[binand]

Originally Posted by sankar8588

1) Mangalore - Calicut - Palakkad - Palani: 470kms and takes ~12 hrs

Originally Posted by ampere

- Chart out the correct Calicut bypass option.
- At Palakkad, if you lost, ask for the road to Pollachi

Calicut bypass is not yet connected to northbound NH 17 to the north of the city. Your best bet is to take a left turn off NH 17 at Thiruvangoor, before the single lane and perennial bottleneck Korapuzha bridge at Elathur. This connects to Atholi where you take a right turn, and after about 5-6 km you reach Pooladikkunnu where the starting point of the bypass is currently. The Atholi-Pooladikkunnu stretch will test your patience, but it is worth the diversion. Proceed along the bypass till you reach Ramanattukara where NH 213 (Calicut-Palakkad) begins at a large roundabout (it is well-signposted).

If you arrive at low-traffic hours don't bother; just pass through the city. NH 17 is a straight road through Calicut; just don't violate the one-way near CSI church/Manorama junction. At Ramanattukara just follow directions towards Palakkad/Malappuram/Manjery.

At Palakkad the road to Pollachi diverges from NH 47 a few hundred metres ahead of the junction (at Chandranagar, towards Coimbatore) where NH 213 merges with it. This junction is quite difficult to miss.

[sankar8588]

Originally Posted by binand

Your best bet is to take a left turn off NH 17 at Thiruvangoor, before the single lane and perennial bottleneck Korapuzha bridge at Elathur. This connects to Atholi where you take a right turn, and after about 5-6 km you reach Pooladikkunnu where the starting point of the bypass is currently.

Thanks binand... I will be entering Calicut city to have biriyani at noon .
Should I use the same diversion you mentioned and enter via Mavoor road?

Originally Posted by binand

The Atholi-Pooladikkunnu stretch will test your patience, but it is worth the diversion.

In terms of traffic or road condition?

Originally Posted by binand

Proceed along the bypass till you reach Ramanattukara where NH 213 (Calicut-Palakkad) begins at a large roundabout (it is well-signposted).

If you arrive at low-traffic hours don't bother; just pass through the city. NH 17 is a straight road through Calicut; just don't violate the one-way near CSI church/Manorama junction. At Ramanattukara just follow directions towards Palakkad/Malappuram/Manjery.

At Palakkad the road to Pollachi diverges from NH 47 a few hundred metres ahead of the junction (at Chandranagar, towards Coimbatore) where NH 213 merges with it. This junction is quite difficult to miss.

Thanks for the detailed info

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by binand

At Palakkad the road to Pollachi diverges from NH 47 a few hundred metres ahead of the junction (at Chandranagar, towards Coimbatore) where NH 213 merges with it. This junction is quite difficult to miss.

To add on. Be a bit careful, that the vehicle does not land up on the tolled highway. In that case, the vehicle would go on a fly over and miss the road to Pollachi. I faced a reverse situation last time. Some how at Chandra Nagar, I got into the service road . And then had to cross the Pollachi Rd. Jn, go still forward for an entry back to the tolled high way.

[batterylow]

Originally Posted by batterylow

I took the route as following

Coimbatore-Walayar-Palakkad-Mundur-Mannarkad-Perindhalmanna-Malapurram bye pass- Ramanattukara-Atholi-Thiruvangoor-Vadakara-Thalassery-Kannur

I started late in the morning so I thought I will give this route a try

Coimbatore-Walayar
The roads are good upto the NH and then diversions galore all the way to the Kerala border.

Walayar-Palakkad
Toll road with 45 rs to be paid. No complaints on the road surface and lesser number of two wheelers coming the wrong way on the NH compared to my last visit 6 months ago.

Palakkad-Mundur-Mannarkad
Good road surface and sparse traffic but there are maniac goods carrier jeeps being driven like they are in a hurry to meet the maker.

Mannarkad-Perindhalmanna-Malapurram bye pass
There was a small traffic jam at Perindhalmanna but I crossed it soon.

Malapurram bye pass- Ramanattukara
Constant traffic with road surface being good.

Ramanattukara-Atholi-Thiruvangoor
The bye pass has a diversion to Atholi and then to Thiruvangoor and this small road was heavy on traffic and the road surface at places was very bad and I had to slow down to crawling speeds.

Vadakara-Thalassery-Kannur
After joining the NH at Thiruvangoor it started raining and I had to travel in convey as the traffic was heavy and the winding roads did not permit overtaking. Mahe was also choc-a-block and finally reached Kannur almost 8.30 hours from Coimbatore.

Originally Posted by sankar8588

While searching for the route option from Mangalore to Palani, Google maps suggested the following routes as shown in the pic

1) Mangalore - Calicut - Palakkad - Palani: 470kms and takes ~12 hrs
2) Mangalore - Madikeri - Mysore - Sathyamangalam - Palani: 540kms and takes ~11 hrs.

Which is the best option for a daytime travel in terms of traffic & road conditions?

Attachment 1443309

Hope this helps. I did the same route Kannur-Coimbatore two months ago.

I think one needs to go under the elevated toll road to cross over to the Pollachi road. There will be a right turn under the toll road after Chandranager which leads to the Pollachi road.

[sansvk]

Did Bangalore-Palakkad this morning. Definitely the worst roads are in Bangalore like Madivala market and before the attibele toll. Patchy strech after Krishnagiri towards Dharmapuri. Rest of the road conditions remains the same. Olavakkod-Mundur has been relaid just a few days back and that's a relief.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by sansvk

Did Bangalore-Palakkad this morning. Definitely the worst roads are in Bangalore like Madivala market and before the attibele toll.

The worst stretch of roads are inside Bangalore city. I wonder what is preventing the BETL or whoever is in charge, from turning on the street lighting along Hosur road! Without the street lights and the thick dense fog, coupled with all those intelligent drivers who were driving with hazards on, the situation like today's is a recipe for disaster:



After crossing Attibele, the road surface itself improved and the highway feels like it's a highway, with proper lighting.

There was some congregation seen near to the Sree Saravana Bhavan Classic at Sankari bypass, which saw southbound traffic diverted to the Salem-bound carriageway. There was also an accident, probably caused by the confusion, involving an Etios taxi. The cops ensured that there was no hold-up as such.

[naveen.raju]

Guys, need route suggestions.

Have to go to Meppadi, Wayanad next month. Which is the nest route from Cochin? I see three routes in Gmaps. I would love to try Thamarassery route but dont know what's the condition now and my wife wont prefer this route.

Any suggestions?

[binand]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Have to go to Meppadi, Wayanad next month. Which is the nest route from Cochin? I see three routes in Gmaps. I would love to try Thamarassery route but dont know what's the condition now and my wife wont prefer this route.

Well, I think your best option is Kochi-Thrissur-Kuttippuram-Calicut-Thamarassery-Chundale-Meppadi. Great roads and typical Kerala daytime traffic.

If Thamarassery is out (why?) then you can consider crossing into TN and back via Nilambur-Nadugani. Though I don't see a reason for that - it would be longer with lower-quality roads.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by binand

Well, I think your best option is Kochi-Thrissur-Kuttippuram-Calicut-Thamarassery-Chundale-Meppadi. Great roads and typical Kerala daytime traffic.

If Thamarassery is out (why?) then you can consider crossing into TN and back via Nilambur-Nadugani. Though I don't see a reason for that - it would be longer with lower-quality roads.

I just wanted a road as straight as possible. Since the word "Thamarassery" is famous among us (the famous movie dialogue), wife is not too keen on that.
Anyways, is it possible to cover this stretch and reach Meppadi in 7 hours considering that we start at 6AM?

[JohnnyBoss]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Guys, need route suggestions.

Have to go to Meppadi, Wayanad next month. Which is the nest route from Cochin? I see three routes in Gmaps. I would love to try Thamarassery route but dont know what's the condition now and my wife wont prefer this route.

Any suggestions?

I recently did Sulthan Batheri to Kochi via Nadugani & Nilambur. The stretch between Nadugani & Vazhikkadavu has some bad sections, but with cautious driving that can be easily manageable. Apart from that no issues and traffic is very less compared to the route via Calicut.

The drive from Nadugani to Cherambadi is a very scenic one. Another option is Kochi - Thrissur - Wadakkancherry - Kulappully - Pattambi - Perinthalmanna - Manjeri - Edavanna - Thamarassery - Chundale - Meppady.

[FuelInjector]

can think of only three routes and two are suggested above.
The other one is Kochi-Thrissur-Kuttippuram-perinthalmanna-manjeri-mukkom-adivaram-Chundale-Meppadi . Roads are good (did the manjeri - mukkom two months back). Not sure of the other stretch.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I just wanted a road as straight as possible. Since the word "Thamarassery" is famous among us (the famous movie dialogue), wife is not too keen on that.
Anyways, is it possible to cover this stretch and reach Meppadi in 7 hours considering that we start at 6AM?

In my opinion, the Thamarassery route is as straight as you will get. With the Nadugani route, you need to encounter twisty/hilly roads from meppadi to Gudalur, and then again climb up and down the Nadugani churam. Although the Nadugani churam has no hairpins, in my view, it is more motion sickness inducing than the Thamarassery-Adivaram route.

So would back the route suggested by Binand. 7-8 hours should be just about ok provided you do not get delayed anywhere.

In addition I assume you will be tackling the Thamarassery churam in your most modern Creta, unlike Mr Pappu who needed to do it in his "Road Roller without brakes". So I don't think your wife has anything to worry about

[binand]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I just wanted a road as straight as possible. Since the word "Thamarassery" is famous among us (the famous movie dialogue), wife is not too keen on that.

Wayanad district is nestled in the hills that form the Western Ghats - any route there from coastal towns like Cochin will involve some hill-climbing on twisty roads. Thamarassery Churam is famous not just because of this movie but also for the fact that it connects the district with Calicut, the economic/commercial centre of North Kerala. The other routes to Wayanad have Kottiyur Churam, Kuttyadi Churam, Nadugani Churam etc. each with its own idiosyncrasies. :-)

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I just wanted a road as straight as possible. Since the word "Thamarassery" is famous among us (the famous movie dialogue), wife is not too keen on that.
Anyways, is it possible to cover this stretch and reach Meppadi in 7 hours considering that we start at 6AM?

Naveen - you drive in Kerala and say that you want straight roads? If she was ok with Nelliyampathy ghats and Munnar, Thamarassery churam would be easier, since they are a bit wider than the former. If straight roads are a must, then the only option is to come via Bangalore

[JG_SYZ]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Guys, need route suggestions.

Have to go to Meppadi, Wayanad next month. Which is the nest route from Cochin? I see three routes in Gmaps. I would love to try Thamarassery route but dont know what's the condition now and my wife wont prefer this route.

Any suggestions?

Gr8 news another Creta is heading to Wayanad from Cochin!

I was planning a trip to Mananthavady by last week of December and was browsing Team-Bhp for some good advice! A friend suggested Cochin > Thrissur > Valanchery > Manjeri > Areekode > Mukkam > Manathavadi. Doesn't know if this info will help you Naveen.

BTW, Does anybody have latest status about this route? All advises are welcome. My final destination is Nagarhole. I am looking for some scenic route. It's a holiday trip!