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

[blueband4u]

Hi all,
I have planned to undertake a trip from chennai to madurai next month. when i went there last time the roads were bad to drive in the dindivanam to trichy section.so i need your help to provide me any other alternate route.upto 30 km extra is bearable given the road and traffic conditions.Please help me guys....

[alienquark]

Hello, Folks,

Some of us are planning to drive a Accent from Chennai to Madurai on Saturday, Dec 6th. After asking around we were told the following route should provide the best and quickest roads:

Chennai > through ECR > Pondicherry > Cuddalore > Senthiathoppu > Kumbakonam > through NH45C > Papanasam > Ayyampettai >
Tanjavur > through NH67 > Pudikottai > Thirupathur > Melur > Madurai

Would you be kind to suggest an alternate route if you feel the above is not really not the most optimal route.

Will look forward to your comments.
After we're back, I plan to submit a trip log with my experiences.

Thank you,
Ami

[hvkumar]

Please bear in mind that the entire coastal and Thanjavur delta region roads have been badly damaged in the recent rains.

Some slight alterations:

From Cuddalore, the best road to Kumbakonam is via Chidambaram, Mayavaram.
Thanjavur-Pudukottai area is normally badly affected by rains.
But what you have suggested is the optimal route.

[pypkmsrikanth]

I would suggest you stick to the regular route because the roads around Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Tanjore, Pudukottai are badly damaged. You might end up losing a lot of time if you are stuck somewhere because of bad roads as you would have to retrace a long way to get back to alternate route or even may be get back to the main highway. Also take into account that you could possiblly lose a lot of time trying to go through Pondy and the traffic is very high between Pondy & Cuddalore.


If I may ask you, why are you not looking at taking the regular route?

[alienquark]

None of us in the group are familiar with the regular route, which I assume is Chennai Tindivanam > Viluppuram > Perambalur > Tiruchirappalli > Madurai. But, we heard there is quite a bit of road rework in progress, leading to single-lane diversions. We want to take a route that is not very stressful. Scenic would be great, but that probably is asking for too much.

After looking though many threads, this is what I gather:
- There are number of diversions and bumpy roads from Tindivanam to Trichy
- Avoid the Thanjavur-Pudukottai area

We're now a little confused. Should we take this:

Chennai > through ECR > Pondicherry > Cuddalore > Chidambaram > Vaitheeswaran Koil > Mayiladuthurai > Kumbakonam > Papanasam > Ayyampettai > Tanjavur > Pudikottai > Thirupathur > Melur > Madurai

Is it possible to avoid the Thanjavur-Pudukottai area? Any state highways that are good?

Thank you Kumar and Srikanth

Regards,
Sudhin

[pypkmsrikanth]

If you are going to do this trip during day then I would suggest you take the regular Chennai - Tindivanam - Villupuram - Ulundurpet - Trichy - Viralimalai - Madurai. The diversions would not be an issue at all, anywhich ways you are going to do a lot of stretches on the newly laid road between Ulundurpet & Trichy. Your bottleneck would be between Ulundurpet & Vikravandi (just before Villupuram) the rest are all manageble.

[alienquark]

We plan to start from Chennai late evening, and plan to be in Madurai early morning. Will the route you suggest be difficult in the dark.

Thank you,
Ami

[hvkumar]

NH45 till Trichy is the best choice, and from there via Viralimalai is the best route. Road condition is good, and you can make decent speeds despite the high night traffic.

[channu1978]

Hi, I'm new to teambhp, Planned to visit chennai - tiruchy - maduarai during this weekend, could any one help me out with best route and ur suggestions on good route.