[shankarmenon]

My wife and I with our senior dog are relocating to Kochi from Kolkata by mid April.

I request help in the route, places to stay that will accept dogs, etc.
We are going in a petrol Ciaz - anything to check there? The car is 6 months old.
Thanks,
Shankar Menon

[supremeBaleno]

Quite some routes for you to take, but I guess the shortest and scenic one looks like along the coast - Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Vizag, Vijayawada till Nellore. And then Tirupati, Vellore, Salem onto Kochi.

A 6-month old car is practically new - just drive on.

[ike]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Quite some routes for you to take, but I guess the shortest and scenic one looks like along the coast - Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Vizag, Vijayawada till Nellore. And then Tirupati, Vellore, Salem onto Kochi.

I drove Bhubaneswar - Thrissur in 3rd week of Feb. The roads from Naidupetta till Tirupati is not great. From Tirupati till chittoor the bypass road is mostly complete and is very good mostly. Again chitoor - Vellore is not great.

I took he NH16 till chennai, used the outer ring road to bypass (most of) Chennai and carried on via Chengalpet - Ulundurpet - Salem - Coimbatore - Thrissur. The bottle necks are the Palar bridge work that is going on (but should be complete by mid April) and the stretch between Kallaikurichi - Salem where roads switch between 4 lanes and two abruptly and they have installed plastic poles on the divider to prevent overtaking. Very frustrating if you get suck behind slow moving traffic and some idiots keep honking expecting you to let them pass on the left side.

[Yatra Moksha]

Originally Posted by shankarmenon

I request help in the route, places to stay that will accept dogs, etc.

Hi. We are pet parents and often travel long distances on road. In our experience, it's pretty difficult to find hotels that accept pets. Hence, we do not rely on hotels. We always book our accommodation on AirBnB which turns out to be super convenient, comfortable and economical. One can find many pet friendly properties listed on the site at every location.

[Rhik94]

Originally Posted by shankarmenon

My wife and I with our senior dog are relocating to Kochi from Kolkata by mid April.

I request help in the route, places to stay that will accept dogs, etc.
Thanks,
Shankar Menon

Hey Shankar,
I did the same route during Christmas last year in my VW Polo TSi.
This was my route:
Kolkata- Bhubaneswar- Vijaywada- Chennai- Kochi.
Apart from the Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar sector, roads were excellent.
Vijaywada to Chennai, just after you bypass Vizag the road is just amazing!

Not sure about places of stay which are pet friendly though.

[dwarika]

Originally Posted by shankarmenon

My wife and I with our senior dog are relocating to Kochi from Kolkata by mid April.

I request help in the route, places to stay that will accept dogs, etc.
We are going in a petrol Ciaz - anything to check there? The car is 6 months old.
Thanks,
Shankar Menon

I have done multiple road trips between Bhubaneswar and Puducherry with car and twice with motorbike. Some of them were with family and most were solo and one of them was with family plus a dog which was a young German Spitz.

The route itself is easy and comfortable as most of the roads are excellent and about 60% would be 6 lane on NH16. The biggest challenge would be finding a place to rest with the dog. Here are my tips based on my experience and challenges faced.

1. Try booking through Airbnb. I found a place in Vijayawada which was a well maintained service apartment near the Airport and was in mint condition. They officially allowed pets and have a large backyard to walk and exercise the dog. They had huge parking space within the gated community.

2. I had to return from Guntur to Nellore due to road block during a trip in Dec and this was a nightmare in Nellore. Non of the good hotels allowed the pet. Only option was a cheap Oyo room which was of bellow average standard and was not so hygiene. But they did not care about us having the dog and that was the primary requirement for us. Car was parked on the road and was not very safe.

3. Before the trip, I had enquired with various hotels including ITC and Taj and non of them allowed pets.

To conclude, I would say please plan the stops before you start the journey and book places which offer accommodation with pets and confirm the same by chatting or speaking to them before you make the payment. This is important because Make My Trip suggested a place to be pet friendly but when I checked with the hotel, they refused.

The journey may take about 4 - 5 days if you want to make it comfortable and resting after every 600 - 700 km would be ideal. Please note that the road condition and traffic is not so good from Bhubaneswar till Ichchapuram and it keeps getting better as you move southward. Typical rest places could be

Kolkata - Starting point
Bhubaneswar
Rajahamundry or Vijayawada - The later is preferred and is doable if you start early morning from Bhubaneswar
Tirupati
Salem
Cochi - Destination

I am attaching a proposed rout plan for your reference and I hope the above information would be helpful. Wish you a happy and safe journey and hope you enjoy it. Please share your experience with us.

[shankarmenon]

Thanks very much for the guidance and route map

[shankarmenon]

Re my trip we are in vijaywada today leaving for Bangalore tomorrow. Yes kolkata to bhubaneswar highways not too good. Thereafter much better especially AP except the approach to godavari 4th bridge.

Anyone traveling through bhubaneswar, please do not stay in wekare guest house. It's pathetic.