[denver85]

Originally Posted by cooljai

Thanks, will this route work in the reverse direction as well, or are there any one ways involved?

No one ways in this route. I have used this in both ways.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by cooljai

Thanks, will this route work in the reverse direction as well, or are there any one ways involved?

No one ways involved.will work perfectly in the reverse direction as well.just after you exit the toll gate keep left and turn left below the flyover.If you are going via alathur dont miss out on buying banana chips from SNR easily the best chips in the country by a mile IMHO!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Can anyone tell me the best route to take from Chennai to Guruvayoor? Will be travelling tomorrow.

Chennai-Ulundurpet-Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Kollengode-Alathur-Pazhayannur-Wadakkacherry-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayur.

Route Link

[denver85]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Can anyone tell me the best route to take from Chennai to Guruvayoor? Will be travelling tomorrow.

The best route is this currently :
Chennai -Chengalpettu-Tindivanam - Vilupuram - Ulundrupet - Chinnasalem - Attur - Salem - Perundurai - Coimbatore bypass - Palakkad - Ottapalam - Pattambi - Koottanad - Perumbilavu - Kunnankulam - Guruvayur.

[ontheroad]

Planning Tcr-Klm drive tomorrow night. Anyone have driven in Alleppy Kayamkulam stretch? Have they finished tarring?

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Planning Tcr-Klm drive tomorrow night. Anyone have driven in Alleppy Kayamkulam stretch? Have they finished tarring?

Yes. I travelled from kochi to kollam on 12 th and 16 th. 10 kms in total is bad with broken road surface. But not potholes. 7 kms before kayankulam and 3 kms after that. Otherwise the roads are good. A bit of potholes at ambalapuzha junction and in explained road block at karunagappally.

[LobsterB]

Traveling to kollam and did the suggested detour via Pollachi to meet NH47 at Alathur. The road condition was quite good except a bit narrow last 10-15 kms in Kerala side where the average speed dropped drastically. So decided to take NH47 to Thrissur rather than crossing over and continuing. Road has significant number of unpatched potholes and the patched ones make it very uneven.

[newtonMeter]

Can some one suggest a good route for


Blr-munnar-thekkady-conoor-blr?

[Tassem]

Hi All,

I'm driving back to Bangalore from Cochin, early morning tomorrow.

My route here was -

Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Avinashi-Coimbatore-Walayar-Palakkad-Thrissur-Kochi.

The Avinashi stretch was comparatively better this time around, but the Thrissur-Palakkad route was a major PITA. Especially the Peechi section. There are some major craters here.

I plan to return via

Kochi-Shoranur-Ottapalam-Palakkad-Walayar-Coimbatore-Avinashi-Salem-Dharmapuri-Hosur-Bangalore.

Any suggestions on better routes? I plan on leaving at 5am or thereabouts.

Thanks in advance!

Tassem.

[Rajeevraj]

Just completed a blr clt drive. Started from Sarjapur Road at 4.45am and reached clt at 1pm with a 45 min break. after much thought finally took the usual gundlepet bathery kalpetta Route. The good news is that the Kerala border kalpetta stretch has been 90% patched. Some work is in progress and shd be done in another few weeks. But it is already comfortable to drive and no need to take the deviation via vaduvanchal to avoid the bad stretch. Only section where work has not been done is a 4-5 km stretch from the border towards bathery.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Tassem

I plan to return via

Kochi-Shoranur-Ottapalam-Palakkad-Walayar-Coimbatore-Avinashi-Salem-Dharmapuri-Hosur-Bangalore.

Any suggestions on better routes? I plan on leaving at 5am or thereabouts.

The alternate route is Thrissur-Wadakancheri-Vazhacode-Chelakara-Pazhayannur-Padur-Alathur-Kollengode-Pollachi-Kangayam-Palladam-Perundurai-NH47-Salem-NH7-Bangalore

Originally Posted by newtonMeter

Can some one suggest a good route for


Blr-munnar-thekkady-conoor-blr?

Blr-Salem-Dindigul-Theni-Bodi-Chinnakanal-Munnar

Munnar-Idukku-Kattapana-Thekkady

Thekkady-Munnar-Udumulpet-Avinashi-Annur-Mettupalayam-Coonoor

Coonoor-Mysore-Bangalore

Originally Posted by bbhavan

What is the road condition of this road now?

I want to go to Palani via this road. Once I went about 10 km further from athirappally in this route just out of curiosity. But have to return immediately as we have to come back before 5.30pm, as night riding is not allowed.

I know there are lots of hairpin bends in this road. Can innova be able to handle this sector?

Innova should easily be able to drive through

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by bbhavan

What is the road condition of this road now?

I want to go to Palani via this road. Once I went about 10 km further from athirappally in this route just out of curiosity. But have to return immediately as we have to come back before 5.30pm, as night riding is not allowed.

I know there are lots of hairpin bends in this road. Can innova be able to handle this sector?

I was in Valaparai last week. The road itself till the Kerala border from pollachi is good. I ended my trip with a visit to Sholayar dam which is almost at the border. Wanted to visit Athirappally but due to time constraints couldnt make it. The guide mentioned that the road condition isnt that bad, its slightly narrow and Innova would be a perfect vehicle for this road condition. Not much of heavy traffic plying on this section only 2 govt buses and 2 private ones that does service between Chalakkudy and Valaparai.
Time wise it would not be the best route but its certainly a scenic one.

[sandeepmohan]

Did the yearly Bangalore Cochin drive via the suggested route, that is, Hosur - Krishnagiri - Salem - Perundurai - Kangayam - Palladam - Pollachi - Kollengode - Pazhayannur - Chelakkara - Wadakanchery - Trichur - EKM. Stunning road surface quality all the way. Not a single bad patch of road on the entire route. Departed Bangalore at 3am sharp and we by passed Salem in two and a half hours flat. The freeway diversions as a result of 6 laning did not slow us down at all. The rest of the route, that is after Perundurai, is single carriage way road except for Trichur - Ernakulam (Worst freeway ever). Road quality in Tamil Nadu and even Kerala is superb. The primary difference is in the width of the road. Tamil Nadu state highway are nice and wide, Kerala state higways are a slightly bigger go kart track. Kerala's state highways are super bendy which makes for a interesting drive. You do need to be careful though. There are blind turns everywhere and just about everyone, including those diesel auto's are in full clip. However, we still took 12 hours to reach Ernakulam. The Trichur - Ernakulam freeway was a disaster. We got held up for a traffic light at Angamaly for over 45 minutes and the trend continued all the way to Ernakulam. There was a line of cars at every single traffic light leading to Ernakulam. This is probably the worst paid expressway I have ever come across. So what should have taken just an hour to cover took 2.5 hours. This completely ruined the journey for us. We made good time till Trichur and it looked like we could complete the journey in 10.5 hours including breaks. All ruined on the Trichur - EKM expressway. Don't know if you can really call it that. There are over half a dozen signaled intersections on the four lane road and it is just terrible. I am seriously evaluating the option of returning via Kondungallur to Trichur. Suggestions will help. There you go folks. Thank you for the route suggestion. It was awesome. This has to be the best route to take if you are headed to Cochin.

[Wind]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

All ruined on the Trichur - EKM expressway.

The Trichur Ernakulam highway is just a four/six lane highway and it is not an expressway.
A controlled access highway is refrrerd to as Expressway. More details here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled-access_highway

-- Wind

[bbhavan]

Originally Posted by sansvk

I was in Valaparai last week. The road itself till the Kerala border from pollachi is good. I ended my trip with a visit to Sholayar dam which is almost at the border. Wanted to visit Athirappally but due to time constraints couldnt make it. The guide mentioned that the road condition isnt that bad, its slightly narrow and Innova would be a perfect vehicle for this road condition. Not much of heavy traffic plying on this section only 2 govt buses and 2 private ones that does service between Chalakkudy and Valaparai.
Time wise it would not be the best route but its certainly a scenic one.

Thanks sansvk,

Your reply will surely boost my confidence and desire to test this route in the next possible vacation to Kerala.

Time is not a constraint in such a trip,

bbhavan