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-   -   Bangalore to Chikmagalur - Best Route & Road Status? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/62597-bangalore-chikmagalur-best-route-road-status.html)

Team,

I am going this weekend Chikmagalur. Can you please guide me the best route and road status.

Thanksplease:

Bangalore-Nelamangala-Kunigal-Channarayapatna-Hassan-Belur-Chickmagalur, 250 kms

Get on the NICE peripheral road, take the Magadi road exit, go upto Magadi town, cross the town and take a right at the next junction. Reach NH-48 just before Kunigal, turn left and continue up to Hassan. Take the Belur road from Hassan and continue up to Belur and then onto Chikmagalur.

Roads are quite good up to Hassan. Excellent from Hassan to Belur and decent from Belur to Chikmagalur. Should be doable in five-six hours from Bangalore.

both the roads mentioned above are right & good.i had been to the serai chikmagalur 2 months back.was an amazing drive in my forester.was raining very heavily when i was there,dont miss muthalangiri hill if you are goin to chikmagalur,there is one more hill close to this i am not abke to recall the name.by the way how are you travelling(which car)?

Bababudhabgiri is 32 kms from Chickmagalur town on the Kemmanangundi road.
Mulayangiri is further down the road to Kemanangundi.

Both of them put together make for a half-day trip.

Here's my travelogue, if its of any help to you. Happy tripping !!

Hey me traveling to Chickmagalur too this weekend. I was checking for the directions and as usual I do get it from T-BHP. Cool

I see there are two routes, which one is best one via HASAN or TIPTUR ? Please advice, is ok to take Tumkur road via CV raman nagar...

Hassan is the better route to Chickmagalur.

Bangalore - Nelemangala- Kunigal - CR Patna - Hassan - Belur - Chikmagalur

If you ensure that you start as early as 5am, you will reach Chikmagalur in just 4 hours with decent and safer speeds of just 80-90kmph and that too, taking the Nelemangala stretch (and not through Magadi town) along with a not so quick breakfast in any car. By doing so, you will avoid people, Cattle, 2 and 3 wheelers, Tempos and other private vehicles. Remember, We arent trying to get best timings here but you'll be happy to reach the destination without a headache.

Bangalore City - Nelemangala - Not so bad stretch with lot of deviations, High speed breakers and Patch work.
It is better to pass this as early as possible but I have seen illogical jams on both sides even at the wee hours.

Nelemangala - Kunigal - Traffic will start to decline and one can start speeding up and maintain decent speeds uptil Kunigal town where traffic passes through the city. Just before the city, After Johnson tiles (on the right) uptil Kunigal town, new potholes/washed out layers have developed. So drive carefully.Again, Early mornings should be a smoother drive in and out of the city.

Kunigal - Bellur Cross - Watch out for those 2/3 deviations due to 4 laning and also stretches partially covered with mud due to incessant rains in the recent past. Heaps of mud on the sides of the road due to digging is an indication to slow down, especially while a heavy vehicle is passing by the opposite direction since the width of the road is very abnormal at various sections.

Bellur cross - CR Patna - Good roads all the way and it is better to get out of CR Patna before 9am to avoid the town traffic.

CR Patna - Hassan - The best stretch of the highway and only thing to watch out are a few Pot holes (After University Campus). These pot holes are on the Hassan - CR Patna section and ideally you'll encounter them on the way back.

Hassan - Belur - The Hassan Bypass is gone to dogs now. Just dont take this route for 2 reasons:-
1. The condition of the bypass itself.
2. Both the roads connecting Bypass to BM road (In Hassan town from where you need to take right to Belur Road) are full of huge pot holes and slush.

Suggestion is to drive through the city and make a safer exit at Thanneeruhalla towards right on to the Belur Road.

Belur - Hassan - The only best stretch of your whole drive, very well done, properly marked, banked, but be careful of the 3 speedbreakers you will encounter:

1st and 2nd will be just after passing the Windmills and pond when you encounter a straight stretch (2 kms before Hagare) when the milestone to Belur would 20/19kms.

3rd one will be immediately after passing Hagare town exactly opposite to the Police Station.

(all the above speed breakers are in sets of 3-5 smaller/parallel ones unlike the huge ones which scrape the underbelly).

Belur - Chikmagalur - A good stretch but be careful near the first culvert immediately after passing Belur town. Then, the second place to be careful on this stretch is after passing Karagada village as portions of the road have come off due to rains and flowing water.

A bad stretch of 50 meters at the incline on Karthikere town will slow you down to the second gear.

You will then be welcomed before Hiremagalur with a deviation (due to Railway OB) which is equally bad.

I have been travelling to Belur/Chikmagalur over the past 7 years on every alternate weekend and this is my personal experience. Overall, this road is a beauty if driven in the early hours for all the above reasons.

The bad stretches I have mentioned are a mixture of OK, not bad, bad and worse but exist in very smaller section of the whole highway which in any way will not impact on the overall average speeds at all (Unlike the infamous Chitradurga - Haveri stretch of NH4). I only though it was better to include these bits for a safe driving experience. And trust me, going over any of these bad stretches will not cause any Human/Mechanical damage but worth mentioning.

On your way back, be very careful of those Sand trucks without any tail lamps, sometimes stalled in the middle of the highway. Even Overtaking KSRTC buses is a pain as they will allow you to pass them only once they finish overtaking.

If you are returning with the headlamps ON, I would suggest you to do a sedate driving all the way till Bangalore since the oncoming traffic (Especially KSRTC and Private buses) which are trying to overtake each other will give you no time to react.
Hope this helps!!

Have a safe and a pleasant drive:thumbs up

Oh parag such a lovely description.
Last weekend I took the byepass road @ Hassan, The road joining byepass & Thanneruhalla has literally gone for a toss. At any cost pls avoid this route if you are driving a car.

Thanks Sushrutha, In fact 2 weeks before I took the bye pass which had already developed major pot holes and I knew that the usual road connecting Bypass to Thanneeruhalla near the railway tracks was a patch I wouldnt want to attempt and so, took the Gorur road but this was all the more pathetic. You go slow over one pothole and immediately your front wheel is on the next one easily brushing the underbelly. I can say, literally no road existed at all all the way till the BM road intersection and even buses had to move in almost zero speeds.

@PARAG
Many thanks. It'll really help me , I am carrying GPS[MMI] too.
Do you have any TO DO list/Sight seen list for Chikmagalur??

Ther's nothing much to see in Chikmgalur town, some of the places nearby Chikmagalur are Mullaingiri (~25kms), Kemmannugundi(~35kms) , Kallathigiri(~35kms) , Belur(~20kms) , Halebeedu(~35kms) , Sringeri(~90kms) , Hornadu(~90kms) , Kudremukha(~90kms), Bhadra wild life sanctuary(~25kms), Linganmakki(~70kms)

Thanks everyone, I will be starting my journey in another 2 hrs. Will update you guys soon.