[Throtttle]

Originally Posted by revv_maniac

pit stop for the friday night in wayanad

kindly suggest me some places to take a break in and around wayanad or around gudalur. some picturesque resort or eco resort types in the hills over looking a valley or small river or something away from the busy life.

One suggestion :

Vythiri Meadows (https://goo.gl/maps/NyQPYza5QJH2)

Close to highway and economical suiting a stopover. Just enough enough off road, at hight and non-busy environs to be quiter. Good hill views and ambiance.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by revv_maniac

Hello,

i am going to drive down to Calicut from bangalore on friday, we are a group of 6 guys in 2 cars. we would like to pit stop for the friday night in wayanad, we will be taking the gudalur route to calicut. kindly suggest me some places to take a break in and around wayanad or around gudalur. some picturesque resort or eco resort types in the hills over looking a valley or small river or something away from the busy life.
thanks in advance, suggestions in route are also welcome.

Why via gudalur? Or did you mean Gundlepet. The standard route would be Bangalore-Mysore-Gundlepet-bathery-kalpetta-vythiri-calicut.

Would recommend staying in wayanad. Don't have specific places to suggest. Plenty of options of the type you are looking for. There are a couple of wayanad threads which will have more specific recommendations.

[binand]

Originally Posted by revv_maniac

we would like to pit stop for the friday night in wayanad, we will be taking the gudalur route to calicut.

The Gudalur route to Calicut does not go through Wayanad. Please replan.

Edit: I just noticed your location. I suppose you are driving down from Chennai. If you are coming via Salem then the best route to Calicut is via Palakkad and NH 213. If you are coming via Bangalore (which is longer but does touch Wayanad) then the town you are looking for is Gundlupet. Anyway you will be so close to Calicut that breaking in Wayanad does not make sense, unless you want to enjoy Wayanad itself. I'm which case the district is peppered with hotels and resorts of all sizes and prices.

[mpksuhas]

Did Bangalore - Mysore- Through Mysore city - NH 212 - Mysore outer ring road - Manthavady road - Kabni Jungle lodges (over night stay) - Mananthavady - Panamaram - Kalpetta - Calicut on last weekend.

Road conditions - Bangalore - Mysore the usual stuff. Felt there were lesser number of speed brakers than last Dec.

Road work ongoing between Mysore city and Mysore ORR on Mysore - Mysore airport stretch. Best to take Mysore ORR and bye-pass the town and road work if traveling towards Gundlupet.

Mananthavady road is in good condition, they have removed speed brakers on this route apart from those inside forest sections.

Mananthavady - Panamaram has few bad sections, I guess if you are headed to Calicut, best is to take Kutiyadi route.

Panamaram - Kalpetta - Calicut is in good condition.

Stopped at White house resturant before Engapuzha for lunch, descent place with good food and clean restroom. Later heard that Puttu and Payar curry is the most sought after dish there.

Return was on 16th, Monday. Since it was election day, roads were relatively free. Was able to reach Batherry within 2.5 hours after starting from Calicut at 2.30 PM. However, our usual pit stop at Batherry - Mathai's bakery located along with Mint Flower resturant was closed. Hence turned back and went to Jubilee resturant, this wasted about an hour.

Took Gundlupet - Kollegal route and reached Silkboard around 10.30 PM.

Road condition from Mallavalli to Kanakpura has improved compared to couple of months back.

Apart from that, witnessed a scary incident when a stupid Range Rover guy decided to try his acceleration by trying to outrun an elephant which was crossing the road along with calf. He was lucky that elephant was unable to reach the vehicle with its trunk.

Also, there is a toll booth getting constructed as soon as one enter KA side from Bandipur forest. They have concreted around 100 meters of the road and and booth construction has started there. Guess it will be atleast couple of months before they start the toll.

Will be a considerable waste of time if they start a similar toll on Gundlupet - Mysore route after road work.

[McLaren Rulez]

Heading from Mysore to Wayanad next week. Any tips on the best route? I'm looking for good roads with minimal traffic to have an enjoyable drive as opposed to the shortest driving time. Thanks!

[binand]

Was over to Calicut over the weekend. Started Saturday 4 AM. Outbound trip was via NH 275 and NH 212 via Mananthavady. Since I lose a lot of time from Kunnamangalam to Eranhipalam, this time I took the Karanthur-Medical College-Mavoor Road. It is a very narrow road with no resurfacing done at least since the time I was a student at Devagiri College (25+ years now). Still, does the job; managed Karanthur-BMH in maybe 20 minutes or so. Arrived home by 1 PM.

Return today was more interesting. Took NH 213 connecting to NH 47 and the Cochin-Bangalore route. Made the mistake of taking Perinthalmanna-Cherpulassery-Mundur instead of continuing via Mannarkkad - bad roads and road works. Started at 4, and despite all that by 6:30 AM I was at the Chandranagar junction. Took a breakfast break at A2B Perundurai; yet was out of Salem by 10 AM. 12:15 at Attibele toll and by 1:15 PM, at home (lost some time because I refused to take BETL and got caught in a broken-down BMTC at Bommanahalli).

A random observation: This A2B seems to have managed to establish quite a smart and enduring brand in its category. Hopefully they will be able to go pan-India, and more importantly, improve their service levels to meet our expectations (I had to stand and have breakfast because there was not a single table available).

Edit: Spotted a new and outwardly good-looking restaurant on Kalpetta bypass. Didn't stop this time; but I think it arrived just in time for breakfast based on my regular start time from Bangalore. Forgot the name now, though.

[mpksuhas]

Did a Bangalore - Calicut trip last week.
Onward journey was on 20 May (Friday), took Mysore - Gundlupet - Kalpetta - Calicut route.
Started from Bellandur at 04:30 AM, was able to cross Mysore before 07:00 AM. There is considerable deviations and due to road work between Mysore - Nanjangaud, thankfully this section is widened as a 4 lane unlike Nanjangaud - Gundlupet - Bandipur forest entry section which is just a widened 2 lane.

Nanjangaud- Gundlupet - Bandipur forest is done apart from couple of small sections.

Was able to do Mysore- Gundlupet within 50 mins, one of the fastest, hope with road work completion it would be faster. Thanks to which was able to cross Batthery before peak office timing, I guess I crossed Batthery around 08.30 AM.

Past this, there was no much traffic till Engapuzha. From there till Calicut, there was heavy traffic. It took around 1 hr 10 mins from Adivaram till Calicut, usually this distance is covered in around 50 mins.

Still, overall was a quick drive. Reached Malaparamb junction by around 11:05 AM. About half hour quicker than the usual morning drives.


Return was via Kanakpura road. Started on 29 May around 02:30 PM. Thanks to Sunday, reached till ghats view point quickly. Got stuck at a block for around 10 mins there, past that again roads were free and was able to reach Sultan Batthery in around 2 hour 15 mins. Stopped at Mathai's bakery for some 30 mins and started towards Gundlupet.

Was able to reach Gundlupet by 06:10 PM or so, took Chamarajnagar route. Road conditions between Gundlupet and Chamarajanagar is deteriorating continuously. There are few sections which has become patchy now. Hope they relay the same soon.

On reaching Chamarajnagar, instead of going via town took the newly constructed bye-pass. The road is done almost completely apart from a section of around 200 meters towards NH 150 A. However, on taking right on NH 150 A towards NH 209, due to some road work surface was not bad. Do not think this is going to save much time compared to driving through the city, however it is stress free option.

Past that it was uneventful till Mallavalli, past Mallavalli there was more than usual traffic till Kanakpura. Most of the vehicles were Bangalore registration, hence guess more people are using this route over weekend compared to Mysore- Mandya - Bangalore.

From Kanakpura traffic increases as usual and was able to reach NICE road junction around 09:20 PM. Took NICE road and reached Bellandur around 10.20 PM.

[Throtttle]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

There is considerable deviations due to road work between Mysore - Nanjangaud, thankfully this section is widened as a 4 lane unlike Nanjangaud - Gundlupet - Bandipur forest entry section which is just a widened 2 lane.

Nanjangaud- Gundlupet - Bandipur forest is done apart from couple of small sections.

So seems road enhancement works are done/going-on at three sections i.e. (1) Mysore - Nanjanagudu, (2) Nanjanagudu- Gundlupet, and (3) Gundlupet - Bandipur forest entry. Mysore - Nanjanagudu is upgraded to a 4-lane, but Nanjanagudu - Gundlupet and Gundlupet - Bandipur are being worked not for 4-laning but for some widening and will continue to be 2-lane? Can you please affirm my understanding?
Mysore - Nanjanagudu - Gundlupet warranted widening for sure, it was relatively narrow NH with deep shoulders, for the bus traffic it had, and was usually busy, causing bad average speeds. So, a welcome progression/news.

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Was able to do Mysore- Gundlupet within 50 mins, one of the fastest, hope with road work completion it would be faster.

Road conditions between Gundlupet and Chamarajanagar is deteriorating continuously. There are few sections which has become patchy now. Hope they relay the same soon.

On reaching Chamarajnagar, instead of going via town took the newly constructed bye-pass.
Do not think this is going to save much time compared to driving through the city

past Mallavalli there was more than usual traffic till Kanakpura. Most of the vehicles were Bangalore registration, hence guess more people are using this route over weekend compared to Mysore- Mandya - Bangalore.

With Mysore - Gundlupet made a better highway now and Gundlupet to Mallavalli via Chamarajanagar having multiple issues like Gundlupte-Chamarajanagar non-NH road being a mixed-bag usually & crossing(or bypassing in almost same time as said) Chamarajanagar town, which is a better way to opt Kanakpura road to avoid Mysore - Mandya - Bangalore out of following two: Gundlupet - Chamrajnagar - Mallavalli - Kanakpura OR Gundlupet - Nanjangaud - Mysore Ring Road - Harohalli - Bannur - Mallavalli - Kanakpura? Any judgement as you tried the two routes plus if aware of Mysore - Bannur - Mallavalli in general?

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Stopped at Mathai's bakery for some 30 mins and started towards Gundlupet.

Is this in-house to Hotel Mintflower?

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

On reaching Chamarajnagar, instead of going via town took the newly constructed bye-pass. The road is done almost completely apart from a section of around 200 meters towards NH 150 A. However, on taking right on NH 150 A towards NH 209, due to some road work surface was not bad. Do not think this is going to save much time compared to driving through the city, however it is stress free option.

Is this the Chamrajnagar bypass?

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Throtttle

Mysore - Nanjanagudu - Gundlupet warranted widening for sure, it was relatively narrow NH with deep shoulders, for the bus traffic it had, and was usually busy, causing bad average speeds. So, a welcome progression/news.

Yes.
Mysore - Nanjangaud - 4 lane. Compared to usual 4 lane NH roads this is still bit narrow. However a welcome move. Especially at the tank bund sections which used to cause accidents frequently.
Work ~ 60% done. Quick considering the fact that it was started late (~ Sept 2015)compared to other two sections.

Nanjangaud - Gundlupet - 2 lane. Slightly widened and gradients corrected compared to earlier road. 90% done. Apart from couple of sections were some drainage work is ongoing. Speed breakers near villages also has disappeared as of now. Road work around Begur village is still ongoing.

Gundlupet - Bandipur forest gate - 2 lane. Slightly widened and gradients corrected compared to earlier road. 99% done. As far as I remember only two sections remain. One for a drainage and another for around an upcoming toll booth near hotel Kaveri.

With Mysore - Gundlupet made a better highway now and Gundlupet to Mallavalli via Chamarajanagar having multiple issues like Gundlupte-Chamarajanagar non-NH road being a mixed-bag usually & crossing(or bypassing in almost same time as said) Chamarajanagar town, which is a better way to opt Kanakpura road to avoid Mysore - Mandya - Bangalore out of following two: Gundlupet - Chamrajnagar - Mallavalli - Kanakpura OR Gundlupet - Nanjangaud - Mysore Ring Road - Harohalli - Bannur - Mallavalli - Kanakpura? Any judgement as you tried the two routes plus if aware of Mysore - Bannur - Mallavalli in general?

Its a tough call to make. Mostly depends on ones personal comfort (2 lane, lack of food options, traffic) and time and location you are starting from Bangalore.
I stay near Bellandur and usually take NICE road to hit Mysore / Kanakpura road. From Hosur road NICE road entry Kanakpura road exit comes ~ 15 mins before Mysore road exit. Further from Kanakpura NICE road exit to Gundlupet it takes me around 02 hour 50 mins (fastest till date) to 03 hour 15 mins.

So, I would be at Gundlupet in around 03 hour 30 mins after starting from home by taking Kanakpura road.

If taking Mandya - Mysore route it takes about 02:30 mins to reach Mysore and another ~ 1 hour to reach Gundlupet. So, the best timing would be ~ 4 hours to reach Gundlupet (including Bellandur - NICE road commute).

This difference increases when traveling through Mysore road on weekends/ late in mornings/ evening peak time.

Hence, my current preference is still Kanakpura road. However, with road work getting completed in Mysore - Gundlupet section and also with worsening of Gundlupet - Chamarajnagar section it may be best to take Mysore road in near future if starting in non peak time. For weekends I guess its still best to take Kanakpura road.

Is this in-house to Hotel Mintflower?

Yes. They have clean rest-rooms, a friendly security who keeps an eye on the car and serves good ice-cream based shakes.

Is this the Chamrajnagar bypass?

No, the bye-pass is further away from city. I am not able to create a route in Google Maps, guess its since the road is not updated fully.

However, you can see the same in satellite view from here.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Throtttle

which is a better way to opt Kanakpura road to avoid Mysore - Mandya - Bangalore out of following two: Gundlupet - Chamrajnagar - Mallavalli - Kanakpura OR Gundlupet - Nanjangaud - Mysore Ring Road - Harohalli - Bannur - Mallavalli - Kanakpura?

This is largely context-dependent. I actually preferred Gundlupet-Nanjangud-T. Narasipura-Talakkadu-Malavally for a while in between, but all the roads from Talakkadu to Malavally have deteriorated badly of late. T. Narasipura-Bannur-Malavally as per Kala is not in good shape either.

Gundlupet-Chamarajanagar is not up to scratch these days. I have mostly ditched it. Plus the Kaveri bridge at Shivanasamudra is narrow and prone to jams. Not to mention the narrow village stretches between Yelandur and Kollegal.

The Mysore-Bannur stretch is also patchy, and the road within Bannur village limits is terrible (though the last time I went this way, there was signs of repair work about to begin). If you can tolerate that, Bannur-Malavally is a superb road (scroll back a few pages where I have posted pictures of this stretch). Further, the completion of the Mysore Ring Road between NH 212 and Bannur Road means that you don't now have to go through the Mall of Mysore signal either; all these together means that my preference as of date is Mysore-Bannur-Malavally-Kanakapura-Bangalore when travelling alone.

When travelling with family, NH 275 is what I take both ways - often with a stop at Bestin's Break/A2B. This is where the high command's will prevails over the state committee's wish.

[kala]

Originally Posted by Throtttle

Is this the Chamrajnagar bypass?

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

No, the bye-pass is further away from city. I am not able to create a route in Google Maps, guess its since the road is not updated fully.

However, you can see the same in satellite view from here.

I had reported about this bypass further away from town in a post in this thread a couple of months ago (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3946402). Didn't feel it was really worth the extra distance since the SH80 section in front of the Govt. Engineering College was pretty bad and the last sections of the bypass itself was incomplete then (and even now also as per your report). The bypass that @Throttle has marked (and marked as A-B-C-D in the map attached to my earlier message) is probably the best one available now because it allows you to skip the busy road in front of the KSRTC bus stand and a couple of traffic signals.

Originally Posted by binand

T. Narasipura-Bannur-Malavally as per Kala is not in good shape either.

T.Narsipur-Bannur-Malavalli is quite OK now since that road joins the Mysore-Bannur-Malavalli road just after the bad section in Bannur town. And as you mention Bannur-Malavalli is an excellent road surface after the widening last year. I had tried taking this route on one of my trips recently, but didn't persevere with it afterwards because of the terrible bottleneck posed by the old Cauvery bridge at T.Narsipur (Had to wait more that 5 minutes there). In comparison the bridge near Shivanasamudra is better, Sedans can pass even when a bus / truck is coming in the opposite direction.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by kala

T.Narsipur-Bannur-Malavalli is quite OK now since that road joins the Mysore-Bannur-Malavalli road just after the bad section in Bannur town..

Any update on the Work in progress section between Santhemaranahalli and T narsipura? and how is the road from T Narsipura to Bannur?

[kala]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Any update on the Work in progress section between Santhemaranahalli and T narsipura? and how is the road from T Narsipura to Bannur?

There are a couple of diversions between T.Narsipur and Muguru even now (at the places where roadwork was ongoing earlier). Didn't see any sign of work progressing or any construction equipment when I passed by, so looks like they've deferred it for now.

Bannur-T.Narsipura road surface is quite ok, no major potholes though there are a few giant speed humps which appear without any warning. But the major deal breaker for me is the old bridge at T.Narsipur which is wide enough for only a single HTV - no room for even smaller cars to pass, so strictly one way. The new bridge coming up adjacent to it seems to be stuck, haven't seen any work happening there for a year or two now.

[Rajeevraj]

Came across this article in manorama today. Could not get an English link. Basically talks about an alternative road from aanakkampoyil near thiruvambady to kalladi in wayanad and then to meppadi. Interestingly talks about an underground tunnel road from swargamkunnu to kalladi. Seems to have come up after a token allocation in the latest budget.

Just plotted on maps. The blank section between the plotted route is the rough alignment. Looks interesting but a little far fetched. Involves 5km of tunneled road through a mountain and I assume has to climb too.

[mpksuhas]

A late update of Calicut - Bangalore trip that was done on 10th July.

Road conditions remain good from Calicut to Gundlupet. On KA side, soon as you come out of Bandipur forest boundary, police has made a two layered barricade which was causing a huge traffic jam. This barricade was there earlier too, however now they have made it worse, not sure of the reason.

Video of the same

Gundlupet Road block

Past Gundlupet, took the usual Mallavali- Kanakpura road. However, road condition between Gundlupet and Chamarajanar is a mixed bag. It as good sections, bad sections and work in progress sections. Took around 50 mins to cross this section. Usual time in this route is around 35 mins.

Pic of work in progress section -




Past that its the usual story. With the Mysore - Gundlupet section getting done fast, I guess it may be better to take Gundlupet - Mysore Ring road - Mallavalli - Kanakpura road once Bannur section is completed.