[AmazeGuru]

It's Summer time!! If I were to review Summer the team-bhp style...

What you'll like:
- Vacation for kids, which means relief from everyday morning hectic routine to get them ready for school
- Cricket, cricket and more cricket (for the cricket-challenged, I'm talking about the IPL)
- Mangoes (yummy!!)

What you won't:
- Scorching heat (yes, Bangalore is changing. It is no longer the garden city it used to be a decade ago)
- Headache for parents to keep the kids away from Mobile/Tab/TV etc.,
- More headache for parents to find the right 'Summer Camp' to keep the kids busy

And then there is this tradition of 'Vacation', which one cannot miss (just like BCCI cannot miss an IPL season). So then.. it's time for vacation, which means a road trip, but the big question is - where are we going this time?


Road to nowhere...

Mom suggested why not go to Chikamagalur. Well, that sounded very interesting!! How about staying in a Home Stay? In all our earlier vacation, we stayed only in Hotels, but knowing Chikamagalur has a lot of Home Stays around, a plan was made to look for a decent Home Stay.

Off we started to plan - first thing is to book the accommodation. Tried few well known and top rated Home Stays around Chikamagalur, but unfortunately, all were booked for our days. Not getting any success online, I was browsing through Google Maps to look at the routes and 'Save' (which is a wonderful feature in Google Map) the areas of interest. I accidentally came across this Home Stay called 'The Spectrum'. It was rated 4.4/5 on Google and upon checking the rates, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that MakeMyTrip was offering 50% discount on rooms. Bingo!! Booked 2 rooms immediately for 2 nights.

Now, it's time for the itinerary:

Day 1: 9th April - Drive down to Chikamagalur
Day 2: 10th April - Visit Baba Budan Giri and Mullayyana Giri and other locations around the area
Day 3: 11th April - Drive to Horanadu
Day 4: 12th April - Back to Bangalore

Alright then. Car filled with full tank of diesel, all bags packed, FasTag recharged and off we went!!

[AmazeGuru]

Day 1: 9th April 2017 - Drive to Chikamagalur

Route:


ODO reading at the beginning of the trip:


We started from our home in Basavanagudi at 11:30 am with a plan to stop @ Swathi Delicacy (our family favorite) for Lunch. Traffic was not much because of late morning on Sunday and reached Swathi at around 1:15 pm.

Had delicious food in their extended restaurant area, which is adjacent to their main building. They have even built a glass-walkway between their building and the extension.



We started from Swathi at around 2pm and an unfortunate incident happened. After we crossed the Bellur cross toll booth, my wife noticed something on the windshield. When I checked, there was a big crack on the windshield possibly due to a stone getting chipped off the tyre of a truck or bus on the way.

Now we were in a fix. The crack was not looking good and we had to make a choice whether to continue or head back. Thankfully, the crack was not deep enough to have caused any stability issue to the windshield, it was still at the surface, but possibility of spreading across. I decided to carry on with our trip, thinking that in case of any issues, I can get it checked at Chikamagalur.


Halebeedu -

Our first stop was Halebeedu temple, located at about 30 kms from Hassan. We took the Hassan bypass - ring road and hit the Salagame road to reach Halebeedu @ 4:15


Halebeedu temple complex

Halebeedu is a heritage temple built in Hoysala style. It has amazingly complex architecture and stone carvings which Hoysalas were famous for.


Main temple was little crowded as it was a Sunday.


Layered stone carvings



The famous Nandi statue


Entrance to the main temple manned by the 'Dwarapalakas'


A passage way


Carvings on the ceiling - there are plenty of such complicated designs on the ceiling


You can go on clicking for the whole day in front of such amazing sculptures


Ravana lifting the Kailash mountain in his hands

Our next destination was 'Belavadi' - because of two reasons. Mother wanted to visit the Ganesha temple there and then the village has another of old Hoysala temple, which is unknown to majority of the people.

Belavadi is about 12 kms from Halebeedu. One need to travel towards Banawara and take deviation for about 6 kms before Javagal.


My Amaze resting below a tree in front of the Ganesha temple @ Belavadi



The Veera Narayana temple - which is as amazingly beautiful as Halebeedu, but not as aggressively marketed by the Tourism department.

Few more pictures of the temple.




We then headed towards our Home Stay. On the way, stopped for coffee @ Vishnu Paradise hotel in Chikamagalur which served delicious filter coffee. Reached our Home Stay at around 7:30 PM, where the Manager and the staff were waiting for us. Instead of giving us their menu, they asked for our preference for Dinner. Had a wonderful dinner @ 9pm and called it a day.

Road Condition:
Bangalore - Hassan - Wonderful throughout
Hassan - Halebeedu - Good 2-lane road
Halebeedu - Belavadi - Very good. Newly laid
Belavadi - Chikamagalur - Again good 2-lane road

FasTag Experience:
Because I got FasTag RFID recently, I was excited to test the "future of toll payment" on the Bangalore-Hassan toll booths. However, my excitement was short-lived as the first 2 toll booths were allowing ALL vehicles in the FasTag lane and in the remaining 3 FasTag lane was completely closed. I had to go to the normal lane where someone would come and manually scan the tag. This was a very disappointing experience as I was expecting to pass through toll booths without any interruption. Will complain to NHAI.

[AmazeGuru]

Day 2: 10th April 2017 - BabaBudan, Mullayyana Giri, Kalhatti falls

Route:


This day was supposed to be hectic one because we wanted to cover as many places as possible. Before that I want to share few details about the Home Stay.

The Spectrum Home Stay:
Before I proceed with the other places we visited, just a few things about our Home Stay. This homestay is located about 10 kms from Chikamagalur in the middle of a coffee plantation and the rooms are surrounded by tall Oak and other trees, which keeps the temperature in check. Even though sun was beating down in the town of Chikamagalur, the area around the homestay was cool.

It is far from the city/town limits and feels like we are in the middle of a forest. The Manager and staff were very courteous and prepared the food of our choice. The homestay even had a swimming pool and a badminton court. They even packed lunch for us as we had to travel a lot and coming back to homestay for lunch did not make sense.


Few pictures taken at the homestay.


Rising sun behind the tall oak trees


Rooms on the ground floor


View from our room


The backyard has a children play area


Dining area, next to the kitchen


Walking path in the middle of the plantation




Car parking area

Baba Budan Giri:
Baba Budan Giri is a mountain situated in the Baba Budan range in the Chikamagalur district. The significance of this place is that there is a Dargah and a Hindu deity in the same place. Mother wanted to visit this for quite some time. It is about 25 kms from our home stay.




The route to Baba Budan Dattatreya peeta was scenic with very less traffic.


Baba Budan Inam Dattatreya peeta Durgah and Temple

Mullayyana Giri:
Mullayyana Giri is the highest peak in Karnataka. We wanted to conquer it! It is located on the way back from Baba Budan Giri towards Chikamagalur. The condition of the road is bad for most parts and there is work going on in stretches to convert to concrete road.



I have to admit that this was one of the most treacherous terrains that I have ever driven in my 20 years of driving.

We had lunch packed from homestay on the way and proceeded towards the peak.

The Mullayyana Giri peak has a place for parking the vehicles, after which there is a climb of about 400+ steps, upon which you will reach the highest point in Karnataka.

We reached the parking area, but did not go on top of the peak as we had a senior citizen and a very mischievous kid with us. So, we decided to conquer the peak some other day and drove back.


You can see the Mullayyana Giri peak behind my car and the people climbing the steps.

Kalhatti Falls:
Our initial plan for the day was only Baba Budan and Mullayyana Giri, but since we did not go for trekking, we had about 4 hours at our disposal. We decided to visit Kalhatti Falls, which is on the way to Tarikere town.


On the way, we stopped at a beautiful-looking coffee bar called Cofee Barn Cafe.


Kalhatti falls - due to summer, there is very less water. The specialty of this place is that there is a Shiva temple on the other side of the falls. During the rainy season, when the water levels are higher, one has to cross the water to reach to the temple.

We returned to the homestay at around 7 pm, had dinner (customized for our needs) and crashed to bed.

Road Condition:
Spectrum - Baba Budan Giri: Good to average. Broken roads towards the end
Baba Budan - Mullayyana Giri: Average to very bad roads. One needs to be careful about not driving towards the edge of the roads, because they are not covered at some places
Mullayana Giri - Kalhatti falls: Average to good roads.

[AmazeGuru]

Day 3: Chikamagalur to Horanadu via Kalasa

Route:


The plan was to reach Horanadu by evening, so we had the morning at our disposal. Made up plan to visit the Kodandarama temple @ Hiremagalur, about 6 kms from Chikamagalur.



Stopped at "Siri Mane" for coffee. This place has a huge caricature of a lady (guessing it represents Mother Nature). We could see that the vehicles were stopping at this place just to take a look at the sculpture and taking some pictures.



Our next stop was the Kodanda Rama temple @ Hiremagalur. It is a very neatly maintained temple and its specialty is that the pooja is carried out in Kannada language as against Sanskrit shlokas.



This temple also has a lot of moral messages all over the place.


Distance to tourist locations from Chikamagalur

We then headed back to our Homestay, packed our bags, had lunch and left to Horanadu at 2pm.

We took Aldur->Balehonnur->Magundi->Kalasa route. The road is average till Aldur after which it is freshly laid tarmac all the way upto Kalasa. Few screen grabs from the Dash Cam video.






We reached Kalasa at 4pm and visited one of our relatives' house. We also paid visit to the old and famous Kalaseshwara temple in the town.

Horanadu is about 8 kms from Kalasa. I had already made booking for accommodation @ Bhadra Nivasa Lodge (which is run by the Annapurneshwari temple trust). The rooms are clean and not expensive. A big room with 3 beds costed Rs. 650/- per night.

[AmazeGuru]

Day 4: Drive back to Bangalore via Chikamagalur

Route:


We visited Sri Annapurneshwari temple in the morning and left Horanadu at around 11:30am with the plan to stop for lunch @ Chikamagalur.



Amaze parked right in front of the temple entrance. As it was the middle of the week, there were not many devotees visiting the temple.

The plan was to take the same Balehole->Balehonnur->Aldur route to reach Chikamagalur. However, just after Kalasa town, I missed taking left in a junction, instead took right turn.


The junction where I should have gone left, instead drove right

That road was going towards Kottigehara->Mudigere. We did not realize until we almost reached Kottigehara, at which time, going back to Balehonnur route was not making sense. So, we proceeded towards Mudigere->Chikamagalur.

Few DashCam grabs of the road from Kalasa to Mudigere.





We reached Chikamagalur @ 2pm, had lunch at Vishnu Delicacy on MG road and then started again at 3pm. The road from Chikamagalur to Hassan is a well maintained wide 2-lane road with moderate traffic.

Lonely and winding roads from Chikamagalur to Belur to Hassan.





Had quick snacks and Ice Cream @ Swathi and Polar Bear and headed back to Bangalore.

Few screen grabs from DashCam of the Fastag lane between Hassan and Nelamangala.





Reached home @ 8pm, as it was a weekday there was not much traffic at the toll booths. Again, even at Nelamangala toll, they were allowing all vehicles in the FasTag lane, which added couple of minutes to the travel time.


ODO reading at the end of the trip.


Mileage.

[.anshuman]

Thread moved here from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing

[venkatt1800]

Detailed travelogue, Amaze Guru. Nice pictures. Thanks for introducing us to The Spectrum home stay. Just checked TripAdvisor and the reviews are excellent. Should be a great place to stay post-monsoon. What route did you take from Bababudangiri to Kalhatti Falls and what is the distance?

[jaganpec2002]

Nice trip Guru. I did the chikmagalur trip as well on my bullet on 8th and 9th April. Wanted to visit Belavadi temple on my way back but skipped the same as I wasnt sure if the temple will be open at noon. Could you share the opening times of the temple?

[Viper21]

Nice t-log. I went to Chikmagalur on March 31st and totally enjoyed the stay. One more place i visited was Galikere Lake. From baba budan giri you will need to continue ahead for about 5-10 kms and you will hit a dead end. On the other side is a heart shaped lake.

I stayed at the Courtyard Homestay and the food was super Yummy. The host was fantastic too.

One the way back, i visited the Shettihalli church (Small deviation from Hassan).

In all, a fantastic trip

[AmazeGuru]

Originally Posted by venkatt1800

What route did you take from Bababudangiri to Kalhatti Falls and what is the distance?

From Bababudan giri, we drove back to Kaimara junction and took left towards Tarikere. You will need to drive straight till the outskirts of Lingadalli, where you need to take left to reach Kalhatti falls. Distance between Bababudan and Kalhatti is about 66 kms.

Originally Posted by jaganpec2002

Could you share the opening times of the temple?

We went to the temple at around 4:45 and it was closed. They opened it at 5:15, so I am assuming the temple will be closed between 1pm - 5pm.

Originally Posted by Viper21

One more place i visited was Galikere Lake. From baba budan giri you will need to continue ahead for about 5-10 kms and you will hit a dead end. On the other side is a heart shaped lake.

We actually wanted to continue further from Bababudan, but advised against it quoting the road conditions. As I was driving a low GC car, I didn't want to take risk.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by AmazeGuru

ODO reading at the end of the trip.

Lovely travelogue, reminded me my Goa-Yana-Murudeshwar-Chikmagalur & Halebeedu trip in Oct 2010. Coincidentally, even we had stayed at the Spectrum homestay, which was just starting operations then I think.

Since you didn't go to the top of Mullayyana Giri, I am taking the liberty of sharing some pics from there; hope you don't mind.

Steps leading to the top; they are steeper than they look!



Small temple complex at the top



My Scorpio looking like a dot from the top of the mountain. Gives you an idea how high it is!



Cheers,
Vikram

[Dzirechennai]

Friends,

I plan to make a road trip from Chennai to Chikkamagaluru this weekend along with my family. Have booked the Bettadamalali homestay ! Wanted to know the latest road conditions and if I can plan to visit some of the places (like Belur) on the way up. I plan to start from Chennai at 5:00 AM in my trusted Dzire vdi and hoping to reach the homestay by 5 in the evening. Any tips/ suggestions in this regard would greatly help.

PS: Loved the travelogue of AmazeGuru

Cheers !

[DejavuTrip]

Originally Posted by Dzirechennai

Friends,

I plan to make a road trip from Chennai to Chikkamagaluru this weekend along with my family. Wanted to know the latest road conditions and if I can plan to visit some of the places (like Belur) on the way up. I plan to start from Chennai at 5:00 AM in my trusted Dzire vdi and hoping to reach the homestay by 5 in the evening. Any tips/ suggestions in this regard would greatly help.

The route will be Chennai- Electronic City Bangalore - Nice Road (Tumkur Road Exit) - NH 75 towards Hassan- Belur- Chikmagalur

The road from Bangalore to Chikmagalur is in good condition.

Tip to enter Nice Road from Attibele is here But be sure to take the Tumkur road exit. It is a tolled road.

For help with Chennai-Bangalore and Bangalore- Chikmagalur eateries please explore the below threads

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...eries-188.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...udupi-492.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...status-16.html