A day trip to Melukote

Bangalore has the best climate and since it was November the temperature had dropped down few more degrees which made us to think of a short trip or a day trip.

So me and my wife decided to drive down to Melukote. This was one of our pleasant trips that we had in the recent past. Melkote is one of the holy places of Karnataka. Wikipedia will give you more details about this place. So, i will go directly into the travel directions and my review about this place. 

Destination type : Pilgrim trip.

Directions : We stay close to Mysore road. So, driving to mysore is not a big problem for us. Below is the route map in case if somebody needs it. The total distance from bangalore is around 140KMs.

There is a deviation just after passing Mandya City. You need to take a right (sign boards have been put). It is about 35 kms from that point.

My review summary :

Overall, this is a good place for a day trip from bangalore. Family can enjoy the most. There are 2 temples located in this place. One is  Cheluvanarayana temple and the other Yoga narasimha temple. Yoga narasimha temple is located on a small hill top as shown in the following pictures.

First you need to visit Cheluvanarayana temple and then Yoga narasimha temple. One can drive to the Yoga narasimha temple directly.

Best time to visit is during Winter. I've heard from others that summer time would be very harsh and best avoided unless until it is a cloudy day.

Please note that these temples close by 1 PM (Cheluvanarayana temple) / 2 PM (Yoga narasimha temple) & open after 4. So make your plans accordingly.

Food : You can always have breakfast at Maddur or at Ramanagar (Kamat / coffee day). For lunch it is melukote. Melukote is famous for Iyengar's "Puliyogare". One should definitely not miss this. This is not a fully commercial place but still you get decent food here. There is a place called "Subbanna Mess". You get very good home food here. This is the must place to visit!!

These temples are just amazing and its surrounding is just beautiful as you can see here.

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Road enroute Melukote 

Yoga narasimha temple which is on a hill top - Just love this view

Some rituals being performed

Dominated by Sri Ramanujacharya followers (Iyengars)

If you carefully observe, there are 2 Kolas (Akka - Tangi Kola)

Few steps to climb to see Yoga narasimha temple

Landscape view from Yoga narasimha temple

Landscape view from Yoga narasimha temple - Timing is important

Just to show you how cold this place was - Chill breeze :)

Cheluvanarayana temple view from Yoga narasimha temple

Cheluvanarayana temple

Mesmerizing Nandi hills

Though my hometown is very close to Nandi hills (20kms), I've never been to that place in the recent past because of the bad crowd. However from past 6 months things have changed. They have made it plastic free and alchohol free zone. So, it is a decent picnic spot on a weekend.


Sunday 7th November - While returning back to Bangalore from my native, we decided to visit Nandi hills. It was a cloudy day and it started raining by 10 AM.
To try something new, we decided to see nandi hills before returning back to blore. Finished lunch by 2PM and headed towards hills. It was a pleasant surprise. It was raining heavily and it was very cold but we just loved it.
We couldn't see tippu drop or any other place because of rain, but we enjoyed the drive.
Had tea / cucumber / pop corn and returned back. We could visit only the temple.
Bought some grapes on our way back (near karahalli cross) and you should definitely try that. It was very good. Check out the pictures. It is a must visit place when it is a cloudy day. Make sure you take all the accessories.


Tip: The best time to visit nandhi hills will be a cloudy day. 

A weekend trip to sringeri and horanadu

Sringeri - Sun Rise view amid mist

Introduction : Our starting point was shimoga. So, if you are travelling from bangalore, consider extra 7 hours. We started from Shimoga on sunday evening around 5 PM. Reached sringeri around 8 PM. I was driving slow so that my parents are comfortable. Took the Theerthahalli road but the road was very bad. Had a pit stop at theertha halli for 30 mins and then left to sringeri.
Tip : Take the BRP dam road from shimoga. It is THE BEST road.

On the same night, we visited temple. There was a "darbar" inside the temple due to navarathri. We were able to see Guruji Sri Bharati Tirtha. It was nice to visit temple during this time.
Tip : If you have plan for dinner at Sringeri temple, better go before 8:30PM

Next day morning 7:30AM, we visited the temple again. Finished breakfast outside and little bit of shopping (Jackfruit papad, mixed pickle, Kashaya powder, Banana chips and so on).  The route from Sringeri to Horanadu is quite bad. I have added few pics below. But once you reach horanadu you will just love it. Its a scenic view. We visited temple, had lunch and left to shimoga. It was a special trip as we visited during navarathri.

You can leave a comment if you need more details about stay and driving directions

Sri Sharadhambe temple, sringeri

Not sure how they could do this :))

Big fella

Enroute Horanadu

Coffee and Areca plantation - amazing view

Falls on our way to Horanadu

Oh Yea...that's me

I don't think there is a need to explain to anything about this

Just to give you an idea of the road from Sringeri to Horanadu

Horanadu Sri Annapoorneshwari Temple

In and around horanadu

Kalasa - Kalaseshwara temple