[gakudva]

Travelled to Bangalore from Mangalore today. Took the Charmadi ghat route - the roads until about 40km before Mudigere are butter smooth and newly laid. There after too the route is smooth for drive.

[airbus]

I will be driving to Udupi with family on Tuesday, 29 December morning. Please suggest route and a good place to have lunch. My vehicle is TUV300 and ground clearance is not an issue.

[varunasok]

Originally Posted by airbus

I will be driving to Udupi with family on Tuesday, 29 December morning. Please suggest route and a good place to have lunch. My vehicle is TUV300 and ground clearance is not an issue.

Please go through this post from Parag.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

One of these from the quoted post below where you basically continue beyond Udupi towards Kundapura via Bhramhavara:



Yes indeed. And here are few choices to break for lunch at Chikmagalur:

Little upmarket option: Hotel Aadrika

Usual Budget Restaurant: Annapurna

Another budget option: Mayura Delux

All of the above 3 are really part of the Chikmagalur town with Mayura being the closest to your route which you will continue on. But honestly, you can pick any of these since Chikmagalur doesn't really have a bypass when you are heading towards Aldur and that means you will cross a point called (Azad Park or Belur Road Circle as it is called) closely to Mayura.

An hour ahead on your route before Sringeri is Bhadra Cafe in case you need a quick coffee break too.

If you are taking Charmadi, here are few options:

Ibbani Cafe after Mudigere Handpost.

Fresh Bean Cafe at Banakal.

Here's a detailed account from my last drive to Kundapura in August though we drove again to Kuduremukha the subsequent month, it should give you some idea about the overall trip and one more option that I don't recommend for first timers called Kuduremukha:


As you can see, we took Kuduremukha for onward and Charmadi for our return.

Also note that there are no restrictions at Charmadi Ghat now and one is free to travel 24/7.

[unk9ja]

For the folks using Charmadi and Kudremukh route, a new Shell pump has come up in Jannapura.

I took Kudremukh route today to Udupi after a detour to Horanadu. The route is good to excellent barring some detours between Karkala and Manipal where road widening work is going on.

And also stumbled upon Hotel Bhuvaneshwari in Bajagoli. The food was excellent though there will be wait during peak hours. The hotel has wide variety of sweets and mixtures on sale too. The Jilebi being standout amongst the some I tasted today.

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by airbus

I will be driving to Udupi with family on Tuesday, 29 December morning. Please suggest route and a good place to have lunch. My vehicle is TUV300 and ground clearance is not an issue.

Did you take Belur rote? I saw an Orange TUV with a LTD on the rear door at the bottom in my RVM between Hassan and Belur.

[airbus]

Originally Posted by unk9ja

For the folks using Charmadi and Kudremukh route, a new Shell pump has come up in Jannapura.

I refueled at this Shell pump - location.

Originally Posted by unk9ja

Did you take Belur rote? I saw an Orange TUV with a LTD on the rear door at the bottom in my RVM between Hassan and Belur.

Yes, I took Bengaluru - Hassan - Belur - Mudigere - Charmadi - Ujire - Belthangady - Naravi - Bajagoli - Karkala - Belman - Shirva - Katpadi - Udupi. Roads were fine, did not face any issue.

[prasanna.sub82]

Hey guys, need a bit of an urgent guidance. I am near Madikeri (Kushalnagar to be precise) and would be driving back to Bangalore in a few hrs from now.

The onward route I took was via Mysore, and I found the Bangalore to Mysore stretch pathetic, could only average about 35kmph.

I am wondering if the routeback from Kushalnagar - ShravanBelgola - Channarayapattana - Neelamangala town - Bangalore may be a better route in terms of road conditions. Gmaps does recommend this option, but in case anyone has travelled recently via this route, pl let me know.

[CosmicWizard]

Originally Posted by prasanna.sub82

I am wondering if the routeback from Kushalnagar - ShravanBelgola - Channarayapattana - Neelamangala town - Bangalore may be a better route in terms of road conditions. Gmaps does recommend this option, but in case anyone has travelled recently via this route, pl let me know.

Yes, this route is much better and I always take it for coorg trips. Till NH75, you will be taking state highways from kushalnagar and the rest will be smooth >100kmph drive. Beware of Google maps trying to save a few mins by taking narrow desolate roads till NH75 though. It does that quite often. Stay on state highways.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by prasanna.sub82

Hey guys, need a bit of an urgent guidance. I am near Madikeri (Kushalnagar to be precise) and would be driving back to Bangalore in a few hrs from now.

The onward route I took was via Mysore, and I found the Bangalore to Mysore stretch pathetic, could only average about 35kmph.

I am wondering if the routeback from Kushalnagar - ShravanBelgola - Channarayapattana - Neelamangala town - Bangalore may be a better route in terms of road conditions. Gmaps does recommend this option, but in case anyone has travelled recently via this route, pl let me know.

Take the Kushalnagar Ramnathapura Arkalgud HN Pura CR Patna route. All good and a LOT better than the usual Mysore option.

I drove on day before along with 2 more cars and the route is absolutely fantastic.

There is no Shravanabelagola in this route. If you zoom in, you will notice this.

[prasanna.sub82]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Yes, this route is much better and I always take it for coorg trips. Till NH75, you will be taking state highways from kushalnagar and the rest will be smooth >100kmph drive. Beware of Google maps trying to save a few mins by taking narrow desolate roads till NH75 though. It does that quite often. Stay on state highways.

Thanks, I just turned in home at BLR..the route was an absolute joy ride, roads were much much better, the landscapes from Kushalnagara to Channarayapatna mesmerising, and hardly any traffic.. The NH75 was a dream run !!!

Took me about 5hrs and 15mins ride time, with about 1hr for stops..

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Take the Kushalnagar Ramnathapura Arkalgud HN Pura CR Patna route. All good and a LOT better than the usual Mysore option.

I drove on day before along with 2 more cars and the route is absolutely fantastic.

There is no Shravanabelagola in this route. If you zoom in, you will notice this.

Totally agree, loved the drive. You are right, Shravan Belgola is about a 12km deviation after you turn into NH75 at Channarayapatna, and I did take the detour to take a glimpse of the statue .. From Shravan Belgola, there is another route back to the highway, so you really didn't have to retrace all the way.. it added about 20kms to my total !!

[CLIX]

About the BLR - MLR road Condition :

Did BLR - MLR through Charmadi 25 Dec 2020.
Return through Shiradi on 01 Jan 2021.

Charmadi is definitely a better option in the present condition. Road surface is very good.
[Watch out for a slight road work mess when you reach Bantwal ByPass when driving from BLR]

Shiradi has far too many patches "under repair" [Gundya Sakleshpur Hassan stretch]. And the roads are very bumpy too.

[lazybrain]

Guys,

Planning to drive down to Mangalore during Feb 2021. Though I am aware that many of you in your previous posts recommended Charmadi route over Shiradi, GMaps recommends fastest route being Shiradi ghat route (Estimated time taken to destination 7 hours 16 min).

It will be a solo drive in my Tata safari. Please suggest if it is OK to go via Shiradi or even for SUVs roads r not motorable?

Last i drove down to Mangalore was during Oct 2019 and I took Shiradi ghat route both ways. The condition of the road especially ghat section was OKish.

Thanks in advance for your help

[The_Road_Rover]

Originally Posted by lazybrain

Last i drove down to Mangalore was during Oct 2019 and I took Shiradi ghat route both ways. The condition of the road especially ghat section was OKish.

Thanks in advance for your help

Hi I would say, for Safari it doesn't matter, both the routes are equally good. But I would still prefer Charmadi route because of the absence of heavy slow moving vehicles.

[pramod]

Friends,

I will be driving to Kukke this weekend. I am a very regular Western ghats tourer. I want to try Bangalore - Channarayapatna - Arakallugoodu - Shanivarasanthe - Bisle ghat - Kukke, after dark.

Any concerns? How is the concrete holding up?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by pramod

Any concerns? How is the concrete holding up?

Which part of the "concrete" are you referring to?

If you are taking Bisile even via Byrapura or Donigal, you will still not hit the concrete anyway.

Or you actually meant asphalt in general?

Otherwise, the roads in general remain good via Arkalgud Shanivarsanthe Hethur.