[RSimonS]

Originally Posted by gopikb

luvtoride, thank you. Did you mean dharapuram-kangeyam-perundurai-Bhavani-Mettur to join NH7? It is close to 300kms of 2-lane roads and am worried about the traffic and the overtaking maneuvers in 2-lane road. Instead if I join Karur as recommended by Ampere, it is only 189kms to join 4-lane and I can drive that extra 100 kms in 4-lane bliss.

I had followed google maps and some road selections on the routes mentioned on google maps while I came back from Munnar last week. We finally came via Erode by pass, total KMs covered was less than 500 Kms between Munnar and Bangalore and joined Coimbatore - Selam road some where near Sankari.

I understand this is a vague explanation and route mention, but the road through out was excellent except for some short stretches and traffic was almost non existent all the way till Salem. (this was on a Sunday)... Based on my limited experience, we can trust the roads in tamil nadu, they are far better compared to those in Kerala or Karnataka.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Yes the kattapana route is where you can see the Idukki dam from Kalvari Mount view point.The view comes on the Kattapana-Thodupuzha route,so a slight deviation from your suggested route

Ranjit, We had to make some last minute changes to the trip and the trip to Kottayam was cancelled. So we drove directly to Munnar via Dindigal and Bodi and came back via the Chinnar route. Climbing down took lot of time than planned, there was comparatively greater number of vehicles and movement on Tamil Nadu side of Chinnar.

Thanks a lot for the help with the route, hope I would be able to take the Kalvari Mount route sometime soon.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by gopikb

luvtoride, thank you. Did you mean dharapuram-kangeyam-perundurai-Bhavani-Mettur to join NH7? It is close to 300kms of 2-lane roads and am worried about the traffic and the overtaking maneuvers in 2-lane road. Instead if I join Karur as recommended by Ampere, it is only 189kms to join 4-lane and I can drive that extra 100 kms in 4-lane bliss.

But driving to Mettur does open up additional possibility of visiting Mettur dam, drive through a scenic route and also bypass Salem completely. Thanks for bringing this up. I will decide based on the interest of kids and my strength to drive on return. Two lanes typically sap more energy than 4-lanes for driving and hence just from a driving point of view, I prefer 4-lanes any day.

Nope, I actually meant this: https://goo.gl/maps/Zht4k where you latch onto NH-7 in Perundurai. Driving time is at par with the Karur route and distance less by 15kms. Excellent roads. You can visit Chennimalai temple atop a small hill, if interested, with road drivable all the way to the temple.

If you have to get to Mettur, you would have to drive on NH-7 from Perundurai to Bhavani and deviate onto the SH. Yes it is scenic, but since you don't prefer driving on SHs, you could continue on the NH7 from Perundurai without deviating in Bhavani.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by gopikb

Thank you Ampere. That allows me to take a decision after reaching Dharapuram. Munnar is most beautiful with the showers and mist. Unfortunately the past one week I see that sun is blazing in its full glory in Bangalore. Not sure what Munnar holds for us this weekend. Driving family there for the first time and I am hoping that they get to see the real beauty of Munnar.

Gopi, As others mentioned there 2 standard routes (as you yourself have noted)

- Theni - Bodi - Chinnakanal - Munnar
- Udumalpet - Marayoor - Munnar

The first road is standard 4-Lane NH7 till Dindigul and then Old NH45 to Theni. For the second option, since roads in TN are good, there can many options to reach Udumalpet (or drive to Udumalpet).

The most used approach has : Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumalpet. So you get 4-lane till Perundurai. Please note Mettur option does not come into play since you have 4-lanes available. And an early start can easily let you go past Salem, without getting stuck. Unless you want to drive on 2-lane roads, there is no need to go to Mettur.

Now the other option is: Salem-Namakkal-Karur-Aravakurichi-Dharapuram-Udumalpet. This uses the more of NH7 instead instead of NH47. Distance wise both all these options are more or less same.

You can also do Udumalpet-Palladam-Mangalam-Avinashi and get onto 4-lane at Avinashi.

I think of all these options, the ideal one would be via Karur. Thats because, typically I have noticed much lower traffic on NH7 south of Salem as compared to NH47 towards Coimbatore. So my pick would be:

Udumalpet-Dharapuram - Arvakurichi - Karur - Salem - Bangalore.

Hope that helps.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by luvurride

Nope, I actually meant this: https://goo.gl/maps/Zht4k where you latch onto NH-7 in Perundurai. Driving time is at par with the Karur route and distance less by 15kms. Excellent roads.

This would be NH 47 at Perundurai. If one takes Udumalaipet-Karur then you latch on to NH 7.

@gopikb - Either case, note that crossing Salem can be painful during peak hours, the 4-5 signals there can be very time consuming to get through and evening traffic builds up significantly between 5-7 pm.

[gopikb]

Originally Posted by luvurride

Nope, I actually meant this: https://goo.gl/maps/Zht4k where you latch onto NH-7 in Perundurai. Driving time is at par with the Karur route and distance less by 15kms. Excellent roads. You can visit Chennimalai temple atop a small hill, if interested, with road drivable all the way to the temple.

Ah! Thank you luvtoride for the clarification and also the option of bringing Chennimalai temple on this route. Never been to this temple before and would love to visit it.

Originally Posted by ampere

Gopi, As others mentioned there 2 standard routes (as you yourself have noted)

- Theni - Bodi - Chinnakanal - Munnar
- Udumalpet - Marayoor - Munnar

The first road is standard 4-Lane NH7 till Dindigul and then Old NH45 to Theni. For the second option, since roads in TN are good, there can many options to reach Udumalpet (or drive to Udumalpet).

The most used approach has : Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumalpet. So you get 4-lane till Perundurai. Please note Mettur option does not come into play since you have 4-lanes available. And an early start can easily let you go past Salem, without getting stuck. Unless you want to drive on 2-lane roads, there is no need to go to Mettur.

Now the other option is: Salem-Namakkal-Karur-Aravakurichi-Dharapuram-Udumalpet. This uses the more of NH7 instead instead of NH47. Distance wise both all these options are more or less same.

You can also do Udumalpet-Palladam-Mangalam-Avinashi and get onto 4-lane at Avinashi.

I think of all these options, the ideal one would be via Karur. Thats because, typically I have noticed much lower traffic on NH7 south of Salem as compared to NH47 towards Coimbatore. So my pick would be:

Udumalpet-Dharapuram - Arvakurichi - Karur - Salem - Bangalore.

Hope that helps.

Ampere, Thank you man. The route options explained by you is exactly what the doctor ordered for. I was not aware that Salem-Perundurai is 4-lane. That changes the equation now and luvtoride threw in the Chennimalai option in this route. If I do a early start from Munnar on the return on Sunday, I will take the below route

Udumalpet-Dharapuram - Chennimalai - Perundurai - Salem - Bangalore.

If we start descending only towards afternoon from Munnar, then the route to follow is as below

Udumalpet-Dharapuram - Arvakurichi - Karur - Salem - Bangalore.

Thanks once again for all your help people.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by gopikb

I was not aware that Salem-Perundurai is 4-lane.

NH 47 stretch from Salem to Coimbatore is 4 laned. Mannuthy-Kochi is also 4 laned.
And now the Walayar-Palakkad-Alathur stretch is also being widended.

[gopikb]

Thanks Ampere, luvurride, NPV and others who helped in planning my route. We had a wonderful trip to Munnar over the last long weekend. I am very glad I sought your advice and had a couple of bonuses from it.

For onward journey we took the Bangalore-Salem-Perundurai-Chennimalai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumalapet-Chinnar-Munnar route. We drove to Salem the previous evening on Thursday as we knew Friday morning is going to be mayhem going out of Bangalore with the long weekend. That turned out to be a very good decision as we had a relaxed drive, visited Chennimalai Murugan temple on the way and reached Munnar by 4PM in the evening. Thank you luvurride for suggesting this. Incidentally it was our anniversary on the 29th Aug and hence wifey wanted to change route plan to drive via Chennimalai on the onward journey. The hillock appears small, but was providing breathtaking views all around once we reached the top. The decoration to the Lord was very beautiful and reminded me of Tiruchendur idol.

The driving route as indicated has awesome roads all the way except inside Udumalpet town and some rough patches in Chinnar forest area. For people who are driving directly from Bangalore, I would suggest you account for atleast a 12 hour ride including breaks (assuming a 11/2 to 2 hour break) and plan your start accordingly. Not advisable to drive the ghat sections after sunset. Hence ensure that you reach Munnar before that.

On the return, we started from Munnar at 8.15AM and drove the Munnar-Bodi-Theni-Dindugal-Salem-Bangalore route. The roads were awesome in the kerela ghat side. Becomes a little rough from Bodimettu until we reach the plains. Not a big worry though. Rest of the roads all the way from the foot hills to Bangalore is great. But I could reach home only around 9.30PM which makes it a 13 hour drive. Most of the delays were due to multiple stops that my family demanded and also the rush back traffic into Bangalore from the long weekend. The Krishnagiri toll took me an hour to cross.

Munnar was at its seasonal best at this time. Thanks once again to all for your help.

[kala]

Originally Posted by gopikb

The Krishnagiri toll took me an hour to cross

Wonder what the point of building fast 4 and 6 lane roads is - if they negate the whole benefit by creating bottlenecks like this every 40-50 kms !!

[gopikb]

Originally Posted by kala

Wonder what the point of building fast 4 and 6 lane roads is - if they negate the whole benefit by creating bottlenecks like this every 40-50 kms !!

Yes. The long weekends are becoming crazy nowadays. I wonder how Diwali or Christmas weekend would turn out to be. The worst part is that the toll plazas are completely unprepared for the onslaught. They still issue tickets the same way and same speed as normal days. Cars were changing lanes in the toll queue and it was a free for all situation there.

At Krishnagiri, we were in the queue right from the bridge. As we inched down from the bridge, I saw a lot of cars going into the service lane. I decided to follow them in the service lane and drove through it. I could jump the queue by atleast 400 meters driving through the service lane and then at the end of it was a separate queue starting from the service lane. I just got lucky that time. But felt bad for the poor souls who were still in the main road and had a long queue ahead of them

[JohnyRider]

Originally Posted by gopikb

Yes. The long weekends are becoming crazy nowadays. I wonder how Diwali or Christmas weekend would turn out to be. The worst part is that the toll plazas are completely unprepared for the onslaught. They still issue tickets the same way and same speed as normal days. Cars were changing lanes in the toll queue and it was a free for all situation there.

At Krishnagiri, we were in the queue right from the bridge. As we inched down from the bridge, I saw a lot of cars going into the service lane. I decided to follow them in the service lane and drove through it. I could jump the queue by atleast 400 meters driving through the service lane and then at the end of it was a separate queue starting from the service lane. I just got lucky that time. But felt bad for the poor souls who were still in the main road and had a long queue ahead of them

I too was on my way back to Bangalore and decided to continue on the regular track at Krishnagiri - not the service lane. It took approx 25 minutes to pass the toll plaza.

[ampere]

If you are retuning on a long weekend :

- Delay by a day or:
- Make sure you are in Bangalore by 6AM. The rush only starts in the evening.
- If you are at Silk Board by 6, then you are good.

[Lightening-Fast]

Guys - I am planning to drive down to Munnar and Kodai for next week long weekend break. Well, plan is to start from Bangalore at 4.30AM to beat the morning rush. Here are a few queries.
1.What would be my breakfast options. I would be well past Krishnagiri/Dharmapuri. Anything that is on NH7 near Salem would be good i guess. I would not like to deviate from NH7 and enter in any of the towns.
2.Route that i plan to take is Blr-Dindigul- Batlagundu-Theni-Bodinayakanur-Munnar. Any latest updates here on the road conditions. Is 10-11 hours realistic on this route
3. For Munnar to Kodai, correct me if i am wrong, i would need to come back via the same route till take the kodai ghat routes. Is 5 hours realistic
4. On my way back from Kodai to Blr, what are my eating/washroom options between Dindigul and Salem. I remember there was one eatery that cropped up a couple of years ago just after dindigul on the left hand side. Dont remember the name though. But that might be a little too early for lunch.

Any other general 'gyaan' will be accepted too

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Lightening-Fast

Guys - I am planning to drive down to Munnar and Kodai for next week long weekend break. Well, plan is to start from Bangalore at 4.30AM to beat the morning rush. Here are a few queries.
...

1.Some options for breakfast:
-Krishnagiri, just after you cross the Chennai turn off - on left side you have Saravana Inn (landmark-on right side there is a lake, this is near Kaveripattinam)
-Just a little ahead, again on left side there is an Aaryas.
-Just before Thoppur toll, make a U-turn and you have:
--A2B (Adayar Ananda Bhavan) inside a Bharat Petroleum fuel station campus
--A little ahead you have Raja Bhojanam inside an Indian Oil fuel station campus
2. 10-12 hours is realistic. This route will take you first to Chinnakanal where Club Mahindra and Sterling Resorts are located. From here it will take about an hour to reach Munnar Town about 20Km from Chinnakanal. Where are you planning to stay ?
3. You need to get back via Theni to Batlagundu. From here you can take the Kodai ghat road. I think 5-6 hours is realistic.
4. Karur may be an option for lunch, try Arunachalas, need to get into the service road towards the town but very close to the highway (they are not open for breakfast I think).
*I guess the Dindugal-Salem stretch will have more options that may have come up in the last 2-3 years.

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by NPV

1.Some options for breakfast:
-Krishnagiri, just after you cross the Chennai turn off - on left side you have Saravana Inn (landmark-on right side there is a lake, this is near Kaveripattinam)
-Just a little ahead, again on left side there is an Aaryas.
-Just before Thoppur toll, make a U-turn and you have:
--A2B (Adayar Ananda Bhavan) inside a Bharat Petroleum fuel station campus
--A little ahead you have Raja Bhojanam inside an Indian Oil fuel station campus

Since he is planning to start by 4:30 am, these options may not be feasible. Probably GRT at Salem before Namakkal turning would be a better option. However, if Udumalpet route is considered, he can have breakfast at Sree Saravanabhavan at Sangagiri!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Lightening-Fast

Guys - I am planning to drive down to Munnar and Kodai for next week long weekend break. Well, plan is to start from Bangalore at 4.30AM to beat the morning rush.

The other option apart from Grand Estancia is Park Plaza. In fact I now prefer Park Plaza to Grand Estancia given a choice between the two. Its about 2km before Grand Estancia.