[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Is there water there this time if the year?

Very unlikely and chances are that flow will be less. Only when the rains start in the Western ghats, would you see some increase in flow, which is likely only in later half of May.

Best chance is during SW monsoon months (June-August) and month and change after and the NE monsoons (Oct-Dec) where south TN, south KL get rains.

[Red Liner]

Is the route via trichy still the preferred route, or does going via madurai make sense at the moment? Is all that road work done or still going on?

[tstlnt]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Is the route via trichy still the preferred route, or does going via madurai make sense at the moment? Is all that road work done or still going on?

Route via Madurai is the preferred one and there is no need to enter Madurai too. Still the road construction is ongoing between Trichy and Pudukkottai .Trichy -Pudukkottau -Karaikkudi route is time consuming than Madurai route given the road and traffic conditions..

[varunanb]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Is the route via trichy still the preferred route, or does going via madurai make sense at the moment? Is all that road work done or still going on?

Trichy preferable from bengaluru. In this route you might #GoEagle thru a stretch of Good 2 lanes State highways. The roads till Melur is awesome. Post there due to road work going on there are lots of diversions but motorable.

You don't have to take the Dindigul Madurai route as they are longer but excellent 4 lanes highway till Madurai.

Either way the road works are being done in the last 100kms. You can't escape them.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Is the route via trichy still the preferred route

Yes, Trichy is a better route. Here's an update from tharian couple of months back.

You have 2 choices, either to take Namakkal-Musiri-Number 1 Tollgate that's a normal 2-lane running alongside Kaveri (which is the shorter route) or via Karur -Kulithalai. The latter is longer, you get 4-lane until Mayanur, wide 2-lane till Jeeyapuram and narrow 2-lane for the last 10 km. It will land you in Chatram bus stand, will take 5-15 min to get to bypass road (depending on the time you are crossing).

Trichy bypass to Karaikudi is a wide 2-lane and in excellent shape. Its Karaikudi-Devipattinam that's not great and progress will be slow.

Ramnad-Rameswaram is common to both routes.

The biggest weak link in the Madurai route is Madurai ring road, which is now being 4-laned. It wouldn't have mattered for those coming from Madras/Trichy side since the Rameswaram exit is just 3 km from NH45B, from NH7 side it is 23 km. Madurai's suburban traffic will also have its presence till about Thirupuvanam and will then ease out.

[adi_gt]

Any updates on Madurai - Rameshwaram 4 lane work ?

[deepakchan]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Trichy bypass to Karaikudi is a wide 2-lane and in excellent shape.

I just used this Trichy to Karaikudi 2-lane road this weekend. As narayans80 has mentioned, this road is in superb condition and was a pleasure to drive. Two tolls were there between Karaikudi and Trichy and both had Fastag as well. Pudukottai was completely bypassed by this road. Almost at the entrance of Karaikudi there was an unused railway track where I had an excellent photo opportunity.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

Any updates on Madurai - Rameshwaram 4 lane work ?

Last Nov when I travelled it was still ongoing. But there were no sections to be worried about.

Just be careful about sections where there is two way traffic on same carriageway due to road work.

[adi_gt]

I made a visit to Rameshwaram in the first week of June. The roads from Bangalore to Madurai bypass are excellent. Madurai Bypass to Rameshawaram Crossing towards Paramakudi is very good in patches, some one way traffic and some real bad stretches. Sections till Manmadurai are still narrow but gradually improves and becomes good after Paramakudi. Although the 4 laning and bypass are still getting ready but you can easily do Madurai- Rameshwaram in sub 3 hours. The bypass before Ramnad is also decent and must save quite a few minutes during day time.Ramanad to Rameshwaram is excellent 2 lane wide tarmac. Overall you will find more bad roads and number of speedbreakers within Bangalore than your overall 640+Km of journey. But what about these staggered barricades across all highways in TN ? Is it such a rage ? Because I remember last time (in 2013), I did not encounter anything like that. They could be really dangerous during night driving.

The biggest downer of the whole trip was the fact that they did not allow us to go till the land's end at Dhanushkodi due to some reason. They stopped us 2-3 Kms before it. I tried it at 3 different times of the day but could not succeed. I could not find the reason as well due to the language barrier. My bad

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

Is it such a rage ?

Yes, its on all 4-laned highways in TN including some arrow straight stretches where there is no gap in divider.

At nights/early mornings its all over Madras city as well

[adi_gt]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Yes, its on all 4-laned highways in TN including some arrow straight stretches where there is no gap in divider.

At nights/early mornings its all over Madras city as well

Better than speedbreakers any day which are littered all around Bangalore.

[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

The biggest downer of the whole trip was the fact that they did not allow us to go till the land's end at Dhanushkodi due to some reason. They stopped us 2-3 Kms before it. I tried it at 3 different times of the day but could not succeed. I could not find the reason as well due to the language barrier. My bad

Few months back, they were not allowing everyone to drive till the tip, but then, I could drive till the dead-end at Dhanushkodi. When asked why it is not open, they cited some technical reason. But then, I think they allow now.

[treadmark]

Have planned to Visit Rameshwaram, Madurai, Palani and then to Thrissur with my wife, mother and 3 year old kid.

Planning to leave Bangalore on next Sunday morning around 4AM.

1. What should be the route I need to take? Madurai or Trichy?
2. What are the best options for breakfast and lunch (Non Veg preffered for lunch) on both the road options?
3. Can I make it through Thanjavur (Brihadisvara Temple) on the way to Rameshwaram? If yes what is the route?

So evening will be for Rameshwaram temple visit and next day planning to drive to Dhanushkodi for sunrise, back to hotel and then off to Madurai Meenakshiamman temple. So before I drive to Madurai on Monday morning is there anything I can cover in Rameshwaram or on the way.

Once done with darshan at Madurai temple, which is the best place to have good Chettinad lunch in Madurai? I vaguely remember some famous Mess in Madurai.

Then travel to Palani stay over on Monday night, have Darshan at Palani temple on Tuesday morning. While leaving to Thrissur from Palani is there anything I can visit or should I ask this question on some other thread.

Thank you in advance.

Cheers!

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by treadmark

Have planned to Visit Rameshwaram, Madurai, Palani and then to Thrissur with my wife, mother and 3 year old kid.

Planning to leave Bangalore on next Sunday morning around 4AM.

Cheers!

For a 4AM start from Bangalore, you can target the new A2B which is around 15Kms from Salem Exit towards Namakkal. This comes on the left side itself.

In Madurai, some of the known NV places are Kumar mess and Amma mess.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by treadmark

Have planned to Visit Rameshwaram, Madurai, Palani and then to Thrissur with my wife, mother and 3 year old kid.

Planning to leave Bangalore on next Sunday morning around 4AM.

1. What should be the route I need to take? Madurai or Trichy?
   
   ----
2. Can I make it through Thanjavur (Brihadisvara Temple) on the way to Rameshwaram? If yes what is the route?

Cheers!

Here is route we did some 2 years back.
https://goo.gl/maps/ybHcoGt9s222

Bangalore--> Salem -->Namkkal --> Srirangam(Tirchy) --> Thanjavur (night halt)
Thanjavur --> Pattukkottai --> Thondi --> Rameshwaram (night halt)

It is tough to cover Bangalore to Rameshwaram Via Thanjavur in a day with young kid. I would recommend to have halt at Thanjavur, with this you can cover Temples in Trichy too. Big Temple needs to be seen both night and early morning. Two different experience.

If it is not possible for a night halt in Thanjavur, then I would suggest you to skip Thanjavur and drive via Madurai to Rameshwaram.