[daisyb]

Originally Posted by deechan

Nice travelogue, daisyb! How are the roads to Kalasa ? I assume you took the Belur > Kottigehara>Kudremukh>Kalasa route or did you go via Chickmagalur? I'm planning a drive to Udupi in feb - driving a Swift. From what I heard from friends who travelled in November 2010 was that the roads between Kottigehara-Belur was in a horrid condition.

The route via kudrmukh is longer than the other 2 routes from Belur. The route through Gonibeedu is a nightmare. There is a 3rd route from Belur. Please check my travelogue for the details. This is relatively much better. Has a smaller bad patch

Originally Posted by sushrutha

I agree, the road is quite bad from Belur-Cheekanally-Gonibeedu-Mudigere.
But rest of the route is in very good condition. Kottigehara - Kalasa road has been recently relaid, retarred

Yes, route via gonibeedu is very very bad.

[PraveenM]

Daisyb, thanks for a detailed travelogue , with distances and road conditions. It helped us a lot in planning for our 2000km roundtrip to North KA.

[daisyb]

Originally Posted by PraveenM

Daisyb, thanks for a detailed travelogue , with distances and road conditions. It helped us a lot in planning for our 2000km roundtrip to North KA.

You are welcome. I am glad that my travelogue helped you plan. Please share your trip experiences

[ark_rover]

@daisy_b. I really enjoyed reading this travelogue and the pictures.

Though there are no recent posts to this thread, i am posting this as most of the places i plan to visit soon
In the first week of October, I am planning a road trip (Honda City) from Bangalore with my family to various places in coastal Karnataka. This would be my first time visit to this area so can someone help me with suggestions on itinerary, route map and road conditions.
Here is the plan
Day 1 - Bangalore to Horanadu (stay) (route via: Hassan, Belur, Mudigere, Kalasa)
Day 2 – Horanadu-Sringeri to Udupi (Stay) (route: need suggestions? - Agumbe or Karkala?)
Day 3 - Murudeshwar (stay)
Day 4- Gokarna / Jog falls (stay) (road condition? Route?)
Day 5 - Jog and Back to Bangalore (route via: Shimoga)

I am planning the trip with lots of breaks and want to make it bit more relaxing as I will be travelling with my mother, wifey and 2 little kids
Thanks in advance,
ark_rover

[chakri400]

Originally Posted by ark_rover

@daisy_b. I really enjoyed reading this travelogue and the pictures.

Have you made this trip? I was contemplating on such a trip this december, was wondering if you could share your experience.
How are the road conditions, where did you stay, what are food options enroute?

Thanks!
Chakri

[ark_rover]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Have you made this trip? I was contemplating on such a trip this december, was wondering if you could share your experience.
How are the road conditions, where did you stay, what are food options enroute?

Hi Chakri, sorry for little delay in my reply.
Yes I did make the trip during October first week and the overall road conditions were good.
Here is the road report
The bad patches were in Belur town while going from Bangalore to Horanadu.
otherwise overall road condition in and around sringeri and horanadu via Kudremukh are narrow but in good condition.

The other worst patches were on NH17 near kundapura and Bhatkal enroute Udupi, Kollur and then Murudeshwar.
After Murudeshwar to Idugunji and Gokarna is in good condition.
Overall I did not have any issues with my Honda city, it was motorable.

Regarding food options, most of the temple towns, we have food at the mutts. Otherwise we did not look for anything specific.
In udupi, we had decent veg food in Woodlands hotel (veg) opposite to Admar mutt guest house.
In Murudeshwar, we stayed in RNS residency, its a veg only hotel and food was decent.
Whlie coming back to Bangalore from Jog / Shimoga via Chitradurga we had dinner in Kamat.

Please go for this trip. its worth it.

Hope my 2 cents will help you. Have a good trip.

[chakri400]

Originally Posted by ark_rover

Hi Chakri, sorry for little delay in my reply.

Please go for this trip. its worth it.

Hope my 2 cents will help you. Have a good trip.

Thank you art_rover I haven't travelled to the western KA before and am looking for specifics.

The plan you have set is perfect. Can you tell me where did you stay in each of these stops. I am planning on travel with family and hence quality accommodation is a must.

Day 1 - Bangalore to Horanadu (stay) (route via: Hassan, Belur, Mudigere, Kalasa)
Day 2 – Horanadu-Sringeri to Udupi (Stay) (route: need suggestions? - Agumbe or Karkala?)
Day 3 - Murudeshwar (stay)
Day 4- Gokarna / Jog falls (stay) (road condition? Route?)
Day 5 - Jog and Back to Bangalore (route via: Shimoga)

If it is OK with you, can I call you? please PM your number to me please .

[ark_rover]

Originally Posted by chakri400

If it is OK with you, can I call you? please PM your number to me please .

Chakri, i do not have PM facility yet as I am a newbie, you can PM me your number and then I will call you. Thanks

[daisyb]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Thank you art_rover I haven't travelled to the western KA before and am looking for specifics.

Day 1 - Bangalore to Horanadu (stay) (route via: Hassan, Belur, Mudigere, Kalasa)
Day 2 – Horanadu-Sringeri to Udupi (Stay) (route: need suggestions? - Agumbe or Karkala?)
Day 3 - Murudeshwar (stay)
Day 4- Gokarna / Jog falls (stay) (road condition? Route?)
Day 5 - Jog and Back to Bangalore (route via: Shimoga)

Chakri, How many days are you planning for this trip. Is the intent visiting temples/visiting other places/both. Accordingly can suggest you an itinerary.

You should be able to do Horanadu and Sringeri easily on Day1 and stay in Sringeri. Sringeri has decent temple accommodation. You need to however book in advance.

Udipi - Is another place you might want to spend more time. You can plan to visit St. Mary's island which is very good for a family visit. Udipi temple itself is very big, and worth spending some time.

Murudeshwar - I wouldn't suggest a stay. You can visit it on the way

Gokarna - has lovely beaches. you can definitely spend more than a day over here

Kollur - You can add this to your itinerary. It has famous Kollur Mookambika temple

You can also cover Dharmasthala/Kukke Subramanya if time permits

[chakri400]

Originally Posted by daisyb

Chakri, How many days are you planning for this trip. Is the intent visiting temples/visiting other places/both. Accordingly can suggest you an itinerary.

Thank you daisyb. We are planning on 5 days. I am going to drive with a couple of friends and their families. Families, hence, good accommodation is a must

Popular temples, scenic places are of interest. We are not bent on visiting a particular place or temple.

Please suggest if you have any ideas.

Thanks!
Chakri

Originally Posted by ark_rover

Chakri, i do not have PM facility yet as I am a newbie, you can PM me your number and then I will call you. Thanks

Thanks art_rover, sounds like I cannot PM you either

[daisyb]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Thank you daisyb. We are planning on 5 days. I am going to drive with a couple of friends and their families. Families, hence, good accommodation is a must

Popular temples, scenic places are of interest. We are not bent on visiting a particular place or temple.

Please suggest if you have any ideas.

Day1:
Bangalore - Horanadu - Sringeri. Stay in Sringeri
Start early from Bangalore, you will reach Horanadu around lunch time. Have darshan, and then lunch in the temple. Having atleast one of the meals in the temple is a general norm. After lunch in Horanadu, reach Sringeri. You can have an evening aarti and darshan. The temple vicinity is huge and beautiful. You can just relax and chill.

Day2:
Option1: Sringeri -> Jog Falls -> Gokarna (Not sure on the Jog falls route thoguh as we have not done Jog falls in this trip)
Option2: Sringeri -> Kollur -> Gokarna.

Day3:
Gokarna -> Murudeshwar -> Udipi. Evening Aarti in Udipi is good.

Day4:
St. Mary's island is an excursion from Udipi. Will take around 1/2 day. As you are going as a group, you will enjoy. Post lunch, you can try one of the below
Option1: Go to Mangalore if you can extend your trip by another day.
Option2: Go to Kukke Subrahmanya or Dharmasthala

Day5/6: Back to Bangalore

[chakri400]

@daisyb: apologies for the late reply. The trip had to be replanned as one of my friends couldn't manage 5 days off. So we cut it short to 3 days. We decided to stay at tirthahalli as that seemed to be a central place. After reading good reviews about kolavara heritage, i called them to check availability. Found accommodation and headed there. It was a good decision in the hind sight.

It is a resort like home stay. Very good people, home made malnad food, wine and ancient house. Tunga river point in 5km from the resort where you could walk across the river. Kids had a great time. During our stay there, we managed to see a river, trek to a viewpoint, visit sringeri temple and sirimane waterfalls, tasted home made wines with a bonfire on a cold starry night!

Of all the places we saw, Sirimane waterfalls was a disappointment. More hype than reality. There is enough water but the falls aren't big.

[raghunandanj]

Team

I'm planning to get down to Dharmasthala from Bangalore on the weekend of Feb 15-16, so was wondering which one of the famously infamous ghat roads are worthy of driving.

Shiradi Ghat Road ( Sakeshpur - Gundya ) or Charmadi Ghat ( Kotigehara - Ujire ), is the big question. Both national highways were in deplorable condition after the rains, so has there been any patchwork done to restore them to a passable state now ?

People who have driven down recently please advise. Thanks.

[hallik9]

Take the Shiradi route. It has been completely patched up and driving should be a breeze. There is one stretch of just 200 meters where the patch work was in progress a week ago. This remains the best road as of now for folks travelling to Mangalore or Dharmastala!