Shivamogga

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Keerthini

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Total Trips: 5 | View All Trips

Post Date : 11 Jun 2024
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We planned our visit to Shimoga for three days and booked the room in Royal Orchid which is at the city centre.

On the First day, we left Bangalore at around 7am. We decided to take the route via NH 48 to reach Chitradurga.  From there we took Chitradurga- Shimoga State highway.  Which passes through the cities Holalkere, Chennagiri. The route is good and drive was smooth.  

We reached Shimoga by 1pm. Checked in, finished our lunch at Meenakshi Bhavan and decided to head towards Shivamogga Lion Tiger safari. The place is spacious with greenery around and safari ride was good where we got a close look of Tigers, Lions, Deer and Bison. Zoo is still work in progress and undergoing a major renovation , However it’s good to walk around and spend some quality time with Nature.

Next day, we decided to explore places towards Thirthahalli. We had breakfast in restaurant Ashok Samrat and left Shimoga at 9.30 am.The drive from Shimoga to Thirthahalli is beautiful.  It's a scenic drive. River on one side and forest on the other side. You end up clicking many photos of this drive

First place to visit was Chibbalgude Ganapati temple. Roads are good and it's an hour drive to this place.  This temple is at the banks of river Tunga where devotees come here to pray Lord Ganesha and feed Mandakki to the fishes. It's a calm and beautiful place. If you are in Shimoga, add this place to your list.

Next, we visited Shri Mallikarjuna swamy Temple, Mrugavadhe. This place holds the significance with respect to Ramayana.  This is the place where Prabhu Shri Rama killed the demon Maricha who had come in the form of golden deer. Very divine place. Tunga river flows behind the Temple where you can spend hours looking at the river. Lunch offered in the Temple was very tasty and clean. When visiting Mrugavadhe, seek the blessings🙏 and don't miss the lunch.

Next place from here was towards Kavaledurga Fort. We thought of having a small trek to explore the Kavaledurga fort built by Keladi Dynasty.  We reached the place at 3.30 pm and got to know they would be closing by 4pm. So, we thought of exploring how much ever we can till 4 pm. It's a steep path but a relative easy climb . We had very less time hence couldn't reach till the peak but saw the remains of the fort. It would be nice if the place is maintained well as it holds a historical significance. And as it was getting darker, we headed back to Shimoga

Once reaching Shimoga. We visited Kote Anjaneya, Bheemashwara and Kote Maramma temples 🙏. All these temples are in the same road and situated at the banks of River Tunga. These temples are next to Shivappa Nayaka Palace, right now this Palace is under renovation so we couldn’t visit and here we ended our day.


Monday morning, we decided to visit only Sakrebylu and head back to Bengaluru. 
Sakrebylu, a home for Elephants is a must visit place. We were there by 9am. If we reach early, crowd will be less and we get a chance to bathe the Elephants.
Bathing the Elephants in the Tunga River was a new experience.  We got to bathe Elephant by name Sagara, He was calm and allowed us to nicely click photos with him. This was one of our most memorable experiences.

We headed back to Bengaluru via the same route. Had lunch near Chitradurga on NH48 at restaurant Hotel Upadhyay . Lunch was served on Banana leaf in Traditional Karnataka way,  food was tasty.  Reached Bangalore by 7 pm.

We have visited Shimoga many times, still we have so many places to explore. Every time the city gives us good memories to cherish. And city has developed a lot over the years .

Thank you
Keerthini