Mangalore is 357 kms from Bangalore. Mangalore is well connected by rail, road and air from/to Bangalore.

Reaching Mangalore by Air 

Air Deccan, Air India (Indian Airlines), Jet Air has Bangalore-Mangalore service. Air Port: Mangalore airport is situated at a distance of 19 km from Mangalore at Bajpe.

There are different flight services available from here to Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Mangalore is well connected by rail to all major South Indian cities. Mangalore is well connected by bus to all major towns in Karnataka.

You can book flight tickets to Mangalore from various destinations in India through Make my Trip or Travel Guru. 

Reaching Mangalore by car

Mangalore is well connected to Western Indian destinations like Goa, Mumbai, etc. and Southern destinations in Kerala through National Highway-17 (Mumbai-Kerala highway) and the state capital Bangalore (via National Highway-48 which traverses a considerable amount of the Western Ghats).

Highways are only two-laned  and are very narrow. There is aheavy 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 period of heavy traffic. Take it for granted that only the toughest vehicles will survive, as the kind of pot holes you will see will make the surface of Mars seem like a picnic.

NH-17 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-17 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.

If you are going from Mumbai, take the Bangalore NH4 highway and take a right after Kittoor(that comes after Belgaum). You will then pass thru Kalghatgi and reach Ankola where u meet NH17. NH17 is really bad not just becasue of the potholes but also coz its not one way. You have to navigate carefully amidst the reckless drivers that come from the opposite direction.

Reaching Mangalore by train

The Mangalore Central is at Hampankatta, in the heart of the city.  It is used only by the trains which terminate at Mangalore. However, many long-distance trains do not use this station and stop only at Mangalore Junction

Mangalore  Junction is about 5 Kms from Hampankatta (heart of the city). Train going North towards Goa and those going to Kerala stop here. 

There is another station at Surathkal and people going towards north of Mangalore alight here to avoid the crowds at the other two stations.

You can search and book train tickets to Mangalore at Rediff here

Reach Mangalore By Bus

There are two bus-stands in Mangalore for long-distance bus services. One is the state-run KSRTC bus-stand in Bejai, located towards the North of the city, but not far off from the city centre.

The bus-services are run by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. They operate scheduled bus services to Mumbai, Bangalore, Mysore, Goa, Hubli-Dharwad and many other areas within and outside Karnataka. Services run by the Kerala State Transport and Tamil Nadu State Transport and Andhra Pradesh state road Transportation also call in Mangalore at this very bus-stand.

The other one is behind the Town Hall. It is known as the 'State Bank' stand by the locals, because of its proximity to a branch of the State Bank of India. It is the last stop for most of the private bus services to Mangalore (mostly Inter-District viz. Mangalore-Udupi and Inter-taluk buses).

There is a third bus-stand (not exactly a bus-stand but an alighting point for passengers) in front of Milagres Church - where most private tour and bus operators - Ideal Travels, Canara, Canara-Pinto, Vishal Travels, Anand Travels, VRL etc. have their offices. They operate buses of semi-deluxe, sleeper and Volvo types to various destinations viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Thrissur, Hubli-Dharwad etc.

There are numerous bus services from Mangalore to all the nearby towns in Karnataka and Kerala. The long-distance bus services to major cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Hubli-Dharwad and Goa run along the National Highways radiating to the North (towards Goa and Mumbai) - NH-17, South (towards Kerala) and the East (towards Bangalore) - NH-48. The thumb-rule for bus fares is about 60% of the distance in kilometres. For example, it would cost Rs. 60 to travel a distance of 100 kilometres.

See Mangalore Travelers Places to see or Go back to Mangalore Tour Guide