[deehunk]

Yes, this road exists. Sometime around in 2006, I had traveled in a TNSTC bus from Mysore to Coimbatore on this route.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Ampere - Are there roads from MM Hills to Bhavani without touching Chamarajnagar, dhimbam section ? I really didn't know this and would love to explore this sometime soon.

Oh yes. Its the MM Hills ghats. Kollegal-Hanur-MM Hills - Mettur. Somewhat steep both while climbing and descending. The roads last yes from MM Hills to ghats down toward Mettur were fresh and beautiful. The from Kollegal to MM Hills is also decent. Nothing much to worry about. Yes you only have small towns for breaks. But other wise it makes a nice drive.

[deehunk]

I came back from a short visit to Chamarajanagar today, road work is in progress inside Kollegal town and less said is better about the state of roads. The roads inside CR Nagar is no different, things have changed so fast in this area. I would advise people to avoid both these places till the work is completed. While coming back I took the T Narsipur-Bannur-Malavalli route to join Mysore road near Maddur. There is road work in progress around Bannur and you have to take a deviation and pass through a narrow street and small villages to join the Mysore-Malavalli road.

[vinukm]

Completed my Three Ranganatha Temple tour yeserday. I took the following route Srirangapattana (Adi Rangaa)--> Bannur --> Malavalli --> Kollegala (Madhya Ranga) --> Hanur --> MM Hills --> Mettur --> Bhavani --> Tiruchengode --> Namakkal --> Srirangam

The roads were bad in patches before and after MM Hills. Otherwise roads were pretty good. Started 4 AM in the morning and Completed the first temple in Sriranga pattana by 6:30 the second one by 8:00 AM and was at Srirangam by 3:00 PM.

[Srikanthan]

Our weekend tour to Mysore from Srirangam led us through the forests of Anthiyur, Moongilpalayam and Burgur.

We just believed Google maps and that led us through this way. We should have gone via Sathy, Dhimbum Ghats, Chamrajanagar and Nanjangudu, instead.

This ghat section is just for only one vehicle. Many places, there are no barricades. Very very less traffic on the roads except for few 2 wheelers. Road work in ongoing now to expand the road from Anthiyur to TN border.

Existing ghat road condition is poor. The moment you enter KA, the road disappears. There are patches of road in between large and deep craters. This continues till Kollegal, after which the road condition improves massively.

This route is not fit for a sedan or a hatch back. Fortunately, we were in a XUV which could take all the abuse.

The only solace was the dense forests and the mountains which still remains predominantly untouched and pristine.

I would never recommended this route for a peaceful family travel.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Srikanthan

Our weekend tour to Mysore from Srirangam led us through the forests of Anthiyur, Moongilpalayam and Burgur.
...
I would never recommended this route for a peaceful family travel.

Wow ! Google recommended the Moongilpalayam-Ramapura road ! Thats absolutely a no mans land. I have had thoughts of making through that road some day but more as an exploration and surely not with family!

The easier option is either via Sathy/Chamarajanagar or via Metture/MM Hills. The former being the easier one and latter being the less crowded one (post Mettur)

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Anyone recently did the Three Ranga Darshan, planning for the same this year end or early January. Any recommendations on the routes, considering I would be starting from Bengaluru.

[srvm]

We're planning for the three-Ranga pilgrimage this December.
Gmaps is still suggesting Shivanasamudram-Burgur-Moongilpalayam- Anthiyur-Bhavani route to Trichy!
From Ampere's post above it seems like a very bad idea. I'll probably take the MM Hills-Mettur route. It'll be my first time on this route as well. Anything that I should be wary of? I'll be traveling with my family (elders, wife & kid).

Also, folks who have done this earlier, can you please suggest likely/desirable timelines at each temple?
Thanks in advance

[ampere]

Originally Posted by srvm

From Ampere's post above it seems like a very bad idea. I'll probably take the MM Hills-Mettur route. It'll be my first time on this route as well. Anything that I should be wary of? I'll be traveling with my family (elders, wife & kid).

Very desolate as per what I know. You should keep to MM Hills/Mettur route. You get to visit one more temple on the way!

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by srvm

... I'll probably take the MM Hills-Mettur route

I had done a part of this route two months. Mettur - Bhavani - Erode is just about OK - there is work going in several places, and you have to enter Erode.

Instead, you can try an alternate (as I did). After I visited Mettur Dam, took the Idappadi - Sankari - Thiruchengode - Paramathi - Karur route. It was scenic, with sparse traffic. Tiruchengode to Trichy (via Karur) will be good to drive (till Mayanur) - the road is in good condition. Drive carefully once you complete the toll portion on the Karur - Trichy road, as rash driving is common on this two lane section.

You can visit Thiruchengode Ardanareeshwarar Temple (on a hill and open till 6 pm) and also Karur Kalyana Pasupatheeswarar Temple (open till 8 pm).

[Passatman]

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[srvm]

Folks, me and my family (wife and daughter) did the darsan of all three Ranganathaswamy Temples situated on islands on river Cauvery last weekend.
Here are the details:

Friday, 20/12/2019
We left Bangalore at 3.20pm. Reached hotel/stay at Mysore at 8.20pm. Distance covered = 157 kms.


Saturday, 21/12/2019
We woke up at 4am. Started from hotel at 5.45am. Reached Srirangapatna at 6am. We finished darshan of all sannidhis by 6.50am. Distance covered = 23 kms.

During Dhanu(r)masa, timings of the temple are:
5am to 1.30pm and 4pm to 8pm

During other months,
7am to 1.30pm and 4pm to 8pm.

We started from Srirangapatna by 6.50am. Drove via Baburayanakoppal-Karighatta-Bannur-Malavalli to Shivanasamudram (Madhyaranga). Distance covered = 79 kms.
The entire route was very beautiful - smooth roads, negligible traffic, early morning fresh air with tiff of Sugarcane molasses, with a slight tinge of fog. We reached Madhyaranga temple by 8.25am.
We finished darshan by 9.00am. We could see about 100-200 people in the temple, most of them doing the same Tri-Ranga Pilgrimage. Many cars and Tempo-Travellers (about 15-20 in total).

We had breakfast with our packed food and started at 9.40am from Madhyaranga Temple.

We drove via Kollegala-Hanur to MM Hills. We reached MM Hills around 11.45am. Distance covered = 92 kms. Road conditions are mostly good with few rough patches and potholes strewn around. Nothing major to worry. There was patchwork going on in the ghat sections to improve road conditions. Not much facilities on the way to MM Hills for bio-break or fuel pumps or restaurants.

MM Hills to Mettur: Beautiful scenic route with smooth roads. Distance = 51 kms. We crossed Mettur around 1.00pm.

Mettur to Sankari bypass (Hotel Vallalar): Distance covered = 61 kms. Roads are once again very good. Don't take the default route suggested by Google via Poolampatti bridge. That bridge is not for 4-wheelers, only wide enough for 2-wheelers. I took the following route: Mettur-Ammapettai-Kurichi-Koneripatti barrage- Koneripatti-Vellarivelli-Edappadi-Sankari bypass on NH544. Roads are very good and there are enough signboards (in Tamil and English) which guide you from Kurichi all the way to Edappadi. We reached Hotel Vallalar (Pure Veg restaurant) at 2.10pm. Food was decent and restrooms were ok. After lunch break, we started around 2.40pm.

Sankari bypass-Sankari-Tiruchengodu-Namakkal: Distance covered = 60kms. Mostly good to very good roads. Crossing Tiruchengodu town is bit of pain with all those huge trailer trucks moving slowly, overtaking them is painful on 2-lane roads. Tiruchengodu-Namakkal is now a beautiful smooth 4-lane highway with TALL divider almost all the way. Very little traffic in this section and I could maintain 80-90kmph easily. But speed limit is a ridiculous 30kmph! We crossed Namakkal at 3.45pm.

From Namakkal, we took the Thuraiyur route up to Kannanur, then reached Pagalavadi, Nochiyam, Uttamarkoil and finally Srirangam. Distance covered = 91 kms. Reached Srirangam around 5.30pm. This route was suggested by few BHPians (including friendly moderator ampere) in the Bangalore-Trichy thread. Big thanks to them.

We had already booked our room at Yatri Nivas through online. Also, we had booked Rs.250 darsan tickets online. Reporting time near Golden Dwajasthambam was 7.00pm. Darsan time allotted was 7.30-8.30pm. We reached temple at 6.20pm. Being Saturday of Dhanur masa it was quite crowded and we had our darsan at 8.10pm. After darsan of Goddess Ranganayaki, we reached Yatri Nivas at 9.30pm.



Sunday, 22/12/2019
We woke up and went to Temple again after breakfast at 10am. Had darsan of other Sannidhis up to 1.00pm. I was told that there are as many as 70 smaller shrines/sannidhis in this HUGE temple (world's largest functional Temple). We left Srirangam at 2.10pm. Reached Bangalore at 10.10pm. This time we took the straightforward Srirangam-Gunaseelam-Musiri-Thottiyam-Namakkal-NH44-Salem-Krishnagiri-Bangalore route. Roads were narrow and potholed between Uttamarkoil and Gunaseelam. After Gunaseelam, roads widen a bit (still 2-laned) and surface is also very smooth. After Thottiyam surface gets even better and long straight sections with sparse traffic makes you catch up with lost time.


Overall, with God's grace we were able to complete Tri-Ranga darsan on the same day during Dhanurmasa.


Trip statistics:
Vehicle: Zest (Petrol)
Total distance covered: 973 kms.
Fuel efficieny (as per MID) = 18.6 kmpl
Fuel efficieny (based on my past experience) = 17.0 kmpl


Edit:
At Srirangam, I met a family who were doing the same pilgrimage. They had taken the route via Hanur-Ramapura-Moongilpalayam-Anthiyur-Bhavani-Srirangam. They said the roads were ok there too. But, they came as a group in Force/Tempo Traveller, so I'm not sure if their information is useful for cars.

[BIL2_HGi10]

Thank You for this guide, I am travelling this weekend.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by BIL2_HGi10

Thank You for this guide, I am travelling this weekend.

Hi. Good luck. Hope you get very good darsan in all three temples.
Do post your experience on routes, road status, restaurants and hotels in this thread for the benefit of others.

[pannags]

Originally Posted by srvm

Folks, me and my family (wife and daughter) did the darsan of all three Ranganathaswamy Temples situated on islands on river Cauvery last weekend.

Thanks, that was very detailed and helpful.

We are planning to do the three-ranga darshana during the end of the year. Can someone please update on the road conditions if you've done this recently?

Thanks in advance.