[mail4ajo]

Originally Posted by fundagenie

Has anyone travelled on this route recently like say in the past 1-2 months.

Bangalore -> Salem -> Madurai -> Tenkasi ->Thenmala-> Punalur

I have done this route multiple times and love it for the drive and the scenery. But would like to know the road condition post the rains. Especially the Thenmala stretch. Am planning to drive the coming week.

FundaG

FundaG, how was the drive on this section? I am planning to do Chennai-Trichy-Tenkasi-Punalur. What are good places to stop for food/fuel?

[fundagenie]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

FundaG, how was the drive on this section? I am planning to do Chennai-Trichy-Tenkasi-Punalur. What are good places to stop for food/fuel?

Madurai to Punalur via tenkasi-Thenmala is fairly good roads with occasional road work happening here and there. But nothing that was major to create a traffic block. The only thing slowing you down would be the small villages in between. But as such I liked it as it broke the monotony of driving. Scenery wise its damn good, with fields on the TN side and once you reach thenmala its just vast green forests.

I usually stop at a Marry brown outlet at Rajpalayam for lunch as there would be enough parking space. But if you are looking at veg options, I think there is a pretty decent one right after Rajpalayam. Have not tried it, but see a lot of vehicles parked there. For fuel, again lot of small and big bunks on the way between Madurai to Thenmala. I usually fill full tank at the start of the journey which takes me easily from bangalore to tvm. So again have not tried these pumps.

FundaG

[LobsterB]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

What are good places to stop for food/fuel?

Originally Posted by fundagenie

I usually stop at a Marry brown outlet at Rajpalayam for lunch as there would be enough parking space. But if you are looking at veg options, I think there is a pretty decent one right after Rajpalayam. Have not tried it, but see a lot of vehicles parked there.
FundaG

In addition to the options at Rajapalayam, there is also a well known one in srivilliputhur, with separate veg and non-veg sections, but don't remember the name though. In case you want to do it a bit later, there is Bell Monkey at Ilanji near Tenkasi (I suppose you plan to bypass Tenkasi town through this road). Food here is so-so taste-wise but has ample place to park and better rest rooms than typical fuel-pump ones.

[mail4ajo]

Originally Posted by LobsterB

In case you want to do it a bit later, there is Bell Monkey at Ilanji near Tenkasi (I suppose you plan to bypass Tenkasi town through this road). Food here is so-so taste-wise but has ample place to park and better rest rooms than typical fuel-pump ones.

Thanks. I do not intend to drive into any of the towns. Plan to stick to the bypass only.

Originally Posted by fundagenie

Scenery wise its damn good, with fields on the TN side and once you reach thenmala its just vast green forests.
FundaG

Hope the drive to Thenmala which I assume is a ghat section should not give too much trouble.

[fundagenie]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

Hope the drive to Thenmala which I assume is a ghat section should not give too much trouble.

The Thenmala roads are pretty good for ghat roads. Even better maintained then the NH roads in kerala. The only concern would be the trucks and buses. If there is a fleet of them ahead of you, then you would have to crawl along with them until you get a 100% clear chance to overtake, else it might be risky considering the narrow roads. However, plan your trip so that you reach thenmala no later than 3-4pm and cross thenmala before it gets dark.

BTW the stretch is so beautiful, you will be forced to stop at some of the points to click some snaps. So include these stopping time also in the trip.
So it is thumbs up from my end. Enjoy the drive..

FundaG

[laferrari]

Originally Posted by tomraven99

For Sabarimala while coming down from Guruvayoor take the Muvatupuzha-Thodupuzha-Eratupetta-Kanjirapally route. Do not take the Kottayam route.

Originally Posted by binand

The first leg you can't go wrong - just hop on to the southbound NH7 and reach Bangalore.

From Bangalore to Guruvayur, there are three options that are generally discussed - entering Kerala via Vazhikkadavu, Walayar or Govindapuram checkposts.

Originally Posted by NPV

Bangalore-Guruvayoor -> you can take Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Salem (NH7 all the way till here)-turn off to NH 47 and go upto Perundurai-turn off from NH47 to Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Guruvayoor.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

From Bangalore the standard route would be Salem-CBE-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Pattambi-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayoor. Regulars now take the Pollachi route from Perundurai/CBE to enter Kerala.

Originally Posted by tomraven99

As previously mentioned most of the roads are in pretty bad shape. Please avoid the Muvattupuzha-Kottayam stretch . If you are in a sedan the under body can get a few bad hits.

Originally Posted by deepclutch

Regarding Guruvayyoor-Sabarimala route, I think, there is a alternate way through Iringalakkuda reaching NH at Chalakdudy to continue towards Angamaly-Muvattupuzha. Road condition of MC road is not good between Muvattupuzha and Kottayam particularly the hilly region. The road condition after Thodupuzha also may be not good.

Originally Posted by treadmark

I would suggest to use the option mentioned by NPV on previous page to use NH207. By skipping Bangalore city (Hebbal ~ ORR ~ Silkboard) you can save at-least 30 minutes.



Cheers!

Originally Posted by deepclutch

you can consider taking NH47 till Kalamassery and take SA Road(Seaport-Airport) and reach Thrippunithura-Piravom-Pala-Ponkunnam-Sabarimala which may be slightly longer.
http://goo.gl/maps/9luQV (skipping NH17 which may be too narrow)

If you are taking MC road, it is Muvattupuzha-Kuthattukulam-Pala-Ponkunnam Route to Sabarimala. Koothattukulam-Pala stretech is good. Muvattupuzha-Kuthattukulam MC road stretch will be bad too. but, it is 18kms or so.

Originally Posted by NPV

I still think it's better for you to get into Devanahalli and turn left onto NH 207 near Bus stand/market/police station. This will lead you directly to Hosur where you rejoin south both NH7 totally bypassing Bangalore and almost all the places with choking/slow moving traffic.

Just returned from a 3300 km 7 day trip starting from Hyderabad and going through Guruvayoor, Sabarimala, Trivandrum, Kanyakumari, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Srirangam, Tirupati and back to Hyderabad.

Thanks to most of your suggestions, we were able to skip most of the bad stretches. Bangalore was completely bypassed by taking NH 207 from Devanahalli to Hosur. Hosur to Coimbatore was a breeze via Salem.

Coiambatore to Palakkad was the only bad stretch we ever encountered on our trip. We should've taken the Pollachi route instead as suggested.

It was my first time in Kerala and I enjoyed driving on those roads completely. There is dense traffic almost all the way during the daytime. From Guruvayoor we travelled on NH till Eddapally, after which we took the route to Muvattupuzha. The road and traffic 15kms after Eddapally got better and better. I believe the trick to cover most distance in Kerala is to travel after 8 pm. Muvattupuzha-Thoudpuzzha-Pala-Sabarimala route was brilliant with nice twisty turny curves. Oh how we wished we had a punto for those stretches.

Sabarimala to Trivandrum was again the same. Dense traffic and narrow roads upto 8 pm. After that it was good.

Trivandrum Kanyakumari Rameshwaram stretch was good too. I was quite surprised by the SH in Tamilnadu. We could easily do speeds of 100 mostly cause of the good roads and sparse traffic.

Rameshwaram Madurai Srirangam Tirupati was a breeze until we hit Vellore on the border of Tamilnadu and AP. After Vellore it was heavy traffic until Chittor and beyond. Tirupati Hyderabad has too many (unnecessary, in my opinion) speed breakers upto Cuddapah. The 4-laning works after Cuddapah are still under progress but mostly done up to Nandyal. Nandyal Kurnool stretch is not the best right now. Kurnool Hyderabad is NH7 and brilliant.

I would like to thank everyone of you for your suggestions which helped us a lot.

[LobsterB]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

Thanks. I do not intend to drive into any of the towns. Plan to stick to the bypass only.

Great, just in case you have not taken this road in the recent years - I am basically talking about taking the stretch labelled as 39A and not the stretch marked as 208 through Tenkasi. Around 6km before Tenkasi on NH208 you will cross a big round (similar to the SALEM NH7 ones), at the next junction (a Y junction within 2km) make sure you stick to the right branch and not the left one that takes you to the town. Btw, this road has a manned level crossing, but never had to spent more than 5 minutes waiting when it was closed.

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

Hope the drive to Thenmala which I assume is a ghat section should not give too much trouble.

The ghat section is pretty easy compared to the Kumli one, but there is a bit of road/bridge construction just before commercial taxes(?) checkpost. If there is considerable (truck) traffic expect a bit of blockage at this point, so as fundagenie said it is better to cross this checkpost before sunset.

[binand]

Originally Posted by laferrari

Just returned from a 3300 km 7 day trip starting from Hyderabad

I believe the trick to cover most distance in Kerala is to travel after 8 pm.

Congratulations on what looks to me was a pilgrimage trip. I'm glad that you enjoyed your sojourn in my home state. :-)

Ref the 8 PM point - till about a few months back, the most dangerous time on Kerala roads would have been twilight to midnight or so (say 7 PM - 1 AM). Situation has changed after the government shut down ALL the bars operating in the state - drunken driving and drunken antics on the road are still very much present, but at a much reduced level.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by binand

Situation has changed after the government shut down ALL the bars operating in the state - drunken driving and drunken antics on the road are still very much present, but at a much reduced level.

In my humble opinion the credit should go to K.P. Even when the bars were open, Kerala Police went on a serious over drive against drunken driving. They literally went hammer and tongs against the poor drunken riders & drivers. With statistics they prove that after enforcing Sec. 185 and Sec. 184 MV Act laws strictly, roads become much more safer in the state.

[treadmark]

Can any one help me with a decent fuel station somewhere at Indiranagar ~ Madiwala ~ Silk Board - Jayadeva ~ Kanakapura Road. I will be starting early in the morning anywhere between 3:30 AM and 4:00 AM to Thrissur and planning to use NH209. I will be reaching Bangalore around 23:00 on the previous day, hence I don't want to go after that to fill fuel for the next day trip.
Cheers!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by treadmark

Can any one help me with a decent fuel station somewhere at Indiranagar ~ Madiwala ~ Silk Board - Jayadeva ~ Kanakapura Road.

I think the Bharat Petroleum bunk on Old Airport Road next to Leela Palace (opposite Manipal Hospital) is open 24 hours.

[binand]

Originally Posted by treadmark

Can any one help me with a decent fuel station somewhere at Indiranagar ~ Madiwala ~ Silk Board - Jayadeva ~ Kanakapura Road. I will be starting early in the morning anywhere between 3:30 AM and 4:00 AM to Thrissur and planning to use NH209. I will be reaching Bangalore around 23:00 on the previous day, hence I don't want to go after that to fill fuel for the next day trip.

You should really ask in this thread.

Having said that, I doubt if you'll find any pumps that are open that early in the morning. There is a Shell pump on Kanakapura Road, a short distance shy of the interchange with NICE Ring Road.

My suggestion would be for you to fill up at the BPCL pump opposite to Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road. It stays open till midnight at least.

[treadmark]

Originally Posted by NPV

I think the Bharat Petroleum bunk on Old Airport Road next to Leela Palace (opposite Manipal Hospital) is open 24 hours.

Originally Posted by binand

You should really ask in this thread.

Having said that, I doubt if you'll find any pumps that are open that early in the morning. There is a Shell pump on Kanakapura Road, a short distance shy of the interchange with NICE Ring Road.

My suggestion would be for you to fill up at the BPCL pump opposite to Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road. It stays open till midnight at least.

Thank you for those suggestions.
Will try my luck at Bharat Petroleum next to Leela palace since this is close to my house and if this isn't open then I'll go for Shell near NICE ring road interchange. I'm keeping Shell as second option only because I have to go that extra distance.

Cheers!

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by treadmark

Can any one help me with a decent fuel station somewhere at Indiranagar ~ Madiwala ~ Silk Board - Jayadeva ~ Kanakapura Road. I will be starting early in the morning anywhere between 3:30 AM and 4:00 AM to Thrissur and planning to use NH209. I will be reaching Bangalore around 23:00 on the previous day, hence I don't want to go after that to fill fuel for the next day trip.
Cheers!

I think its better to fill previous night itself than taking a chance.

If you don't find one open, take NH7 itself where pumps are open 24 hours.

[treadmark]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

I think its better to fill previous night itself than taking a chance.

If you don't find one open, take NH7 itself where pumps are open 24 hours.

I would love to fill the previous night but my flight lands at 22:00 hours, if I reach home before 23:00 I'll do that else as you suggested will stick with NH7.

Cheers!