[rajivr1612]

Team, I am planning to go to Thekkady either directly from Chennai or from my home in Thiruvalla. Trip is planned for last week of May.

Please let me know the present road conditions. I'll be driving a City automatic.

[Aiel]

Originally Posted by ThatSimpleGuy

Hello all,

I am travelling from Ernakulam to Electronic city, BLR this weekend and google is showing below route.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/m5m914L7koniSecS8?g_st=aw

Has anyone tried this route before. This goes through Chittar > Kurichi > Mettur > Mecheri > Thoppur > Palacode> Rayakottai > Hosur > EC.

How is the road condition. Is this route okay to be driven in late evening/early night hours. Any other suggestions other than the normal Salem Krishnagiri Hosur route with good roads

Suggestions will be of great help.

Thanks

The route is OK. The Thoppur - Rayakottai - Hosur route has quite a few diversions (which I did not find to be clearly marked), and I have not driven that route in the evening/dark. Also, this route does not have any food options, so, keep that in min is you end up in that stretch during dinner time.

[binand]

Originally Posted by ThatSimpleGuy

I am travelling from Ernakulam to Electronic city, BLR this weekend and google is showing below route.

This goes through Chittar > Kurichi > Mettur > Mecheri > Thoppur > Palacode> Rayakottai > Hosur > EC.

Those are two different detours, one being Bhavani-Mettur-Mecheri-Thoppur and the other, Dharmapuri-Rayakottai-Hosur.

The first - while it avoids the Salem city traffic I personally don't see much of a time benefit due to the fact that it will be much slower than the highway. Plus it has numerous small towns (read: two-wheelers doing the work of small pickup trucks, TNSTC services that stop everywhere, heavily loaded lorries...) which makes it a frustrating drive (especially Bhavani-Mettur). Lastly, it joins back at the bottom of the Thoppur ghat so you still have to negotiate the climb anyway.

The second - NH 844 - is a good alternative to avoid several flyover construction sites between Dharmapuri and Hosur. It is a fully developed 4-lane, dual carriageway till a bit beyond Palacode but after that it is mostly work-in-progress. I think the most up-to-date information is on the Bangalore-Coimbatore thread.

My recommendation would be: avoid the first, but take the second. But if at all you want to split off NH 544 at Bhavani consider Mecheri-Palacode. You don't have to go all the way to Pennagaram (there is a short connector road to Dharmapuri-Hogenakkal road), but watch out for the fairly lonely ghat section. It can get very hot, so please carry water/ORS.

[ThatSimpleGuy]

Originally Posted by binand

Those are two different detours, one being Bhavani-Mettur-Mecheri-Thoppur and the other, Dharmapuri-Rayakottai-Hosur.

My recommendation would be: avoid the first, but take the second. But if at all you want to split off NH 544 at Bhavani consider Mecheri-Palacode. You don't have to go all the way to Pennagaram (there is a short connector road to Dharmapuri-Hogenakkal road), but watch out for the fairly lonely ghat section. It can get very hot, so please carry water/ORS.

Thanks binand. So as per your suggestion I should take a detour from Dharmapuri and not from Bhavani. I did that route some time back (read almost a year) and it was good 4 lane roads for quite some distance and then google took me through some villages with really narrow roads and we merged at Hosur. Don't remember the names of the villages. Is it different now. Are the 4 lane roads done completely?

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by ThatSimpleGuy

I am travelling from Ernakulam to Electronic city, BLR this weekend and google is showing below route.

Are you riding? (Map shows route for Two-wheeler).

You can follow this below route which I took last week. Bypasses Salem (via -Tharamangalam-Omalur), Krishnagiri (via - Palacode - Rayakottai).

https://maps.app.goo.gl/3LW2VQo7f4WE4ed68

Originally Posted by bejoy

Took this route today and it was a real time saver, almost 30mins as per original GMaps estimate.

Adding the dashcam capture of this route. Google shows 30min saving consistently if this route is chosen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ06FjH8UC8

[ThatSimpleGuy]

Originally Posted by bejoy

Are you riding? (Map shows route for Two-wheeler).

You can follow this below route which I took last week. Bypasses Salem (via -Tharamangalam-Omalur), Krishnagiri (via - Palacode - Rayakottai).

My bad. I am not riding. I am driving car. Didn't notice that the map was showing riding route.

Thanks bejoy for sharing the details. I l try the mentioned route.

Are there any good options for food/refreshment on the detour route (just to be safe).

KR

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by ThatSimpleGuy

My bad. I am not riding. I am driving car. Didn't notice that the map was showing riding route.

Thanks bejoy for sharing the details. I l try the mentioned route.

Are there any good options for food/refreshment on the detour route (just to be safe).

KR

I was curious why Gmaps routed via Mettur and then found that it was for Two-wheeler.

Regarding refreshment stops, yes the detours have very limited or no established places currently, especially the Rayakottai route. While coming towards Bangalore, you can plan a stop after Thoppur ghat ascend at A2B

Edit: Realized that OP might have already travelled in the weekend.

I too travelled this route yesterday and clocked one of the best average speed in recent times.

[ThatSimpleGuy]

Originally Posted by bejoy

I was curious why Gmaps routed via Mettur and then found that it was for Two-wheeler.

Edit: Realized that OP might have already travelled in the weekend.

I too travelled this route yesterday and clocked one of the best average speed in recent times.

Yes, I travelled last weekend. We started bit late and reached Coimbatore by around 7 PM. So took the usual Salem, Krishnagiri route since my family was strictly against going on unknown route in the late night hours. Will definitely try this suggestion for our travel from BLR > Ernakulam next time since we normally start in morning and can drive in daylight when going to EKM.

[deathwalkr]

Had the misfortune of having to travel by car to Kottayam and back from Trivandrum a couple of days back.

Left at 07:15, stopped for breakfast at KTDC, Kottarakara and reached Kottayam at 11:45.

Return, left at 13:30 stopped for lunch at Karimpin Taste Land outside Kottayam and finally ended up at Trivandrum at 19:00!!!

All for a distance of 150kms :(

The guest who was from Delhi just could not comprehend the journey!!!

[JayG]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Had the misfortune of having to travel by car to Kottayam and back from Trivandrum a couple of days back.

Left at 07:15, stopped for breakfast at KTDC, Kottarakara and reached Kottayam at 11:45.

Started today from Nalanchira at 430 pm after reading your post, with a heavy heart and fingers crossed, but to no avail. Reached Kottayam by 945 pm with hold-ups at Venjaramoodu, Kilimanoor, Ayoor and Chengannur.
These days I take the Carithas- Ayarkunnam - Vazhoor - Manimala- Ranni - Konni- Valakom- Nalanchira route while returning to Tvm, which is 15 km longer than the MC Road for me, but takes the same time and offers more relaxed drive. Manimala to Carithas via Vazhoor is somewhat lonely, narrow and through plantations, though the surface is excellent and with very light traffic. So did not try the same at night for the onward journey.

[kochup]

Originally Posted by JayG

with hold-ups at Venjaramoodu,

Venjaramoodu has a bypass now which GMaps showed me a couple of times. There is a bit of terrain compared to main route but it does save time. The only issue is that the TVM entry/exit is on the Kesavadasapuram route and hence its a slight detour if your coming or going towards Kazhakootam.

[JayG]

Originally Posted by kochup

Venjaramoodu has a bypass now which GMaps showed me a couple of times. There is a bit of terrain compared to main route but it does save time. The only issue is that the TVM entry/exit is on the Kesavadasapuram route and hence its a slight detour if your coming or going towards Kazhakootam.

Yes we take it while returning to Tvm. Once a long holdup was blocking ithe exit of vehicles at Keezhayikkonam end and I skip its entry at Pirappancode if the map shows long congestion to the north of Venjaramoodu while exiting Tvm.

[Jagann13]

Hello folks,

I'm planning a monsoon trip to Kerala and Karnataka and might need some inputs.

The plan is to do Mangalore - Athirapally or Athirapally - Mangalore. The last time I rode between Kozhikode and Kannur in July 2024, it was literally hell for me. I'm sure things might have become better now and I'm thinking of avoiding the coastal road if it's still unpleasant to drive. The alternative is to go via Kalpetta - Madikeri - Mangalore, but I understand that it's time consuming although scenic. I'm skeptical about that route is because of the Wayanad landslides, last monsoon.


So, what do you guys suggest? Take the coastal road, Mangalore - Bekal - Kannur - Mahe - Calicut - Athirapally?

Or the alternate route, via Madikeri and Kalpetta?

I'm also thinking of the lines where I can drive down to Mysore from Athirapally via Coimbatore and make it a peaceful one, although it might require an additional day.

Thanks in advance!

[dean5545]

Drove down from Mumbai to Cochin in the first week of May in my BMW M340i.

The route taken was Mumbai-Kolhapur-Nipani-Belgaum-Chitradurga-Bangalore-Hosur on day 1
and Salem-Coimbatore bypass-Palakkad-Kottapuram Kodungallur on day 2.

I did contemplate taking the Solapur route but I found no savings actually since the time difference was just 1.5 hours.

On day 1, I left from Malad at 5:50am and made good progress till McDonalds before Kolhapur (the one from where we turn right for Goa). Had reached the spot by 11:30am. But post that due to bridge work and multiple diversions couldn't maintain steady speeds.

Post Kolhapur, there are many stretches where the road widening work has been completed which was a welcome suprise but the major construction work between Nipani and Belgaum meant plenty of diversions. This slowed us down considerably.

We reached Hubli Dharwad Bypass around 3pm which too is undergoing road widening activity.

After crossing Dharwad post taking the right turn the road quality changes and was able to maintain good speeds without much diversions.

Usually during Mumbai-Kerala journey we halt at Salem but this time I was mentally prepared to halt at Bangalore owing to the construction work in Maharasthra. But I did not make any reservations as I wanted to try my luck to see if we can reach Salem. Decided to take a call regarding the night halt by 7:30pm.

Unfortunately at 7:30pm we were no where near Bangalore so decided to book a Hotel in Hosur. Had shortlisted ITC Fortune Hosur but they sold out for the night. With a quick call to fellow Bhpian Kailash aka kn09 we zeroed in on La Classic Hotel, Hosur.

Reached the Hotel at 10pm post travelling a distance of 1050km.

Compared to the previous drives despite travelling for lesser distance (1050 vs 1200km) I was very tired.

On Day 2 we left the hotel around 8am and reached Thrissur around 2:40pm had lunch at and then continued towards Kodungallur. Reached home at 5pm.



Coming to the road conditions:
The Cement roads of Maharashtra are very uncomfortable. Karnataka, Tamil nadu and Kerala roads are way better in that regard. Despite the multiple diversions taken I am pleased to say that the car did not bottom out any where and 95 octane petrol was available throughout.

All in all Mumbai Bangalore is still enjoyable barring the Maharashtra stretch but it will take more time. Earlier we used to reach Salem at 10:30-11pm but this time we could only reach Hosur.

[rajivr1612]

Hi team, I am planning a return drive from Thiruvalla to Chennai via Kumily on 30th May. Please can someone let me know about the road conditions? Thanks