Mullayanagiri Trek Guide: Karnataka's Highest Peak, Honestly Described

Introduction

The Mullayanagiri trek is short, steep, and honest about what it is: a walk up the highest point in Karnataka that you could, if you wanted, mostly drive. That combination makes it one of the most misunderstood hills in South India, and one of the most misdescribed.

Here is the correction this article exists to make.

Mullayanagiri is the highest peak in Karnataka. It is not the highest peak in the Western Ghats.

That title belongs to Anamudi, 2,695 m (8,842 ft), in the Ernakulam and Idukki districts of Kerala, inside Eravikulam National Park near Munnar. Anamudi is the highest peak in the Western Ghats, the highest in South India, and the highest point in India south of the Himalaya. Mullayanagiri, at 1,925 m, is roughly 770 m lower. Wikipedia places Mullayanagiri as the 23rd highest peak in the Western Ghats.

This is not a nitpick about an obscure blog. The Federal, a mainstream news outlet, ran a 2024 report on Mullayanagiri's new vehicle registration rules under a standfirst reading "Tourists who want to visit the highest peak in the Western Ghats need to register online." The error has propagated into serious places. Karnataka's highest peak is a genuinely impressive thing to be. It does not need the borrowed title.

With that dealt with, here is how to actually do the trek.

Table of Contents

1. Quick Overview
2. How High Is It, Really
3. The Chandra Drona Range and the Name
4. Permits & Online Booking
5. How to Reach Mullayanagiri from Mumbai
6. How to Reach Mullayanagiri from Pune
7. The Routes: Steps, Road, and Sarpadhari
8. Itinerary Options
9. Accommodation
10. Food
11. Nearby Attractions
12. Budget Breakdown
13. Practical Tips
14. Safety Tips
15. Monsoon and Leeches
16. Common Mistakes
17. Best Time to Visit
18. FAQ
19. Conclusion
20. Sources

Quick Overview

Item	Detail
Location	Chikkamagaluru taluk, Chikkamagaluru district, Karnataka
Range	Chandra Dhrona (Chandra Drona) hills, part of the Baba Budan Giri range, Western Ghats
Height	Wikipedia gives 1,925 m (6,316 ft), sourced to Peakbagger. Chikkamagaluru district administration gives 1,930 m (6,330 ft)
Status	Highest peak in Karnataka. 23rd highest in the Western Ghats per Wikipedia
Distance by road from Chikkamagaluru town	22 km, about 52 minutes, via SH 57 and Mullayanagiri Road, per the district administration
Summit walk from the road-head	464 stone and concrete steps
Alternative trek route	Sarpadhari (also written Sarpanadi), the old foot trail
At the summit	A small temple (gadduge) to the sage Mullappa Swamy, and a police radio relay station
Adjacent peak	Seethalayyanagiri
Vehicle entry	Online registration with a QR code, capped at 600 vehicles a day
Best season	September to February

How High Is It, Really

Two official-grade figures, five metres apart, and both are cited everywhere.

1,925 m comes from Wikipedia's infobox, which cites Peakbagger's survey listing. It also gives prominence at 1,154 m and isolation at 188.62 km.

1,930 m comes from the Chikkamagaluru district administration's own tourist page.

Five metres is not worth an argument. Use 1,925 m if you want the better-sourced number, 1,930 m if you want the one the district government prints. What both agree on is that this is the highest point in Karnataka.

One further claim worth flagging. The district administration page states Mullayanagiri "is the fourth highest peak between Nilgiri hills and Himalayas next to Vavulmala, Chembra Peak and Banasura Hill." That is a specific and unusual claim, and the same sentence with the same three comparison peaks appears in older Wikipedia text. Notice that even this claim does not say Western Ghats' highest. Nobody official says that. Treat the "fourth highest between the Nilgiris and the Himalaya" line as a district-site assertion rather than a settled fact, and hold on to the one thing that is solid: highest in Karnataka, and Anamudi in Kerala is the Western Ghats' highest.

If the Western Ghats' actual high points interest you, our Meesapulimala trek guide covers the second-highest peak in the range, in the same Munnar high-range block as Anamudi.

The Chandra Drona Range and the Name

Mullayanagiri sits in the Chandra Dhrona hills, the Sanskrit-derived name meaning roughly "moon guide", given because the range curves like a crescent. The same range is now more commonly called Baba Budan Giri, after the Sufi saint associated with bringing coffee to India, whose shrine is on the ridge a little to the north. Other peaks in the range: Dattagiri or Baba Budan Giri itself at about 1,895 m, Bindagadammanagiri at 1,830 m, and Sithalaiyyanagiri at 1,810 m.

The peak's name comes from the small temple at the summit, a gadduge or tomb, dedicated to a sage called Mullappa Swamy, who is believed to have meditated in caves a couple of feet below the summit. The caves are shallow and accessible, with a direct entrance to the temple's garbhagudi that priests have blocked off. Wikipedia notes that beyond folklore and a strong local Siddha tradition, the origins of the deity remain ambiguous. The district administration adds that "Mullai" refers to forest in Old Kannada.

Both explanations are in circulation. Neither is confirmed. Say "the peak is named either for the Mullappa Swamy shrine or from an Old Kannada word" and you are on solid ground.

Permits & Online Booking

Mullayanagiri is not a Forest Department permit trek in the way Kudremukh or Kumara Parvatha are. The control here is on vehicles, and it is run by the district administration, not the Forest Department.

Vehicle entry registration is mandatory and online. The Chikkamagaluru district administration publishes a page titled "Mullayanagiri and Inam Dattathreya Peeta online Toll booking portal" on its official site, dated 15 August 2024. That is the official landing point.

The daily cap is 600 vehicles. The district administration set this limit when the system was introduced in mid-2024, driven by weekend traffic jams on a narrow ghat road and by environmentalist pressure over damage to the hills.

A QR code is issued on registration. The district tied up with Federal Bank for the online registration and fee payment. Then-Deputy Commissioner Meena Nagaraj stated that separate amounts would be charged for four-wheelers, three-wheelers and larger vehicles, and that a QR code would be issued to those who register online or at registration points including the road leading into Chikkamagaluru.

The fee: differential by vehicle class, and I could not verify current amounts from an official published tariff. The district administration's own portal page does not print a rate card in a form I could confirm. Travel sites quote figures in the ₹200–₹300 range for a car for 2026, but these are secondary sources with no citation. Do not treat those as official. Check the portal at the time of booking.

Timings. Multiple secondary sources report the route operating between 6 am and 6 pm so that all vehicles descend before mist and darkness make the narrow road dangerous. I could not confirm this window from a district notification. Plan to be down before dark regardless, because the reasoning is sound whether or not it is formally notified.

What is not permit-controlled. Walking up the 464 steps from the road-head, and walking on the ridge, are not separately ticketed. The bottleneck is getting your vehicle up. If you come by bus or shared vehicle, or if you walk the Sarpadhari trail, the vehicle cap does not bind you.

Important distinction. This is a district administration toll and access system. It is not the Aranya Vihaara forest trek permit that Kudremukh and Kumara Parvatha use. Do not book on the wrong portal. Details for the forest system are in our Kudremukh trek guide.

How to Reach Mullayanagiri from Mumbai

Chikkamagaluru town is the hub. Get there first, then it is 22 km up.

By air to Mangaluru, then road. Mangaluru International (IXE) is the closest usable airport to the Chikkamagalur belt, with daily direct flights from Mumbai of a little over ninety minutes. From Mangaluru it is a road journey over the Ghats via Charmadi or Shiradi to Chikkamagaluru. Scenic, and the Charmadi ghat road is a genuine pleasure outside monsoon.

By air to Bengaluru, then road. Bengaluru has by far the most Mumbai flights and the most reliable schedules. Chikkamagaluru is roughly 250 km from Bengaluru on NH-75 via Hassan, a four-to-five-hour drive on a good day. The district administration's own note is blunter: it says Chikkamagaluru has no airport and the nearest is Bengaluru.

By train. The district administration states Chikkamagaluru is connected by rail to Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi and Shivamogga. From Mumbai there is no direct service, so the practical shape is an overnight train from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus or CSMT to Bengaluru (the Udyan Express is the long-standing service on this route; check IRCTC for current running), then a connecting train or a bus onward. Alternatively take the Konkan Railway to Mangaluru Junction and come up over the Ghats by road, which is the more interesting journey.

By bus. KSRTC and private operators run overnight services from Mumbai to Bengaluru, from where Chikkamagaluru buses are frequent. Long, cheap, and fine if you can sleep sitting up.

The final 22 km. From Chikkamagaluru town, take SH 57, then Bababudan Giri Road via Thippanahalli Estate Road, then Mullayanagiri Road. The district administration puts this at 22 km and about 52 minutes. It is a narrow, winding, single-lane-in-places ghat road with hairpins. Book the vehicle QR code before you leave town.

How to Reach Mullayanagiri from Pune

Pune → Bengaluru, then road. The most reliable shape. Direct flights are frequent, and overnight trains and Volvo sleepers run every night. From Bengaluru it is 250-odd km.

Pune → Mangaluru by air, then the Ghats. Direct flights operate on most days. Then Charmadi ghat to Chikkamagaluru. This is the option I would pick for a weekend, because you land close and the drive is part of the trip.

Pune → Hubballi, then south. There are overnight rail options to Hubballi, and the district says Chikkamagaluru is rail-connected to Hubballi. It is a long, slow chain of connections, and you are better off going via Bengaluru unless you specifically want to see north Karnataka on the way.

Budget one travel day each side from Pune. Two nights in Chikkamagaluru lets you do Mullayanagiri, the Bababudangiri ridge and a coffee estate without hurrying.

The Routes: Steps, Road, and Sarpadhari

There are three ways up and they are wildly different experiences.

1. Drive to the road-head, then 464 steps

This is what ninety percent of visitors do. The asphalt road runs to a parking area a short way below the summit. From there, 464 stone and concrete steps climb to the top along the ridge.

The steps are steep, uneven in places, and completely exposed. They take fifteen to thirty minutes depending on fitness and how often you stop for the view. Handrails exist on sections. In wind they are the interesting part, because the ridge funnels air hard across the steps and there is nothing on either side.

Is this a trek? Not really. It is a stair climb with a spectacular payoff. Call it what it is.

2. The Sarpadhari trail

Before the asphalt road and the steps existed, people walked up a trail called Sarpadhari or Sarpanadi. Wikipedia notes it is "not very frequently visited now" but "cherished by trekkers", and this is accurate. It is the actual trek on this hill.

Sarpadhari runs up the ridgeline from lower on the Chikkamagaluru side. The name suggests the snaking line of the ridge, and the character of the route is exactly that: a narrow spine with ground falling away on both sides, grassland underfoot, and no shade anywhere. Secondary sources describe roughly a 3 km route with sustained steepness, taking around 1.5 to 2 hours. I could not verify that distance from an official source, so treat it as approximate.

Take Sarpadhari if you want a trek rather than a photo stop. Two cautions: the ridge is genuinely exposed to wind, and in poor visibility route-finding on a grass ridge is harder than it looks. Do not attempt it in mist without someone who knows the line.

3. Walk the road

Some people walk the 22 km road up from Chikkamagaluru. It is a long tarmac slog with traffic and I would not recommend it. Walking the last few kilometres from Kaimara or the check post area is more pleasant and gets you the ridge views without the full road day.

At the top

The summit holds the Mullappa Swamy shrine and a police radio relay station, which means there is infrastructure and there are people. It is not a wilderness summit. On a clear morning you get the whole Chandra Drona crescent, the Bababudangiri ridge running north, and coffee country falling away in every direction.

Go at sunrise or do not bother. By mid-morning on a weekend the parking area is full and the steps are a queue.

Itinerary Options

Option A — the sunrise dash. Sleep in Chikkamagaluru. Leave at 4:30 am with the QR pass booked. Drive up, climb the steps in the dark with headtorches, be on top for first light. Back in town for breakfast by 9. This is the best version.

Option B — the two-peak day. Mullayanagiri at sunrise, then drive north along the ridge road to Seethalayyanagiri and on to Baba Budan Giri, Manikyadhara Falls and the Dattatreya Peetha. It is one continuous ridge road and the whole thing is a half-day. Our Baba Budan Giri trek guide covers that stretch in detail.

Option C — Sarpadhari, properly. Start early from the lower trailhead, walk the ridge trail up, top out, and either walk back down or arrange a pickup at the road-head. Half a day, and the only version that feels like a mountain.

Option D — the full Chikkamagalur week. Mullayanagiri and Bababudangiri from Chikkamagaluru, then shift base to Kalasa for Kudremukh. Five days, two very different treks, one district.

Accommodation

Chikkamagaluru town. The full range, from ₹800 lodges near the bus stand to serious resorts. Most convenient base and where I would stay.

Coffee estate homestays. Scattered through the Attigundi, Kaimara and Mallandur belt on the road up. Quieter, prettier, and closer to the ghat road start. Book direct.

Kemmangundi. The old hill station on the other side of the range, with Karnataka government accommodation. Good if you are combining with Hebbe Falls and Z Point.

On the summit. Nothing. There is no accommodation and no camping at the top of Mullayanagiri.

Note that Karnataka Tourism issued new homestay registration guidelines in April 2026. If you are booking an unregistered "homestay" through Instagram in this district, that is now a live compliance question, and the safer route is a registered property.

Food

Small stalls operate near the parking area at the road-head selling tea, coffee, corn, Maggi and bajji. They are not open at 5 am. Take a flask.

Chikkamagaluru town has proper food, and the local filter coffee is the reason half the district exists. Estate homestays will feed you Malnad food, which is worth planning a meal around.

Carry a litre of water each even for the short climb. The steps in February sun will surprise you.

Nearby Attractions

• Seethalayyanagiri — the adjacent peak, with a temple, a few minutes up the ridge road. Often overlooked and usually quieter than Mullayanagiri.
• Baba Budan Giri and the Dattatreya Peetha — the syncretic cave shrine on the ridge to the north, with a long and contested legal history.
• Manikyadhara Falls — a thin ridge-side fall near the shrine, on the Baba Budan Giri hills.
• Galikere — a lake near the temple, reachable by a walk of about 2 km.
• Hebbe Falls and Kemmangundi — the far side of the range, best as a separate day.
• Coffee estate tours — Chikkamagaluru is where Indian coffee started. Take one.
• Ayyanakere and Hirekolale lakes — easy evening stops from town.

Budget Breakdown

Two people, three nights, from Mumbai. Indicative.

Item	Budget (₹)	Mid-range (₹)
Mumbai–Bengaluru return, per person	1,000 (train sleeper)	9,000 (flight)
Bengaluru–Chikkamagaluru return, per person	900 (bus)	6,000 (taxi share)
Stay in Chikkamagaluru, 2 nights, per room	1,800	7,000
Vehicle QR pass to Mullayanagiri	see note	see note
Local taxi to Mullayanagiri and back, per group	1,800	3,000
Food, 3 days, per person	900	2,500
Coffee estate visit, per person	300	800
Buffer	1,500	3,000

The vehicle entry charge is set by the district administration and varies by vehicle class. Current amounts are not published on an accessible official rate card, so book through the district portal and pay what it shows.

Practical Tips

Book the vehicle pass before you drive. Six hundred vehicles a day is not many on a long weekend in December.

Go at dawn. This is the single biggest quality-of-visit variable. Mullayanagiri at 6 am and Mullayanagiri at 11 am are different places.

The ghat road is narrow with blind hairpins and buses coming the other way. If you are not comfortable on that kind of road, hire a local driver. This is not the place to learn.

Mist. Cloud sits on this ridge for large parts of the year and can reduce visibility to a few metres in minutes. Fog lights on, speed down, and if you cannot see, wait it out rather than reversing on a hairpin.

Layers. The summit is genuinely cold at dawn in December and January, with wind on top of it. People turn up in a T-shirt and last ten minutes.

Network coverage weakens on the upper road. Download your pass rather than relying on loading it at the check post.

Footwear on the steps: they are wet and slick in the early morning even in dry season, because of dew and mist. Grippy soles matter more than ankle support here. Our trekking footwear guide for Sahyadri terrain covers what actually works on wet rock.

Safety Tips

The ridge wind is the underrated hazard. On the steps and on Sarpadhari there is nothing between you and a long grass slope. Gusts on this ridge can genuinely unbalance you. Hold the rail, keep children physically held, and do not sit on the edge for a photograph.

Edge behaviour is how people die here. This is a summit with a road to it, which means a lot of visitors have no hill experience at all. Selfie positions on unstable grass edges above a steep drop are the main cause of accidents on peaks like this across the Ghats.

Mist and disorientation on Sarpadhari. A grass ridge in cloud is a real navigation problem. Turn back if visibility drops. When to cancel or turn back from a trek is worth reading before you are the one making that call.

Lightning. Pre-monsoon and post-monsoon thunderstorms build fast on this range and the summit is the highest point in the state with a metal radio installation on it. If a storm is building, get off the top and get below the road-head.

Road safety is the real statistical risk. More people are hurt on the drive up and down Mullayanagiri than on the walk. Descend in low gear, do not ride the brakes, and be down before dark.

Wildlife. The ridge is grassland and estate edge rather than deep forest, so encounters are limited. Monkeys at the parking and step areas are habituated and will take food off you. Do not feed them. Do not feed the wildlife explains why this matters more than it seems.

First aid. Even for a short climb, carry basics. First aid kit for Sahyadri treks has the checklist.

Emergency numbers. 112. There is a police radio relay station at the summit, which is the one place on any hill in Karnataka where official communication is genuinely close by.

Monsoon and Leeches

Mullayanagiri in monsoon is a divisive question and I will take a position: go for the atmosphere, do not expect a view, and skip Sarpadhari entirely.

June to September on this ridge means near-continuous cloud, rain driven horizontally by wind, and visibility that opens for thirty seconds and closes again. It is beautiful in its own right. It is also useless if you came for the panorama, and the ghat road develops landslip risk. Karnataka's Forest Minister has stated that trekking routes in the state stay closed during monsoon because of slippery terrain, and while Mullayanagiri's steps are not a Forest Department permit route, the underlying condition is the same.

Leeches, specifically, and where they actually are. The open grassland ridge and the concrete steps are largely leech-free; there is not enough leaf litter and there is too much wind. The leeches are in the coffee estate and shola-forest sections lower down — the Sarpadhari approach through the estates, the walk to Galikere, the paths around Attigundi and Kaimara, and anywhere you step off the tarmac into damp shade.

Practical measures for those sections:

• Leech socks over your trekking socks, trouser cuffs tucked in. Nothing else comes close for effectiveness.
• Salt solution or tobacco-lime paste on shoes and the lower six inches of sock, reapplied after every stream and every wet grass section. The reapplication is the step people skip and then wonder why it stopped working.
• Check at every stop, not just when you feel something. Leech bites are painless while they happen. That is the whole point of the anticoagulant.
• Do not yank them off. Salt, or flick from the narrow end. Then antiseptic and a plaster, because the bite bleeds for far longer than the wound justifies.
• Estate paths are worse than the open ridge, and shaded damp leaf litter is worse than everything else. If you are picking a monsoon route here, stay high and stay on tarmac or grass.

General monsoon judgement transfers well from monsoon trekking safety in the Sahyadris.

Common Mistakes

Calling it the highest peak in the Western Ghats. It is Karnataka's highest. Anamudi in Kerala, 2,695 m, is the Western Ghats' highest. Even news outlets get this wrong.

Driving up without the QR pass. Registration is mandatory and the daily vehicle cap is 600.

Arriving at 10 am on a Sunday in December. You will spend more time in a queue than on the peak.

Dressing for Bengaluru weather. The summit at dawn in winter with ridge wind is cold enough to end your visit early.

Assuming the 464 steps are the trek. They are a staircase. The trek is Sarpadhari, and it is a different proposition.

Attempting Sarpadhari in cloud without local knowledge. Grass ridges in mist are genuinely confusing.

Treating the ghat road casually. Narrow, hairpinned, and busy. Most incidents here are vehicular.

Best Time to Visit

September to February is the window, and the district administration's own material points at the post-monsoon months.

Late September and October — the best light of the year. The monsoon has just lifted, the grass is at its greenest, waterfalls across the range are still running, and you get long clear morning windows before afternoon cloud. My pick.

November to January — cold, clear, crowded. The most reliable views and the most people. Sunrise is genuinely cold on the ridge. Book the vehicle pass well ahead for weekends and the New Year period.

February — still good, drying out. Grass browning, mornings pleasant, afternoons warm.

March to May — hot and hazy. The view loses definition to haze and the exposed steps are unpleasant by 10 am. Go at dawn or not at all.

June to August — monsoon. Atmosphere yes, view no. Ghat road risk up. Sarpadhari off the table.

FAQ

Q: Is Mullayanagiri the highest peak in the Western Ghats? A: No. Mullayanagiri is the highest peak in Karnataka at 1,925 m. The highest peak in the Western Ghats is Anamudi in Kerala at 2,695 m, which is also the highest point in India south of the Himalaya. Wikipedia lists Mullayanagiri as the 23rd highest peak in the Western Ghats. This error appears frequently, including in mainstream news reports.

Q: How high is Mullayanagiri? A: Wikipedia gives 1,925 m (6,316 ft), citing Peakbagger. The Chikkamagaluru district administration gives 1,930 m (6,330 ft). The five-metre difference is not significant; both agree it is Karnataka's highest point.

Q: Can you drive to the top of Mullayanagiri? A: Almost. An asphalt road runs to a parking area below the summit, from where 464 stone and concrete steps take you to the top. Vehicle entry requires online registration through the Chikkamagaluru district administration's portal, with a QR code issued, and the daily limit is 600 vehicles.

Q: Is there an entry fee for Mullayanagiri? A: There is a vehicle registration charge set by the district administration, with different rates for four-wheelers, three-wheelers and larger vehicles as stated by the then Deputy Commissioner. Current amounts are not published on an accessible official rate card, so pay what the district portal shows at booking. Walking up the steps is not separately ticketed.

Q: What is the Sarpadhari route? A: Sarpadhari, also written Sarpanadi, is the old foot trail to the summit that predates the asphalt road and the steps. Wikipedia describes it as infrequently visited now but cherished by trekkers. It is the only version of Mullayanagiri that is a real trek. Secondary sources put it at roughly 3 km and 1.5 to 2 hours, which I could not verify officially.

Q: How far is Mullayanagiri from Chikkamagaluru town? A: 22 km, about 52 minutes by road, via SH 57, Bababudan Giri Road and Mullayanagiri Road, per the district administration.

Q: How do I reach Mullayanagiri from Mumbai? A: There is no airport at Chikkamagaluru. Fly to Mangaluru and drive over the Charmadi or Shiradi ghat, or fly to Bengaluru and drive roughly 250 km via Hassan. By rail, take an overnight train to Bengaluru and connect onward, or take the Konkan Railway to Mangaluru Junction and come over the Ghats.

Q: What is at the summit? A: A small temple, described as a gadduge or tomb, dedicated to the sage Mullappa Swamy, and a police radio relay station. Caves a short distance below the summit are associated with the sage; their entrance to the temple sanctum has been blocked by priests.

Q: Is Mullayanagiri worth visiting in monsoon? A: For atmosphere, yes. For views, no. Expect near-continuous cloud, and avoid the Sarpadhari trail entirely because a grass ridge in poor visibility is a navigation hazard.

Conclusion

Mullayanagiri is a strange, good hill. It is the top of a state, it has a shrine and a police radio mast on it, you can drive most of the way up, and at 6 am in October with cloud sitting in the valleys below you it is as fine a view as anywhere in the Western Ghats.

What it is not is the roof of the Western Ghats. That is Anamudi, 770 metres higher, in Kerala. Get the claim right and the peak still stands up perfectly well on its own merits.

Book the vehicle pass. Go at dawn. Walk Sarpadhari if you want the mountain rather than the viewpoint. And take the ridge road north afterwards, because Bababudangiri in the same morning turns a stop into a trip.

Call to Action

Pair this with the Baba Budan Giri trek guide for the rest of the Chandra Drona ridge, or step up to a full-day Western Ghats walk with the Kudremukh trek guide. If your group has mixed fitness, read group trekking safety rules first.

Image Alt Text Suggestions

1. Mullayanagiri summit ridge at sunrise, Chikkamagaluru district, Karnataka
2. The 464 stone steps leading to Mullayanagiri peak
3. Mullappa Swamy shrine at the summit of Mullayanagiri
4. Police radio relay station on Karnataka's highest peak
5. Hairpin bends on the Mullayanagiri ghat road from Chikkamagaluru
6. Sarpadhari ridge trail, the old foot route to Mullayanagiri
7. Cloud filling the valleys below Mullayanagiri after monsoon
8. Seethalayyanagiri peak seen from the Mullayanagiri ridge road
9. Coffee estates on the lower slopes of the Chandra Drona range
10. Vehicle entry check post on the road to Mullayanagiri

Sources

1. Mullayyanagiri — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullayyanagiri
2. Mullayanagiri Hill — District Chikkamagaluru, Government of Karnataka: https://chikkamagaluru.nic.in/en/tourist-place/mullayanagiri-hill/
3. Mullayanagiri and Inam Dattathreya Peeta online Toll booking portal — District Chikkamagaluru, Government of Karnataka, published 15 August 2024: https://chikkamagaluru.nic.in/en/mullayanagiri-and-inam-dattathreya-peeta-online-toll-booking-portal/
4. Anamudi — Wikipedia (highest peak in the Western Ghats, 2,695 m): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamudi
5. Mullayyanagiri Peak — Karnataka Tourism, Department of Tourism, Government of Karnataka: https://karnatakatourism.org/en/attractions/mullayyanagiri-peak
6. "Karnataka: Online registration must to visit Mullayanagiri in Chikkamagaluru" — The Federal, 29 June 2024 (600-vehicle daily cap, QR code system, DC's statement on differential charges; note this report itself repeats the incorrect "highest peak in the Western Ghats" claim): https://thefederal.com/category/states/south/karnataka/karnataka-online-registration-must-to-visit-mullayanagiri-in-chikkamagaluru-soon-130242
7. Baba Budangiri — Wikipedia (Chandra Drona range, peak list and elevations): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Budangiri
8. "Karnataka Makes Certified Nature Guides Mandatory For All Official Trekking Routes" — Outlook Traveller with PTI inputs, 19 April 2026: https://www.outlooktraveller.com/News/karnataka-makes-certified-nature-guides-mandatory-for-all-official-trekking-routes

District access rules and vehicle charges in Chikkamagaluru have changed more than once since 2024. Confirm the current vehicle cap, timings and fee on the district administration portal before you drive up.