[livyodream]

Did Hebbal - kukke subramanya - Hebbal yesterday in swift. The best road condition ive seen in my whole life W.R.T Shiradi ghat. Left home at 4.45 am and was in front of the temple at 8.15 Dot.

[jmvivek]

Originally Posted by _chikku

Afaik there is a road block between madikeri tollgate circle and bhagamandala cross due to on going road work. You have to take diversion through virajpet road and join back to mangalore road after 3 kms.

True, the road block is still there and will be on for some more time till the civic work gets completed on this stretch.But not to worry about the same as per the earlier message since a diversion is available which will get you back on to the Mangalore route further-on. Steep and winding roads for the first 30 odd kms till sampaji and then another 45kms to kukkesubramaniya temple. With kids you need to stock up on lots of water and re hydrating stuff as it gets pretty hot after 9am till around 4pm on this stretch. Also Dharmasthala at this time of the year would fall into the hot season and hence would be good to be prepared with kids around.

If you are coming down from Bangalore side then you might want to check on this link for further information. This might be helpful.

Mysore to Kukke Subramanya | Everything about Mysore!

PS: Mods hope the above link is allowed as per the rule book. If not kindly purge the same.

[rajivrao]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Since all your destinations are close to coastal Karnataka, why not take the Mumbai - Goa - Mangalore route? It is 2 laned, but you can maintain good speeds.

Or you could drive to Hubli from Mumbai, and then hit the coastal roads from Hubli. Do you have to come to Bangalore for some reason?

Yes, there is a wedding to attend in Bangalore.

Originally Posted by prasad14

Apart from the crowd, most temples are closed in the afternoon. Better to check directly with the temple authorities on exact timings of closure. If one starts early from Madikeri (6AM or so), both Kukke and Dharmasthala can be covered before lunch (assuming moderate crowds). Udupi Krishna temple will not be closed during lunch. I do not know about Kateel.

We are planning to start early in the morning from Madikeri. Plan is to have lunch at Dharmasthala after darshan.

[Samurai]

Yesterday I did Bangalore to Manipal in 6h:50m duration. Actually I drove slower than usual since I had just recovered from fever. But I skipped lunch break, that saved some time.

At Naravi I was stopped by STF for checking. Apparently there is some naxal activity around Beltangady, weapons and grenades were recovered. So they are randomly stopping cars and checking for weapons and explosives. My single occupant driven Grand Vitara obviously matched a profile.

The fellow who peeped through my passenger door wanted all my bags opened. Then somebody shouted from behind to stop the foolishness and then he asked me to go.

[naveen_v1974]

Shiradi ghat road is in excellent condition, i did it on 9th Mar 2012. The 30 odd kms took me 30-35 minutes in my Scorpio(The same stretch in oct 2011 took me 2 hours)

[kartikk]

All I needed to know is go or no-go. Thank you people, I do Bangalore - Mangalore and back over the long weekend, the better than before road condition inspires confidence will update the thread after I return.

[Rajesh K R]

I did a Kukke & Dharmasthala trip and drove on the Shiradi after a gap of nearly 7 years. Felt nice driving in the ghats, but since my car is a small hatch, it was a bit jumpy on the patched parts.

Because of this plus i had my aged parents sitting in the back, i could not up the speed and took around 3 hours from Dharmasthala to Hassan.

[speedsatya]

Did Bangalore -Mangalore-Bangalore back in a single day . Had to attend a wedding . Started 4 am from Koramangala ,reached Mangalore at 915 am .Stopped just at the start of the ghat in the morning for a tea and pee break . I was stopped at Gundya where they opened even the bonnet and were shocked to hear that we were driving from bangalore ,but didnt have any baggage in the dicky

On the return leg started at 2 pm from Mangalore and reached Koramangala at around 8 pm.

This was fast ,but nowhere close to the around 5 hours that we used to do around 2005 to 2007 before the ghats started deteriorating.

Thanks to the great road conditions , I also got a phenomenal FE of 18.6 KPL !!

[Rajesh K R]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Did Bangalore -Mangalore-Bangalore back in a single day . Had to attend a wedding . Started 4 am from Koramangala ,reached Mangalore at 915 am .Stopped just at the start of the ghat in the morning for a tea and pee break . I was stopped at Gundya where they opened even the bonnet and were shocked to hear that we were driving from bangalore ,but didnt have any baggage in the dicky

On the return leg started at 2 pm from Mangalore and reached Koramangala at around 8 pm.

This was fast ,but nowhere close to the around 5 hours that we used to do around 2005 to 2007 before the ghats started deteriorating.

Thanks to the great road conditions , I also got a phenomenal FE of 18.6 KPL !!

When did you do this drive? I drove towards Kukke on Sunday 18th and returned back from Dharmasthala on Monday 19th. I saw a MH regd.silver Zen on the ghats. Could it be you?

[kartikk]

Oh its a lovely drive I was a little over cautious about the bad road conditions. Left home at 6:45, reached Pumpwell at 12:30 sharp with a breakfast and nature break. Some sections are a bit patchy/bouncy but cant ask for more as of now. Way back was longer, had to go to Karkala from Mlore, took the Moodbidari route, that too is neat, reached Karkala in an hours time, and from Karkala to Dharmastala is good too, no complaints

[addyhemmige]

I heard from a cousin of mine that the Belur-Cheeknalli-Gonibeedu-Mudigere route has been relaid and is in very good condition. I have personally not traveled there recently, but if it is true, this is very good news.

[ajitkumarlb]

I did Bangalore-Mangalore via Mysore-Madikeri in 2009, I had taken this route as the Hassan route was in bad condition.

My brother wants to go to Mangalore in his Alto, so, here I was researching the route.

Reading through the posts, here is the route I picked up as the best presently after the fixes that was done in Jan/Feb:

Bangalore > Nelamangala > Kunigal > Belluru > Channarayapattna > Hassan > Sakleshpur > Uppinangadi > BC Road > Mangalore

So, is this good?

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by ajitkumarlb

I did Bangalore-Mangalore via Mysore-Madikeri in 2009, I had taken this route as the Hassan route was in bad condition.

My brother wants to go to Mangalore in his Alto, so, here I was researching the route.

Reading through the posts, here is the route I picked up as the best presently after the fixes that was done in Jan/Feb:

Bangalore > Nelamangala > Kunigal > Belluru > Channarayapattna > Hassan > Sakleshpur > Uppinangadi > BC Road > Mangalore

So, is this good?

It is the best. Though road is bit rough on the ghats, no potholes anywhere. Real pleasure

[Wagoner]

I did the Bangalore-Mangalore-Udupi trip twice in the last week, taking the Hassan > Sakleshpur > Uppinangadi route.

The first of the trips was on Mar 23, returning on Mar 27, and the second on Mar 29 and returning on April 1. The road conditions on entire ghat section of Sakleshpur route is excellent.

This is the best time to use this route for those travelling to Mangalore/Udupi.

[B.R.S.Rao]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Yesterday I did Bangalore to Manipal in 6h:50m duration. Actually I drove slower than usual since I had just recovered from fever. But I skipped lunch break, that saved some time.

At Naravi I was stopped by STF for checking. Apparently there is some naxal activity around Beltangady, weapons and grenades were recovered. So they are randomly stopping cars and checking for weapons and explosives. My single occupant driven Grand Vitara obviously matched a profile.

The fellow who peeped through my passenger door wanted all my bags opened. Then somebody shouted from behind to stop the foolishness and then he asked me to go.

Hi,
I think from Dharmasthala cross to Manipal you may need about 2 hours right?