[shreehari]

We had enough from our offices & wanted to escape to some place were there was nothing to disturb us.

The planning started & we choose Kalasa to be our weekend destination.We opted for a home stay UPASANA RETREAT(upasana retreat) in kalasa as our accomodation & started our journey from banswadi bangalore at 6:30am on saturday.
Kalasa is a small village at the foot hills of Kudremukh peak in chikamangalore district of karnataka.

Sreejith & Thushara accomponied us and we four started for a weekend trip to an unknown hill station.

The route taken was
Banswadi-yeshwnathpur-nelemangala-CR patana-hassan-bellur-kothigere-kalasa.

Banasawadi, Bengaluru, Karnataka to Kalasa, Karnataka - Google Maps

we have to take a left from nelemanala to go to hassan.From yeshwanthpur take the elevated toll road to tumkur & after the toll plaza 3rd exit will take you to the nelmangala junction from there take the left road to proceed to hassan.

just before the exit there is a signboard showing the direction to mangalore.and if you miss that,just near this exit there is a hanuman statue made out of rock.

From nelemangala around 100 kms the roads are very good 4 lane roads & one can easily cruise at 100kmph without much worries.However after some time road narrows down to a two lane & then on, the roads are not that great thanks to the widening happening.Expect a lot of diverisons & patch work on these road till CR-patana. After Cr patana till hassan the roads are again two lane but in a better condition.The sign boards will lead you into the city of hassan.Once you take the diverion into the city you have to take the left at the first junction that you come across & proceed staight untill you get another signal.Go staright in this signal & take a left at the T junction ahead.This road goes leads you to belur.Proceeding in this road you will cross few good hotels namely kadmba on your left & then you will cross the famous SDM ayurveda hospital on your right.After the hospital proceed little further & you will come to a Y junction here you take the road on your right to proceed to Belur.

Belur is around 40 kms from hassan.The roads are good till bellur.
once you reach bellur at the junction take a left which will take you to kalasa.
Kalasa is around 95 kms from Belur.Few of the places that come in between are Mudigere & Kotigere.
Bellur to Mudigere roads are some what good ,but after wards the roads become really twisty and surface becomes rough.your average speed drops drastically and you need to be extra careful on the turns while driving.However the route is scenic and it takes you through some thick coffee plantations & forests.

Most importantly don't forget to fill your tanks at Bellur and if you can reach kalasa fill it up there.Because finding a gas station in high range could be calling for trouble.

However when you reach kalasa you will see the Kalaseshwara temple on your right side.Turn Left here (this is the only way you can turn any way) and then proceed till you see the kalasa police station on you left.

Upasana Retreat our stay for the next two days was located further ahead in a place called Samse.Samse is around 24 kms from kalasa.After turning left at kalasa police station proceed staright.Watch out for a sign board on your left which says Samse.At this junction take left and proceed staright,after a km or so you will find a dead end, turn right here & proceed untill you come really close to a tea estate,now on your right side you will see a un-tared road going almost in a u-turn fasion.only other land mark here is a orange box hanging on some telephone line post.Take this road and proceed staright..don't take any diversiosn from the this road(can i call it a road ?) untill you see a gate were UPASANA is written.





Note:- Don't try to locate this place after 7:00 PM.


The home stay was awesome with a decent pool & very good rooms.




We met fellow Bhpian Romins here.

When we reached upasana it was around 1:30 pm & we were given lunch as soon as we entered the home stay.After the lunch it was time for some rest.Romin told that he had plans to go for a short trek on that evening at around 4:30 and he offered us that we can join him if we wish to.We got exited & at exact 4:30 we were ready for the so called trek.



5 minutes into the trek & we realised that it was not a good idea.The heat was unbearable & our body was completely aching form top to bottom.Very soon we realized that we can neither keep pace with an ace trekker nor we could manage to come back climbing all the steep slopes that was around.so after a 15 minute walk we gave up the idea & returned to the stay.The rest of the time we decided to spent in the pool & relax.



after spending around 2 hours in the pool it was time for a quick shower,dinner & some chit chat with our hosts.Romin shared his experinces with us & it was very inspiring.

We left for bed at around 10:00 pm in the night.

Next days plan was to go to the near by tea planation in a 4X4 to catch the early sun.



The jeep was ready by 6:00 am and we left for the plantation.We got to see good sun rise





The drive was scenic & fun







We came back to the home stay by 8:30.
We had a awesome breakfast on that day and checked out at around 10:00 to proceed to horanadu temple.
While driving back we met a localite there & he was ready to pose a quick pic for us




To go back to horanadu temple we have to come back to kalasa.


Kalasa, Karnataka to Horanadu, Karnataka - Google Maps

On the way back to kalasa we got a glimpse of the kudermukh peak



From kalasa it is almost 8 kms but the rough roads & twisties will keep you on road for more time.



The annapoorneswri temple here is famous and very ancient. It is believed that a person who seeks the goddess’ blessings would never have any scarcity for food in life.After having darshan and taking part in kumkuma aarchana here we started back to bangalore at around 12:30pm.



We reached back at Bangalore around 8:00 in the night.

Verdict:-
Place:- KALASA;- excellent for treckers.Highly Recommended
Homestay:-UPASANA RETREAT:- Excellent food,Great rooms,Good pool:- Highly Recommended.

Finally a peice of advice.If you are of the kind who want to visit and utilize the weekend trip to full & beleive in tick marking the places of interset you cover than take rest.I think there could be a better plan than what we did.
One of those could be as follows.
day1:-
1)reach upasana by 12:30 pm.
2)have lunch & take rest.
3)around 4:00 hire a local jeep or taxi & proceed to horanadu.The temple there is open till 8:30 in the night.
4)come back have dinner & retire.

day2:-
1)go for a small trek or as we did , hire a jeep & go to the peak of the tea plantation to catch the rising sun.start this probably at 5:30.
2)have breakfast checkout & proceed to kaleswaswara temple in kalasa.This is also a very famous temple.
3)drive to the hanumangundi falls in kudremukh & then return back to bangalore.

Our plan was not to cover places,we just wanted to travel somewere to break away so we just what we did & spent some quality time.I just charted out the other plan if in case any one is interested..

[Romins]

Harish,
That was a nice travelogue. We enjoyed hosting you at Upasana. Did you go through the same route (via Magundi) or some other route when you returned?

[shreehari]

Originally Posted by Romins

Harish,
That was a nice travelogue. We enjoyed hosting you at Upasana. Did you go through the same route (via Magundi) or some other route when you returned?

Hi Romin,
Was pleasure meeting you.
Ya we had to travel through the same way back.the road work had not finished on the other route to kalasa

[Romins]

Location of Upasana on Google Maps.
Google Maps
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After you reach Kalasa, Continue onto Kalasa Main Rd- Pass by Kalaseshwara Temple (on the right )-Turn left onto Kalasa Main Rd/SH 66-Pass by Police Station and Petrol Pump (on the right)-Turn left after 8km at Samse Junction-Sharp Right Turn after 1.3 km (Tea Estate on the left)-Continue on the mud road keeping right.

[raghunandanj]

This is interesting...and a couple of points to add on as well :

1. A year or so ago I had read an article of a hidden waterfall reachable only by 4X4 somewhere around Samse. Apparently, this area is quite rich in biodiversity, and people have quoted sightings of the Malabar civet out there. Probably the folk at Upasana can help with more information on how to get there...

2. A mile or so down from Kalasa on the road to Horanadu, on the left side, is a small signboard put up saying "Ambatheertha". This is a jeep track that takes you about a mile or so deeper until you reach the Bhadra river. The area is approachable by 4X4, and is worth a visit, especially to see the rock formations.

[Romins]

Originally Posted by raghunandanj

This is interesting...and a couple of points to add on as well :

1. A year or so ago I had read an article of a hidden waterfall reachable only by 4X4 somewhere around Samse. Apparently, this area is quite rich in biodiversity, and people have quoted sightings of the Malabar civet out there. Probably the folk at Upasana can help with more information on how to get there...

Yes, there are more than one hidden waterfalls near Samse. The easiest to reach is Elaneer Waterfalls which has two cascades which is 1hour walk from Upasana. Instead of taking the right turn to Upasana, if you continue on the same road it ends after 200m. From there if you follow the road and walk downwards for another 30min, you will reach a place from where you can see the waterfalls onto your left side. Cross the waterfall and go further, you are inside dense forest. Recently locals spotted 6 elephants (father, mother & 4 babies) in this area. One German visitor had visited inside the forest and spotted fresh dung in this area. If I visit this area next week, I will post more details. Water was less 3weeks back, when I visited the waterfalls. Oct is the right month to see the falls in full swing. Attached pictures are taken in Oct 2009.

[r0ckstar.1]

Very good travelogue. Will plan to visit soon with family and friends. Never knew this place being in karnataka since birth. I have been to Hornadu temple, but the waterfall locations seems very good. Worth the weekend travel.

Thanks for the details.

[shreehari]

We didn't venture out much into the wild during our travel because we were quite tired.This place actually needs a relaxed visit.3-4 days should be ideal i guess.Will surely return for seeing those hidden falls.

[ampere]

This seems to be quite a nice place. Thanks for sharing this @shreehari.
Are there any other places to chose from around this region? (Kalsa/Horanadu)?

How did you zero in on this place? If there are any other places around, would be good to know.

[shreehari]

Originally Posted by ampere

This seems to be quite a nice place. Thanks for sharing this @shreehari.
Are there any other places to chose from around this region? (Kalsa/Horanadu)?

How did you zero in on this place? If there are any other places around, would be good to know.

There are lot of places in around this place.
1)Kudremukh
2)Hanumaan-Gundi falls
3)Sringeri temple
4)Lakya dam
5) Bahubali temple near Karkala.

We were more in search of a relaxed getaway & thats why never bothered to visit most of these.

& if you like treking i thing the places around the home stay itself gives a lot of options.I was told that just after rain a small walk into the near by forest itself can be rewarding.

And the credit for zeroing on this place goes to my wife.Some how she is incredibly good with google & bird spotting.

All of us were blown away when she spotted a peacok on one of the tree branches in the tea plantation from a moving jeep.It took 10-15 minutes for all of us to spot it after coming to a complete stand still. and that was not the first time.

[dgr8ctzn]

Hi all,

After having come across experiences by Bhpians, about Kudremukh and Upasana retreat, i have finally decided to go there on weekend of 19-20-21.

This would be my 3rd trip to this part of the world in as many months:
1) a family trip from Bangalore->Jog Falls(stayed at Matthuga which was again team-bhp input)->Sringeri->Bangalore
2) (Bi)cycling trip from Chickmaglur->Kalasa(halt)->Kudremukh->Sringeri(Halt)->Agumbe->Kundapur (good 280kms of cycling in heavy monsoon!)

I have already booked Upasana for 2N/3D. The trip is planned to laze around - strictly! A break for wife from her hectic schedule of working and managing house, little pre-schooler son from his hectic "schooling"!

Here is what i have thought of:
Day 1:
- 6AM Start from Bangalore(Gottigere), take NICE road
- 8AM Breakfast around/before Tumkur
- 1:30PM Reach upasana
- Relax in the homestay. Check if there are any small(and safe) streams to relax and for the kid to play

Day 2:
- Hire a 4x4 for sunrise (as suggested on this thread)
- Breakfast at upasana by 8:30AM
- Drive to Lakhya dam, Hanumana gundi falls
- Lunch at Upasana
- laze around at upasana, a short drive or walk(if any Team-BHPians could suggest)


Day3:
- Visit Gangamoola? Does this involve trekking or accessible?
- Breakfast
- Leave upasana around 12PM

Request inputs on following lines:
- any essential things to cover/visit given that we have 2N/3D stay? We have visited Kalasa/Sringeri/Hornadu. So, we dont plan to
- Any light treks of 15-20mins, which are safe with kid and wife? I have trekked the Kudremukha peak in 2000 but this is for wife and kid :-)
- Small streams/falls reference so that we can just spend time next to it, with kid playing around in water.


Question on route:
- Is it good to take Hassan-Belur-Mudigere-Kalasa route or
- Hassan-Belur-Chikmaglur-Mudigere-Kalasa/

I am told that Belur-Mudigere stretch may not be good. Chikmaglur-Mudigere road is great(i saw it on my recent cycle trip, atleast road is not bad), inspite of some additional distance. Can somebody share their experience, there by we can better plan the travel time and the experience!

Regards,
Deepak