[blackstallion76]

Hi Folks,

I am planning a long trip on Sept 19-20-21 to Guruvayoor and Palani.

I would like to know the road conditions from you people on this route.

I plan to travel following route.

DAY1:
BLR - MYSORE - GUNDLUPET - GUDALUR - NILAMBUR - GURUVAYOOR
Visit the temple in the evening.

DAY2:
Again visit pooja time and finish off the temple visit by 11-12pm in the afternoon. Leave to Thrissur and visit Shiva Temple and have some lunch.
Proceed to Palani.
I think from Guruvayoor - Palani is 200kms.
Reach Palani by evening. Take rest. Visit temple.

DAY3:
Visit temple for Pooja. Complete the darshan by 11am.
Proceed to Bangalore.
Palani - Dindigul - Salem - NH7 - Bangalore

Also, I would like to know the hotels for stay and normal lunch/dinner places enroute. (Pure Veg).

I will be travelling with 4 adults with 2 kids (5yrs , 2yrs) in my Swift D.

Appreciate your inputs.

[ranjitp1]

Best bet would be for you to stop for breakfast at mysore or enroute to mysore.After that eating places are far and few.

At Guruvayur,places to stay are plenty.Caters to all kinds of budgets.We usually stay at one of these two places:Krishna Inn & Bhasuri Inn.Please PM me in case you need the contacts and details.

Both are on the East Nada and at walkable distances to the temple.Either which ways it is advisable to leave the car at your place of stay as parking is a mess near the temple(even though it is not that near)

Thrissur is a good town and you could check out the following places for Lunch:1.Midhila Restaurant 2.Pathans Hotel 3.Bharat Cafe.My personal preference would be either Pathans or Bharat.Pathans is easier for parking and is at Round East.Ask anybody how to reach these restaurants and they would guide you.

From Thrissur,the shortest route would be to take the Mannuthy-NH47- Vadakkenchery-Nemmara-Kollengode-Pollachi-Palani road.Take NH-47 from Thrissur till Vadakkenchery.At V'knchery branch off to the State Road to Kollengode.Ask for Pollachi road.This route is around 170kms.Not sure of current road conditions though.

At Palani,its again like GVR,hotels catering to all budgets.Some of the good ones are New Tiruppur Lodge.Clean & basic,nothing more.Be sure to take a ride on the new L&T Ropeway.Also once you are on top,you are sure to be swarmed by people promising you VIP darshans to VIP poojas.My recco is go directly to the temple counter and do whatever needs to be done and get down.

Eating places are there throughout the route.Kerala is good that way as the highways are littered with good and clean eating places so absolutely no problem on that front.

[raju2512]

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

Proceed to Bangalore.
Palani - Dindigul - Salem - NH7 - Bangalore

Appreciate your inputs.

You don't have to travel from Palani to Bangalore via Dindugal. There are quite a few posts about various routes from Palani to Salem / Bangalore. Please search the forum and you will get a shorter route

[ranjitp1]

[quote=blackstallion76;1482068]Hi Folks,

Palani - Dindigul - Salem - NH7 - Bangalore

quote]
there is no need to go down to Dindigul to come to salem.the best way would be for you to join NH-47 near Erode and then take the NH47 via Salem-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore.most sections of the highway is 4lane now and road condition is excellent.From Palani ask directions for Erode.At Erode ask for directions to get to Salem via NH47.I guess this would be the easiest and shortest route for you to get back to Bangalore.

In fact,not sure why you prefer the Mysore route while going to GVR, unless you have specific reasons for doing so.Otherwise you could take the 4laned NH47 till Palakkad or till Thrissur and then continue to Guruvayur.The distance might be longer by a few kilometers but it would be a stress free and easier drive and also much more options for eating and stopping.Route is straight forward.Get out of Blore and take the Hosur Road and keep going on it till Thoppur.At Thoppur take the right towards Bhavani and you would cross Mettur Dam and would join back onto NH47 at Bhavani.Take a right at Bhavani and continue towards Coimbatore.40-50kms before Coimbatore town,take the L&T Bypass Road to Palakkad.Continue on the road till Thrissur and ask for Guruvayur road(NH17).Route would be faster but longer by some kilometers.

[blackstallion76]

Thanks for all the inputs.

I would be first going to Palani and then to Guruvayoor. Plan changed a bit.

Bangalore to Palani:
Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Bhavani - Kangeyam - Dharapuram - Palani. This seems to be ideal given to latest road conditions.

Palani to Guruvayoor:
Palani - Pollachi - Palakkad - Thrissur - Guruvayoor. Road conditions is an issue from Pollachi to Palakkad. If the road is not good, i will take coimbatore and Palakkad.
May be it will increase 50kms more but I want smooth drive on National Highways.

I assume the NH 209 and NH 47 are in good condition though.

Guruvayoor to Bangalore:
Guruvayoor - Pattambi - Nilambur - Gudalur - Gundlepet - Mysore - Bangalore
I want to go over Bandipur. Thats why I am taking this route.
Otherwise, I would have opted for NH47 - NH7 route.

Palani:
Hotel Ganpat - Booked

Guruvayoor:
Hotel Poornima Tourist Home -East Nada

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

Palani to Guruvayoor:
Palani - Pollachi - Palakkad - Thrissur - Guruvayoor. Road conditions is an issue from Pollachi to Palakkad. If the road is not good, i will take coimbatore and Palakkad.
May be it will increase 50kms more but I want smooth drive on National Highways.

There really is no need to go to Palakkad or Coimbatore if you are heading out to Thrissur from Pollachi.You can take the state road from Pollachi to Vadakkenchery(via Kollengode,Nemmara).Its a good road.

[blackstallion76]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

There really is no need to go to Palakkad or Coimbatore if you are heading out to Thrissur from Pollachi.You can take the state road from Pollachi to Vadakkenchery(via Kollengode,Nemmara).Its a good road.

@Ranjit:
Thank you for confirming this.
Appreciate all the inputs.

[ajithbr]

Am planning to do a round trip of Bangalore->Perinthalmanna->Guruvayur->Palani->Bangalore during November with my family. Anyone who had been through these routes, please update on the conditions as it is now.

Also, would prefer avoid Palakkad altogether and Trichur if possible.
Plan is as follows:
Day 1: Bangalore->Mysore->Gudalur->Nilambur->Perinthalmanna(2/3 hours break to meet some folks)->Guruvayur
Day 2: Guruvayur->Trichur->Wadakkanchery->Nenmara->Pollachi->Palani
Day3: Palani->Dindigul->Salem->Bangalore

For day 2, is there a good route avoiding Trichur, preferably avoid getting into NH-47 altogether or for long? I think we can cross NH-47 somewhere near Alathur if we go via some alternate route from Kunnamkulam but not sure of the distance and route conditions.

For day 3, can someone please expand the route with more intermediate towns and point-to-point distances? Also, good places to break for food as well in this segment?

[ajithbr]

Some updates please. Day 1 is pretty obvious choice of route unless someone strongly discourages the same and propose a better alternative. However, I am eager to hear about days 2 & 3 here. Please help with your valuable inputs and suggestions.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Some updates please. Day 1 is pretty obvious choice of route unless someone strongly discourages the same and propose a better alternative. However, I am eager to hear about days 2 & 3 here. Please help with your valuable inputs and suggestions.

Overall it seems pretty action packed. I hope you wont get stressed.

Many folks said that roads near Perithalmanna were pretty bad. But sill I guess its much better than NH47.
(Pretty hecti. Do you plan to finish darshan the next day and start immediately? Hope it does not get delayed. But the plan seems OK)

GVR-Palani : Route is fine. Not sure of the Pollachi-Wadakkanchery stretch condition.

Palani-Dindigul : Nothing to be expanded. Once at Dindigul its NH7 all the way (Karur-Namakkal-Salem-Krishnagiri-Banagalore)

[ajithbr]

Thanks for the reply. Am not sure of breaks for food though from this thread.

I should say, the "flexible" plan is as follows:
Driving Day 1: Bangalore->Mysore->Gudalur->Nilambur->Perinthalmanna(2/3 hours break to meet some folks)->Guruvayur
Driving Day 2: Guruvayur->Trichur->Wadakkanchery->Nenmara->Pollachi->Palani
Driving Day 3: Palani->Dindigul->Salem->Bangalore

1 is a day-long drive which starts around 4 AM and nothing to change there.
2 is expected to be a 6-hour drive with breaks and not being rushed into. So, if we can start around 1 PM, that should be it or else, start next day morning and the whole plan shifts by one day.
3 is expected to be an 8-hour drive and it also depends on whether we can start by 2 PM. Else, one more day added to the trip.
Sounds better now?
Actually, darshan is not the only thing planned in the overall trip and there is always a good chance of extending the trip by 2 or atleast 1 more day.

[ajithbr]

When I hear roads near P'Manna is bad, I believe it is not referring to my usual route which is a Left turn 1 km before Nilambur town and then Kalikavu->Karuvarakundu->Melattur->P'Manna. This was always a better route from Nilambur to P'Manna, atleast for minimal traffic, apart from good road surface and a bit of twisties & greeneries added for some excitement. And on top of it, I usually cover this 50-55 kms in about 60-70 minutes as well and hit NH-213

[ampere]

The I guess its fine. Only day one 1/2 seems stressful as you will have wade monsoon destroyed roads of Kerala. Return is not an issue at all.

NH7 solves all issues.

Food:

BLR-GVR: If you are a non-veg, you can break Nilambur. Else I am sure. Bandipur is too early, and I dont know good hotels in Kerala.

GVR-Palani : No Idea. Pollachi may have some places.

Palani-BLR : A2B at Thoppur (on your side of the Highway while returning).

[ajithbr]

Plan to leave Palani by around 11 AM, if possible. In such case, where is a good break for lunch? I feel Thoppur will be too far. Would like to try out any good place in NH-7 before reaching Salem.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Plan to leave Palani by around 11 AM, if possible. In such case, where is a good break for lunch? I feel Thoppur will be too far. Would like to try out any good place in NH-7 before reaching Salem.

There is a Hotel Chennis in Perundurai, just before you hop on the NH.(When you drive from Kangeyam and reach Perundurai, make a left at the 4 road junction which will lead you to the NH). I have seen quite a lot of travelers take this, although personally I haven't tried it! But it sure looks decent for families.

If you leave this, there aren't any until you reach Salem, although there are some delicious Dhabas all the way from Perundurai to Salem!
GRT Grand(a very popular star hotel chain based out of Chennai and expanding wings throughout TN) is open for business in Salem bang on the NH(to your right on the last exit into Salem city when you drive from Perundurai), if you want to try!

Just an additional info - There is a Aiyengar Bakery on the right just past the 4 road junction roundabout in Kangeyam where you can grab hot Chilly Bread(the Bread version of Chilly Gobi!) and Tea!