[NGM]

Has anyone traveled recently from Changanasery to tripunithura?
Is it better to take kumarakom--vaikom or through ettumanoor-thalayolaparambu?

[Aditya_Bhp]

Originally Posted by NGM

Has anyone traveled recently from Changanasery to tripunithura?
Is it better to take kumarakom--vaikom or through ettumanoor-thalayolaparambu?

Both equally fine, although if you pick the 1st one you wont have to enter Kottayam town, but then roads are narrow. The other one is through Kottayam and Ettumanoor, if traffic is less, pick this.

Its better to check GMaps for traffic before you leave and plan accordingly.

[B103]

Originally Posted by NGM

Has anyone traveled recently from Changanasery to tripunithura?
Is it better to take kumarakom--vaikom or through ettumanoor-thalayolaparambu?

These are the options:

1) From Changanacherry, you can take Nattakom (turn left in front of Honda car showroom towards Cement factory) -> Illikal -> Kumarakom -> Vaikom -> Tripunithura. It is very scenic and the shortest route. I remember there is one narrow bridge but you will never get stuck there for more than a minute or two. My preference is this route.


2) Changanacherry -> Thengana -> Puthupally -> Ettumanoor -> Talayolaparambu ->Tripunithura (2nd preference)


3) Changanacherry -> Kottayam -> Ettumanoor -> Talayolaparambu ->Tripunithura (last preference)

If you are driving in odd times, like Sunday early morning or late nights then there would not be much difference in timings.

[meconi]

Originally Posted by binand

Resist the temptation to turn right after Kuttipuram bridge and continue along NH66 to Ernakulam via Ponnani-Kodungallur. While beach-hugging and scenic this is narrow and crowded and will add about 2 hours to your overall time.

Thanks Binand - You were so exactly on the dot . . Kept most of this advice in mind and drove on Saturday . Boy, was i glad that I was making informed decisions.

Left Suchipara at about 130pm ( Despite trying my best to leave earlier ) First Impression like indicated - Tiresome drive. Wayanad - Kozhikode- Kottackal -Valancheri -Kuttipuram - Thrissur -Payillekara Toll ( some breath of fresh air)- Aluva - Vytila - Alapuzha ,
Traffic was pathetic to say the least . There was this bridge just near the Kozhikode bypass that may have put me back by about 45 mins to 1 hour at least . It was bumper to bumper for about an hour .
Numerous detours suggested by Google maps that took me on some very narrow lanes too . some due to roadblocks and some due to the CAB Protests Most noteworthy was one neat Kozhikode bypass ,another near Edapal ( bridge closure) and the big one near Thrissur town

With a couple of Stops along the way ( 40 mins at White House Restaurant, Just Below the Thamarassery Ghat section enroute Calicut and Macdonalds at Aluva . ) We reached Alapuzha at 1130pm .Just went to bed and opened my eyes today at 930am.

Some eye Openers on avoiding the Kodungaloor-Guruvayur Route - There were folks who tried to get us to change our mind when i just casually checked with a shopkeeper ( as the name Boards to Kochi were showing the Kodungaloor route but i kept your advice and trusted GMaps)

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Guess your plan is finalized, but stopping over in Wayanad for one night and then driving to Alappuzha is not worth the effort. You will not be able to enjoy Wayanad enough and on top of that will need to make this long tiring drive. Assuming this is a tourist trip and if so, just heading to Alappuzha from Kerala would have been much better.

Thanks Rajeev - I am telling you - I asked my wife to drive for about an hour in beween Calicut and Trissur Routes and she is still shaken the way the Private Buses show scant regard and come along the lane we are supposed to be driving in . She did not drive 20 mins and gave the steering back to me

Originally Posted by binand

I'd suggest exiting the bypass at Thondayad junction for both (not skip it altogether).

I wanted to Try Paragon . But the Kids started citing hunger as soon as i got down from the Ghat section so resigned to White House.Must say - I did find some great Fish Biriyani there .

[bijujj]

Originally Posted by bijujj

How is the road condition between Nagercoil to Trivandrum? Please let me know whether it's okay to take that route.

Completed the trip yesterday. Road from Nagercoil up to Marthandam is not in good condition. Full of potholes and heavy traffic. Planning to go back via shengottai.

[binand]

Originally Posted by bijujj

Completed the trip yesterday. Road from Nagercoil up to Marthandam is not in good condition. Full of potholes and heavy traffic. Planning to go back via shengottai.

Oops. I'm sorry, but now I realise that I had skipped that section when I drove through there in October (we had taken a detour to Tiruparapu falls, deviating at Thuckalay and rejoining only at Balaramapuram).

Originally Posted by meconi

Left Suchipara at about 130pm ( Despite trying my best to leave earlier ) First Impression like indicated - Tiresome drive. Wayanad - Kozhikode- Kottackal -Valancheri -Kuttipuram - Thrissur -Payillekara Toll ( some breath of fresh air)- Aluva - Vytila - Alapuzha ,
Traffic was pathetic to say the least .

I drove most of that in the opposite direction on Sunday evening - from Kodanad (near Perumbavur) to Calicut. Started at 7 PM; but Google was showing "+N minutes" at various points in the route. So I took a series of lesser known routes.

First, I went Malayattoor-Manjapra-Mookkanoor-Karayamparamba which skips both Kaladi and Angamali towns - savings of about 15 mins.

Then I turned left at Pudukkad to avoid Paliyekkara toll and approach Thrissur from Irinjalakuda road - saved about 20 mins at the toll booth but was probably a bit slower.

All that was negated by the ferocious traffic jam that I saw in Thrissur city. Being the last Sunday before Christmas the city was out shopping and celebrating. From Kanimangalam to Lulu it took me nearly 1.5 hours - and the traffic to enter Thrissur was standing still in a pileup all the way till Lulu.

Traffic was exteremely heavy till Eranallur, where I turned off the SH towards Perumpilavu. This town is a decision point - continue along the regular route towards Kuttipuram and join NH 66, or split off towards Pattambi and take NH 966 (or my present favourite, via Manjeri-Arekode entering Calicut from the east). Chose the latter despite some apprehensions about road quality. The Pattambi-Koppam-Perinthalmanna route is quite OK now. And the Angadipuram-Manjeri-Arekode-Calicut route has been excellent every time i have taken it.

The difference between the two routes from Perumpilavu is about 15 km, which ought to be 30 minutes in Kerala units. Even that is fine with me for a stress-free drive, but in fact I was able to reach home without any time loss at that time of the day.

[kmsithan]

Any route suggestions from Coimbatore to Pachilakaadu in wayanad? Could not find any recent post for this route.
Google suggests 3 routes as below:
1. CBE - conoor - Ooty - Sultan bathery - Kalpetta
2. CBE - Annur - Chamrajnagar - Gundlupete - Sultan bathery
3. CBE - Palakkad - Manjeri - Thamaraserry - kalpetta

With the holiday traffic and CBE ooty ttaffic, i would avoid route #1. Which would be a better route between 2 and 3?

Travelling today in ecosport.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by bijujj

Completed the trip yesterday. Road from Nagercoil up to Marthandam is not in good condition. Full of potholes and heavy traffic. Planning to go back via shengottai.

There were several sections where road widening work was in progress on this route if you are taking Palode-Kulathupuzha-Thenmala route.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFaK6-FcP3M

This was the condition in September this year. On Tamilandu side the roads were in good condition and it is good to stay on SH744 till Madurai if you are going towards Bangalore (or Chennai as I noticed from your location).

[bijujj]

Thanks Shankar. Is road widening work only on Palode road or scattered all across SH744? For example if I take Kottarakkara, Punalur can I avoid this?

[DieselLover]

Completed Kochi-Rameswaram round trip last week. Took the Pollachi-Dindigal-Madhurai route. Road condition is good throughout. Started at 5 40 in the morning from Ernakulam and reached Rameswaram by 6 45 PM.
Took multiple breaks in between and also had to enter Thrissur town which took more time. Kuthiran stretch seems to be in better state now. Traffic is slow moving but no horrible traffic blocks like in the past. Google maps took me through Madhurai city which resulted in more delays as we were stuck in Saturday evening traffic.

Return journey was slower as there was heavy traffic from Dindigul till Ernakulam. Paliakkara toll was another bottleneck. We were stuck there for close to 30 mins before passing through. Fastag worked well throughout the trip.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by bijujj

Thanks Shankar. Is road widening work only on Palode road or scattered all across SH744? For example if I take Kottarakkara, Punalur can I avoid this?

Yes you can bypass the problem stretch between Madathara and Thenmala if you take Kottarakara Punalur Shenkotta route but it will be a long detour. A slightly shorter one is Ayur Anchal Punalur route.

If you are only taking this to avoid the mad Nagercoil to Marthandam stretch you can mitigate the madness by leaving early in the morning.

If your vehicle has sufficient GC you can comfortably take the original Palode Madathara Kulathupuzha Thenmala route with no problems (assuming the roads are still in the same condition). I would still prefer this route over the longer detour due to much lower traffic density.

[Rajeevraj]

Drove Bangalore-Palakkad-Tirur on 25th December. Had thought that it would be a peaceful drive with low traffic as it was Chirstmas day and middle of the holiday season. Unfortunately was mistaken. Traffic was pretty heavy throughout. All tolls had some crowd, and the cash vs Fastag segregation being done before reaching the toll caused some pileups. Was worst at Krishnagiri. But overall the lanes were moving faster. Hopefully once the transition to Fastag for the majority happens, things will end up being smoother.

One lane was closed due to road work in the Thoppur ghat section. Google was showing a 25 min delay and an alternate to bypass most of it. Normally little skeptical of Google detours, but took this. It was a narrow village road but served the purpose.

As mentioned by others, Fastag is enabled on the right lane on the L &T bypass, downside is that now it has to scan at each toll for that section, which seems slower than showing the receipt and passing. So each of the L&T toll also had pileups.

Overall was one of the more frustrating and slower trips.

[ike]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Drove Bangalore-Palakkad-Tirur on 25th December. Had thought that it would be a peaceful drive with low traffic as it was Chirstmas day and middle of the holiday season. Unfortunately was mistaken.

I drove from Thrissur to Chennai on Christmas day and it was largely peaceful. Started off at 14:00 Hrs from Thrissur and was in Chennai by 23:20.

The drive from Chennai on the 21st (Saturday) took 14 Hrs with heavy traffic piling up and clogging all toll booths and the thoppur ghat section. The Bangalore registered cars were remarkably unruly. I will from now on stick to the Uludurpet - Salem - Coimbatore route and avoid the route via Krishnagiri - Thoppur.

[meconi]

Drove Kochi to Bangalore on 27th. Left at 5:30am from Kakkanad and hit Electronic City at 12:10pm with a pit stop at A2B at Perundurai.

My observations:

Kochi - L&T Smooth traffic all through with key toll roads.

L&T - 2 lanes now at all toll booths - left side cash and right side Fasttag. Appeared that the cash side was much faster.

Coimbatore to Salem - Google maps was playing messy. It was recommending detours all through. Continued on the tried and tested highways and did not encounter any problem at triple digit speeds. Tolls had clear markings for fastag - right side fastag, left cash. Fastag was a breeze

Salem to Hosur - no issues whatsoever. Was constantly at triple digit speeds.

Hosur to Bangalore - All chaos. Heacy traffic. No clear early demarcations for fastag and many cash vehicles get stuck on fastag lanes.

Bangalore Ec to Yelahanka, where I stay, traffic was so bad that I got home at 2pm after getting to EC by almost 12. In hindsight should have taken the Nice Road. Repented believing in google maps

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[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by bijujj

Completed the trip yesterday. Road from Nagercoil up to Marthandam is not in good condition. Full of potholes and heavy traffic. Planning to go back via shengottai.

Yes, it is in a very bad shape. Better to take the alternate route via Asaripallam - Thingalnagar - Karungal - Poovar - Trivandrum.