Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta

Date: 17-Sep-16

A sudden thought of going for a long ride made us decide on going offroad ride to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta, commonly known as Bilikal Hills. This hill is just 70 km from our home and the perfect choice for the one day trip from Bangalore. The challenging road of the last 5 km stretch and the mesmerizing view from the top of the hill motivated us for this trip.

Till Kanakpura

Thilak had been there before and he knew that the last 5 km of stretch is not favorable for driving. However, we wanted to experience this “no road ride” and started from home at 9.15 AM. The weather was cloudy with no sun rays touching our skin. The ride on Kanakpura road in a non-sunny weather is a pleasant experience. Till Art of Living Ashram there was moderate traffic on road and after that, the traffic thinned drastically. After KSRTC bus stop in Kanakapura town, you will get a left diversion leading to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta. This road goes via villages like Malagaalu, J M Doddi, etc. Sad thing is that you cannot find the name “Bilikal hills” anywhere in this route, not even in Kanakapura town. Ask people or take the help of Google maps to avoid confusion.

Interesting route

The road leading to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta is bit narrow, but is very beautiful. On both sides of the road, you can find agricultural lands. You can see the rock cliff white in color as you are nearing the hills which gives the hills its name (Bilikal means white rock in Kannada). Once you reach the base of the hill, you will get an entrance gate of Bannerghatta Sanctuary and the curvy forest road starts from here. The initial few kms of the stretch has a well-maintained road. The bad stretch starts after you reach a small village called Sundaghatta (11 kms from Kanakapura) with only a few houses, a school, and a small temple called Mahadeshwara temple. Spotting the road to Bilikal hills from this junction is bit tricky. It is advisable to ask for the direction from villagers here.

I was prepared for a bad road, but what I saw was beyond my imagination. The road was completely filled with small stones, loose gravel, and mud. On top of it, the road was a hilly road, so obviously we had to climb. To top it all, the road was going through a thin forest, there were signboards that elephants may cross anytime, and there was absolutely no one on the way. The thought of elephants on such a bad deserted road scared the hell out of me. I just prayed for the stretch to end sooner, but Thilak was excited to test his riding skills. After 5 km, we reached the hill top safely at 11.45 AM.

Bilikal Rangaswamy Temple

There is a temple of Bilikal Rangaswamy under a huge boulder. Sadly, when we visited, the temple was under renovation and we could not go inside. Only people we could find at the hilltop were the ones who were working for the renovation. Outside this temple you can get a beautiful view of surrounding hills. There is a narrow passage on the left side of the temple, which will lead you to a big rock, on which you can sit and chat for a very long time. This place is very peaceful, gives extraordinary of mother nature. We spent lot of time there.

After that, we proceeded towards the actual view point which is near the temple tank. From this point, you can get a breathtaking view. After doing photo session for sometime, we decided to leave at 1.15 PM. The real challenge was climbing down that off-road hills. It is highly recommended to keep the motor cycle running in first gear and apply brakes very cautiously.  We crossed the bad stretch safely without falling in 30 mins and reached near Mahadeswara temple from where the good road starts. Then, we proceeded in the same route via Kanakapura > Kaggalipura, had lunch at Swaad Restaurant en route, and reached home at 4.30 PM.

Note: If you are opting for bike trip, be extra careful while riding. The final stretch near the hilltop is dangerous !!

• Route Travelled: BTM Layout > Kanakapura > Bilikal Hills.
• Total Distance (To & Fro): 140 km
• Mileage (Bike): 38 km/l
• Fuel expense: 252 Rs
• Total expense: 707 Rs 
• Photos: Bilikal Hills Photos

Route Map: