[kavensri]

Originally Posted by alstonlobo

Did Mangalore to Bangalore yesterday via Shiradi. Road conditions are bad from b c road circle towards the ghat at various places. Later sakaleshpur to Hassan has its own set of bad and dusty roads. I'm not sure of the charmadi road conditions but Shiradi route is in tatters. Also traffic cops are stationed at various places beginning from the ghats till Hassan.

Thanks for the update. My friend took the charmadi route. He didn't know the status of charmadi route before going. He just took a chance and it turned out to be a good decision.

[scorp77]

I travelled from Bangalore to Mangalore on the 2nd of October. The route used was the Hassan -Sakleshpur -Shiradi ghat one. I would say that the route is very drivable. Yes, there are bad patches of road, but never more than 50 meters at a stretch. If you are okay driving at a speed of 30-50 kmph after the ghat section, you will be quite comfortable. It's troublesome to try driving at 80+ especially in small vehicles. There are deep, but small potholes which can be negotiated easily at lower speeds, but you will have a jarring ride at high speeds as you will not be able to react in a timely manner. I took about 10 hours for the journey in my I20 Elite. This includes leisurely breaks (approx 3 hours) made inevitable due to milling crowds at restaurants, heavy traffic and backed up toll gates. And yes, no signs of any pandemic as people were roaming freely without masks and hugging friends they met in restaurants. New normal is so passe...

[scorp77]

Originally Posted by scorp77

I travelled from Bangalore to Mangalore on the 2nd of October. The route used was the Hassan -Sakleshpur -Shiradi ghat one. I would say that the route is very drivable. Yes, there are bad patches of road, but never more than 50 meters at a stretch. If you are okay driving at a speed of 30-50 kmph after the ghat section, you will be quite comfortable. It's troublesome to try driving at 80+ especially in small vehicles. There are deep, but small potholes which can be negotiated easily at lower speeds, but you will have a jarring ride at high speeds as you will not be able to react in a timely manner. I took about 10 hours for the journey in my I20 Elite. This includes leisurely breaks (approx 3 hours) made inevitable due to milling crowds at restaurants, heavy traffic and backed up toll gates. And yes, no signs of any pandemic as people were roaming freely without masks and hugging friends they met in restaurants. New normal is so passe...

Continuing from my previous post, I decided to take the Madikeri-Mysore route to return from Mangalore on 7th October. Here is an update on the road condition on this route. The road from Mangalore to Madikeri (after mani), via Puttur and Sullia is butter smooth. From Madikeri to Hunsur, the road is really good and there are very small patches of bad road near Hunsur, but very drivable. The real problem with this route is Mysore road. Road widening work is on throughout the stretch. The road itself is not bad, but the it has become narrow due to the ongoing work. Though I travelled on a weekday, the traffic still felt heavy and I think this part of the route may be troublesome during a weekend drive.

[The_Road_Rover]

I drove from Bangalore to Mangalore and back on 9th and 10th (Friday and Saturday). The route I took was Beluru, Charmadi, Ujire, Belthangady, Bantwala. There was a lot of fog and rain between Mudigere and Charmadi village. At it's lowest the visibility was lesser than 5 meters. But sometimes it's fun to drive in such weather of course.

Road conditions are as usual good in the Charmadi Ghats. We can make a good progress between Charmadi village and Belthangady at decent speed. But the "headache" starts after Belthangady till Bantwala. Road is under construction I guess. You will face a bad stretch, then a good stretch and then you run into another bad stretch. This pattern continues for 30 to 40kms. So one can't drive confidently in the route between Belthangady and Bantwala.

I suggest take Google maps' help and look for any congestion before you enter Charmadi Ghats as that could be an indication of something that's really bad (eg. landslide). That means it's Mudigere for Mangalore bound traffic and Ujire for Bangalore bound traffic where you need to check Google maps.

Have a nice time. Godspeed.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by The_Road_Rover

But the "headache" starts after Belthangady till Bantwala. Road is under construction I guess. You will face a bad stretch, then a good stretch and then you run into another bad stretch. This pattern continues for 30 to 40kms. So one can't drive confidently in the route between Belthangady and Bantwala.

The expansion work has been in progress since quite some time now and I believe this be the case for at least another 6 months for sure. However, This section of the road still does not witness very dense traffic that usually irritates you more on a single carriageway highway along with bad sections.

I suggest take Google maps' help and look for any congestion before you enter Charmadi Ghats

The best thing to do is to stop by at Ujire circle, walk up to the Jeep Taxi parking and ask one of the drivers who is reading that newspaper with a cuppa. This will be more reliable and latest. If they confirm that the ghats are closed (More unlikely now), just turn right towards Dharmasthala and take the Shiradi ghat to reach Bangalore.

In case you are driving towards Mangalore, then you can check this at Mudigere handpost also since most of the vehicles from here are heading towards Dharmasthala/Mangalore, including LVCs.

[shrinath_m2]

I have seen couple of routes to Udupi this week -

BLR->Mysuru->Madikeri->Mangaluru->Udupi
and
Udupi->Perduru->Agumbe->Bhadravati->Tarikere->Sira->BLR

First one through Madikeri is smooth for 90% of the route, once down the ghats towards Mangaluru it breaks in few places. Holes are so huge on road that water might come out of it!
I left early in morning from BLR, so no much traffic on Mysuru road. Madikeri and ghats were covered in mad rain, but road was butter smooth. Total 6 hours driving time, with few food+bio breaks, it came to 8 hours.

Panoramic sun roof + rain + ghats seemed like a dreamy ride.


Return journey wanted to go through Shimoga > Tarikere > Hiriyur and NH48. But google maps on my phone hung and started showing a straight static route for half an hour where there was no network, missed the left turn somewhere and then ended up doing Sira.
The road is being laid in multiple places, do NOT try this route unless you have business en route.
It was a late journey for around 8 hours + 1 hour break at "Aramane" near Tarikere.


If someone wants a happy road, take the Madikeri route if possible. It is mostly good and if it rains lightly, you'll be in dreamland.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by shrinath_m2

If someone wants a happy road, take the Madikeri route if possible. It is mostly good and if it rains lightly, you'll be in dreamland.

In fact, there is one more happy road to reach Udupi too, which is via Charmadi.

The route remains good throughout, despite some good beating this section has taken due to incessant rains in recent times and the past.

• Bangalore-Hassan: Clean, fast roads, 185 Km, 2.5 Hours
• Hassan-Belur: Good Road, 35 Km - 45m
• Belur-Mudigere Handpost: Good Road, 35 Km - 40m
• Mudigere Handpost-Kottigehara: Good roads except uneven and bumpy culverts, 16 Km, 25m
• Kottigehara-Charmadi-Ujire: Good roads, very small patches are bad, 1 Hour
• Charmadi-Guruvayanakere: Good roads, lots of traffic, 7 Km, 15m
• Guruvayanakere-Karkala: 50 Km, Good roads, very small patches are rough: 1 Hour
• Karkala-Nitte-Belman-Padubidri: Excellent 2 lane road, barricades and rumblers to slow you down, 30m
• Padubidri-Udupi Town: Good 4 lane road, 30-40m

That is overall 7.5 Hours of realistic driving time considering average driving times in every sector above. The only dense sector is Ujire-Belthangady-Guruvayanakere post which majority of traffic would head towards BC road.

Also, I would pick the Nitte Padubidre option to hit the Mangalore-Udupi highway over Katpady because it hardly makes any difference with the overall timings though the distance is slightly more. Thanks to wider and faster roads via Padubidre.

Ad an hour of overall breaks to this and some good distance covered if you start very early morning and you are looking at anywhere between 8.5-9 hours of overall time.

PS: Then, there is Kuduremukha option as well as Agumbe (via Chikmagalur-Sringeri) too but we are talking about too many twists and turns for over a very long time and those with motion sickness may not like it!

[Samurai]

We drove from Bangalore to Udupi on Oct 14th via Shiradi-Dharmastala-Karkala route. We were planning to take Charmadi until we reached Hassan, and the weather condition made us think that Charmadi could be too foggy. Oh boy, what a bad decision that was. The road between Hassan and Sakleshpur was just horrible all the way.

We came back on Oct 20th, this time via Charmadi, which is peaceful. Only complaint would be the badly laid culverts all along between Kottigehara and Mudigere. That's like having a speed bump every one km.

[shrinath_m2]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

In fact, there is one more happy road to reach Udupi too, which is via Charmadi.

Ad an hour of overall breaks to this and some good distance covered if you start very early morning and you are looking at anywhere between 8.5-9 hours of overall time.

Agreed. If I recall right, the river next to Charmadi ghat may be flowing well and make good scenery. Concrete roads. If Charmadi to Mangalore isn't broken, then that's the recommended option.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

PS: Then, there is Kuduremukha option as well as Agumbe too but we are talking about too many twists and turns for over a very long time and those with motion sickness may not like it!

Agumbe route is not as fast route as Charmadi route. Entire ghats + Shimoga > Tarikere routes are narrow & broken compared to Charmadi. Like you say, it's too twisty even if good.
Narrow + Twisty = waiting too much to overtake.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Only complaint would be the badly laid culverts all along between Kottigehara and Mudigere. That's like having a speed bump every one km.

This is the exact point I mentioned while referring to conditions between Mudigere and Kottigehara in the post above. I believe for these culverts to become levelled, 10 layers of road over the existing tarmac will be required, that too in quick succession !!

[Makin Rulesz]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Also, I would pick the Nitte Padubidre option to hit the Mangalore-Udupi highway over Katpady because it hardly makes any difference with the overall timings though the distance is slightly more. Thanks to wider and faster roads via Padubidre.

Last Saturday while I was on this route, google made me to take diversion at Belman and routed via Shirva to Katapady. I found the road conditions to be decent, which is no different from what we have to drive for major part of the route while coming down Charmadi anyway.

While returning next week, I might opt for Agumbe - Chikmagaluru route, as I don't see any disadvantage over Charmadi in terms of time taken or overall road conditions.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Makin Rulesz

I found the road conditions to be decent, which is no different from what we have to drive for major part of the route while coming down Charmadi anyway.

Karkala - Nitte - Belman - Padubidri is wide and fast.

Post Padubidri, except the undone section for few meters, its fast 4 lane all the way. So time wise, as I said it wont make any difference over Katpady option.

While returning next week, I might opt for Agumbe - Chikmagaluru route, as I don't see any disadvantage over Charmadi in terms of time taken or overall road conditions.

With Agumbe option, the twist and turns that start from Agumbe base end only when you are closer to Chikmagalur.

If you take Charmadi, there are still a lot of sections where you can maintain good speeds. It is only the Charmadi ghat where you will perhaps get slower due to the hairpins but after this its again clean, fast descent all the way till Kottigehara.

Also, traffic is generally higher on Sringeri Chikmagalur side compared to Mudigere Charmadi section.

[vinjosep]

please suggest route options from Bangalore to Manjeswar, preference is for good roads (scenic routes & minimal traffic would be a bonus)
Will be travelling on an XUV500 with motion-sick passengers.

thanks

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

please suggest route options from Bangalore to Manjeswar, preference is for good roads (scenic routes & minimal traffic would be a bonus)
Will be travelling on an XUV500 with motion-sick passengers.

thanks

Mysore Madikeri Sullya works best for you since destination is Manjeshwar. Any other route means inviting motion sickness, with Shiradi in bad state and Bisile being twisty too.

[livyodream]

Does anyone know the road condition from Udupi to Goa post monsoons?