[SureshS]

Just about deciding my final travel plans for Dec vacations. I plan to go to Kozhikode and then to Guruvayur from Mudumalai (initial plan was to go to Chennai). I need some info.

1. Which is the best route to take from Mudumalai to Kozhikode? How is the condition of the road.
2. Any good hotels that you can suggest in Kozhikode? Going with my family. Any good places to eat? I am a vegetarian.
3. Which is the best route to get to Guruvayur from Kozhikode? How long would it take and what is the condition of the road?
4. Should I take the Kozhikode route to get back to Bangalore (where I stay) or should I take some other optimal route?

My thanks in advance. Will be grateful for any advice.

S.Suresh

[madan80]

Originally Posted by SureshS

Hi,

I am planning to go from Mudumalai to Chennai during the Christmas holidays. Would you suggest that I go via Tamil Nadu? (Will that be via Coimbatore?) Or is it better to get back to Bangalore and go to Chennai?

The stretch from mudumalai till mysore is good interspaced with a few bad patches, after that from mysore till chennai - via bangalore is great.
I would suggest this route- not very scenic but fast.

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

Better alternative is to go via Mettupalayam - Sathy - Athani - Andiyur - Ammapettai - Mettur - Mechari - Thoppur - Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri (join the GQ and head towards Chennai).


Hi folks,
Planning a trip to Coimbatore on 26th from chennai, any recent update on this route after the recent rains.I will join the mettur route via Krishnagiri.

[blorebuddy]

I did this last weekend. Good to see majority of the potholes(90%) from K.giri to Thoppur are closed. But there are uneven stretches due to this patch work.

The best part is Thoppur - Mettur - Bhavani.
Most of the potholes are patched, the sections which are worse are laid down completely. Awsome

[HappyWheels]

the rain over the last few days seems to have played havoc with what ever patching was done on the state highways in TN.

do get the latest update before heading out.

[csentil]

Ok. One more alternative route update on Bangalore - Coimbatore route and a more scenic one at that. If you want to enjoy a nice drive and have a bit more time to spare, try this.

Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Kaveripatnam - Palacode - Papparapatti - Pennagaram - PerumPaalai - Mechari - Mettur - Ammapettai - Andiyur - Athani - Gobi - Nambiyur - Puliyampatti - Coimbatore. (365 kms or so)

Return:

Coimbatore - Annur - Puliyampatti - Nambiyur - Gobi - Athani - Andiyur - Ammapettai - Mettur - Mechari - Pennagaram - Papparapatti - Palacode - Rayakottai - Hosur - Bangalore (335 kms)

Have highlighted the important route info.

My friend wanted to take his Alto to Coimbatore and back and so I decided to accompany him as this was his first time on the highways.

We did the normal Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Kaveripatnam. On reaching Kaveripatnam there was a major jam due to the small road inside the town. There were 50 lorries & buses before us. With an Alto it would be a big headache overtaking all of them till Dharmapuri, given the bad roads. So we decided on a different route. Just as you get out of Kaveripatnam there is a right which is marked Hogennakal - 66 and Palacode - 21 or so. So we took this right. This is a well laid road and meets the Hosur - Dharmapuri road just before Palacode.

Palacode has a newly laid bypass now. Its on the left just before you hit Palacode town. Once you rejoin after Palacode, there is a right towards Papparapatti/Pennagaram/Hogennakal. Take this right. Again excellent roads with very less traffic.

Papparapatti is a small town with a small narrow road throug town. Once you get out of it keep heading straight until you meet the Dharmapuri - Pennagaram/Hogennakal road.

Take a right here and head towards Pennagaram. Just before Pennagaram there is a bypass on the left towards Hogennakkal. As you go about 500 metres on this road there is a junction with a roundabout. You need to take the left towards Mechari (44 kms). This was the first time I had taken this route.

Guys this road is too good. Its not only the road but the scenery. You keep driving down a road lined with trees. Then you go up a small gradient and lo, you are on the top of a small mountain overlooking a beautiful valley. The road winds down the valley. Its a small ghat section with hairpin bends et al !! Then you drive through the valley surrounded by small hillocks and down winding roads. The roads are in excellent condition and there is work going on on converting them to two lanes. But given the almost nil traffic its not a worry. Just honk around the corners.

Once you hit the other side of the valley you again have a small ghat section to drive up. No mobile coverage in this valley !!! :-)

You finally hit Mechari. Take a right towards Mettur. Road conditions for a couple of kms after mettur is bad. Take a right at Ammapettai. This is around 20 kms or lesser from Mettur. Ammapettai - Andiyur - Athani is as always good.

Take the left after Athani towards Gobichettipalayam. Again you drive through palm lined roads with water canals on one side and paddy and sugarcane fields on both sides of the road. This 14 kms stretch is straight out of any Kollywood movie.

Take a right at the junction in Gobi. From here, you can either drive on till Sathy (as this road is again very good) and from there on proceed towards Coimbatore or if you like scenery and rural India, you can take the left which leads towards Nambiyur. This left is around 5 kms from Gobi. Keep going straight till you hit a junction. Take the right here. At the next junction you need to take a left. Just ask someone for Nambiyur/Puliyampatti. Nambiyur - Puliyampatti is also very interesting drive. Once you hit Puliyampatti you join the Sathy - Coimbatore road. Take left towards Coimbatore.

Almost all roads from Kaveripatnam are state roads in excellent condition. You cannot rip on these and if you are in a hurry please avoid these. You could bang into some poor villager. (We actually saw one villager who had been knocked down by a speeding four wheeler). Honk and watch out near the villages. It took nearly 7 hours to complete this route discounting all stops. However given the state of Dharmapuri - Thoppur roads probably you would make the same time if you go through them as well.

Return we took the same route, except from Palacode we drove straight towards Rayakottai and then on to Hosur. After Palacode the roads are bad in small stretches. We saw a lot of work happening in filling the potholes. After Rayakottai the road is excellent and we made good time.
We did the return in like 6 hrs and half hours or lesser given that we covered lesser distance.

Given that it was my friend driving all the way the time taken is a little longer than normal. I could have knocked a further 15 - 30 minutes off. :-)

We didn't have to overtake too many vehicles, no big buses and lorries trying to crowd us out of the road, just nice scenery and a great drive. My friend was absolutely thrilled as this was his first drive and this took him through all kinds of roads.

I think there is a route from Pennagaram - Denginikottai - Hosur also. I will try this out the next time !!

[akroy]

Excellent update csenthil, I think private cars towards Coimbatore and Kerala can take this route bypassing the Salem and NH47.

So now people has a shorter and scenic option to go to Hogenakkal Falls now.

Originally Posted by csentil

I think there is a route from Pennagaram - Denginikottai - Hosur also. I will try this out the next time !!

Pennagaram - Anchatti - Denkanikota - Hosur is an excellent stretch as well. Although I have done till Denkanikota but I have heard from a friend that Denkanikota - Anchatti - Pennagaram is also nice.

[HappyWheels]

good update csentil.

will try this route when I have some time to kill on the drive.

i remember once I had taken the road towards Palakode, on the way to Bangalore. found it to be a good road with least amount of traffic! :-)

[csentil]

Yup, anyone coming from Cbe, Erode & Salem can take this route.

Actually there's a road from Salem to Mechari direct. You needn't come down to Thoppur and then go towards Mechari. My uncle told me that they used to use this road to go towards Hogennakal some years back.

So it would be Salem - Mechari - Pennagaram - Hogennakal. I did see Salem bound vehicles on this stretch.

For Erode, Cbe folks it would be Mettur - Mechari - Pennagaram - Hogennakal.

I'm waiting for the monsoons to start. I would love to drive on that road when its cloudy and drizzling !!

[Jorge]

The description sounds really tempting. But for my first long drive, I will stick to the tried and tested route of krishnagiri, dharmapuri, salem, erode, coimbatore. Too bad the NH47 roads are bad at this point in time. But somehow, I find the thought of driving through a national park or through hairpin curves a lot scarier for my first drive than the NH47 roads with huge potholes in them :-)

I will try this route, someday. Thanks for the udpate.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by Jorge

The description sounds really tempting. But for my first long drive, I will stick to the tried and tested route of krishnagiri, dharmapuri, salem, erode, coimbatore. Too bad the NH47 roads are bad at this point in time. But somehow, I find the thought of driving through a national park or through hairpin curves a lot scarier for my first drive than the NH47 roads with huge potholes in them :-)

I will try this route, someday. Thanks for the udpate.

If you want tried and tested, then I would request you to take right at Thoppur towards Mettur and then to bhavani otherwise you are going to loose lots of time with traffic in Salem and then onto NH47 which is in contruction mode.

Abhi

[Jorge]

Based on some of the other posts such as http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...tml#post708240 even the thoppur-mettur-bhavani road appears to be also in a bad state.

The way I see it, it is safer to stick to the big highway. If there is no civil engineering projects then the road will be enough room for everyone. On the other hand, if there is some kind of road work going on, there will be only room for one vehicle to go. Both sounds safer than going on the smaller roads.

[hellstar]

I just returned from Trivandrum yesterday , i took the Salem -> Dharmapuri -> krishna giri route . The roads are ,uch better than what i had experinced in Dec '07 and if you are doing its in day time its the best . I belive that the Mettur - Bhavani route has also fallen to badtimes. In Dec'07 Mettur Bhavani Route was in a big mess ! compared to that the current state of affairs is much better for the Dharmapuri - Salem Section , most parts the 4 laning work is nearing completion and road are pretty smooth . except for the odd craters. Did Salem - Electronics city in about 3 Hours continous... ( and another three hours to reach my home at Banaswadi after that !)

[csentil]

From what I did Mechari - Mettur was really good. Mettur bypass is also well laid. A few kms after Mettur there are a couple of stretches of bad roads. Potholes for a few hundred yards. But these were being filled up when we came back. And these potholes are nothing compared to the ones that used to be on the Kaveripatnam - Dharmapuri - Salem sector.

Yeah, please stick to the tried and tested route. I wouldn't want too much of traffic on that route of mine. ;-p

Once you have 4 laned road from Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Coimbatore no one's gonna bother with the Pennagaram route. It would be like the Old Madras NH4 road to Chennai. If you like a nice drive and don't want to just rip from A to B you would take it. Reminds me of Zen and the art of motorcycling !!

[maju]

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