[svsantosh]

(Mods - couldnt find anyother, so starting a new one for current conditions)

I am planning a road trip to trivandrum from Bangalore. I need some Expert advise on the route to be taken and current road conditions if possible.

I am planning to leave on 16th July late afternoon and hope to reach on 17th noon. Please help me guys.

Car - Tata Indigo CS TDI
persons - 2 including me.

[hvkumar]

2 choices:

Route 1: Take NH47 via Kollam, Alapuzha, Kochi, Trissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Avinashi till Bhavani. At Bhavani, turn off NH47 and go via Mettur to join NH7 at Toppur. From Toppur, follow NH7 via Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Hosur. Distance around 750 kms, doable in a day. Problem is witth your schedule - starting from Trivandrum at noon means you will get clobbered by day traffic till Trissur. Ideally, leave early in the morning (4 am). If that is not possible, better to leave in the evening after 7 pm and drive through tthe night.

Route 2: Go on NH47 till Kochi, then switch over to NH17 via Kodungallur, Chavakad, Kunnamkulam, Edapal till Kozhikode. Switch over to Wayand Road and go via Kalpetta, Sultan's Battery, Gundulpet and Mysore to Bangalore. Same problem with start time. Keep in mind if you take this route, expect wildlife on road between Kalpetta and Gundulpet in night and early morning.

[hvkumar]

Sorry, just noticed it is Bangalore-Trivandrum. You can leave Bangalore in the evening, and best is to drive through night to avoid day traffic in Kerala and after Trissur.

[jagan0677]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

...

Route 1: Take NH47 via Kollam, Alapuzha, Kochi, Trissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Avinashi till Bhavani. At Bhavani, turn off NH47 and go via Mettur to join NH7 at Toppur. From Toppur, follow NH7 via Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Hosur. Distance around 750 kms, doable in a day. Problem is witth your schedule - starting from Trivandrum at noon means you will get clobbered by day traffic till Trissur. Ideally, leave early in the morning (4 am). If that is not possible, better to leave in the evening after 7 pm and drive through tthe night.

...

I am not sure how good / bad the Bhavani - COmibatore NH47 is right now. If you want some better roads, you could try Mettur - Anthiyur - Sathy - Coimbatore. But i must say, if you are planning on driving through this during the night get accurate turn-off / directions.

[kutlee]

Blore to Cochin routes are already available on the forum. You can take the Blore, Mysore, NAnjugaud, Dimbam, Sathyamangala, Comibatore, Palakkad, Cochin. From Cochin it's straight to TVM.
Blore Madurai Tvm is also possible. I am not sure of the distance difference between the two routes.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by kutlee

Blore to Cochin routes are already available on the forum. You can take the Blore, Mysore, NAnjugaud, Dimbam, Sathyamangala, Comibatore, Palakkad, Cochin. From Cochin it's straight to TVM.
Blore Madurai Tvm is also possible. I am not sure of the distance difference between the two routes.

Madurai-Tirunelveli-Nagercoil-Trivandrum route is not in good shape not only due to widening work on NH7, but also because of the congested Nagercoil-TVM corridor. And bear in mind, here are some bad road sections in Nanjangud-C H Nagar section. Maybe, you can come from Bangalore via Madur, turn off Mysore road to Malavalli and come via Kollegala to C H Nagar too.

[Sankar]

Bangalore -TVM:
Hosur-krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Avinashi-Coimbatore(byepass)-Palghat- Trichur(byepass)-Ernakulam(byepass)-Alapuzha-Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram.

TVM-Bangalore:
Tvm-Ayur-Anchal-Punalur-Achankovil-Aryankavu-(S)Chencottah-Madurai-Dindigul-Karur-Salem-Thoppur-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore. (Reverse for Bangalore - TVM)

Taking the NH47 would be a wiser option. Distance is more or less the same betweent these two routes. But if the roads are good then the Salem-Madurai-Chencottah route would be faster.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by jagan0677

I am not sure how good / bad the Bhavani - COmibatore NH47 is right now...

They are in good shape. Did the route two weeks back. Except for the roads crossing then towns that come in between, where you have to be careful, the rest of the road can be done in good speed.

[jagan0677]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

They are in good shape. Did the route two weeks back. Except for the roads crossing then towns that come in between, where you have to be careful, the rest of the road can be done in good speed.

the NH47 road widening work(CBE-Bhavani) is complete?
right on time for the monsoons!

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Bangalore -TVM:
Hosur-krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Avinashi-Coimbatore(byepass)-Palghat- Trichur(byepass)-Ernakulam(byepass)-Alapuzha-Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram.

TVM-Bangalore:
Tvm-Ayur-Anchal-Punalur-Achankovil-Aryankavu-(S)Chencottah-Madurai-Dindigul-Karur-Salem-Thoppur-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore. (Reverse for Bangalore - TVM)
.

Sankar - are you referring to NH208 in the return route? i am short of time in the onward journey, Ok with the return drive.

I have done 7 hours hosur - coimbatore. Do you have Kms breakup from Coimbatore-trissur-ernakulam-tvdum.? I can plan accordingly.

[hvkumar]

Approx Kms breakup:
Coimbatore-Palakkad 40 kms-Trissur 70-Kochi 80-Alapuzha 60-Kollam 80-Trivandrum 70

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Sankar - are you referring to NH208 in the return route? i am short of time in the onward journey, Ok with the return drive.

I have done 7 hours hosur - coimbatore. Do you have Kms breakup from Coimbatore-trissur-ernakulam-tvdum.? I can plan accordingly.

The route from Trivandrum to Schencottah (100 kms) is on twisty mountain roads which will take you 3 hours, and is poor on facilities.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by jagan0677

the NH47 road widening work(CBE-Bhavani) is complete?
right on time for the monsoons!

My bad; sorry!

The work is still going on!

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Sankar - are you referring to NH208 in the return route? i am short of time in the onward journey, Ok with the return drive.

If you have time to spare then i would suggest you take this return route. The route is pretty scenic and it'll be fun to drive on a new route as you discover it.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The route from Trivandrum to Schencottah (100 kms) is on twisty mountain roads which will take you 3 hours, and is poor on facilities.

Yep it's true. Thats what i had mentioned it in the pm. Do this section in daytime as at some points between TVM & Shencottah the roads are broken, but don't get discouraged it's not all that bad.

[chitbhanu]

I just travelled to Periyar last week using NH7, hence can give u first hand experience of this road all the way from Bangalore to Dindigul. Road from Hosur to Krishnagiri is quite fine, you can stop in between at a BPCL petrol pump for a fuel refill and for some nice snacks. After Krishnagiri, you will see road widening work happening almost all along NH7 till Dindigul. This means that patches of road are rough in between and for the most part you have to drive on the same side of the divider with vehicles coming from the other side. However traffic is not too heavy and even in the existing condition, the roads are not too bad, you can keep on cruising consistently at 60-80 kmph. Before travelling, i took some preliminary details from net and then finally used Wikimapia to chalk out a detailed route map. if are ok to do some research, Wikimapia can give you loads of information on routes etc.

Originally Posted by Sankar

Bangalore -TVM:
Hosur-krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Avinashi-Coimbatore(byepass)-Palghat- Trichur(byepass)-Ernakulam(byepass)-Alapuzha-Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram.

TVM-Bangalore:
Tvm-Ayur-Anchal-Punalur-Achankovil-Aryankavu-(S)Chencottah-Madurai-Dindigul-Karur-Salem-Thoppur-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore. (Reverse for Bangalore - TVM)

Taking the NH47 would be a wiser option. Distance is more or less the same betweent these two routes. But if the roads are good then the Salem-Madurai-Chencottah route would be faster.