[rameshnanda]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I have postponed the trip by 1 month and will update it again when the actual plan is finalized by me.

[rameshnanda]

Guys, I am reviving my trip plan. I have planned it from 01-Oct to 05-Oct.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

From Pollachi,you have two options either go to Palakkad and go via Ottapalam-Shornur-Wadakancheri-Kecheri-Guruvayur

Kangeyam, Tamil Nadu to Guruvayoor, Kerala - Google Maps
OR
From Pollachi go via Alathur-Pazhyannur-Wadakancheri-Kecheri-Guruvayur.

Kangeyam, Tamil Nadu to Guruvayoor, Kerala - Google Maps

Roads on both are good,the ottapalam-shornur road is wide and in a very good condition

ranjith, which route will be good for the night driving? I may plan to leave early in the evening from Chennai and drive through the night to reach Guruvayoor.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Guys, I am reviving my trip plan. I have planned it from 01-Oct to 05-Oct.



ranjith, which route will be good for the night driving? I may plan to leave early in the evening from Chennai and drive through the night to reach Guruvayoor.

I travelled the route last week and as per me,the kangeyam diversion is really not that very needed.You can continue on the nh47 via avinashi as the road widening is progressing fast and the road quality is very good at the moment.You should be able to cover the distance between the end of 4lane at Chengapalli to the start of the L&T bypass at CBE in an hours drive time,from there you should be able to reach Chandranagar(Hotel Aryas) in 2hours time at the latest.

Continue from Chandranagar into Palakkad town and continue straight and it takes you to ottapalam road.

On the other hand if you do take the kangeyam road from perundurai,target for a 3.5hour drive to alathur from there via pollachi-alathur.At Alathur,cut across the NH47 and go via Alathur town and continue straight into pazhyannur-chelakara-wadakancheri.However I wouldnt reccomend this route between 10pm & 5am,simply because there would not be any night time traffic on this route.

Feel free to pm in case you have any more queries

I am not sure what times you intend to Kerala.If you intend to reach Palakkad between 10pm & 5am,then I would suggest that you

[rameshnanda]

I am planning to leave from Chennai at around 4.30 PM. Again, I am not fully convinced to take the Krishnagiri route. I know the pain the reaching NH4 from Tambaram. I got very good feedback from my friend who did Palani-Dindigul-Trichy-Chennai couple of weeks back. Dindigul-Trichy is almost done and Palani-Dindigul is also in very good condition.

Ranjith, how about this route doing at night?

Tambaram-Trichy-Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi-Vadakkencherry-Thrissur-GVR

Or shall I stick to,

Tambaram-Trichy-Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi-Palghat-Ottapalam-GVR

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

I got very good feedback from my friend who did Palani-Dindigul-Trichy-Chennai couple of weeks back. Dindigul-Trichy is almost done and Palani-Dindigul is also in very good condition.

Dindigul-Udumalaipettai is in mint condition (one of my fav 2-laners in TN). Just the 4 railway crossings are bad, which is few 100 m on a 90km stretch . Udumalaipet-Pollachi is heavily trafficked though.

Trichy-Dindigul is almost done, except for couple of diversions (one for a toll construction, another at Manapparai bypass). Be wary of wrong-siders the entire Trichy-Dindigul stretch. Its only the first 10 km from Trichy thats a pain. I've written about catching Dindigul road from Trichy here . I just did Trichy-Dindigul 2 days back

[ampere]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Dindigul-Udumalaipettai is in mint condition (one of my fav 2-laners in TN). Just the 4 railway crossings are bad, which is few 100 m on a 90km stretch . Udumalaipet-Pollachi is heavily trafficked though.

Add to it the efforts taken to cross Trichy and Udumalpet.
Not to mention Pollachi.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

I am planning to leave from Chennai at around 4.30 PM. Again, I am not fully convinced to take the Krishnagiri route. I know the pain the reaching NH4 from Tambaram. I got very good feedback from my friend who did Palani-Dindigul-Trichy-Chennai couple of weeks back. Dindigul-Trichy is almost done and Palani-Dindigul is also in very good condition.

Ranjith, how about this route doing at night?

Tambaram-Trichy-Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi-Vadakkencherry-Thrissur-GVR

Or shall I stick to,

Tambaram-Trichy-Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi-Palghat-Ottapalam-GVR

I am not convinced that doing the dindigul route is a good thing considering the fact that from palani onwards its all on 2 laned state roads(of course town traffic wouldnt bother you much since you would be crossing the congested areas in the dead of night,but again in todays world if you are doing night driving then sticking to the popular main roads makes more sense).if you are looking at saving time then i dont think this is the right route.if it is just to explore a new route then go ahead.

Whatever be your final decision,do not include vadakkencheri-thrissur in your scheme of things.go via ottapalam if you love your car and your back and legs!

[mallumowgli]

I did Palakkad-Palani and back on a sunday 2 months back and it took me just 1hr 40 mins either way for the 110kms
Last Sunday I did Palakkad-Udumalpet in one hour either way (70kms) absolutely no blocks
So if it is on a Sunday, there wont be any traffic at either Udumalpet or Pollachi
I have no idea about Pollachi-Wadakkanchery stretch

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

I did Palakkad-Palani and back on a sunday 2 months back and it took me just 1hr 40 mins either way for the 110kms
Last Sunday I did Palakkad-Udumalpet in one hour either way (70kms) absolutely no blocks
So if it is on a Sunday, there wont be any traffic at either Udumalpet or Pollachi
I have no idea about Pollachi-Wadakkanchery stretch

Since I am going to do this during night, I think I may not encounter much traffic.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

I am not convinced that doing the dindigul route is a good thing considering the fact that from palani onwards its all on 2 laned state roads(of course town traffic wouldnt bother you much since you would be crossing the congested areas in the dead of night,but again in todays world if you are doing night driving then sticking to the popular main roads makes more sense).if you are looking at saving time then i dont think this is the right route.if it is just to explore a new route then go ahead.

Whatever be your final decision,do not include vadakkencheri-thrissur in your scheme of things.go via ottapalam if you love your car and your back and legs!

Ok. I am going to stick with the Ottapalam route. But, will it be safe to drive during night? I am sure I will hit this road after 2 AM.

Originally Posted by ampere

Add to it the efforts taken to cross Trichy and Udumalpet.
Not to mention Pollachi.

Amp, crossing Trichy wouldn't be tough I think. And for Udumalpet and Pollachi, I would be hitting these towns well after 12 AM.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ampere

Add to it the efforts taken to cross Trichy and Udumalpet.

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Since I am going to do this during night, I think I may not encounter much traffic.

Amp, crossing Trichy wouldn't be tough I think. And for Udumalpet and Pollachi, I would be hitting these towns well after 12 AM.

To answer you both, it took me around 40 min onward at 530-6pm Friday and barely 15-20 min on return at 330-4pm Sunday in the route i mentioned. You decide

Udumalpet has traffic ? There were diversions, but I dont remember of any traffic!

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

I am planning to leave from Chennai at around 4.30 PM.

You want to use NH45, clear Mahindra City before 5. 430 start might land you in traffic, and you are travelling with family the starts dont really go punctual !! Leave Tambaram by 345-4 max

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by narayans80

You want to use NH45, clear Mahindra City before 5. 430 start might land you in traffic, and you are travelling with family the starts dont really go punctual !! Leave Tambaram by 345-4 max

Yes. I know about this. I actually planned to clear Chengalput before 5.30 PM. I have actually informed my family that we will be leaving at 3.00 PM hoping that we would at least start by 4.30.

[rameshnanda]

For the Guruvayoor-Trivandrum route, will I get 4L all the way from Thrissur to Trivandrum? How is the road status till Trivandrum?
And what are the eating options I have in this stretch?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

For the Guruvayoor-Trivandrum route, will I get 4L all the way from Thrissur to Trivandrum?

I don't know specifics or route, but surely know its not all 4L. AFAIK, Thrissur-Angamali is 4-laned. Rest of NH47 is 2-laned.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

For the Guruvayoor-Trivandrum route, will I get 4L all the way from Thrissur to Trivandrum? How is the road status till Trivandrum?
And what are the eating options I have in this stretch?

Only Thrissur to Edappally is 4 laned(approx 75kms)after that you are back to the traditional 2 laned NH47.Once in kerala you will never go hungry,thanks to the dense population,you would find plenty of restaurants on the highway itself

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Only Thrissur to Edappally is 4 laned(approx 75kms)after that you are back to the traditional 2 laned NH47.Once in kerala you will never go hungry,thanks to the dense population,you would find plenty of restaurants on the highway itself

Roads are four laned all the way till Cherthala, if i remember correctly. After Cherthala roads dont deteriorate too badly, but on the Karunagapally-Kollam-Trivandrum stretch the road surface is not too good

If you are a vegetarian, you may have to spend time searching for vegetarian hotels outside big towns south of Ernakulam.