MOTOFOODIE

Enchanting Forest Roads, House with Mountain Views, Lip-smacking Kerala Food, Endless Motorcycle Conversations – Experienced on dreamy superbikes🥰.

Our 3-day ride to Wayanad took us through – fast expressways, beautiful coffee estates, gorgeous dam reservoirs, majestic national parks and serene forest roads in Karnataka and Kerala.

Culminating at a beautiful villa in Vythiri with stunning views of the Chembra Peak.❤️

Our ride-route to Wayanad and Calicut from Bengaluru was charted to experience – great non-touristy motorcycling roads and lots of delicious food stops along.

Day 01:

With an assemble of the eight most beautiful superbikes, we took an early start from Bengaluru to beat the traffic, heat and cover maximum distance on the NH75 via Hassan to reach Ballupet, a small town which is the gateway to the beautiful Malnad region of Karnataka.

We rode further south towards Somwarpet in Coorg on SH-112 to our breakfast stop at Hotel Kalyan Bhavan, the best breakfast hotel in Somwarpet town known for its delicious thuppa dosas🤤. 

The road leading out of Somwarpet towards Kushalnagar is one of the best motorcycling roads in Coorg – absolutely loved it !! 

Taking us through the Harangi Dam and Dubare Elephant Camp onto the towns of Siddapura, Gonnikoppa, Ponnampet to Kutta, the border town of Karnataka – scenic roads, but with mixed patches of good and bad stretches.

Entering Kerala at Tholpetty, the roads are elevated to a racetrack quality running amidst the beautiful Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary – stunning landscape !!

And fantastic roads that led us to the most-delicious ‘Unniappam-ever’ at Kuttettan’s Unniappam just after the forest stretch – which became our lunch stop.

After gorging on them, we rode back towards Kalpetta, to our stay in Vythiri.

The stay was beautiful with great mountain views, followed by endless motorcycle conversations and delicious dinner to end an awesome and tiring day. 

Day 02:

Calicut being 60kms away, we started early to beat the tourist traffic towards our breakfast stop – White House Restaurant at Puduppadi on the Calicut-Wayanad highway and the breakfast fare of Appams, Chicken Stew, Kadala Curry and the flakiest Kerala Parottas were absolutely 😋 – the perfect start for the day!

Calicut known for its great food, is also the hometown of our close friend Ivin, so we headed to his house to park the motorcycles and take his car for our urban food crawl.

Starting with a heavy-lunch at the original Paragon Restaurant, followed a fantastic ice cream sundae at Falooda Nation.

Post this heavy meal, we lazed around at Ivin’s home and rode back to Vythiri to watch the MotoGP Sprint race in the evening and unwind ogling the gorgeous line-up of motorcycles.

Day 03:

For the ride back to Bengaluru, we took the quickest route via Sultan Bathery, Muthanga Forest, Gundelpet and Mysuru to reach our breakfast stop at Ashirvaad Grand Pure Veg Restaurant on the Mysore-Nanjangud Road for delicious fare of Karnataka breakfast and filter coffee.

Followed by a quick, fast ride via Mysore ring road, Bannur, Malavalli to Bengaluru via the newly done dual-carriage Kanakapura Road.

Useful Information:

• Total Circuit Distance: 850 kms 
• Full Route:
  • Day 01: Bengaluru > Hassan > Ballupet > Shanivarasanthe > Somwarpet > Ponnampet > Kutta > Tholpetty > Panamaram > Kalpetta > Vythiri
  • Day 02: Vythiri > Calicut > Exploring Calicut > Vythiri
  • Day 03: Vythiri > Sultan Bathery > Muthanga Forest > Gundulpete > Mysuru > Bannur > Malavalli > Bengaluru (via Kanakapura Road)
  • Click to View the Full Route on Google Maps
• Road & Route Condition:
  • Great for a sportsbike, fantastic tarmac all along except the bad patches of 50-60kms – between Ballupet to Shanivarasanthe and around Kutta (Karnataka-Kerala border)
  • Ideal for Solo Riders, Women Riders and small groups of upto 4-6 motorcyclists

• Premium Fuel Stations Enroute:
  • Limited IOC XP95 fuel bunks on the national, state highways and in major towns like Hassan, Vythiri, Calicut etc
  • Use the IOC app to locate the XP95 outlet along the route [During this ride, we found most bunks to NOT have XP95 – inspite of showing as available on the IOC app]

• Public Toilets: No designated public toilets are available enroute | recommend to find a hotel/cafe to use the restrooms
• Stay at Mountain Rain Villa in Vythiri, Wayanad:
  • A beautiful villa maintained by Stay Vista group overlooking the Chembra Peak
  • Clean AC rooms with breakfast only – dinner and lunch should be ordered 
  • Suitable for families and large groups
  • Parking for cars and motorcycles: inside the premises of the villa
  • Location: Mountain Rain Villa, Vythiri, Wayanad [Google Maps link] 
  • Tariff: INR 23,350 per day for the entire villa [includes breakfast ONLY]
  • Read the full stay experience at Moutain Rain Villa here.

• Food Stops we loved:
  • Hotel Kalyan Bhavan, Somwarpet, Coorg
    • Stop for coffee, breakfast
    • Must eat: Thump Dosa, filter coffee, Masala Vada
    • Motorcycle parking: free parking on the public road outside the hotel 
    • Mode of payment: accepts cash and UPI only
    • Location: Hotel Kalyan Bhavan, Somwarpet, Coorg [Google Maps Link]
  • Kuttettan’s Unniappam, Tholpetty – Kutta, Coorg highway, Kerala
    • Stop for Breakfast & Snacks – the most delicious Unniappams in Kerala
    • Must eat: Unniappam, Idly with Sambar & Chutney
    • Motorcycle parking: free parking on the public road outside the hotel 
    • Mode of payment: accepts cash only
    • Location: Kuttettan’s Unniappam, Tholpetty, Kerala [Google Maps Link]

• White House Restaurant, Pudupaddi, Kerala
  • Stop for Best Kerala Breakfast on the Wayanad-Calicut Highway. 
  • Must eat: Appam, Kadala Curry, Chicken Curry, Parottas and Coffee
  • Motorcycle parking: free parking within the restaurant premises
  • Mode of payment: accepts cash, UPI, debit and cards 
  • Location: White House Restaurant, Pudupaddi, Wayanad – Calicut Highway, Kerala [Google Maps Link]
• Paragon Restaurant, Calicut, Kerala
  • Stop for the best Kerala lunch in Calicut. 
  • Must eat: Kerala Parotta, Veg Mango Curry, Spicy Pineapple Salad, Chicken Biryani
  • Motorcycle parking: free parking within the restaurant premises
  • Mode of payment: accepts cash, UPI, debit and cards 
  • Location: Paragon Restaurant, Calicut, Kerala [Google Maps Link]
• Ashirvaad Grand Pure Veg Restaurant, Mysore – Nanjangud Highway, Karnataka
  • Stop for breakfast
  • Must eat: Idly Vada, Masala Dosa, Filter Coffee
  • Motorcycle parking: free parking within the restaurant premises
  • Mode of payment: accepts cash, UPI, debit and cards 
  • Location: Ashirvaad Grand Pure Veg Restaurant, Mysore – Nanjangud Highway, Karnataka  [Google Maps Link]
• Take it easy and relish the ride: Don’t get hustled, ride at your comfortable pace, take frequent breaks to sip lots of local-coolers, water, soak-in the views, cherish the time with your motorcycle group and enjoy the ride 😊

Our Wayanad route was charted to ride the best winding roads, relish good food enroute, relax with my best riding buddies and to experience different, stunning landscapes offered by this part of Kerala and Karnataka. 😍

ALWAYS ON A MOTORCYCLE:

✅ Wear Full Riding Gear

✅ Be courteous, Respect the speed limits on public road/highways & Go Easy on the throttle while crossing a village

✅ Hammer the racetrack, pace the street

✅ DO NOT Litter, carry back your disposable bottles/snack wrappers etc