[luvurride]

I noticed it on my drive from Bangalore on the 14th of September. So should have opened only around that time, may be couple of months old by now.

[ajithbr]

Thanks for your reply. My plan is to come to get into NH-7 at Vadasandur (near Karur/Dindigul) and proceed towards Salem. Any options on that route?

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Thanks for your reply. My plan is to come to get into NH-7 at Vadasandur (near Karur/Dindigul) and proceed towards Salem. Any options on that route?

You can try at Karur. Once you get into Karur by-pass, after you cross Amaravathi river bridge, you will head to another over bridge. You can skip that, enter service road and make a right turn under the bridge. You'll find a new hotel to your immediate right(dont remember the name, it is "Annamalai" or something). There are even other options you can spot within about 1km from here into Karur town. (The traffic wont hurt you in this stretch inside the town as this is a median separated road).

There basically isnt any other option before Salem as the only other town you pass through is Namakkal and you can forget getting into Namakkal town as it is too crowded and the NH is way out of the town.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Thanks for your reply. My plan is to come to get into NH-7 at Vadasandur (near Karur/Dindigul) and proceed towards Salem. Any options on that route?

That is the correct route. Some time back, some else had also put the same query. I remember HVK mention that route is good. Better to join NH7 at that point. It also avoids Dharapuram.

Originally Posted by luvurride

You can try at Karur. Once you get into Karur by-pass, after you cross Amaravathi river bridge, you will head to another over bridge. You can skip that, enter service road and make a right turn under the bridge. You'll find a new hotel to your immediate right(dont remember the name, it is "Annamalai" or something). There are even other options you can spot within about 1km from here into Karur town. (The traffic wont hurt you in this stretch inside the town as this is a median separated road).

There basically isnt any other option before Salem as the only other town you pass through is Namakkal and you can forget getting into Namakkal town as it is too crowded and the NH is way out of the town.

@luvurride I think Vadasandur is the best option. How do you hit Karur from Palani by-passing Dharapuram. Are there any other interior roads? If yes please let us know.

On second thoughts, instead of taking these interior roads, he can actually hit NH7 at Vadasandur itself and then take off. Is it not?

[luvurride]

@ampere

I think ajithbr is talking about this route, if I'm not wrong.

Palani, Tamil Nadu to Karur, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

Since you'll be passing through Karur on the NH, I suggested to just exit into Karur and there are options nearby as you dont have to go into interior Karur. And this exit I've suggested is also a 4 laned road. So no problems of getting stuck in traffic.

Also, are there any good eating options at Vedasandur? I've heard my Dad say that long distance buses break for lunch/dinner in those days(70s) at Vedasandur. But not sure of it now.

p.s. I'm not sure if I've answered you query correctly. If not, please throw some more light on it.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by luvurride

@ampere

I think ajithbr is talking about this route, if I'm not wrong.

Palani, Tamil Nadu to Karur, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

Since you'll be passing through Karur on the NH, I suggested to just exit into Karur and there are options nearby as you dont have to go into interior Karur. And this exit I've suggested is also a 4 laned road. So no problems of getting stuck in traffic.

Also, are there any good eating options at Vedasandur? I've heard my Dad say that long distance buses break for lunch/dinner in those days(70s) at Vedasandur. But not sure of it now.

p.s. I'm not sure if I've answered you query correctly. If not, please throw some more light on it.

I second it. You can get veg & non-veg hotels in less than 1km distance when you take the right from NH thru the service road towards Karur town. We just did it a month back or so, while returning from Madurai.

-Ravi

[ajithbr]

Map given by luvurride is the same route I have decided. Someone mentioned that he was able to touch NH7@Vedasandur in about an hour from Palani. And once you are on NH7, upto Bangalore is a smooth drive only. Last time, I had returned through Dharapuram and that was also an easy drive. For an option, I know that Dharapuram->Karur is also a good route if someone wants to try it out. But I wanted to try Vedasandur route this time since that would mean shorter distance on not-4L roads.

[ampere]

Some confusion. I was talking of the same route too!
Since luvuride mentioned something about Karur I thought there is some other route to Karur!

[ajithbr]

I did my trip with a change of plan. Did Bangalore->Palani as the first leg instead of making Palani->Bangalore as the last leg. It was an overall round trip of Bangalore->Palani->Calicut->Bangalore with a total of about 1000 Kms done in 4 days time. Will post the details later.
Thanks to luvurride for the hotel reference in Karur. It is actually Hotel Arunachala and has good food, clean toilets and decent car parking space. And best part is that it is just about 100 meters from NH-7. Another 200-300 meters away from NH-7, you will get Hotel Residency which is supposed to be the best one in Karur. Landmark for Hotel Arunachala is like this - driving from Salem towards Dindigul/Madurai, as you approach Karur, you cross a fly-over first. Then as you reach the 2nd fly-over, DO NOT take the same but instead take the service road on the left. Under the bridge, you will reach the "Highway-Circle" where Salem-Madurai(NH-7) and Coimbatore-Trichy(NH-67) meets. At the circle, take a left which is a median-separated road towards Karur town. Immediately, you will get this hotel on the right side and hence take the immediate U-turn to get there.

Some tips for the first-timers in this route:
1) Crossing Salem is simpler now - first you have a left spin-off of the new bye-pass that is logically a right-turn (overhead loop) to join NH-47 towards Coimbatore. Then, you get the circle where NH-47 starts/ends. Finally, you get a fly-over towards Chennai via Ulundurpet skipping which take the left road and under the bridge, take a right turn from where Karur is about 95 Kms and 1-hour away.
2) After Karur, about 50 Kms later, you will get the board for Vedasandur-3Kms where you need to deviate from NH-7 and take the left road (that runs parallel to NH-7) to proceed towards Vedasandur village and bang in the middle of Vedasandur, take the right road towards Oddanchathiram/Palani which then crosses under the NH-7. Palani is about an hour drive away in this road which is an excellent SH till Oddanchathiram and then onwards NH-209 and if you have a navigator, you will leave him/her confused since you are logically on one of the possible return paths here as NH-209 is really Dindigul->Palani->Pollachi->Coimbatore->Sathyamangalam->Kollegala->Kananakapura->Bangalore road and so you have Bangalore=400+ kms marked on the last 25 kms of your journey till Palani in this route.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 20 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Thanks to luvurride for the hotel reference in Karur. It is actually Hotel Arunachala and has good food, clean toilets and decent car parking space. And best part is that it is just about 100 meters from NH-7.

Thanks ajithbr and luvurride, for the hotel reference.

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Another 200-300 meters away from NH-7, you will get Hotel Residency which is supposed to be the best one in Karur.

Is Hotel Residency also on the same road as Hotel Arunachala? Can one reach the hotel by following the same landmarks/directions?

[ajithbr]

Yes. Please see the map attached.

[ajithbr]

Our trip details with sedate driving and long breaks(overall 9 hrs out of which 3 hrs consumed by breaks, but trip is doable with a single break in Karur which can be reached from BLR in about 3.5 to 4 hours comfortably):

[ajithbr]

Here are the details of the 2nd day which was Palani-Calicut leg. Initial plan was to visit Pattambi temple en route, then proceed to Angadipuram temple (near Perinthalmanna) before moving to Calicut which was the destination for the day. Just when we entered Kerala border (near Kozhinjhampara on Pollachi->Palakkad route), it started raining heavily and continued for long leading to poor visibility after 4 PM. Hence, Pattambi was dropped and took a diversion at Ottapalam. Ottapalam->Cherplassery->Perinthalmanna route had less traffic and good scenery but heavy rains, bad-light & not-so-great roads made it a bit boring & stressful driving. Overall, around 250 Kms and 6 hours of driving is not so bad for Kerala roads/traffic. The trip break-up is as follows with the major food break at Hotel Samson (in Pollachi on Palakkad Road, on the left side just about a couple of minutes after Bus Stand) and another break for temple visit.

[ajithbr]

Here are details of the last leg Calicut-Bangalore of the round trip that included Palani as well. Heavy rains, long breaks, wildlife spotting, post-diwali sunday-evening traffic on Mysore->Bangalore section delayed the trip considerably. Took Nilambur route for obvious reasons like bad road conditions of NH-212 in many places between Calicut and Gundlupet, severely damaged ghat road section that includes many hair-pin bends as well, heavy traffic and bottlenecks near the border checkposts etc.
Apart from all the reasons, just want to break away from our routine route to Calicut this time and have a relaxed drive via Nilambur and Gudalur.

Details below:

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Our trip details with sedate driving and long breaks(overall 9 hrs out of which 3 hrs consumed by breaks, but trip is doable with a single break in Karur which can be reached from BLR in about 3.5 to 4 hours comfortably):

Details of last weekend round trip to Palani, this time via Perundurai both ways: