[kavu75]

Originally Posted by kavu75

It's time for me to another Bangalore - Pandalam drive, will be traveling on December 23rd. Nowadays, my usual route is Bangalore - Madurai - Rajapalayam - Tenkasi - Punalur - Pandalam.

Is it worth trying out Kerala route?
I know Bangalore - Coimbatore- Thrissur will be good drive. But worried about later sections. I don't want to touch MC road at its present condition. Is it worth taking this route?
Bangalore - Kochi - Haripad - Mavelikara - Pandalam.

Thanks

Did Bangalore - Pandalam yesterday(23rd December). Took the first option via Rajapalayam. Started from Bellandur at 4.30 am and reached home at 4.15 pm covered 665km. Over all roads are good, but there are un-even surface between Tirumangalam and Tenkasi. But easily manageable.

[sansvk]

Today 24th it seems was a bad day to travel towards Kerala from Bangalore. Most tolls towards Salem had heavy traffic. A family I know took 12 hours to reach Palakkad. I am on the road tomorrow and hope its better, shall update here.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by TheHkrish

1) Mysore --> HDKote --> Bavali --> Manathavady --> Kalpetta
2) Mysore --> Nanjangud --> Gundlupet --> Sulthan Bathery --> Kalpetta

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Both are now in pretty good condition. There is still work happening between Mysore and nangangud. But from nangangud to the forest entry work is all done and it is a wide freshly laid road.

The first route has a disadvantage of no eateries between Mysore and manathavady and manathavady to kalpetta is a little patchy.
...
Note: In route 1 there is no need to touch hd kote. Mysore- handpost- bavalli is the route.

Originally Posted by binand

Road Condition: Not sure about Gundlupet-Moolehole - I think there could be one or two residual diversions in this section. The DB Kuppe-Bavali stretch (through Nagarhole NP) is narrow with several speedbreakers and could slow you down. Rest is all great roads.

Traffic: Mysore-Nanjangud is maddening. Also, Bathery-Kalpetta I feel has much higher traffic than Mananthavady-Kalpetta.

Eateries: Nothing worth mentioning between Mysore-Kattikulam. No shortage of eateries in the Mysore-Bathery route.

Looking for route between Mysore and Kalpetta, and from above both the options look similar.
My query was which of the two routes is more scenic to drive and lesser on traffic.
On those lines, is it worth taking Nagarhole NP road from HDKote or through Hunsur by any chance?

[mykal shoemaker]

Drove through Bangalore-Salem-Karur-Thirumangalam-Rajapalayam-Shengottai route to Attingal side yesterday. With an (expected) additional +2 hours on various tolls ,it took 13 hours for a normal 10.5-11 hour drive.
Started by 4.30AM and had smog trouble for initial 1 hour up to Hosur side.
Roads have deteriorated on 80% of thirumangalam Kollam highway. Unless they do fresh tarmac within few months, this road will soon become pretty bad. Toll queues + Sabarimala traffic on last leg added 3 hours into the journey. Otherwise everything went well.

[silversteed]

Travelled from Bangalore to Palakkad on 24th. Here are the stats:
Start: 03:45hrs, Silk Board
Arrive Nijaguna Residency, Chamarajnagar: 06:30hrs
Resume: 07:40hrs
KA-TN border on NH209: 08:20hrs
Dimbham ghat hair pin 24: 08:45hrs
Dimbham ghat hair pin 13: 11:30hrs
Bannari: 13:00hrs
Ganapathy, Coimbatore: 14:40hrs
KSRTC Depot, Palakkad: 16:30hrs
Total distance: ~400km
Total time: ~13hrs

There were multiple vehicle breakdowns seen on the ghat section, most of them exactly at the hairpin bends. We had a harrowing time crawling, with the hot sun and lack of even a breeze not helping things.

There were a few good souls who took to walking across and managing the truck traffic, until the lazy Sathy police decided to take charge- lazy, because it took them at least 2 hours to get working. Had they acted in time, a lot of people would've been less inconvenienced.

There were a few rookie truck and bus drivers too- a KaSRTC Airavat driver takes the cake- this bloke couldn't take his hi-tech, 290hp, half-empty bus through a small gap that even (over)loaded, 160hp, 31T trucks managed easily. And he himself caused a 1 hour block.

This is the first time I'd been in a block of this magnitude on NH209. The cops had stopped all traffic towards Sathy town at Bannari, and regulating the traffic towards Dimbham. We turned right at Bannari and merged back into NH209 about 10km before Annur. Entered CBE city as I had some things to take care of. Else the travel time would've gone down by an hour maybe. The only toll I paid, was at Walayar. I was tailing a TNSTC bus, hence avoided the Athupalam toll in CBE.

There was hardly any network connectivity in the ghats, else I would've posted this live. Whenever possible, I'd reported the status in Waze.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by deepv

Looking for route between Mysore and Kalpetta, and from above both the options look similar.
My query was which of the two routes is more scenic to drive and lesser on traffic.
On those lines, is it worth taking Nagarhole NP road from HDKote or through Hunsur by any chance?

The route via bavali is better traffic wise and is also more scenic. Hunsur nagarhole should also be ok. The bavali route is via handpost. Does not actually touch hd kote.

I just drove to calicut via Mysore- gundlepet - bathery. Apart from road work between Mysore and nangangud, this route is pretty good all through.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

...Mysore- gundlepet - bathery. Apart from road work between Mysore and nangangud, this route is pretty good all through.

OK .. will stick this then, looks like road conditions-wise this is better overall.
Will be travelling on Monday morning, so the traffic should not be as much as these couple of days.

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

Hi guys!

Doing a Vellore - Kottayam drive this week.
Was thinking of taking the Salem - Dindigul - Theni - Kumily route.

Did my Vellore - Kottayam drive on the 24th - probably the worst day of the calendar to drive into Kerala from adjacent states!

-Started at 5.10 am

-Vellore - to Krishnagiri was smooth 6 lanes all the way, with minimal truck traffic and fog

-I joined the 'Bangalore - Kerala' gang at Krishnagiri, all the way to Salem. Roads were congested, but fast moving. Longest spent at a toll booth was 20 mins. Took almost 45 mins to cross Salem town via bypass.

-Traffic thinned out post Salem. Silky smooth roads with minimal traffic all the way till Dindigul.

-Road till Theni was good, but progress was slowed.

-Traffic started queue-ing up ~6 km before Kumily, took more than an hour to reach the summit

-Kumily town was madness, took another hour to cross the town. Cops were present everywhere though!

-Post Kumily, progress was slow and steady. Smaller towns like Vandiperiyar, Mundakkayam, Kanjirapally took 10-15 mins each to cross


-Total distance of 642 km covered in an all time longest 15 hours!
-Initial 430 km (TN) covered in ~8 hours; Last 210 km (KL) covered in ~7 hours!!

Left the car at home and traveled back by train! Decided to go fetch her after a month maybe!!

[JohnyRider]

Drove through Bangalore - Salem - Dindigul - Theni - Kumily - Mundakayam - Pathanamthitta on 22nd Dec. Started at 9:00 PM and reached pathanamthitta at 08:30 AM with Dinner break (30 mins) , two tea breaks(15 mins x 2). No delay encountered in any toll booths and no traffic block due to sabarimala vehicles.
Road conditions
Bangalore - Dindigul , excellent
Dindigul - Theni, V.good
theni - Kumily , good
Kumily - Pathanamthitta, V.good

Planning to follow same route on 29th Dec

[JohnyRider]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

I have been hearing about a road block planned by TN at Kerala borders on 27th Dec, I was planning to cross to Kerala from Theni on that day after a Rameshwaram trip. Any updates on this will be helpful

hi all, any update on the road block topic? Planning to cross Kumily check post on 29th Dec. I've to look for alternate routes in case of any potential issues.

[couswheels]

Any idea about how long it takes for darshan in Guruvayur ? Just wanted to check due to Christmas holidays. Might be driving either on 29th or 30th of this month.
TIA

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by couswheels

Any idea about how long it takes for darshan in Guruvayur ? Just wanted to check due to Christmas holidays.

More than X'Mas it is the Sabari Mala pilgrimage season which brings in a mad rush to Guruvayur. I had made a visit some where in mid November, if I had joined the queue it would have at least taken me 2-3 hours to get Darshan. Luckily a friendly police man helped me. There was a queue (around 100 people in line), and it was later I found out that the queue was to take back the mobile phones etc. given for safe custody .

[venkatt1800]

Couswheels, Sachinpk is right. More than the holidays it is the Sabarimala season which is the real reason for the huge rush during this time of the year. I went to Guruvayur on Gandhi Jayanti day this year, and it took around 4-5 hours in the queue before darshan. Skip Guruvayur till the Sabarimala season ends. If you must visit, then my suggestion would be to stay overnight and get an early morning darshan.

[couswheels]

Sachinpk, venkatf1800 - Thanks for the clarification. If there is going to be heavy rush will plan for early morning darshan. As per the info from my friend, the crowd is thinner today.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by couswheels

Sachinpk, venkatf1800 - Thanks for the clarification. If there is going to be heavy rush will plan for early morning darshan. As per the info from my friend, the crowd is thinner today.

Probably thinner today since the Sabarimala temple is closed from 26th to 30th after the 'Mandalam Season. Reopens on 30th for the Makaravilakku season. So expect Guruvayoor to get crowded again from 29th.

3-4 hours seems to be the norm during peak times. Ladies queue will be faster. Senior citizens (>60 years) have 2 slots morning 6.30-7.30 and evening 4.30-5.30 (Times may have changed).

Unfortunately the mini VIP culture has picked up a lot in Guruvayoor- So if you know the manager or someone moderately significant, there is a 'token' system which enables you to by-pass the queue.

In my opinion, the best time to visit Guruvayoor is during Feb end to March 2nd week. It is almost empty and very peaceful.