[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Folks

Can anyone suggest a good hotel/home stay either in Thiruvananthapuram or Kovalam beach area. My budget is max Rs 2800/day. I will be accompanied by my wife and 2 kids.

I have stayed in Hotel Ginger and Keys @ around 2-2.5K per night(booked via Makemytrip). Hotel Ginger was little spacious. But these are little far from Kovalam.

You can post this in A thread on Accommodation & Rates for more visibility.

[JohnyBoy]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Folks

Can anyone suggest a good hotel/home stay either in Thiruvananthapuram or Kovalam beach area. My budget is max Rs 2800/day. I will be accompanied by my wife and 2 kids.

Lucia Hotel, Park Rajadhani, The Seven Hills, Royal Heritage Hotel - try one of these. All in the city, not near Kovalam.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by JohnyBoy

Lucia Hotel, Park Rajadhani, The Seven Hills, Royal Heritage Hotel - try one of these. All in the city, not near Kovalam.

Thanks for your feedback Mate. I have booked accommodation in Hotel Blue Bay Kovalam. Do you have any feedback on the hotel ?

[JohnyBoy]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Thanks for your feedback Mate. I have booked accommodation in Hotel Blue Bay Kovalam. Do you have any feedback on the hotel ?

Sorry, no idea. Friends have stayed at Samudra and Udaya Samudra in Kovalam. Both will be around 5-6k range. That's why I didn't suggest.
Enjoy Blue Bay. And post your feedback.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

I will be driving from Bangalore and my planned route is to drive till Nagercoil and then take diversion to Kovalam. Is this the preferred route ?

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Try to avoid December 24th.

Avoid 25th as well. Once I started from Bangalore on 25th and spent more than 30 mins at each toll. Adding to that is the fighting one has to do to get food at a decent place.

[Sankar]

Trivandrum to Nagercoil road and rail connection has been severed at many places due to fallen trees etc as per news today. Bangalore - Trivandrum buses stopped services at Nagercoil. Train also not moving.

[livetodrive]

Hi,

Is it advisable to start at 11PM from Bangalore? Only one fellow passenger..wife and she also drives. Please suggest. I plan to take the Google route till Nagercoil and then decide on the route again to reach Poovar.

Thanks,

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by livetodrive

Hi,

Is it advisable to start at 11PM from Bangalore? Only one fellow passenger..wife and she also drives. Please suggest. I plan to take the Google route till Nagercoil and then decide on the route again to reach Poovar.

Thanks,

If both of you are comfortable doing late night driving and have driven in the past, then you may do so.
Drive safely and do take breaks in between. Also take turns while driving and do engage each other in discussion while driving so that the driver either you or your spouse remain alert

[raghulsudheesh]

I am also planning to drive from Bangalore to Trivandrum tomorrow. I want to start at night and reach Trivandrum by morning. However some of my friends here are advising against a night drive owing to recent attacks against night travellers, particularly against KL registered vehicles. I don't know how far these stories doing the rounds are true. Does anyone know about these issues?

[arun_josie]

I have not heard of any such attack on this route. If you are planning for a night drive then plan to reach Nagercoil by 5-6am so that you can avoid the traffic on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum stretch.

[raghulsudheesh]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

I have not heard of any such attack on this route. If you are planning for a night drive then plan to reach Nagercoil by 5-6am so that you can avoid the traffic on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum stretch.

Thank you Arun for the revert. I might turn to Thenmala route once I reach Madurai as highway expansion is happening in the Nagercoil stretch and there are many diversions in place.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by raghulsudheesh

Thank you Arun for the revert. I might turn to Thenmala route once I reach Madurai as highway expansion is happening in the Nagercoil stretch and there are many diversions in place.

Thenmala route doesn't have good facilities for a night drive. So, plan your drive accordingly.

[jayded]

Travelling from Trivandrum to Bangalore, there are few diversions after Parassala till Marthandam. The road conditions till Nagercoil in this new road is torturous for a small car or sedan. Narrow roads filled with quite a few crater like potholes. Speed needs to be dropped to almost zero to navigate most of these. Took me 3+ hours to reach Nagercoil on Wednesday 27th, starting from Kaudiar at 6:15 am.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Thenmala route doesn't have good facilities for a night drive. So, plan your drive accordingly.

Doesn't have good facilities for a day drive either.

Two options I noticed (for stopping with family) - 1. Marrybrown complex near to Srivilliputhur (10:30 am to 10:30pm) 2. KTDC Motel Aaram just inside Kerala border at Palaruvi (7am to 9:30pm).

Originally Posted by jayded

Travelling from Trivandrum to Bangalore, there are few diversions after Parassala till Marthandam. The road conditions till Nagercoil in this new road is torturous for a small car or sedan. Narrow roads filled with quite a few crater like potholes. Speed needs to be dropped to almost zero to navigate most of these. Took me 3+ hours to reach Nagercoil on Wednesday 27th, starting from Kaudiar at 6:15 am.

Started from Trivandrum at 5:50am yesterday and reached Dindigul by 12:15pm via the Thenmala - Shenkottah - Madurai route.

[jayded]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Started from Trivandrum at 5:50am yesterday and reached Dindigul by 12:15pm via the Thenmala - Shenkottah - Madurai route.

That's a decent timing. I took almost 7 hours door to door from Trivandrum to Madurai with a half hour breakfast break near Nagercoil. How is the road conditions in the Thenmala route? I've never tried that route and have always taken the painful Nagercoil route.