Chennai-Trichy-Madurai-Thekkady route condition

[sekharr]

Hi: I am planning to visit Thekkady, from Chennai, to Madurai via Trichy & then on to Thekkady via Theni. Can anyone tell me (a)the condition of Chennai -Trichy road (I was told it under 4-laning and so there is lot of delay and rough driving) (b) whether it is better to do Trichy - Madurai via Dindigul or via Viralimalai (in terms of better road), and (c) condition of Madurai-Theni - Bodi- Thekkady road (I was told that Madurai-Theni is now a toll road, is it correct?). I will be in a Honda City, so rough roads are a no-no! Any advise on this greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

[csentil]

Here's last week update on the road condition between Chennai - Trichy.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ai-trichy.html (alternate route for chennai-trichy)

This thread also had some updates

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...rum-route.html (Chennai - Trivandrum route)

I think you can do Dindigul - Vathalagundu - Periyakulam - Kambam - Gudalur - Thekkady. I've done this quite sometime back.

So its better if you take the Trichy - Dindigul road as it would be shorter rather than going all the way to Mdu via Viralimalai and then coming back unless you need to visit Madurai.

Don't forget to take the night trek in Thekkady (10 pm - 1 am) Its a great experience. They just take you on a night walk in the buffer zone but that by itself is awesome.

[sekharr]

Thanks, Csentil. I hadn't thought of that route. Any idea how bad/good the roads are on the Dindigul-Theni-sector?

I really feel happy to be on Team-BHP when I see all the helpful responses.

[tifosikrishna]

As senthil said, take the dindugul-theni-thekkady route, no need to touch madurai. theni-thekkadi route is very picturesque, en route you can visit suruli falls, however check how good the season is to visit that place.

dont miss vagamon, it is fantastic. to know more, check out a thread team-bhp meet at vagamon.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

sekharr, thought this link may be useful for you -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...irections.html (Temple Visiting Spree in TN-Part II. Ended up @ Munnar! Am I tht bad @ directions?)

[pypkmsrikanth]

I had done Chennai - Trichy - Dindigul - Vatlagundu but on the reverse direction a week back. There are some portions in the Trichy - Dindigul stretch which are extremely bad, beware of that. The road from Dindigul onwards towards Vatlagundu was a very good two lane road, it was in extremely good condition until Vatlagundu and I think it should be good post that as the road looked to have been laid not very long ago. Since I had done this stretch after the first round of the heavy un-seasonal rains which that part of Tamil Nadu received I dont think the road conditions would have deteirorated that much in the last one week. Also please note that Villupuram - Trichy is in decent shape and is doable without any pressures during day time. Tindivanam - Villupuram is still in bad shape and need to be done carefully.

Cheers

srikanth