Need Suggestions for Karnataka Plan around December

This is the point I tried to say out of good will and good you got that Kshil.

Just wanted to reiterate this again as I myself experienced all the nice places of karnataka and did provided information on all of those and I did not wanted anybody to understand in a different way(who are currently responding and also the future visitors to this thread).

Thanks
Velu

Hi..

Shrigeri to Agumbe is around 30 kms and would take approx 45 mins to an hour. The below link has all the details on the darshan timings of the temple.

http://www.sringeri.net/pilgrim-info/pilgrim-facilities

Om Beach, you can drive upto the steps. The trek is not much, maybe 100 steps. The other option is auto rickshaw, but if you use one, negotiate for the waiting & return included. As finding transportation from Om Beach is difficult or next to impossible. I didn't go to the other beaches in Gokarna, as this was only a short stop for us.

Regards

Prasanna

@Kshil,

My comments inline


1. Please suggest accommodations for the places I intend to stay at night. I want clean places, preferably in a nice location, It's very good if it's in a budget category, not really interested in high category resorts unless it's absolute value for money.

Whatever you listed already are good and decent and nice

2. How to book KSTDC Hotels? Has anyone used their online interface? Is it reliable booking online? I know HPTDC are quite reliable for online but not having same confidence on all state tourisms.
Book it online at http://www.karnatakaholidays.net/. KSTDC is reliable and I did stayed in their Mysore,Madikeri,Belur (did not stayed but saw the rooms) and rooms are good.

3. Stay - KSTDC- Hoysala, Mysore ---- How is the hotel?

This is 100 metres from Mysore Jn and Calm , quiet . It's a colonial structure (Rooms will be bit small and old). Food in Restaurant is awesome. In Weekends , towards evenings, there will be crowd (Local Folks) who come for food as well as drinks to this restaurant. Neverthless No disturbances , Noises which might disturb tourists/ Family members( This is just based on my experience)


4. What is approx sunrise and sunset time in Karnataka in December?

It differs between Hills and plains. In Mysore it will be cloudy and in Dec Timeframe I did not remember seeing a proper (Visible) Sunrise or sunset in past 4 years. Same is the case with Madikeri or Wayanad.

5. Day3 - Can Pookoot lake + View point just on Thamarasery Ghat road be included in afternoon? I don't want if it far off from Kalpetta.
Pookot lake is hardly 10 kms from kalpetta bus stand and the Ghat road starts just after pookot lake and the view point is hardly 6 to 7 kms from the lake. Both these places are just on Mysore-Calicut NH .

6. Day4 - Can Banasura Dam be included here?
Yes Very Much. It's around 18kms from Kalpetta

7. Day5- Is there any safari available in Tholpetty WLS? If yes what's the timing?

Yes. Safari timings is 6 - 9 am and 3 -6 pm. There is no forest deparment vehicle. There will be Jeeps waiting just in front of the sanctuary. Just bargain, Rent it and do your own safari and a forest dept guide will board the jeep to show the pathways(inside the forest).


8. Edakkal/Meenmutty/Soochipara Falls - how much walking is required? Do they worth the walking in December?

Soochipara --> 2 kms walk in the paved path (One way). While returning back to the parking area, it might be bit difficult as initial 1 km is steep up walk.

9. Any recommended stay (clean yet in budget category) in Kalpetta? Does this place need advance booking in Dec 12-15 range (weekdays)?

Forget about december. Getting Accomodation in normal weekends itself is a issue in Kalpetta(It's a haven for IT folks of Bangalore/Mysore). Budget is ppstouristhome(They have a website. Google). It's highly recommended to reserve room whereever you are planning to stay in kalpetta.

10. Am I messing up with 3 Nights in Kalpetta, if yes please suggest an itinerary to enjoy Kalpetta considering my preference is for scenic spots only those are not very crowded.

I feel ok.

11. Please suggest a scenic route to come to Madikeri from Kalpetta, I might not be interested in seeing the typical tourist spots. Suggest a few points that worth a visit. Please also mention how long it would take from Kabini to Madikeri in the suggested route?

Kalpetta-Kattikulam-Tholpetty WLS-Kutta(Bad road starts)-Gonikoppa (Bad Road ends)-Virajpeta-Madikeri. This is the only direct and short route between Kalpetta and Madikeri. 4.5 to 5 Hours Travel Time.

12. How is KSTDC, Valley View in Madikeri?

Good. Fantastic Views. New Hotel. I liked it a lot. If you stay here, wake up at around 5:30 am , walk for 500 metres and you will be in Raja's seat and with no tourists and only few locals doing their morning walking, it will be nice and amazing and even it will be good for photography . Views will be nice and there will be multiple Mountain ranges Visible and it's really nice. In Evenings, Raja's seat will be upside down with lotsss and lotsss of tourists.


13. Day8- Google Map suggests it is 130km from Madikeri to Kasaragod via this route, please suggest if its reliable or not? If I get stuck my subsequent plans would be impacted.

I am not sure which route you are referring to but Madikeri to Kasaragod direct route is just 100 kms in super-fine roads but as I told due to the Road improvement work , this road is also closed ( As this route runs for around 30 - 35 kms in Mangalore road only).

If you refer to the route I referred, it will be interesting but off-the-track (Just for Example, if a lorry break-down, No way we can go further till it's set right as at many a places the road will be just one lorry/bus wide).

Best is take Madikeri-Virajpet-Iritty-Kasaragod.


14. Please suggest accommodation options are Kasaragod. @Velu, have you got the contact details of that hotel that is located within the campus of Malabar gold jewellary ?

No KShil. I will check again today. That's just 600 Rs/ Night , Brand new and it's budget and worth for Money. I will post the info if I get it.

15. Day9 - Anyone knows ferry timing for St. Mary's from Malpe and how much time ferry takes and if it's safe?

As I told, please search for Steven_Ber's post. I think he shared some info on the same.

16. Day9- Turtle Bay Stay at Maravanthe? How this resort is? Rooms vary from 1000 to 3000, any recommendation on room or any recommendation for some other resort/hotel at Maravanthe?

No idea.

19. How is KSTDC, Velapuri - Belur?

Brand new, Very Nice, Walkable distance from temple.

20. Day14- Any recommendation of stay at Srinigeri?
The only Viable option is Temple Guesthouse (very normal, Basic Accomodation for 100 Rs/Night) and If it's full, there are no other decent/private lodge available in Shringeri . In one of our visits, Temple accomodation in full and we roamed around all the 4 to 5 streets of shringeri and only one Lodge (it's actually a house converted as lodge by the landlady)had room . 750 Rs/ Night for extremely small room with pathetic restroom and with very old mattressess and a Fan with Mega-Noise.

21. Is there any place to stay in Thirthahalli?
I don't think so. I may be wrong.


General:-

If time permits, you may want to go through:-

Houseboats in Northern Kerala? (Posts 5,6)
Stay around Belur / Halebidu (Post 9,12)
Regards
Velu

kshil,

Regarding St Mary's, here are Steven Ber's posts:

Update on my Karnataka trip

as referred to by pmvelu above. It is a thread started by Jean-Philipe. Very informative.

Hi velu,
I am sorry pm velu if my post has hurted you,
Hi kshil
Revised Plan as of now:
My comments:
Day1- Bangalore -- Maddur -- Mallavali Road -- Shivasamudram --- Talakkadu -- Somnathpura --- Bannur -- Mysore
Stay - KSTDC- Hoysala, Mysore
AS you will be starting your journey on day 2 from srirangapatna, will it not be more convinient to stay at srirangapatna than mysore,
note :After maddur you might not get good places for breakfast/lunch.
Day2- Morning Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary -- Srirangapatnam (Tipu's Fort, summer palace and other monuments from Tipu's era) -- Evening at Mysore Palace.
Stay - KSTDC- Hoysala, Mysore
This seems perfect to me
Day3- Start at 5.00 in the morning from Mysore.Mysore -- Bandipur -- Mudumalai -- Gundalpet -- Kalpetta via Muthunga WLS
Stay - Kalpetta
Yes
Day4 - Soochipara waterfalls and Chembara peak.
Stay - Kalpetta
Day 4 is ok
Day5 - Kuruwu Island / Tholpetty WLS, Night stay at Kalpetta.
Stay - Kalpetta
Why don't you stay at kutta or some places closeby, in some estates as you can get a different experience instead of travellling back to kalpetta and driving back the next day in the same route. You can travel to kabini from here via nagarahole wls. probably you can also visit errupu falls
Day6- Kalpetta-Mananthavady-Kattikulam-Karapura (I want to keep this day light)
Stay - Kabini JLR
...........come back later

As far as I remember Chitradurga Fort is open from sunrise to sunset. You can drive by car to the entrance where is ample parking space.
The lower walls and ramparts are on the same level but if you want explore the real beauty of the site you have to climb some serious stairs.
Take 2 hours for the visit.

Just outside the town is the Chandravalli lake, beautiful situated in the same rock area as the fort. A lot of monkeys live there and there are some caves. Walk only halfway the lake and then go back, there is no real path to encircle it.

Hi Velu, Thanks a lot for your usual detail replies and that too for many questions. It is extremely helpful. May I ask some more questions taking cue from your reply?

I thought December should be a clear weather and had an idea the fog/mist of December usually happens in North India and not in South. But from your post it seems its not a very clear weather we can expect in the region. Just want to know what time of year one can expect clearest weather in the region? Also what's your idea on weather in coastal belt during December? Clear sky or not?

Velu, can you please suggest me an itinerary covering a few good and nice scenic places that won't be very crowded for Waynad considering I have 2 full days to spare. As I am not sure about the geographic locations, can't club them together logically for a day or in a half day. Also the consideration like day shouldn't be tiring is difficult to make unless one is having very good knowledge on the region and the places


Too much of a walk Velu for a particular spot, is it worth taking this effort? How good the Southern India waterfalls are in December?

Velu, is this rush common in case of weekdays too?? I am aware about this weekend rush of Waynad and hence kept my 3 days from Monday, Tuesday and Wed, do you still foresee a problem without prebooking?

My bad velu!! I was going to ask you a scenic route with some intermediate good scenic spots for a journey from Kabini to Madikeri (not from Kalpetta to Madikeri). Can you please do that for me?

I was talking about Madikeri - Bhagamandala - Kanhangad - Kasanagod route and it's 130km as per google map.

Where as google map suggests Madikeri - Virajpet - Iritty - Kasaragod as 195km and if I take a detour to Bhagamandala / Talacauvery it would add another 50km, so total around 250km, so kilometer wise not a very big difference but I want to understand how long this journey would take? Is this also a scenic route Velu?

The first route via Bhagamandala is very attractive actually as it doesn't require any detour from my plan and also less travelled. I believe if I take this route I can have a nice evening and sunset from Bekal even before entering the Kasaragod enroute. If I am not mistaking Bekal fort comes between Kanhangad and Kasaragod. The second route would take away much time from me because of long detour and would force me to put Bekal on next day.

I wish you get it, else I am not sure if I would get any pointer for an accommodation option here.

I have seen that already and Theyyam even has posted the link in this thread and the post by Steven was extremely informative but only problem is it's 3 years old information, hope someone would be able to post some recent update on this.

Hmm.. on this lodge I read some mixed reviews.. some says excellent.. some says waste. Not sure how it actually is but they are quite costly. I was reading in some of your post somewhere you wrote, there are 2 options for accommodation in Maravanthe, if one is Turtle Bay, what is the other one?

This is worrying me, Prasanna has posted a link in this thread on Srinigeri Temple accommodation and it's clearly written the lodge accommodates on first come first serve basis. As Srinigeri is at end of my journey for the day, I really can't depend on this while planning. That's a big confusion where can I get an alternate accommodation and I would prefer something towards Thirthahalli, where I remember I saw some accommodation option posted in IM somewhere. But direct search is not yielding result, has to search more but hope someone would give me some alternate suggestion

As usual excellent informative posts Velu, I am almost certain to stay my Belur nights in KSTDC now but still would ask for the contact number of Hotel Sumuga Residency, if you have that with you.

Kannur is not in my radar as of now but if I ever get a chance to visit Northern Kerala from Kochi onwards, that post would be really helpful.

Thanks once again for all help!!

Hi n kumar, thanks for all your help. What you suggest (Not to stay at Kalapetta on last night, rather staying close to Kutta) makes a lot of sense to me. Now question is can you suggest an accommodation option near Kutta?

Also where the Eruppu falls is, in case I want to include it from my visit from Kutta to Kabini, where exactly this falls would come?

Thanks for this recommendation Vonkla, it looks like really nice place, I would be in touch with them. How much you paid for this accommodation?


Something what I was exactly looking for, again many thanks. But based on your experience and the physical locations of these places can you please make a 2 full days itinerary for me? I would like to cover only scenic places and preferably less crowded.

2 hours I could definitely spare for Chitradurga, I have nothing else planned for the day. Where this Chandravalli lake is? Just next to Fort? Hope finding that out is not a problem. I have seen a few snaps in net, they are quite good but hope monkeys are not really a threat there.

Thanks for sharing this link, very informative on Srinigeri, I must say.

So Auto Rickshaw is an option apart from walking, but as I would be having a car with me, can't I take that where Auto would take me? Or is is a very narrow road where only Auto can ply? Or there is some restriction of taking one's own vehicle close to the OM beach?

Hope someone would help me to understand if there is any option of car/auto rickshaw to get closer to Kudle Beach too. I was reading in some old posts, a road was being built from town to Kudle.

Theyyam, Thanks a lot for digging this out, I got it earlier and no doubt it's an excellent post and very informative, as usual from Steven but the information is 3 years old. So just thinking if anyone has any update since then. If you find anything on this in IM or anywhere in net, please share the information.

We paid 1200 for the luxury room (normal 1500). I just made a review in the hotel section, it includes a photo of the room.

We had a list of some points we wanted to visit and talked it over with Mr Lopez. We are in our late sixties so some difficult to reach places were removed. With the help of the driver he came to this program. We let them decide and enjoyed it. Only on Kuruvu island, Parhazzi tomb and Pookot lake where substantial more tourists, but it was not really crowded.

We too had just some info from the net but the first rickshaw driver knew where it was. It is a kilometer of two outside the town and reachable by bus. So it must be easy to find.

Hi Kshil,

If you are having a car, then there is no need for an auto in Gokarna, as the car can reach all places that the auto can. As far as Om Beach is concerned, auto or car, both will have to stop in the same place. As I had not been to Kudle Beach, the following link might help you, http://wikitravel.org/en/Gokarna#b .

Regards

Prasanna

hi,
cont...........f

Day7 - Kabini - Madikeri
Stay - KSTDC - Valley View, Madikeri
ok
Day8 - Abbey Falls - Talacauvery -- Bhagamandala -- Kanhangad -- Kasaragod
Stay - Kasaragod
ok
Day9 - Kasargod - Bekal Fort - Mangalore - Udupi - Malpe - Maravanthe
Stay - Turtle Bay Resort

Day10 - Maravanthe - Murudeshwar
Stay - RNS Residency
ok
Day11 - Murudeshwar - Gokarna (Visit OM and Kudle beach) - Murudeshwar
Stay - RNS Residency
o...k
Day12 - Murudeshwar (Start early) - Honnavara - a quick look at Jog - Shimoga - Lakkavalli
stay at Bhadra WLS, at River Tern, JLR.
You have to be at badra by 3.30 pm to go to the safari, even if you miss your lunch at jlf
Day13 - Lakkavalli -Kalahatti - Hebbe - Mullayngiri - Bababudangiri - Belur
Stay at KSTDC, Velapuri - Belur
This is the only way out for you
Day14 - Belur - Halebid - Belur
Stay at KSTDC, Velapuri - Belur
If you spend the night at belur, the day 15 journey will be very tiring, i advice you to proceed to horanadu for the night stay
Day15 - Belur - Mudigere - Kalasa - Hornadu Visit - Kudremukh NP Drive - Srinigeri - Agumbe -- Srinigeri/Tirthahalli
Stay at Srinigeri/Tirthahalli
Travel to sringeri in the morning and then to chitradurga via augumbe for the night stay.
Day15 -- Srinigeri/Tirthahalli - Hubli - Badami
Stay at Badami
After lunch at chitradurga to can proceed to hampi,
night stay at hampi.
Day16 -- Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal
Stay at Badami
Hampi
Day17 -- Badami - Hampi
Stay at Hampi

Day18 --Hampi
Stay at Hampi
Start early morning to bijapur via kodalasangama, have your breakfast here and stay at bijapur.
Day19 --Hampi
Stay at Hampi
After visiting, golgumbus, travel to pattadakal,aihole and stay at badami.
Day20 -- Hampi -- Chitradurga -- Bangalore
Stay at Bangalore
/visit badami caves and then proceed to bangalore,this journey will take around 10 hours roughly
Day21 -- Bangalore Fly Out
This is my suggestion and feel free to post your suggestions,
The phone no of the hotel at belur 08177-222181.
Thirthahalli is small town at the foot hills of western ghats and some new hotel have just openend, i will post about this later,
with regards,

Thanks Vonkla for the review, this is certainly a good alternative to what velu suggested as pps tourist home. It's difficult to find properties like this one or PPS in Waynad as most of them are quite costly. From the snaps and review it's clear that the place is very much value for money. What time you went there? I think you mentioned that earlier but can't remember it.

I would work more on it and need to finalize a few selected place for me. On Day2, I would certainly keep Kuruwu Island and Tholpetty WLS with Banasura Dam and hence rest has to be put in one and half day I have. As of now my short lists are

Pookot Lake, View point just on Thamarasery Ghat road, Edakkal Caves or Soochipara Falls based on how exhausted we would be to cover the cave or waterfalls.

I would like to know if you can spcify one or two places from the list of places you visited that you think shouldn't be missed in Waynad?

Thanks for this, I would try to have a look at this lake before leaving the town for sure.