[atul_31]

Sir,
U say NH 17 is not a good option. Would like to know why. I am planning to drive Mumbai to kanyakumari via Mangalore in November. Planning to come back with halts at Kumarakom, Thekkady, Munnar, Cochin and back via Mangalore.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by atul_31

Sir,
U say NH 17 is not a good option. Would like to know why. I am planning to drive Mumbai to kanyakumari via Mangalore in November. Planning to come back with halts at Kumarakom, Thekkady, Munnar, Cochin and back via Mangalore.

@Atul

The issue is the condition of NH17 around Mangalore and around Kerala border. It does not lend itself for a comfortable drive.
Bad road condition at many places coupled with heavy traffic in Kerala is the reason I was suggestion the other option.

Others can add more updated details.

Mumbai-KK is much better with NH4 and NH7 at the comfort of a 4 Lane.
You can still cover Kumarakom/Thekady/Munnar/Cochin. But I would again suggest coming back via Bangalore and not Mangalore.
Any specific reasons for Mangalore? A must visit?

[ranjitp1]

Avoid NH17.You can do BOM-Kanyakumari via Bangalore(NH4-NH7)like ampere stated.On your return,you can do Kanyakumari-Kumarakom.

Kumarakom-Thekkady-Munnar on one day.Stay at Munnar.

Munnar-Cochin.Cochin-Bangalore via NH47-NH7.

[atul_31]

Mangalore is not important. Was just looking to halt there for the night.

[alto99]

Hi All,
Here is what I have planned. Would request members to suggest routes which would take minimum time.
26 early morning - start form Pune
26 - overnight stay (where should it be for follwing destination? Should it still be Nh4 NH7 ?)
27/10/2011 Athirappilly (stay at Thumboormuzhy near Cochin airport)
28 /10/2011- Munnar (stay)
29/10/2011 Munnar (stay)
30/10/2011 Alleppey (stay) Can I start from Munnar, visit Periyar national park and go to alleppey by evening/night? From maps it looks too much - 6 hrs travel (or may be more?)

31/10/2011 Alleppey Houseboat (stay)
1/11 - (not yet planned. if nothing I will start return journey)
2/11 start return journey (overnight stay - pls suggest places to stay based on route)
3/11 return journey (must have to be in Pune on 3rd night)

[SachinVD]

Hi,
This is Sachin and this is my first post on Team BHP
I had done Pune to Kerala last year in Nov-11.
The route I had taken was
First day : Pune-Hubli
Second day : Hubli to Mangalore
Third day : Mangalore to Cochin
Average of about 450 Km. per day.
I think making this in two days will be a little tiresome as the road conditions in certain parts of NH17 was very bad atleast at that time.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by alto99

26 early morning - start form Pune
26 - overnight stay (where should it be for follwing destination? Should it still be Nh4 NH7 ?)

Ideally you should be staying at Salem.GRT Estancia is an option(expensive at approx INR2800).If you leave Pune by 4am you would be in Salem by 7pm.If this is too much of a stretch then I would reccomend that you stay back in Bangalore.

Originally Posted by alto99

27/10/2011 Athirappilly (stay at Thumboormuzhy near Cochin airport)

Not sure why would you want to stay at Athirappilly.You could do Athirappilly on your way back from Alleppey to Pune.I would suggest that you do Bangalore-Salem-Karur-Dindigul-Theni-Bodinayakannur-Munnar.This depends on where you are going to stay in Munnar.If its in chinnakanal area,then follow the below route:

Salem, Tamil Nadu to Munnar, Kerala - Google Maps

If you are going to be staying closer to Munnar town,then take the Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumulpet-Chinnar WLS-Marayoor-Munnar.

Salem, Tamil Nadu to Munnar, Kerala - Google Maps

Originally Posted by alto99

30/10/2011 Alleppey (stay) Can I start from Munnar, visit Periyar national park and go to alleppey by evening/night? From maps it looks too much - 6 hrs travel (or may be more?)

Easily doable.Start early from Munnar and you would be at Alleppey for a late lunch.Check beforehand if the boat ride is running at Thekkady,else its pointless going there.The hotel guys in Munnar would be able to tell you about the boat timings at Thekkady.

Originally Posted by alto99

31/10/2011 Alleppey Houseboat (stay)
1/11 - (not yet planned. if nothing I will start return journey)
2/11 start return journey (overnight stay - pls suggest places to stay based on route)
3/11 return journey (must have to be in Pune on 3rd night)

From Alleppey,with 6am departure,you could stopover at Athirappilly for a couple of hours and head onwards to Bangalore.Stopover in Bangalore for the night.Plenty of hotels depending on your budget.With a 6am departure from Alleppey you should be in Athirappilly by 9am and you should be able to leave Athirappilly by 12pm and be in bangalore by 10pm.

If you do not want to do it this way,then the other way to do it is to do Alleppey-Athirappilly and back to Alleppey on your spare day(1/11/11).This way it would ensure that you get an extra night to spend in Alleppey.

Next day Bangalore-Pune.

[alto99]

Originally Posted by SachinVD

Hi,
This is Sachin and this is my first post on Team BHP
I had done Pune to Kerala last year in Nov-11.
The route I had taken was
First day : Pune-Hubli
Second day : Hubli to Mangalore
Third day : Mangalore to Cochin
Average of about 450 Km. per day.
I think making this in two days will be a little tiresome as the road conditions in certain parts of NH17 was very bad atleast at that time.

Thanks for reply. I too was looking to travel via NH17 but as suggested in this thread it is best avoided due to its condition. And it costs a day too! I have done bangalore journey with a overnight break but this time I will do it without (will have 2 drivers in the car).

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Ideally you should be staying at Salem.GRT Estancia is an option(expensive at approx INR2800).If you leave Pune by 4am you would be in Salem by 7pm.If this is too much of a stretch then I would reccomend that you stay back in Bangalore.
Not sure why would you want to stay at Athirappilly.You could do Athirappilly on your way back from Alleppey to Pune.I would suggest that you do Bangalore-Salem-Karur-Dindigul-Theni-Bodinayakannur-Munnar.This depends on where you are going to stay in Munnar.If its in chinnakanal area,then follow the below route:

Salem, Tamil Nadu to Munnar, Kerala - Google Maps

If you are going to be staying closer to Munnar town,then take the Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumulpet-Chinnar WLS-Marayoor-Munnar.

Salem, Tamil Nadu to Munnar, Kerala - Google Maps



Easily doable.Start early from Munnar and you would be at Alleppey for a late lunch.Check beforehand if the boat ride is running at Thekkady,else its pointless going there.The hotel guys in Munnar would be able to tell you about the boat timings at Thekkady.



From Alleppey,with 6am departure,you could stopover at Athirappilly for a couple of hours and head onwards to Bangalore.Stopover in Bangalore for the night.Plenty of hotels depending on your budget.With a 6am departure from Alleppey you should be in Athirappilly by 9am and you should be able to leave Athirappilly by 12pm and be in bangalore by 10pm.

If you do not want to do it this way,then the other way to do it is to do Alleppey-Athirappilly and back to Alleppey on your spare day(1/11/11).This way it would ensure that you get an extra night to spend in Alleppey.

Next day Bangalore-Pune.

Thanks.
If Banglore has to be on the way, I will be staying in Bangalore.
I have already cancelled Athirapilly stay based on suggestions from others. Your suggestion too confirms the same, Thanks.

I will be staying at Hotel C7 Munnar, Tea Museum Road. I guess this is near city so has to be second route from Salem. Is the road condition good/similar to first one? If it isn't I can take the first route even if it is longer.

Another question is how fair are google time estimates for travel within Kerala? What % buffer should I add to them?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by alto99

Thanks.
If Banglore has to be on the way, I will be staying in Bangalore.
I have already cancelled Athirapilly stay based on suggestions from others. Your suggestion too confirms the same, Thanks.

Yes Bangalore falls enroute.However the roads are excellent,so you should easily be able to do Pune-Salem on day 1.If its stressful,then stay at Bangalore.

I will be staying at Hotel C7 Munnar, Tea Museum Road. I guess this is near city so has to be second route from Salem. Is the road condition good/similar to first one? If it isn't I can take the first route even if it is longer.

Route 1 is good,some small bad stretches here and there on the ghats but overall good.The scenic beauty is mindblowing inside Chinnar all the way upto Marayoor.

Another question is how fair are google time estimates for travel within Kerala? What % buffer should I add to them?

Inside Kerala you wouldnt be able to average more than 50Kmph at any given point of time and plus its going to be a constant clutch-brake-accelerator routine,expect your mileage to drop as well.

I would suggest that you go via udumulpet and come back via palakkad.

Again the road between Thrissur & Palakkad is bad,palakkad & walayar is patchy till L&T bypass.From thereon the road improves.Overall Athirappilly-Bangalore can be done in 9hours drive.

[alto99]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Yes Bangalore falls enroute.However the roads are excellent,so you should easily be able to do Pune-Salem on day 1.If its stressful,then stay at Bangalore.

Route 1 is good,some small bad stretches here and there on the ghats but overall good.The scenic beauty is mindblowing inside Chinnar all the way upto Marayoor.

You are refering to second link arent you?

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Inside Kerala you wouldnt be able to average more than 50Kmph at any given point of time and plus its going to be a constant clutch-brake-accelerator routine,expect your mileage to drop as well.

Google maps is calculating the speed at this average so they are failry accurate. Thankfully no clutch!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by alto99

You are refering to second link arent you?

Google maps is calculating the speed at this average so they are failry accurate. Thankfully no clutch!

Correct. Salem, Tamil Nadu to Munnar, Kerala - Google Maps

[alto99]

On the above route, can you suggest good place for lunch? I will be starting at about 7AM from Bangalore.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by alto99

On the above route, can you suggest good place for lunch? I will be starting at about 7AM from Bangalore.

You would be in Munnar for lunch by around 2-3pm.You could stop for breakfast at A2B(Adyar Ananda Bhavan)attached to the BP Pump at Shoolagiri.It is a few kms after Hosur.There is also a Kamat attached to a Reliance Pump and Sri Krishna Bhavan attached to a HP pump.Both these come before A2B.You should be here in 2hrs time from Blore

[alto99]

Is the following route the best one between Allepey and Ooty?
Alappuzha, Kerala, India to Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India - Google Maps

Its the same one as suggested by ampere for Allepey - Haleebid. I see there is another road from Coimbatore for Ooty Alappuzha, Kerala, India to Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India - Google Maps

Edit - I see the route suggested by ampere is skipping parallel NH17. Am I assuming correctly that it is because NH17 condition is not good?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by alto99

Edit - I see the route suggested by ampere is skipping parallel NH17. Am I assuming correctly that it is because NH17 condition is not good?

The route via CBE is also a good option.

Ernakulam-Trichur-Shoranur-Ottapalam-Pallakkad-CBE-Mettupalayam-Ooty.
For this option, you need to note that, Trichur-Palakkad should be done via Shoranur-Otappalam instead of NH47.

The one I suggested via Nilambur, is very good from a scenery point of view, with lots of twisties, The reason NH17 is skipped because, you get 4L till Trichur on NH47.
You also get good SH roads (better than NH17) on the Kecheri-Kuttipuram section.