[KRN]

Thanks NPV and luvurride for your suggestions. There is a good chance that I might start around 6:30 AM from Mettupalayam. So I guess I will take the Coimbatore route. Will update everyone post the trip.

[saadat1992]

Originally Posted by searacer932

I would recommend A2B Ulundurpet for the breakfast break. It's 137 kms from Chengelpet and just before the Ulundurpet toll plaza and will come on the right side of the road from when you travel towards Ulundurpet.

That's the place I have breakfast every time I take NH45 or visit CBE. Good, cheap and has a fuel station which will come in handy when you are returning to Chennai! I too would recommend A2B ulundurpet for breakfast because you'll have to take the right to Salem - CBE at ulundurpet and you wouldn't find many decent eateries on that stretch between ulundurpet & Salem

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by searacer932

I would recommend A2B Ulundurpet for the breakfast break. It's 137 kms from Chengelpet and just before the Ulundurpet toll plaza and will come on the right side of the road from when you travel towards Ulundurpet.

Originally Posted by saadat1992

That's the place I have breakfast every time I take NH45 or visit CBE. Good, cheap and has a fuel station which will come in handy when you are returning to Chennai! I too would recommend A2B ulundurpet for breakfast because you'll have to take the right to Salem - CBE at ulundurpet and you wouldn't find many decent eateries on that stretch between ulundurpet & Salem

Well, in terms of good food, I would always prefer to have it at 'Aryaas' which comes just after the Ulundurpet toll and on the left hand side of NH45. And my choice of restaurants on the stretch between Chennai-Salem would be,

Aryaas in Dindivanam
Aryaas in Villupuram
Aryaas in Ulundurpet
Saravana Bhavan (just after the last toll on Nh68) before Salem.

By all means I would try to avoid brand 'A2B'. This being known a known brand and highly visible from the Highway, many go to this place without knowing better food options within the same vicinity.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Well, in terms of good food, I would always prefer to have it at 'Aryaas'
By all means I would try to avoid brand 'A2B'. This being known a known brand and highly visible from the Highway, many go to this place without knowing better food options within the same vicinity.

Can't agree more!

I just take A2B for a Tea/Coffee break as it provides good restrooms for family.

I have always(and my family also echoes this opinion) that food at A2B also creates havoc in my gastro organs. Hence it has been a practice to look for alternates wherever possible.

[KRN]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Aryaas in Dindivanam
Aryaas in Villupuram
Aryaas in Ulundurpet
Saravana Bhavan (just after the last toll on Nh68) before Salem.

Appreciate your inputs rameshnanda. Will try one of these hotels instead of A2B this time. I am hoping that given the Aryaas name, the rest rooms will be decent for the family.

[Srikanthan]

I will be vacationing at Coonoor last week of May. I will be taking the NH45 route. i.e.

Meenambakkam > Chengalpat > Ulundurpet > Salem > Bhavani > Avinashi > Mettupalayam > Coonoor

My Itinerary looks like this:

Day-1: Mukurthi National Park, Pykara and its surroundings

Day-2: Doddabetta, Wax Museum (Is it still operational??) and its surroundings

Day-3: Avalanche and Emerald Lakes, Sims Park in Coonoor, Dolphin Nose

Staying in Coonoor, I know I have to spend additional ~1.5 hour of driving uphill / downhill between Coonoor and Ooty, but I think its doable. I'm planning to leave little early each morning from the hotel.

My questions:

Are the roads to Mukurthi / Pykara / Avalanche / Emerald good? (I will be driving my Vento)

Are there Veg. food options / snacks shops or eateries available near Pykara / Avalanche / Emerald? (I will have a diabetic patient who needs to be fed at regular intervals. If such food options are not available, I will have to pack some food.)

What good Veg food options are available in Coonoor?

Thanks

[saadat1992]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Well, in terms of good food, I would always prefer to have it at 'Aryaas' which comes just after the Ulundurpet toll and on the left hand side of NH45. And my choice of restaurants on the stretch between Chennai-Salem would be,

Aryaas in Dindivanam
Aryaas in Villupuram
Aryaas in Ulundurpet
Saravana Bhavan (just after the last toll on Nh68) before Salem.

By all means I would try to avoid brand 'A2B'. This being known a known brand and highly visible from the Highway, many go to this place without knowing better food options within the same vicinity.

The main reason I take A2B is because of the presence of petrol bunk, ATM & above all, Good restrooms

After A2B stop, my next stop will most likely be SaiSangeeth near Salem or my place at CBE itself. I dont find many good restaurants in that stretch.

Same applies for the trichy route as well, no good restaurants beyond ulundurpet.

Also, people were giving out flyers at ulundurpet toll for the Woodlands hotel that has come up right next to A2B. Looks good to me, parking is limited though.

[KRN]

Folks,

Returned yesterday after a trip from Chennai to Valparai via Mettupalayam. Took the Chennai-> Ulundurpet -> Salem -> Avinashi -> Annur -> Mettupalayam route.

As expected, roads are excellent with occasional two way stretches between Ulundurpet to Salem.

When traveling from Chennai, I stopped at Arya Nivas at Ulundurpet for breakfast. This is right after the Ulundurpet toll on the left side of the road and you will miss it if you accelerate past the toll gate. The food was pretty decent and the service very fast. A must try here is the Medhu (Ulundhu) vada - very big and extremely soft and fluffy. Other items such as Pongal and Idly are pretty decent. Rest room is average


On the return, stopped at Chenny's at Perundarai. You have to take the exit (just a couple of 100 metres from the highway and opposite to SIPCOT). This my second time at Chenny's and again the breakfast was very good. The puris are huge, the pongal and sambhar are excellent. I would recommend this place highly. They advertise that they use their home grown greens and vegetables. They also have a board that states that you can buy their RO water for Rs. 5 a litre for your onward journey. The prices are very reasonable (Rs. 260 for 3 adults and a kid) and rest room is decent

Overall, I would recommend these places over the A2Bs of the world both in terms of taste of food and reasonable price.

Better late than never. Let me share my experience of my ride Chennai>Ooty>Chennai on 20/21 May 2014. The details are here.



The food was excellent at all these 3 eateries:

[Rajeevraj]

Couple of questions for the experts.

1. On an average how much time would it take from Coimbatore to Chennai (driving time).
2. If I am headed to the Greams Road/Thousand Lights Area, would it be better to go via Ulundurpet or via Krishnagiri?

May need to drive from Calicut to Chennai and trying to judge if I can do it in one go or if I need to break the journey.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

1. On an average how much time would it take from Coimbatore to Chennai (driving time).

We left Hotel Gowrisankar attached to BP COCOO, Madukkarai on NH 47 near Coimbatore at 10:30 pm and reached Royapettah, Chennai at 7:25 am, the next day via Salem>Ulundurpettai with 2 power-naps of 30 minutes each. The details are here.

2. If I am headed to the Greams Road/Thousand Lights Area, would it be better to go via Ulundurpet or via Krishnagiri?

I prefer Krishnagiri route.

May need to drive from Calicut to Chennai and trying to judge if I can do it in one go or if I need to break the journey.

682 km. Can be done without any intervening night-halt.

[saadat1992]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Couple of questions for the experts.

1. On an average how much time would it take from Coimbatore to Chennai (driving time).
2. If I am headed to the Greams Road/Thousand Lights Area, would it be better to go via Ulundurpet or via Krishnagiri?
.

For my latest trip, I started from Ramanathapuram & exited Coimbatore via Avinashi road at 7:45am. Reached Home(near Anna nagar) by 2pm with a half an hour break at Attur for breakfast.
Didn't cross 100-110kmph, the stretch between CBE & Ulundurpet is deserted during the day and is a breeze to drive in.

Headache starts when you join NH45, where you meet the traffic from Trichy,Madurai,Tirunelveli.

And regarding the route, I prefer Cbe-salem-ulundurpet-Vilupuram-Chennai

Krishnagiri route is good, the last 100kms is such a pain. Pot holed stretch with lorries & huge trailers crawling at 50kmph that will increase your running time.

Drive safe

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

682 km. Can be done without any intervening night-halt.

Thanks for the inputs. More worried about tiring out my kid on the long journey. The first stretch (Calicut-Coimbatore) is going to take time due to 2 lane roads with heavy traffic. Hence the thought of breaking the journey.

Originally Posted by saadat1992

Headache starts when you join NH45, where you meet the traffic from Trichy,Madurai,Tirunelveli.

And regarding the route, I prefer Cbe-salem-ulundurpet-Vilupuram-Chennai

Krishnagiri route is good, the last 100kms is such a pain. Pot holed stretch with lorries & huge trailers crawling at 50kmph that will increase your running time.

Drive safe

Thank you. In most probability I will be hitting NH 45 during a Sunday late afternoon evening. So looks like that means I will hit a lot of the weekend return traffic to Chennai from Trichy/Madurai. I assume this will be as bad as the Krishnagiri-Bangalore section on a weekend evening- Where there are long queues at the toll booths.

I did a Bangalore-Chennai trip couple of weeks back, although the last stretch is average and has heavy traffic, it has mostly be patched up. So no pot holes/bad sections.

[anandharamanp]

Hello Guys,

I have planned for a drive with my family from Chennai to Masinagudi in my Santro this Friday, 28th August night and i have chosen the following route but please let me know your suggestions.

Route preferred: Chennai- ullundurpet-Salem-Bhavani-Sathymangalam-bannari-dhimbam -chamrajnagar – Gundalpet-Bandipur-masinagudi - 600 kms. But i wanted to understand from you guys on the current road conditions in this route.

My expectations are that the route has to be with relatively low traffic, excellent road conditions.

Route I want to Avoid:1) Krishnagiri-Nice road-Mysore-Gundulpet -Masinagudi
On my last trip to Wayanad i noticed that first 100 kms on Chennai -bangalore highway was full of patches, traffic was heavy through and finally the stretch between Bangalore to Mysore was full of speed breakers for every 2 kms approx. hence i decided not to travel this route this time.

2) I also want to avoid the conoor -ooty route as i am planning to go to ooty from masinagudi.

Please let me know your suggestions,Thanks.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by anandharamanp

Route preferred: Chennai- ullundurpet-Salem-Bhavani-Sathymangalam-bannari-dhimbam -chamrajnagar – Gundalpet-Bandipur-masinagudi - 600 kms. But i wanted to understand from you guys on the current road conditions in this route.

I think this route is just perfect for you since you avoid all the bad/stressful sections that you've mentioned.

Chennai-Ullundurpet-Salem is 2 lane but very good from the posts here.

The turn off to Sathyamangalam is at Chithode, just after the Bhavani bridge over River Cauvery. It is quite easy to miss as there is no signage and the access ramp is not asphalted and looks like an off roading track! Once you get on to the muddy ramp and reach the top, turn right towards Gobichettypalayam (left will go towards Erode). At Gobi, just after the bus stand, turn left and you will go towards Sathyamangalam.
Before Dhimbam ghats you will see Bannari amman temple on left, maybe you can visit en route.

Your food/break options can be at one of the A2B/Aryaas outlets on Chennai-Ullundurpet stretch or Rama Vilas in Sathyamangalam or Nijaguna Residency in Chamarajanagar. See J Ravi's post above for some pointers.