[arun_kun]

Hi All,

Yesterday all of sudden my sis decided that we should go on a trip as she has to take 10days leave(continuously as per company poicy) in an year and those leaves will get wasted if she won't. Considering my dad schedule and mine, we decide that we should be traveling next week. i.e 6-13 nov 2011. That's total of 7 days approx. So we will be starting from Hyderabad on 6th Nov 2011 morning. Should be back atleast by sunday evening to Hyderabad.

No.of Persons: 4(me,mom,dad and sis)

Places to cover:

Last year same time we went to Varanasi, so according to the custom we have to visit Rameshwaram,TamilNadu after going to Kasi. So this time we want to travel to Rameshwaram and visit places in South Tamil Nadu. I have visited North Tamil Nadu and Stayed in CHennai but never been to South Tamil Nadu.

Here are the list of places i want to cover.
-->Tanjavur,
-->Srirangam,
-->Madurai,
-->Rameshwaram,
-->Kankyakumari,
-->Trivandrum

Initial Map for the travel:





Any suggestions of other places from the experts in this area are most welcome.


Mode of transport:

1) I have Chevy Spark at home. My preference is to take our spark so that we have flexibility to stop anywhere we want to go. My dad and sis can also drive occasionally if i get tired. The entire will be around 3000+ kms. Will it be too much for my parents considering spark has not so comfortable ride at the back?

2)The other option is to and fro Hyderabad to Madurai by train. Hire a cab locally and travel around. Or are there any self drive options available in Madurai? Any info about this is much helpful.

Please do help on this regard.

Places to stay for the Night:

Since it is very sudden trip, I did not had time to plan on where to stay or which hotel to book. Please advise on the good places to rest for night in above mentioned locations and any contacts for the same will be great.


So guys, ultimately all i wanted from you guyz is so simple... please plan my trip..entirely. Since i am short of time and you guys are the pro's in these matters , help this bechaara to plan it properly

Awaiting!!

[ampere]

Some Notes

1. Hyd-Tanjore : Not via Chittore but Bangalore/Salem/Trichy.
Should be possible in a day with a stretch as most sections are 4L. If you start by 3AM you should be in Bangalore 8AM
and then can add another 6-7 hours to Tanjore via Trichy. If you feel stressed, do take a break at Salem.

Thread on how to bypass Bangalore
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...bangalore.html

(Not aware of major places to stay in Tanjore)

2. Trichy-Tanjore nice 4L. NH67. If budget permits, best place to stay Royal Southern.

Rest roads I think no comment is needed.
3. Trichy-Madurai NH45B 4L (Many places to in Madurai. Supreme/Arathy/Park etc)
Madurai-Rameshwaram : NH49 Decent 2L (4 hours.)
Madurai-KK : East Coast Road (ECR) all the way via Tiruchendur. Its good road but with few facilities. Carry water and food for this stretch.

4. KK-TVM (Via Nagerkoil NH47)
No idea about hotels in TVM.

5. TVM-HVD : NH7 all the way (TVM-Nagerkoil and then NH7).

[joshguy]

Hi Arun

If you a Team-bhpian then you should be driving down and not travel by train

Here is my suggestion to you.

Day1 -Start from Hyd and reach Trichy the first day,it is doable

Day 2-Finish srirangam on day two and start to tanjore-First Class Road till Tanjore(i visited a month back)

Day 3-Visit places in tanjore on day 3 and start to rameswaram via pudukottai>karaikudi>Ramnad

Day 4- Visit rameswaram temple and start to madurai via paramakudi

Day 5 - Spend first half in Madurai (Meenakshi amman temple and Tiruparangundram) and start to Kanyakumari by 2 pm so that you reach by night

Day 6 - See the sunrise @ Kanyakumari ,visit temples if any and start to Trivandrum and finish sight seeing there and take rest.

Day 7 - Start to Bangaluru via Kochi>Coimbature>Salem

I think the travel will be little tiresome as you travel everyday.If you want to spend more time at these places then cut kanyakumari and trivandrum from the plan.

Then the plan will be like this ..Hyd>trichy>Tanjore>Rameswaram>Madurai and Back to Banglore from Madurai via Dindukal>Karur>Salem>Bangy

Do let me know if you are choosing my plan

[himavanth_m]

Depends on your parents enthusiasm really. If you ask me it will be quite a hectic drive for parents. Doing 3000 kms in 7 days equals to approximately 500 kms of travel per day. Take extra precaution for your mom and dad so that they enjoy the trip as much as you do.

If you ask me below is my plan I would skip Trivandrum and Kanyakumari so that you can drive at a more leisurely pace and it wont be exhausting on your parents. That would save additional 1000kms and you can easily do 2k kms in 6-7 days at leisure.

Also, on day one going from Hyderabad to Tanjavur which is around 1k kms will be very tiring especially because the some of the route is through 2 laned roads.

So my plan would be

Plan 1: (With Tirupati)
day 1 Hyderabad - Tpt
Day 2: Tirupati temple visit. Come back in evening and check out Alivelu mangapuram.
Day 3 : Head towards Tanjavur (On the way do check out Sri Kalahasti)
On Day 3 itself you can check out Tanjavur if you start early
Day 4: Start early, to Tiruchanapalli and head towards Madurai. and you can see Madurai as well on the same day.

Day 5: Start early to rameshwaram. Stay at Rameshwaram.

Day 6 and Day 7: Return Journey

Plan 2 (Removing Tirupati)
Day 1: Hyd - Blr
Day 2: Blr - Madurai
Day 3 - Madurai Sight seeing and head towards Ramesharam for night
Day 4: See rameshwaram and come back to Tanjavur
Day 5: See Tanjavur as well as Kumbakonam (Excellent temple)
Day 6: Tanjavur to Tiruchanapalli and check out Tiruchanapalli and head towards Bangalore and stay at BLR for the night
Day 7: Blr Hyderabad

The advantage of plan 2 will be it will be mostly through good roads. And you will have more leisure

If you want me to include Kanyakumari and Trivandrum, you could but make sure if everyone is Ok with long drives which needs to be done at night atleast some of the times. If you are experience enough then you can do it.

[ampere]

The other way of looking from stress point of view, if you plan to drive, is to cut out of points which have stressful traffic or non 4L roads or minimise that aspect.

For example, remove Rameshwaram and TVM

Hyd-Bangalore-Salem-Namakkal-Trichy (Only Namakkal-Trichy is SH but decent)

Trichy-Tanjore-Trichy (NH67/4L)

Trichy-Madurai (NH45B/4L)
Madurai-KK-Madurai (NH7 4L)

and Return back.

[hvkumar]

I would go direct from Rameswaram to KK via the ECR (Tuticorin, Tiruchendur) and see Madurai on the way back from Trivandrum. I would also avoid the Kerala route via Kochi because of the heavy traffic on NH47.

ECR has some bad roads south of Tuticorin. Rest of the roads are fine.

LOts of hotels to choose form.
If looking for a fancy hotel in Thanjavur, go to Hotel Sangam. LOts of budget hotels around.
Trivandrum has lots of hotels - try Hotel Arya's near the Railway Station.

Take KK-Trvandrum-Nagercoil route either late night or early morning to avoid heavy traffic congestion.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by arun_kun

Hi All,

Yesterday all of sudden my sis decided that we should go on a trip as she has to take 10days leave(continuously as per company poicy) in an year and those leaves will get wasted if she won't. Considering my dad schedule and mine, we decide that we should be traveling next week. i.e 6-13 nov 2011. That's total of 7 days approx. So we will be starting from Hyderabad on 6th Nov 2011 morning. Should be back atleast by sunday evening to Hyderabad.

No.of Persons: 4(me,mom,dad and sis)

Places to cover:

Last year same time we went to Varanasi, so according to the custom we have to visit Rameshwaram,TamilNadu after going to Kasi. So this time we want to travel to Rameshwaram and visit places in South Tamil Nadu. I have visited North Tamil Nadu and Stayed in CHennai but never been to South Tamil Nadu.

Here are the list of places i want to cover.
-->Tanjavur,
-->Srirangam,
-->Madurai,
-->Rameshwaram,
-->Kankyakumari,
-->Trivandrum

Initial Map for the travel:

Attachment 836241



Any suggestions of other places from the experts in this area are most welcome.


Mode of transport:

1) I have Chevy Spark at home. My preference is to take our spark so that we have flexibility to stop anywhere we want to go. My dad and sis can also drive occasionally if i get tired. The entire will be around 3000+ kms. Will it be too much for my parents considering spark has not so comfortable ride at the back?

2)The other option is to and fro Hyderabad to Madurai by train. Hire a cab locally and travel around. Or are there any self drive options available in Madurai? Any info about this is much helpful.

Please do help on this regard.

Places to stay for the Night:

Since it is very sudden trip, I did not had time to plan on where to stay or which hotel to book. Please advise on the good places to rest for night in above mentioned locations and any contacts for the same will be great.


So guys, ultimately all i wanted from you guyz is so simple... please plan my trip..entirely. Since i am short of time and you guys are the pro's in these matters , help this bechaara to plan it properly

Awaiting!!

You can easily do this trip in your Spark.Roads are excellent throughout,no issues on road conditions or wayside facilities.

Day 1:You can do Hyd-Salem.Stay in Salem at GRT Estancia if you have a budget of around INR 2500-3000 for a dbl occupancy room.The best in Salem and bang on the NH7.If you leave Hyd by 4-5am you would be at GRT by 3-4pm.Hyd-Blr in 8hours(being conservative).BLR-Salem in 3hours.

Day 2:Salem-Srirangam-Tanjore and stay the night at Tanjore.Tanjore has better hotels than Srirangam.Hotel Oriental Towers is a good place at Tanjore.Salem-Srirangam is around 3hour drive.Leave after bf from Salem.

Srirangam-Tanjore is a 1.5hr drive.

Day 3:Tanjore-Madurai-Rameshwaram.Approx 4hours.Madurai-Rameshwaram is another 3hours.Night stay at Rameshwaram.

Day 4:Rameshwaram-Kanyakumari 6 hours.Reach Kanyakumari for the sunset and leave for TVM after Sunrise

Day 5: Kanyakumari-TVM via Suchindram around 2-3hours.

Day 6: TVM-Bangalore via NH7 (Madurai-Dindigul-Salem-Bangalore)

Day 7:Bangalore-Hyderabad.We usually stay at a place called Seagrape Gardens on Residency Road at Blore,brilliant place again in the range of INR 2500-3000 for dbl occupancy.

[arun_kun]

Thanks ampere,joshguy,himavanth_m,ampere,hvkumar,ranjitp1 for quick response.Appreciate it very much.

Yes as pointed out, being Team-Bhp i should be driving rather than going in train or flight.And My dad is 55 and mom is 45. So i think they
wont face much trouble with the journey(they might feel bit tired but as of now they are excited). I did good no.of long trips in an around Bangy and Hyd with friends. And i love long drives.

As Majority are suggesting Hyd>trichy>Tanjore>> Madurai>Rameshwaram>Trivandrum>Bangy>Hyd seems to be good option.
I am planning to trade my friend's Swift for this trip so that it will comfortable.

My dad is insisting on visiting Tirupati, i am trying to convince him give it a miss as we go to tirupati regularly and tirupati would make difficult
to cover trivandrum. Me and parents never visited South Tamil Nadu. So want to cover max possible places.

And since the route is almost final. Please suggest few good budget(1k-1.5k) hotels on the way. Thanks again guys!

[Skyline GT-R]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I would go direct from Rameswaram to KK via the ECR (Tuticorin, Tiruchendur) and see Madurai on the way back from Trivandrum. I would also avoid the Kerala route via Kochi because of the heavy traffic on NH47.

Trivandrum has lots of hotels - try Hotel Arya's near the Railway Station.

Take KK-Trvandrum-Nagercoil route either late night or early morning to avoid heavy traffic congestion.

3 points which may help better tour plan.

The Padmanabha Swamy temple has become a real tourist spot after the "Modern Mackenna's Gold" episode & the queues take sometimes upto 3-4 hours for a darshan. So plan accordingly.

Don't plan the drive via Kochi (NH47) unless it is a Sunday and try night/early morning drive to TVM as HVK sir mentioned.

There is a new Hotel "White Dammar" on LHS while driving from KK to TVM after Nemom before reaching Trivandrum. Seems good & rates are also negotiable. Happens to be near my wife's home.

[arun_kun]

Originally Posted by Skyline GT-R

3 points which may help better tour plan.

The Padmanabha Swamy temple has become a real tourist spot after the "Modern Mackenna's Gold" episode & the queues take sometimes upto 3-4 hours for a darshan. So plan accordingly.

Don't plan the drive via Kochi (NH47) unless it is a Sunday and try night/early morning drive to TVM as HVK sir mentioned.

There is a new Hotel "White Dammar" on LHS while driving from KK to TVM after Nemom before reaching Trivandrum. Seems good & rates are also negotiable. Happens to be near my wife's home.

True Padmanabha Swamy temple has become really popular. And everyone i talk about this trip are mentioning about this temple. I for sure keep in mind.

And one more think does have anyone can give rough idea of what how much time it takes for darshan in each of the temple. This could really help n planning.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by arun_kun

As Majority are suggesting Hyd>trichy>Tanjore>> Madurai>Rameshwaram>Trivandrum>Bangy>Hyd seems to be good option.
I am planning to trade my friend's Swift for this trip so that it will comfortable.

If that is the target plan then:

D1: Hyd-Salem (Halt)
D2: Salem-Trichy-Tanjore (Halt) Cover Trichy/Tanjore the same day.
D3: Tanjore-Pudukottai-Karaikudi-Rameshwaram (Halt) (start in the morning to reach by late noon) visit Dhanushkodi.
D4: Rameshwaram-Kanyakumai (Halt)
(Visit temples in Rameshwaram in the morning and start by noon for KK)
D5: Visit temples in KK and got TVM (Halt)
D6: TVM-Madurai
Complete temple visit at TVM and start for Madurai (This can be hectic)
You may Madurai pretty late
D7: Madurai-BLR (Halt)
Can stay at Madurai and go around seeing temples like Pilliyarpatti etc.
and start late for BLR to reach by evening (6 hours drive 4L)
D8: Hyd-Bangalore.

Overall if you want to cover all the places its pretty hectic. So evening I would suggest you take off TVM and directly drive to Madurai from KK.

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by ampere

If that is the target plan then:

Overall if you want to cover all the places its pretty hectic. So evening I would suggest you take off TVM and directly drive to Madurai from KK.

I am all in for a packed trip like you have mentioned but Do you think covering so many kms considering Parents are on the trip is viable?
If one is visiting Kanyakumari, I think it would be best to include trivandrum as well. Since it is very close to Kanyakumari.
If we remove Kanyakumari from the trip, he would be having more time to spend in and around Madurai/rameshwaram/tanjore say like Kumbakonam. And would also be doing the trip in a more leisurely pace.
Otherwise it would be a case of just too many places to visit in too little time and also very hectic one at that.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

I am all in for a packed trip like you have mentioned but Do you think covering so many kms considering Parents are on the trip is viable?
If one is visiting Kanyakumari, I think it would be best to include trivandrum as well. Since it is very close to Kanyakumari.
If we remove Kanyakumari from the trip, he would be having more time to spend in and around Madurai/rameshwaram/tanjore say like Kumbakonam. And would also be doing the trip in a more leisurely pace.
Otherwise it would be a case of just too many places to visit in too little time and also very hectic one at that.

Exactly my point. If you add Kumbakonam, them you need to chuck off even KK.
Because navagraha visits take one day of hectic drive around Kumbakonam.

If not then you just need evening at KK. Witness the sunset, visit the temple next morning and start for Madurai. You can be there at Madurai by noon (2/3PM).
Visit the temple in the evening stay overnight and can start the next day back for BLR/HYD.

So ideally that one day for TVM can be saved. It helps more so because, you are saved from driving through the heavy traffic to TVM via Nagarkoil.

But where you need more time is Rameshwaram. (Need one morning session). Temple visit with 22 wells and then a visit to Dhanushkodi.
You would be done by noon. So if you start for KK by noon, it would be too late to arrive at KK. That is the only problem piece which does not fit.
And it does not make sense not to visit Dhanushkodi having gone all the way.

[ukderebail]

I believe you should focus on TN rather than spreading your itinerary to Kerala. The ideal routing would be to cover Kanchipuram, Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Chidambaram, Velakanni, Thanjavur, Trichy, Srirangam, Puddukotai, Rameswaram, Madurai, if you want a hill station you can add Kodaikanal on your return from Madurai and return via Bangalore to Hyderabad. Next trip you can try Kerala and kanyakumari.

[Skyline GT-R]

Originally Posted by ukderebail

I believe you should focus on TN rather than spreading your itinerary to Kerala.

Next trip you can try Kerala and kanyakumari.

I wanted to say this in my earlier post.

Rather than just "touch & go" many places, it is better to focus on TN this time & plan a Kerala trip separately next time.