[nareshtrao]

All, Need some guidance on the latest status this route. Planning to do Bangalore to Kanyakumari by road in June.

1. Any Covid restrictions? We have 2 under 10 kids?
2. Any specific roadblocks we need to be aware of?
3. How long would it take from Kanyakumari to Kovalam?

Lastly, how would be the weather mid-June? Lot of rains or manageable?

Any guidance and advice deeply appreciated.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

All, Need some guidance on the latest status this route. Planning to do Bangalore to Kanyakumari by road in June.

1. Any Covid restrictions? We have 2 under 10 kids?
2. Any specific roadblocks we need to be aware of?
3. How long would it take from Kanyakumari to Kovalam?

Lastly, how would be the weather mid-June? Lot of rains or manageable?

Any guidance and advice deeply appreciated.

There is no Covid restrictions.
Roads are good all through.
Regarding climate, better to check a week or few days before your travel.
Kanyakumari - Kovalam will take around 2.5-3 hours or even more based on the traffic. Try to avoid peak hours. If you plan to do a early morning drive then you can cover this distance in two hours.

[xotiq]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

All, Need some guidance on the latest status this route. Planning to do Bangalore to Kanyakumari by road in June.

1. Any Covid restrictions? We have 2 under 10 kids?
2. Any specific roadblocks we need to be aware of?
3. How long would it take from Kanyakumari to Kovalam?

Lastly, how would be the weather mid-June? Lot of rains or manageable?

Any guidance and advice deeply appreciated.

We just did a BLR-Kanyakumari drive 2 weeks back. Excellent roads, approx 8-9 hours driving time. Absolutely no covid restrictions. No roadblocks either.

Weather should be more tolerable now, with onset of monsoon which typically means heavy downpour in June but perfectly manageable.

[autoweirdo]

Just completed tour of Madurai - Kanyakumari - Trivandrum - Rameswaram:

Bangalore - Salem - Super roads, post Krishnagiri its 4 lane road and overbridge work was underway at 2 places
Salem - Madurai - Nice 4 lane road with diversion at 2 places before Namakkal
Madurai - Kanyakumari - Nice 4 lane road with less traffic and lots of windmills as you near Kanyakumari

Bangalore Start Time: 4 AM
Kanyakumari Time: 1.30 PM

Took a coffee break of 10 min at one of the toll booths and breakfast at Thilai Restaurant on Madurai Bypass, tiffin items were nice and rest room was also clean.

Return was on Sunday afternoon so faced heavy traffic post Salem.

[dass]

an impromptu plan and hence reaching out here for suggestions.

Starting on Saturday, I have 5 days at my disposal and hence thinking of this stretch for a road trip with wife and kid.

The plan I am thinking of is below and need expert advice, both on the route and accommodations. No bookings have been made yet, this plan came up just today

Day 1 -
Bangalore to Madurai - If I leave early morning, I should reach in about 9 hours with 1-2 breaks. Can the darshan be completed on the same day? What are the timings? Which are the good places to stay? Nothing fancy as we only need to sleep for the night.

Day 2 -
Madurai to Rameshwaram - Dhanuskodi. What are the places to visit and must see here? Should I stay here for the night or proceed to Kanyakumari? Accommodation recommendations if any.

Day 3 -
Plan A
Proceed to Poovar instead of staying in Kanyakumari from Dhanuskodi.
Plan B
Stay in Kanyakumari for the additional day

Which of these are better options?

Day4/5 - Return to Bangalore will be from Kanyakumari, for either of the above options. So, I am open to both. Will the temples/places be too crowded considering the holiday season? How would the weather be around this time?

Looking for some quick advice from the experts here. Thank you!!

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by dass

an impromptu plan and hence reaching out here for suggestions.

Starting on Saturday, I have 5 days at my disposal and hence thinking of this stretch for a road trip with wife and kid.

Looking for some quick advice from the experts here. Thank you!!

I am not sure about the temple timings, but if you start around 4am from Bangalore, you can reach Madurai by 11am. If there is a possibility to finish your temple visit before 4pm, then you can consider Rameshwaram for Day 1 itself.

Madurai is a crowded place, if you plan to stay here then make sure that the hotel has proper parking space.

You can refer to the below discussion for more info,

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post4629178 (Bangalore - Madurai - Kanyakumari - Rameshwaram : Route Queries)

[thirugata]

Originally Posted by dass

Day 1 -
Bangalore to Madurai - If I leave early morning, I should reach in about 9 hours with 1-2 breaks. Can the darshan be completed on the same day? What are the timings? Which are the good places to stay? Nothing fancy as we only need to sleep for the night.

!

If you decide to stay in Madurai overnight, it is worth visiting Thirumala Nayakkar Mahal. They have a sound and light show in the evening too, guess it is 6:30 Pm or 7.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by dass

an impromptu plan

Please search for accomodations first, given you are travelling with family.

All destinations you mention are regular tourist spots. This is a long weekend and Diwali at that. Saturday and Monday will see high traffic on all major highways. Traffic that will put Bangalore rants thread to shame.

All tourist spots would be loaded, atleast till Monday.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by dass

Starting on Saturday, I have 5 days at my disposal and hence thinking of this stretch for a road trip with wife and kid.

The plan I am thinking of is below and need expert advice, both on the route and accommodations. No bookings have been made yet, this plan came up just today

Day 1 -
Bangalore to Madurai - If I leave early morning, I should reach in about 9 hours with 1-2 breaks. Can the darshan be completed on the same day? What are the timings? Which are the good places to stay? Nothing fancy as we only need to sleep for the night.

Day 2 -
Madurai to Rameshwaram - Dhanuskodi. What are the places to visit and must see here? Should I stay here for the night or proceed to Kanyakumari? Accommodation recommendations if any.

Day 3 -
Plan A
Proceed to Poovar instead of staying in Kanyakumari from Dhanuskodi.
Plan B
Stay in Kanyakumari for the additional day

Which of these are better options?

Day4/5 - Return to Bangalore will be from Kanyakumari, for either of the above options. So, I am open to both. Will the temples/places be too crowded considering the holiday season? How would the weather be around this time?

Looking for some quick advice from the experts here. Thank you!!

To answer your questions
Typically Bangalore to Madurai can be done in 6 hours drive plus breaks. However, this saturday, you need to add 2 hours more due to long weekend and major Deepavali festival heading out of KA.
As narayan mentioned, without accommodations, do plan a place. Book them first whereever you want to go.

As mentioned earlier, all these places are grand tourist spots and are croweded even during normal weekends. So given festival time, it will be super crowded.

For Day-1 : Madurai temple will be closed around noon and reopen around 4 pm. So if you reach Madurai by noon, after lunch and rest, you can see the temple same day. Remember it easily takes 2 to 3 hours to see such huge temple plus the waiting time for darshan in the crowd.

Can't do Madurai and Rameshwaram on same day. its almost impossible when starting from Bangalore.

For Day-2 : You can do Madurai to Rameshwaram which will take ~3 hours and on the way you can goto Tirupullani, if you are interested to see Vishnu temple which is a slight detour.
Rameshwaram temple will be super crowded and also given the weather forecast, you can expect rains and disrupting the plans. Budget for more time in Rameshwaram due to crowd and same day evening you can see Dhanushkodi and few small temples on the way to it. Its not possible for you to drive to Kanyakumari same day, so you better stay overnight in Rameshwaram only.

For Day-3 : Drive to Kanyakumari which will take you easily 4 to 5 hours and again, if there are rains more time. I suggest you stay in Kanyakumari but depending on your budget check in Poovar too and decide. Remember, in Kanyakumar, to get to Vivekanda rock, for the boat trip alone, you need to budget for 4 hours easily or even more due to crowd, even though you buy Rs. 200 special ticket instead of Rs. 50 normal boat ticket.

Overall, weather wise, be prepared for rains and delays, as NE monsoon starting today and forecast is there will be rains.

-Ravi

[bhushan08]

Hi Friends, I'm planning a trip to Kanyakumari from Bangalore. I am trying to locate COCO outlets for Indian oil, especially the ones offering XP95, on the route. In particular, looking for COCO b/w madurai and Kanyakumari. Checked Indian oil app and online locator. I could find one xp95 one in Kanyakumari but it is very difficult to know if it is a COCO or not.

Any pointers?

[ravib]

Originally Posted by bhushan08

Hi Friends, I'm planning a trip to Kanyakumari from Bangalore. I am trying to locate COCO outlets for Indian oil, especially the ones offering XP95, on the route. In particular, looking for COCO b/w madurai and Kanyakumari. Checked Indian oil app and online locator. I could find one xp95 one in Kanyakumari but it is very difficult to know if it is a COCO or not.

Any pointers?

Its very hard and i don't recollect seeing any COCO outlets to my memory. You are better off to manage with other pumps.

There are couple of COCO pumps between Salem to Namakkal, so you can fill in there, if really required.

-Ravi

[blorebuddy]

I can suggest this after Karur.

[bhushan08]

Originally Posted by blorebuddy

I can suggest this after Karur.

Thanks! The link is not opening. Confirming if this is the one you are referring to?

https://goo.gl/maps/gZeJM5b6HeJBGS36A

[blorebuddy]

Originally Posted by bhushan08

Thanks! The link is not opening. Confirming if this is the one you are referring to?

https://goo.gl/maps/gZeJM5b6HeJBGS36A

This is also decent. It’s before Karur approx. 250 kms from Bangalore. The one I have suggested is Indian Oil COCO (Company Owned Company Operated)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FbT5rsnLkS2Y5ahW8?g_st=ic
This is after Karur.

[bhushan08]

Originally Posted by blorebuddy

This is also decent. It’s before Karur approx. 250 kms from Bangalore. The one I have suggested is Indian Oil COCO (Company Owned Company Operated)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FbT5rsnLkS2Y5ahW8?g_st=ic
This is after Karur.

Thanks! this is perfectly located. I will use this one.