Road Trip — Bengaluru-Chikmaglur-Belur-Halebeedu-Bengaluru

Road trips hold a very special place in my heart and I wanted to share the same joy with my better half this time, so we took a road trip from Bengaluru to Chikmaglur, and on our way back we took a detour via Belur and Halebeedu.
Let me pen down my journey here.

How did it start?

It was a normal sunny day in Bengaluru, I just got up and was about to sleep again because it was a weekend.

Wife: What’s the plan for the long weekend (14 Oct. — 17 Oct. ‘21)?
Me: No plan as of this point, you can make some plan and we can go.
Wife (with a sly smile): I have booked ourselves a cottage at the place called Villa Urvinkhan and we’re going there, it’s near Chikmagalur.
Me: Road trip baby!!

Planning over the meals for the trip and itinerary creation was routine. This was the first time my wife was going on a road trip so she was all psyched and taking care of everything and anything.

Journey Begins — Bengaluru to Chikamagalur

Since I am no stranger to road trips so I got my car checked for air and got petrol top-up to the brim a day before the trip.
We started heading out of Bengaluru at 6:30 am in the morning. According to Google Maps, it will take 5 hours and 30 minutes to reach our destination.
We took NH-75 throughout and later switched to state highway after a diversion. The road was just splendid with a good amount of crowd going towards Chikamagalur/Mangalore etc.
After driving for almost 180 km we took a break for a while and head out for the next 100 km of our journey.
The last 100 km should be driven with absolute caution and safety as there are a lot of twists, turn, up-slopes, downs-slopes and to make the matter more adventurous/dangerous it was a 2 lane road, so overtaking isn’t recommended.
Finally, after a great drive, we reached the destination Villa Urvinkhan.

Property Tour, History, and Activities

Villa Urvinkhan is an 11-year-old homestay cottage run by Mr. Sunil Gowda, Mrs. Shwetha Gowda along with their son and daughter.
The cottages are on the top of the hill that is inside the farm, which consists of more than 500 acres of land that has been in their family for the last 5 generations, where they use the land for the sustainable cultivation of coffee and pepper.
The homestay consists of 10 cottages with rustic artifacts, secluded with others, and a luxurious stay experience. All the cottages consist of an indoor and outdoor shower, a bathtub, king-size bed, coffee table, sofa set, a fireplace, etc, and a great view of the mountain as soon as you open your eyes and look out of the window.
The place is very good for the people who want to go away from city noise and just be in peace, twitcher (bird watcher), and a large group of families/friends who just want to chill. Food is just amazing you can choose your meal as veg/non-veg and they will accommodate accordingly.
Since this place is almost 100 km far from the Chikmagalur, they have a lot of activities that can be done within the property like Fishing, Trekking, ATV Ride, etc.
After a 3-night of luxurious pampering, we were all set for homecoming after a small detour.

Journey Continue — Chikamagalur to Belur

Belur, a small town in Hassan District, took 1 hour 40 minutes to reach, it is renowned for its Chennakeshva Temple dedicated to Vishnu, one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture. It was also the first capital of the Hoysala Dynasty.
The temple has carvings that date back to the pre-14th century and tell the story of Ramayana, Mahabharata, other Hindu scriptures over the wall.

Journey Continue — Belur to Halebeedu (Halebidu)

Haalebeedu, a town located in Hassan District, took 30 minutes to reach from Belur, it was the capital of Hoysala District after Belur, historically known as Dorasamudra or Dwarasamudra, it is renowned for Hoysaleswara Temple, a twin temple dedicated to Shiva.
The particular monument was looted 2 times during the 14th century due to which a lot of carvings are broken.
The temple carvings display Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, and Vedic legends.

Homecoming — Halebeedu to Bengaluru

It’s a 210 km journey back to Bengaluru which took us almost 5 hours as on the way there is this famous joint name Paakshaala where the food is great and coffee just refreshes you to face Bengaluru traffic.

Conclusion

Road Trip Benefits:-
=> Great way to blow off steam.
=> Get to know more about your partner.
=> Increase road sense and get the experience of driving on different terrains.