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Sorry forgot to add this earlier:
While the Hosur Road stretch is very good now with BETL and the flyovers after that till the Attibele checkpost, once you get onto the TN side, the road surface is very rough and just too much traffic with 2 wheelers on the wrong side, bus stops and large groups of people waiting for buses, etc. all thanks to 'development'.
A few years ago, it was the KA side that was unable to cope up with the traffic needs and now it's the TN side, hope something can be done about this. For now all we can do is start early and cross this stretch before 7am.

One more suggestion for your solo drive. As a thumb rule, I stop every 2 hours for 2-3 minute break were I walk around the car.
This reduces fatigue and keeps me refreshed.

You might tend to burn max kms in less time without stoppages when we drive alone. That can make your last stretch very tiresome.

I just did BLR-KTM-BLR 2 weeks back via CBE & PLKD and covered in 12 hours comfortably.

Had lunch here (Found this one thanks to Ranjit)
Pretty decent place. Don't have very high expectations on food.
Go in there at lunch and get meals and servings are good. There is AC section as well.
In the heat outside it really helps. And the fact that its on the bypass helps a lot.

So if one wants to have food here and head to Kangeyam, he needs to take a U, (towards Salem) and go under
the next fly-over, head to Perundurai town and take the Kangeyam road.

Right after Hotel Annalakshmi, there is a road to the left and a sign for "Perundurai" - Can't we take that road to go towards Chennimalai/Kangeyam ?
EDIT: Found the answer in ampere's older post #2394, Page 160:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2404081

Do you mean road adjacent to the hotel? If yes that is true.
The hotel guy did mention that to me.

But somehow that day, a friend of mine was travelling in also cab driving along with me.
The cab guy suggested the flyover. I followed him and that route seemed much easier to take.

The route beside the flyover going via the SIPCOT area and Hotel Chennis is a better option.

PS:Any idea why there are so many Emu farms in the area?

Ranjit I did not mean that flyover. I meant the one before the hotel while coming from
Salem. The one you mention would be good. Even this one was almost a direct entry onto Kangeyam road.

I took the road adjacent to the hotel to proceed to Kangeyam on my way to Palani. It is a decent road though narrow (that too, only if you encounter a lorry coming in opposite direction) and you will join NH-47 (the older route) just before the old bus-stand and the HP petrol bunk (with ICICI ATM and where all Kallada buses used to stop for refilling) on the Avinashi/Kovai side. Then, just take left and immediately you are on the big junction where you need to take right for Kangeyam.

Hotel Annalakshmi has decent toilets as well as better food and faster service if you are used to A2B :-)

Planning to take the following route to Kollam(Kerala) with a stop over in Madurai this week:

Bangalore - Salem - Namakkal - Dindigul - Madurai(stop over) - Rajapalayam - Thenkasi - Edamon - Punalur - Kollam

Any idea on the road condition? particularly after Madurai.

Also can someone suggest a good 3-star hotel to stay in Madurai?

Thanks,
Dmitri

I drove from Bangalore to Trivandrum via Rajapalayam - Thenmala on Oct 22nd. Please see details in thread below.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2554991

This thread has information about the road till Thenmala. Thenmala to Kollam should also be in good shape. This would be the best route to Kollam from Bangalore now. Please note that you don't have to go inside Thenkasi town.

1.GRT Residency www.grthotels.com

2.Metropole Hotel www.the-metropolehotel.com

3.Gateway Pasumalai www.gatewayhotels.com

Thanks Ranjit and Pramod!

Changed the plan slightly, removed the stop over at Madurai and decided to start early in the morning reaching Kollam in the evening.

Thanks,
Dmitri

You can comfortably do so. If you start at 4:30 AM, you can reach Kollam by 4:00 - 4:30 PM comfortably.

Hello all

Completed Madurai - Kochi over the weekend. The route I took is as follows.

Madurai - theni - Cumbum - Kumily - Vandiperiyar - Kanjirapally - Ponkunnam - Pala - Vaikom - Tripunithara - Kochi

I started at 12 noon and got into kochi (kadavantara) at 7.30 evening.

Total kms - 278 kms

Breaks - Quick lunch at Theni and chai later on near Kumily.

Very scenic stretch until around half way down the hill kerala side. The road is good except for a few kms of pot hole ridden stretch near Vandiperiyar. Overall a good drive climbing up the hill from tamilnadu side and going down the kerala side. But I could have saved some time if it wasn't for the traffic in Kerala nearing Kochi.


Cheers!

Planning a Trivandrum trip next month. I plan to start at about 4AM from Bangalore. I will go by NH7 through Dndigul after which I have two options, one is to turn off to NH 208 at Thirumangalam, get into Kerala through Thenmala and continue to TVM or to go all the way to Nagercoil and turn off to NH47. I believe the latter, even though about 40 km longer, will be a faster and easier drive. I see that many Volvo buses are regularly doing this route in about 10 hrs at night. Any updates on these routes?

Btw, are there any good eateries beyond Dindigul on NH7 for lunch ?