Ghat country on the road to the coast — steep, wet, and green almost to a fault. Charmadi and the Kudremukh approaches start here.
A ruined Hoysala hill fort at 1,509 m, attributed to the reign of Veera Ballala. The walk up is about 3.8 km from the Kalabhairaveshwara temple at Durgadahalli, two and a half hours at a steady pace, and the usual route continues along the ridge to Bandaje Arbi falls — one of the district’s best two-day traverses. Rani Jhari is on the same ridge.
The road from Mudigere down to the coast, twenty-odd kilometres of hairpins through evergreen forest with waterfalls spilling straight onto the tarmac in the monsoon. The lay-bys near the top look down the whole escarpment to the plains. It is a drive rather than a destination, and one of the great ones: stop at Alekhan Horatti for the falls and at any bend for the view.
A ridge of grassland above the village of Devaramane with an old Kalabhairaveshwara temple at the top, one of the few places in the district where you can watch the sun set over the Western Ghats from a temple courtyard. The road reaches the top, so it suits people who want the view without the trek. The village is coffee and cardamom country and the homestays here are among the quietest in Mudigere.