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-   -   Bangalore to Coimbatore : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/26963-bangalore-coimbatore-route-queries-13.html)

@Mech,
Thanks. How long is the Salem to Sankagiri stretch?

^ it will be around 40-45 kms

Hi,
Has anyone done the stretch between Omalur - Sankagiri/Sankari? Any updates on the road condition appreciated.

Travelled just this weekend. Good Road though single lane. Didn't have too much of traffic except some trucks, of course Sankagiri is a truckers dug out. Dont know why, but almost the entire strech of Sankagiri to Omalur was lit up with tube lights as if there was some festival going on and I was having a hard time finding the road. :D

I went from blr to cbe for this diwali. Left blore at 1:30 pm from Indira Nagar and took the silkboard-hosur-krishnagiri-dharmapuri-thoppur-salem-avinashi-coimbatore route. Till Salem the roads are fine. The problem starts the moment you cross the outskirts of salem with multiple diversions till sankagiri. the road from sankagiri to perumanallur is fine. After this it is a single lane and is tiring to overtake long queue of trucks till you hit the L&T by pass at Nilambur. Reached coimbatore at 08:20pm.

Watch out for:

Huge speed brakers on the downhill road on thoppur ghat when you drive from Dharmapuri - they are really huge with no proper signages - you may get the chassis damaged.

diversions and some pathces have no roads between salem - sankagiri. especially you will see 3 or 4 layers of road which have been laid one on top of another which are 10cm high - suspension goes for a toss.

The best route to take in my opinion is to take a diversion from Thoppur and hit Mettur-sathy-puliampatty-annur-cbe. you may save time, distance and irritating traffic.

I have my doubts on this route. If I remember the maps correctly this route goes via Shivanasamudra and the roads there are quite bad.

Somebody did this route a few yrs back and updated on team bhp. I tried searching for it but can't find it now.

Hah.. found it> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-traveled.html

I doubt if the road conditions have changed after that.

If you have a good SUV or something with a nice GC you could probably try and let us know.

Thanks for the heads up csentil. So it would be better to take the Mysore - Chamarajnagar - Sathy route, right? And how much difference would be the Mysore - Gundulpet - Ooty - Cbe route compared to Sathy?

- KP

Yes the Chamrajnagar - Thimbam route would make sense. We had someone who did this route pretty recently, like a month or so back and updated this thread. Check it out. This is like 6 hrs or so.

Mysore - Ooty - Cbe is the roundabout route. If you want to do a lot of hill terrain driving and have plenty of time to spare then its a nice route. Gundulpet - Bandipur has almost non existent tarred roads according to last reports. You can either do Masanagudi - Ooty or Gudalur - Ooty. Expect a 9 hr trip.

Mettupalayam - Cbe is a heavy traffic sector. It can take anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hrs just to do this stretch.

Any info abt road conditions is welcome. Have to make this trip starting tuesday 1 dec 2009.Going in a New shape Honda City with 4 people in the car.

Please note the road from Ooty via Conoor to Mettupalayam is closed due to heavy landslides.

You will have to take the Ooty - Kotagiri route.

Hi everyone. Had done a dash and back to Coimbatore on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Route: Bangalore (1.05 PM) - Krishnagiri(2.15PM) - Thoppur (3PM) - Mettur - Ammapettai(4.05) - Sathy(appr 5 PM) - Cbe(6 PM)

Silk Board: 1.05 PM
Coimbatore Gandipuram Bus Stand: 6.00 PM. Non Stop except a nature break.
Distance: 345 kms.

Bangalore - Hosur has greatly improved. No traffic problems except for the two flyovers at Chandapura & Attiebele.

Hosur bus stand is still a pain.

Krishnagiri - Thoppur is awesome to say the least. However watchout for wrong side traffic. Visibility is good during the day. Did Toll Gate to Toll Gate in 30 minutes flat.

Thoppur Ghat section has speed breakers clearly marked out now. There are 8 sets of speedbreakers. Each set has 2. You actually have boards which say 1/8, 2/8....
This is only on the down section towards Thoppur.

Thoppur - Mettur road is good except for small patches. After Mecheri you can expect traffic.

First 10 kms after Mettur bypass ends is excellent roads. After that road conditions are so so. Potholes on the sides and broken patches. The Civic covers it smoothly but still the potholes can be a worry. This is due to the recent heavy rains and I did see some work on the Bhavani side when I returned

Ammapettai to Sathy is 60 kms and road conditions alternate between good, decent and so so. Work is on to patch up at some places. You can easily do this in 1 hr.

Sathy to Coimbatore is 70 kms of pure driving fun if you watch the curves. Strictly no overtaking and no overspeeding into the curves. Some of them will throw you out if you are not careful :)

Return:

Coimbatore (Peelamedu)6.40 AM - Avinashi (7.15AM) - Bhavani(7.45AM) - Mettur(8.30AM) - A2B (9.30 AM - 10.00 AM) - Krishnagiri (approx 10.30) - Bangalore (HAL Airport 12.15 PM)

Distance: 334 kms till Silk Board.

Coimbatore to L&T Bypass is very good four lane road.

L&T Bypass to where 4 laning starts: However after the bypass till 10 kms past Avinashi is a pain. 2 Lane with almost no tarred shoulders. Heavy lorry/bus/vans traffic even in the morning. Overtaking is impossible for extended periods especially if you are stuck behind a bus which is trying to overtake a lorry or worse, trailer trucks.

Once the 4 laning starts it is awesome. However there have been lot of accidents on this due to vehicles (2 and 4 wheelers) coming on the wrong side. I saw a nut case Bulldozer coming towards me on the right side lane. Thankfully there was good visibility so I didn't have a problem.

Bhavani - Mettur road as I said alternates between good/decent/bad and then good! You can still cover this in 45minutes to an hr max.

Even if the current 4 laning is completed between Salem - Chengapalli I don't want to venture on the Avinashi sector. Work has not even started there and one can waste more than an hour getting into Cbe especially in the evenings.

I would probably do Krishnagiri - Salem - Chittode (exit 4 lane here) and then Gobi - Nambiyur - Annur - Coimbatore which is a much more peaceful ride. Distance wise might be higher but a more peaceful drive.

That is great the details good.Thanks for the update planning for a drive from Hyderabad to Coimbatore this Christmas.Planning to go via from Chithode Gobi Nambiyur Puliambatti Annur and Coimbatore from Bhavani.

Good info Sentil. Thanks.

I have a question regarding the 'Gudalur - Nilambur' route. How are the roads in this route. I am not sure how the Bandipur approach road is. Last time I went that side in summer there was almost no road!! I am planning to go to Manarkkad during vacation time and want to check how the Nilambur route is.

S.Suresh

Team, if you are planning to drive to Coimbatore/Kerala through Metter/Bhavani, please avoid and use Salem Route instead. In my personal experience last week, the roads from Thoppur to Bhavani are in worst condition with huge potholes especially from Metter to Bhavani. Heavy Rains couple of weeks back have ruined these roads a lot. Horrible!!!

I happened to see even spot a Scorpio suffer this stretch by huge potholes. You are sure to cause damage to your vehicle (mostly hatchbacks and Sedans) by taking this route.

Instead you can take Thoppur - Salem - Sankagiri route to reach Coimbatore/Kerala which is awesome.

Mods,
Can you please move this to the thread "Route info Bangalore to Coimbatore"? csentil has one thread that is frequently updated.