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I am planning to drive from Mysore to Kodaikanal for the long weekend.

What is the route and how is the state of roads?

Mysore-Nanjangud-Chamarajnagar-Dimbam-Bannari-Sathyamangalam-Annur-Coimbatore-Pollachi-Udumalaipet-Palani-Kodaikanal - approximately 300 kms. Should take you 8-10 hours. Some bad roads in Chamarajnagar area, but otherwise OK.

I thought i will have to drive to bangalore,krishnagiri, madurai, kodai road.

Somebody suggested this route to me.

hv has pretty much covered everything. Road between Nanjangud - Chamrajnagar and Chamrajnagar - TN border is so so. Watch out for unmarked speed breakers in the Nanjangud - Chamrajnagar sector especially before and after a village.

Road gets better as you hit TN. Steep descent from Dhimbam to Bannari. Watch out for oncoming lorries. The road should have held inspite of the rains. However they tend to be a little bad at the hairpins.

Sathy to Coimbatore is a breeze. Lot of turns and twists and watch out for racing bus drivers and lorries. Coimbatore - Pollachi - Palani has a lot of traffic.

Palani to Kodaikanal ghat section is a smaller road but shouldn't be a problem. Again watchout for daredevil cabs on the descent.

mysore-nanjangaud -good
nanjangaud-chmar-dimbam- ok with bad patches.
dimbam-sathyamangala - ummah..what a road i never changed gear.
rest i don't know. but TN roads are mostly trustworthy.

Racing lorries, buses and cabbies are always a problem everywhere.

If this road is better i think i will take it.

Hope it is not very dangerous.

I suggest you consider the Ooty/Coonoor/Coimbatore/Palani route, for the scenery - it is probably longer though.

How much longer and i think in the ghats more than how much longer it is more of how much longer in terms of time taken:)

Please let me know, this route would be really beautiful.

Other than the ghats slowing you down, it probably isn't too much longer distance wise, but well worth both the time and distance. Sorry I don't know specific distances.

We did Palani ~ Masinagudi last year; it took about 7 hours at a decent pace.
Add three hours for Mysore ~ Masinagudi and another two hours for Palani ~ Kodai.

If you decide to take this route, take the shortcut to Ooty via Masinagudi (avoid the regular route via Gudalur); the drive and the scenery will take your breath away.

Mysore - Nanjangud - Gundulpet - Bandipur - Mudhumalai - Masinagudi (or via Gudalur) - Ooty - Kotagiri (or via Conoor) - Mettupalayam - Coimbatore - Palani - Kodaikanal.

Mysore -Nanjangud - Gundulpet is like 90 minutes max.

Gundulpet to Bandipur entrance the roads are really bad. Someone had a couple of photographs of this route in the Bangalore - Nilambur thread. Bandipur onwards roads are good. However time taken depends on whether you are interested in Wildlife or not. If you start early in the morning you might catch sight of some wildlife in this sector. Drive slowly and you might be able to take in the sights and sounds really well.

Mudhumalai - Masinagudi - Ooty is a steep climb but awesome one. Check out the Bangalore - Ooty threads for more updates on this. If you drive normal speeds from Mysore you should be able to make it to Ooty in 4 hrs. Or you can do Muthumalai - Gudalur - Ooty which is more sedate driving.

Ooty - Mettupalayam via Conoor or Kotagiri is another 90 minutes to 2 hrs. Depends on how comfortable you are on descents.

Mettupalayam to Coimbatore is 90 minutes. Heavy traffic sector.

From there on its the same route Udumalpet - Palani - Kodaikanal.

I had done this from Mysore last year in the same time and did most of travel by State Highways (SH) in TamilNadu. I expect the TN SH road to hold better in this one year. They are better than Karnataka roads. The route I took was

Mysore - Nanjangud - CH Nagar - Dhimbam - Sathyamangalam - Perundurai - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Palani - Kodai.
The roads were good and you can do 80 KMPH comforatbly except near villages. there are less speed breakers and are well marked. Infact, they do not break your car and are progressive with a small hump before the actual speed breaker to allow you to slow down. Again, these are there only in kangeyam Dharapuram stretch. You can choose this route if you want to reach faster avoiding Coimbatore, Pollachi Traffic. I had travelled between Combatore and Pollachi and found it to be congested with not too many overtaking opportunities due to Oncoming Traffic.

Cheers!
~DWind

The stretch between Chamrajnagar upto Aasanur (TN Border) is very bad and I would not recommend cars on it, if you have an SUV then you could opt for this route. After Aasanur the road is fabulous, dont know why the same NH is superb in one state and horrible in the other, Dimbam ghats are holding fine except for a couple of hairpin bends. Sathyamangalam - Gobi stretch is also in extremely good condition.

Cheers.

Srikanth

Everybody seems to be favouring this route and all are of the opinion that karnataka roads are bad and tamilnadu roads are better.

I will surely try this route and let you know my views.

Just an update!

Could not decide on a place for Long weekend and with my family not keen on going to Munnar due to rains decided to go some place in TN as there is less chance of rain at this time.

Took a slightly different route as suggested by my before and could only be in awe of TN Government's effort in maintaining their roads. My route was as follows

• Mysore - Nanjangud: NH 212. Nothing to write about. It has become worse than before. Be extremely careful before overtaking because there can be potholes.
• Nanjangud - Chamraj Nagar : The Najangud bye-pass is still not complete and is fit only for Trucks. For Bhpians intending to take this route would suggest not to take the first level crossing on the left which Trucks take but take the second left after this cut. This goes through the temple and lets you join the road after crossing a narrow weak bridge. This is only for cars and is not wide for Trucks. This also lets you avoid the Level crossing which can be closed as trains travel now between Mysore and Nanjangud and not beyond.The road beyond to Chamraj Nagar is better buit you still have to be careful about the odd Pothole and slow down if you see any slight indication of habitation. There can be Speed breakers.
• Chamraj Nagar - Thimbam: NH 209. The road condition can be divided into 2 phases. CH Nagar till Chikkhole / Suvarnavathi resorvoir. The road until then is a car breaker. Be extremely careful when you drive here. There are potholes everywhere. In fact, the Lorries have started to take the shoulder which is better than these potoles. You can follow them but be careful that you do not center your humps as they can scrap your car if it has a low GC. Once you cross the reservoirs the road gets better and you can travel at a better pace. You still have to be careful for you might encounter some bad stretches(Huge craters filled with water) which can be tricky. Take a cue from the Lorry Drivers and how deep the crater is and then decide your route. The road gets better once you cross TN border.
• Thimbam - Satyamangalam: The roads get better. It is a welcome releif. The ghat section has become bad with the odd pothole but I was able to see work going on on those stretches. Infact, some part of it at the top has been relaid..
• Satyamangalam - Kangeyam: SH roads. The roads are way better than before. No Bye passes so have to be careful to slow down near villages. Otherwise you can travel in three digit speeds. The road I travelled was From Satyamangalam take a road towards Gobi, Erode. Travel for 6-7 kms where you will find a board to Kolappalur (marked in Tamil but it says 16 km from there) . Take a right there where the road is narrow but good. As soon as you reach Kolappalur take a right which goes to Dharapuram. Keep going straight at Kunnathur which avoids going via Perundurai. Cross NH 47 (Salem - Coimbatore road) at Changapalli until you hit Utukuli RS (Railway Station :)) . Take right and then the second left to cross the railway Tracks on the newly laid overbridge. Take the right on the Tirupur Chenni malai SH. This road after 12 kms meets the Kangeyam Tirupur road. Take a left here to reach kangeyam
• Kangeyam - Dharapuram: Road conditions good with the odd diversion for building culverts. There is a very dangerous turn on your right which is very sharp (almost 90 deg).
• Dharapuram - Palani: Dharapuram is a big town in Erode district with connecting roads to all nearby towns. Take the bye pass which reaches the bus stand. Take a left after that pointing to Madurai. The road is narrow here. You will do well if you follow a bus that is going towards Madurai / Sivaganga / Odanchatiram as the route is complex here. Once you cross a bridge which pases a dry river bed (amaravathi river) the road forks to the left which goes to Odanchatiram-Dindigul. Take the straight road to palani. It is literally a straight road. Once you reach palani take a left to go on NH 209 (again!) for some distance to reach the town outskirts and take a right there for the bypass. The road to Kodai is on your left in the next junction.
• Palani - Kodai: Narrow but excellent mountain road. Suggest a slower but steady speed where you can enjoy the excellent view and also avoid suicidal cab / van drivers. Keep honking at all blind curves and downshift to use the momentum to attack the hair pin bends. The road merges with Vathlagundu - Kodai road at PerumalMalai

Return was from Madurai via NH 7 - Right at 10 kms before Dindigul to Odanchatiram using SH to avoid the NH 7 GQ construction via Sembatti.

Took me 8.5 hours to reach Kodai from Mysore including breaks for BF, lunch, fueling.


Cheers!
DWind

Great description of the route!

A quick question - the Kolapallur-Changapalli road is a good idea, where is Changapalli on Nh47 - between Avinashi and Perunthurai, before the turn off NH47 to Tiruppur?