[vishnurp99]

Hi,

Drove from Chennai to TVM this sunday. Had to stop at my SPKOIL office for some office related work and started at 10.45 from SPKOIL(45minutes lunch). Took it at temple city restaurant. Took the madurai airport byepass. Reached Nagercoil by 6. Quite surprised to see that there was no damage due to monsoon to road till nagercoil. Nagercoil to TVM(kochuulloor) took 3 hrs. The roads were very bad with lots of potholes and there were big car carrying trailers which made the entire traffic slow moving.

Was quite a good experience overall.

Thanks for the inputs.

[bijujj]

Has any one taken the Madurai, Rajapalayam, Nedumangad, route to Trivandrum recently. How is the road condition?

Also it will be helpful to know where exactly we need to take a deviation from the NH7 to take this route.

Typically how much time does it take to reach TVM from Madurai through this route.

[hvkumar]

went on the Madurai-Rajapalayam-Tenkasi-Tenmala route (but not to Trivandrum via Nedumangad) one month ago.

Road is nice, but not fast. Is curvy. Has no bypasses (except for Tenkasi), and you can get jammed inside Srivilliputtur and Rajapalayam towns. Ghat roads are decent although some of the curves have bad sections. Beyond Tenmala, via Palode & Nedumangad, the road is normally good, but not fast. Overall, I would not recommend it unless you are on a leisurely drive.

The turn off comes 1 km after Tirumangalam bypass, after crossing Madurai on NH7 towards Virudhunagar. There are clear signages pointing to Rajapalayam/Tenkasi/Kollam, and you have to go under a flyover to get to this NH 208 which turns ff to the right.

[ampere]

Check with Jeev who was there last week on the Thenmala section.

[bijujj]

Thanks Kumar. Aproximately how much time does it take to reach Trivandrum from Madurai, through this route.

I am planning to drive through the Ghat roads mainly for a change, as I am always taking the NH7 route via Nagercoil.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by bijujj

Thanks Kumar. Aproximately how much time does it take to reach Trivandrum from Madurai, through this route.

I am planning to drive through the Ghat roads mainly for a change, as I am always taking the NH7 route via Nagercoil.

Very difficult to say, but I would estimate that you should take 5-7 hours. The route is indeed a nice change from the usual NH7-NH47 route via Nagercoil.

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Very difficult to say, but I would estimate that you should take 5-7 hours. The route is indeed a nice change from the usual NH7-NH47 route via Nagercoil.

What is the difference in kms between tenkasi/thenmala route and via nagerkoil?
Is the former route good?
tx

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by PRADEEP KUMAR

What is the difference in kms between tenkasi/thenmala route and via nagerkoil?
Is the former route good?
tx

If you go via Nagercoil on NH7/NH47, it is 300 kms
Via Srivilliputtur, Tenkasi to Trivandrum is 250 kms.
But the Tenkasi route is very slow. Narrow roads from Madurai to Tenkasi, with no bypasses for large towns like Srivilliputtur and Rajapalayam, and once in Kerala, narrow, twisty roads.

[johnda]

I've been planning a trip to chennai from tvla. (689101)
There have been various suggestions. being
* via palghat, Avinashi
* Via kumliy, Madurai
* via trivandrum, nagercoil,

I have no idea about road condition, distance or time taken.

The drive is with family and NO deadlines as far as reaching time... thus I hope to keep speed limits

Please suggest the best route.

[sukkur]

Hi Guys,

Am planning to a Chennai - Kottarakkara trip next week. I went by the Chennai-Madurai - Tenkasi - Thenmala - Punalur - Kottarakkara route about 3 years ago. The ghat roads between Thenkasi and Punalur were horrible.

Anyone has done this route recently? What are the road conditions?

Regards,
Santosh

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by sukkur

Hi Guys,

Am planning to a Chennai - Kottarakkara trip next week. I went by the Chennai-Madurai - Tenkasi - Thenmala - Punalur - Kottarakkara route about 3 years ago. The ghat roads between Thenkasi and Punalur were horrible.

Anyone has done this route recently? What are the road conditions?

Regards,
Santosh

Road is excellent from Madurai to Tenmala. No udpate of the Tenmala-Punalur-Kottarakara road, but it should be good at this time of the year.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Road is excellent from Madurai to Tenmala.

Road is good, but traffic till Tenkasi is terrible. Don't travel in the evening time. Tenkasi to Tenmala is much better in terms of traffic.

[eyesice]

Guys,

Myself and my brother are planning a fun drive from Trivandrum to Chennai in my car next weekend. Ideally the distance does not really matter for us. We would love to drive some nice roads with beautiful scenery which could be covered in a couple of days. Would like to hear your thoughts on some interesting routes and places to stay in between.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by eyesice

Guys,

Myself and my brother are planning a fun drive from Trivandrum to Chennai in my car next weekend. Ideally the distance does not really matter for us. We would love to drive some nice roads with beautiful scenery which could be covered in a couple of days. Would like to hear your thoughts on some interesting routes and places to stay in between.

Why don't you take the ECR route to TVM - via Pondy, Chidambaram, Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin, Kanyakumari. Not exactly scenic, but definitely more interesting than the standard NH45-NH7-NH47 route

[manjubp]

Passing through Nagercoil is is turning out to be really bad, some time taking almost 40 minutes to cover ~8kms from Vellamandam to Parvathipuram.

How about bypassing nagercoil by taking right turn at Thovazhai and then Thovazhai --> Veeranarayan mangalam --> and joining NH-66 before chunkan kadai