[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by avasekeh

Hi,

how is the udupi - guruvayoor route?

Originally Posted by ampere

Other points:
- Get to know the correct bypass for Calicut

For Calicut Bypass - The left turn is at Tiruvengoor, some 8 kms after Koyilandy town. This road hits the Atholi-Calicut road and at this T junction you take a right which will lead you straight to the Calicut Bypass at Eranhikkal. Take left at this junction for the bypass

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=NH...via=1&t=m&z=12

[cyberwhizs]

Just an update. Did Bangalore - Mysore - Guruvayoor - Bangalore last weekend.

From Mysore took
Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet-Bandipur-Mudumalai-Gudalur-Nadugani-Nilambur-Perinthalmanna-Pattambi-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayur.

We left mysore at 12:00 pm and reached guruvayoor in the night at 21:00. a good nine hours. Roads are pretty good, except for a very few patches in the
Bandipur/mudumalai ghat section. The entire roads being a single carriageway the average speeds obtainable are pretty low. The traffic does significantly thin out after gundalpet. The nadugani? ghats after crossing gudalur were never ending, it took a while for me to make the decent. En-route, I met my fair share of maniacs or expert drivers should you prefer to call them so, who were zipping past, honking and overtaking at the narrowest of stretches. At the end, i decided, i am not taking the route on my way back to bangalore, though i had some unfinished business at mysore.

Road condition in Nilambur-Perinthalmanna-Pattambi-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayur section is good but then traffic does come into play, it took me a good 3 hours to cross this 90 odd kilometers.

On the way back took
Guruvayoor-Kunnamkulam-Perumpilavu-Pattambi-Shoranur-Ottapalam-Palakkad-Coimbatore-Avinashi-Perunthurai-Salem-Dharmapuri-Hosur-Bangalore

Roads are pretty good and some sections are excellent, Started at around 1600 and halted for the night at perunthurai - reached perunthurai at 22:00 hours with around 1:00 break. drive time of around 5 hours

Pattambi-Shornur-Ottapalam-Pallakad - though a single carriageway, it is wide and traffic is relatively less. There is some amount of unavoidable town traffic as you pass through the town centers.

Pallakad - Wayalar - Coimbatore : Roads are good, some patchwork here and there but by and large it is decent. Only problem is if you get stuck behind a long trailer moving at 15-20 kmph and you are not used to overtaking on single carriageway the experience can be a little unnerving.

Coimbatore - Avinashi - Till the dual carriage way starts: The roads are good and some places very wide but there are a lot of diversions - some marked, some not so clearly marked. I crossed this in the night at around 20:00 21:00 hours, There is unorganized fast moving traffic. And then there were couple speed breakers on top of flyover (actually, i think the join between the spans has not been properly asphalted as yet). Overall a risky drive especially at night.

Dual Carriageway - Salem - Perunthurai - Dharmapuri - Hosur - Bangalore: Some construction work at hosur but overall excellent roads.

Some ancillary points.
1. Bandipur - Mudumalai scenic forest roads - we saw a couple of wild elephants.
2. Tamarind - KSTDC - The place is currently well maintained - clean toilets - however the only thing available for refreshment was tea/coffee (at 18:00 hours) . I must say, the tea was pretty good. So do not plan your refreshment break here if you are looking out for more than just tea/coffee.
3. Stayed at hotel horizon at guruvayoor - facilities good, staff helpful, and you can get a discount if you ask them.
4. Stopped at sarvana bhavan near coimbatore (intersection with the road going to trichy) for dinner - they have a restricted dinner menu and most items were not available at 20:00 hours. Toilets were a mess.
5. Stopped at perunthurai at hotel chennis- just off the highway. Decent highway stopover place - clean sheets, clean rooms, clean toilets and have a working generator. No lifts though.

Hope this helps!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by cyberwhizs

At the end, i decided, i am not taking the route on my way back to bangalore, though i had some unfinished business at mysore.

This feeling does develop because one does feel that the road is never ending thanks to the twisties. For that reason alone. I would prefer to take this route in the early of day. During late night or evening hours, its always better to stick to 4-lanes. If one is regular on this stretch, then of course its a different story.

[sunith007]

I am planning my next BLR-GVR trip this weekend. Plan to drive via NH-7 and NH-47 via Salem, Coimbatore, Palakkad.
Did anyone do the Mettur-Bhavani road recently ? Want to avoid Salem.... Pls suggest

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by sunith007

I am planning my next BLR-GVR trip this weekend. Plan to drive via NH-7 and NH-47 via Salem, Coimbatore, Palakkad.
Did anyone do the Mettur-Bhavani road recently ? Want to avoid Salem.... Pls suggest

You are better off taking the salem route.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sunith007

I am planning my next BLR-GVR trip this weekend. Plan to drive via NH-7 and NH-47 via Salem, Coimbatore, Palakkad.
Did anyone do the Mettur-Bhavani road recently ? Want to avoid Salem.... Pls suggest

Any specific reasons to avoid Salem? If you start by 4AM, you would at Salem by 6:30/7 AM. And even if you break there for some time, you can easily exit out before the crowd builds up. Its not at all a problem.

[sunith007]

I cannot start before 7 AM from E-city. Want to bypass Salem to avoid the morning rush-hour traffic. If its OK, I will carry on the same route.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sunith007

I cannot start before 7 AM from E-city. Want to bypass Salem to avoid the morning rush-hour traffic. If its OK, I will carry on the same route.

You can try the Omalur - Sankagiri SH. But I doubt if you would save enough time. Because the 4-lane is fast and on the alternative route you would spend time wading through the town.

[pariwar]

Returned today from Guruvayur on the route:

Guruvayur - Kechery - Wadakkanchery - Shoranur - Palakkad - Coimbatore - Annur - Sathyamangalam - Chamarajnagar - Kanakapura - Bangalore

Generally roads are in good condition, sparse traffic as usual on NH209 and a very peaceful drive.

Started at 0415 hrs and reached BLR University at 1300 hrs.

[kala]

Originally Posted by pariwar

Returned today from Guruvayur on the route:

Guruvayur - Kechery - Wadakkanchery - Shoranur - Palakkad - Coimbatore - Annur - Sathyamangalam - Chamarajnagar - Kanakapura - Bangalore

Generally roads are in good condition, sparse traffic as usual on NH209 and a very peaceful drive.

Started at 0415 hrs and reached BLR University at 1300 hrs.

Did you go through Coimbatore city or used the bypass via Karumathampatty ? If the former, how was the traffic situation in the city ?

(Asking because if you started from Guruvayur that early, you must have passed Coimbatore early enough and so the city route would have been a viable option)

[ampere]

Some it would have been good if there was good bypass to the north west of Coimbatore. Something like NH47 to Karamadai. That would have allowed one to take the road to Sathyamangalam via Sirumugai.

[pariwar]

Originally Posted by kala

Did you go through Coimbatore city or used the bypass via Karumathampatty ? If the former, how was the traffic situation in the city ?

(Asking because if you started from Guruvayur that early, you must have passed Coimbatore early enough and so the city route would have been a viable option)

Yes, you can say I went through a part of the city. Entered after the last toll of L&T Byepass on Avanashi Road??, right turn at Airport junction and then straight on to Sathyamangalam. I don't remember the time exactly but can remember that we struggled to find a decent restaurant open at that time for a light snack / quick breakfast. Traffic was minimal.

[rockyb4u]

Can someone please help


I came to Thrissur today from Bangalore. Took Hosur- Krsihnagiri- Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Pattikad route.

The route from Palakkad to Pattikad is horrible with full pot holes. It took 10 hrs drive as well.

Can someone suggest any other better route please.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rockyb4u

Can someone suggest any other better route please.

Check the Kerala thread.

Trichur-Wadakkancherry-Pazhayanur-Alathur-Kollengode-Pollachi-Palladam-Kangeyam-Perundurai-Salem-Hosur-Bangalore

[silversun100]

Greeetings !

Check to see details on this post are a little old.

Planning a short trip to Sabarimala during next week, broken the trip into three phases.

Phase 1 : Blr - Kalady via Guruvayor
Proposed Route : Blr - Mysore - Bandipur - Gudalur - Nadugani - Edakkara - Manjeri - Kunnamkulam - Guruvayoor - Thrissur - Chalakudy - Angamally - Kalady

Phase 2 : Kalady - Sabarimala
Kalady – Perumbavoor – Mavattupuzha – Thodupuzha – Erattupetta – Erumeli – Pamba

Phase 3 : Sabarimala - Blr
Pamba – Thulapally – Kanamala – Thekkady – Cumbum – Theni – Karur – Namakkal - Rasipuram – Salem – Thoppur – Dharmapuri – Krishnagiri – Hosur - Bangalore

Need your help and advice on the route, road conditions and eat outs.