[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by unni246

Lucky You!
I had to start my journey as wife had to report to work today morning though it was my day off.
Started from Tirur at 12 noon and was home 12 Midnight
Took the Coimbatore - Salem route instead of the Nadugani - Gundlupet route as my friends reported traffic in this route owing to New Year weekend as many folks from Kerala head there to party.

I started from Vattathani, Tanur yesterday at 6 AM and reached Bangalore at 3.50 PM via Nilambur-Gudalur-Mysore. This includes a total of around 1 hr 15 min break for breakfast and lunch. Had a peaceful drive throughout. Managed to reach Vazhikkadavu before the morning peak hour rush on the Kerala stretch and then on it was easy. Nadugani ghats was absolutely deserted. Even the usual lorry traffic downhill was missing this time around. Was in Gudalur in under 3 hours from Tanur.

[kuriancjohn]

I travelled from Kottayam to Bangalore on January 1st, 2017.
Started at 7.00 a.m. Reached Bangalore by 11.00 p.m.
Stopped for breakfast@Indian Coffee House, Thalayolaparambu, Lunch@A2B, Perundurai, Shopping@TexValley and dinner@Fanoos, Bangalore.

Took the Kottayam->Ettumanoor->Thalayolaparambu->Vaikom->Kakkanad->Aluva->Angamaly->Thrissur->Palakkad->Coimbatore->Salem->Krishnagiri->Hosur->Bangalore route.
Even though I had Fastag, it wasn't of much use as most of the toll booths were allowing regular vehicles on the dedicated lane.
The toll booth at Thoppur had a 2 km long queue, which forced me accept Google Map's suggestion to take a so-called parallel road around the booth.
Not only did it add 10 kms to the odometer but also reduced the life of my shock absorbers After taking this route I felt the wait in the queue would have been better.

[RapidRavi]

Travelling to Kumarakom on Thursday(5th Jan) for KTDC waterscapes.
Based on reviews and suggestions, my final route will be via CBE-Thrissur-Aluva-Kalamassery(HMT road)-SeaportAirport Road-Thrippunithura-Vaikom-WaterScapes.
Route Link
Any experts in this region can please guide for major things to keep in mind that i don't face traffic jams. This route is just to avoid the Kochi traffic(9 am to 10 am Friday) and this is my first trip beyond Chalakudy.

[skotha]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Did the Alleppey-Hosur on 29th December. Started at 6 AM at Alleppey and reached Hosur by 4 PM. This is with multiple stops for breakfast, lunch and coffee. As experts mentioned, the key is to start early. Route taken : Alleppey - Cochin - Coimbattore - Salem - Hosur. Except for the short stretches where the road widening is going on - the road conditions are good throughout. Was dreading Salem as we were reaching at noon but it turned out to be super smooth. Have FastTag so the tolls were also not an issue.

One observation though on the toll booths wrt to FasTag - I felt the booths in Kerala and TamilNadu were maintaining the FastTag lane well compared to Karnataka and AP/Telangana.

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by RapidRavi

Travelling to Kumarakom on Thursday(5th Jan) for KTDC waterscapes.
Based on reviews and suggestions, my final route will be via CBE-Thrissur-Aluva-Kalamassery(HMT road)-SeaportAirport Road-Thrippunithura-Vaikom-WaterScapes.
Route Link
Any experts in this region can please guide for major things to keep in mind that i don't face traffic jams. This route is just to avoid the Kochi traffic(9 am to 10 am Friday) and this is my first trip beyond Chalakudy.

The other option is Kalamassery - Edapally - Vytilla - Cherthala - Kumarakom
This will give you 4 lane roads till Cherthala and scenic route from Cherthala to Kumarakom via Thanneermukkam.

The sea port airport road will be very congested during peak hours as it passes through Kochi Infopark. Also the road is just 2 lane at many places. i recommend you to take this route while returning if you are starting early from Kumarakom.

[unni246]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

I started from Vattathani, Tanur yesterday at 6 AM and reached Bangalore at 3.50 PM via Nilambur-Gudalur-Mysore. This includes a total of around 1 hr 15 min break for breakfast and lunch. Had a peaceful drive throughout. Managed to reach Vazhikkadavu before the morning peak hour rush on the Kerala stretch and then on it was easy. Nadugani ghats was absolutely deserted. Even the usual lorry traffic downhill was missing this time around. Was in Gudalur in under 3 hours from Tanur.

Sighting no lorries in that route is just awesome!
BTW how was the Manjeri - Nadugani stretch? The last time I took this route (may be in August) there were lot of roadworks going on and vehicles had to stop and follow single lane traffic at many places.
I had no other chance than start by noon on the 1st of Jan which is almost peak hour back to Bangalore, else would have started earlier or on the 2nd. I too had a 1 hour break for Lunch, Tea and Fuel. The running time was around 8 hrs and the rest were all for Tolls :(

Originally Posted by skotha

One observation though on the toll booths wrt to FasTag - I felt the booths in Kerala and TamilNadu were maintaining the FastTag lane well compared to Karnataka and AP/Telangana.

Absolutely!
Worst is Thoppur and second is Krishnagiri. I literally had to fight with the guys at the counter as I could not enter the FASTag lane and I denied to pay cash / card. These guys did not have a hand scanner and they insisted that I pay. After 5 mins of arguments they opened the gate but after taking pics of my car as I could see in his screen, not sure for what reason.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by unni246

Absolutely!
Worst is Thoppur and second is Krishnagiri. I literally had to fight with the guys at the counter as I could not enter the FASTag lane and I denied to pay cash / card. These guys did not have a hand scanner and they insisted that I pay.

Surprised! Both these booths have fastag and both are in TN! Many here have passed through these booths with fastag. (Me too!)

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Ampere - Here the issue is he missed the fastag lane and ended up in the normal lane. It had happened to me twice at Karnanataka border, I chose to pay by cash (didn't bother to argue)

My bad! Sorry I missed. Agreed these guys dont have scanners usually. Hence once you are of that lane, they wont budge. But once you get to know where the lanes are, its easy to spot and then experience takes over. First time it was bit tricky for me, I used to look for carefully. But nowadays its an easy habit to spot it (even when in crowd).

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by ampere

Surprised! Both these booths have fastag and both are in TN! Many here have passed through these booths with fastag. (Me too!)

Ampere - Here the issue is he missed the fastag lane and ended up in the normal lane. It had happened to me twice at Karnanataka border, I chose to pay by cash (didn't bother to argue)

BTW I got a free ride at Thrissur Toll plaze, there was a long queue at around 10.15 pm and my friend who was a regular on this route advised to stick to the left lane ignoring the fastag lane. I was surprised to see that lane was moving very fast, then I saw that all the vehicles in that lane were let free and hence no wait and delays. My friend said they do this in that lane whenever there is heavy rush

[unni246]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

BTW I got a free ride at Thrissur Toll plaze, there was a long queue at around 10.15 pm and my friend who was a regular on this route advised to stick to the left lane ignoring the fastag lane. I was surprised to see that lane was moving very fast, then I saw that all the vehicles in that lane were let free and hence no wait and delays. My friend said they do this in that lane whenever there is heavy rush

Yes I have heard that they do it usually.
Hope the people at Krishnagiri & Thoppur get some sense in them to follow same - these are the most crowded ones with vehicles flowing to both TN & Kerala during festive seasons.

Originally Posted by ampere

Surprised! Both these booths have fastag and both are in TN! Many here have passed through these booths with fastag. (Me too!)

Yes, except these all booths are managed well I assume in TN.
Well if you could reach the FASTag lane, then yes you could pass through fine unless there are others occupied who are paying by cash.
Also I somehow find it tough to get in the right lane when crowded as it's tough to understand which lane goes where though we could see the board with Lane No. far away

[ampere]

Originally Posted by unni246

Also I somehow find it tough to get in the right lane when crowded as it's tough to understand which lane goes where though we could see the board with Lane No. far away

I agree. The trick is to somehow know before hand which side of road the fastag lane is ? (Left or right.) Usually they mention 500m or so before. But then sometimes confusion strikes wheher Lane 1 is from left or right!

But once you know that based on experience, be on that side and then slowly drift to the fastag lane.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by unni246

Sighting no lorries in that route is just awesome!
BTW how was the Manjeri - Nadugani stretch? The last time I took this route (may be in August) there were lot of roadworks going on and vehicles had to stop and follow single lane traffic at many places.

.

Work is on in full swing, but the diversions into single lane is only at a few places, must be around 4-5 places. Culvert work is mostly over. Since I covered this stretch before the peak hour rush, did not find any issues at all. Road surface though is very good. The TN side of the ghat section has been patched up now. But the stretch from Nadugani to Gudalur still is rough.
I still would prefer the Wayanad route to Tirur if I were to drive in Kerala stretch during the daytime. Once traffic builds up, the Vazhikkadavu-Tirur drive can be very tiresome. Compared to this, the Bathery-Kozhikode Bypass-Chelari-Parappanangadi route is much easier to negotiate with lesser number of crowded towns to cross.

[luvurride]

In my recent experience, both the tolls in between Thrissur to Alleppey didn't maintain the exclusivity of FasTag lanes as they let everyone take it. So no real advantage in having a FasTag in Kerala besides saving ready cash expense.

All tolls in the TN side maintained that exclusivity. The only problem with Krishnagiri and Thoppur being getting to the FasTag lanes as vehicles queue up much ahead. Sankagiri toll has some construction work going on in the FasTag lane, hence not operational. Rest were a breeze.

[unni246]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

I still would prefer the Wayanad route to Tirur if I were to drive in Kerala stretch during the daytime. Once traffic builds up, the Vazhikkadavu-Tirur drive can be very tiresome. Compared to this, the Bathery-Kozhikode Bypass-Chelari-Parappanangadi route is much easier to negotiate with lesser number of crowded towns to cross.

Thanks for the update, the Nadugani route is indeed tiresome.
And I normally take the Chamaraj Nagar route instead of Mysore to save on traffic.
Have you tried the Kolappuram - Mukkam - Thamarassery route? I was told that the roads are great and saves a lot of time

[binand]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Once traffic builds up, the Vazhikkadavu-Tirur drive can be very tiresome. Compared to this, the Bathery-Kozhikode Bypass-Chelari-Parappanangadi route is much easier to negotiate with lesser number of crowded towns to cross.

The key difference is this: There is 94 km of road in Wayanad per lakh of population, in Malappuram only 44 km. Naturally the roads in Malappuram would be more crowded than in Wayanad.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by unni246

Thanks for the update, the Nadugani route is indeed tiresome.
And I normally take the Chamaraj Nagar route instead of Mysore to save on traffic.
Have you tried the Kolappuram - Mukkam - Thamarassery route? I was told that the roads are great and saves a lot of time

I have not tried it, but I don't think the Mukkam-Thamarassery route will save time. Have heard it is relatively narrow and one can get stuck behind slow moving vehicles.

My standard route for going to Tirur from some time now has been Salem-Cbe-Palakkad Bypass-Kuzhalmannam-Kottayi-Mankara-Ottapalam-Pattambi-Trithala-Kumbidy-Kuttipuram-Tirur (or Pattambi-Valanchery-Tirur). Apart from a slightly traffic heavy Mankara-Kulapully section, rest of it is very comfortable. Of course, this is not for peak times when one can get stuck at tolls(Liked it happened for you). Also, this works if your destination is Tirur proper or somewhere on either Kuttipuram Road or Valanchery road. If it is beyond Tirur on the Parappanangadi stretch, the time difference increases.

As you mentioned, Nadugani ends up being tiring and it being followed by the traffic heavy Kerala stretch does not help either. I don't mind taking Nadugani when returning as an early start can help cover the Kerala stretch quickly (As sandsun7 mentioned).

With the Gundlepet-Mysore Ring Road stretch in great shape, does not make sense to take the Chamrajnagar route. Better to go via Mysore-Ring Road-Bannur-Malavalli if one wants to avoid Mysore Road.