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Old 27th December 2024, 12:17   #14896
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

Hi all

I am planning to drive from Ernakulam to Thekkady over the weekend. Google maps shows 3 routes, all of which have roughly the same travel time. Any recommendations on which of these would be the better options considering that my daughter who suffers from motion sickness will be traveling with me?

1. Ernakulam - Mulanthuruthy - Thalayolaparambu - Pala - Mundakkayam - Thekkady
2. Ernakulam - Mulanthuruthy - Piravom - Monippally - Pala - Mundakkayam - Thekkady
3. Ernakulam - Thiruvankulam - Koothattukulam - Vagamon - Thekkady

Please share your suggestions. Aiming to prioritize comfort over speed for this trip.

Thanks

Last edited by Basketballnet : 27th December 2024 at 12:28. Reason: Corrected a typo
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Old 27th December 2024, 15:30   #14897
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by Basketballnet View Post
Hi all


1. Ernakulam - Mulanthuruthy - Thalayolaparambu - Pala - Mundakkayam - Thekkady
2. Ernakulam - Mulanthuruthy - Piravom - Monippally - Pala - Mundakkayam - Thekkady
3. Ernakulam - Thiruvankulam - Koothattukulam - Vagamon - Thekkady
The first two routes are quite similar and take you through interior roads until Pala, but the roads are mostly in good condition.
I don’t have much idea about third route, seems unnecessary unless you plan to visit Vagamon. But please check with someone knows better.

Keep in mind that from Mundakayam to Kuttikanam, the road has many winding sections as you’re climbing up towards a hill station.
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Old 27th December 2024, 15:53   #14898
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by rx100 View Post
The first two routes are quite similar and take you through interior roads until Pala, but the roads are mostly in good condition.
I don’t have much idea about third route, seems unnecessary unless you plan to visit Vagamon. But please check with someone knows better.

Keep in mind that from Mundakayam to Kuttikanam, the road has many winding sections as you’re climbing up towards a hill station.
Thank you for your feedback. I’ve got no plans to visit Vagamon and was quite surprised when Google maps showed this one as the recommended route. I will give that route a skip then and go with either #1 or #2.

Thanks also for the heads up regarding the winding road sections after Mundakayam - will plan on how best to minimize motion sickness for this leg.
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Old 28th December 2024, 07:50   #14899
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by deathwalkr View Post
The KTDC Aaram outside of Alappuzha is no longer on the usual route? Used to be a good place to take a break with decent food.
Ya, no longer on the usual route. Not sure whether it's operational now or it was under renovation last time I passed.

There's this vegetarian restaurant at Kalarcode junction which is quite decent - https://maps.app.goo.gl/vaYqux8tAs8pw4Bg9

Earlier some of us maintained an excel with decent restaurants between Kochi - Bangalore. Guess it would help if we can have one for Kochi - Trivandrum since it's a challenge to find a decent one now due to the road construction.
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Old 28th December 2024, 12:00   #14900
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

Hi All,

I am planning for a drive from TVM to Thekkady. The stay is planned at club Mahindra Thekkady. How are the road conditions for this route currently? We are a group of 7. So have the option of taking a traveller on rent or drive our own cars to the location.

Any feedback on the route & other recommendations would be really helpful.

Thank you all & wish you a happy new year!
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Old 28th December 2024, 18:09   #14901
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

Hello all,
My parents are visiting kerala during the last week of January.
During the trip, they plan to visit Guruvayur from Ernakulam (with a few stops in between).

Any suggestions for a cab Rental agency?
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Old 29th December 2024, 12:50   #14902
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

Hi,

Need to drive from Coimbatore to Thiruvananthapuram next week with family. Will be starting at 5:30am. Google suggested Angamaly -> Thodupuzha -> Pala -> Pathanapuram -> TVM route.

6 months ago, I had gone to Alapuzha and Changanassery and definitely want to avoid Cochin -> Alappuzha route. While coming back, took Kottayam to Angamaly on MC Road and that road was peaceful.

Couple of questions:
1. How is the route conditions on Pala route compared to MC road via Kottayam?
2. Any recommendations for breakfast and lunch? For breakfast, thinking of Lakshmi Bhavan at Kalady junction - should be able to leave there by 9am, so Kottarakkara/Pathanamthitta would be decent for lunch.

Thanks!
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Old 29th December 2024, 14:52   #14903
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by vsbabu View Post
Hi,

Couple of questions:
1. How is the route conditions on Pala route compared to MC road via Kottayam?

Thanks!
Road surfaces are pretty good, sometimes immaculate throughout the Pala route. Traffic density also lesser than MC Road.
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Old 29th December 2024, 17:27   #14904
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by Mr.Bentley View Post
Hello all,
My parents are visiting kerala during the last week of January.
During the trip, they plan to visit Guruvayur from Ernakulam (with a few stops in between).

Any suggestions for a cab Rental agency?
More than 5 year old experience. Not sure how it is these days:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ml#post4586732 (Indus Go, the latest self-drive rental company from Kerala)
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Old 30th December 2024, 10:43   #14905
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by rajesh1868 View Post
Thanks for the reply.
Sorry if I'm not clear, they need a rental cab (with driver). Any such leads?
I've used the IndusGo when I was in Kerala. It was great!

I've checked the Savaari cabs website. They do provide rental taxi for my required route, but nothing can beat a locally trusted service!
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Old 31st December 2024, 17:37   #14906
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by Mr.Bentley View Post
Thanks for the reply.
Sorry if I'm not clear, they need a rental cab (with driver). Any such leads?
I've used the IndusGo when I was in Kerala. It was great!

I've checked the Savaari cabs website. They do provide rental taxi for my required route, but nothing can beat a locally trusted service!
https://ensigntaxis.com/

They are in the field for long, we had taken their service multiple times when I was a child though I dont remember much about the service/vehicles etc. In case you do not get any leads with recent experiences, check them.
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Old 6th January 2025, 21:19   #14907
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

Thanks guys for all the breakfast place suggestions between kochi and alappuzha.
We stayed at Daya by Renai on Sahodaran Ayyappan Road (off Vytilla junction) and breakfast was included, so we started around 8am after having breakfast.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rajesh1868 View Post
Do update if you got the Ambalapuzha payasam on same day.
We reached the temple around 10:30am and the queue for the payasam was longer than the one to get into the temple for Darshan!
There was no point even trying to get into that line because the number of tickets issued is small and it would start after 12 pm. We had to visit a family friend so we left after Darshan.

Last edited by Aditya : 7th January 2025 at 05:33. Reason: As requested
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Old 8th January 2025, 18:07   #14908
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

We travelled recently to Kerala, this time we had a visit planned in Alappuzha so decided to also visit the Ambalapuzha Sree Krishna temple. We also had visits to our family deities near Alathur and Palakkad on our minds, so I came up with a plan to make Kochi and Palakkad as base and start on 28 Dec and return on 31 Dec which would hopefully help in avoiding the Christmas rush in to Kerala and the New year rush in to Bangalore and this plan was quite fine, but road conditions did trouble our drives, details here:

Onward Bangalore-Kochi:
  • Started around 4:45am, reached Sree Saravana Bhavan Vaigundam around 8:45am for breakfast. The new normal to Salem is now about 3.5+ hours given that there are multiple flyovers being constructed between Hosur and Krishnagiri
  • Beyond Salem also there are flyovers before and after Perundurai being constructed, getting to the 6 lane section near Tiruppur is quite a challenge
  • Same story after Palakkad as well since flyovers are under construction, then the traffic lights slow you down
  • We stopped for lunch around 1:45pm at Chennai Ananda Bhavan near Nadathara after Mannuthy
  • By the time we reached our hotel in Kochi it was 4:45pm, 12 hour drive for 550 odd Km

Onward Kochi-Ambalapuzha:
  • Started at 8am from Kochi after breakfast. Once you cross Vytilla, keep your speeds to about 30-35kmp at the entry and exit ramp of every flyover/bridge, the incline angle of the upward and downward joints can make your car fly or hurtle downwards!
  • After the Kundanoor bridge, there is NH 66 road widening activity which will slow you down because some sections of the highway are getting an elevated section and the old highway will eventually become the "service" road. Work is progressing at a faster pace now as compared with what I saw in July 2023
  • Without any breaks en route, we reached the Ambalapuzha Sree Krishna temple at 10:40am, that is 2h:40m for about 80km on a Sunday!

Return Alappuzha-Kochi:
  • After completing our visit at Alappuzha, we started around 3pm and reached Kochi around 6pm, another slow drive enduring the construction zone craziness

Return Kochi-Alathur-Palakkad:
  • Started around 8:30am from Kochi and reached the temple near Alathur at 10:45am
  • After darshan at the temple we headed to Palakkad and got there around 12:30pm

Return Palakkad-Bangalore:
  • Started at 9am and it took us more than 2.5 hours to just exit the L&T coimbatore bypass, crazy road manners of drivers and totally mismanaged and badly designed tolls and traffic lights. Very short 25 second green lights at the Trichy road junction and at couple of tolls, though the boom barrier opened up, traffic was backed up from the traffic light about 200m ahead of the toll. Bangalore drivers went hyper and started going off road or doing crazy overtake maneuvers to get ahead
  • I made a blunder by entering Salem for lunch, wasted 30 minutes due to traffic and not finding parking and eventually got out, crossed Thoppur ghat easily and drove to Sai Sangeet Thoppur for lunch at 2pm.
  • Took the NH 844 and joined Hosur ESI Ring Road near Chennai Silks and even managed to cross Attibele quite easily
  • The Bangalore traffic slowed us down from Attibele and eventually got home by 6:15pm

Last edited by NPV : 8th January 2025 at 18:10.
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Old 9th January 2025, 08:09   #14909
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by NPV View Post
[*]Started at 8am from Kochi after breakfast. Once you cross Vytilla, keep your speeds to about 30-35kmp at the entry and exit ramp of every flyover/bridge, the incline angle of the upward and downward joints can make your car fly or hurtle downwards!
I would recommend speeds much lower than that. Kundanoor entry is notorious and not to mention Vytilla flyover. In fact most enty/exit on bridges here are really bad - The small bridge near Elamkulam metro, Salim Rajan bridge, Infopark to name a few.

BTW, I stay few metres down from the place you stayed in Kochi
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Old 9th January 2025, 09:56   #14910
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Re: All Roads to Kerala

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Originally Posted by naveen.raju View Post
I would recommend speeds much lower than that. Kundanoor entry is notorious and not to mention Vytilla flyover. In fact most enty/exit on bridges here are really bad - The small bridge near Elamkulam metro, Salim Rajan bridge, Infopark to name a few.

BTW, I stay few metres down from the place you stayed in Kochi
Wow, small world, we were so near your home!

I did see that local vehicles especially autos and cars seemed to be aware of that and slowed down at the bridge near Elamkulam metro and Vytilla and other flyovers/bridges.
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