[BertieWoosert]

Hi All,

We are planning a driving + sight-seeing trip in the first week of December ex Mangalore in a brand new EON car.

I have driven extensively in Maharashtra, but completely new to Karnataka roads and geography, so wanted to validate the route plan and get any comments or suggestions. Here is the plan:

Day 1: Mangalore to Hampi:
Google maps: Mangalore – Karkala – Sringeri – Koppa – Shivamogga – Holalur – Honnali – Harihar – Telagi – Hospet – Hampi

Is this the right route to take? I have been reading some not so great reviews of roads in these areas, including heavy truck traffic etc. Is it do-able in a day at regular pace (I did the Mumbai – Goa stretch in 14 hours for comparison)? If we start at 6 am from Mangalore, when can we expect to reach Hampi?

Day 2 & 3: Hampi

Day 4: Hampi to Gokarna:
Google maps: Hampi – Hospet – Gadag – Hubli – Kalghatgi – Yellapur – Gokarna
Again, is this the right route? Road conditions, average travel time? Does one need to go through Hubli city, or is there a bypass?

Day 5: Gokarna/Kumta/Yana etc

Day 6: Gokarna – Mangalore along NH17

Any other suggestions are most welcome. Does this feel too hectic? Would it be advisable to drop Gokarna and only go to Hampi and back?

Thanks in advance

[kaushik60]

Day 1: Mangalore to Hampi: You might want to check out the route through Mangalore-Karkala-Agumbe-Thirthahalli-Shimoga and from there through Shimoga-Honnali-Harihar-Hampi. It will be more picturesque, and Agumbe ghat will be amazing! I am not aware of road conditions as I have not been there recently.

Day 4: Hampi to Gokarna: I did the Hubli-Yellapur-Gokarna stretch about 5 months back, and the road was excellent. It was very enjoyable, and since I was on a bike, the curves very pretty exhilarating! I recommend this route.

Day 6: Gokarna - Mangalore: I hope the NH17 (new NH66) is in good condition, else it will be painful to do this on the last day. In any case, there is no dearth of beauty as you will pass through the Marvante beach as well, where you will find that the road is surrounded by the sea on one side, and a river on the other!

Overall, I dont think it is too rushed. All schedules look realistic.

All the best!

[BertieWoosert]

kaushik60 - Many thanks! I was looking for exactly this type of information.

I will explrore the Mangalore - Karkala - Agumbe - Shimoga option. Already excited to see you mention the Agumbe ghat! That would be a nice change from driving in the plains here.

I have always loved the Maharashtra section of NH17, so hopefully Gokarna-Mangalore will be enjoyable too. In any case, its only ~ 250 km, and there are two of us who can drive, so I hope it will be okay and not too tiring. I will keep a lookout for Marvante beach.

Is there a lot of truck traffic near Hospet? Any tips/tricks to bypass/minimize that would be very handy!

Anything else that I should watch out for specifically in these areas (apart from rickety buses racing at maddening speeds, unmarked speed-breakers, slow 2 and 3 wheelers driving right down the center of the road )

[anand_hc]

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

Hi All,

We are planning a driving + sight-seeing trip in the first week of December ex Mangalore in a brand new EON car.

I have driven extensively in Maharashtra, but completely new to Karnataka roads and geography, so wanted to validate the route plan and get any comments or suggestions. Here is the plan:

Day 1: Mangalore to Hampi:
Google maps: Mangalore – Karkala – Sringeri – Koppa – Shivamogga – Holalur – Honnali – Harihar – Telagi – Hospet – Hampi

Is this the right route to take? I have been reading some not so great reviews of roads in these areas, including heavy truck traffic etc. Is it do-able in a day at regular pace (I did the Mumbai – Goa stretch in 14 hours for comparison)? If we start at 6 am from Mangalore, when can we expect to reach Hampi?

Day 2 & 3: Hampi

Day 4: Hampi to Gokarna:
Google maps: Hampi – Hospet – Gadag – Hubli – Kalghatgi – Yellapur – Gokarna
Again, is this the right route? Road conditions, average travel time? Does one need to go through Hubli city, or is there a bypass?

Day 5: Gokarna/Kumta/Yana etc

Day 6: Gokarna – Mangalore along NH17

Any other suggestions are most welcome. Does this feel too hectic? Would it be advisable to drop Gokarna and only go to Hampi and back?

Thanks in advance

I traveled Udupi-Ankola-Hubli 2 weeks back. Udupi to Ankola would be a tough drive with lot of pot holes & bad stretches through out. Scenic beauty on can't be enjoyed as you would be striving to safeguard you car.

Ankola to Hubli stretch of 140 KMs is pure bliss with hardly any traffic.

Regarding Mangalore to Hospet, can you look at Mangalore-Shimoga-Chitradugra-Hospet route.

Shimoga to Chitradurga road is very good & Durga to Hospet is highway & you might want to look at some recent reviews on the forum for this stretch.

Have a great trip & keep us posted.

[BertieWoosert]

Shimoga to Hospet: I am now confused.

Is the appropriate road Shimoga - Chitradurga - Hospet or Shimoga - Honnali - Harihar - Hospet? In terms of travel time, which will be faster? I read Chitradurga-Hospet section has a lot of truck traffic.

Also - could someone please recommend some reliable hotels on each of these roads? (Mangalore - Hampi - Gokarna - Hampi). I am sorry, I am absolutely new to Karnataka, so have no idea of this. Are there Kamaths at frequent intervals? Or any other local chains serving good idli/vada/coffee?

[BertieWoosert]

Bumping this thread up, as my trip starts next week! Apologies..

Q1. Which is the appropriate road between Shimoga - Hospet? (in terms of faster travel)

A) Shimoga - Chitradurga - Hospet
OR
B) Shimoga - Honnali - Harihar - Hospet?

Q2. Decent food joints along Mangalore - Hampi - Gokarna - Mangalore (ala Kamaths)? Just the names of any standard chains etc is also fine, I will find out the details myself.

[BertieWoosert]

Finished the trip last week, just updating the route information for the benefit of other members.

Mangalore to Hampi: We took the Mangalore - Karkala - Agumbe Ghat - Thirthahalli - Shimoga - Harihar - Hospet - Hampi route
The entire road is a narrow 2 lane road, although not too much traffic overall.

Mangalore - Karkala: decent roads
Agumbe ghat scenery is amazingly good. Kaushik60 - thanks for the suggestion!
However the road is amazingly bad in patches. It is broken right at the hairpin bends in many places, and it was scary with KSRTC buses racing down the opposite direction on these bends.
Agumbe to Shimoga: very good road, passing through some beautiful forest sections
Shimoga - Harihar: decent road.
Harihar - Hospet: although the road is decent, there are lot of small towns, and factories on the way (which means speed breakers before and after), slowing down the speed a lot.

We had lunch at Harihar, which seems to have decent options.
The total distance was 410 km, and covered in 11 hours, including a couple of hours driving by a newbie, and other breakfast-lunch-chai breaks.


Hampi - Gokarna: We took the Hampi - Hospet - Koppal - Gadag - Hubli - Yellapur - Gokarna route.

Once you come out of Hospet, there is a LOT of construction work going on. The roads were pretty decent, and we could touch 120-130 on a few patches here between Koppal and Gadag.
Gadag - Hospet has a bit of traffic, that slowed us down a little.
Hubli onwards - best route of the journey. Roughly 40 odd km after Yellapur, there is a left turn that goes straight to NH-17 bang at the Gokarna exit. However, the road is not good, and i wonder whether it would have been better to continue up to Ankola and then take the NH-17 to Gokarna.

Total distance was roughly 310 km taking about 8 hours, including a long break at Hubli for personal work, and one breakfast break at Hospet, and lunch at Yellapur. In Hubli, there aren't good directions, and you need to keep asking around. Watch out for a couple of one-ways here.


Gokarna - Mangalore: We took the NH-17: Gokarna - (diversion to Yana and back on NH-17) - Murudeshwar (diversion to temple and back) - Kundapur - Udupi - Mangalore.

Gokarna - Murudeshwar: really bad roads with continuous patches of dirt roads alternating between good patches. Does anyone know how the roads get this way - really bad followed by good followed by really bad and so on?!
anand_hc - agree with you fully, cannot enjoy the scenic beauty when you are continuously trying to take care of (in our case brand new) car on these patches!
A couple of km before Murudeshwar, the road suddenly improved, and was good up to Kundapur, from where again the road condition deteriorated up to Udupi.
Udupi - Mangalore: lot of four-laning work in progress, and road generally good, but LOT of traffic.Also, you have to keep switching between left and right sections of the road, and some patches are one-way and others two-way, so watch out for traffic coming your way all of a sudden.

Total distance was about 290 km, including about 40 km total diversion to Yana (recommended) and 5 km total to Murudeshwar temple (also recommended), and covered in 9 hours (including a 2 hour break at Yana, and 1 hour at Murudeshwar for sight-seeing)

[kaushik60]

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

Agumbe ghat scenery is amazingly good. Kaushik60 - thanks for the suggestion!
However the road is amazingly bad in patches.


Hubli onwards - best route of the journey. Roughly 40 odd km after Yellapur, there is a left turn that goes straight to NH-17 bang at the Gokarna exit. However, the road is not good, and i wonder whether it would have been better to continue up to Ankola and then take the NH-17 to Gokarna.

You're welcome. I used to study at Surathkal near Mangalore, and Agumbe was one of our favourite haunts. Its a pity the roads were bad!

I'm heading to Gokarna from Pune next weekend, and I'll be taking the Yellapur route from Dharwad to Gokarna. It's encouraging to hear that that stretch is good
How long was the bad stretch of road that leads directly to the Gokarna exit on NH17? How many kms, and how much time did you take to cover it? I've gotta decide whether to take it or go the long way through Ankola.

[BertieWoosert]

I think after the left turn from the Hubli - Ankola road, it is roughly 20-22 odd km to NH-17 Gokarna exit. The road is not great, and we took about about 40 minutes to cover that patch. Its a very scenic route with almost no traffic, but quite broken in some parts.

[kaushik60]

Hmm ok thanks. Also, can you suggest a decent place to stay in Gokarna? We need something that needn't be luxurious, but it needs to be pretty light on the pocket. Also, a place with parking for 2 bikes and a Qualis.

[BertieWoosert]

We didn't have time to go to the beaches such as Om, Kudle etc, so can only comment on the accommodation options within the town.

We saw two "hotel" type accos: Hotel Shivprasad and Hotel Gokarna International. Both should be in the range of 500-1000 per room. Both have parking. If you are going on a weekend, i think you would need to pre-book. These have the usual TV etc comforts..

There are quite a few "lodge" type very basic options - just a bed, bucket hot water (if you are lucky ). These should cost between 200-400 per room. Some names that I recall are Vaibhav lodge, Kamat lodge, Shastri guest house etc. All these are near the KSRTC bus stand along the main road (seems like the only road in town) that goes from the town entry all the way to the beach.