[rohanjf]

I am going to drive to Mangalore on 24th morning. I am totally confused with what route to take, after going to through all these comments! So I plan to drive on NH48 itself, and hope that the road is as pathetic as it usually is.

How is the road around Magadi? When I drove through Magadi in November, about 4 -5 km stretch around the town was very bad.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Ujire to Udupi, 90% of the way is good. But 10% is bad, and it is spread over.

Samurai, Which is the route you referred to?

The one via Karkala or via Moodabidri?

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

How is the road around Magadi? When I drove through Magadi in November, about 4 -5 km stretch around the town was very bad.

Rohan, the road through town - 4 KMs - was bad when i drove three weeks back. With gram panchayat eelctions around the corner, hope some improvement would have been done

[f1fan]

Folks,
This might be a little OT w.r.t this thread but you guys would know best, hence posting on this thread.
My friend's parents would be travelling to Madikeri come Jan 2011 from Mumbai. Their earlier plans were to go to Mangalore and then get onto a Mangalore-Bangalore or Mangalore-Mysore Volvo which goes thru Madikeri and get down there.

Was going thru this thread and noticed that the road there would be closed, hence would request you guys on what would be a good way to go to Madikeri. If reqd, they can travel to Bangalore or any other location and travel from there to Madikeri if there is a viable or shorter route from Mumbai.

Thanks in advance
f1fan

[MCR]

Thanks for the feedback Samurai san, Fauji and addy. I will take the CHarmadi ghat this time. Should be fun looking at the pictures posted by Sushrutha.

Originally Posted by f1fan

Folks,
This might be a little OT w.r.t this thread but you guys would know best, hence posting on this thread.
If reqd, they can travel to Bangalore or any other location and travel from there to Madikeri if there is a viable or shorter route from Mumbai.

Thanks in advance
f1fan

f1fan, Ask them to take the KSRTC Volvo from Mumbai to Mysore. From Mysore, there is regular Bus service to Madikeri.

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by MCR

Thanks for the feedback Samurai san, Fauji and addy. I will take the CHarmadi ghat this time. Should be fun looking at the pictures posted by Sushrutha.


f1fan, Ask them to take the KSRTC Volvo from Mumbai to Mysore. From Mysore, there is regular Bus service to Madikeri.

I already gave them that option but being near the senior citizen's age limit, they would prefer to do most of their travel thru train even if that is longer. I have also suggested MUM-BLR (by train) and from there to Madikeri (if there is any decent Service to Madikeri from BLR) or MUM-BLR(train) -MYSORE(Volvo) and from there to Madikeri.

Wanted to check whether there is any additional ways to go there. They had nearly finalized the Mangalore route as they were planning on spending a couple of days in Mangalore, hence wondering a way from there to Madikeri.

BTW can they take a rental car from Mangalore and go to Madikeri or is it that the route is completely closed to all kinds of traffic? If YES, what would be a ballpark cost of a rental to Madikeri from Mangalore.

[kala]

Originally Posted by f1fan

I already gave them that option but being near the senior citizen's age limit, they would prefer to do most of their travel thru train even if that is longer.

...

BTW can they take a rental car from Mangalore and go to Madikeri or is it that the route is completely closed to all kinds of traffic? If YES, what would be a ballpark cost of a rental to Madikeri from Mangalore.

How about them taking a train to Kannur and then taking a Cab or a bus to Madikeri ? Kannur-Madikeri shouldn't be more than 3 to 3.5 hours in the worst case and there are no issues of closed roads..

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by ampere

Samurai, Which is the route you referred to?

The one via Karkala or via Moodabidri?

Karkala route is the direct one. Why would you go via Moodabidri, if you are going to Udupi?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Karkala route is the direct one. Why would you go via Moodabidri, if you are going to Udupi?

Thanks. I had gone long time back (Udupi-Dharmastala) and hence forgot, which is the direct route!

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

I have no idea, regarding road conditions from Mudigere to Kottigehara. I last traveled on that stretch in September and it was good at that time. From sushrutha's pics, Charmadi seems to be good.

The route from Mudigere is in good condition, except for a small bad stretch between Banakal - Kottigehara.
Charmadi as mentioned previously .. it's in good condition, except some stretch and hairpin curves. Some of the hairpin curves were getting repaired as of last friday.

[Deep Blue]

Sampaje road closed.
The Hindu : Front Page : Closure of Madikeri-Sampaje road throws up several new problems

[MCR]

Originally Posted by f1fan

I already gave them that option but being near the senior citizen's age limit, they would prefer to do most of their travel thru train even if that is longer.
BTW can they take a rental car from Mangalore and go to Madikeri or is it that the route is completely closed to all kinds of traffic? If YES, what would be a ballpark cost of a rental to Madikeri from Mangalore.

Yes they can defenitely hire a cab from Mangalore to Madikeri. They can follow the route as mentioned in the link provided in post by Deep Blue.
But the road would be defenitely bad.

Else they can take the Mumbai - Mysore train and later hire a cab at Mysore to reach Madikeri.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

The route from Mudigere is in good condition, except for a small bad stretch between Banakal - Kottigehara.
Charmadi as mentioned previously .. it's in good condition, except some stretch and hairpin curves. Some of the hairpin curves were getting repaired as of last friday.

Thanks for the info sushrutha. Can you please let me know the route from Belur to Mudigere via Gendehally? Any landmark which can guide me to this route?

[hsprabhu]

Plan for Thursday to Sunday/Monday

Thursday: Start from Bangalore by noon and goto Shimoga. Stay overnight
Friday: Drive to Thirthahalli - Hebri. Brief stop in Hebri and goto Manipal. Spend the Friday night and Saturday night at Manipal. Re-union of sorts.
Sunday: Goto Yedapadavu (between karkala and mangalore). Brief stop. Leave for Bangalore. Thinking of Charmadi ghat this time. Will post the pics with the details.

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by MCR

Yes they can defenitely hire a cab from Mangalore to Madikeri. They can follow the route as mentioned in the link provided in post by Deep Blue.
But the road would be defenitely bad.

Else they can take the Mumbai - Mysore train and later hire a cab at Mysore to reach Madikeri.

Originally Posted by kala

How about them taking a train to Kannur and then taking a Cab or a bus to Madikeri ? Kannur-Madikeri shouldn't be more than 3 to 3.5 hours in the worst case and there are no issues of closed roads..

Thanks guys for the updates. I have shared the same with my friend's parents and looks like they would go the Kannur way bcos it is a train journey for most of the travel duration.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by hsprabhu

Plan for Thursday to Sunday/Monday

Thursday: Start from Bangalore by noon and goto Shimoga. Stay overnight
Friday: Drive to Thirthahalli - Hebri. Brief stop in Hebri and goto Manipal. Spend the Friday night and Saturday night at Manipal. Re-union of sorts.
Sunday: Goto Yedapadavu (between karkala and mangalore). Brief stop. Leave for Bangalore. Thinking of Charmadi ghat this time. Will post the pics with the details.

Instead of Shimoga stay in Tirthahalli. There are good homestay options and is more pleasant. As the road between Tirthahalli and Shimoga is good you won"t feel the strain.