[binand]

Originally Posted by RROD

Day 1: Start Dec 21st early morning at 4 am.
[...]
Day 4 : Vipin Island in and around

If day 1 is Dec 21, then day 4 is Christmas eve. This is probably the second-most magical evening to be in (anywhere, but particularly central) Kerala, after Onam. In fact, looking at the place you are staying - the Santa Cruz Basilica is practically next door.

Plus, Dec 25 is the customary first day of the week-long Cochin Carnival. It is also venued in Fort Kochi. Might want to consider a visit.

[MSAneesh]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Calicut to Chavakkad is almost 75% done (from personal experience).

So, which one of the below would you suggest for a Christmas time drive based on your recent experience? Starting from Thalassery around 7 AM.

Route 1: Calicut City - Feroke - Parappanangadi - Thanur - Chamravattom - Ponnani - Chavakkad

Route 2: Calicut bypass - Ramanattukara - Kottakkal - Valanchery - Kuttipuram - Ponnani - Chavakkad

Thanks!

[Auto_guy_101]

I'm quite unfamiliar with Northern Kerala routes and am planning a drive along the following route:

Near Cochin airport - Thrissur - Kozhikode - Mahe - Kannur - Bekal (stay) - onwards to Udupi/ Goa. Should be starting 6 am

Please help me with:

1. Breakfast (veg) spots: I know Bharat and Madurai veg in Thrissur, though these might be a bit early on the route. Any other good options (clean washrooms, good food) a little further along?

2. Fuel up in Mahe: Planning as there's a good price difference. Is it worth exiting NH66 for this?

3.Lunch (veg please): I couldn't find a single veg place in Mahe. I'm currently planning to stop at Sree Krishnas Kannur. Are there any other options?

4. Dinner at Bekal: I'll be staying quite close to the fort. Would prefer a restaurant not too far away for a light dinner instead of dinning at the place of stay.

5. Route: I always seem to take the wrong route (partially thanks to google maps) from Thrissur to Kozhikode. Any way points for the better road? And how is the road condition upto Bekal now?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by MSAneesh

So, which one of the below would you suggest for a Christmas time drive based on your recent experience? Starting from Thalassery around 7 AM.

Route 1: Calicut City - Feroke - Parappanangadi - Thanur - Chamravattom - Ponnani - Chavakkad

Route 2: Calicut bypass - Ramanattukara - Kottakkal - Valanchery - Kuttipuram - Ponnani - Chavakkad

Thanks!

While I mentioned 75% of the work is complete, just to clarify the stretches open will be much lesser-Maybe 30%. But these keep changing over short periods. Heard that the Calicut Bypass Hilite Mall flyover is open now. With your start time, would still recommend Route 2. Route 1 means that you need to enter Calicut City during peak hours. Kottakkal and Valanchery will still remain bottlenecks, but in my view there are enough finished sections to stick to this route now.

Originally Posted by Auto_guy_101

1. Breakfast (veg) spots: I know Bharat and Madurai veg in Thrissur, though these might be a bit early on the route. Any other good options (clean washrooms, good food) a little further along?

5. Route: I always seem to take the wrong route (partially thanks to google maps) from Thrissur to Kozhikode. Any way points for the better road? And how is the road condition upto Bekal now?

The conventional route would be the regular Thrissur-Kunnamkulam-Edapal-Kuttipuram-Valanchery-Kozhikode. I have heard that Thrissur-Kunnamkulam even after patching is very bad.

The other slightly off beat suggestion- Especially since you are looking for good veg places and if this is important, would be to connect to NH66 (I think via Cherpu- I have no idea if it is a good connect). If it is, then go via Triprayar, Chavakkad, Chamravattom, Tirur and either connect back to NH66 from Tirur via Edarikode or do Parappanagadi-Chelari.

If you do this, you can be at Tirur by around 9am and halt for breakfast at "Ganapathy Bhavan"

[Auto_guy_101]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

The conventional route would be the regular Thrissur-Kunnamkulam-Edapal-Kuttipuram-Valanchery-Kozhikode. I have heard that Thrissur-Kunnamkulam even after patching is very bad.

If you do this, you can be at Tirur by around 9am and halt for breakfast at "Ganapathy Bhavan"

Thanks!
I came via Kunnamkulam a couple weeks back (yet another of my trying to follow an SH and getting rerouted a dozen times story. I was coming from Nilambur and don't know which bad turns I took to reach there, instead of coming via the Shornur road). There was a diversion in the town.

The NH66 portion upto Guruvayoor from my place is horrible. Slow moving traffic on the service roads with no scope to overtake. I did this trip in the beginning of November. After Guruvayoor, roads were decent upto Feroke (my destination). I was planning on taking NH66 from near Valanchery.

I will mostly check out Ganapathy Bhavan, although a restaurant nearer to NH66 seems to be a better option.

[vivekcochin]

This is to update about route taken for my last Hyderabad to Cochin (Fortkochi) trip.

Trip from Hyderabad till Nandi Upachar, Devanahalli was routine one i.e via Jadcherla, Kurnool, Ananthapuram, Penukonda, Bagepalli toll.

Maps didn't show me any route crossing through Bengaluru city (which I usually take i.e via Hebbal, Koramangala, Attibele to Hosur etc).

Hence I thought to take the map suggested route and I ignored the route which goes through Mysore road side & enter through Sathyamangalam route.

At last, I decided to take this route as mentioned here in bullets:

• From Nandi upachar, took first left towards Hoskote side.

• Looks like new construction is ongoing towards probably Chennai side?

• I stayed on to Hoskote Malur road

• It was purely village feeling after this stretch towards Berigai which is in Tamil Nadu

• Proceeded towards Athimugham, Puliyarasi and then Shoolagiri to enter NH 44 thereby reaching Krishnagiri side.

• Once I enter Krishnagiri side, I tool usual Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Avinashi, Neelambur, Palakkad, Thrissur route to reach my destination

Some tips for those who are not familiar with this route:

• Kindly use this route only if you feel traffic via BLR city is going to be horrible

• There is not much savings on time. I probably saved a 15 minutes but the stretch of roads after Hoskote was quite bad and then you have small towns at Athimugham with high density of people with narrow streets. It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes from Nandi upachar to enter NH 44 in Shoolagiri/Krishnagiri side. The route via BLR often taken 2 hr 30 minutes but if traffic is too much then it can be an issue.

• Do not use this road if you enter Nandi upachar after 4pm as it is not easy to navigate through the narrow village roads and help is not that easy since at many places you don't see any people.

• If this stretch is taken there is only one toll (Nalluru) till you enter NH44 at Shoolagiri/Krishnagiri side. The city route will have these tolls - Devanahalli, Electronics city flyover & Attibele toll.

[ike]

Originally Posted by Auto_guy_101

1. Breakfast (veg) spots: I know Bharat and Madurai veg in Thrissur, though these might be a bit early on the route. Any other good options (clean washrooms, good food) a little further along?

You may reach thrissur quite early in the day there are a couple of options for Vegetarian breakfast here that are not too far out from your route to NH66.

Mani's Cafe (closed on sundays)

Radhakrishna coffee club (parking is a challenge)

[Auto_guy_101]

Originally Posted by ike

Mani's Cafe (closed on sundays)
Radhakrishna coffee club (parking is a challenge)

I used to live very close to Mani's cafe in Thrissur. With the parking at the back, it is a pretty decent option. Radhakrishna's I've never been to, mostly due to their parking problem (I will have a senior citizen on board and parking in the round and coming around is a hassle). But I'll definitely try it out some other time.

I was referring to places that are a little bit further away from Thrissur. After a lot of asking around, I have come upon a few places that seem good:

Sopanam, Valanchery
Pazhayidom Ruchi | Changaramkulam
Hotel Akshaya - least deviation (though I'll pass this too early again), not purely veg, but family won't mind this place for breakfast.

[Auto_guy_101]

Route update: NH 544 from Thrissur to Aluva

Road conditions: Mostly good other than the diversions, but a lot of uneven patches have turned up.

Diversions: The route towards Thrissur now has 4 diversions (Koratty, Just before the toll and 2 more in between) possibly to construct flyovers over the junction. Return route has only a small section where traffic from the opposite side is being diverted, somewhere close to Chalakudy.

Traffic: Has become quite bad with a very large number of trucks plying. Took me close to 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon. Much lighter traffic (still not free roads) in the early/ late hours. Lane discipline is mostly non-existent. Plan your travel times if you wish to avoid getting stuck here.

[NGM]

Has anyone travelled from Madurai to Kochi recently?
Google shows 2 routes

Route 1 - Madurai - Theni -Poopara - Rajakkad - Neriyamangalam - Kochi

Route 2 - Madurai- Oddanchatram - Pollachi - Kozhinjanpara- Palakkad - Kochi.

Which Route is recommended? Has anyone travelled recently through Route 1 as it is shortest. Is the roads good?

[SAPVEN]

Hi Friends ,

Am planning to drive down to Kuttyadi , from Bangalore, later this month.
The plan is to take the Mysore-Bavalli- Manathavady -Thottilpalam- Kuttyadi route.

If anyone is familiar with the above route, would like to know the best way to avoid the rush/jam in Manathavady town, or even to bypass the town.

From previous experience , getting stuck at Mananthavady town could result in a delay of 20-30 minutes.

Thanks !!

[binand]

Originally Posted by SAPVEN

If anyone is familiar with the above route, would like to know the best way to avoid the rush/jam in Manathavady town, or even to bypass the town.

From previous experience , getting stuck at Mananthavady town could result in a delay of 20-30 minutes.

I don't think there are any bypass routes that would be any better than going through Mananthavady town, when going from Kattikulam side to Niravilpuzha side.

Some parts of the town can be avoided by exiting towards Kalpetta-Calicut and then taking one of the connector roads towards Niravilpuzha. Depending on how gridlocked the town is, this might work out better.

[aajohn]

Will be driving from Bangalore to Changanassery on the 19th Of December. I usually take the route Bangalore - Salem - Dindigul - Kumily and head home. This time around I’m contemplating whether to go visa Coimbatore - Palakkad instead. Inputs from any one who has done the routes recently would definitely help ! Google is showing a max of 30 minutes difference between the routes

[sajiseb]

Originally Posted by JoeMichael

I keep traveling Ettumanoor to Bangalore every other month. If my start time is later than 4am, I prefer Dindigul route, else we would hit the L&T stretch during peak morning hours and get stuck behind numerous college buses and two wheelers . If you prefer a more scenic but a bit more arduous route, you may try dhimbam-satyamangalam option.

I started by 4:30 am. Considered taking the Dindigul route, however had concerns about visibility in Kuttikkanam area due to fog. Can poor visibility due to fog in the early hours of the day be an issue ?
I am planning for the next trip in Jan, hoping to take the Dindigul route (and avoid the L&T bypass)
What about night driving in the Dindigul - Kottayam route (reaching by 11 pm or so), is it risky ?
Thanks

[robincsamuel]

Originally Posted by sajiseb

Can poor visibility due to fog in the early hours of the day be an issue ?
What about night driving in the Dindigul - Kottayam route (reaching by 11 pm or so), is it risky ?

We mostly take the Dindigul route to Pathanamthitta. The visibility due to fog isn’t much of an issue, but it’s still a slow drive from Kumily onwards because of the narrow, winding roads. We usually start around 7 am from Bangalore and reach home by 9 pm. I think it’s safe to drive at night, though the roads will be mostly deserted.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the route gets more crowded than usual during the Sabarimala season, so you need to be extra careful.

Quoting one of my old post below:

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

I'd suggest this route. I'm from Pathanamthitta and that's the route I always take. In fact, it's one of my favorite routes. I usually take ~12.5 hours, including breaks. The driving time would be ~11 hours.

I'm not sure if you have traveled on this route before but will break it down.

Bangalore to Salem: 200 km/3.5 - 4 hours.
Salem to Dindigul: 170 km/2-2.5 hours - The best stretch, my average speed there is close to 80kmph. A lot better than the crowded Salem-Coimbatore NH.
Dindigul to Kumily Lower Camp - 140 km/2.5 hours - Very similar to MC Road but mostly straight, the average speed is around 60kmph.
Kumily Lower Camp to Erumeli - 70 km/2.5 hours - This is the slowest stretch, narrow winding roads, and one needs to be more careful. If it rains, be even more careful but anyways the average speed would be ~30kmph.
Erumeli to Pathanamthitta - 30 km/45 mins. It'd be 45 km/1.15 hours for you.

Though the Kumily-Erumeli stretch is slow, it's much better than traffic blocks and crowded highways. If you want to break the journey into two days, you can find decent stay options in Karur/Dindigul. Sometimes we start in the afternoon and halt at Karur/Dindigul.