[kala]

Originally Posted by abishek2222

Can someone help me with the current route and road condition to Wayanad from bangalore via mysore.

how long would it take and what parts of it are on a 4 lane.

Assuming that your destination in "Wayanad" is somewhere on or around NH212 (e.g.Sulthan Batheri,Kalpetta, Vythiri etc), the route would be :

Bangalore-Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet- (Take a right turn here just after the RTO checkpost after you pass the town)-Muthanga-Sulthan Batheri-Kalpetta. (The road continues to Vythiri-Lakkidi-Calicut)

Bangalore-Mysore (SH-17) is the only 4 lane section on this route, and a pretty bad one at that in terms of traffic and speedbreakers (Check out the thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...re-sunday.html ). The road surface in general is pretty good all through except for some rough portions between Batheri and Kalpetta.

From the NICE road intersection of Mysore Road (SH-17), it should take you approximately 4.5 to 5 hours to get to Kalpetta.

If touching Mysore is not important for you, there's an alternate route that goes via Kanakapura-Kollegal-Chamarajanagar to Gundlupet which has considerably less traffic. Check out the last few pages of the thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ute-query.html for details. The travel time and total distance via this route is also more or less the same as the route via Mysore.

[abishek2222]

Originally Posted by kala

Assuming that your destination in "Wayanad" is somewhere on or around NH212 (e.g.Sulthan Batheri,Kalpetta, Vythiri etc),

Thank you
i was looking to travel to the Vythiri resort should be at vythiri.
The road quality is all that matters, i don't want to end up in the wrong spot in my X1.time taken would be 6 hrs? or more?

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by abishek2222

Thank you
i was looking to travel to the Vythiri resort should be at vythiri.
The road quality is all that matters, i don't want to end up in the wrong spot in my X1.time taken would be 6 hrs? or more?

From Bangalore side, you will cross Kalpetta town and then in about 10 kms, you cross Vythiri town(the road from Ooty joins just a couple of kms from here at Chundale). Vythiri resort is at Lakkidi which is another 5 kms from Vythiri towards Calicut, just before the ghat road starts.

Hope you are aware that the forest section on the Karnataka border side is closed between 9 PM and 6 AM. And plan roughly about 5 hours to reach the forest gates from NICE Road exit, either Mysore Road or Kanakapura Road.

Road quality is below average ONLY in the Meenangady->Kalpetta->Chundale stretch but you can do around 60kmph peacefully(when not at peak times) except at the 3 towns mentioned above and Vythiri town. Everywhere else you can cruise in 80-100 kmph without any discomfort !

[abishek2222]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Hope you are aware that the forest section on the Karnataka border side is closed between 9 PM and 6 AM. And plan roughly about 5 hours to reach the forest gates from NICE Road exit, either Mysore Road or Kanakapura Road.

You mean 5 hours from where, i am not too familiar with the NICE road to be honest. so you mean the exit would be at the end of mysore? or the exit of NICE road at bangalore? 9 PM -6AM i would not be allowed to drive or i have to make it into the gate before 9PM. forgive my ignorance!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ampere

Just need to know, which exit to take from Madurai by-pass. Should not be a problem to find out though.

When you are coming from Bangalore on NH7 from Dindigul, take the Madurai bypass and after that you will reach the Thirumangalam Bypass. Ignore the first entry to Thirumangalam. 5 kms further down, is the end of the Thirumangalam bypass - and a flyover. Do not take this flyover, go off NH7 and turn right into the Kollam road. There are signboards there as well.

Beginning of Madurai bypass on NH7 - 0 kms
End of Madurai Bypass on NH7 - 12 kms
Junction where Old bypass from Trichy joins NH7 bypass - 4 kms
Thirumangalam Bypass - 2 kms
End of Tirumangalam Bypass - 5 kms, this is where you turn right onto Tenkasi-Kollam road

[devil_klm]

Originally Posted by LobsterB

Traveled last weekend (23rd) - road is in good condition overall. I started a bit before 6am and reached Kollam before 6pm. All the other options (Palakkad, Theni or Nagercoil) would have taken more for a 6am start. Traffic was not really a problem anywhere in between after Salem. The narrow road through small towns from Rajapalayam till Shenkottai will slow you down, but the road surface is quite ok. Kerala section road were in good shape for a change. Don't remember seeing Thenmala-Punalur-Kundara stretch fully tarred before! In fact this was one of the most relaxing/peaceful 500km+ drives in the recent past.

Btw, for the return trip(Monday) I took the Nagercoil route, started around 5am and reached by 6pm. Will recommend senkottai route unless one is starting quite early to cross Nagercoil before 6-7am. Btw, visibility could be an issue for an early morning trip before sunrise between Punalur and Senkottai. Road widening on both Theni and Palakkad route could make progress slow and a bit frustrating.

Thanks Lobster. i started at 6.30AM from kollam. Road condition was better than what i expected and had enough sign boards at required points. Reached here by 8.30 PM. I was coming in my new car so maintained speed of 60-80.

[kala]

Originally Posted by abishek2222

You mean 5 hours from where, i am not too familiar with the NICE road to be honest. so you mean the exit would be at the end of mysore? or the exit of NICE road at bangalore? 9 PM -6AM i would not be allowed to drive or i have to make it into the gate before 9PM. forgive my ignorance!

The NICE road what we're referring to is just a Ring road (a partial one) that starts at Tumkur road somewhere between Peenya and Nelamangala and goes around the city till Hosur Road near Electronic City cutting across Magadi Road, Mysore Road, Kanakapura Road and Bannerghata road on its way. The Bangalore Mysore expressway that was to be built by NICE doesn't exist yet.

The reason why most people talk about time taken from NICE road intersection points is mostly because those are the outer peripheries of Bangalore city (well almost), and so the timings don't include the highly variable part of how long it takes you to cross Bangalore city from your actual starting point and reach the highway proper.

For this route, NICE road intersection with Mysore road would mean about 2 kms after Kengeri on SH17, and NICE road / Kanakapura Road intersection would be about 6 or 7 kms from Banashankari towards Kanakapura.

The Forest section is between Gundlupet and Sulthan Batheri, and night traffic is banned on that stretch from 9PM and 6AM. They will not let you enter the forest after 9PM, so what Ajith was mentioning is that if you're starting from Bangalore in the afternoon or evening, you should make sure you are out of the city by approx. 4PM in order to be able to meet that deadline.

(Well, that 5 hours in my opinion that is a highly conservative estimate, 3.5 to 4 hours would be a more realistic actual driving time required to reach that point for a reasonably fast driver)

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by abishek2222

You mean 5 hours from where, i am not too familiar with the NICE road to be honest. so you mean the exit would be at the end of mysore? or the exit of NICE road at bangalore? 9 PM -6AM i would not be allowed to drive or i have to make it into the gate before 9PM. forgive my ignorance!

It is better if you do that forest part during day time or at least during twilight time, it takes only couple of hours drive in that forest region, i have done it once during night, reached the checkpost exactly at 8.45 and he was not ready to leave me, i had to push through him to get through the checkpost and he even commented that he is permitting me because i was driving a scorpio and if it was a car he wouldn't have permitted me, so i did it, but it was slightly scary as there was no other vehicle on that road at that particular time, so i would advise reaching that entry point at least by 6.00 pm, though this happened 3 years back.

[mpksuhas]

abishek2222: Agree to what rajeshchand said in post above. Its better to have a buffer of atleast one hour incase you are planning to drive down from Bangalore. Due to metro construction you will have tough time to cross section between Mysore road Satellite bus stand -BHEL- ORR junction (Taking NICE road will help you avoid this since it joins Mysore road near Kengeri). Also, once you cross Mysore; road all way till Vythiri is 2-laned. Add to that after Mysore progress will be slow due to heavy truck traffic.
Incase you can not start reasonably early from Bangalore you can try starting early morning (~3AM) from Bangalore. Traffic will be sparse that time and you can reach Vythiri by around 8AM.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by kala

...All in all, I'd think Calicut byepass may be the best option, especially since NH212 is now in excellent condition right upto Calicut, and so is NH-17 south of Calicut.

Originally Posted by ajithbr

NH-212+Calicut Bye-pass+NH-17 may be the most comfortable one.

For Thamarassery->Ramanattukara, I would have tried Thamarassery->Koduvalli->Go straight-ish left rather than taking 90-degree right to Calicut->NIT/REC Calicut(road adjacent to the backside compound wall next to Boys hostels)->Straight at the Kattangal junction after NIT towards Mavoor->Right turn just before Mavoor->Left turn just before Cheroopa towards Kavanakallu bridge to cross Chaliyar->Right turn after crossing the bridge by paying a toll of Rs.2/- only->Join Calicut Bye-pass just south of Kadavu Resorts->Ramanattukara Junction

Kala, ajithbr: Thanks for the detailed inputs. I guess I'll stick to the via Calicut route. The deviation from Koduvalli seems like an interesting option. Do you think it will shorten driving time? Guess I'll take a call depending on what time I hit Koduvalli.

[jingaboysr]

I'm driving again from Bangalore to Cochin on 6th and planning to return on 8th. Last week when I drove the same route, I lost a lot of time at the road work near Avinasi/Tirupur. Is there a deviation that I can take to save some time? I plan to start very early, say 3.30-4am, so by the time I reach that section after breakfast, it will be morning rush hour

Also, last week when I was returning to Bangalore, I think I missed a turn at Salem. I remember going on a flyover when I reached Salem, then reaching a big circle and then I had to take a u-turn there to Bangalore. Is there another way to get to Hosur road?

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by jingaboysr

I'm driving again from Bangalore to Cochin on 6th and planning to return on 8th. Last week when I drove the same route, I lost a lot of time at the road work near Avinasi/Tirupur. Is there a deviation that I can take to save some time? I plan to start very early, say 3.30-4am, so by the time I reach that section after breakfast, it will be morning rush hour

Also, last week when I was returning to Bangalore, I think I missed a turn at Salem. I remember going on a flyover when I reached Salem, then reaching a big circle and then I had to take a u-turn there to Bangalore. Is there another way to get to Hosur road?

If you can start at 4am, you can be at this stretch by 8am. You can do this stretch with moderate traffic and plan for the breakfast after entering L&T bypass.

You should keep left on Salem flyover and there is the exit to Bangalore route. The signboard is on the middle of the road.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by jingaboysr

Also, last week when I was returning to Bangalore, I think I missed a turn at Salem. I remember going on a flyover when I reached Salem, then reaching a big circle and then I had to take a u-turn there to Bangalore. Is there another way to get to Hosur road?

Check page no. 217 of this thread and see the post by coolclouds.

[jingaboysr]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

If you can start at 4am, you can be at this stretch by 8am. You can do this stretch with moderate traffic and plan for the breakfast after entering L&T bypass.

You should keep left on Salem flyover and there is the exit to Bangalore route. The signboard is on the middle of the road.

I always start atleast by 4am (sometimes even at 3.30am). And I regularly stop at Saravana Bhavan for breakfast at around 8am, which is before the bad stretches begin. I think this is where I am loosing out. As you suggested, I should try to cove the bad stretch as early as possible and then stop for breakfast. Thanks for the tip!

Also, can someone give me correct driving directions from palakkad to trichur via shornur route? Would you advise this instead of regular NH? The NH47 roads are too bumpy and too crowded nowadays.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by jingaboysr

...

Also, can someone give me correct driving directions from palakkad to trichur via shornur route? Would you advise this instead of regular NH? The NH47 roads are too bumpy and too crowded nowadays.

Keep going into Palakkad town skipping the bye-pass turn off and enter the market road which will eventually become Ponnani road. Continue on that road past Ottapalam and turn to left at Kulappully. There are pretty decent road markings for Shornur and Thrissur from there. Avoid entering Thrissur town if you dont have to. You can turn left at Patturackal junction and proceed towards Palakkad direction till you reach Mannuthy. Turn right from there and continue on NH 47 towards Angamaly > Kochi. See GM link below. (approximate route)

http://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr=...ra=ls&t=m&z=11