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None of the above. Bombay-Bangalore-Salem-CBE bypass-Pallakad-Thrissur. Would suggest optimizing Bombay-Kolhapur and Tumkur-Hosur crossing times. Would suggest a 3am Bombay start and stay Hosur for the night (Salem if you have the enthu), this way day 2 is a piece of cake.

I second this; did Mumbai - TVM - KTYM - Mumbai in the 1st week of Dec.

While going did Mumbai - Bangalore - Salem - Madurai - Nagercoil - TVM; took a halt at Attibele. Left Navi Mumbai at 12 15 am and reached Attibele at 3 pm, then left at 5 am next day and reached Neyyattinkara/TVM at 3 pm.

While returning did KTYM - Thrissur - Pallakad - CBE Bypass - Salem - Bangalore - Mumbai; took a halt at Davangere. roads are beautiful except the usual Kuthiran mess. Left KYTM at 5 30 am and reached Davangere at 9 pm, Left 4 30 am the next day and reached 4 pm home.

Cheers

Thank you for your suggestions, I will take the Bangalore-CBE-Palakkad route only. Shall target Salem, if I get late then I will halt at Bangalore.
Any checks related to Covid on Kerala border? Do I need a covid negative certificate?

Hi Dean,

I was carrying a TN transit Pass & KL Short visit pass (Both were instantly approved) for my trip.

Although no one bothered to check at both TN & KL, no need for Covid negative certificate if you are on a short visit trip i.e. 8 days.

Let me know if you need any other info.

Hey guys,

I am planning for a road trip from Mumbai to Thrissur (Kerala) with family (kids aged 9 & 4) in 2 weeks.

My current plan is as follows:
Day 1: Mumbai - Pune - Tumakuru (Google indicates approximately 14 hours)
Day 2: Tumakuru - Hosur - Erode - Thrissur (Google indicates approximately 11 hours)

Kindly advise if Davanagere would be a better place to split this journey at; or to stop earlier and do the same across 3 days.

Will be applying for the Kerala State e-pass (short visit) accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

Hello All,

I did my trip from Mulund (MH) to Thrissur (KL) on 30th Jan 2021 and returning back on 05th Feb 2021.

The co-passengers included my wife and two kids aged 9 and 4 in our 2018 Honda City.

Onward journey:
Day 1: Mulund (MH) - Chitradurga (KA)
Day 2: Chitradurga (KA) - Thrissur (KL)

Since I had traveled to Kerala for some personal work, was too tired to drive an entire day. Keeping safety in mind decided to break the return trip in three days.

Return journey:
Day 1: Thrissur (KL) - Salem (TN)
Day 2: Salem (TN) - Kolhapur (MH)
Day 3: Kolhapur (MH) - Mulund (MH)

Since I was traveling with kids, I had not made any prior reservations for our stay. All bookings were made during our evening tea / dinner breaks; primarily keeping the preferences of my wife and kids. Do follow all the mandated Covid protocols, including the state passes, test results, etc as needed.

When traveling with kid(s) between the ages (3 - 10), considering the following would be a good idea:
1. Be open to stop when the kids need a break. My younger child had motion sickness and we had to make several unplanned breaks when traveling to Kerala.
2. Get a new toy and give it to them a few hours into the journey as they start to get a little bored. Your first day of travel would be blissful.
3. Carry a roll or two of kitchen towels, with at least one roll placed in an easily accessible place within the cabin. Keep a few plastic bags handy within the cabin.
4. Carry extra pairs of clothes for the kids in a something like a backpack so you would not have to unpack your suitcase by the side of the road.
5. Travel light and carry enough water.

And most importantly - travel safe. If you are tired, take adequate breaks.

My wife and I are planning to drive down from Mumbai to Palakkad, Kerala next month (Dec'21). There are couple of weeks' of family functions planned in Kerala, spanning across Palakkad, Munnar and Kozhikode. So our return drive to Mumbai would begin from Kozhikode. The route plan that I have in mind is as below:

ONWARD:
Day-1 (Start at 0600 hrs)
Mumbai to Hubli via NH48
Target to reach Fern Hotel in Hubli around 1700-1800 hrs

Day-2 (Start at 0500 hrs)
Hubli to Palakkad - Two options to choose from
Option-1: Take NH48>Tumakuru>enter Tamil Nadu via Germalam>Coimbatore>Palakkad
Option-2: Take NH48>Tumakuru>NH544 enter Tamil Nadu via Hosur>Coimbatore>Palakkad

Return
Day-1 (Start at 0900 hrs)
Two options to choose from:
Option-1: Kozhikode>Gokarna via NH66 (~ 10 hrs) Stay at Gokarna
Option-2:
(a) Kozhikode>Hassan>Chikmagalur>Davanagere>Hubli (~13 hrs) - stay at Hubli
(b) Kozhikode>Hassan>Chitradurga>Davanagere>Hubli (~13 hrs) - stay at Hubli

Day-2 (Start at 0700 hrs)
Option-1: Gokarna to Mumbai via NH48 (~13 hrs)
Option-2: Hubli to Mumbai via NH48 (~11 hrs)

The car: Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSI (2019)
The driver: Yours truly (decent experience in ~12-14 hrs drives between Mumbai to Goa, Mumbai to Bhopal and Mumbai to Ahmedabad)

I am familiar with the roads between Mumbai to Belgavi (thanks to numerous Mumbai-South Goa road trips) and Coimbatore to Palakkad (thanks to flying into Coimbatore and going to Palakkad by road number of times).

I would be really grateful if fellow BHPians can advice on which options to choose and any other pointers that I should keep in mind w.r.t the routes and places that I would be crossing.

Thank you all in anticipation.

Mrinmoy-

Onward : since you’re leaving at 6 am, you’ll be crossing Pune by 830-845, Kolhapur by 12 noon and you’ll be at Hubli by 3/3.30 pm. You might want to see if you can drive a couple more hours and take a break at Davanagere. A Hubli halt means, you’re looking at a very long stretch to Palghat.

I’ll say, avoid the Germalem route. The surface from Kollegal to Germalem is deteriorating. And you’ll get tired in this leg, especially after a long drive. So, Tumkur, NICE, Hosur route is what I’ll recommend.

Return:
Option 2 A looks better.

I agree with @jkrishnakj. Stick to 4-lane for the long drives. Its much better that way. if you can make it till Davanagere you can use Apoorva Resorts. Its on the highway also.

Thank you so much. I think you池e right about halting at Davanagere on Day-1. Will plan accordingly. And will take the Hosur route.
For return, I値l do 2 A in case I知 not tempted to spend a day at Gokarna. :) Thanks once again

Thank you 🙏🏼. I値l inquire with Apoorva Resorts tomorrow and book the halt with them as suggested. :)

Thought I would post an update. We went to Pune on Day-0 evening and stayed the night at Orchid which is right on the highway and the next morning, drove directly to Bangalore (Day-1), stayed the night at a relative's place and drove to Palakkad via Hosur-Salem-Coimbatore on Day-2.

The road from Pune to Tumakuru was largely good with an excellent stretch between Chitradurga and Tumakuru. I felt the toll booths in the Maharashtra side have improved and we didn't lose much time unlike earlier. The illogical checking of RT-PCR reports at Maha-Karnataka border was an absolute farce as despite creating a separate lane for the cars for the checking, they didn't even wait for the reports to be taken out before signaling us to proceed. I think Karnataka Govt is working for creating business for the labs of Maharashtra and Kerala :Frustrati. The roads while entering Bangalore were full of potholes (rain damages) and gave a few blows to my Octavia's suspension.

The road from Bangalore to Salem was good enough, except for few odd construction zones but after Salem till Palakkad was again very good.

Will write an update on the return route (Kozhikode-Gokarna-Mumbai) once I return to Mumbai in a couple of weeks.

Hello All

I am planning to do a trip from Mumbai to Kochi and wish to stick to NH66 only, as i understand this is a scenic route. Can someone please help me understand road conditions (which i have heard are deplorable) and any additional info i may find useful? I am new on the road but have done some newbie roadtrips like Mumbai-Nashik, Mumbai - Goa, Mumbai-Harihareshwar, Mumbai-Panchgani

With your help i can avoid extremely bad stretches and also if you could suggest places i can halt for the night. I don't wish to drive after 7pm and plan to start from Mumbai (panvel to be specific) at 4AM. I'll be travelling with my wife and a 6 year old kid.

I tried looking up videos on youtube but most are via NH48/Pune Bangalore etc. I tried looking up the route in Google Map and it almost always suggests the above routes, but when i select the bike option it shows the complete NH66 stretch.

I have no specific business in Kerala, so this trip would be more of experiencing the journey than the destination. Obviously if there are places of interest along the way i don't mind adding it to my itinerary for a later part.

Many Thanks
:)

Good evening everyone.

I'm leaving for a road trip, as captioned, from Thane, Maharashtra to Bekal, Kerala. Would welcome inputs, suggestions, recommendations from all who have taken a recent road trip on this route on the do's & dont's, routes to take and/or avoid, vegetarian restaurants/hotels along the route to dine in etc.

Thanking everyone in advance for their cooperation.

Hi rider@55,
This site is full of knowledge and updates on various route conditions and travel experiences. Hence, it would always help responders to know some more details about your trip, before any specific suggestions can be offered.

Having said that, I'm someone who frequently travel between Mumbai & Thrissur by road. I travel with my family including teenage kids and a pet dog. We make it a rule to start early (4AM to 5AM) and drive between 500 to 600 kms. a day. By following these two rules:
1) We end up escaping a lot of city traffic and also have a peaceful drive.
2) We also reach our transit halts in the late afternoon hours, chill out in the city and ensure we get a good complete rest before the next day's drive.

Since we travel with a pet dog, most of the hotels are out of bounds to us, so we rely on AirBnB accommodations and we find these an excellent choice and cheaper than hotels and welcoming to pet families.

We also take 2 transit halts during our journey.
We take transit halts at Hubli & Bengaluru during our Mumbai to Kerala journey and.....
.....during our Kerala to Mumbai journey we take halts at Bengaluru and Kolhapur.

One tip is not to refuel anywhere in Maharashtra, but fill up your tank the moment you cross into Karnataka as fuel(petrol) is Rs.10/- cheaper after you cross the MH-KA border.:)

Restaurants & eateries are littered across the entire route.

Thanks @YatraMoksha. Appreciate your inputs. I too am deciding along the same lines, i.e., to hit the road by 0530hrs (at the latest). My route plan is to drive upto Karwar on day 1 and halt for the night. And from there on drive to Bekal taking breaks at Gokarna, Udupi and Ananthapuram (all famous temple sites as you may already know) before arriving at Bekal, hopefully before day 2 ends. Any thoughts to share??