[daisyb]

Places covered: Horanadu, Kalasa, Sringeri, Kollur, Gokarna, Murudeshwar, Maravanthe, Udupi, Karkala, Moodbidri, Kateel, Mangalore, Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya in this order from Bangalore
1500 kms
7 days

Distances, Route, Road conditions:
1. Day1:
Bangalore - Kalasa - 315 kms (Bangalore - Belur - Hassan - Mudigere - Kottigehara - Kalasa). Bangalore to Belur is NH48. Excellent road. However watch out for diversions as 4 laning is going on. Donot speed above 90 kmph, as one can except vehicles comming up suddenly. We saw a fatal accident, head-on collison between a bus and a Santro. There are 2 routes from Belur to Kottigehara. From the petrol bunk in Belur, there are 2 lefts that lead to Kottigehara. Take the immediate left (has a bad road stretch of around 5 to 6 kms). The other goeas via gonibeedu has a bad road stretch of 25 kms. Road is narrow but good and scenic from Kottigehara to Horanadu. We started in Bangalore at 6.30AM, took us 7 hrs to reach Horanadu which includes 1/2 hr tea break in Hassan, and 45 min temple visit at Kalasa.
Kalasa - Horanadu - 8 kms
Horanadu - Sringeri - 65 kms - Road is very narrow till Jayapura but good and scenic. Jayapura to Sringeri is very good
Halt at Sringeri

2. Day2:
Sringeri - Kollur - 110 kms (Sringeri - Agumbe(25) - Goliangadi(30) - Haladi(8) - Vandse(23) - Kollur(24)). Road is good.
Kollur - Gokarna - 135 kms (Kollur - Baindur(26) - Murudeshwara(28) - Honnavar(30) - Gokarna(50) ) - Road is narrow till Baindur. From Baindur one has to take 'right' to hit NH48. From Baindur it is a straight road(NH17) till Gokarna. There is a 6 kms bad stretch between Baindur and Murudeshwar. Road work is going on, and this bad stretch should be repaired in the next one or 2 months. Rest of NH17 is fabulous to drive.
Halt at Gokarna

3. Day3:
Gokarna - Murudeshwar - 80 kms on NH17 straight and excellent road
Murudeshwar - Maravanthe - 50 kms on NH17 straight and excellent road except for the 6 kms bad stretch
Maravanthe - Udupi - 50 kms on NH17 straight and excellent road
Halt at Udupi

4. Day4:
Udupi - Karkala - 40 kms. Good raod
Karkala - Moodbidri - 20 kms. Good raod
Moodbidri - Kateel - 25 kms. Good raod
Kateel - Mangalore - 25 kms. Good raod
2 Night Halts in Mangalore. Day 6 - covered places in Mangalore

5. Day6:
Mangalore - Kukke - 100 kms (Mangalore - Patil - BC Road(20) - Uppinangadi(30) - Kukke(50)). Road is good
Kukke - Dharmasthala - 50 kms (Kukke - Mardala(17) - Nelyady - Dharmasthala). There are 2 routes from Kukke to Dharmasthala. We took the Nelyady route which is supposedly 10 kms shorter than the other route. Road is good mostly except for a few bad patches and some part of the road is very narrow.

6. Day7:
Dharmasthala - Bangalore - 315 Kms (Dharmasthala - Ujre(8) - Charmadi ghat - Kothigehara(40) - Mudigere(15) - Belur(30) - Hassan(35) - Kunigal(112) - Nelamangala(43) - Bangalore-Vidhansoudha(32)). Dharmasthala to Ujre is good. 40 kms of Charmadi ghat from Ujre till Kottigehra is mostly good except for a few bad patches and potholes. Kottigehara to Belur is ok except for the bad stretch I mentioned above. Belur to Bangalore is NH48, excellent.

Other Details:
1. Dont miss the food in Horanadu Annapoorneshwari temple. They serve prasadam 3 times a day in the morning, afternoon (12.30 - 2.30PM), night.
2. Gokarna has very good beaches. Less polluted and less crowded. The place is very cheap, a good alternate to places like Goa if one wants to spend time in beaches and enjoy sea food. One can see tons of foreigners everywhere in Gokarna.
3. Add Maravanthe beach to the itenerary. Again a less touched beach. Located right across NH48 on the way to Udupi from Murudeshwara
4. St. Mary's island near Udupi is a good place to visit for an outing. Go to Malpe (5 kms from Udupi). Boats start in regular time intervals to St. Mary's island. It is 1/2 hr ferry. One can see fishing boats in Malpe
5. Karkala and Moodbidri have some very good Jain basadis, that have rich architecture. Dont miss the Jain palm leaf manuscripts, also famous as 'Dhavala texts'. They are preserved in a library in the Jain Mutt. We had to ask for it and were scrutinized and interrogated before we were taken to see them.
6. Mangalore places to see - St.Aloysius Chapel (has very good paintings), temples (Mangaladevi, Kadri Manjunatha, Gokarnath temples are what we visited), Beaches (Panambur and Thaneerbhavi). One has to got to Sultan Battary and take a 5 min ferry to Thaneerbhavi beach. This is better than Panambur beach which is cowded. Try Mangalore cuisine.

Travel tips:
1. Start early from Bangalore to avoid city traffic. Try to start before 6AM.
2. Most of the temples close in the afternoon between 1 and 3.30PM. Plan accordingly. Horanadu,Udupi temples doesnt close. Kalasa, Murudeshwar, Kukke, Dharmasthala temples close. I donot know about rest of them
3. One can get temple accommodation in most of the places. Carry bedsheets and pillows with you as temple accommodation doesnt always provide these.
4. Factor some buffer time in Dharmasthala, specially if you are visting during holidays/weekend. One can expect huge crowds. We did not experience delays and crowd in rest of the temples. But it is safe to plan atleast 2 to 3 hrs for every temple.
5. Carry some beach wear, and sandals. Beaches across Karnataka coast are very good to get wet and enjoy.

Will post some photos later. They are still in my camera

[MX6]

Small correction - Maravanthe is on NH17 and not NH48 as stated.
Again, turning Right at Baindur to go towards Murdeshwara, one gets on to NH17 and not NH48.

Also one can add Kaup (Kappu) beach. It's better than Malpe.
Murudeshwar temple puja closes, but the sanctum was open for people to take darshan till 2 pm as well. So they are not operating overtime for the burgeoning crowds.
Excercise caution at the beaches of coastal karnataka. They look inviting but are very tricky. People shouldn't venture deep inside.

[gypsyFreak]

Nice and compact details...awaiting the pictures...

Am planning almost the same route except Gokarna and Mangalore. Starting from Mysore though...

You said the Horanadu temple does not close. Is it right...?
How about Sringeri, Kalasa and Kollur temple. Any idea about the timings?

[lohithrao]

daisyb you seem to have a great trip! and seems like you had planned a lot.

Yes sultan battary/ thanneerbhavi is a good option but its better to go in a group here, though i stay close to this place(Sultan batt) i go to Pannambur but any day Kappu is a better option. also can try surathkal beach have the "red rock" hotel very close by...

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by daisyb

Bangalore to Belur is NH48.

Bangalore to belur is not NH48, NH48 is from Bangalore - Mangalore via Hassan-Sakleshpura
Hassan-Belur-Chikmagalur is State highway.

Originally Posted by MX6

Small correction - Maravanthe is on NH17 and not NH48 as stated.
Again, turning Right at Baindur to go towards Murdeshwara, one gets on to NH17 and not NH48.

You are right MX6

Originally Posted by gypsyFreak

You said the Horanadu temple does not close. Is it right...?
How about Sringeri, Kalasa and Kollur temple. Any idea about the timings?

Hornadu temple closes by afternoon AFAIK
Sringeri temple too closes by afternoon (around 2-4pm, previously it was till 5pm)

[daisyb]

Originally Posted by MX6

Small correction - Maravanthe is on NH17 and not NH48 as stated.
Again, turning Right at Baindur to go towards Murdeshwara, one gets on to NH17 and not NH48.

Thanks for this. You are right. Its a typo from my end.

Originally Posted by MX6

Excercise caution at the beaches of coastal karnataka. They look inviting but are very tricky. People shouldn't venture deep inside.

This is true for most of the beaches or large water bodies for that matter. One has to excerize caution. Except for St. Mary's island, I have not found the beaches to be very different (w.r.t depth) when compared to Tamilnadu or AP beaches. But I may be wrong. We had not ventured deep. Murudeshwara beach seemed quite shallow when compared to other beaches. We could go quite far in to the sea from the coast. OM beach in Gokarna is also not very deep.

Originally Posted by gypsyFreak

You said the Horanadu temple does not close. Is it right...?
How about Sringeri, Kalasa and Kollur temple. Any idea about the timings?

Horanadu temple doesnt close in the afternoon. Kalasa temple closes by 1PM. Not sure about Kollur and Sringeri as we visited Kollur in the morning, and Sringeri in the afternoon

Originally Posted by lohithrao

daisyb you seem to have a great trip! and seems like you had planned a lot.

Yes sultan battary/ thanneerbhavi is a good option but its better to go in a group here, though i stay close to this place(Sultan batt) i go to Pannambur but any day Kappu is a better option. also can try surathkal beach have the "red rock" hotel very close by...

Yes Lohith, its a great trip. Enjoyed driving and beaches a lot. Agree with you regarding thaneerbhavi. Might not be safe to go specially during off peak hours.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Bangalore to belur is not NH48, NH48 is from Bangalore - Mangalore via Hassan-Sakleshpura
Hassan-Belur-Chikmagalur is State highway.

Thanks for this. Again a typo from my end.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Hornadu temple closes by afternoon AFAIK
Sringeri temple too closes by afternoon (around 2-4pm, previously it was till 5pm)

Horanadu temple doesnt close in the afternoon.

[lohithrao]

IF am not wrong there is a mahapuje at around 2:30? which goes on for 30+mins, people offering some particular "seva's" will be let inside the gharba guddi...

[dreamdiesel]

daisyb..well planned trip. Awaiting for the pictures.

At Belur, did you take the road towards Gendehalli which you mentioned is good?
From Horanadu, how is the road condition to Sringeri through Kudremukh? Any info on this..

[daisyb]

Originally Posted by dreamdiesel

daisyb..well planned trip. Awaiting for the pictures.

At Belur, did you take the road towards Gendehalli which you mentioned is good?
From Horanadu, how is the road condition to Sringeri through Kudremukh? Any info on this..

Sure will post some snaps.
From Belur to Kottigehara, I have not noted down the intermediate places. Not sure if we crossed Gendahalli. In the return we took Gonibeedu route, which is bad. Only then we have realized that there are 2 routes from Belur to Kothigehara. There is a petrol bunk in Belur at the junction. One cannot miss it. From there there are 2 roads to the left. Take the immediate left. One can even enquire near the petrol bunk for the route
From Horanadu, we have not taken the Kudremukh route. We have gone via Jayapur. Till Jayapura, its a ghat road which is very narrow. From Jayapura one hits some local road which is good.

[MohsinRoadster]

A very useful and detailed log.

I visit mangalore almost once in every 2 months. A little unfortunate coz i havent been
to some "must go" places..

Last week i was around Udupi,Malpe & Marvanthe but didnt get a chance to visit the beaches.

All these threads are increasing desparacy to be there soon.

[hisunil]

@ daisyb,

Nice report, very useful.
I plan to do a similar route except - mangalore -gokarna + Kudremukh + Kodachari +/- Kemanagundi + Idujungi

Cheers
Sunil

[daisyb]

Originally Posted by hisunil

@
Kudremukh + Kodachari +/- Kemanagundi + Idujungi

Planning to do a seperate trip for Chikmagalur+Kudremukh+Kodachari . Hence did not include in this trip.

[chandras]

Hi buddy,
I'm planning the same trip in a day or two. This comes as a breeze.

* What is the route from Horanadu to Sringeri? How long does it take from Horanadu to Sringeri?
* Should I come to Kalasa and then proceed to Jayapura?
* In google / map my india maps they don't show jayapura route.

Thanks,
Chandra

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

IF am not wrong there is a mahapuje at around 2:30? which goes on for 30+mins, people offering some particular "seva's" will be let inside the gharba guddi...

Lohith, It happens to be MAHA MANGALARTHI, where all the lamps (deepa) inside the sanctum sanctorum are lit . It's a treat to watch.
Nobody(except priests/Archakas) is let inside the GARBHA GUDI(garbha gudi is where the god's statue is placed). devotees are let inside the room and are allowed to sit when the Maha Mangalarthi happens and the doors are closed.

[daisyb]

Originally Posted by chandras

* What is the route from Horanadu to Sringeri? How long does it take from Horanadu to Sringeri?
* Should I come to Kalasa and then proceed to Jayapura?
* In google / map my india maps they don't show jayapura route.

Horanadu to Sringeri is 65 kms via Jayapura. It took us around 1.5 to 2 hrs to reach Sringeri. You dont have to go back to kalasa. From Horanadu, there are directions clearly marked to Sringeri. You can easily make out the route.