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-   -   Chennai-Guruvayoor-Trivandrum-Kanyakumari-Chennai (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/106457-chennai-guruvayoor-trivandrum-kanyakumari-chennai.html)

Here I go. Its vacation time again for me. Planning for a long trip during the month end from 31st Aug to 4th Sep. The following will be my plan. I need suggestions from experts on the route, food and accommodation.

31st Aug 2011 - Chennai-Guruvayoor (642 kms)
Leave early at around 6 AM.
The route I have in mind is,
Chennai-Trichy-Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi-Vadakkencheri-Guruvayoor
Plan is to reach Guruvayoor by evening and stay there.

Questions:-
1. Where can I break for Lunch and any hotel recommendations?
2. How should I take the diversion for the Trichy-Dindigul section from NH45?
3. Status on road condition from Pollachi-Vadakkencheri-Guruvayoor.
4. Recommendation on accommodation at Guruvayoor. Should have good parking facility)?

1st Sep 2011 - Guruvayoor-Travandrum (289 Kms)
I am week on the routes in Kerala. However I got this route from Google. I will be leaving by afternoon from Guruvayoor.
Guruvayoor-Chavakkad (NH17)-Ernakulam-Trivandrum(NH47)

Questions:-
1. Is the route correct and good?
2. Recommendation on accommodation at Trivandrum. Should have good parking facility)?

3rd Sep 2011 - Trivandrum-Kanyakumari (86 Kms)
I will be leaving after breakfast from Trivandrum and will be covering the Padmanabapuram Palace and Suchindram on the way to Kanyakumari.
No confusion on route. Its going to be the NH47.

Questions:-

1. Recommendation on accommodation at KKR. (Should have good parking facility)?

4th Sep 2011 - KKR-Chennai (700 Kms Approx)
I will leave from KKR after the breakfast.
KKR-Tirunelveli-Madurai-Trichy-Chennai

Questions:-

1. Where can I break for lunch and any suggestions?

2. Check this for Trichy-Dindigul diversion. The last exit is marked Dindigul from NH45, so you wont miss it.
1. Trichy would be ideal as you pass through the city. But it'll be a bit early for lunch. Apart from those, there is a hotel thats on the left as you take Dindigul-Palani road. Palani has a few, vaguely remember Hotel Arun on right side on Oddanchatram-Palani road.

Adyar Anandha Bhavan, couple of kms on the left after you take Madurai-Trichy NH45B from Tirumangalam-Othakadai 2-lane bypass. Service is defly faster than the Ulundurpet Ghar Dhaba. You could try Grand Gardenia at Trichy. Trichy from A2B is barely 80-90 min drive.

If you are going via Pollachi I suggest the better option for you is to take Chennai - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Perundurai - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Pollachi route.

Though the road conditions between Dindigul - Pollachi on NH209 is good there are quite a few level crossings which would delay your progress, also this would allow you to avoid crossing through Trichy Jn. during peak hours, you will have to travel about 10 kms on the old Dindigul road until you hit the 4 lane point.

If you want to go ahead with your plan of Chennai - Trichy - Dindigul then the point you have to watch out is the exit after the Ponmalai Railway Over Bridge. This exit would be marked as Trichy town, once you get onto the service road you would cross Jamal Mohd. college on your left. Continue on the service road until you hit the next flyover, take the right under the flyover go on until you reach a Roundabout where you would have to a left for Dindigul.

If you are leaving around 6 in the morning you would reach Dindigul around 12: 30 PM where you could possibly have lunch but would mean getting into the city. Alternatively you could look at New Tiruppur Hotel in Palani but again would have to get into the town but it is not much of an issue.

I think it is better to take the Guruvayoor - Trichur - Angamali - Trivandrum route though I think it is going to be extremely tiring to drive through day time traffic.

May be you could think of a detour to Athirampally at Chalakudy should take you an additional couple of hours but would be a good break from the monotony of Kerala traffic.

The option suggested by Narayan is the best at the BPCL Ghar just as you hit the 4 lane section of NH45B, though I remember it as another hotel and not A2B when I last made a trip about 2 months back.

Accommodation in Guruvayur- You can try - Vrindavan Tourist home, Near to KSRTC Bus Stand, West Nada - Phone 0487-2554033, Mobile 09447616811. Good parking facility and very near to the temple. I stayed there on 7th of this month. The room rent was Rs.400 for non-ac and rs.700 for A/c double bed.

Route from Guruvayur to Trivandrum via chavakkad,vadanapalli,edappaly, Ernakulam-Vytilla is okay but the roads are very bad in kodungallur-edapally area and heavy traffic during office hours.

Accommodation at Trivandrum - try to get into some hotel before reaching Trivandrum city as hotels in city will be expensive (Rs.2000+). Or if you are planning to go to Kovalam then you can arrange a hotel near to Kovalam (few kms before beach).

When I visited Kovalam few months back, We stayed at Hotel Manna International, Phone 0471-2482569, email: chandrankovalam@gmail.com (we had a group of 5 families hence managed to bring down the hotel rate and the rate we paid was Rs.1500 per double a/c room (with some rooms having more than 2 people).

You will get more ideas from other Trivandrum guys.!:)

I would second Srikanth's route of going via Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi.

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

Do not take the NH47 via Vadakencheri-vaniyampara-kuthiran-pattikad-thrissur.you would sincerely regret it as there is no road in that section anymore.

Eating options are available at Salem,or else around 60kms from Salem on nh47,you have aryas on your right.
horrible conditions at the moment.
depending on budget,bhasuri inn is ok for a night,the better ones are Kanoos & Krishna Inn.

Again do not take the NH17 route to TVM,the section between Chavakkad and Edappally is not in the best of conditions,especially in and around kodungallur even the state transport buses are having a tough time,plus narrow and congested roads.

Instead IMHO,you should drive to Thrissur and connect to NH47 and go on the 4laned nh47.4laning complete till Edappally,from there continue via NH47 all the way till TVM.This would be a faster and easier route as opposed to the route via NH17,

Guruvayoor, Kerala to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala - Google Maps

IMO,it would be less stressful to drive to TVM with a break at Alleppey.You could stay a night in one of the many resorts or hotels on the backwaters and then drive to TVM.Else it would be one long drive from GVR to TVM.

Since he is planning to stay at Guruvayur, he can then drive direct to TVM from GVR.

On 8 of this month, I drove from GVR to TVM - Left GVR at 6 am, I took the route via chavakkad, edapalli (yes very congested and railway crossings) and reached TVM (Ullur junction/Medical college) at 2:15pm with two breaks for Breakfast and Lunch.

Thanks a lot for the reply guys. I will re-plan based on your suggestions.

Srikanth, Ranjith, the reason for me to take the Trichy route is that I would be starting from Tambaram in Chennai. It is again a tedious and time consuming effort for me to reach NH4 from Tambaram.

Thanks Ranjith. I will keep this in mind. I never knew that this would be a better way. I always think of going via Thrissur.

Myself and my wife stayed at Vivekanandapuram of Vivekananda Kendra. We enjoyed our stay there.:thumbs up The details are here.

Ranjit,

How does one go from Pollachi to Ottapalam? If its via Alathur, second route is better right?
If its via Pallakkad, wont one be diverting back? Either way I thought the second option was always better.
Correct me if I am wrong here.


@Ramesh,

As every one said, if you want to reach at the earliest, GQ via Krishnagiri is better.
Its only problem at the start from Chennai. Then its quite easy. As against, if you go via Palani, coupled with 2L roads, you need to cross many towns as well.
(Though the roads are very good.)

An early start would solve the intial problem also.

As Ranjit said, I too was very happy with the service at Kanoos (in Guruvayur). They have very good parking.

EDIT: Singaar International at KKR was also very decent place, where I stayed once.

At 6AM it isnt that bad. It took me like 60-70 mins as a driving newbie (I did 80 max) from T.Nagar to Sriperumbudur. Starting at 445 AM, it hardly took me 40 mins. Infact, I had almost an empty stretch all the way to Pennalur toll.

[quote=rameshnanda;2476221]

1st Sep 2011 - Guruvayoor-Travandrum (289 Kms)
I am week on the routes in Kerala. However I got this route from Google. I will be leaving by afternoon from Guruvayoor.
Guruvayoor-Chavakkad (NH17)-Ernakulam-Trivandrum(NH47)

Questions:-
1. Is the route correct and good?
2. Recommendation on accommodation at Trivandrum. Should have good parking facility)?

This route is the shortest.As you will be starting after lunch it would take lot of time to reach Trivandrum due to peak traffic.I think you can take the Guruvayoor-Thrissur-Ernakulam-Trivandrum route(better than Guruvayoor-Chavakkad-Thrissur,but you need to drive more).If you start at 2 PM,you will reach TVM only after 9 or 10 PM.
Ernakulam Trivandrum road is relatively good(compared to other roads in kerala) except a 10 to 15 km stretch after alleppey.
For Accomadation,
1.Ginger before you reach tvm town (15-20 km before town).
2.Lot of hotels available in kovalam side if you don't prefer to stay inside city.During off season they are more cheaper than city options.
3.Park rajadhani/Ruby Arena on the way to town
4.Keys,Maurya Rajadhani,Pankaj,Horizon etc in the city.if you prefer more expensive options then Classic Avenue,SP Grand days,Residency Tower

From Pollachi, you follow the directions for Palakkad route towards Ottapalam and Thrissur route towards Alathur. Coming from Udumalpet, at some junction inside Pollachi town, the leftish-straight road goes to Thrissur whereas the rightish-main road takes you near Pollachi bus stand where you take the main left road for Palakkad and straight road is towards Coimbatore.

Ok. I will give a thought about this. I thought Trichy-Dindigul section is almost complete and I would get 4L till Dindigul.

1. Till Dindigul you have Trichy to take care. While on NH7 you have Salem
(I think its very easy to cross Salem)

2. Beyond Dindigul is where the problems start. Apart from Palani and Udumalpet, you find many towns/villages on the 2L highway.
(Both yes nothing brings out the spirit of driving as a 2L highway when you are in a holiday mood! :) )

But as I understand you want to reach GVR at the earliest.