[binand]

Originally Posted by DriverLess

What is the reason to prefer this over Haasan > Belur > Mudigere > Charmadi > Ujre ?

See, for example: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post5700253 (The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi)

[Pseud]

Originally Posted by fast_elegance

Did BLR-MLR through Mysore - Madikeri yesterday (Saturday). The road conditions are excellent all the way until Mani. Mani - B.C road is broken but manageable. I started at 10AM from Bannerghatta road (near Meenakshi mall) and reached Mangalore (Pumpwell) at 6PM. This is with 2 breaks i.e. Lunch near Madikeri and Coffee near Sullia.

Bangalore to Mysore is a breeze now. Kushalnagar to Madikeri had heavy traffic mostly due to long weekend visitors. Planning to stick to this route going forward until the other routes get better.

Would confirm the same. Did it in 8hrs while going and while coming back. Great roads and very smooth ride. Stopped at Machhis in Mangalore for lunch (highly recommend) and aroha for breakfast (avoidable)

[venkyhere]

Goraguntepalya-NH48-Chitradurga-Channagiri-Sivamogga-Ayanur-Theerthahalli-Agumbe-Hebri-Bramavara-Udupi
6.5hrs excluding breaks, 5AM start
From Chitradurga, it's undivided, and there are roadworks and pizza topped patchworks and railway crossings. But very little in the overall scheme, and they are not 'distributed' - a cluster of 500m here, another cluster of 1km there, totalling some 5-6 clusters. Very less traffic (except Sivamogga town), and the tarmac is well laid and smooth.

Kollur-Nagara-Hosanagar-Ripponpet-Ayanur-Sivamogga-Channagiri-Chitradurga-NH48-Goraguntepalya
7hrs excluding breaks, 6AM start
<same status as above>

No suffering traffic/delays/unexpected-jams from the 'regular' shiradi/charmadi routes, at the cost of extra ~50km or so, which is more than compensated in terms of duration, by the overall better undivided road surface and hence better average speeds.

[ankan.m.blr]

Please advise road condition post Donigal (Sakleshpur) between Manjarabad fort and Byakaravalli Bus Stop (Haragarahalli ).

[MohanHolla]

Travelled to Mangaluru and back last weekend (2nd to 4th Feb).

Started from Bangalore at 2:45 AM and took the Shiradi-Dharmasthala-Belthangady-Bantwal-Mangaluru road while going. Road is good till just before Dharmasthala turn off. There are some deviations between Hassan and Sakleshpur. Some of the diversions are not clearly marked and if you are traveling in the dark, need to be a bit careful. But, most of the work is done. Faced heavy fog near Sakleshpur and in the ghats. Dharmasthala to Ujire is good. Just after Ujire, the roadworks start and continues till Bantwal. This stretch is bad and slow moving. But, after that the road conditions are better till Mangaluru. I reached Mangaluru at around 10 AM with around 30 mins break in between.

While coming back, took Mangaluru-Puttur-Sullia-Sampaje-Madikeri-Suntikoppa-Piriyapatna-Hunsur-Mysuru-Bengaluru route. Road surface is excellent after deviation from Bantwal. Just before this deviation, the road is in pathetic condition for about 8-10 kms. After the deviation, it is single lane most of the way. There will be some slow moving traffic till Puttur. Then it thins out till Madikeri. The road condition is excellent here and most of the roads in the ghats section is newly laid. This stretch is really enjoyable to drive. The problem starts after Madikeri till Mysuru. It is single lane most of the way and I faced lot of traffic in this stretch (mostly cars). Not sure whether it is due to being Sunday evening. Also, the road passes through all the towns which further slows you down. It is quite stressful to drive in this stretch with lot of impatient drivers with dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.

After Mysuru, it was the expressway and reached the outskirts fast. Then, it was the usual Kengeri till Nayandahalli jam. I started from Mangaluru at 1 PM and reached Malleswaram at 9:30 PM with around 30 mins break in between.
I guess, it would have been faster if I had taken Charmady ghat and would have saved about 30-45 mins. But, I wanted to check the Madikeri route once. Maybe early start will be better if somebody is planning to take this route to Mangaluru. During long weekends, this route would be much worser owing to holiday rush to Coorg.

Hope this helps.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by MohanHolla

I guess, it would have been faster if I had taken Charmady ghat and would have saved about 30-45 mins. But, I wanted to check the Madikeri route once. Maybe early start will be better if somebody is planning to take this route to Mangaluru. During long weekends, this route would be much worser owing to holiday rush to Coorg.
Hope this helps.

Via Mysore is longer route to Mangalore and should be avoided during peak hours on weekend. Best to travel during weekdays. Early morning and late night drives are blissful in this route till Mani.

[MohanHolla]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Via Mysore is longer route to Mangalore and should be avoided during peak hours on weekend. Best to travel during weekdays. Early morning and late night drives are blissful in this route till Mani.

I agree. I imagine it would be very beautiful during monsoon. When I started from Mangaluru at 1 PM, I checked in GMaps for the best route. It was showing 7.5 hrs through Uppinangady-Shiradi-Hassan-Bangalore, 8 hrs through the Madikeri route (which I took) and 9.5 hrs through Charmady. But, I had read here that the road works till Dharmasthala in the Uppinangady route is very bad and takes a lot of time. I dont think GMaps considers road conditions for calculating the ETA . I feel Charmady works best if you are going towards Udupi and beyond towards Kundapura. Next time will try Shimoga-Agumbe route to Udupi. Last time it took me 4.5 hrs to reach Shimoga via Chitradurga. And from there it should take 3-3.5 hrs to Udupi. But, the majority of travel from Bangalore to Shimoga is stressfree and beyond that I am not really sure of the road conditions.

Travel between Bangalore to Mangaluru/Udupi is really an "art" as the thread title says with so many options and GMaps suggestions .

[Gokrish]

Took a trip to Udupi from Chennai on 26th January 2024 with return on 29th January 2024.
Both onward and return trips were via Charmadi ghat with slight detour during onward journey to go to Surathkal. Thanks to Samurai, took Bajagoli-Karkala-Padubidri to reach Suratkal. Long weekends are real pain for someone like me traveling through Bangalore (and not originating from Bangalore) due to start time.
Started at 3.30 am from Chennai and crossing NICE road at around 7.30 am was stressful till Mysore exit and was breeze after that till Nelamangala. Looking at the traffic at the Nelamangala junction, took service road till Mangalore exit and it proved to be a timely decision. Breakfast at Swathi delicacy was really refreshing and gave necessary strength to cope up with the long weekend traffic filled stressful drive till Hassan. For some reason, I am now averse to taking Shiradi route and has been taking only Charmadi or Agumbe depending on my mood! Road work happening between Kakkinje and Ujjire and after the turn at Belthangady, the drive was beautiful. Journey break at Growers Coffee House for a simple lunch with a cup of coffee to wind up. Rest of the drive was uneventful till Suratkal and till Udupi from Suratkal.
Return was from Karkala and started at 5.30 pm and reached Chennai at 4.30 am. Again NICE road proved to be a real pain at the exit at Bangalore consuming almost 20 minutes to cross the toll at 11.30 pm. Originally thought of breaking the journey at Bangalore/Hosur to have an early morning start next day but decided against it as it was midnight and felt fresh to drive further to reach Chennai without any traffic snarl.
Takeaways
1. Planning a midnight start from Chennai would be a much better option to avoid long week end traffic between NICE road and Nelamangala exit
2. While we pay high toll charges for using NICE road, repair work undertaken at some part of the road is making the drive stressful! Crossing this road before 7 am would help.

[binand]

I drove Bangalore-Manipal-Bangalore on 1 & 2 Feb. Onwards I took my regular through-city road (OA Road > Cubbon Road > Sankey Road > Tumkur Road) with a 4.45 AM start (so thankfully, NBTPL was open when I reached). Was at Shantigrama toll by 7 AM by which time the fog was so thick that visibility was below 10m. Stopped here and took a 30 minute break/nap waiting for fog to clear. Took Shiradi route to reach Manipal by 12.45 PM.

For return I chose to take Agumbe - and for that, based on a suggestion took some of the back roads of Manipal to hit the Brahmavara-Hebri road (to avoid roadworks on Udupi-Hebri stretch of NH 169A). This was a good idea - even though this road was also getting widened, it was only for a short distance and did not affect the traffic flow at all. There was more widening works between Agumbe and Thirthahalli, but nothing that slowed me down. With a 11 AM start from Manipal I was at Channagiri by 2.15 PM for lunch and crossed Chitradurga by 4 PM. Took an hour-long break at a truck lay-by here to catch up on some sleep. It was past 5 PM when I proceeded onwards to Bangalore via NH 48 and traffic was heavy. Eventually opted to turn off into the STRR at Dabaspete (which was probably the right decision), going towards Devanahalli at Dodballapura (which I believe was wrong, should have turned off towards Rajanakunte). Was 8.30 PM when I reached home.

Having taken both Shimoga-Channagiri-Chitradurga this time and Shimoga-Tarikere-Hiriyur in the past, I think the latter makes more sense to connect to NH 48 from Shimoga than the former. Would love to be corrected here (because I plan to drive through Shimoga when coming from/going to Manipal more often).

[mm_shen]

Had been to Mangalore from Bangalore on 3rd Feb and Returned from Mangalore on 5th Feb.

Bangalore to Mangalore. Left Bangalore at around 3 pm. Reached Mangalore at a around 11.30 pm. Route Bangalore-Mysore-Madikeri-Sampaje-Puttur-Mani-BC Road-Mangalore. Mani-BC Road roads were horrible. Bangalore to Mysore, a breeze due to the expressway. Road from Mysore to Puttur were single lane. Overtaking due to slow moving trucks was a problem, but roads were overall good.

Coming back, decided to try Charmadi, inspite of warnings. Wrong decision. Roads are all dug due to widening activity from 5-6 km ahead of Guruvayenkere upto the start of Charmadi Ghat. Both Side! Roads from starting of Ghats upto belur, hassan and then to Bangalore are superb. But the initial roads were horrible. Don't see it getting widened anytime soon. Left Mangalore at 4 pm reached home at 11.30 pm.

[TonyJames]

Hi Everyone planning for a journey from Mangalore to Bangalore on Monday Morning. Through Google Maps I see below Two routes.

--- Mangalore - Sakleshpur - Hassan - Bangalore
--- Mangalore - Puttur - Madikeri - Mysuru - Bangalore

I have travelled from Suliya to Bangalore via Madikeri, Mysuru once last year.

But have no idea about current status. Which route is the best for Monday Morning?

Starting around 8:30 AM

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by TonyJames

Hi Everyone planning for a journey from Mangalore to Bangalore on Monday Morning. Through Google Maps I see below Two routes.

--- Mangalore - Sakleshpur - Hassan - Bangalore
--- Mangalore - Puttur - Madikeri - Mysuru - Bangalore

I have travelled from Suliya to Bangalore via Madikeri, Mysuru once last year.

But have no idea about current status. Which route is the best for Monday Morning?

Starting around 8:30 AM

Mysuru road is in fantastic shape. Sampaje ghat has been asphalted recently and is butter smooth. That said 8:30AM start from Bangalore means you will get some traffic from Mysuru-Madikeri, should be manageable though. Gundya to Mani- 4 lane work is in progress and can consume similar time as Mysuru road despite that latter being longer.

[TonyJames]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Mysuru road is in fantastic shape. Sampaje ghat has been asphalted recently and is butter smooth. That said 8:30AM start from Bangalore means you will get some traffic from Mysuru-Madikeri, should be manageable though. Gundya to Mani- 4 lane work is in progress and can consume similar time as Mysuru road despite that latter being longer.

It's the reverse, I'm starting from Mangalore at 8:30 AM. Hopefully then Mysore road should be fine.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by TonyJames

It's the reverse, I'm starting from Mangalore at 8:30 AM. Hopefully then Mysore road should be fine.

By car and from Mangalore to Bangalore, you can just stick to the Mangalore - Sullia - Sampaje - Madikeri - Mysore (expressway) - Bangalore and this is easily the fastest route with the best road conditions among the available options, more so if your destination is anywhere in or around South Bangalore. This route shaves off almost ~1.5 hours of journey time over the Charmadi route.

[mm_shen]

Originally Posted by TonyJames

Hi Everyone planning for a journey from Mangalore to Bangalore on Monday Morning. Through Google Maps I see below Two routes.

--- Mangalore - Sakleshpur - Hassan - Bangalore
--- Mangalore - Puttur - Madikeri - Mysuru - Bangalore

I have travelled from Suliya to Bangalore via Madikeri, Mysuru once last year.

But have no idea about current status. Which route is the best for Monday Morning?

Starting around 8:30 AM

As everyone said, take Madikeri Sampaje route. Albeit a little longer, (and single lane after Mysore all the way upto Mani), the roads are smooth for most parts. You will have a peace of mind that no car parts will fall off. Happy driving!