[ElantraGT]

Aravind, Till trichi its a breeze to drive. Then comes the trichy byepass, this has been byepassed again (read DIVERSION) through ponmalai and it will join the byepass road 1 km before the melur road, Dindugal raod. Watch out for 3 -4 diversions on opposite sides from Trichy to Madurai (viralimalai route) and one more when you cross virudhunagar bypass. The the roads till Kayathar is good. From there till Thriunelveli you need to watch your speed. Again when you reach the Thriunelveli - vannarapettai area, ther is a bridge under construction. Then the roads till Kaval kinaru is good. But at kaval kinaru the roads are yet to be completed. After kaval kinaru I took left to Kanyakumari so not sure about the road conditions till nagercoil.

I wont advise night driving even though you have medians all the way. Drive safely my friend.

[manim]

Madurai to Tirunelveli, 160 kms - Superb with 4-lane 99% completed. Can drive any time of the day/night.
Tirunelveli to Nagercoil - I do not know.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by manim

Madurai to Tirunelveli, 160 kms - Superb with 4-lane 99% completed. Can drive any time of the day/night.
Tirunelveli to Nagercoil - I do not know.

Well, my recent trip from Chennai to Trivandrum (Dec 2009) took about 13 hours & you can simply knock off 1 hour for dinner, refuel & time spend at Chengalpet & Tindivanam for boarding additional passengers. What I mean here is, I would agree to the point 99% or even 100% completed & you don't need to worry about Tirunelveli-Nagerkovil road.

[aravinrd]

Thank you all for your suggestions,anyway I have decided to start early morning tomorrow (4:30 am) due to other contraints that I have

[aravinrd]

Do we have any Reliance petrol pumps that are open on the NH from Chennai to Nagercoil

[camchennai]

There are few open and few permanently closed.

Why are you in specific with Reliance petrol pumps?? For A1??

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by aravinrd

Do we have any Reliance petrol pumps that are open on the NH from Chennai to Nagercoil

There is just one just before Nagercoil, if that's of any use to you.

[manim]

Did this drive last week. Stopped at BP ghar near Ulundurpet and Melur (approx 250 kms apart) for toilets and food. The new Trichy byepass was very crowded since I crossed it at peak time (9 am).

[aravinrd]

Originally Posted by camchennai

There are few open and few permanently closed.

Why are you in specific with Reliance petrol pumps?? For A1??

The only reason I am looking for reliance pump is their quality, last time around I got different mileage in different pumps. Its was a Km or 2 less than what I usually get.

Alternatively if I can get some PSU pumps with good quality fuel, I am okay with that.

[aravinrd]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

There is just one just before Nagercoil, if that's of any use to you.

Yes, definitely I can use it on my return journey

[ckmraja]

Last Friday i travelled in this Route to Madurai. Started early (5.30 AM) in the Morning and reached before noon (11.30AM), in between stopped for feeding my kid and breakfast for me and family, for which you can knock off 1.30 hrs, total driving time of 4.30 hrs.

The road condition was excellent, all the strech have been completely laid no more diversion. Since i crossed the Trichy bypass in peak hour, there was little traffic there.

Paid Toll of Rs.276.00 which seems to be very high in my view, break-up below
1.Paranur (B4 Chengalpet) - Rs.20.00
2.Ulundurpet - Rs.56.00
3.Sengurichi - Rs.35.00
4.Thirumandurai - Rs.35.00
5.Samayapuram - Rs.30.00
6.Bothakudi Village - Rs.45.00
7.Chitampatti Village (After Melur)-Rs.50.00
8.Madurai Entry - Rs.5.00

Altogether it was a nice trip

[Jebs]

Hi, We are planning to go Madurai-Thirumangalam from Chennai by next week for 2 days trip. After reading this thread, doing Chennai-Madurai road trip by car is good and better solution it seems. Since, no train tickets available for the weekend trip. Few questions on my side, Please let me know to proceed without confusion.

Is there a proper signboards are there in Trichy bye-pass to catch Madurai road?
Once reached Madurai, how to go to Thirumangalam town?
Any recommended hotels in Thirumangalam for lodging?

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by Jebs

Is there a proper signboards are there in Trichy bye-pass to catch Madurai road?
Once reached Madurai, how to go to Thirumangalam town?
Any recommended hotels in Thirumangalam for lodging?

You will have no problems crossing the Trichy byepass. With regard to your second query on Thirumangalam, you will have to take the Madurai Byepass go all the way around the city and reach NH7 byepass. Once you join the NH7 byepass the detour to Thirumangalam is a couple of kms away and is clearly marked. I am not sure of any hotels in Thirumangalam though I would suggest its easier to get one in Madurai, you could try either Ratna Regency, Supreme etc on the Perumal Maistry Street.

[Jebs]

Thanks pypkmsrikanth for the reply. I have nothing to do in Madurai other than staying there, so I planned to stay at Thirumangalam in this short trip. I hope the road is good all the way to Madurai-bye-pass to Thirumangalam

[manim]

Originally Posted by Jebs

Hi, We are planning to go Madurai-Thirumangalam from Chennai by next week for 2 days trip. After reading this thread, doing Chennai-Madurai road trip by car is good and better solution it seems. Since, no train tickets available for the weekend trip. Few questions on my side, Please let me know to proceed without confusion.

Is there a proper signboards are there in Trichy bye-pass to catch Madurai road?
Once reached Madurai, how to go to Thirumangalam town?
Any recommended hotels in Thirumangalam for lodging?

I had done this stretch last month.
You will not need many signboards since it is 100% four-lane and clear to follow.
(I used google-maps on my android phone for cross-checking my location).
For going to Thirumangalam, you can bye-pass Madurai.

I found the Trichy to Villupuram drive with heavy traffic.
Buses and lorries move in both lanes so you need to zig-zag to overtake them.
So safe driving is a must (There has been many accidents on this stretch recently including a state-minister being killed).

You can use google-maps on a PC before leaving to note down the towns and distances between them.

I did a night drive, started from Madurai at 9 pm and reached Chennai at 3 am.
On my return, started in Chennai at 3 am and reached Madurai at around 9 am.