Team-BHP - BLR-Munnar-Guruvayur-BLR Trip

Dear T-Bhpians,

I am planning to undertake a trip from BLR to Munnar & Guruvayur and back sometime at the end of rainy season. The members of the trip will be Myself, Wife and my eight year old daughter.

My plan ( tentative ) is somewhat like this :

Day 1 : Leave BLR @ 3 PM and reach Perundurai - Night halt
Day 2 : Leave Perundurai @ 7 AM and reach Munnar around 12 noon
Day 2 : Do local sightseeing of Munnar for half day
Day 3 : Spend the day at Munnar ( local sights & spices shopping )
Day 4 : Spend the day at Munnar ( local sights )
Day 5 : Leave Munnar @ 7 AM and proceed to Guruvayur, have darshan
and leave for BLR ( Via BLR / via CBE ?? )

I would seek your valuable suggestions, opinions & guidance on the queries as listed below :

1) Route, distance & road conditions from Munnar to Guruvayur.
2) Whether it will be advisable to return to BLR from Guruvayur via Mysore
or via Coimbatore.
3) Will it be possible to cover the distance from Munnar to BLR with a
stoppage in Guruvayur ( maybe for 2 hrs) in a single day's time.
will it be too tiresome ?

Will be looking forward to all the inputs which will be of immense help to me in going ahead and planning the trip.please:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rajesh K R (Post 1829435)

Day 5 : Leave Munnar @ 7 AM and proceed to Guruvayur, have darshan
and leave for BLR ( Via BLR / via CBE ?? )

1) Route, distance & road conditions from Munnar to Guruvayur.
2) Whether it will be advisable to return to BLR from Guruvayur via Mysore
or via Coimbatore.
3) Will it be possible to cover the distance from Munnar to BLR with a
stoppage in Guruvayur ( maybe for 2 hrs) in a single day's time.
will it be too tiresome ?

Will be looking forward to all the inputs which will be of immense help to me in going ahead and planning the trip.please:

Munnar to Guruvayur is about 180-200Km.

Route: Drive down to Muvatupuzza via Adimali on NH49 and then take the MC road via Kalady to hit NH47 at Angamaly. Then Drive to Thrissur and via Guruvaur and Choondal Road to Guruvayur. You should be in Guruvayur by about 12 noon. It takes more time as you need to get down to Adimali through the ghats.

As regards to Darshan at Guruvayur; temple will be closed in the afternoon and opens only in the evening (I think by 4). So you cant do anything till then. If luck permits and there is no crowd, you should finish it in about 2 hours. This means you start from Guruvayur only in the evening. If this is OK with you, the only route available is Thrissur/Palakkad/CBE/Salem. As Bandipur route to Mysore will be closed for the night.

I am not sure, but others can tell you about the art of driving on NH47/NH7 at night through Palakkad/CBE/Salem/Krishnagiri.

Best I would say is take the day off, stay at Guruvayur for the evening. Once you finish the darshan, you can start very early next day and drive down to Bangalore via Mysore. Its very scenic and nice. This route is well discussed. See the following thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...-required.html

So to summarize it wont be fun to cover Guruvayur on the way back from Munnar and drive to Bangalore the same day. It will be too tiring. At least I wont recommend it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 1829485)

Munnar to Guruvayur is about 180-200Km.

Route: Drive down to Muvatupuzza via Adimali on NH49 and then take the MC road via Kalady to hit NH47 at Angamaly. Then Drive to Thrissur and via Guruvaur and Choondal Road to Guruvayur. You should be in Guruvayur by about 12 noon. It takes more time as you need to get down to Adimali through the ghats.

As regards to Darshan at Guruvayur; temple will be closed in the afternoon and opens only in the evening (I think by 4). So you cant do anything till then. If luck permits and there is no crowd, you should finish it in about 2 hours. This means you start from Guruvayur only in the evening. If this is OK with you, the only route available is Thrissur/Palakkad/CBE/Salem. As Bandipur route to Mysore will be closed for the night.

Thanks ampere for your quick response. As suggested by you, if i check out of Munnar on day 4 around 1 PM and reach Guruvayoor by 5 pm and plan to stay there, it would be less tiring for me and family.

I am not sure, but others can tell you about the art of driving on NH47/NH7 at night through Palakkad/CBE/Salem/Krishnagiri.

Best I would say is take the day off, stay at Guruvayur for the evening. Once you finish the darshan, you can start very early next day and drive down to Bangalore via Mysore. Its very scenic and nice. This route is well discussed. See the following thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...-required.html

So to summarize it wont be fun to cover Guruvayur on the way back from Munnar and drive to Bangalore the same day. It will be too tiring. At least I wont recommend it.

Thanks ampere for your quick reply. No, i dont intend driving in the night in roads which i am not familiar.

As suggested by you, i can checkout of Munnar on day 4 by 1 PM and reach Guruvayur around 5pm, have darshan and stay there for the night &
plan to leave next morning early.

Yes, i do intend coming via Bandipur and how much time do you reckon will the journey from Guruvayur to BLR ( via Mysore) will take ? and how are the road conditions from Guruvayur to Mysore ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rajesh K R (Post 1829435)

Day 1 : Leave BLR @ 3 PM and reach Perundurai - Night halt
Day 2 : Leave Perundurai @ 7 AM and reach Munnar around 12 noon
Day 2 : Do local sightseeing of Munnar for half day
Day 3 : Spend the day at Munnar ( local sights & spices shopping )
Day 4 : Spend the day at Munnar ( local sights )
Day 5 : Leave Munnar @ 7 AM and proceed to Guruvayur, have darshan
and leave for BLR ( Via BLR / via CBE ?? )

I would seek your valuable suggestions, opinions & guidance on the queries as listed below :

1) Route, distance & road conditions from Munnar to Guruvayur.
2) Whether it will be advisable to return to BLR from Guruvayur via Mysore
or via Coimbatore.
3) Will it be possible to cover the distance from Munnar to BLR with a
stoppage in Guruvayur ( maybe for 2 hrs) in a single day's time.
will it be too tiresome ?

Will be looking forward to all the inputs which will be of immense help to me in going ahead and planning the trip.please:

My points:

1.Pls call ahead at Perundurai and ensure room is blocked,why dont you stay the night at Salem itself(am assuming its going to be hotels?)Salem is a better place to stay the night than Perundurai.Not a major difference when you start the next day morning in terms of travel time(better breakfast options also at Salem)

2.Munnar-Blore-gvr,same day is going to be really tiresome.Easiest way to do it would be to spend a night at GVR and start the next day after breakfast.Reason being rush @ GVR temple is just very unpredictable.You could stay the night and visit the nearby temples of Mamiyoor,Venkateshwara,Parthasarathi,the elephant camp etc.

3.Via CBE as well as Mysore,not much difference in both,just that via Mysore,the sights and sounds are varied and would make the drive all the more interesting,but in case you are driving back to Blore in the night or late evening,then take the CBE stretch as roads are safer and straighter.

I'd a different thought though, can you not finish of Guruvayoor darshan first & then proceed to Munnar & then back to Bangalore? I mean, no problem with your earlier approach, but I thought its best to take the blessings first & then enjoy the holiday; just a suggestion though.

IMO, driving through NH47/NH7 through Palakkad/CBE/Salem/Krishnagiri is really good. What you may want to do is stay in Guruvayoor & start next day early morning; I'm very sure you'll enjoy the morning drive through ghat section & by the time you come to Coimbatore, it will be time for breakfast, lunch @ salem & back to Bangalore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 1829625)

- NH47 almost bypasses Thrichur (others can confirm)

Right; I didn't have to enter into the city last time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere (Post 1829625)

You will need to take diversion at the right place to get into Trichur and then go through the city to take the Guruvayur road.

+1; IMHO, you need to enter into the Thrissur city if you come either ways (from Bangalore or from Munnar) to go to Guruvayoor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee (Post 1829589)

Thanks aargee, maybe if i do this way, on the return journey, i can think of leaving Munnar around 7 AM and reach BLR in the evening. Also, my hotel expense of 1 night at Perundurai will not be needed.

You have definitely given my brain something to chew on.lol:

I doubt you would be able to finish your darshan at Guruvayoor in 2 hours especially during summer vacations, not to forget if I am correct Guruvayoor possibly has more number of times when darshan is stopped for various rituals unlike most other temples hence the crowd tends to accumulate more each time the darshan is stopped for some time. If you want to do Guruvayoor on your way back to Bangalore, the best is to plan for a stay overnight as it would make a lot more sense than trying to do Munnar - Guruvayoor - Bangalore in one go not to forget the strain of waiting for Darshan at the temple.

I second Ranjith's point, its better to stay at Salem than Perundurai may be you could start at 6 AM instead of 7 AM to compensate the additional distance which you would have to cover on your way to Munnar but would make a lot more sense. Alternatively you could think of driving all the way upto Erode where you have good hotels to stay for the night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth (Post 1829836)

Now, after going thro' my fellow T-Bhpians reply to my query, i have taken off the thought of making the Munnar - Guruvayur - BLR stretch in one single day and will stay overnight at Guruvayur.