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Quoting your post here since this thread is more relevant

Hope you are referring to the road to Victoria church. Did you take your i20 all the way? The trail narrows down considerably, doesn't it?

Yes.. It is the way to the Victoria Church. Like you said the trail was very narrow. The forests became very dense and there was considerable scare of wild elephants in the area when we visited. So dropped the plan half way and returned. But would like to go all the way soon.

Ditto here - have tried thrice only to chicken out every time. But once we saw a local bike guy coming from the other side playing a loud song in his mobile, which was audible about ten minutes before he reached us.

Should do it once at least:)

Once we went on a bike through that route. It was pretty scary. A deer suddenly jumped and crossed the road in front of us. We also saw a tree uprooted by an elephant on the side. There was also elephant dung all the way. That time too we dropped the plan and came back.

I'm planning a road trip from Pune to Kerela first week of May. I'm entering Kerala via Vythiri through Mysore and then driving down to Kumarakom, Thekkady, Munnar, Coimbatore and returning back to Pune.

I've wanted some pointers on road condition and best routes from Vythiri to Kumarakom. Unfortunately will be driving through the day so will hit peak traffic.

Google has suggested 2 routes

Route 1 - via the coast Thamarassery, Pantheerankavu, Tirur, Ponani, Guruvayur, Kumarakom via Ernakulam
Route 2 - Thamarassery, Manjeri, Thrissur, Angamaly, Kumarakom via Ernakulam

If I leave Vythiri by 10 am will I be able to get to Kumarakom by atleast 6 pm with break for lunch.

Has anyone done this route recently and how are the road conditions. Any feedback will be welcome.

I would opt for the route via Thrissur as you get the 4laned road between Kechery and Kochi.This is the route you would need to take,if you were to go via the same route.https://goo.gl/maps/n5jMBjsmFn22

Road conditions are good.Vythiri to Thrissur would take you about 4-5hours.thrissur to lulu junction would take you about 90minutes and a further 60-90minutes from there to your final destination at kumarakom as you have opted to drive during peak hour traffic.If your travel date is on May5/6th,then do not opt to take the Thrissur route as it is Thrissur Pooram(temple festival)on those days.If on these two days,go via the NH17 all the way to Edapally and further on to Kumarakom from there.Time taken would be more or less the same irrespective of the route.Just that NH17 is a little more stressful with narrow roads and dense traffic.

For the benefit of other travellers intending to travel via Thrissur next weekend,best to avoid.

Unless you have specific business in Vythiri, don't do this - come Pune-Bangalore-Salem-Coimbatore-Kochi-Kumarakom.

If you need to be in Vythiri, then to get to Kumarakom neither of these roads are optimal, especially if you are new to Kerala roads and not a Malayalee. You should take Vythiri-Thamarassery-Malapparamba-Ramanattukara-Kottakkal-Kuttipuram-Kunnamkulam-Thrissur-Angamali-Ernakulam-Kumarakom. This basically follows the first part of your route 1 (except that instead of taking dicey village roads, it takes you through NH, Calicut bypass and known state highways) and the second part of your route 2 (taking advantage of the excellent NH 47/544).

During weekday daytime, I'd say:

Vythiri-Calicut: 1.5 hours
Calicut-Thrissur: 3.5 hours
Thrissur-Edapalli: 1.5 hours
Ernakulam (Edapalli-Thrippunithara): 1 hour
Thrippunithara-Kumarakom: 1 hour

(with my kind of driving; aggressive driving can probably shave off an hour from that).

I would suggest Route 1 with modifications
Google may suggest bypassing Malaparamba junction, but do not do that. Just go straight up to the first main signaled junction after passing the towns Kunnamangalam and Karanthur, and take left on to Kozhikode bypass, towards Trichur/Kottakkal. The junction is called as Malaparamba junction.

The Tirur-Ponnani-Guruvayoor route is narrow at many places - between Chettipadi and Ponnani and again Kodungallur-Paravur stretch. Road surface is good all the way. If you want wider roads to drive, take the NH 17 (66) upto Kuttipuram and proceed to Trichur-Angamali-Ernakulam via Edappal. You have to cross Trichur town if you opt for this route, but you get 4 lane highway between Trichur and Edappally. The 4 lane highway does have a lot of signals across though.
This is the gmaps link for the route https://goo.gl/PHhP3L

I do not have much idea about the current condition beyond Ernakulam.

Thanks for the quick replies.
I'm driving this route on the 3rd of May so hopefully not impacted by the Pooram festival. Will take the NH 66 and NH 47 as recommended.
Thanks once again to all.

For Virajpet - Calicut, which route is better? Better surface? Less hilly?
Iritty route or Kutta route?

(Sorry, cross posting here.)

Less hilly is very subjective as you have to cross western ghats to reach Calicut.

My pick is Virajpet - iritty - Mattannur - Thalassery - Calicut, but has good amount of winding roads until you reach Mattannur. An early morning or late evening start will help to reduce travel time.


Other option is Gonikoppal - Kutta - Mananthavady - kalpetta - Calicut. There were few patchy sections between Kutta and Mananthavady, but this route has better ghat section and comparatively less traffic.

Choose the option based your destination in Calicut and time of your travel.

With an early morning start, the Iritty-Telicherry route would be the faster option. There is road widening work in full swing between Iritty and Mattannur which can slow you down once traffic builds up.

The Kutta Mananthavady route would have lesser traffic density but as I see on gmaps, it is around 30 km longer, so you may not get significant savings in time.
The Makutta ghat sees very less traffic and is much more predictable when compared to the Thamarashery ghats.

Any update on the road works on MC road between Changanassery and Chengannur?

Also, read in newspaper that road work is going on NH47 near Alapuzha leading to congestion. Any update on this?

Any recommendations for a good restaurant near Bavali, Kaattikulam side (before Mananthavady)? I remember reading a few names, but now not in front of a PC to quickly check the entire thread.

There's nothing in Bavali (except some roadside tea vendors and a couple of Kerala-style hotels).

In Kattikulam such hotels are there, plus there is this one: http://www.holidayhillhotel.com.

In Mananthavadi there is http://www.hotelbrahmagiri.com.

Respective websites have contact information - call and make sure they'll serve food when you arrive. :-)