[NPV]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

What would the best route to Kanyakumari if we are starting from Bangalore in the morning? say 4:30-5 AM?

NH7 all the way as @ampere mentioned.

Also suggested eateries en-route please.

Several places enroute on the highway itself, Shoolagiri may be too early and Krishna Inn, A2B open only around 6.45-7am. Salem or beyond may be a better bet.

Which one would be the best place to stay, TKM/ KK?

TKM - do you mean Trivandrum ?

Also any hotel recommendations at both locations? Would prefer to have neat and peaceful rooms

Kanyakumari - Sea View is good, close to the ferry point for Tiruvalluvar statue and Vivekananda rock, ask for sea facing rooms.
You can also try Vivekananda Kendra, they have a private beach as well.

Lastly, what would be must visit places in Kanyakumari & TKM?

At Kanyakumari visit the Vivekananda Rock, Tiruvalluvar statue by ferry, the Devi temple, sunset point. Try to visit the VattaKottai fort also if you have time.

Suchindram Temple about 10-15Km on the way to Trivandrum and the Padmanabhapuram Palace at Thuckalay, also enroute to Trivandrum are good to visit. Do check their timings/holidays.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

Also suggested eateries en-route please.

I had compiled a list of good food stops in this route before my trip last year.
Trivandrum to Madurai
Madurai to Bangalore

Originally Posted by vinjosep

Lastly, what would be must visit places in Kanyakumari & TKM?

In Trivandurm (TVM not TKM) you can visit
Padmanabha Swami Temple
Kovalam Beach
Veli Turist Village
Zoo and Museum

A short drive from Trivandrum you have
Ponmudi
Varkala

[ravib]

Ampere and NPV covered most of the details.

Since i did this trip just last year March, i can recommend couple of more things.

For lunch, you can break at Hari's Restaurant which comes on to your right immediately after cross Madurai/Thirumangalam Toll plaza.

Kanyakumari to Trivandrum - roads are scenic but budget for easily 3 to 4 hours. NH47 is extremely high in traffic and as Crazydriver mentioned, plan it during off peak hours.

I started from KK in the morning after Sunrise view & breakfast, finished Suchindram Temple and then Thuckalay Padamanabhuram palace around noon and then went to Thottipalam & Thirupurrappu waterfalls and drove towards Trivandrum via Marthaandam. This took me whole day and i reached Trivandrum only around 9 pm and most of the driving from Marthandam to Trivandrum was after dark. This will be quite tiring.

Since this is hot summer, i am not sure if you can cover all but it all depends on your energy levels and your family. So plan accordingly or skip places as required.

At Trivandrum, i will strongly recommend Hotel Highland which is very good and is walkable distance from TVM Central station & to Padmanabhaswamy temple. They have good parking space too. The other option is Hotel Chaitram which is bang opposite to TVM Central but since it is in main road, there are lot of buses & autos in front of the hotel always so getting in & out is bit time consuming. No big deal though !

-Ravi

[kala]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

What would the best route to Kanyakumari if we are starting from Bangalore in the morning? say 4:30-5 AM?

In addition to what several members have suggested :

Make sure you don't delay your start too much. If you get to Salem after 8AM, the traffic builds up considerably (school buses, factory buses, autos etc) and crossing Salem town can take anything from 20 minutes to half an hour (for the 8kms from the start of the bypass near GRT till the southern tip of Salem). If you're there before 7 AM, you can cross the city in under 10 minutes. So I always start from Bangalore around 4 AM - worst case 4:30

Yes - eatery options are limited after Salem, but there are a few OK restaurants towards the end of Karur bypass. The last time I went, I had breakfast at a place about 45 kms further south from Karur - one hotel Arthi which was reasonable though not very hi-fi.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by kala

In addition to what several members have suggested :

Make sure you don't delay your start too much. If you get to Salem after 8AM, the traffic builds up considerably (school buses, factory buses, autos etc) and crossing Salem town can take anything from 20 minutes to half an hour (for the 8kms from the start of the bypass near GRT till the southern tip of Salem). If you're there before 7 AM, you can cross the city in under 10 minutes. So I always start from Bangalore around 4 AM - worst case 4:30

Yes - eatery options are limited after Salem, but there are a few OK restaurants towards the end of Karur bypass. The last time I went, I had breakfast at a place about 45 kms further south from Karur - one hotel Arthi which was reasonable though not very hi-fi.

+1 Exactly the point. Delayed start easily takes 20 minutes to 30 minutes to cross salem.

Also, please take a look at Bangalore - Kanyakumari NH7 thread, where the details are extensively discussed.

-Ravi

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by ravib

At Trivandrum, i will strongly recommend Hotel Highland which is very good and is walkable distance from TVM Central station & to Padmanabhaswamy temple.

Please mention distances. Walkable to you might not be for someone else. Highland to Padmanabha swami temple will be about 1.5 KMs through heavy traffic and crowd. Unfortunately there are no good hotels closer to the temple though.

I would not suggest staying near the Railway station/Bus station since the area will always be crowded. Better to stay near the beach at Kovalam.

PS: The fastest route mentioned by google is through 2 fly overs and not recommended.

[vinjosep]

Originally Posted by NPV

TKM - do you mean Trivandrum ?

Yup, meant Trivandrum. Thanks for correcting me.








Thank you all guys. Splendid info!

Let me get cracking on the project plan (with 2 kids, can't be anything else, rit?). Will come back with more questions for sure.