[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by bdutta

Planning to do a 1-day trip. Something like leave Bengaluru at around 5AM and be back by around 6-7PM, while covering Halebidu and Belur. Is this doable ? We'd be starting/returning to HSR Layout. What might be a good itinerary, and what might be decent pit-stops for breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and clean restrooms ?

This is definitely possible. One may not really want to compare between driving and being driven but KSTDC has been doing this as a one day trip covering all these 3 POIs - Shravanabelagola - Belur - Halebidu as a one day trip. This is since more than 3 decades and I have always spotted their buses parked right in front of the lane we have lived.

So the answer is YES. You can very well do this as a one day trip if you plan it properly and here is how:

• Make an early start, say by 0530AM. Stop for breakfast at a place that opens around 0700AM which will be MAYURA HOTEL at Bellur Cross. If you start earlier, it means you may not be able to get breakfast at most of the hotels between Nelamangala and Channarayapatna. For an event last year, we collected parcels from Swati only around 0700 as they start serving around this time.
  
  
• Post breakfast, you straightway head to Shravanabelagola. This is advised because you really don't want to climb the hill or return back under hot sun. So keep this as the first POI, wrap this up before the sun starts playing spoilsport. This means, you reach here by 0830am max after breakfast and are done before 1000am.
  
  
• After this, if you need a break, you always have A2B when you drive out of Channarayapatna and towards Belur.
  
  
• Belur as town will not offer great things when it comes to food. The best you can manage here would be typical South Indian meal. Popular options will be VISHNU REGENCY and SUMUKHA RESIDENCY, both located less than 500 meters from the temple and 200 meters apart.
  
  
• Hence, with 10:00am departure from Shravanabelagola, Belur will be 70 kms and around 90 minutes. You can first finish visiting the temple that would take at least 60-90 minutes where I strongly recommend you to hire a guide to know a lot about the history about this Hoysala marvels. This means, you reach Belur by 11:30 or 12:00noon, finish temple visit by 13:00 or 13:30 and then finish lunch at the options given
  
  
• Post lunch, you can head to Halebidu which is mere 16 kms and 25 minutes from Belur Town. Spend another 2 hours here that includes the main temple as well as the Jain Basadi located just 300 meters beyond the main temple on the road leading to Hagare that connects you to Hassan. This means, you start from Belur around 13:30 or 14:00, reach Halebidu by 14:00 or 14:30 and finish the temples here by 16:00 or 16:30. From here drive to Bangalore with couple of breaks as needed and you should be surely home by 20:00 or 21:00 max

Now if you want to make this a 2 day affair, there are additional POIs that you can include too.

Day 1: Bangalore - Shravanagelagola - Hassan - Shettihalli Church - Manjarababad Fort - Sakaleshpur - Hassan (Stay overnight)

Day 2: Hassan - Doddagaduvalli (Another Hoysala Temple) - Belur - Belavadi (Temple) - Halebidu (Temple)- Pushpagiri Hill (Shiva Temple atop a Hill and you can drive till the top) - Hassan - Bangalore

PALGUNI RESIDENCY located at Hassan is a very well received Hotel now by a lot of BHPians I have recommended over the last 2 years. It is not too expensive nor cheap and has excellent rooms for the price it offers. The Idea is to make Hassan as base and not consider Belur or Halebidu or even Channarayatapatna or Sakaleshpur as options to stay.

References:

Smartcat's log from his visit to Doddagaduvalli Temple.

Smartcat's log from his visit to Belavadi Veeranarayana Temple

Puhpagiri Mallikarjuna Temple, near Halebidu :

Video 1

,

Video 2

Yagachi Dam and Water Sports, Near Belur

[envyravi]

Thanks for the inputs. My itinerary would on these lines:

Day 1 Hyderabad to Hassan, night halt in a Palguni Residency Hotel at Hassan
Day 2 Visit Shravanagelagola-Belur-Halebidu-Hassan
Day 3 Hassan to Hyderabad

Is it possible to squeeze in visit to Shringeri on day 2?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by envyravi

Thanks for the inputs. My itinerary would on these lines:

Day 1 Hyderabad to Hassan, night halt in a Palguni Residency Hotel at Hassan
Day 2 Visit Shravanagelagola-Belur-Halebidu-Hassan
Day 3 Hassan to Hyderabad

Originally Posted by envyravi

Is it possible to squeeze in visit to Shringeri on day 2?

Looks tight but not impossible. It is not the distance but the type of roads you will drive between Chikmagalur and Sringeri and back. Lot of twist and turns and tailing traffic that at the end you might just want to relax. That said, since Hassan is your base, you can do this easily but omit Shravanabelagola for this day and do Hassan (Palguni) - Hagare - Halebidu - Belur - Chikkamagaluru - Balehonnur - Sringeri.

Also you need to know that Shravanabelagola is situated more towards Bangalore than Hassan. So including this on Day 2 will mean you unnecessarily drive back on the same road back to Hassan after visiting S'Belagola. Including it as part of Day 1 would have made sense but then you are driving from Hyderabad and reaching here including bypassing Bangalore by whatever choices requires an easy 10 hours altogether. Would you then want to climb up the hill? Usually the answer is NO.

[envyravi]

May be i should omit Shravanabelagola in favour of Sringeri. What should be the sequence, first Sringeri and then on return Belur and Halebidu or other way round taking into consideration the opening and closure timings of these places?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by envyravi

May be i should omit Shravanabelagola in favour of Sringeri. What should be the sequence, first Sringeri and then on return Belur and Halebidu or other way round taking into consideration the opening and closure timings of these places?

Finish the difficult one first. Means finish Sringeri visit. And if that is so, you need not halt at Hassan on D1. Instead push till Chikmagalur which is another 75 mins drive from Hassan at Max. So next day you do Sringeri Belur Halebidu and settle down at Hassan for the night.

Aadrika, Grand Krishna are quite popular here for stay within the city limits.

[envyravi]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Finish the difficult one first. Means finish Sringeri visit. And if that is so, you need not halt at Hassan on D1. Instead push till Chikmagalur which is another 75 mins drive from Hassan at Max. So next day you do Sringeri Belur Halebidu and settle down at Hassan for the night.

Aadrika, Grand Krishna are quite popular here for stay within the city limits.

Good idea Sir. If I start from Hyderabad at 5 am when will I reach Chikmagalur and what is the distance from Chikmagalur to Sringeri.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by envyravi

If I start from Hyderabad at 5 am when will I reach Chikmagalur

0500 - Hyderabad
1100 - Devahanalli
1215 - Nelamangala
1315 - Bellur Cross [Break for lunch here]
1615 - Reach Chikmagalur
So that's around 12 hours for Chikmagalur with all your breaks.

what is the distance from Chikmagalur to Sringeri.

~90 kms and 2/2.5 Hours.

Temple timings:



Source

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by envyravi

If I start from Hyderabad at 5 am when will I reach Chikmagalur and what is the distance from Chikmagalur to Sringeri.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

0500 - 1615 - Reach Chikmagalur... around 12 hours for Chikmagalur with all your breaks.

If I may add something specific to the quoted parts, I would suggest extending the Day 1 drive till Sringeri and halting there. Spending time in the temple complex at night is an altogether different and surreal experience. You can have an early morning darshan the next day too and then proceed to Belur, Halebeedu and possibly to Sravanabelagula (by evening).

This would of course entail a 15 hour drive from Hyderabad, something that may concern you. But then, you can have a coffee break in Chikkamagaluru and proceed further.

[envyravi]

I am ok with 15 HR drive, What is concern to me is how safe it is to drive on the ghats from Chikmagalur to Sringeri in fading light.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by envyravi

I am ok with 15 HR drive, What is concern to me is how safe it is to drive on the ghats from Chikmagalur to Sringeri in fading light.

No problems at all. The roads are moderately good. There are villages and small towns every few kilometres. A lot of traffic flows through this route. And no, no highway robbers or wild animals have been known to stalk the commuters here; not even in the dead of the night .

A good pair of headlights and an alert driver will make the 90km journey easily in about 150 minutes. Except for a small stretch which you will have covered before nightfall, this cannot really be called a ghat road; there aren't enough twists and turns (literal as well as metaphorical) to justify that name. So, you are good to go. If you are still apprehensive, resort to the old trick of following a bus, after you cross Balehonnuru. You can't go wrong there, though it will add an extra 30 minutes to the commute.

But make sure you book your accommodation in one of the hotels in Sringeri well in advance (haven't stayed in any of them and hence won't be able to recommend any). Have a safe drive.

[RupamK]

Hello All
Need suggestions on doing trip from Bangalore --> Shravanabelagola--> Halebidu --> Bellur -->Bangalore on 14 December 2019 and return on the next day. Planned to stay at Halebidu for 1 night. Kindly help with the routes and the present conditions including stops.
Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Regards

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by RupamK

Hello All
Need suggestions on doing trip from Bangalore --> Shravanabelagola--> Halebidu --> Bellur -->Bangalore on 14 December 2019 and return on the next day. Planned to stay at Halebidu for 1 night. Kindly help with the routes and the present conditions including stops.
Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Regards

Routes are good all throughout.

Bangalore --> Hirisave --> Shravanabelagola--> Channarayapatna --> Hassan --> Hagare --> Halebidu --> Belur -->Hassan --> Bangalore.

Following list should come in handy to plan your stops.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

(Click on any of the names in the list to get the Google-maps location)

Towards Mangalore:

1. Udupi Garden
2. Sambrama Hotel
3. Annapoorneshwari Veg Restaurant
4. Shark Food Court
5. Radhakrishna Udupi
6. Shiva Sagar - Average Rest Rooms
7. New Anand Bhavan - Average Food & Rest Rooms, lots of buses stop here
8. Taj Restaurant
9. Kamat Upachar
10. Kichchana Halli Mane
11. Hotel Dhruvatare
12. Shree Rathnam
13. Hotel Mayura
14. Hotel Anagha
15. A2B
16. Café 75
17. Vidhata Restaurant - 3 Popular Dhabas here have now converted to proper restaurants next to each other

Inside Hassan:

1. Mallige Residency
2. Aishwarya Veg
3. Sri Krishna
4. Suvarna Regency
5. Hotel Raama - Closest to Bypass
6. Mayura International- Closest to Bypass

Between Hassan - Bangalore:

1. Suruchi Restaurant
2. Sri Krishna Bhavan
3. Kamat Upachar
4. Murali Miltry Hotel
5. Malgudi - Average Food and Rest rooms
6. Mayura
7. Adiga's Grand Veg
8. Swati Delicacy - It is better to stop here than Mayura or Adiga's. Easy access from opposite side too
9. Empire

Cafe Coffee Days:

1. @ Bellur Cross - Towards Hassan
2. @ Udyapura - Towards Bangalore
3. @Jaladagere between Bellur Cross and Kunigal - Towards Bangalore

[nareshtrao]

Folks,

Any of you recently been to Shravanbelagola from Bangalore? Need advice on road conditions as well as guidance on the area itself.

Planning a one day trip with family to visit the temple. Any inputs are deeply appreciated.

p.s. The earlier travelogues I found are more than 5 years old and hence posting this.

[chethan.ram]

The easiest one for you will be, take the Hassan Highway, drive till Hirisave, continue on the highway for another 12kms till Mattanavile, turn left at Mattanavile towards Shravanabelagola. It is about 12 kms after you turn left from Mattanavile. The roads till Mattanavile are fantastic, after you turn left its single lane but the roads are decent. You get lot of eating options as it is on the highway.

The other options would be a drive on Mysore road till Mandya, turn left towards Melukote and again a deviation at Melukote towards Shravanabelagola. Though this is a very scenic route once you cross Manday, I would avoid this considering the road work on Mysore Road.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

Any of you recently been to Shravanbelagola from Bangalore?

Default route that Google maps shows itself is decent. You'll have to return to the highway for food