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When driving to Dhanushkodi were you stopped at any of the checkposts ?
Remember reading an earlier post that sometimes locals (with support from cops) aren't allowing the cars to drive all the way to the land's end (end of the new/extended road).

No road work in progress so I am assuming it is complete. The only road work in the entire stretch was near Karur but that was on the left lane with minimal impact.

No restrictions. While entering Rameshwaram municipality, a vehicle entrance fee of Rs. 100 has to paid. We get a receipt that is valid for 24 hours. One point to share - We reached Rameshwaram around 7pm. Next day, we were exploring places and drove outside the municipal limit. On our return, we were stopped at the entrance. While the entrance receipt was valid, the local government had setup a mandatory covid testing for all non Tamil Nadu residents. I tried to explain that we entered the limits yesterday but to no avail. We had to undergo the covid test. It was free of charge and the reports were supposed to be sent as sms next day. We received the confirmation but no report yet. Please note if you plan to travel in a non TN registered car anytime soon.

Did Bangalore-Salem-Dindigul-Madurai-Rameswaram and back. Took about 11h30 min one way (with 2-3 stops totaling about 60-90 minutes). Roads are good throughout (the only annoyance was the traffic within Madurai). Madurai-Rameswaram was so deserted that at one point we thought whether there is any lockdown.

Visited Arulmigu Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram, Arichul Munai, and Dhanushkoti beach. The temple is still recovering from Covid restrictions and the beach was not crowded at all.

No Covid checking at Attibele. Once we leave Bangalore, there was sparse compliance on mask, social distancing etc.

I'm planning a Bangalore - Rameswaram trip and wanted some suggestions from folks who have done this route.

The plan right now is to leave Bangalore early, around 6-7 am, lunch at Madurai, proceed to Rameswaram and halt on day 1. Wake up early on day 2 to visit Dhanushkodi to catch the sunrise, visit Ramanathaswamy Temple, and head back with lunch at Dindigul.

I was wondering if I can include Madurai Meenakshi temple on day 1, but I really do not want to take my car near the temple. From what I recall, the roads are not very car friendly there.

Can someone recommend a hotel where I can book a room for a few hours to basically park safely, change clothes, and freshen up before continuing onward?

If you leaving Bangalore around 6 am, you will be in Madurai for lunch. However, temple will be closed till 4 pm or so. So you have to break for about 4 hours and then budget for another 2 to 3 hours for temple, which means, it is easily beyond 6 pm or 7 pm till Madurai itself. And then driving to Rameshwaram on Day-1 itself after dark, especially in rainy season is not a good idea. 2 days trip to Rameshwaram is hectic.
Instead, i would suggest you to drop Madurai temple in this trip and directly drive to Rameshwaram without getting into the city. Plan separately for Madurai and surrounding temples for another time and keep this trip for Rameshwaram , Dhanushkodi and nearby places.

If you really want to see Madurai temple, its ideal to add another day in your trip to have a relaxed one. All the streets near to temple are not car friendly and very congested. You are better off to park it in the hotel and take an auto. If for just few hours of break/freshening up, and assuming you are not concerned about budget (approx 1000 bucks for few hours), i think you can stay in "Hotel Shree Kanna" which has safe parking for cars
.
https://goo.gl/maps/QyuFdRn1sSFzm3QA9

From this hotel, You can even walk to temple in about 15 minutes.

-Ravi

Second what Ravi mentioned above.

Also,

6/ 7 AM cannot be considered an early morning start for this route. On top of this, Bangalore - Rameshwaram is around 9 hours drive, so with this, you are looking at reaching your destination after it becomes dark on Day 1 if you stop enroute at Madurai to visit temple.

With plan on returning the next day, again a whole day drive, it will be hectic two day drive, though doable.

Thank you both for the quick responses. I have dropped the Madurai Temple from the plan, but still want to include lunch at Madurai (Kumar Mess) as I had quite liked the food the last I went. I understand this would delay me a bit but I am going with people who haven't been, so good food is high on the agenda.

I stay in E city so I'm hoping a 6/7 am start should allow me to get to Rameswaram before sunset, even with a food stop at Madurai. The return plan is to push off at around 9 from Rameswaram, and have a lunch stop at Dindigul Venu Biriyani.

Please feel free to suggest changes to the itinerary if there is better food to be had, or if there are things I should definitely do.

Whenever you start from Bangalore, I am sure you won't able to visit temple before lunch (unless you drive in the night).

I would still suggest: 4AM start. We are talking at least 450km to Madurai. That would be 3 hours to Salem (200km) and another 4 hours to Madurai (250). And that is just the drive time. So you can see we are already talking 8 hours minimum to Madurai. Add that with lunch and temple visit you will be able to start only by 5/6PM post temple visit starting 4PM in the evening.

So another 180km to Rameshwaram would be 4 hours (non 4-lane but goods).

Now you can see its a pretty hectic schedule. That's why like others suggested please do consider adding another day to the plan.

Thank you, I understand. I have dropped the temple plan from the trip, but do want to have lunch in Madurai. I was thinking of Kumar Mess, but any suggestions for non veg food that's worth going into the city for would be much appreciated.

Its purely your choice, but i strongly feel, when driving from Bangalore to Rameshwaram, getting inside Madurai city for food is not a good idea, unless you really have other things to do in Madurai.
You are better off to have good non-veg food in Dindigul , in NH itself in the highway and avoid entering Madurai city.

My 2 cents.

-Ravi

A different suggestion from my end, in case you end up starting late from Bangalore or start early from Rameshwaram:

The Pavilion - Multi Cuisine Restaurant, Karur
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pgR3yoVK5MLDp4ft5

We had our lunch here while returning from Rameshwaram and loved the food as well as the ambience. It was far better than Dindigul Thalapakatti that we visited during the onward journey. This place is few hundred metres from the highway.

Time-wise it took us 4.5 hours from Rameshwaram to Karur.

Yes, Kumar mess is a good option. I have heard good feedback about hotel Sri Janakiram as well. Another option is Amma mess, however the quality has come down these days it-seems.

Something that I won't miss in Madurai is "Jigarthanda". :D

Hi all,

I did a Bangalore - Rameswaram drive this last weekend and am jotting down my experiences so it may be of use to others.

We left Electronic City at 06:15, only about 15 minutes behind schedule. The first stop was at HP COCO at Shoolagiri. The next stop was a basic tea break around 10, and we decided to keep driving, intending to arrive at Madurai for lunch.

We managed to get to Kumar Mess at Madurai by 12:45 PM, about six and half hours after we started, with a total driving time of about 6 hours. In case anyone wants to, it is entirely feasible to visit Madurai Meenakshi Temple and proceed to Rameswaram the same day, though it would take a toll on you / be easier if multiple drivers were available. As we had planned to skip the temple, we enjoyed our lunch at Kumar Mess and pushed off to Rameswaram.

With a single tea break, we managed to reach Rameswaram a little after 4, leaving us enough time to head to Dhanushkodi and enjoy the sunset.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:



The breathtaking views from the Pamban Bridge.



Boats visible from the bridge.



Here we are on the beautiful road to Land's End.



Another picture of the road as we were approaching Land's End.



This is the beach we visited just off the pier. We had just returned from Land's End to this point by 5:30 pm and the cops were stopping people from proceeding onwards. The pier is the last point people could go till by 5:30 pm.



Fun fact! The waters here (to the right as you return from Land's end) are very shallow - about 6 inches. One can get down and walk around to their heart's content - as we observed others doing and did so ourselves.

Dhanushkodi has been on my to-do list for a long time, and it was absolutely worth it. The Land's end point itself may be visited for the satisfaction of doing so, but there many many places on this road one could stop at to have a lovely time. Plus, the drive itself is something most T-Bhpians would thoroughly enjoy.

I hope you have enjoyed reading through this short travelogue. Thank you!

Ah thank you for refreshing the memories of Dhanushkodi, it is just surreal, it makes you keep thinking once you return back from the place.

You are right, Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple visit can be clubbed together in a single day and reach Rameshwaram by 6 PM.

Back in 2019, I left Bangalore at 12:00 AM, reached Madurai at 8:00 AM, left to the temple at 10:00 AM, started towards Rameshwaram at 2:00 PM and reached the place around 6:30 PM.

Dhanushkodi was covered in Day 2 for the sunrise.

Here's a reference link https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post4583573

Hi Bhpians,

Does anybody have list of COCO bunks in BLR - rameshwaram and rameshwaram-kanyakumari route?