Bangalore - Cochin in my Ikon

[sanju.sreekumar]

Planning to go for a trip to Cochin in my Ikon from Bangalore on Friday/Saturday (23rd/24th).Not yet decided when i am planning to start. May be early morning on Saturday or late afternoon on Friday. Distance is approx 550 km and intended route is Bangalore-Hosur-Dharmapuri-Mettur-Bhavani-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Cochin. Heard that the roads are really bad after Palakkad. Has anyone got something different to add reg that? Estimated time is 10 hours including breaks in between. I am really excited an looking forward to this drive. The only thing is i might be all alone which would be really boring.
Have driven this route 5-6 times hence dont think it would be much of an issue but this is the first time i am going to write my experiences here.
Any suggestions, please go ahead.

Experiences after i am back!!

SS

[rex_varghese]

We drove back from Cochin to Bangalore in late October and the roads were horrible. I have no idea about the state of the roads now. But the way things are going on in Kerala, I've no reason to be hopeful about it.

Given current situation, Bangalore-Salem-Cbe-Cochin is the right one you can take.

Otherwise, our preferred route is Bangalore-Mysore-Gudalore-Nilambur-Shornur-Trichur-Cochin. Shortest and decent drive.

Regards
Rex

[sanju.sreekumar]

Heard that roads between Palakkad and Trichur are better now.

[hvkumar]

NH47 between Cochin and Trissur are repaired

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by sanju.sreekumar

Heard that roads between Palakkad and Trichur are better now.

Till October 29th roads were bad, dont know if re laid since then. Better take the shornur ottapalam route.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Did this TVM- bangalore trip three weeks back

Details are here.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...life-easy.html (TVM- Bangalore trip! How team-bhp makes life easy!)

[hvkumar]

Repairs on NH47 happened during the Diwali week.

[govigov]

I can vouch for tcr - ekm, the roads are ok, sans a big dip infront of TELK. dont know the status of plkd-tcr.

[csentil]

Shorter and better route is Bangalore - Mysore - Nanjangud - Chamrajnagar - Sathyamangalam - Coimbatore - Cochin

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by csentil

Shorter and better route is Bangalore - Mysore - Nanjangud - Chamrajnagar - Sathyamangalam - Coimbatore - Cochin

Yes.

BUT. The narrow roads at sathy are a bit risky if the conditions are bad. Also, as i found out, one break-down somewhere inside the forests, and they will close down the road for one- two hours.

[Steeroid]

Just drove down Bangalore-Mysore-Sultan's Battery-Kalpetta-Calicut-Edappal-Ponnani-Chavakkad-Paravur-Vypin-Marine Drive yesterday. Excellent roads except for some minor patches on the Gundlepet-Kerala Border stretch.

[wheeler]

The last time I went to Trichur was in July and at that time, the highway from Coimbatore to Palakkad was in a poor state and Palakkad to Trichur was supposedly very bad too. We had no other option than to suffer the highway from Coimbatore to Palakkad. But from Palakkad to Trichur, we took an alternate route and not the highway.

From Palakkad, we went towards Ottapalam. But before reaching Ottapalam, there's a place called Lakkidi. From the highway, at Lakkidi, we took a left turn towards Thiruvallama. From Thiruvallama, we followed the road signs to Trichur. I do not recollect the towns we passed through.

The stretch from Palakkad to Ottapalam is awesome, the roads being absolutely heaven to drive. Also the road from Lakkidi till Trichur were pretty good with quite a few ups and downs and bends thrown in. A scenic drive through quite a few small towns and villages.

[sanju.sreekumar]

I am still planning to go on my tried and tested route via Mettur-Coimbatore-Thrichur-Cochin. May be on the way back i might try the Sultan Battery route. Leaving tomorrow.

[aby.sam]

I 'm planning a trip around christmas time. Still searching for a better route, that 'll let me push the accelerator hard for a long time.. Heard the Nilambur road being closed. Anyone travelled through that road recently?
How's the state of NH 47 in kerala..
Can someone give me an approx time I 'll take from B'lore to Alappuzha and the best road to choose..<br />
Though this is my 4th post on this forum, never introduced myself. I love travelling and have biked all the way to my home (683 km B'lore to Haripad via Mysore, Calicut) on my pulsar, non stop (except bf, lunch, tea breaks). Love cars and drives a Wagon R in Bangalore. Tries to be patient with the fellow drivers on the road.. but at times lose control...

[hvkumar]

NH47 is more or less OK now, and should be great by the time you travel. The fastest route is NH47, although you may cut some time and distance travelling on the Mysore-Sathy route.

Nilambur road was closed a few days ago (thanks to the late rains in Wayanad area 2-3 weeks ago), but that should be ok by now. Google search for a hotel in Nilambur and call them up to enquire the status.