so. No improvement in sight though:(

[ampere]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

This stretch of road has been going bad to worse from the last year or so. No improvement in sight though:(

Addy,

How is the Donigal-Kodlipet-Shanivarsanthe-Somvarpet-Madikeri route today?
Can a regular hatch cover this stretch easily?

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by ampere

The other option is take the Shiradi ghats and come down till Donigal.
Take the diversion to Shanivarsanthe via Kodlipet and you land up in Madikeri via Somwarpet. I have no idea of the road condition.

So the route becomes:

Udupu-Karkala-Uppinangaddi-Donigal-Kodlipet-Shanivarsante-Somwarpet-Madikeri

But please check with others (esp Samurai or Addyhemmige) for status of the roads.

EDIT:

Here is the route link:
Udupi to Madikeri Route link

I don't think it would be feasible to take such a long route to reach Madikeri. The excess distance you may have to cover is approx 100 kms which does not make sense. I am not aware of the Sulya-Sampaje road status, but that seems a more sensible option (even if there are bad roads)

Originally Posted by ampere

Addy,

How is the Donigal-Kodlipet-Shanivarsanthe-Somvarpet-Madikeri route today?
Can a regular hatch cover this stretch easily?

I have not been there after the monsoon, so I'm not aware of the latest conditions. According to one of my friends who used to travel between Chikmagalur and Kodlipet every weekend, the road is decent enough between Donigal-Shukravarasanthe and till Kodlipet. From thereon, it should be okay with bad patches here and there. But really no idea after Kodlipet.

That said, I don't think there will be a problem taking a regular hatch over this stretch. The going many be slow due to bad roads, but hatches can handle it.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

I don't think it would be feasible to take such a long route to reach Madikeri. The excess distance you may have to cover is approx 100 kms which does not make sense. I am not aware of the Sulya-Sampaje road status, but that seems a more sensible option (even if there are bad roads)

But I thought the Sulya road has not yet been opened for traffic.
Is it already opened?

[livyodream]

Even though I am from Kundapur, I have very less information regarding country roads.
We (parents) have planned a small trip to hometown and want to cover places before reaching Kpur.
I wanted some info regarding routes.
Is there a proper route from Dharmasthala to sringeri ? We want to cover Kukke, Dharmasthala and Sringeri. Ideal way is to go by shiradi and come back by agumbe where sringeri can be covered. Want to know if sringeri can be covered by shiradi route..

[hvkumar]

You can do the circuit as Kundapura-KUkke-Dharmastala-Ujjire-Guruvankere-Bajagole (before Karkala)-Sringeri (on NH13)-Agumbe-Kundapura

[rohittunga]

I just came back from a trip to Udupi this monday in my Linea. While going I took the usual Shiradi Ghat route. We left Bangalore at 7 in the evening.

So here are the status of the road conditions

• Nelamangala-Belur cross : As everyone said before, its a bliss to drive on. 4 lane roads are for 108 km from Bangalore. Did that in 80 odd minutes.
• Belur cross-Sakleshpur : From here on the 2 lane road is still good. Maintained steady 90 kmph here. No potholes at all.
• Sakleshpur- Gundya : Worst roads ever. It was around 11 pm when we hit Shiradi ghats. Its now pretty much un-drivable,atleast in a Linea. The ruts on the roads are so huge that on a couple of occasions I had to reverse some 200 mts and go on the extreme sides of the roads to avoid them. Unfortunately by the time I reached Shiradi, all the buses from M'lore/ Udupi were coming the other way. So the dust that was present was simple unbearable. Took alomst 2.5 hrs to cross those trecharous roads. Fortunately the car bottomed out just 4 or 5 times
• Gundya - Udupi : Excellent roads. Although 2 laned, its still very good. From BC-road till almost Udupi we have 4 lane roads.

While coming back , I took another route which might help other people travelling to Udupi or thereabouts.

Udupi-Kota-Kokkarni-Mandarthi-Hebri-Agumbe-Sringeri-Aldur-Chikmagalur-Belur-Hassan-Bangalore

This stretch of roads is the only one which has survived the onslaught of Monsoons well. I could literally count the no. of pot holes and thats saying something.
The roads are just awesome with few bad patches around hebri. The agumbe ghats are also being patched up as is the route to Sringeri from agumbe. Although this route is 100km more, its definitely worth it and scenary is also much better. I wholeheartedly recommend this route for anyone travelling there.

Here are some pics of the return journey I took

Kokkarni-Mandarthi road



Agumbe ghats



As you can see the ghat road has been patched .



Sringeri-Balehonnur



Balehonnur-Belur

[RaguHolla]

Originally Posted by livyodream

Even though I am from Kundapur, I have very less information regarding country roads.
We (parents) have planned a small trip to hometown and want to cover places before reaching Kpur.
I wanted some info regarding routes.
Is there a proper route from Dharmasthala to sringeri ? We want to cover Kukke, Dharmasthala and Sringeri. Ideal way is to go by shiradi and come back by agumbe where sringeri can be covered. Want to know if sringeri can be covered by shiradi route..

Originally Posted by hvkumar

You can do the circuit as Kundapura-KUkke-Dharmastala-Ujjire-Guruvankere-Bajagole (before Karkala)-Sringeri (on NH13)-Agumbe-Kundapura

I think livyodream wants route guide from Bangalore to Kundapur covering these places.

I suggest you take Bangalore -> Hasan -> Sakleshpura -> Gundya -> Kukke -> Dharmastala-Ujjire-Guruvankere-Bajagole (before Karkala)-Sringeri (on NH13)-Agumbe - Someshwara -> Halady -> Basrur -> Kundapur route. Roads between Salkeshpura and Kukke are not in great shape, considering Shiradi still the widest road, you have better chance to navigate than any other route to Kukke.