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Bangalore to Mangalore by Road
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Before starting on our planned road trip to Mangalore I researched the web for information about the road conditions from Bangalore to Mangalore. I did not find much and realized that writing a travelogue about my own experience could help others avoid having a bad time. Day 1: We started from Bangalore at 6:30 am on Thursday and cruised through the almost clear roads to reach Neelmangala within half hour. Took a left there to touch Hassan road and some distance ahead we took our first break at Shark Hotel, my personal favorite en-route to Hassan. The good thing about this place is the neat food stall that serves nice and hot tatte idlis and dosa. Completed the 15-minute-halt with a nice and refreshing cup of tea and continued towards Hassan. The road to Hassan is decent though not so wide. After covering a distance of 170 kilometers we were in Hassan by 10:30 am. We took the bypass towards Sakaleshpur without entering the city. Hassan to Sakaleshpur was a 40 kilometer journey and the roads were nice here as well. But the bad part started soon after. Once the ghat section of the Western Ghats started, all the joy of floating in our Tata Safari was gone. The next 30 kilometers were a nightmare. I was wondering how people on cars with low ground clearance were managing those 1 and 1/2 foot deep cuts in the road. It seems the administration has made concrete patches only at the turns which ended, suddenly leaving deep edges to be crossed painfully. It would have been much better had they not made these concrete patches and left the road as is. The condition was further aggravated by a huge traffic pile up, thanks to the endless queue of oil tankers heading in the opposite direction originating from the Mangalore Oil Refinery. All our scheduling had gone for a toss, and we could manage only 8 kilometers in the next 2 hrs. But as all bad things come to an end so did this road. After this the journey towards Mangalore was fairly decent. We reached Mangalore at 4 pm and vowed not to return by this route. Being a long weekend most of the good hotels in Mangalore were packed, so we had to settle in an average place in the middle of the city. We thought it would be a nice idea to hit the beach and have a glimpse of the sun dipping below the horizon, so headed straight to Panambur Beach which was some 12 kilometers from there and were just in time to catch the sunset. After a short while we came back to the hote,l had a quick dinner at a nearby Punjabi dhaba and retired to our beds only, to be woken up by the noise of the buses plying on the road outside the hotel. Day 2: The first thing was to figure out an alternate route back home so as to re-plan our itinerary well. After little enquiry we found that the Udupi-Agumbe road to Hassan via Chikmaglur is good. This gave us some relief. As a first leg of our trip, we headed down south to Kasargod in Kerala. This is the northern-most part of Kerala and is home to Bekal Fort on the sea shore, a distance of 70 kilometers from Mangalore. The road was scenic giving glimpses of the sea every now and then. We reached the fort in an hour. The fort is nicely maintained, with a Kerala tourism office right at the gate, giving all the info (but not many services). The construction which dates back to the 1500s is magnificent. The rear end of the fort gives way to an exclusive beach where huge waves lash the walls of the fort. Overall the view of the sea from here was amazing. Just next to it is the Bekal beach park and that was our next destination. There was a bathing facility and games for kids, though with very limited eating options. We spent some 4 hours at this place, playing in the waters and then not finding the place very good to stay (mainly because of the warm weather) we started on our way back to Mangalore and settled in the same hotel as the previous day. Day 3: We started for Udupi, stopped en-route at Kaup beach. Since we had little time and a lot of ground to cover we skipped the Malpe and Marwanthe beaches. Had plans to visit St. Mary’s Island but were disappointed to see the heavy crowds and 3 hours waiting time. We decided to leave this place for the next trip, had our lunch and took the Manipal road on our way back. Manipal is just 10 kilometers from Udupi and is a fabulous city built on a hill with highrise buildings all around and big campuses of the various institutions it is famous for. We zipped through the city and took the road to Agumbe. This route was looking like heaven as compared to that first road from Bangalore. There was hardly any traffic and the view was scenic. Suddenly the plain roads were gone and we were maneuvering sharp turns. The road was good but the turns were very steep. But our Safari had no problems scaling them with ease. The temperature dropped from 35C to 15C, which came as a pleasant surprise to us. At Agumbe a huge crowd was waiting for the sunset, but having already seen it, we moved on and stopped at the check post tea stall just ahead to refresh ourselves. After spending some time at the nearby lake garden we moved on. By the time we reached Bellahonnur in Chikmaglur district it started getting dark, and we hit upon some beautiful tea gardens. The weather and the view were asking for more time and also Bangalore was still 300kms, so we decided to stay there for the night. To our delight we found that there was an Ashram about 3 kilometers from the main road. The glimpse of the ashram was not so welcome as there was no electricity at that time and the place looked deserted, but we took a chance and decided to stay there. Once the power was restored, we found it to be a great place to visit. It was the Rambhapuri Mutt with a sprawling campus which was home to huge buildings. The main temple was impressive and they we offered food as prasadam. This was a totally new experience for all of us. Sitting in rows we had dinner with the ashram inmates (mainly children). After walking around the campus we slipped into our beds. The guest house was far beyond expectation, and the overall ambience was amazing. The Mutt is built amidst the hills giving it a very pleasant feel. Day 4: started in the hills. First we visited the nearby tea gardens then headed towards Kudrehabbe, a secluded waterfall with some nice rock formations cut naturally by the flow of the water. After this the next destination was Belur with a lunch break in Chikmaglur city. There we also grabbed some green grams for time pass. We reached Belur at around 1 pm and hired an Archeological Survey of India guide for Rs. 200, as going to such monuments without them is no use. And believe me that was money well spent. He told us about each of the hundreds of carving on the walls and ceiling of the temple. In order to appreciate it, knowing the intricacies is of utmost importance. The carving if seen in detail seems unimaginable. This being the final point in our itinerary, we moved towards Hassan. The return route all together gave us some gentle roads and exquisite views. Even though it was some 70 kilometers extra, it was worth the effort and the total travel time spent was almost the same. Anyone planning to visit Mangalore, Udupi from Bangalore should rather take this route, than the bumpy NH48 (via Sakaleshpur). Itinerary 1 : (Distance 370 kms) Itinerary 2 (Distance 70kms) Itinerary 3 (Distance 440 kms) Neelmangala - Bangalore PS: Distances mentioned are approximate.
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