Kudremukh Trek Guide: Homestay & Trekking Route Map

Kudremukh trek is a part of Kudremukh national park in Chikmagalur district of Karnataka. Kudremukh is the third highest peak after Mullayanagiri and Bababudangiri. It is also among one of the famous western ghats treks in Karnataka. Kudremukh trekking information is given in full details below:

How to Reach Kudremukh Trek Base?

Reaching Kudremukh by Bus

There are regular buses from Bangalore to Hornadu via Kalasa available to be booked online at KSRTC. There are different kinds of buses as well such as Airavat (A Better One) and Karnataka Sarige. In Airavat, the fare would be around Rs. 700 and in Karnataka Sarige, the fare would be around 325. Prefer Airavat especially when you are going on the trek.

You have to get down at the town of Kalasa. From Kalasa, you have to find transportation to Balagal. Balagal is around 10 Kms from Kalasa. You can get Auto there which charge around 500 Rupees. It also depends on your bargaining skills. Another thing that you can do is to talk in advance with your Homestay guy to pick you up from Kalasa if at all you are going to stay in Kudremukh.

Reaching to the Kudremukh Trek Base

From Balagal bus stop, there is another five Kilometer of a journey to the forest department office. You can find Jeeps there which will take you to the Kudremukh Trek base. They will charge you another 600 Rupees for the same.

Or, if you want to avoid all these troubles, it is better to talk with a homestay person and sort things in advance. For example, we stayed at Bella Homestay. They charged around 500 which included Jeep pick up from Kalasa, breakfast, packed lunch for the trek, evening dinner, homestay, warm water, campfire, tea & coffee and even next day breakfast along with that they will also help you in arranging the permission for the trek and drop you at the base of the trek and pick you up in the evening when the trek is over.  So, it is better to relax and leave all the troubles to them.

Kudremukh Entry

Now only first 50 people will get the entry for the trek to the Kudremukh. If the group size is more than seven, the new charges are Rs. 500 per person.

Homestays Near Kudremukh trek

There are many homestays near Kudremukh which offer good services, especially for the trekkers. These Homestays are used by the organizers such as BMC, Nature Walkers, Escape to Explore. Most of these Homestays charge around Rs. 500 per person. Here are some of the basic facilities that are provided by these homestays.

• Escorting your vehicle to the Homestay in case you are unable to find them.
• On arrival breakfast along with tea or coffee.
• Packed lunch for the trek.
• Leaving you to the Kudremukh trek base by Jeep in the morning and picking you up in the evening (Maybe Extra Chargeable)
• Arranging permission and guide for the trek in advance (Extra Chargeable)
• Campfire in the evening.
• Room stay along with the option of a tent stay.
• Hot water facility along with shared room and bathrooms.
• Dinner and next day breakfast.

Here is a list of the Homestays and a little overview of them:

Bella Homestay

Newly constructed along with nice and spacious rooms. Nearer to the Balagal Market.
Rating: 4.7 (24 reviews) as on Dec’ 2017
9483800447
9480196796

Raaje Gowda’s Homestay

Very nice location and one of the oldest homestays for the Kudremukh trek. Near to Somavathi waterfalls which you can visit in the morning. The food has got some complaints about there.
Rating: 4.3 (39 reviews) as on Dec’ 2017
08263-249333 / 09481179008

Satish Mullodi House

Nearer to Raaje Gowda’s Homestay. Same facilities as almost above.
Rating: 3.8 (28 reviews) as on Dec’ 2017
08263-249595 / 9481074530 / 8722847688

Kudremukh Trekking Information

Kudremukh trek distance: 9 Km (One side)
Kudremukh peak height: 6050 feet
Time to trek: 4 to 5 hours (one side)
Camping: Not allowed
Trekking permission fee: 475/ person (Near Balagal Bus stand)

Breakdown of Kudremukh Trek Entry Fee

• Entry fee: 200
• Guide fee: 75
• Trekking fee: 75
• EDC maintenance fund: 75 (So, Total = 475)

The trekking permission needs to be taken at the Balagal itself in the blue hut shown in the picture below. Or you can ask the homestay guy to arrange the permission. They are really helpful.

From Balagal, there are five Kilometers of Jeep drive to Mullodi village which is the base of the trek. Once you reach the base, your group will be assigned a guide. Most of the guides speak Kannada but they can understand Hindi or English with some endeavor. The trek has a lot of waterfalls/water streams en route. So, you can fill up the bottles wherever you want to.

There are main two steep ascents in this trek. Once ascent comes after crossing the Lobo House as you can see below on the map though Lobo house is no more visible on the trek. Lobo House is around 4 Kms from the starting point of the trek and the ascent is of around 1.5 Km to Ontimara as shown on the map below. From Ontimara, there is another easy walk of around 1.5 Km. After that, there is around 2.5 Km of ascent to the peak.

Kudremukh trekking tips

• • Try to start your trek as early as possible because, by the time you reach near the peak and the final ascent, there will be the sun. So, it becomes harder to walk in the sun.
  • Do not worry about the water. The water is available throughout the trek and even near the peak.
  • Sometimes guides do not want you to ascend the peak because it will be dark if the trek starts late. So, it is better to start early.
  • We saw wild cow and deer while coming back so if you are lucky you can also see that.
  • Bring a small bag with you so that you leave behind other stuff at the homestay and carry things such as water bottles, camera, and food in the bag which would make the weight lighter and you will be able to walk fast.
  • Wear nice shoes with a good grip because on the steep slopes, chances of slipping and falling, in the summer as well as monsoon, becomes high.

Other treks that you might also be interested in

• – Bandipur Wildlife Safari
  – Kumara Parvatha Trek: the Toughest Trek of Karnataka
  – Kodachadri Trek
  – Mullayanagiri Trek: The Highest Peak of Karnataka
  – Tadiandmol Trek, The Highest Peak of Coorg
  – Brahmagiri Trek, Wayanad
  – Kemmengundi, Chikmagalur
  – Narasimha Parvatha trek/ Agumbe Ghats Trek
  – Ombattu Gudda/ OG Trek
  – Chembra Peak/ Heart shaped Lake trek
  – Sakleshpur Railway trek: The Green route trek
  – Dudhsagar Falls trek, Goa
  – Bandaje Arabi falls Trek
  – Nishani Betta trek
  – Nagalapuram western Entry trek: Along the waterfalls

Kudremukh trek Pictures

Kudremukh Route map details

From	To	Distance	Difficulty	time
Mullodi	Lobo House	4.5 km	easy	1 hour
Lobo house	Zig-zag starting point	2.5 km	moderate	1 hour
zig-zag starting point	Zig-zag endpoint	1 km	moderate	30 min
Zig-zag endpoint	Peak/ Top	1.5 km	Difficult	1 hour

A signboard showing the road towards Kudremukh in Balagal