[vnabhi]

Things are slowly shaping up for my trip to Ooty, Cochin and Munnar in mid-June. My son needs to find out if he can get 6 days leave, apart from 2 weekly offs. Me and my daughter are fine. Only persons to confirm are wife and son, though they tentatively said ok.

However, the only deterrant now seems to be the rains, and how much it will thwart sight-seeing. Let us see how things work out.

I was having thoughts of doing Cochin first and then Ooty on the return leg in order to beat the rains. Any inputs will be of great help. If it is Cochin first, then day would be a drive from Hyderabad to Perundurai, where I'd take a night halt. I hope hotels there are not hard to get.

I wanted inputs on places to see in Kochi. I have Fort Kochi and Jew Market on my list already. And the backwaters of Alleppey too.

@ranjitp1---Valparai is ruled out becuase a pal of mine from Cochin went there last week, and said roads were in bad shape.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I wanted inputs on places to see in Kochi. I have Fort Kochi and Jew Market on my list already. And the backwaters of Alleppey too.

@ranjitp1---Valparai is ruled out becuase a pal of mine from Cochin went there last week, and said roads were in bad shape.

All roads in Valparai area are very good, as also the Valparai-Athirapalli-Chalakudy road which has also been repaired recently

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

All roads in Valparai area are very good, as also the Valparai-Athirapalli-Chalakudy road which has also been repaired recently

Gosh, this contradicts my Cochin pal's resposne on FB which reads as:-

"Suggest u stick to the initial itinerary with an additional day or so as u cover all the must see places.Valparai is a tedious drive & the road conditions are not very good."

He covered that place last week on an SUV which looks like an X-Trail!

So let me keep Valparai as a backup plan also in that case.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Gosh, this contradicts my Cochin pal's resposne on FB which reads as:-

"Suggest u stick to the initial itinerary with an additional day or so as u cover all the must see places.Valparai is a tedious drive & the road conditions are not very good."

He covered that place last week on an SUV which looks like an X-Trail!

So let me keep Valparai as a backup plan also in that case.

Update from my friend who did the drive on Thursday (day before yesterday) in a small car:
"The road from Chalakudy to Athirapally to Sholayar till Valparai is smooth as silk now, great surface and marked very well."

Amyone in Kerala will testify to that this road was under repair for a few weeks (closed down too temporarily) and it is well-publicised that it is now repaired & in great condition.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Things are slowly shaping up for my trip to Ooty, Cochin and Munnar in mid-June. My son needs to find out if he can get 6 days leave, apart from 2 weekly offs. Me and my daughter are fine. Only persons to confirm are wife and son, though they tentatively said ok.

However, the only deterrant now seems to be the rains, and how much it will thwart sight-seeing. Let us see how things work out.

I was having thoughts of doing Cochin first and then Ooty on the return leg in order to beat the rains. Any inputs will be of great help. If it is Cochin first, then day would be a drive from Hyderabad to Perundurai, where I'd take a night halt. I hope hotels there are not hard to get.

I wanted inputs on places to see in Kochi. I have Fort Kochi and Jew Market on my list already. And the backwaters of Alleppey too.

@ranjitp1---Valparai is ruled out becuase a pal of mine from Cochin went there last week, and said roads were in bad shape.

Afaik Perundurai has only a Hotel Chennis.www.hotelchennis.com .There are no other hotels apart from that.This is on the NH47 bypass in the SIPCOT area.

Also just to second HVK' input chalakudy valaparai road is extremely good as per latest updates.

In Kochi,apart from that you could go to Cherai beach,take a walk along marine drive cant think of anything else.If you take the KTDC boat cruise then you would be able to see the Bolghatty Palace which is on an island and is now a KTDC hotel.

[ampere]

Only note on the Aliyar-Valparai-Chalakudy road is that its narrow. (Though its smooth). So one needs to be carefully while climbing up the ghats.
Usually there is not much traffic on this section. But its good to avoid in the night.

[kala]

Originally Posted by ampere

Only note on the Aliyar-Valparai-Chalakudy road is that its narrow. (Though its smooth). So one needs to be carefully while climbing up the ghats.
Usually there is not much traffic on this section. But its good to avoid in the night.

Is that road open in the night ??

[ampere]

Originally Posted by kala

Is that road open in the night ??

No idea on that Kala.
I did not see any major check post on the TN Side while driving at Aliyar.
(May be that was because it was all on TN).

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by kala

Is that road open in the night ??

Originally Posted by ampere

Only note on the Aliyar-Valparai-Chalakudy road is that its narrow. (Though its smooth). So one needs to be carefully while climbing up the ghats.
Usually there is not much traffic on this section. But its good to avoid in the night.

Border closes at 6pm.Aliyar to Valparai to TN BORDER you wouldnt have problem(but then who would drive those stretches in the night except for some mad trucker or some illicit hooch/arrack spirit trader)

[black_rider]

I will be travelling from Bangalore to Munnar on coming thursday and will take this route both the ways :
Bangalore-Salem-Perundurai-Dharapuram-Udumalaipet-Munnar

Any recent updates about the route will be helpful. I have gone through almost the complete thread and do expect bad road between Udumalaipet and Munnar, as I dont think any repairs would have been done because of impending monsoon.

How is the route through Salem? I can see the highway bypassing Salem in google maps, but the direction finder suggests to go inside the city and take right on to "Sankari road". Also, the satellite imagery of this place shows that the bypass has incomplete sections. Should I take the google suggested route?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by black_rider

How is the route through Salem? I can see the highway bypassing Salem in google maps, but the direction finder suggests to go inside the city and take right on to "Sankari road". Also, the satellite imagery of this place shows that the bypass has incomplete sections. Should I take the google suggested route?

There are enough sign boards at Salem which should provide ample directions to bypass Salem.
There should be no issues.

[ksm]

I am done with my trip and I must thank NPV for his suggestion of taking the Dindigul- Theni-Bodi-Munnar route. I would not have taken this route but for his suggestion. This route is extremely faster than the Udumulpet road. I took the Dinidgul route while going to Munnar and it took about 4 hrs. to complete the journey (with halts to take some photographs in the Chinnakanal and Periakanal area) whereas it took 3 hrs. for me to travel from Munnar to Udumulpet (90 KM) with rough and serpentine road.

I have not checked the road and distance from Bangalore to Dindigul but if the difference of distance is not much it is much better to travel through Dindigul than go via., Udumulpet (you might cough up few bucks to pass through the Chinnar forest check post in the udumulpet road as well )

[ksm]

I have just done this route last week. I would suggest you to go past Salem, Karur and upto Dindigul on NH7 and take the Theni-Bodi route after that to reach Munnar than the conventional Udumulpet road. The distance might be 40 KM more but you will save a couple of hours in driving (as you would not pass between Udumulpet - Munnar route which is serpentine and really rough, this 90KM stretch required 3 hrs. of time for climbing down if you are climbing up it might take a 30 mins. more).

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ksm

I have not checked the road and distance from Bangalore to Dindigul but if the difference of distance is not much it is much better to travel through Dindigul than go via., Udumulpet (you might cough up few bucks to pass through the Chinnar forest check post in the udumulpet road as well )

Its known that the ghat section from Theni is shorter in distance to Munnar compared to the other side.
But roads are narrow and in monsoon may not be in good conditions as well. But definitely this is a faster access.

But then you should also not miss upon the route via Udumalpet for the good views it provides.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its known that the ghat section from Theni is shorter in distance to Munnar compared to the other side.
But roads are narrow and in monsoon may not be in good conditions as well. But definitely this is a faster access.

But then you should also not miss upon the route via Udumalpet for the good views it provides.

I've done both routes last year, and found the one via Udumalpet had better views of the tea gardens, while the one via Theni was also scenic, though not as much.