[ranjitp1]

Yups Unni,thats right.Palakkad-Ottapalam-Kulapully-Pattambi-NP Road-Kunnamkulam-GVR.

You would be able to maintain an avg of 50kmph only on this road,its not like the NHs and plus the rains must have played their part now.Hope you have resevns @ gvr,else getting a good place maye be difficult.KrishnaInn is a nice place to stay btw.

PM me in case you need more info..Have a safe n good drive.

Originally Posted by unni.ak

Thanks Ranjit. I got the route from Yahoo maps, so the place names maybe a bit off. So, it should be Palakad - Ottappalam - Pattambi - (Nilambur-Perumpilavu road) - Kunnamkulam - Gvr. Right?

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Yups Unni,thats right.Palakkad-Ottapalam-Kulapully-Pattambi-NP Road-Kunnamkulam-GVR.

You would be able to maintain an avg of 50kmph only on this road,its not like the NHs and plus the rains must have played their part now.Hope you have resevns @ gvr,else getting a good place maye be difficult.KrishnaInn is a nice place to stay btw.

PM me in case you need more info..Have a safe n good drive.

Thanks for all the help Ranjit. The rains have played havoc on all roads in Kerala. At times it seems we are using water-soluble tar!!!. Reservation was done today at Thulasidhalam. I've stayed at Krishna Inn a year back and its pretty good.

[unni.ak]

The Kulapully-Pattambi-NP Road-Kunnamkulam road is a mess. Took the Palakkad-Ottapalam-Kulapully-Pattambi-NP Road-Kunnamkulam-GVR for onward journey and found it tough going after Ottappalam.

Return was via Trichur. The roads are bad between Trichur and Palakkad, but better in some ways than the Pattambi route.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by unni.ak

Return was via Trichur. The roads are bad between Trichur and Palakkad, but better in some ways than the Pattambi route.

Trichur - Palghat is OK today except for a small stretch between Kuthiran and Vaniyampara. Still doable without much issues.

[carmania]

My brother is making his maiden trip outside the state. He and a couple of his friends plan to visit Kerala. I am supposedly in-charge of planning his route. The want to visit Guruvayoor, Kochi, Alleppy, Thekkady and Munnar. He plans to start on Sep 26 and get back by Oct 3.

What would be the best route to take? A detailed route would be of great help.

[coolclouds]

This is a rough plan. Please wait for more inputs.

Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Thoppur-Mettur-Coimbatore-Palghat-Trichur-Guruvayur (NH7/NH47)
Guruvayur-Kodungallur-Edappally-Kochi (NH 17 - approx. 85kms)
Kochi-Vyttila-Muvattupuzha-Kothamangalam-Adimali-Munnar (130kms approx.)
Munnar - Thekkady (110 kms approx)
Thekkady - Alleppy/Kumarakom (110/130kms approx.)
Alleppy-Kochi-Trichur-Perinthalmanna-Mysore-Bangalore

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

This is a rough plan. Please wait for more inputs.

Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Thoppur-Mettur-Coimbatore-Palghat-Trichur-Guruvayur (NH7/NH47)
Guruvayur-Kodungallur-Edappally-Kochi (NH 17 - approx. 85kms)
Kochi-Vyttila-Muvattupuzha-Kothamangalam-Adimali-Munnar (130kms approx.)
Munnar - Thekkady (110 kms approx)
Thekkady - Alleppy/Kumarakom (110/130kms approx.)
Alleppy-Kochi-Trichur-Perinthalmanna-Mysore-Bangalore

Kochi - Kothamangalam - I feel Kochi -Alwaye - Perumbavoor - Kothamanagalam is better

Mettur road - Not sure it is worth taking this route since 4 laning till Salem is completed. I find through Salem is faster.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

This is a rough plan. Please wait for more inputs.

Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Thoppur-Mettur-Coimbatore-Palghat-Trichur-Guruvayur (NH7/NH47)
Guruvayur-Kodungallur-Edappally-Kochi (NH 17 - approx. 85kms)
Kochi-Vyttila-Muvattupuzha-Kothamangalam-Adimali-Munnar (130kms approx.)
Munnar - Thekkady (110 kms approx)
Thekkady - Alleppy/Kumarakom (110/130kms approx.)
Alleppy-Kochi-Trichur-Perinthalmanna-Mysore-Bangalore

Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Thoppur-Mettur-Coimbatore-Palghat-Trichur-Guruvayur (NH7/NH47)

This is a good route.Make sure he does not enter Coimbatore town.Take the L&T bypass before CBE towards Palakkad.At Thrissur,take the right into Thrissur Town at Mannuthy Bypass.From thereon ask for Guruvayur/Kunnamkulam Road.

The other choices are also all good.Not sure during the return why would you want to come via Mysore?If no specific reason,then the NH47 is the preferred route.Fast and good conditions.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Kochi - Kothamangalam - I feel Kochi -Alwaye - Perumbavoor - Kothamanagalam is better

Mettur road - Not sure it is worth taking this route since 4 laning till Salem is completed. I find through Salem is faster.

Kochi-Kothamangalam via Alwaye is better if they are travelling from north part of Kochi. I assume they go to Fort Kochi and near by places then they can join Kochi-Madurai NH49 at Kundannur Jn. or Petta Jn (Via Vyttila, then bye pass Tripunithura). The road condition is also good

Mettur route is better since construction between Salem and Bhavani (Salem-Coimbatore route) is not complete.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

[i]
Not sure during the return why would you want to come via Mysore?If no specific reason,then the NH47 is the preferred route.Fast and good conditions.

I suggested a different return route so that they can avoid the same highway and travel through some forest

[carmania]

@coolclouds, ranjitp1, gadadhar - Thanks for the route suggestions. Appreciate it.

I was wondering if BLR - Guruvayoor (via Mysore) - Kochi - Alleppy - Thekkady - Munnar - BLR (via NH7) would be another option. Just to aviod driving on the same route.

Thanks

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by carmania

@coolclouds, ranjitp1, gadadhar - Thanks for the route suggestions. Appreciate it.

I was wondering if BLR - Guruvayoor (via Mysore) - Kochi - Alleppy - Thekkady - Munnar - BLR (via NH7) would be another option. Just to aviod driving on the same route.

Thanks

This is good as they can take much better TN route while returning.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by carmania

@coolclouds, ranjitp1, gadadhar - Thanks for the route suggestions. Appreciate it.

I was wondering if BLR - Guruvayoor (via Mysore) - Kochi - Alleppy - Thekkady - Munnar - BLR (via NH7) would be another option. Just to aviod driving on the same route.

Thanks

Please see that no travel between Mysore & Sulthan Batheri in the night.I saw some earlier threads saying that night traffic has been stopped via Bandipur now.Would be a good idea to confirm this.

Munnar to Blr is a scenic route till you hit NH47 after Tiruppur.One would get to see the famous or rather infamous Marayoor Sandalwood forests as well as the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary.Again evening travel is not permitted via Chinnar.We once encountered a mother & calf elephant bang on the middle of the road.Was pretty adventureous.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Please see that no travel between Mysore & Sulthan Batheri in the night.I saw some earlier threads saying that night traffic has been stopped via Bandipur now.Would be a good idea to confirm this.

Night traffic is not allowed via Mysore-Batheri/Mysore-Nilambur route.

[carmania]

Thanks for taking the time to help me out with the directions.

Looks like the trip is not going to happen now. I'll certainly come back to you for an update on the road conditions, when they decide to do the trip.