Team-BHP - Bangalore to Sirsi : Route Queries

I am planning to go to Sirsi tomorrow with wife and kid aged six. The original plan was to leave Bangalore at 6 am tomorrow and return back on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately due to work pressure, I could not finish off my preparations and might leave at 9 am tomorrow.

- The car, Alto, was serviced last week. Petrol needs to be filled up tomorrow morning.
- I have the accomodation booked in Sirsi. I could not find any accomodations in the homestays near Shimoga which would have been ideal as I was planning Theerthahalli and surroundings as well.

About the route:
I will be returning via NH4 going to Haveri from Sirsi. For the onward journey I plan to go till Yelahanka - DobbsPet - Tumkur (breakfast) - Shimoga (Lunch) - Banavasi(Visit temple) - Sirsi (late in the evening). Is this feasible? How is the Hassan route? I have not driven on either of these routes.

Plan:
26th - Yaana - Magod and Sathodi waterfalls - Sirsi
27th - Karwar via Yellapur - Sirsi

- Given that I have not driven more than 250 kms in a day, how can driving Alto 430 kms in a day be?
- Which is the best route to Karwar from Sirsi for my car?
- Which are the good petrol bunks on the route?
- Are leeches prevalent in winter as well near Yaana? Do I need to take any precautions for the kid?

Few questions/comments.

1. Why you say need to go till Yelahanka? If you stay in North BLR, then it makes sense, else it should be OK to drive through the city.

2. Why do you need to go to Hassan to hit Sirsi. Some how does not make sense to me. You need to take the NH206 or NH4 route to hit Sirsi/Banavasi.
(Check RK_sans's TL : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-banavasi.html)

3. Sirsi-Karwar is via Yellapur-Ankola (NH63/NH17)

4. Even I am not comfortable doing 400 km in a day, but if most part of the roads are good, then it should be possible.

As mentioned by @ampere, do go thru my log. My suggestion as you have not driven more than 250 kms, take the route, which i took via Chitradurga. Reason, not tiring at all. Only the last 70-80 kms from haveri to sirsi will be little because of single lane. Do not go thru shimoga as it will be most of it single lane(i mean no dividers).
One of my friend is also travelling tomorrow morning, they are leaving around 6 am and i just guided them the same route and they have the same travel plan and places also. They are travelling in a black verna, just in case if you bump them in any of the places. Let me know if you want any more details, pm your number and i will guide you.

It the same situation from me. I am planning for Sirsi on Dec 31, jan 1 at an Homestay. I plan to take BLR-C.DURGA-HAVERI and deviate to Sirsi route.

Please let us know how is the road condition from Haveri to Sirsi.
And, if we leave BLR by 6am I hope to reach Sirsi by 1pm with sedate driving.

Any nearby places to visit with elderly people as well. Not trekking though.

@blackstallion76,
One month ago, when i drove the roads pretty good from Haveri to Sirsi. Wait till evening/tomorrow morning, i will update you the road condition as on today(My friend is travelling back).

Even my friend left BLR around 6am and reached Banavasi(24 kms away from sirsi) at 1pm, so it is doable.

Places to visit, Banavasi, Jyothrilinga, Yana, Keldi and Ikkeri, etc.

To get on to the Sirsi route from Haveri, My suggestion is to get into Haveri city and then ask somebody to guide you to Sirsi route.
Alternative, there is a sharp left turn on the Haveri bypass, but there are no signs and you will miss it. Also this is not a proper road at all. So first option is better

Thanks @rk_sans.

I plan the following for the trip.

DAY1:
Reach homestay by 1pm.
Have lunch and rest
Visit Yana which is near to homestay

DAY2:
Visit Gokarna in the morning
Lunch and Rest
Visit Sode Mutt, SahasraLinga in evening

DAY3:
Checkout by 9am
Visit Banavasi
Back to Bangalore

I am looking for relaxed stay and travel. No trekking with kid and elderly folks.
I am just thinking Gokarna visit may take more time as it would be holiday rush.

BlackStallion76:

I did the Sirsi and surroundings trip from 25th till yesterday. Returned back yesterday evening. As suggested by rk_sans, I recommend Chitradurga - Haveri route. I could not check his reply to my query as I reached home late after hectic work and as a result I ended up taking the NH 206 route (via Shimoga) and reached Sirsi at 10:30 pm. Except some stretches, the roads are not good till Talguppa and my Alto struggled.

You can take the new Yeshwantpur flyover as suggested by Guna and one can be out of Bangalore in a very short time. While returning, I came by that way and traffic was crawling for about half a kilometer near the Yeshwantpur railway station as construction is going on there.

You can ask for the Haveri bus stand which is on the NH4 and the road that runs perpendicular to the NH4 (in front of the bus stand) takes you to Sirsi. I returned via this route and the roads are pretty much OK. The Alto did 40 - 50 kmph but saw other cars doing better on this stretch.

I did Sahasralinga, Yana and Banavasi on day 1. Gokarna on day 2. Though I had plans to go to Murdeshwar and Idagunji as well on day 2, my kid was tired and had to drop the plan. So please check if your day 2 plan is little overstretched.

Gokarna had lot of elderly tourists from Maharashtra and had to be very careful driving the car to the beach otherwise not much crowd. In fact the weather is just right to go to the beach. Enjoy your trip...

@blackstallion76,
Update on the road remains the same, even my friend took the same route as i mentioned in my previous post and it is easily doable.
Also as mentioned by @altolxi, check your Day 2 schedule, i believe this is little overstretched. Probably you can leave Sahasralinga out of it.

Hello everyone!

For the long weekend of Aug 12 - 15, I am planning a trip from Bangalore to Mantralayam to Sonda (near Sirsi) and back to Bangalore.

I need advice on which route is best between Mantralayam - Sonda. I looked up couple of maps (on Google and MapMyIndia) and could see 2 routes - one through (unknown) state highways and other through NH 63. First one doesn't pass through any major towns but road conditions and facilities are unknown (at least to me). Second option (on NH 63) passes through Bellary - Hospet - Hubli as well as Guntakal in AP. None of these appear to have a bypass so could considerably slow down the journey.

My itinerary at this tome, looks like this:
Day 1: Sat Aug 13 - start from Bangalore early AM, reach Mantralyam by afternoon, stay
Day 2: Sun Aug 14 - start from Mantralyam at about 10 AM to reach Sonda by late evening, stay
Day 3: Back to Bangalore (mostly via GQ) by starting around noon and reaching by nightfall

Any pointers on the route conditions between Mantralyam - Sonda are higly appreciated :)

Best option is what ampere suggested, drive via bellary-hubli-yellapur-sonda(aprox. 400km). Where do you want to stay around Sonda? Expect bad roads between mantralaya-bellary-hubli. but one can manage I hope.

But my feeling for 3 days you will be just driving whole days for Bangalore-mantralaya-sonda-Bangalore, hardly you get chance to see the places. While coming take Sirsi-Siddapur-Jog-Shimoga-Bangalore route you will love the scenary and drive!

But If you want to reach Bangalore fast come via NH4(400km/7 hrs drive from sirsi to bangalore).

Regards,

Ravi.

Thanks for the responses Ampere and Ravi. I was looking at a new travelogue (Hyderabad to Manipal) and observed the following:
Taking the Raichur Koppal road and then using NH 63 upto Yellapur could be an alternative. Google Maps plots Mantralayam - Manvi - Koppal - Gadag - some unknown road to Sonda as the shortest path. I modified it to go via Hubli - Yellapur and it is longer by 8km but goes mostly on NH 63.
Also, from the travelogue I mentioned above, I could sense that Raichur - Manvi road is in good shape and there was a hint that Manvi - Koppal road too could be good (towards the end of second post by the author). Given the condition of road between Adoni - Bellary (per the last discussions on the Mantralayam route query thread), I think Mantralayam - Manvi - Koppal - Gadag - Hubli - Yellapur - Sonda could be an alternative.

The purpose of this trip is paying visits to temples at these places - it's been outstanding item on my parent's wish list that I go to them ;). I wouldn't mind missing sight seeing as long as the drives are manageable.

With regards
Guru