[h.k]

Dear BHP ians,

i am planning to drive from cochin to hyderbad, which would be the best and the safest route to take, is there any good place to stop for food etc.
all recomendation would be highly regarded.

i am not into extended driving so please advice on the same,

thanks

Hisham

[akroy]

Best route: Cochin - Ernakulam - Trichur - Palghat - Coimbatore - Perundurai - Bhavani (on NH47) - Mettur - Thoppur (on SH) - Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore - Chikballapur - Anantapur - Kurnool - Hyderabad (on NH7)

Above route is the best and fastest.

Regarding food joints, pls let me know your timings/halts so that I can suggest the best food joint at that place. There are many food joints and Reliance A1 Plazas on the way.

Rough timings if you start early morning (say 3AM):
1) Cochin - Coimbatore (3.5 - 4 hours)
2) Coimbatore - Bangalore (5 - 6 hours)
3) Bangalore - Hyderabad (6 - 9 hours)

Abhi

[akroy]

Originally Posted by h.k

i am not into extended driving so please advice on the same,

In that case, I suggest you take a halt at Hosur because Bangalore in the evenings can be a nightmare. There are couple of nice hotels on NH7 near the flyover in Hosur. There is a nice hotel called Rennaissance.
Then start from Hosur at 3AM the next day and reach Hyderabad by noon.

You can take the outer ring road at bangalore to reach Hyderabad road at Hebbal.

Abhi

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by akroy

Rough timings if you start early morning (say 3AM):
1) Cochin - Coimbatore (3.5 - 4 hours)
2) Coimbatore - Bangalore (5 - 6 hours)
3) Bangalore - Hyderabad (6 - 9 hours)

Abhi

If you start at 3 am from Cochin, Coimbatore is just 2 hours away if you're FAST, max 3 if you're a normal driver. 3.5 to 4 hours is peak traffic timing.

CBE-BLR can be done in 5 or 6 hours depending on the number of stops you take.

If you start from Cochn on an early SUNDAY morning you should be able to reach Bangalore in 7.30 or 8 hours non-stop, but thats PUSHING it a bit. Incidentally we once did a Cochin-Bangalore-Cochin in 16 hours flat.

[speedzak]

I agree with Akroy. You'll have to do this in 2 legs. I mean, first to Bangalore and then continue to Hyd.

If you can leave early, then Bangalore can be reached within 8-10 hours. You can either take a room at one of the Hosur hotels or stay by your cousins' place at Bangy. They stay very close to the ring road at Kammanahalli, ain't it?
You can leave Bangy early and reach Hyd by late afternoon.
Man! It's gonna be fun.

Hmmm... I can see the new ride of your's already having some good influence in you. Eh?

[akroy]

Originally Posted by speedzak

They stay very close to the ring road at Kammanahalli, ain't it?

Ya, Kammanahalli is adjacent to the ring road and very near to hebbal flyover. next day morning if u start say at 5AM, u will be on NH7 in 15min....In that case u can reach hyderbad outskirts by noon assuming that you take just one breakfast break....

There is a nice A1 Plaza at Gooty where u can have your breakfast....

Abhi

[vnabhi]

Hi guys,

Any idea of the best route. Plan to do this bit in Jan, 08. I suppose it will take 2 days, perhaps the first day to Mysore and the next day to Cochin.
Probably we could hit Ooty on the return.

Anyone done this bit? Are the roads ok? Suggestions are invited from all Team-BHPians.
Also, are there any other places worth seeing, not far from the main route?
I plan to take a week off.

[hvkumar]

Onward journey, go straight down on NH7 to Bangalore, and continue via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharampuri, Toppur, Mettur, Bhavani, Coimbatore and palakkad to Cochin. Day 1 could be to halt at Bangalore.
Detailed route: Hyderabad-Kurnool-Gooty-Anantapur-Penukonda-Bagepalli-Chickballapur-Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Toppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Avinashi-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Trissur-Cochin

Return could be via Coimbatore, Ooty, Mysore. And from there to Bangalore and same route back to Hyderabad.
Detailed route: Cochin-Trissur-Palakkad-Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Conoor-Ooty-Kalhatti-Masinagudi-Mudumalai-Bandipur-Gundulpet-Nanjangud-Mysore-Bangalore-Hyderabad


Currently, roads are bad in Coimbatore-Cochin stretch, but you can expect that to be repaired by the time you are on the road.

In case you fancy, you can take off from Dharmapuri and visit Hogenakal Falls which is 50 + 50 kms off the route, and will mean a 4-hour detour (including a 2-hour halt).

On the return, you can drive straight to Ooty from Cochin, hop to Mysore. You can drive direct to Hyderabad from Mysore without halting at Bangalore. If you take the Outer Ring Road from Kengeri you can bypass BangaloreCity and go via Dasarahalli to NH7 (Hyderabad road).

Roads in Ooty area are bad - perpetually for last 1-2 years, regardless of the season. Road from Ooty to Mysore is good via Masinagudi.

[aditya.86]

you can come down nh 7 to bangalore and from bangalore-hosur-raykottah-thoppur-mettur-bhavani-coimbatore-palakkad-thrissur-cochin.
this route wil save you a good 25 kms and the roads are pretty good till coimbatore...the coimbatore palakkad section is quite bad due to the rains but you have no other choice..
on the way back you can goto coimbatore-mettupalayam-kothagiri-ooty-mysore through gundalpet-bangalore and then to hyderabad...
the conoor roads are pretty bad and i would suggest you take the kothagiri road which is a few extra kms but the roads are awesome which one would love drivin on

[vnabhi]

Thanks guys. I am aware of the Hyd Bang route, but how much is the distance on the other routes, and how long will it take?
Aditya--when you said Coonoor roads are bad, where do we brach off to Kothagiri road?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks guys. I am aware of the Hyd Bang route, but how much is the distance on the other routes, and how long will it take?
Aditya--when you said Coonoor roads are bad, where do we brach off to Kothagiri road?

After leaving Mettupalayam town from Coimbatore, there is a left turn to Conoor-Ooty, and a right to Kotagiri-Ooty. The landmark is the Bhavani river bridge after which the fork is. This is a very good road all teh way to Ooty. En route you can turn off (from KOtagiri) to Kodanad, and 6 kms before Ooty, turn off to go to Dodda Betta.


Distances: Bangalore-Hosur 40 kms-Krishnagiri 50-Dharmapuri 50-Toppur 25-Mettur 35-Bhavani 50-Avinashi 60-Coimbatore 55-Palakkad 35-Trissur 60-Cochin 70

Distances: Cochin-Trissur 70-Palakkad 60-Coimbatore 40-Mettupalayam 40-Kotagiri 30-Ooty 30-Kalhatti 10-Masinagudi 25-Mudumalai 7-Bandipur 13-Gundulpet 20-Nanjangud 40-Mysore 25-Bangalore 150

[YsableKid]

Dear Friends,

Heard from a driver who drives a private bus between Hyd-Blore that after the recent and still continuing deluge of Districts in A.P that fall between Bangalore and Hyderabad due to rains, the road is supposed to be not that good, erosion et al. Anybody confirm this ??

Thanks

[Zappo]

Ok guys, I can do with some advice. One of my friends is planning to do the Hyderabad-Coimbatore route in a day or two. I understand that the best route is via bangalore (alternate being through Salem, in case one wishes to avoid bangalore).

Now can you guys help me with the Bangalore-Coimbatore stretch please? MapMyIndia draws the route through the whole of bangalore city (no bypass?) and then soon gets on to the NH209. Is that really a NH or SH? Looks like it passes through a huge forest area. I see places like Punjaipuliampatti, Pongalur, Vadakkalur, Odderpalayam etc but none of the places mentioned by Abhi in the earlier post.

So what gives?

[hvkumar]

You can't avoid Bangalore, but you can take the Outer Ring Road from NH7 Bellary Road (near Hebbal) to NH7 Hosur Road (near Madivala) to connect with the road via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri. No need to go to Salem, you can turn off NH7 at Toppur and go via Mettur to Bhavani where you join NH47 for a straight drive to Coimbaore via Perunthurai and Avinashi.

You could have also gone via Mysore to Coimbatore, but it is not worth connecting to Mysore Road from NH7 (unless NICE Road is complete??). In case you wish to do that, turn off NH7 at Hebbal towards NH4 Tumkur Road) and once you join NH4 before Peenya, immediately turn left into Ring Road towards Mysore.

Despite travelling on these roads for several years, I can't recognise any of the villages you are mentioning. My sincere advice is to delete the site and refer physical maps which are accurate.

[Zappo]

Ok. Hmmm... Kumar saab, does the route below looks ok to you?



When this map is zoomed up all these villages start showing up on the way.