Karnataka Road trip Day 1 Bangalore to Shimoga

We planned a road trip to North Karnataka from Bangalore.

We made a list of places to visit and the distances between the places. This way after some research, we were able to plan an itinerary and  book some hotels for night stay. We also enquired in few hotels about the present covid regulations as few of us weren't fully vaccinated for covid.

We drove our Mahindra xuv all through the trip.We left Bangalore at around 6 am  and started to Shimoga through Tumkur highway.

We stopped at Koustubha Veg restaurant at Tiptur, Tumkur. The food was very good and prices were reasonable.. After breakfast, we continued to drive to Shimoga. We already knew that  Shimoga zoo is closed on Tuesdays. Also the Sakrebailu Elephant camp closes  by early afternoon. So we planned to visit Singadoor Chowdeshwari temple for the first day. We stopped for a picture  at Bhadra dam. Then continued to drive to Sagara to take the ferry to Singadoor Chowdeshwari temple. We had lunch at hotel Athithya. The roads to Sagara are very scenic and calm. There seems to be 2 routes to ferry terminal, one is 15 kms shorter but the roads are not good, the other is 15 kms longer but the road is good as it goes through Sagara interior. We took the longer route and reached the ferry terminal. The last ferry  from Singadoor back to Sagara is at 6 pm... So plan your trip accordingly. Also the roads from ferry terminal to Sagara main road are not  lit, dark and narrow and hence we had a tough time driving back. So better  plan to visit the temple and return before it gets dark.

       We reached the ferry terminal and waited  for almost half hour to take the ferry. The cost of ferry ride per vehicle is 30 Inr. The ticket cost for each person is 20 Inr. The travel time is around 20 minutes. The ferry ride was beautiful across the river Sharavathi. Once we reached the other side all the vehicles are off loaded one by one. 

  From here we drove to Chowdeshwari temple, which was  less than 10 minutes.There is ample parking space for a not so crowded days. Temple was not very crowded and the queue moved fast and we were near the diety in less than 5 minutes. In less than 15 minutes we were outside the temple. We drove back to ferry terminal. We waited for more than half hour and finally were loaded onto the ferry. After the ferry ride, we were unloaded. It was very dark, there is no road lights. The roads are 2 way.. Hence it was a challenge driving back to the city. We finally reached Hotel Orchid where we were to stay for the night. Just adjacent to the hotel is  hotel Samrat Ashok. We had dinner at their restaurant. Food was really good, we had fried rice, mushroom Manchurian, Mangalore buns, idli, dosa. We checked in and retired to our rooms... Room was very comfortable with all the facilities.