Mangalore is well connected to Goa, Mumbai, and Kerala via NH-17, to the state capital Bangalore via NH-48, and to Hyderabad via NH-13. Highways are only two-laned and very narrow, but make for extremely scenic drives as they all pass either through the Western Ghats or along the coastline. There is a lot of heavy traffic load on the highways owing to the increasing number of buses plying on these routes, as well as a lot of goods-transport trucks owing to the location of many plants and factories as well as New Mangalore Port on NH-17. So exercise caution while driving during periods of heavy traffic.
NH-48 from Sakleshpur to Mangalore, which had been completely unmotorable thanks to government apathy, is now repaired and somewhat motorable. Work is going on to convert NH-48 into a four-lane highway. Until they do this, one needs to go to Mangalore from Bangalore either through the potentially dangerous Charmadi Ghat road, or via the equally pathetic Mysore-Madikeri-Suliya route.
There are many car rental companies available.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Mangalore
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Mangalore - updated May 2024
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Mangalore Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.