[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by 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.

The kodungallur option is going to be longer.Stick to the standard Nh47 EKM-Thrissur route,its the fastest in the given conditions.Also thrissur-ekm is not a freeway by any stretch of imagination Maybe you should stock up on banana chips from SNR at Alathur on your eay back

[dhanushmenon]

Driving to chennai from kochi. Started from kochi by around 1500hrs in the afternoon. Reached Coimbatore by 1930. Staying over for the night and will continue the journey tomorrow. The route followed was Kochi- Thrissur-Wadakancheri-Vazhacode-Chelakara-Pazhayannur-alathur- walayar- Coimbatore. Very nice roads till walayar. Thanks for the valuable suggestions.

Any suggestions for the route to follow till salem? Any idea on the latest state of road on NH 47 between Coimbatore and salem?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

Driving to chennai from kochi. Started from kochi by around 1500hrs in the afternoon. Reached Coimbatore by 1930. Staying over for the night and will continue the journey tomorrow. The route followed was Kochi- Thrissur-Wadakancheri-Vazhacode-Chelakara-Pazhayannur-alathur- walayar- Coimbatore. Very nice roads till walayar. Thanks for the valuable suggestions.

Any suggestions for the route to follow till salem? Any idea on the latest state of road on NH 47 between Coimbatore and salem?

Stick to the conventional CBE Salem NH47.Best option,if you leave early traffic wouldnt be a problem on the CBE Avinashi sector

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Stick to the conventional CBE Salem NH47.Best option,if you leave early traffic wouldnt be a problem on the CBE Avinashi sector

Might not be possible to leave early. The earliest I can leave would be around 9 am. Being Sunday, hope there won't be much traffic. Would you still suggest the traditional NH 47 all through till chennai? Or should I route via kangayam to perundurai?
Any idea about the widening work near krishnagiri? Or should I take a de tour after salem ?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

Any suggestions for the route to follow till salem? Any idea on the latest state of road on NH 47 between Coimbatore and salem?

If you are in North CBE, then you can do Annur-Avinashi and there on to GQ.
Thats the easiest route. If you are in central CBE then I guess there is no choice but to take the regular Avinashi road.

Any idea about the widening work near krishnagiri? Or should I take a de tour after salem ?

Not much of work at Krishnagiri. You should be good at this place as you would turn towards Chennai.

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by ampere

If you are in North CBE, then you can do Annur-Avinashi and there on to GQ.
Thats the easiest route. If you are in central CBE then I guess there is no choice but to take the regular Avinashi road.

Not much of work at Krishnagiri. You should be good at this place as you would turn towards Chennai.

I am at Red Fileds almost at the centre of CBE. I dont think it would make sense to cross across to Annur.

So, Should I divert to Ulundurpet after Salem or should I stick to the Krishnagiri route? My destination is Arakkonam to be precise

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

So, Should I divert to Ulundurpet after Salem or should I stick to the Krishnagiri route? My destination is Arakkonam to be precise

If its Arakkonam, then definitely Krishnagiri/Vellore makes sense.
GST would be way to much driving within Chennai or use of Chengalpet/Kanchi SH.

You can divert from Kanchi or some where after Walajah on the Krishnagiri/Vellore GQ

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by ampere

If its Arakkonam, then definitely Krishnagiri/Vellore makes sense.
GST would be way to much driving within Chennai or use of Chengalpet/Kanchi SH.

You can divert from Kanchi or some where after Walajah on the Krishnagiri/Vellore GQ

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Stick to the conventional CBE Salem NH47.Best option,if you leave early traffic wouldnt be a problem on the CBE Avinashi sector

Thanks a lot ampere and ranjitp1 for your valuable guidance and advices. Will update the latest road condition in the thread after i reach there

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

Thanks a lot ampere and ranjitp1 for your valuable guidance and advices. Will update the latest road condition in the thread after i reach there

Dhanush,

This section from GQ seems to the most logical route to Arakkonam.
But I dont know about the road condition.

Route Link

Have you ever tried this one before?

Or the other option:

Option : II

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ampere

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

Route Link

Originally Posted by denver85

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

Thanks guys.

I reached guruvayoor safely. Started from Chennai by 8.45 am. Reached Salem by 1.15 pm, Coimbatore by 6 pm (Yes, you read that right! Traffic was a mess at road diversions, with all lanes getting blocked. No stops taken, not even lunch break and still it took around 5 hours). Reached Guruvayoor by 9.30 pm, with a dinner stop of 30 mins included.

I'll be heading for Trivandrum now, and back to Chennai before new year.

[coolclouds]

Just reached Mannuthy via Cbe-Palakkad-Trichur regular NH. Kuthiran is patched up and can be negotiated easily. It may require to move in first gear at two three places between Kuthiran and Peechi.

I couldn't find any updates regarding Kuthiran repair recently though.

The road is not butter smooth but ok for a day drive, somewhat similar to Walayar area.

[ontheroad]

Alleppy-Kayamkulam update - The stretchs were there was major undulations are retarred and other areas patched up.

[vasoo]

I am driving to Kottayam on 25th early morning. Plan to do the Dindigul > Theni > Kumily route avoiding the Dindigul > Vatlagundu section in favor of the Ammainaickanur> Nilaikotai section. Anybody travelled this route recently ? How is the Kumily > Kottayam section now?

[decode]

I drove through NH 209 via the NICE road -> Kanakapura -> Kollegal -> Chamarajanagara -> Sathyamangalam -> Annur -> some where post Avinashi (I missed Coimbatore city-Google Maps )>Palakkad>Shornur>Trichur> Cochin. I started at around 7:30 PM and reached Cochin in 8 and Half hours. It was 40KMS more than the Salem route. The roads were good (almost empty and nice), but I was lonely most of the time till Annur and it was a little adventurous. There was very less traffic and Dhimbam was ok with 3- 4 few short stops to let the trucks that were climbing the hairpins (27 of them). 550 Kms and Google Maps worked very well till Annur

[arun_josie]

After vacation, I am planning to return to bangalore on 2nd January. So, would like to know the best timing to cross the thoppur/krishnagiri/Attibele tolls. I am sure the rush will be huge on this day and hence would like to give a miss to huge queues in these tolls. As per my current plan I might be crossing these tolls between 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM.