[Jeep]

Did an Ernakulam-Trivandrum-Ernakulam (NH47) trip last weekend. Roads are not so good between Alleppey-Kollam and Kollam-Attingal - patch work done on the roads always leaves some 'humps'.

[hellstar]

Originally Posted by Jeep

Did an Ernakulam-Trivandrum-Ernakulam (NH47) trip last weekend. Roads are not so good between Alleppey-Kollam and Kollam-Attingal - patch work done on the roads always leaves some 'humps'.

Agreed the ride does become a tad rough but in my verna that did not stop me from doing the usual time between the sections you have noted but it would be a different story had i been driving during the peak traffic hours.

[gogo_gogo]

Hey Guys,

I am going to Wayanad this weekend. I would be driving myself. Request you to help me in terms of route navigation & accomodation(if possible).

Thanks



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[psvinay]

In the last 30 days, traveled twice (to-&-from) between Bangalore and Kerala (Kodungallore).

Mar last week – Route Taken Blr -> Mysore -> Gudallore -> Nilambur -> Perinthalmanna -> Wandoor -> Pattambi -> Guruvayoor -> Kodungalore. Distance BTM to Kdnglr – 450Kms, BTM->Gvr 390Kms. Excellent road surface except 15Kms from Gundalpet. Total travel time was 9.5 hours (including a 1 hour break).

Mid April – Route taken, Kodungalore -> Palakkad -> Bhavani -> Mettur -> Thoppur -> Hosur -> Sarjapur -> BTM. Distance ~490Kms. Excellent road surface all through. Except for some rough patch between Bhavani and Mettur (no need to slow down for this), this is mindless, boaring high way run. Total time taken 9 hours including a 1 hour break.

Last week : – Route taken, BTM -> Mysore -> Gundalpet -> SulthanBatery -> Kalpetta -> Kozikode (Med colleage, Bypass) -> Edappal -> Guruvayoor -> Kodungallore. Distance BTM to Gvr – 450Kms, BTM-> Kdnglr 500Kms. Excellent road surface all through. Not a single pothole types. Travel time 9 hours without a single break.

April 26th - Route taken, Kodungalore -> Palakkad -> Bhavani -> Mettur -> Thoppur -> Hosur -> Sarjapur -> BTM. One more boaring high way run. Total time taken 9.5 hours including a 1.75 hour break.
Basically, as far as the road conditions are concerned, pick any route. All are in the best shape (except the 15km between Gundalpet & Bandipur, but this will not slow down you overall).

Blr – Mettur – Coimbatore – Pallakkad – Trissur Route: No surprise route. You can test yours & vehicle capability for maintaining top speed & related stuff. Miles and miles of excellent four lines, that to deserted types. Just need to be careful about humans with donkey’s brain who drive on the left side of the wrong side of the four line. Total toll paid: Hosur-Krishnagiri 25/-, Krishnagiri-Thoppur 48/-, Coimbatore bypass 28/-.

Blr – Mysore – Kozikode – Gvr route: Good drive. NH/State highway all through. Once you cross kerala boarder, you will slow down due to increase in traffic. However, it will be a good drive till Kozikode. After that, vehicle density increases and drive will not be a fun drive.

Blr – Mysore – Gudallore - Nilambur – Gvr route. My recommended route till monsoon starts in its full fury and road condition goes bad. Once you reach Bandipur, drive becomes really enjoyable (especially if you have kids accompanying). This route actually has better refreshment facilities all through. Full of greenery around, and very less traffic too. Even in the Kerala side, till you touch NH-17 in Perumbilavu, you will not feel the pinch of traffic density. However you will have to deal the traffic with-in town limits (Nilambur, Perithalmanna, Pattambi). Less Kms to travel, lesser travel time (till Gvr) and much more refreshing drive.

[trrk]

Hi,

This may not be the ideal place for this, but this seems to be the active thread regarding Kerala and so:

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine edition (26/04/2009) had this story on the Venice of the East and this box of information looked useful.



Some of the information mentioned looks to be of private operators. I can't vouch for their services.

[hellstar]

Originally Posted by trrk

Hi,

This may not be the ideal place for this, but this seems to be the active thread regarding Kerala and so:

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine edition (26/04/2009) had this story on the Venice of the East and this box of information looked useful.

Attachment 129863

Some of the information mentioned looks to be of private operators. I can't vouch for their services.

thats a good easy reckoner for anybody who is planning a trip to Alleppy.. they have brought out small things which are easily over looked like the umbrellas etc ...

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by trrk

Hi,

This may not be the ideal place for this, but this seems to be the active thread regarding Kerala and so:

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine edition (26/04/2009) had this story on the Venice of the East and this box of information looked useful.

Attachment 129863

Some of the information mentioned looks to be of private operators. I can't vouch for their services.

Good one.

TRV-Chengannur , MC Road. Scary! Very dangerous. Wont suggest driving at night at high speed. Take TRV-Krishnapuram-Chengannur if needed to travel to Ktm from TRV.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by jkdas

TRV-Chengannur , MC Road. Scary! Very dangerous. Wont suggest driving at night at high speed.

I suppose this is owing to the road widening works which are in full swing on MC Road. The road becomes a single carriageway at places, and lack of proper signages.

[Matt]

Hi All,
i am planning to drive down to Kerala through Mysore-Gundulpet-Sulthan Bathery... it will around 7 PM when i will be going through this area. Can any one here tell me how safe is it to travel through this route in the late evening/night? Moreover is this road closed to traffic after 6 PM?
Please reply ASAP.

Thanks a lot.
-Matt

[hellstar]

Originally Posted by Matt

Hi All,
i am planning to drive down to Kerala through Mysore-Gundulpet-Sulthan Bathery... it will around 7 PM when i will be going through this area. Can any one here tell me how safe is it to travel through this route in the late evening/night? Moreover is this road closed to traffic after 6 PM?
Please reply ASAP.

Thanks a lot.
-Matt

7 pm is ok , and there will be enough traffic / truck traffic to enusre that you are safe .

Keep your eyes open for wildlife after Gundulpet till Muthanga.

No , this road remains open 24x7 .....

[rex_varghese]

We've been taking the Mettur-Bhavani route during the last few trips. During the recent one, I've found the road all the way till Thoppur was excellent but the road from Thoppur-Bhavani, via Mettur was in a bad shape.

Any update on the Thoppur-Salem-Bhavani stretch? Is this stretch too completely done and as good as the road till Thoppur (from Hosur)?

Regards
Rex

[rex_varghese]

Originally Posted by vsbabu

While going, started at 2pm on Feb 20 from Silk Board. Till Thoppur, toll roads are great. Went via Mettur -> Ammapettai -> Anthiyur -> Athani -> Sathy -> Annur -> Ganapathy -> Coimbatore. Most of these roads are great. Got into Coimbatore at 7:20pm, but got out to NH 47 only at 8:10pm, reaching Palakkad at 8:45pm.

Coming back, started at 9am from Palakkad on Feb 22nd. Came via L&T Byepass. Took left turn at Perumanallur (just after Avinashi when you can see a junction) towards Gobi at 10:50am. Perumanallur -> Kunnathur (take left) -> Gobi (right at T, then left below the big board that has directions to everywhere else [there is a small board below towards left, but you might miss it]) -> Athani (right at T; left at fork much later) -> Anthiyur -> Ammapettai -> Mettur -> Thoppur A2B at 1:10pm. Lunch break till 2pm and then great ride till Silk Board at 3:50pm.

Babu,

Can you please give little more details on these two routes, with respect to distance between various places and land marks for turns? How easy/difficult these routes are for a first-timer to cover with out much confusion?

Regards
Rex

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by vsbabu

While going, started at 2pm on Feb 20 from Silk Board. Till Thoppur, toll roads are great. Went via Mettur -> Ammapettai -> Anthiyur -> Athani -> Sathy -> Annur -> Ganapathy -> Coimbatore. Most of these roads are great. Got into Coimbatore at 7:20pm, but got out to NH 47 only at 8:10pm, reaching Palakkad at 8:45pm.

@vsbabu - you could avoid coimbatore by turning left at Annur and reach Karumathampatty ( less than 20 km ) and joining NH47 just 10 kms before L&T byepass

[unni.ak]

Drive people drive, thats all I can say. Just came back from a trip to Kerala. Route was Bangalore - Salem - Coimbatore - Cochin - Ambalapuzha. Bangalore to Hosur, is work in progress. A lot many stretches have become better than when I travelled a month back. Hosur to Salem is 4-lane except for maybe 20kms where some construction is still going on. Salem to Coimbatore, is again work in progress, but a lot of potholes have been covered. Coimbatore to Cochin is mixed. Good roads till Trichur and from then on 4laning work starts. Return journey took exactly 10hours, with 4 smoke/pee breaks and a 30min sleep break.

[vsbabu]

Originally Posted by rex_varghese

Babu,

Can you please give little more details on these two routes, with respect to distance between various places and land marks for turns? How easy/difficult these routes are for a first-timer to cover with out much confusion?

Regards
Rex

I would actually recommend Thoppur-Salem-Bhavani-Avinashi-L&T Byepass now. Pretty good roads. Mettur road is not as good as before now - no potholes, but surface is not as smooth as before.

If you are into sightseeing, certainly Thoppur -> Mettur - Sathy route is better. You can roll down the windows and go at 70-80kmph. For a first timer I wouldn't recommend the return route I posted at all -- I've been driving to Palakkad at the rate of once in two months for last 4 years and can read Tamil a bit, but I still missed 3-4 turns.

For Sathy route:
- Take a right after Thoppur Ghat where a big overhead board says Palakkad -> at some 240km
- Keep going till you reach Mettur (~35km). You will pass a factory on to the right and will see a small left turn with a small board saying Erode. Take it. This is the Mettur Byepass. If you miss, no issues. Just go through Mettur Dam and the town - it is reasonably well marked. Just 5-6km more.
- If you do take the byepass, after you pass two bridges, you reach a small circle. Take left. Right takes you to Mettur Dam.
- Go about 15km and you will see a small T-junction with some shops and some speedbreaker barricades. Take the right turn.
- Just follow the boards to Sathy [some are in English] - which you will reach after passing through the towns mentioned above.
- From Sathy, follow the boards (again, you've English boards) to Annur or Coimbatore. You will take a left turn on to a bridge and then couple more turns (don't remember exactly now) and you hit the Sathy highway.
- Go straight for about 60km (?from memory) and you will reach Coimbatore.

As mentioned in another reply, you can take left at Annur to hit NH47 to avoid Coimbatore.