[dilsoft]

Dear friends,

I think this is my very forst travelouge in team-bhp. Though I have made several trips, I didn't write anything up here.

Recently I made a trip to Karnataka that includes coastal places. Please read my experience. My car is "Suzuki Sx4 zxi" 2007 make.

1.On Saturday 19th Sep 2009 we have started from hyderabad at 9 a.m. to Bangalore and reached B'lore by 6:30. It took nearly two hours to get into city and take an accomodation. My initial plan was to drive directly to Mysore. But my wife and kids were bit tired and took break in B'lore itself.
Thanks to too many diversions between Kurnool and Bangalore because of the road widening work. Hyderabad to Kurnool is now a full fledged express way . I could reach Kurnool in just 2 and half hours.

2. Next day 20th Sep, started from B'lore at 9:30 P.M. and reached mysore by 12:30. Believe me I though I would reach mysore in 2 hrs, but there was lot traffic in Bangalore-Mysore road. I drove it directly to Coorg after taking small tea break in a Mysore Dhaba.

3. Reached Kushal Nagar by 2:30, covered the Kaveri Nisargdham, Boudharama (golden Temple) on the way.

I also wanted to go to Elephant camp near Kushal Nagar but since It was already 5 p.m. after completing these places with a one hour lunch break (can't help it , because of kids) and I didn't want to drive in ghat sections after dark, so I skipped it and drove towards Coorg.

The ghat section between Kushal Nagar and Coorg was very bad and poorly maintained by. I don't what Karnataka govt is doing.

Reached Coorg by 6:30 and checked-in into a homestay. The room is pretty decent and excellent hill view from the balcony.

4. Next day 21st Sep. covered local sight seeing in Coorg like ThalKaveri and Abbey falls.

5. On 22nd, started from Coorg to Dharmashtala at 8:30. Reached Dharmasthala by 11:00 p.m. The reads in this section were severly damaged due to recent rains and I was very much tired of it.

More to write here..., please visit again!!

[dilsoft]

Continued...

6. After having lunch in Dharmasthala we started towards Udipi. Good roads until 30 k.m. before Udipi. After visiting Krishna temple I realized that the under body toolkit that was fitted to my Sx4 was slightly damaged. The spolier under the front bumper came out and hanging from one side. I immediately rushed to a nearby car shop and got it fitted with buttons temporarily. This was due to deep patholes on the way to Udipi.

Actually my initial plan was to go to Augmube and Kollur mukambika, but due to poor roads I decided to skip these places and changed my plan and decided to go to Gokarna. Unfortunately, the west coast road (NH17) also severly damaged and it took nearlyt 2 hours to cover just 40 KM. I reached Murudeswar and took a break in high way side resort for that night. The hotel name is "RNS highway hotel". It was a good hotel and tariff is very less.

6.23rd morning started from Murudeswar reached Gokarna in an hour. After visiting temple, I thought of settling back in OM beach resort nearby. But some home I did not like the beach view so started towards Karwar.

Reached Karwar by 1 p.m. I wanted to spend some time in beach , but due to sultry climate my widre discouraged me and we returned from this place. After travellig 30 km of bad road, I realised that the tyre was flattened. It took nearly 1 hr for me to replace the tyre ( I have never done before ). I drove towards honnavur and got the stephine tyre fixed.

Reached Jog falls at 7 p.m. Drove along dangerous ghat section from Honnavur to Jog falls. That was a beautiful thrilling experience out of my entire trip. The roads are very good between Honnavur and jog falls. There were many deep curves and since it was already dark I had to drive very cautiously. We took a hotel room in Jog.

7.24th morning woke up early and went to jog falls area around 8 a.m. Due to poor rainfall in that area this year, there is not much of water in the falls. So could not enjoy any seneric beauty there.

Continued my return journy to Hyderabad via Shoraba-Harihar- Raichur - Mahaboobnagar and reached hyd by 11:30 p.m.

Overall a good experience. But it could have been better if the roads would have been in good shape.

[dilsoft]

There were some typos in my first post. Please excuse me.

forst -> first
reads -> roads
Believe me I though -> Believe me, though..

[gowda79]

The travelogue would be better if you had posted some pictures

[dilsoft]

Gowda,
unfortuantely, I forgot my camera so could not take pictures. I took some photos with my mobile phone, but they are not very clear enough.

some more typos

widre -> wife
stephine - > Stephanie
senaric ->scenaric
travelouge-> travelogue

[Indian Ranger]

Hi,

The roads to Agumbe and Kollur are not bad and quite motorable. I was on this section on the same dates in my Alto and could do quite well. Please do refer to the following link of my experience

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...bangalore.html

But the Mangalore-Goa route is very bad in some stretches and need to be very careful while navigating.

Anyways I think you have covered the distance quite well and the stay at Jog would have been a different experience.

What is important here is that you had good time with the family through out the journey.

Cheers

[dilsoft]

Originally Posted by Indian Ranger

Hi,

The roads to Agumbe and Kollur are not bad and quite motorable. I was on this section on the same dates in my Alto and could do quite well. Please do refer to the following link of my experience

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...bangalore.html

But the Mangalore-Goa route is very bad in some stretches and need to be very careful while navigating.

Anyways I think you have covered the distance quite well and the stay at Jog would have been a different experience.

What is important here is that you had good time with the family through out the journey.

Cheers

Oops , I missed Agumbe then :(.
Thanks for the info. However I feel that trip not completely fullfilling to me. I think I need to make one more next time.

[mobike008]

As others mentioned. Travelogues are incomplete without pictures. Look forward to seeing some pictures soon.

[gajadonga]

How long did it take from Shimoga to Hyderabad via Raichur and how is the road conditions

[dilsoft]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

How long did it take from Shimoga to Hyderabad via Raichur and how is the road conditions

Gajadonga,

sorry for late reply, i didn't get a chance to spend time on team-bhp forums.

Hyd-Raichur road is pretty decent. It was not the same story where there were bad stretches near raichur few years ago. The only problem is in case if you want to do night drive, after AP border starts ( before Mahaboobnagar), the road turns to be bit scary because there are no radium lines/indicators which devides the road into two. You just have to depend on opp vehicle's head lights. But it will be fine once you cross Mahaboobnagar and joins NH7( Blore-hyd).
In other words Karnataka side of the roads were maintained well from Hubli to Raichur.

Shimoga to Hyd via raichur takes at least 8hours. the distance is around 570 k.m.

[LongDrive lover]

@dilsoft.

Nice, brave trip with family, I would say. I think you just listened to your inner call and went to visit those beautiful places without bothering too much. Excellent buddy, Way to go.

Yes, as others said, pics could have made it even more interesting. Still more details would be helpful.

[venkikewl]

Hello All,

Planning a Hyderabad-Jog Falls-Gokarna-Murudeshwar trip in the 1st week of Oct in my wagon r. Would like to hear from everyone the best possible routes that I can take along with any other near by places, decent accommodations, food that I can try. Any inputs are really helpful

Thanks in advance
Venki

Moderator's Note: Please ensure that you understand the various sections on this board and open your thread in the appropriate section. This ensures better responses and helps us in cataloging.

Thread shifted.

[meetbadri]

Either you can take Raichur -Sindhanur -Gadag- Hubli - Sirsi - Jog Falls or Kurnool - Bellary - Chitradurga - Shimoga - Sagar- Jog Falls route.

Driving from Raichur to Gadag in the first route is a real pain because of very bad road conditions and decents roads on Route 2 but increases your driving distance by 50 to 60 Kms.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by venkikewl

Planning a Hyderabad-Jog Falls-Gokarna-Murudeshwar trip in the 1st week of Oct in my wagon r. Would like to hear from everyone the best possible routes that I can take along with any other near by places, decent accommodations, food that I can try. Any inputs are really helpful

Ideal route would be via Bangalore. Unless you have a stopover planned at Bangalore, better to bypass the city and proceed towards Tumkur.
Hyderabad-Bangalore on NH7 - good road conditions.

From Devanahalli (before the Bangalore Airport), turn right onto NH207 to go to Dobbaspet where you merge onto NH4 towards Tumkur.
Just after the toll plaza at Tumkur, you can turn towards Tumkur bypass and get onto NH206 then go via Tiptur-Arsikere-Tarikere-Shimoga-Sagar-Jog Falls. NH206 is a 2 lane undivided road but in good condition. Tumkur bypass is broken at places but manageable. If you are traveling early morning, you can even go via Tumkur town and get to NH206 towards Shimoga.

Alternately, you can continue on NH4 after Tumkur and proceed till Chitraduraga. From here turn left onto NH13 and go via Channagiri to reach Shimoga. When you reach outskirts of Shimoga, turn left and after a 1 to 2 Km you will see a right turn to go towards Shimoga, follow that to reach NH206.

About 10 Km after Shimoga you can stop at Lion & Tiger Safari Tyavarekoppa, not a must-see place, stop if you have time.

On the way to Jog there is a small viewpoint for the Sharavathi valley, stop if you have time, you can get some amazing views.

From Jog, proceed on NH206 upto Honnavara where you merge with NH17, turn left here to proceed towards Gokarna and Murudeshwara.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by venkikewl

Planning a Hyderabad-Jog Falls-Gokarna-Murudeshwar trip in the 1st week of Oct in my wagon r. Would like to hear from everyone the best possible routes that I can take along with any other near by places, decent accommodations, food that I can try. Any inputs are really helpful

Originally Posted by meetbadri

Either you can take Raichur -Sindhanur -Gadag- Hubli - Sirsi - Jog Falls or Kurnool - Bellary - Chitradurga - Shimoga - Sagar- Jog Falls route.

The best route would be Hyd-Raichur-Hospet-Chitradurga-Shimoga. Stay at Shimoga for the day. The next day drive to Murdeshwar after visiting Jog via Honnavar. On the way back to Hyd, visit Gokarna and drive back to Hubli via Ankola-Yellapur (NH63). And then retrace the route back via Hospet.

Originally Posted by NPV

Ideal route would be via Bangalore. Unless you have a stopover planned at Bangalore, better to bypass the city and proceed towards Tumkur.

That would be a huge detour NPV.