When you already know that riding bike from Bangalore to Mysore is absolutely no issues since both are metro cities. You might ask, “then is it safe to drive from Mysore to Coorg by bike or car?”.
Going to a hill station like Coorg or Wayanad arises this common question, especially when you have to drive through the roads connecting to wildlife forests.
Lets see How is the road from Bangalore to Coorg – the facts you need to know to be safe:
From Bangalore to Mysore, you would be enjoying non stop NH 75 highways with partition in the middle for that seamless driving.
Many people like us prefer taking Kanakapura road to reach Mysore, because eventhough it is not broad roads like Mysore highways, it is peaceful road with less traffic. But there are not many pit stops like in Mysore highways.
This is the most popular route to drive from Bangalore to Coorg: Bangalore – Mysore – Hunsur – Kaushal Nagar – Madikeri
From Mysore to Madikeri, it is one straight route with undiveded roads. You will be driving in NH275 , with both State and National highways, smooth roads with wildlife crossing signs wherever necessary.
Traffic from Mysore to Hunsur and Kaushal Nagar is nothing less than traffic from Bangalore to Mysore (via Mysore Highways). So careful with the unbelievable traffic even in the early morning hours.
Traffic is less from Kaushal Nagar to Madikeri, you can absolutely enjoy the peaceful ride.
Since Nagerhole Wildlife roads would be closed (for both safari and drive-through) after 8am, it is better to reach Madikeri Via Kaushal Nagar. You need to be there at gate by 5.45 am to buy tickets for safari.
Throughout the journey you will experience seamless drive on well paved roads until Madikeri. (Even beyond till Wayanad as well).
In our bike trip journey, we did not encounter any wildlife on both ways.
Only in our car trip to Wayanad, we saw raindeers and monkeys couple of times. Anyhow, it is always safe not to stop the vehicles until you reach the destination.
Most important thing to note – If you are driving via Nagerhole National park – you are absolutely not allowed to drive too slow or stop the vehicle. You will interrogated based on your delay in the exit gate. If you have found guilty breaking the rule by the patroling guards, you would be levied heavy fine. Since we always prefer to drive through Bavali – Nagarhole national park – kabini river route (read about the routes here) for the return journey, we have seen many tourists being held at the security gate for breaking the law. So need to be extreme careful for your own safety.
In year 2020 post covid-19 lockdown we went 3 days road trip from Bangalore to Madikeri via Mysore route – which we absolutely loved it. In fact we went deep inside Madikeri, drove in the steep hill S-bends to reach Cliff resorts, where we stayed to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Since we have done it many times, It is total safe to drive from Bangalore to Coorg by bike or car.
This was our first long bike ride in India for 11 continuous days as a beginners bike riders. This happend in the end of year 2017.
And we successfully did it covering approx. 2000 kms by our motorbike, from Bangalore.
Read further to know how we went on a long bike trip from Bangalore, just two of us, the travelduo couples.
Long Bike Ride in India – Year 2017 From Bangalore
Day 1: 22nd Dec 2017, Bangalore to Kumbakonam – 410 kms by Bike
On our day -1 of our long bike ride in India, first longest bike ride ever in both our history and ever since our marriage – we started our bike unusually late.
By the time for Breakfast at our favourite pit stop called Shoolagiri Krishna Bhavan, the sun was already in full swing shining on our heads.
It was already 10am. We have never been this late even during our 2 day trips to Tiruvannamalai or Yercaud trip via this pitstop.
After refreshing and eating our usual favourites, 1 full hour has already gone.
We still have approximately 350 kms to go, but one cannot find not even an ounce of worry or hurriedness in us. Both of us were beaming with pride and happiness for going to set a milestone in our bike ride history.
After many pit stops, endless long rides on the highways along with non-stop happy chatting and dreaming about this trip, we reached our destination – Kumbakonam at 11pm.
Finally, we crashed ourselves after riding the bike for 14+ hrs. Awesome total of 410 kms in just one day.
Thankfully we did not take this trip seriously. Had we been serious on the day -1 itself, no doubt we would have reached the destination very early, but we, for sure, would have missed all the fun in bike ride.
Day 2: 23rd Dec, Roaming inside Kumbakonam and Trip to Thirunallar
To our biggest surprise, we woke up early on day -2 of our long bike ride in India.
What was more surprising was that Rajesh was jumping with full energy without even the trace of tiredness from yesterday’s journey.
He sure knows how to keep a positive energy.
Good for us, because I had spent almost 2 weeks planning for this trip.
Since we chose the theme for this long bike trip to visit all famous temples, it took me days and days of hard work working out visiting places based on the temple timings and location.
So I was nothing but surprised and happy to see my partner full of energy.
We kept our saddle bag and tank bag safely locked in our hotel room, carried just a backpack with water bottles and other basic items with us for roaming all the local places.
Day – 2 Visiting Places in Our Long Bike trip In India
Falling in love with “only Coffee Restaurant” in Kumbakonam
After roaming all the temples in the first half of the day, we had to come back to the room for check out. As we did not pre book the rooms for a week, we had to find a new hotel for the next couple of days. So on day-2 afternoon, we checked-in at Aditya Resorts in Thiruvidaimaruthur. That’s when we came to know about a dine-in called “Only Coffee Kumbakonam” and fell in love with ambiance and food immediately.
It was situated just adjacent to the resorts and initially, we mistook it for a coffee shop. Later when we came to know there is more in the menu than just the aroma of coffee, we became regular customers.
Since then, for every meal, evening snacks and tea, we never missed to eat in this restaurant on our all days in Kumbakonam.
After check out and a hearty meal at Only Coffee restaurant, we then headed to Thirunallar. Since it was saturday and Darshan at thirunallar temple (a famous Navagraha temple for planet saturn( was near to impossible you know. We had to stand in a queue for almost an hour to get past the main entrance of the temple. Only then we realized that it would take more than 4 hrs to darshan Navagraha Saturn. We sure knew that it would not be possible for us to stand that long in the queue, as we needed to ride back in the dark for more than 1 hr to Kumbakonam town.
Somehow, Rajesh found a way to contact someone in the admin office, soon I found us standing in front of Navagraha Saturn for a VIP special darshan. We skipped 4 hrs long queue and were taken directly to darshan main sanctum followed by Goddess Parvathi darshan and Navagraha Saturn. I felt privileged being in special darshan in front of thousands of people, and I was in tears.
Hubby was too proud when we came out of darshan and of course after paying a fee to the admin guy who took us in. My face was beaming with happiness and pride, all the more loving my hubby who took a risk for me.
About My Hubby’s Willpower
Rajesh is not a person who gives up so easily on any matters. If you know him personally, you would definitely be surprised at the level of will power he possesses in himself. I look up to him for his hard work, sincerity and work ethics. Apart from that, personally he is not a person to be bogged down by any level of crowd, which I observed during many of our travels.
Our motorbike rides connected us, gave us right opportunity and time to understand each other.
On most of the bike rides, mostly to Tiruvannamalai, distance of 200kms from our home, we check -in the room, head out soon for evening darshan in the temple after standing in a long queue for almost 2hrs. He never excused himself on any temple visits saying that he is too tired from bike rides. Nor he gave up on any bike trips, never came up with any excuse to postpone the trip or cancel it.
And most of all, never did he take off from work, not even a day, even after riding back to back on weekend trips. And you know of all the short and long bike trips we went since 2016, not even once he took off from work. You could see him get ready to office just like any other days. Touch wood. I would be the one forcing myself to go office as if I was driving bike day and night :).
Note – Nor did he take off to rest even after these 11 days of long bike rides in India.
Aiyarappar temple, Tiruvaiyaru – Darshan and tiruoonjal poojai
It was quite an achievement in one day, bike riding from Kumbakonam to Tanjavoor, then from there to Tiruvaiyaru before returning back. And along the way, we have visited all the famous temples – both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu temples.
The last stop in the day-4 long bike ride was Thiruvaiyaru, one of the biggest and famous temples of Lord Shiva, where we spent the entire evening until the temple closed for the day. Then we started our bike by 9.10 pm from Thiruvaiyaru to Kumbakonam via Kavisthalam. We stopped at Kabisthalam for tea at 9.50pm and reached our room by 11pm.
We had a peaceful journey, thanks to the seamless roads.
That’s another advantage of staying at Kumbakonam, not only do we get to enjoy cheap and best stays, but also good roadways connecting all major cities.
So staying at Kumbakonam is the best option to budget travel to places like Trichy, Chidambaram, Tanjavoor, Mannargudi, Karaikal, Nagapattinam etc.,
Day 5: Dec 26 Tuesday, Long Bike ride to Sirkazhi and Chidambaram
On yet another auspicious day – Ashtami, falling on Tuesday, we started our bike to Sirkazhi and Chidambaram just as planned.
Asusual woke up early, got ready and had coffee at 7am before we started our bike. It was too early to have breakfast, so we headed straight to our destination, Vaitheeswaran koil. Had a wonderful darshan at 8.30 to 9.30am, spent an hour at this Lord Shiva temple before we headed to Sirkazhi (pronounced as Sirkali), a neighbouring town.
We had breakfast at one of the good restaurants in town, before we had darshan at Sattainathar temple, Sirkali.
Finally we visited the most famous Chidambaram Natarajar temple before returning to Kumbakonam.
It was a hectic day, travelling long distances, visiting all famous temples, waiting in queues in each temple took most of our energy. Yet we enjoyed travelling back 80kms from Chidambaram to Kumbakonam, because our bike rides are not just about travelling and visiting places, but also enjoy being in the moment. Not just Kumbakonam, all the places we went from this temple town offered us feast of agri lands, lakes, rivers and ponds.
Rajesh was the one who enjoyed most of the countryside ride, marvelling at the rice fields, stopping to play in the ponds, clicking lilies pics.
11 days of this long bike trip in south India opened up a new beautiful world which we cherish forever.
This was the very reason which brought us back to the same places in the year 2018 as well.
Day 6: Dec 27th Wednesday – Long Bike ride to Tiruvarur
Day-6 was a relaxed day. We didn’t plan to go far distances as we wanted a break from yesterday’s long distance bike ride.
So we visited the famous temples within the Kumbakonam town in the first half of the day. Later in the afternoon we went to Thiruvarur at 42 km distance from Kumbakonam.
Here is the list of places we went on Day -6
Abhimukeshwarar near mahamaham tank, Kumbakonam
Tiruvarur Thyagaraja temple
Thirucherai Saranatha perumal temple
Nachiar koil
Day 7: 28th Dec Thursday. Bike ride to Alangudi and Mannargudi
It’s been 2 days since we have vacated our stay at Adithya resorts and moved to a hotel in main Kumbakonam town. Today, we all the way travelled to Only Coffee Restaurant near Adithya resorts to have our regular southindian breakfast.
After leisure breakfast, we headed towards Alangudi, about an hour ride from the restaurant.
Alangudi is one of the famous places for Navagraha, Lord Guru.
Just like Thirunallar saturn temple, here in Alangudi too it was super crowded.
Since we did not anticipate that much crowd in Alangudi, it was around 12 noon when we reached Mannargudi temple. It was already late and we missed the darshan by 10 mins. Returned back with just this cute elephant’s pic. Adorable isn’t it?
Cute elephant in Mannargudi Temple
After returning to the room, after relaxing for some time, we visited the following places in the evening.
Palaivananathar temple, Papanasam
Ramalingeswarar 108 lingam temple, Papanasam
Garbarakshambigai temple, Thirukaragavoor.
Happy news is that we were able to darshan in this Mannargudi temple when my husband joined my Solo bike trip in Kumbakonam for 5 days. Yes I did go solo to Kumbakonam for the love of this temple town for 5 days. And When Rajesh joined me in the weekend for the return journey, we visited this temple along with all other favorite temples in Kumbakonam town.
Day 8: 29th Dec, Friday, Vaikunda Ekadasi in Kumbakonam
We were up by 2am to get ready for Vaikunda Ekadasi darshan at Sarangapani temple.
As expected there was a long queue ahead, but we were able to darshan in an hr, since it was properly regulated by the temple management.
Soon after we headed towards another famous 108 Divya Desam Vishnu temple called Oppiliappan temple. On the way towards the location, we relaxed, played near the lotus pond, had a good time clicking pics and playing.
After darshan at Oppiliappan kovil, we headed towards Nachiyar Kovil, yet another famous 108 Divya Desam Lord Vishnu temple and a must visit temple in Kumbakonam.
After having breakfast in a small mess near Thirunageswaram temple, we attended Navagraha Rahu milk pooja from 10.30 to 12 noon.
Returning back by afternoon, we had lunch at a small mess called “Ayyakadai” at the corner of the Poppy’s SET hotel I have mentioned earlier.
After a long rest in the afternoon, we went to have ginger tea at a tea shop near clock tower in Kumbakonam town.
Then we went to the shopping area near Sarangapani temple to buy silver items and bought a couple of items.
And, yet again we went to our favourite restaurant for dinner to enjoy the evening. Whoa it was a long day in my entire life and was one of the memorable days in our travel history.
The most relaxed day in this entire week. So far all the temples and all the lake ponds in every nook and corner were visited in this temple town Kumbakonam.
We rode to all famous neighbouring towns, everyday clicked all nature’s pic in the early morning, had wonderful coffee watching the sunrise, had amazing meals in all famous restaurants, and there was nothing more left to do.
How else could we have spent this vacation more fruitfully?
Soon our vacation is nearing its end.
We never wanted to forget any of those memories so we kept staring at the beautiful ponds, agri fields, nature’s work during all our bike rides. We kept clicking as many pics as we could in both our mobiles and SLR canon that we carried.
It is more of an emotional day for us.
We left the room as soon as waking up, to ride into the field to have breakfast at our favourite restaurant – you know where.
Rajesh had brought his laptop and soon after breakfast, he started working on it. I occupied myself with sorting the pics in individual folders.
A very interesting hobby of mine apart from bookmarking travel locations in google maps. Once returning to home after this vacation, I would be spending many months working on sorting the pics.
Since it is a long bike ride in India, the first of its kind, definitely it would take me many months uploading pics to all my backup drives and labeling them.
That’s the reason I take Weekly Tuesdays off, to do such important work as a blogger.
After spending long hours, we returned to town only for lunch. After finishing bath in the early evening, we went to the nearest Darasuram for the evening. It is a majestic, beautiful architecture maintained under UNESCO, recognized more as a picnic spot than as a religious place. But there are pooja rituals followed just like all the Lord Shiva temples, and we attended the evening pooja while we were there.
We returned to town and visited Kasi Viswanathar temple for yet another evening pooja since it was an auspicious day called Pradosham. Being more auspicious falling on Saturday, we knew that all the Lord Shiva temples would be super crowded in TamilNadu. So we decided to go to this small temple near Mahamaham tank, called kasi Vishwanathaar temple and got only a sneak peak into the abhishegam rituals.
So on day-9 of our long bike trip, we went to only 2 places – Darasuram and a small Siva temple.
Later we went for a movie in a local theater for a happy ending of our vacation in Kumbakonam.
Day -10 Dec 31 Sunday – Long Bike ride from Kumbakonam to Tiruvannamalai
We woke up early today and left the room immediately to have coffee watching the sunrise near Mahamaham water tank. Came back to the check-out room at around 9.30am, then went to Balaji tea shop to have ginger tea. Finally we clicked pics near Mahamaham tank before we said final goodbye to our most favourite Kumbakonam town.
We then started our bike towards our next destination Tiruvannamalai via JayankondaCholapuram. Stopped at Srimushnam temple for darshan between 11.30 to 12.15 noon, had lunch at Ayini restaurant in Virudhachalam.
Reached Tiruvannamalai and check-in our room in Hotel Himalayas at 5.40pm. After relaxing and eating snacks at Krishna Sweets, we went to Annamalaiyar temple for darshan in evening. And we spent time in temple from 8pm to 10.15, left the temple after Thiru Oonjal sevvai darshan (putting Lord Shiva and Parvathi to sleep before temple closes).
We spent our new year evening roaming the Tiruvannamalai town, watching that small town buzzing with international devotees in disbelief. Around midnight we reached room, went to sleep listening to the far sound of new year celebrations.
Day 11 – January 01 2018 Monday, Last Day of Our Long Bike Ride in India
Unusually, Rajesh woke up at 3.30am, went to temple for early morning new year darshan. He came to the room by 7am, after temple darshan waiting in a queue for more than 2 hrs.
We check-out the room, after a brief buffet breakfast at Hotel Himalayas.
Then, we left Tiruvannamalai with packed bags and hearts towards Bangalore.
Reached our home in Bangalore by 9.30 pm, after a slow, leisure ride after stopping at many of favourite places for relaxing.
11 days of non – stop bike riding came to an end.
Happy ending.
Sum – Up: Why it Looked like a Spiritual Trip, The reason why
You name any famous temple in Kumbakonam, we have covered it all in the past one week in this temple town.
It may look like we undertook this long bike ride in India for a spiritual purpose rather than a leisure ride. The theme was to visit all the famous places possible in all the districts we have traveled to or through, so I tried my best to squeeze in all the famous places within the duration.
Having a feeling that we would not be this free once we started a family, I felt this deep urge to cover all places possible. One might think its crazy, but look at us now in the year 2020 under Covid-19 Lockdown.
You know how badly we missed our one day – and two day trips from Bangalore during that Lockdown Period?.
Though it seemed crazy that time for my facebook friends and my family, we did take a risk of riding long distances, going to all famous temples and damn it’s all worth it now.
If you would ask me that if I would change any of the places we have crazily visited, My answer would be No.
Yes, Nothing. It was all too perfect.
Too perfect long bike ride plan for the beginners.
Total of 11 days, 1745 kms, 13+ districts – all worth it.
And We did it again in the year 2018. This time it was more fun and less temples. Very notable in this 2018 bike trip is the boating inside Chidambaram Mangroove forest.
Just two days back we returned from ‘Bangalore to Kanchipuram road trip’ by our #AllNewCreta 2020. This one day road trip from Bangalore was on 14th November 2020 for the occasion of Diwali celebrations.
We went to Kanchipuram from Bangalore, and it was a total of 570 kms drive in just One day.
We took it slow this time, we leisurely started by 7.30 am.
Distance : The Bangalore to Kanchipuram distance is 280 Kms and we had plans to reach the destination only post lunch at Vellore.
Since we had plans to eat breakfast in our all time favourite restaurant in Bangalore highways called Krishna Inn, we each had half croissants with a cup of black tea just before we started. We had packed this butter croissant and a few baked buns for the trip a day before itself from our favourite baker.
Where we ate:
So Breakfast cum pitstop at Shoolagiri – Krishna Inn, followed by Lunch pit stop at Vellore – Khanna Fiesta.
The food quality of Khanna fiesta has come down and we felt guilty about driving all the way inside the city for this food diverting from the Highways.
So while returning to Bangalore from Kanchipuram, we made a wise decision of eating on the highways, a restaurant with a good rating called Darling Namma veedu in Vellore.
(This restaurant is right across Hotel Aryaas on the highways, also you have many other restaurant choices like Vellore kitchen, Saravana bhavan atc., But all are overpriced food items but scores okay in quality, thankfully).
We never ate anything in Kanchipuram because we don’t like to eat or stay here in the over hyped commercial town.
Post lunch in Vellore, after a leisure drive to Kanchipuram, headed straight to Varadaraja Perumal temple for darshan (Must see golden and silver lizard).
Route Map – Why We Loved this Chennai Highways
Here is the route map for both 2 ways journey for Bangalore to Kanchipuram road trip.
Bangalore to Kanchipuram Road trip route map
For the onward journey, we had seamless driving experience in NH 48 Chennai Highways, the only best road that beats all the other highways from Bangalore.
Though Tirupati and Hyderabad highways are also best, we personally like Chennai highways because of the tight barricade on both the sides blocking the localities criss crossing on highways.
If you are a regular rider / road tripper, you would know how important this barricade is for better driving experience. Since these days its most common sight in the highways to see the vehicles come in one way (facing you) giving you a heart attack. As if people criss crossing on the highways are not enough.
From where we stay in Bangalore, google maps automatically highlighted the Vellore route on the Chennai Highways. It also happens to be the best route to reach Kanchipuram by Car.
Click the above link to know about our train trip experience and to know famous temples in Kanchipuram.
Route map – Return Journey
We were profoundly delayed by choosing auto suggestions from google maps.
It is not necessarily to choose the auto-suggestion (highlighted route) in google maps. You should analyse and choose the best route for your choice.
Sometimes google suggests bad roads since it’s the fastest and most people use it.
So, it is wise to choose better roads (yellow roads with NH mark) rather than just any roads (white roads) google suggests.
Again when you are suggested 2 yellow roads, choose the NH with better numbers (NH 77 are country side narrow roads – So its a NO- NO).
Even Though we knew these safety rules all along being regular road trippers, we were careless this time. Because of that, we were delayed by 45 mins before we diverted us back to Vellore highways from a small route google maps auto-suggested.
So for the return journey, choose the same onward route map. But gotta be careful to notice that the route takes you via Kanchipuram bus stand.
Road trip Destination
Why did we choose Kanchipuram for one day road trip from bangalore?. Why go all the way to Kanchipuram instead of stopping at Vellore?.
I for one strongly believe that there has to be a purpose in going on any road trip. That’s called a road trip theme or a goal. You choose your destination based on that theme.
For example, if your theme is ‘leisure’ you would choose places like Coorg or Wayanad or Goa.
This time, in our Bangalore to Kanchipuram road trip, we covered a total of 570 kms in a day.
Speaking of which, this is not the first time we have touched 500 kms mark in one day. We rode 570 kms in day – 1 of our Tirunelveli for a 5 days trip. And 405 kms in day -1 by bike trip to Kumbakonam in the year 2017.
Successful Road trip to Kanchipuram
So, this time, we were successful in stretching our boundaries in our new car – Creta 2020. We will continue to do the same until we become comfortable doing great numbers in one day.
And yes, we did visit the very famous Varada Raja Perumal Temple while we were there. Though we did not have plans to visit any temples initially, since the time matched and we just made it happen. After spending about an hr of blessed darshan in the temple, we returned Bangalore in the late night.
Overall happy with our One day road trip from Bangalore, covering total of 570 kms.
This is our recent road trip from Bangalore to Madikeri for our 5th wedding anniversary celebration. We went on 3 days holidays to celebrate in Madikeri and totally loved the weather and the stay. I have given here the best route to reach Madikeri, the place we stayed, and the best cafe to hangout in Madikeri.
And this was our first long road trip post covid -19 lockdown, and first long road trip by our #AllNewCreta2020.
Road Trip From Bangalore to Madikeri
Onward Journey: Road trip from Bangalore to Madikeri (Day -1)
We started from our home leisurely around 8am, on Friday 11th Sep, 2020, after having breakfast at one of our favourite restaurants nearby our home.
(For those who think 8 am is too early, usually we start our bike trips / car trips by 5am).
As Usual we have packed our lunch boxes and snacks from home. But, when we found our favourite restaurant’s branch, called Aashirvaad grand, we were happy and couldn’t resist our temptation to eat here.
Anytime you are on road trip from Bangalore to Madikeri, do look up for this restaurant near Mysore.
Our bags packed for 3 days including Work bag just incase needed
(All these 3 road trips are entirely different, we stayed in different places each time and did various activities altogether. Click on the 2 links above to know all about sightseeing in Coorg and Wayanad including wildlife safari.)
Surprisingly, thanks to Our comfortable SUV, we reached Madikeri by 2pm itself.
Checked ourselves in a room at Woodstock villas, stretched our legs and rested for some time.
By evening, we took our Creta for a ride to look around our favourite sightseeing place – Raja’s seat, where we made many memories on our last trip.
All the sightseeing places in Madikeri were closed for the pandemic. We found only a couple of shops and restaurants here and there. But we chose not to go any places for shopping.
Came back to our resort, spent some time hanging out in Big Cup Cafe nearby our resort. Sipped tea enjoying beautiful weather and freshly brewed coffee aroma which filled the entire cafe.
We had to cancel our short walk plan since it started raining heavily.
So, we had ala carte non veg food items at the resort early, and tried local cuisines before we retired for the day.
The next day, we checked out of the room and headed to another breathtaking destination.
Drive to Cliff Resorts on Day -2
On our day 2 of our road trip from bangalore to Madikeri, we drove for about 2 hrs to reach our next stay, called Cliff resorts.
What was supposed to be 1.30hrs travel via Arekadu – Siddhapura route, we took 2 hrs, since we stopped at many places to click nature’s pic. We travel to enjoy every bit of travel, right?.
Travelduo Madikeri PicsDrive towards Cliff resorts – travelduo Madikeri pics
So we took our time, clicked lots of pics, and by the time we reached Cliff resorts after driving through some scary hairpins, it was already lunch time.
We had a buffet menu (not that great food for 700 bucks per head) before we retired to the room.
After the usual routine of relaxing for some time, we booked ourselves a nature’s guide who took us for an hr walk through the Resort’s coffee estate. The 100s of acres of coffee plantation was under the property of the cliff resorts’ four brothers and they kept it open for their guests.
It was a much needed walkthrough to get some good sleep in that chill weather.
Otherwise also we had an enormous super comfortable room with a spacious balcony open to the woods.
We skipped dinner as we were feeling heavy from grand lunch and evening sandwiches and tea.
Return to Bangalore Via Bavali route
Rajesh had kept this 2nd stay as secret as he wanted to impress me with this resort’s forest view. Definitely it was an amazing view even better than Raja seat’s view in Madikeri.
Although it was an entirely different experience, for the price we paid here we could have stayed in Woodstock villas for another 2 days comfortably including food costs.
But the best part of this resort is closer to the city, that is Gonikoppala and virajpet. Needless to say I love Gonikoppal for its good restaurant and even better roads to reach Bangalore.
And we stopped at a couple other shops to fill our snacks bag for the return journey.
Just like how well we know the places in Mysore and Kumbakonam, so well we know about madikeri and Wayanad now. Especially the drive through the forest via Kutta – bavali route to reach Bangalore.
I have written all about different routes (and forest rules) to help you plan the road trip from bangalore to Madikeri, click here. Have fun.
We have been to all the Best Bike Ride Places near Bangalore since we are into regular road tripping. I have curated a list of best places to go in different highways for example Mysore highways, Hyderabad highways etc.,
And all the places in the following lists have google map link. So just click on the link to the destination, based on the distance you could plan your trip.
Best Bike Ride Places near Bangalore – The List
You could the best bike ride places near Bangalore based on the location or the nearest highways. For example, for us Mysore highways are nearby compared to Kunigal or Hyderabad. So I have curated list of bike ride places based on the highways you would drive through.
List of Places You could go in Mysore road –
Since the travel distances vary for the location you start in Bangalore, I chose not to mention the distances. Feel free to click on the interested places given below to get directions and distances from google maps.
Mysore road presents you lots of destinations for one day destinations for bike ride. Our initial bike trips started with going frequently to Mysore road, and we totally loved it.
Rasta Cafe : One of the best bike ride places near Bangalore, and one of the all time bikers hangout places near Bangalore. 24×7 open cafe with lots of good food options and sports activities.
Sri Sri Ravishankar Ashram : We went on a casual bike trip to this bangalore ashram and totally loved the vast ambiance and cool cafe. If not for any cultural trip, this is a must visit place and best option to spend your day with your loved ones.
Grips Go karting and Bowling : A place to hangout and do some engaging activity with your partner. Located at 20 kms distance from my home in Bangalore, we love to go frequently to this place.
Wonderla Amusement park – best bike ride place near bangalore for both couples and family. A place worth your money and time, and have unlimited fun.
Machanabele Dam – We have been to this many times as much as we have been to Mysore. Because we choose to go Mysore via Machanabele dam, a best route to avoid all the traffic until Ramanagara. Its best place for a one day picnic. Pack your picnic bag or just a day bag with snacks and waterbottles, and have peaceful time watching the lake and dam. Also one the way you could spend some time in Dodda Alada mara, another famous places near bangalore. It is one of the all time best bike ride place near Bangalore, as we prefer this route for its greenary whenever we go for any CCD.
Srirangapatna : Another most frequented place in our bike ride journey is this Srirangapatna for Lord vishnu temple and coupled with another places like Somanathapura or Melkote or Talakadu (mentioned below). Or it is one of the destination on along journey towards Mysore or Coorg.
Somanathapura : An ancient Hoysala architecture, open from 9 am to 5 am is a best tourist place to hangout with lots of greeneries around. Spend time sightseeing the temple, hangout in the garden until evening. Its best to pack our own food since options are less once you divert from Mysore highways.
Melkote : Famous for its cave temple on the hills, this is yet another best bike ride place near Bangalore. You could pack some food spend some time on the hills until evening with a good view. (If you prefer to eat on the highways, then Channapatna McDonald’s is our all time favourite)
Shivanasamudra falls : Famously known for its waterfalls named Ganagachukki falls and nearby Lord Vishnu temple. Here is the travel guide to reach this place by bike. While you are there, you could also visit nearby Hogenakkal Falls.
Talakadu : Famous for ancient temples buried under sand and Kaveri river (talakadu beach), this place is the most famous among the tourists. We have been to this place by bike a couple of times and here is the guide to visit this place by bike. It is another best bike ride places near Bangalore, you would see lots of couples there came by bike, and parking is always full.
All the above places are the nearest destinations for just one day bike trip.
If you have decided to stretch your limits and go on a long road trip, then I would suggest going to Mysore. Where there are many sightseeing places like Mysore zoo, Mysore Palace, Brindavan gardens, Rangathittu bird sanctuary etc.,
Note: Even bike riders need to pay toll for Nice road entry.
Lepakshi – Located in the Karnataka – Andhra border is the very famous, majestic, ancient temple called Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple. Famous for its hanging pillars and rock carved architecture, this place is one of the best bike ride places near Bangalore. Little far from Bangalore, yet a must visit place and absolutely worthy of your time. You could hang out in the temple premise with packed snacks and water bottle, until the temple closes. We coupled Our Bangalore to Lepakshi trip with yet another famous tourist destination in Bangalore, Nandhi hills.
Nandhi Hills :A famous place for watching the sunrise in Bangalore, is also famous for its trekking destinations. We love this place for its beautiful temple with scenic pond situated in a vast area, a must visit place.
Ghati Subhramanya Temple – A little diversion from hyderabad highways just before nandhi hills road is this famous Ghati Subramanya temple. We love going to these above places especially Chikkabellapur and Doddabellapur area for watching rose plantations.
Even Though I have given all the temple links to the above destinations, you could simply avoid going to the temple and choose to hangout in the restaurant nearby.
We have been to Hassan once on an unplanned journey in our Adichuchunagiri hills trip. While we were there, we visited a couple of famous places in Hassan. Read here.
We are travel duos, married couples on wheels since 5 yrs. We have been to all the famous, nearby places and far places from Bangalore by bike. Now we are road trippers, after buying #AllNewCreta in the year 2020.
For Short Trips (One day trips) – We carry a day bag to fit all the below items.
We have been to all the above mentioned places by bike and have written detailed travel guides for all the places individually.
Since we live near to Mysore road, we have been frequent travelers to these places and know all these places really well. We always do not travel out with a purpose.
We sometimes choose to have just coffee in any of the best Cafe in Mysore highways and return home. Depending on your travel purpose, you could choose any of the places mentioned above.
How to go One day road trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore, and which is the best route to drive? Lets see.
Total distance of total 400 Kms, Tiruvannamalai is our all time favorite destination for weekend trips, for both our bike trips and car trips.
And this was our first trip to Tiruvannamalai post Covid-19 lockdown.
(Note – The above pic was clicked at Singarapettai Lake, on the way towards Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore via Chengam route).
Our Plan to Go On One Day Road Trip to Tiruvannamalai From Bangalore
Our destination was Tiruvannamalai – Arunachaleswara temple, always same destination in our one day trip, to darshan Lord Shiva representing element Fire.
Though we are regular travellers to this temple, yet we never planned for a one day trip to Tiruvannamali from Bangalore. Because we used to go bike trip, we prefer to take rest at night before return to Bangalore. While we are there, never miss to visit Tirukoilur temples (at 35kms distance on Pondicherry route ) on the next day, yet another favorite place near Tiruvannamalai. So we never thought of going on a one day trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore.
Now that we have our new Creta car (named Milo), a comfortable SUV for long road trips, we decided on a one day road trip to Tiruvannamalai.
Note that covering long distances in one day is nothing new to us.
We covered 410 kms on our first day of 11 days bike trip in the year 2017. (And a grand total of 2000 kms in 11 days by bike, yeaahhhh ).
And in the year 2019 in one of our car trips, we covered 590 kms in one day, when we went on a 5 days trip to Tirunelveli in TamilNadu.
So, we pat ourselves for being regular travelers and setting new milestones for every single trip.
But it is not the same when you plan on a long drive to one of the ancient, famous and all time crowded temples.
It requires proper planning and execution considering the temple open timings and our convenience in travel.
So here is how we planned our one day trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore by car.
How to Plan for One Day trip to Tiruvannamalai From Bangalore
We are travel duos from Bangalore, so all our starting points are from Bangalore. You could use my plan as a sample if you starting point is not Bangalore.
So, here are the factors to consider when you plan on a culture trip like this.
Temple Open timings
Knowing the exact timings of the temple is important, because your start and end time your journey is weaved around this information.
Tiruvannamalai temple open timings – 5 am to 12.30 noon and 4 pm to 9.30 pm.
This timing is quite common for almost all Lord Shiva temples and this is not applicable for Lord Vishnu temples. As the rituals and procedures vary entirely for both the temples.
Now, you need to decide on the time to visit the temple. We chose morning 5 am to 12.30 noon batch timing. That means we need to arrive at the destination atleast 1 to 1.5 hrs before 12.30 noon, giving enough buffer time to park the vehicle and waiting time to darshan Lord Shiva and Parvathi.
Now, How can we reach before 11.30 am driving 200 kms from our start point?.
Travel Distance to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore
Here is second important factor to consider for our one day road trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore.
Total travel time from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai by Car including pit stops – for 200 kms on one way. And considering the bad roads in the Krishnagiri – Chengam route, time varies based on the driver’s skills. If you are choosing an alternative route (that is Via Vellore), your travel time naturally increases for the increase in 100 kms.
Total Waiting time to Darshan Lord Shiva at Main sanctum: the time you take from entering the temple at main entrance (east gopuram) to the time you take to see Lord Shiva at the main sanctum needs to be considered.
Since we always go for paid darshan, we kept an average of 1.30 hrs for the darshan timing.
Now you know what time you need to start in the morning to darshan at the temple.
Same goes for calculating the return journey.
Yet, you cannot calculate the same hours for the return journey, it varies based on the traffic on the highways and in the city.
How Successful Was My Plan ?
All went well as per the plan. Infact, it was quite successful.
We started by 5 am with all pre packed bags with snacks and water bottles packed a night before.
We were able to drive to the destination even though we have spent more than 1 hr in our favourite fit stop on the Hosur highways. It is called Krishna Inn in Shoolagiri. It is the bikers meeting point on weekends, and I have written a great deal about their food here.
We reached the temple campus at 11am, and it took us 20 mins to find the right parking spot before we entered the temple.
We spent total of 1 hr for the entire darshan time in the temple, including the Goddess parvathi darshan.
By 12.30 noon, We were back to parking area, headed straight to our favourite resort called Sparsa resorts, one of the elite stays in Tiruvannamalai for lunch.
Lunch At Sparsa Resorts
We spent time on good lunch and stretching our legs before we started our return journey by 2.20 pm.
Success !!!.
We reached the destination as planned, had quick darshan to our surprise and relaxed in our favorite place for couple of hours before we started our return journey. Kudos.
Tiruvannamalai to Bangalore : The Return Journey
As usual, we were profoundly delayed by the evening traffic on the Bangalore – Salem highways. Since it was anticipated during our trip, we reached on scheduled time, totally tired and sleepy by the time we hit our home by 9pm.
It was a seamless peaceful journey except for the bad roads on the route we chose for this trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore.
Next time we plan to take the Vellore route since we are fed up travelling on this bumpy NH77 roads forever.
Kudos to Rajesh for making things happen irrespective of how challenging our trip turns out.
Planning one day road trip from Bangalore?
Here are some interesting destinations from Our travel History –
Travelling by bike is not new to us, but riding a motorbike in the dark night – definitely it was a new and scary experience. This was my first ever “well – planned bike trip” on Shivaratri night from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple.
The reason I particularly mentioned as “well-planned” is because we had another night bike ride experience which was “not-planned” but gave us thrill down our spines. You can find that story link at the bottom of this article. And after night bike ride of 200 kms from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple, the next day we went on 1 hr trekking to Theerthamalai temple near Dharmapuri.
Whoaaa yes. Read the story to know how we did this thrilling + adventurous trip by Bike.
Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Distance and Travel Route
Little Intro on Our regular Trips from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple
Tiruvannamalai temple has been our favourite destination for bike rides for 5 years since our marriage in 2015. We have always enjoyed the ride, riding amongst the never ending mango farms were our favourite.
After a couple of times from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple, there was no need to look at google maps for directions, because literally our bike took us there. It stopped in all our favorite pit stops, it stopped when we needed to click pics and it even stopped whenever we crossed village fruit stalls.
Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Route – 1 (203 kms) (Moderate roads after Krishnagiri)
Bangalore – Hosur – Shoolagiri – Krishnagiri (turn towards Chennai Highways, take Tiruvannamalai route) – Mathur – Uthangarai – Chengam – Tiruvannamalai temple
Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Route – 2 (285 Kms) (Best Route NH 48, only the last 80 Kms are state Highways -moderate roads)
Bangalore – Hosur – Shoolagiri – Krishnagiri (turn towards Chennai Highways, take Vellore route) – Ambur – Vellore – Tiruvannamalai Temple
Of the two routes mentioned, We prefer route -1 for bike trips and route – 2 for the car trips. Route -1 (chengam route) has a single state road once after you cross Krishnagiri. Most of the places are damaged or under construction always. For bike rides, we prefer this route for the less distance comparatively.
Since our couple of car trips to Vellore and Kanchipuram, we love this route – 2 with continous NH 48 2 ways – roads with partition barricades. The best route if you love to drive non -stop to the destination. Only the last 80 kms are bit narrow roads, but better than route -1.
The time takes to cover both the routes are the same, only route – 2 is better in terms of good roads and many restaurant choices.
We usually start our road trip journey by 7 to 8am, stop at Krishna Inn in Bangalore -Salem highways around 9.30 for a long break for breakfast and coffee.
The best TamilNadu style Pongal and vada from Krishna Inn, Bangalore – Salem Highways restaurant
We put on music from our Boat mini speaker, listen to songs to beat the boredom riding bike in the hot sun, all the while enjoying the countryside view and agrilands.
After a couple of pit stops, and lunch, we reach our destination by 2 to 3 pm, check-in the room to freshen up, preferably a short bath.
We would then ride to Tiruvannamalai temple by late evening for darshan, if possible (and lucky) we would stay back to watch 10pm Thiruoonjal sevai before calling it a day. Usually the next day, we always – mostly always went to Tirukoilur temples, situated about 1hr ride from Tiruvannamalai town towards Pondicherry.
Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Distance – 200kms* (little varies based on the location you start).
Tiruvannamalai to tirukoilur temples – 37 kms*
*Distances mentioned only for just onward journey
It is another countryside ride we love riding for the love of Tirukoilur Ulagalantha Perumal temple. We usually reach by noon, attend the noon pooja just before the temple closes.
Trip to Tirukoilur From Tiruvannamalai
Before we return back to Tiruvannamalai town we lunch at Arya Bhavan, the only possible good vegetarian restaurant in the Tirukoilur town.
Then we collect our packed bags from the hotel reception (usually the saddle bags so we can ride stress free), stop at our favourite french coffee shop before we take the Bangalore road.
(Update: This coffee shop is permanently closed as on our recent trip to Tiruvannamalai on 8th Feb 2020).
The next day, Rajesh would go to office as if nothing happened in the past 2 days. He would resume his work in office as if he didn’t ride 470 kms by bike with just one night rest in between in 2 days.
I too force myself to go to the office on Mondays even though I was not the one driving bike for 8 hrs straight.
This has been our routine so far, until one day we decided to break the routine.
Night Bike Trip to Tiruvannamalai Temple – The Experience
This time, on 24th Feb 2017, at 5pm, we started our night journey from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple.
We rode our bike for 7 long hrs, reached the Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar temple around 1 am. Had we not delayed in Krishnagiri, we would have reached about an hour early to the destination (explained in detail below).
The main reason behind this night trip plan was to attend the ‘Shivratri’ pooja in the most significant Lord Shiva temple.
Since it was going to be a night bike ride on the highways and country side, we had to make sure everything was 100% perfect.
Just a week before our journey, Rajesh had got the bike from the service station, spent about 15k on the bike fixing all the issues, adding some fancy headlights and tail lights.
As a travel partner, I double checked on the travel essentials and packaging for the much expected Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple trip.
“What if anything happens along the way, how would we ensure our safety and road safety?”
It was Rajesh – who by nature never deviated from any set out goals, pressed me on to continue planning for the journey.
So, I went on to do what I do best for the travel plans. Write down all to-dos, things to pack, buying all the necessary stuff and packing the bags a day before the journey.
Rajesh would cross check the itineraries ensuring I have not left out anything in the overwhelming of planning.
Always expect the Unexpected – Delay in our well thought plan– In Our Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Night trip
Since we had planned to go straight to the temple for darshan, we packed light and carried just one backpack for the trip.
Our bike is ready, bags are packed, mobile phone chargers, bluetooth speakers are cross checked. We all set to go from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple.
We started our bike at 5pm.
I never thought our journey would be delayed more than the usual travel time.
Though I kept the extra buffer time since we were starting on weekend evening, and very well aware of the volvo bus traffic until we crossed Hosur.
But this is how we got delayed.
Since both Sivarathiri and pradosham are falling on the same day making the day super special, I had a plan to stop at the Krishnagiri Lord Shiva temple for a quick darshan on Pradosham.
So, we diverted from the actual route from the national highways, entered the Krishnagiri town, found the temple I marked in the google map a week before.
To our shock, we found the entire town was gathered in that temple, we could not even walk past the main gate. Thinking that the crowd will clear like they usually do on the auspicious days, we kept waiting in expectation for about an hour only to realise we took a bad decision of stopping here.
And as the time went by, riding in the dark in the dark was becoming challenging as we were slowed down by the heavy beam of the opposite vehicles.
Not to mention the annoying tiny insects hitting on our helmets, some even crawling up under the helmets giving a tough time to focus and ride the bike.
Finally we reached the Tiruvannamalai temple on the next day i.e. 25th Feb, around 1 am. We then found a place in the temple, listened to the Navrathri songs until we waited for the early morning darshan.
Around 4am, we joined the early morning queue for darshan and by the time we came out, it was around 6am.
Tiruvannamalai temple
Then around evening we went to our next favourite destination – Tirukoilur.
Since we needed to take a good rest from the previous night long journey, I didn’t plan any other destinations except Tirukoilur.
Tirukoilur Perumal Temple Gopuram – Main Entrance
What followed the Night Ride was An Unimaginable Day
On our 3rd day, on 26th Feb 2017, Theerthamalai in Dharmapuri, a hill temple which was crowded beyond my imagination on the day we went.
Since it was “no-moon” day, devotees gathered in huge numbers to darshan Lord Theerthagirishwarar on the top of the hill.
As usual, Rajesh did not back off from the plan, so with no other choice, I decided to trek the hill on a hot summer. We dropped our backpack at a shop near the bike parking area and went on to climb 1km uphill with just 1 litre bottle in hand.
What seemed like easy to climb 1km in the google map, it took us more than 1hr with just 10 min break in between.
After standing in the long queue for the Lord Siva darshan, and Parvathi devi, Rajesh managed to get some of the holy water from the multiple tiny waterfalls (they say it never dry out).
Overall, it was more than we could take.
All the experience was new and it was too much to handle at once.
First ever experience riding 200kms in the dark.
As if that was not enough, going on a trek for an hour to the hill temple on the next day, cursed my guts to plan this trip, we suffered indefinitely.
But looking back now, I could not believe that we took all that risk, we have stretched our boundaries and achieved something great.
We have been to Madurai a couple of times, and each time we had new activities planned to roam Madurai. One time we roamed all popular Hindu temples by Bike (rented) in our train trip to Madurai from Bangalore. The other time we went by Car to Madurai during our 5 days road trip to Tirunellveli and Papanasam, when we did nothing but shopping there. Of course, we did darshan the great Meenakshi temple.
Madurai From Bangalore – How We traveled
Since the year 2017, we were popular among friends for non-stop bike travel from Bangalore on almost all weekends.
But as ardent travellers, we didn’t restrict ourselves to just one mode of travel.
We got inspired from our 3 days trip to Kumbakonam by train in the same year, where we rented a bike to roam the temple for 3 full days.
For three continuous days, that is 21st, 22nd, 23rd of July 2017, we roamed all the ancient temples in Madurai.
All the 3 days, we did not have any issues roaming the city by bike as an outsider. We had a good choice of restaurants all over the city and enjoyed all vegetarian south indian meals in our entire trip.
Road trip to Madurai
On our recent 5 days road trip to Tirunelveli and Papanasam, we stayed in Madurai for just a day, and did not visit any temples except the great Meenakshi temple. But roamed around the city by car, hung out around big temple lake, enjoyed Madurai’s famous Jigarthanda, and had awesome non vegetarian meals in Kari kanji restaurant. It is a must try restaurant for all kinds of non-vegetarian dishes. Click on the name to get the google map link.
Well, there aren’t many places to see in Madurai if you are not a temple architecture lover. So you can couple your trip plan with other famous places like Tirunelveli and Papanasam, or even kanyakumari.
Restaurant suggestion in Highways
Be it bike trip or road trip, the best Veg restaurant in Bangalore – Salem highways is Shri Krishna Inn. Its our all time favorite and this is where you could see hundreds of bikers hangout in the weekends. For more restaurant suggestions – you can find here.
Copy My Plan to Madurai
Of all the trips we went to Madurai from bangalore, not even once did we have issues on travel or stay or food.
The best place to spend your vacation, but only if you could couple it with other places. Because, many tourists including foreigners visit this majestic Madurai city for just one main reason – to darshan Madurai Meenakshi temple.
And, you could easily cover this place in just one day, including Thirumalai Nayak Mahal – another must see place in Madurai.
So what could you do to spice up your travel?
Go One Day Trip to Kodaikanal Hills:
Madurai and Kodaikanal are two like twins – inseparable in any trip plan. People who plan to go to Kodaikanal always make plans to visit Meenakshi temple and vice versa.
You could stay in Madurai and make a one day trip to Kodaikanal or just choose to stay in Kodaikanal for an extended period of your vacation. Kodaikanal is the best romantic place to visit near Madurai and makes it a place for best family vacation too. There are many options for kids to enjoy like cycling and boating – a complete package for family.
Madurai to Kodaikanal Distance – 116 kms
Go Long Drive From Madurai to Kanyakumari:
If you have been to Kodaikanal already, you could plan a long road trip to Kanyakumari. You could plan a direct trip from Bangalore to Kanyakumari, making Madurai as one of the pit stops. Or plan a drive from Madurai city.
Madurai to Kanyakumari distance – 245 kms
Bangalore to Kanyakumari distance – 665 kms
Woah, guess it is a practical idea to plan a long drive from Madurai instead of Bangalore.
Things to do In Kanyakumari – Kanyakumari beach, Tiruvalluvar statue, Visit Bhagavathy and Suchindram temple.
Places to Visit between Madurai and Kanyakumari
Tirunelvelli– Yet another popular city known for two things: Nellaiyappar temple (Lord Shiva temple) and for Wheat halwa (iruttu kadai halwa). Distance from Madurai to Tirunelveli – 163 kms
Papanasam – A very famous tourist spot in Tirunelveli district, popular for waterfalls (agasthiyar falls), and nearby manimuthar dam. We personally loved this place for never ending greenery and mountain view drive. (Read – Places to Visit in Papanasam in One day with distances)
Courtallam – Not any intro is required for this place. Popular among tourists for its Courtallam falls and lord shiva temple at the foot hills.
Visit to Madurai is incomplete without visiting these 3 popular places.
If you like to visit temples enroute madurai to Kodaikanal, you could then go to Thenkasi for a majestic Lord Shiva temple, situated 5.5. Kms from Courtallam. And you could also go to yet another historically important 3 temples called ‘Srivilliputhur andal temple’, ‘Sankaran kovil’ and ‘Tiruchendur’.
First two temples are close by, whereas Tiruchendur Lord Subramanya temple is situated at entirely different route.
I mean it is not practically possible to cover all the above places in just one day. That’s why we went on a 5 days road trip to Tirunelveli, and took time leisurely to see all the above mentioned places.
On the way back to Bangalore from Tirunelveli, we stayed at Madurai for a day and roamed the city.
If you are planning to Visit Kanyakumari from Madurai, you could go straight to the destination. Or if you prefer, stay in Tirunelveli for a day or two, to explore all the above mentioned places. It is definitely worth your time, especially Papanasam.
Go Long Drive From Madurai to Rameswaram:
Another best option to add tourist places to your trip to Madurai from Bangalore, you could go Rameshwaram.
In jan 2017, we went to Rameshwaram for 3 days by bus and we coupled the trip with Tirunelveli. We stayed in Rameswaram mainly to visit Ramanathaswamy temple to pay respect to my father on ‘mahalaya amavasya day’. We didn’t go to any other places in Rameshwaram. And we cherish the time we travelled on the pamban bridge – one of a kind experience.
Madurai to Rameswaram distance – 173 kms
Tirunelveli to Rameswaram distance – 226 kms
This is how we plan our travel – compare the distances from different places to the end destination, then decide which plan is best.
It is as simple as that.
Sum – Up
So, practically we know clearly about all the tourist places in and around Madurai.
Well, if none of the above places interests you, and if you are looking for particularly temple trips in Madurai, then copy my Madurai temples list.
There is no need to book any tour packages, because you know you will not be given any special access to darshan.
You could just follow the google maps, plan to visit temples between 6 am to 11.30 am and between 5pm to 8.30 pm. You could rest in the afternoon or find a nice restaurant to chill the day.
We are bikers, duo travelers to destinations in SouthIndia mostly bike trip from Bangalore. What started as a casual outing for coffee in Kanakapura road and Mysore road has soon become a planned bike trip to similar places.
And what started as fun riding bikes to nearby places has soon become a passionate bike ride to the far destinations.
To the readers wondering why we always go to places with temples, here is the reason behind it.
Bike Trip From Bangalore: How it Started After Our Marriage
Our very first official bike trip was from Bangalore to Srirangapatna and its nearby places on 26th August 2016.
Then after a couple of train trips toHampi and Belur, soon we realised that we don’t like any modes of travel except by road. Soon, we started going many one day trips by bike, challenged ourselves to go beyond the borders. One such trip was to Lepakshi from Bangalore (Andhra Pradesh) via Nandi Hills (Karnataka).
But what gave us recognition as bike riders among friends (majorly in social media since we started posting pics and total Kms we rode), was a night bike trip to Hassan. That was an unplanned trip to Hassan and we rode 500kms back to back in less than 40 hrs, day and night.
That was a greatest milestone achievement in the year 2016.
In the following year 2017, after numerous 1 day and 2 day trips, we had set another milestone of 11 days continuous bike trip within SouthIndia.
We broke the 2017 record in the following year by going 12 days long bike trip within SouthIndia.
Well, if you see, either 1 day or 2 days or 11 long days, we always visit a famous temple in that particular place. Sometimes our trip plan will be weaved around a particular famous temple in that destination.
Why temples? Why not just go to a exotic destination, chill out and come back?
The Reason Behind Visiting Temples – On All Our Bike trip From Bangalore
The only connection I remember having with temples are those in my childhood. I remember my mother dragging me and my sibling to an ancient Lord Shiva temple in the town I grew, barely giving us time to change from school uniform to civil clothes.
Many years after, I remember accompanying my roommate from Bangalore to Tirupati Balaji temple. That was a memory I still cherish.
And many years later, soon after our marriage, we went to temples with family as it was customary to darshan several temples.
But here we are, riding to all the famous places, visiting the famous/ ancient temples, taking pics, and taking great effort sorting them in all possible harddisks.
Well, to begin with, I suggested going to Srirangapatna Ranganathar temple, as a meaningful destination for our first bike trip from Bangalore.
We liked the idea of keeping a meaningful destination instead of just hanging out in any restaurant and coming back.
Unintentionally we went on a couple of temple trips in the following months.
Later we came to know, both our families liked (assumed?) that we both went on a spiritual trip, spending our weekends in a meaningful way.
Only we both knew it was not just visiting temples, it was about meaningful destinations in our bike trips.
Also we had some meaningful conversations while we were there in the temples – about the architecture and about us.
Sometimes our conversations gets more interesting, we used to compare with the previous temples we have visited, engage in that topic even after we return to our hotel rooms.
Soon, by law of nature, we were naturally attracted to similar destinations, and many good things happened since then.
The Best thing Happened from Visiting Temples in Bike Trips
The constant planning and organizing the trips became my main hobby after marriage.
We were always on the wheels, sometimes going to the same destinations again and again because we did not have any plans laid for that particular weekend. Or simply because of silly reasons like how we liked to have black coffee in Tiruvannamalai (200 kms bike trip from bangalore) and going to nearby Tirukoilur riding among sunflower fields.
Sometimes we go out shopping, but change our mind soon after we exit our apartment building, ride to the far destination for cuppa coffee and come back home only late in the night.
We soon became best friends riding together, talking about the past and the future.
In the past 5 yrs of married life (as of Sep 2020), we grew together as a strong couple and the complete credit goes to all the numerous travels we went (including the ones by train, by air and car).
Note to readers
Click on the category in this website – Road trips from Bangalore to read about all the interesting places we went by bike and car.
Had we not started visiting temples in our short bike trips from Bangalore, we would not have planned our 11 days long bike trip in the year 2017 and 12 days trips in the year 2018. Because it is difficult to just kill time without any purpose.
Wow, what a journey we had. Looking back, it was like magic, but we did it. Riding under sun and moon, storm and rain, we rode bike continuously for those many long days.
Before you think of me as crazy visiting only the temples on our vacation – know this. I am not a spiritual nor a devoted traveler to temples. It’s just the curiosity to know the significant importance of many temples from one another. Also, I am totally in love with the ancient architecture and the lost temples. So you cannot find me visiting any modern age temples, or any non-historic temples for that matter.
Like this train trip to Belur in Karnataka, where we explored 2 less popular Hoysala architectures, the two very beautiful temples in Karnataka.
And once we have been to 24 temples in 3 days in Kumbakonam, the only place where temples are more than tea shops in TamilNadu. So could not get enough from those 3 days, we planned 11 days long motorbike trip to explore the Kumbakonam temple city.
Did we ever go on an exotic trips?.
Many actually.
We did go exotic places like when we stayed in Aveda Resort in Kumarakom, The continental Inn for a week stay in Mumbai, The Grand Mercure in Mysore, Riva Resort in Goa to name a few.
This is about how I recalled the events and why this trip was so close to my heart.
Facebook Memories – recollecting the events
As I recall, I remember well that how we left home early to catch train, the junction we got down (arasikere), the hot tea in a local shop in the morning, the village muddy smell from the previous day rains.
I also recall the pain I felt seeing the lost state of importance to these 2 temples – one in Arasikere and the 2nd in Javangal.
Compared to both, Arasikere Lord Shiva temple was in better condition.
We were lost for words to explain the state of Javangal temple, the broken and damaged roof was totally heartbreaking.
That explains the reason why no devotees or tourists to these places.
The other two temples we have visited that day, namely – Halebidu and Belur temples were sparkling with crowd.
They were receiving all the care and attention, and they stand proud in a vast area with little damage here and there.
I also recall going to a local eatery before entering the Halebidu temple, ordering the only rice bath variety available with a vada. While our phones were charging, we relaxed and prepared ourselves to visit the mass temple in piping hot sun.
Thanks to facebook memories, I am feeling happy to recollect the events.
Look at some of pics here, am sure you will love it.
