[kadri007]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Hyderabad-Raichur-Hubli-Harihar-Shimoga-Tirthahalli-Agumbe-Manipal is a good route to take.

Alternatively, you can take the route from Hubli-Yellapura-Ankola.

.

The roads in the Shimoga - Raichur is very bad. Few months back one of my friend had taken a the Mangalore to Hyderabad bus which takes this route. The route is lenghty and not in good condition. It took around 23 hrs from Mlore.

You have a excellent road from Hyderabad to Bangalore which can try out.

[MX6]

I'd suggest a stay in Gokarn over murdeshwar. Gokarn is more laid back. I'm not a guy who goes looking for presidential suites to stay. A decent bed with clean linen and a good fan would suffice! In Murdeshwar, you get a good place to stay, but the place is damn crowded nowadays. A far cry from the mid 90s when I used to frequent that place.

Originally Posted by kadri007

The roads in the Shimoga - Raichur is very bad. Few months back one of my friend had taken a the Mangalore to Hyderabad bus which takes this route. The route is lenghty and not in good condition. It took around 23 hrs from Mlore.

You have a excellent road from Hyderabad to Bangalore which can try out.

Not sure which bus your friend took. The Airavat volvo from M'lore to Hyd takes the NH17 till Ankola and then NH63 till Hubli. Guess that's where they part and continue on NH63 till Bellary. Not sure about that route beyond that.
But I do remember seeing Hyd placards on Airavat volvo's at Kamat near Ankola.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 20 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[kadri007]

Originally Posted by MX6

Not sure which bus your friend took. The Airavat volvo from M'lore to Hyd takes the NH17 till Ankola and then NH63 till Hubli. Guess that's where they part and continue on NH63 till Bellary. Not sure about that route beyond that.
But I do remember seeing Hyd placards on Airavat volvo's at Kamat near Ankola.

They took the APSRTC Luxury bus which leaves Mangalore around 12. Its one of the oldest route.

There was Garuda Volvo from Mangalore to Hyderabad via Bangalore. But after Shiradi ghat spoilt they have stopped the services.

[vineet_k21]

Below link might be of some use for stay and tour in Malvan-Sindhudurg.

Culture Aangan : Sindhudurg

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by kadri007

The roads in the Shimoga - Raichur is very bad. Few months back one of my friend had taken a the Mangalore to Hyderabad bus which takes this route. The route is lenghty and not in good condition. It took around 23 hrs from Mlore.

You have a excellent road from Hyderabad to Bangalore which can try out.

I intend on taking the Shimoga route as the Bangalore route is about 150 Kms longer getting in and out of Bangalore is a pain. I have driven many a times on the Hyd - Blr NH7 and it is only good for the some 250/547 Kms of the road and the Bangalore - Mangalore road is no great shakes either.

Also since we are toying with the idea of revisiting Hampi which almost midway we are going to give Blr a miss. Btw Hyderabad - Jadcherla - MahaboobNagar - Raichur - Gangawati is a very good road.

And since the essence of the trip is to "Revisit Manipal" staying in Udupi is not an option at all . But we do intend to visit Udupi for breakfast at Mitra Samaj in the Temple Circle followed by Ice Cream at Diana.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by kadri007

The roads in the Shimoga - Raichur is very bad. Few months back one of my friend had taken a the Mangalore to Hyderabad bus which takes this route. The route is lenghty and not in good condition. It took around 23 hrs from Mlore.

BTW, which route did he take? Shimoga-Harihar-Sandur-Tornagallu-Bellary-Raichur?

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

BTW, which route did he take? Shimoga-Harihar-Sandur-Tornagallu-Bellary-Raichur?

Saar, what is the route I should take between Hampi and Manipal. Would love to travel thru Agumbe Ghats and do those 17/18 Hairpain bends.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Saar, what is the route I should take between Hampi and Manipal. Would love to travel thru Agumbe Ghats and do those 17/18 Hairpain bends.

Well, I would have recommended the Shimoga route to get to Agumbe, but now that the road is bad, do you want to do it that way? You can always drive from Hampi to Hubli (NH63) - supposed to be in good condition now - and go via Harihar (NH4) and Shimoga. Alternatively, see some more Western Ghats on the Hubli-Sirsi-Jog Falls-Shimoga route.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Well, I would have recommended the Shimoga route to get to Agumbe, but now that the road is bad, do you want to do it that way? You can always drive from Hampi to Hubli (NH63) - supposed to be in good condition now - and go via Harihar (NH4) and Shimoga. Alternatively, see some more Western Ghats on the Hubli-Sirsi-Jog Falls-Shimoga route.

You can always do Hampi- Hubli- Yellapura- Sirsi- Sagar - Anandapuram - Thirthahalli - Agumbe - Someshwara - Hebri - Manipal.
This is a good route from hampi to Manipal.
The Agumbe ghat section has been the same since last 20 years I guess. So it's no different now than what you'd have done 6 - 7 years back!

[kadri007]

If you are planning to drive down through Hubli take Yellapura road and head on to NH17. The road is straight and currently is in good condition

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MX6

You can always do Hampi- Hubli- Yellapura- Sirsi- Sagar - Anandapuram - Thirthahalli - Agumbe - Someshwara - Hebri - Manipal.
This is a good route from hampi to Manipal.
The Agumbe ghat section has been the same since last 20 years I guess. So it's no different now than what you'd have done 6 - 7 years back!

+1 to this. Yellaapur-Sirsi stretch is much better than the other stretch.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Also since we are toying with the idea of revisiting Hampi which almost midway we are going to give Blr a miss. Btw Hyderabad - Jadcherla - MahaboobNagar - Raichur - Gangawati is a very good road.

Hospet to Shimoga is not that great. It is fine after that.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

But we do intend to visit Udupi for breakfast at Mitra Samaj in the Temple Circle followed by Ice Cream at Diana.

Don't get your hopes too high for Diana, I was a fan since 1975, I finally stopped visiting in 2006. They have lost the plot.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Saar, what is the route I should take between Hampi and Manipal. Would love to travel thru Agumbe Ghats and do those 17/18 Hairpain bends.

Agumbe ghats has only 14 hairpin bends, rest you have to buy in some store in ratha-beedi. Actually Agumbe is just 49Kms from Manipal. If you have couple hours free, you can drive from Manipal, eat the world famous chattambade and come back.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Well, I would have recommended the Shimoga route to get to Agumbe, but now that the road is bad, do you want to do it that way? You can always drive from Hampi to Hubli (NH63) - supposed to be in good condition now - and go via Harihar (NH4) and Shimoga. Alternatively, see some more Western Ghats on the Hubli-Sirsi-Jog Falls-Shimoga route.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Hospet to Shimoga is not that great. It is fine after that.

How bad can the road be? Does it have 2 feet craters like the Bellary - Goothy HIGHWAY? I was wondering can I not do it in the Bolero?

Just checked the Bing Map and the difference between shortest and the route via Hubli is about 115 Kms. Btw where is Jog Falls
Below is the shortest route that I found from Bing

Originally Posted by Samurai

Agumbe ghats has only 14 hairpin bends, rest you have to buy in some store in ratha-beedi. Actually Agumbe is just 49Kms from Manipal. If you have couple hours free, you can drive from Manipal, eat the world famous chattambade and come back.

Rathabeedi . Anyways lets see which route to take. Btw any tips on where to have some good Bangra Fry?

[hvkumar]

MileCruncher, the Bing map seems to reflect the same route that I was suggesting, the one via Kudligi, Harihar, Shimoga and Tirthahalli.

Bad roads - potholes, but nothing which the Bolero cannot soak up.

[MX6]

Jog falls comes in the route between Sirsi and Sagara. That, I'd rank as the second best road I've motored in karnataka (the first being the chikkamagalur - hassan - mysore stretch, which looked as though I'm in Europe).
You want to add Jog, then it's NH63 from Hospete to Yellapura and from there to sirsi and sagara.
NEVER take the direct road from hubli to sirsi. That's full of lunar craters. The last time I drove my poor ikon, I broke an axle.
It's worth going from hubli to sirsi through yellapura.
But why this penchance to visit Jog now? You might not find water there.