[roadlover1705]

Hi, I am planning a road trip to Kerala from Bangalore starting next weekend. My first destination will be Kannur for which I will follow the Bangalore-Mysore-Hunsur-Iriti-Kannur route that many have suggested here. A couple of questions -

1. Can we take the new BLR-Mysore highway? If yes, then till where and how to connect to this highway if I start from Hennur?
2. Is there anything to look out for in terms of road conditions? I will be careful to take the Mysore to ring road and not get to the KRS road, but anything apart from that?

Many thanks in advance! Cheers!

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by roadlover1705

Hi, I am planning a road trip to Kerala from Bangalore starting next weekend. My first destination will be Kannur for which I will follow the Bangalore-Mysore-Hunsur-Iriti-Kannur route that many have suggested here. A couple of questions -

1. Can we take the new BLR-Mysore highway? If yes, then till where and how to connect to this highway if I start from Hennur?
2. Is there anything to look out for in terms of road conditions? I will be careful to take the Mysore to ring road and not get to the KRS road, but anything apart from that?

Many thanks in advance! Cheers!

1. Of course you can take the Mysore Road which is now built newly. The new highway is a pleasure to drive. Most towns are bypassed now except Mandya. From Hennur, you will pass through Mysore Road satellite bus stand, Kengeri and join Mysore Road. Just give destination as Mysore and start off. Ensure the route suggested in map is the Mysore Road (which passes through Mandya, Maddur) and not via Kanakapura. Have you never traveled to Mysore?

2. Nothing to worry off. Avoid KRS road. Plan to take a stop at Coorg Gate restaurant at perumbadi which will be a nice refreshment point.

[roadlover1705]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

1. Of course you can take the Mysore Road which is now built newly. The new highway is a pleasure to drive. Most towns are bypassed now except Mandya. From Hennur, you will pass through Mysore Road satellite bus stand, Kengeri and join Mysore Road. Just give destination as Mysore and start off. Ensure the route suggested in map is the Mysore Road (which passes through Mandya, Maddur) and not via Kanakapura. Have you never traveled to Mysore?

2. Nothing to worry off. Avoid KRS road. Plan to take a stop at Coorg Gate restaurant at perumbadi which will be a nice refreshment point.

Many thanks, @balenoed_. This is helpful.

I have been to the Mysore stretch several times before but not once since the new expressway has been laid, so got confused if what Google Maps show is the same old road or the new one. Also, thanks for sharing a stop-over suggestion, I will definitely check that out.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by roadlover1705

so got confused if what Google Maps show is the same old road or the new one.

It is essentially the same old highway with entry and exit points being the same and more or less entire stretch is same but widened and bypassing all towns.

The red is the entire stretch. The blue sections are the new ones that bypasses those respective towns. (The one for Mandya not open yet)

[Tygerman]

Originally Posted by roadlover1705

A couple of questions -

1. Can we take the new BLR-Mysore highway? If yes, then till where and how to connect to this highway if I start from Hennur?
2. Is there anything to look out for in terms of road conditions? I will be careful to take the Mysore to ring road and not get to the KRS road, but anything apart from that?

If you use Google maps, the new highway is what it will show you. I recently did a Kannur - Bangalore trip in the last week of October. I unfortunately took the KRS by pass road instead of the ring road and that was terrible. You just have to stick to the old Mysore Bangalore road (via Kengeri). Over Kengeri, there's an elevated expressway that will directly connect you to the new Bangalore Mysore highway. During my trip, there were diversions up until Maddur and the highway was continuous from there on till Kengeri (Nice road entry to Electronic city - I had to go to Koramangala). But now, I think the highway will be more continuous and it would by pass Mandya and other smaller towns.

Other than that, rest of the route makes up for a pleasant drive. Just be careful over the Makuta ghats (after Perumbadi lake) if you are on driving a low ground clearance sedan. Some stretches around the bends on the ghats are eroded exposing rocks and concrete due to the monsoons this season. Once you enter Kerala, the roads are exceptionally good with smooth tarmac but mostly 2 lane. From Kuthuparamba you can travel straight on the Kannur road.

Have a great trip!

[Car-go-man]

Hi All

God-willing, planning to do a Bangalore-to-Kannur trip with family.
Had few questions-
1. What eateries are now easily accessible on the Bangalore-Mysore expressway around Maddur area?
2. Between Mysore and Kannur, could you please suggest good pitstops for refreshments as well as for loo breaks?
3. How long is the ghat section on the way to Kannur and how does it compare (in terms of navigability) to the Masinagudi-Ooty ghat or the Selam-Yercaud ghat?

Thanks in advance.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

1. What eateries are now easily accessible on the Bangalore-Mysore expressway around Maddur area?
2. Between Mysore and Kannur, could you please suggest good pitstops for refreshments as well as for loo breaks?
3. How long is the ghat section on the way to Kannur and how does it compare (in terms of navigability) to the Masinagudi-Ooty ghat or the Selam-Yercaud ghat?

1. Shivalli or Vaishali after Channapattana and just before Maddur are easily accessible. Just watch out for the small sign boards which mentions to exit to service road to reach these hotels.

2. Coorg Gate, at Perumbadi (after Virajpet bypass) is an excellent option for refreshment. That is right at the start of the ghat section downhill.

3. Ghat section is roughly about 20 minutes downhill and 30 minutes uphill. It is more similar to Yercaud than Masinagudi. At some portions, the roads are a little bad, so just drive slow. Drive slow and cautiously. There are couple of tight curves which are easy to miss for new comers on that route. Also quite a lot of goods transport vehicles plying. So be extra cautious until you reach Koottupuzha bridge, which is the border.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by Tygerman

From Kuthuparamba you can travel straight on the Kannur road.

Did you mean Mattannur? Because there is no need to go to Kuthuparamba when moving from Bangalore to Kannur via Iritty.

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

Hi All
How long is the ghat section on the way to Kannur and how does it compare (in terms of navigability) to the Masinagudi-Ooty ghat or the Selam-Yercaud ghat?

Makutta ghats actually is different from the ghats you are comparing to. Most of the road is through thick canopied forests and width is adequate almost all along the route. There are no valley views on this ghat where you can stop and click pictures. There is just one hairpin bend but the road is very curvy as is in any ghat section. As balenoed mentioned , there are some tight curves but nothing alarming or dangerous as such as long as you stick to sane speeds. You have less bus traffic and more LCVs and cars here.

[Tygerman]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Did you mean Mattannur? Because there is no need to go to Kuthuparamba when moving from Bangalore to Kannur via Iritty.

You are right. It skipped my mind that there's a direct route from Mattanur. My destination would be usually Thalassery. Hence my reference to Kuthuparamba. I have used that route as well to travel to Vadakumbad (close to Mambaram) via Anjarakandy. It is way more scenic than the regular Kuthuparamba road to Thalassery.

[ferokan]

Hi, I am planning to drive from Vadakara to Bangalore on new year eve. What would be the best route to take?
1. Vadakara - Calicut - bathery - Gundulpet - Mysore - Bangalore
2. Vadakara - Iritty - Makutta - Gonikoppa - Hunsur - Mandya - Bangalore
3. Or any other routes, kindly recommend

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by ferokan

Hi, I am planning to drive from Vadakara to Bangalore on new year eve. What would be the best route to take?
1. Vadakara - Calicut - bathery - Gundulpet - Mysore - Bangalore
2. Vadakara - Iritty - Makutta - Gonikoppa - Hunsur - Mandya - Bangalore
3. Or any other routes, kindly recommend

which time of the day are you starting? There is no night closure on route 2 while the Muthanga - Gundlupete stretch forest remains closed from 9PM to 6 AM on route 1.

I would prefer route 1 as the roads are mostly alright and distance wise I believe would be the lesser of the two. If you still intend to take route 1 for some reason, you need not go via Calicut, instead You can do Vadakara-Koyilandy- Balussery-Thamarashery-Kalpeta.

Another route worth considering is the standard route from Vadakara to Bangalore which most people take :: Vadakara- Kuttyady- Pakranthalam ghat- Mananthavadi- Bavali- HD kote - Mysore - Bangalore. The forest stretch between Bavali and Anthrasanthe is closed between 6 PM and 6 AM on this route. Also the road inside the forest is not in good condition.

[ferokan]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Another route worth considering is the standard route from Vadakara to Bangalore which most people take :: Vadakara- Kuttyady- Pakranthalam ghat- Mananthavadi- Bavali- HD kote - Mysore - Bangalore. The forest stretch between Bavali and Anthrasanthe is closed between 6 PM and 6 AM on this route. Also the road inside the forest is not in good condition.

Didnt know about this route, thank you sandsun7!

[Car-go-man]

Just came back from Kannur and thanks to @balenoed and @sandsun7 for their advice.

Shivalli/Vaishali are indeed quite convenient on the new expressway. There was more crowd in Shivalli than at Vaishali perhaps because their security guard was constantly whistling at every passing car and urging them to squeeze into what was a jam-packed parking area. I was expecting the service road to be bad, but on the contrary, it was quite good and free.

The new expressway is nice. It was a different experience driving to Mysore than the numerous drives done before. Earlier, we used to look out for those "Welcome" and "Thank you" sign boards respectively before and after each major town on that highway. Now, on the new e-way, it is hard to know where you are but you can maintain a constant good speed from the NICE road exit all the way till before Mandya. Quite convenient.

Avoided the KRS road and took the ring-road to join the Hunsur road. Drive till Gonikoppal was uneventful.

However, got stuck at a major traffic jam in Gonikoppal. Traffic was standstill and it took more than 45 min to cross a stretch of 1.5 kms. While coming back, it was OK though. Perhaps it was that time of the day or perhaps it was one-off, but to me it seems like it is a regular fare for travelers on that route. Lot of shops and cars parked all along plus quite some junctions that are manned by traffic police trying to negotiate vehicles coming from different directions. One thing I majorly appreciated was the patience of the vehicles queued up on that narrow stretch. In Bangalore, you will see all vehicles- small or big- use the wrong lane to cut through into the regular lane by bypassing the regular queue. Thankfully no one except one KSRTC bus did that (and perhaps few 2-wheelers and autos).

Coorg Gate restaurant is indeed very good. Nice and clean toilets and decent pitstop. The souvenir shop attached to it seemed interesting as well.

Makkuta ghat was fine as well except for some craters in some turns. Most trucks drive at crazy speeds downhill there so you have to watch out like any other ghat.

The highways in Kerala are indistinguishable from regular roads, but are in good condition. Did not encounter any potholes and also found very minimal use of speed breakers which was surprising as well as we cross multiple towns en route.

[Latheesh]

Hi,

Planning to drive from Kannur to Bangalore after the gap of ~ 5 years. Is old route still good?

Kannur-Kootupuzha-Perumbadi check post-Gonikoppa-Mysore (Ring road)-Bangalore expressway-NICE exit-Electronic city.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Hi,

Planning to drive from Kannur to Bangalore after the gap of ~ 5 years. Is old route still good?

Kannur-Kootupuzha-Perumbadi check post-Gonikoppa-Mysore (Ring road)-Bangalore expressway-NICE exit-Electronic city.

Yes, all good. There are a few bad sections in the ghats at a few places, nothing to worry as such. Yes, take Mysore ring road and avoid KRS road. Can enjoy the new Mysore - Bangalore highway, not fully completed though. All towns are bypassed now.