Team-BHP - West coast route query Bangalore-mangalore-Kanyakumari-Bangalore

TBHP has become an essential part of all my travel plans. Its almost like I've forgotten how to plan one without TBHP

I'm planning a 2000km trip in the last week of August 2011
We are 4 people(BHPian avinashsg and me along with our wives) planning a trip covering the west coast of our country.
We have 9 days available with us (August 27th to September 3rd 2011).
I've a 8-month old Fiat Grande Punto 1.2 Emotion which has recently completed 15k kms and underwent its second service.

We want to head straight to the west coast from Bangalore which will take me to Mangalore.
Then we want to come down south along the coast to Kanyakumari and finally come upwards to reach back Bangalore.
A small screen shot of our plan is attached below

West coast route query Bangalore-mangalore-Kanyakumari-Bangalore-plan.jpg

our tentative plan that I've made is as follows:

Day1. Bengaluru Mangalore: awe can drive in the afternoon to reach Mangalore by afternoon (350km NH48 drive)

Day2. Mangalore: Sightseeing in and around Mangalore

Day3. Mangalore to Calicut: Reach Calicut after visiting Bekal fort. (250km NH17 drive)

Day4. Calicut to Aleppy: Sightseeing in calicut and drive to reach Aleppy (250km NH17 drive)

Day5. Aleppy : Aleppy boat house

Day6. Aleppy to Trivandrum: drive to trivandrum and half day sight seeing (150km NH47 drive)

Day 7. Trivandrum to Kanyakumari: Half day Trivandrum sightseeing and drive to Kanyakumari (90km NH47 drive)

Day 8. Kanyakumari: Kanyakumari sightseeing

Day 9. Kanyakumari to Bangalore: Kanyakumari sightseeing and leave to Bangalore (650km NH7 drive)

Can you guys suggest me a better route and itenary for these 9 days.
I've not travelled much in Kerala, so travel gurus, feel free to change anything in this and suggest

Mods: please move this thread if this route query already exists.
My search couldn't give me any suitable result.

Itinerary is fine, except that you are budgeting for more time in some places and less in others!
Kerala is a difficult place to drive by day, hence your speeds will be limited.

Day 2: Is there anything much to do a whole day in Mangalore? Unless you are contemplating going a little north to some of the temples (like Kateel, Udupi, etc) or beaches (Malpe, Maravanthe). I would suggest you spend the Night 2 at Bekal.

I am surprised that you do not want to take a detour and go see the Athirapalli Falls (in full glory during the rains) on the way from Calicut to Alleppy. No time for Kochi either? I would suggest you do Calicut-Trissur-Calakudy-Athirapalli-Kochi-Alleppy, or maybe think of stopping over in Kochi for the night, exploring the place and going to Alleppy the next day.

If you leave Alleepy early, Trivandrum is just a 3 hour drive. You could drop in at Varkala Beach on the way to Trivandrum or soak in some more backwaters at Asthamudi/KOllam. Trivandrum is good for just half a day, unless you are a zoo/museum freak.

Kanyakumari should be planned such that you catch both sunrise and sunset (arrive in the evening, spend next morning sightseeing and leave). There is nothing to do in KK beyond half a day.

Hemant anand,

Adding to what hvkumar has already suggested. Did this stretch last month.

suggesting :

Day 1: Bangalore - Mangalore ( reach early to visit Pilikula nisarga dhama ) and halt

Day 2 : Half day Mangalore sight seeing ( temples ? ), drive to Bekal fort / Pallikere beach and halt

Day 3 : Bekal - Kannur ( Muzhappilangad drive in beach ) - Thalassery - Mahe - visit Kappad beach and halt at Calicut

Day 4 : Calicut - Guruvayur temple ( closed from 1300 to 1600 hrs ) - Thrissur ( temple ) and halt

Day 5 : Thrissur - Chalakudi - Athirapalli falls - Kochi ( visit folklore centre at kochi fort after 5.30pm )

Day 6 : Kochi - Alleppey house boat ( check in time for house boats - 1030 hrs) or half day backwater ride ( noon to sunset )

Day 7 : Alleppey - Kollam - Varkala beach - Trivandrum

Day 8 : Trivandrum - Kovalam beach / Poovar - Padmanabhapuram palace - Kanyakumari ( sunset )

Day 9 : Kanyakumari ( sunrise ) - Bangalore

My two cents:-

a) Get Halwa from Ramana bakery in Calicut. Mouthwatering!
b) Taste Mapila cuisine at Ayesha Manzil in Tellicherry. It is heavenly!
c) Just check with your kerala friends if this is a marraige season in Guruvayoor. Expect rush in temple.
d) Athirapally is a must visit. Dont miss. If your wallet can afford stay in the in Rain Forest Rooms and Accommodation, Luxury rooms - Rainforest Boutique Resort, Athirapally, Chalakudy, Kerala
e) Visit Suchindram temple on the way from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari
f) Unless you are staying in Poovar island resort, it is not worth taking a detour.
g) Visit fabulous Leela Kovalam for lunch or sancks. Stay if you can afford. Amazing views of sea!!

Hi, take the Jhangar (Dont know if I spelled it right, its basically a flat boat used to ferry vehicles across a water body :)) at Ponnanny. You will save 30 kms of town road and have a different experience. Its very convenient. I have been taking this for my Calicut-Kochi drives. You can take the ticket and drive into the boat and drive out after you reach the other side in 15 mins! Its really funny to sit inside the car and move across the backwater

Rgds
VW

Hey Hemanth, I feel a day is way too much for Mangalore. There's not much there to see unless you want to visit every temple.

After your recent road trip, I think you must've covered most of the places in Udupi/Manipal.

You could visit Mookambika temple (some 30 kms from M'lore) and then Bekal fort : some 60 kms but in opposite directions. Try covering it on that day 2 itself. Probably the harbour too.

And about Allepy, do check the monsoon situation there. We'd gone in the last week of May a couple of years ago and the guys said it would start raining in 2 weeks.

Just a suggestion : How about including Munnar?

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.Ravi (Post 2382197)

Kollur Mookambika temple is located about 130 km from Mangalore.

Sorry, typo!

FYI Hemanth : This temple is closed in the afternoons, 1 to 4 IIRC.

I vaguely remember, there's an island off the main M'lore beach (can't recall the name). A lot of KMC folks go over to the resort there. You could check it out.

From my West coast trip early this year I've learnt that driving vertically in Kerala during the day is a nightmare! Especially the Calicut to mangalore section! It took is about 2 hours to reach talasherry from Calicut. Also, u've to cross mahe enroute mangalore. Just a 1.5 lane road with many trucks going! Very very difficult to drive!

Why don't you reverse the route and reach KK first? It takes 10 hours to reach there. You could leave in the wee hours (3am) so that you can cross Salem before traffic builds up and head straight to KK... Witness sunset, stay, catch sunrise and leave to Trivandrum. Visit a few temples during the day and hit the beach around 5pm. Also, the roads traversing Kerala horizontally are much less congested than the main highway that goes length wise.
Don't miss varkala near Trivandrum. Also you can visit ponmudi(hill station) and meenumutti falls near Trivandrum.

Thank you very much guys for all your inputs. I need some time now to consolidate all this.
Base on all the suggestions, This trip may as well turn out a 2-state trip compared to my idea of a 3-state trip

@hvkumar,
Infact we are also not "temple guys"
Also all 4 of us have seen places towards north of mangalore.
With yours and all others' inputs till now, I feel that I can eliminate Mangalore and add a day for Kochi

@roamingrao,
I'd most probably work around the plan given by you.

@fauji,
My wife has been telling me all these days that TBHP has spoilt me.
This time she's not complaining :) she's infact following this thread closely.
This time i'm in problem...she wants to stay in rainforest resort.
Your food suggestions are noted down.
Me and my wife have been to Kovalam and stayed at the Leela for 2 days...its truly beautiful.

@libranof1987,
I'll ask UB about the Island If I really go there(chances are getting bleaker now after all the other good options given to me here)
Also as you told, I wouldn't want to repeat the same places so soon.

@lambda plus
I feel your suggestion of reversing the route will come in handy for us depending on the availability of dates in the hotels.

One more thought that crept up just the previous minute:
Ganesha Festival and Ramzan falls in these 9 days...Any special things/events that I must take care of?

I drove Mumbai to Mangalore in about 13 hours, and then crawled to Cochin in another 12.

NH17 was plain torture. I drove back via CBE, Salem, BLR and Davangere- far more relaxed, easy and carefree driving.

There is no sea shore close by, there is no beach to see while driving.

In my honest opinion, the Kerala roads are one massive slow moving mass of roads. You will average 35-40Kmph, and with zero overtaking.

Why are you doing this?

Take an alternate route. Unless you have to.