[jaysmokesleaves]

Hi friends,

In a few weeks from now I will be doing a quick drive from Mumbai to Rameshwaram & back in my Safari. The total trip time is 8 days.

I need help to figure out all the places of interest along the way that I can visit. Note, that this will be a more like a drive thru trip completely flexible with no hotel bookings and no confirmed destination for night halts. So please provide your valuable inputs so I can chart a course to make the trip scenic & interesting enough throughout the 8 days.

Also, any help to chart a route alongwith the POI's is very welcome.
If possible, I would also like to meetup with BHpians along the route down South.

Thanks in advance to you all.

Cheers,

Jay

[manavdotcom]

Depends upon what all you want to See. Rameshwarm you have do definately Pass via madurai which has the famous temple. about 100 Km Above Madurai is Trichy/ And Tanjore for Excellent temples. You can do Hampi/Badami in Karnataka. Or if you want to throw in some hill stations, Ooty/ Munnar/Thekkady all are in close vicinity.

[cool_dube]

There is no dearth of POIs on the way from Mumbai to Rameswaram, irrespective of the route you choose to take. It would help if you have a genre in mind [coast + hills, temples, WLS, heritage, etc]

[rjstyles69]

jay when do you plan to travel, tentative dates ? Me and a fellow bhp'ain are driving to Dhanushkodi and would like to meet up en-route some place if our travel dates are the same.

Since you are visiting Rameshwaram, ensure that you visit Dhanushkodi.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I would absolutely avoid all places of religious interest like the plague.
Priorities include,
1. Coastline(beaches)
2. Backwaters(if possible in the short time available)
3. FOrests & hills
4. Heritage

@rjstyle69 >> Mum departure 25th Dec 4am arrival 1st Jan2011 anytime.

Guys, Im trying to work on a rough plan ... and your inputs will definitely help.

Thanks,

Jay

[ampere]

- Dhanushkodi for Sure. Amazing place
- Munnar (For a Day?), Diversion from Madurai.
- Badami is worth it.
- Worth visiting Kaas on the way (Satara) ? Even if not the flowers, the Koyna reservoir would be worth it. (Check with @Star and the whole Kaas Gang!)
- Spend some time around Mysore? (Talakadu, Somnathpura etc)

[manavdotcom]

I suggest you stay on west coast and come down to Kannur (North of Kerala).Adjacent is Wayanad. This will cover beaches/backwaters/Forest/Hills. Wayanad to Munnar/tekkady etc all Nilgiri Hills.Enter Tamiladu via Theni. You can have another route for return covering heritage. Tanjore Big temple is a Word heritage site.

[canonguy]

How about:

D1: Mumbai - Bangalore
D2: Bangalore - Rameswaram
D3: Rameswaram (visit Dhanushkodi) and leave for Ooty
D4: Ooty
D5: Ooty-Bandipur
D6: Bandipur - Hampi
D7: Hampi
D8: Hampi - Mumbai

The above itinerary would cover beaches, hills, forest and heritage.

[hvkumar]

jaysmokesleaves, I think you should take the following route:
(Places of interest indicated in BLOCK letters)

Bombay-Bangalore-Salem-MADURAI-Rameswaram-DHANUSHKODI

For return, I suggest you take teh East Coat Road up to Madras
Rameswaram-Ramanthapuram-Tondi-Mimisal-Adiramapatnam-VEDARANYAM-KODIKARAI-VELANKANNI-Nagapattinam-Karaikal-TARANGAMBADI-Sirkazhi-CHIDAMBARAM-PICHAVARAM-PONDOICHERRY-MAHABALIPURAM-Madras-Bangalore-Bombay

[ampere]

HVK sir he says he wants to avoid all religious places which would have crowd.

[Fauji]

I agree with HVK. The east coast drive will be beautiful experience during this time of the year.

Unfortunately, if you are looking for heritage in Tamil Nadu they also happen to be religious places - Tanjavur, Gangai Konda Cholapuram, Madurai, Chidambaram etc. It will also provide a chance to Visit the beautiful beach of Tranquebar, mangrove forests of Pichavaram, heritage sites of Mahabalipuram and of course Pondy. Only thing one misses out here is Hill stations.
But you wont regret it as it is a great road trip!!!

[Fauji]

I agree with HVK.

The east coast drive is a beautiful experience. Unfortunately, if you are looking for heritage sites in TN, they also happen to be religious places - Thanjavur, Gangai Konda Cholapuram, Madurai, Chidambaram etc.

This trip will provide a chance to visit beautiful beach of Tranquebar and dansih settlement, mangrove forests of Pichavaram, heritage site of mahabalipuram and of course Pondy. Only thing you will miss are hill stations. I will assure that you wont regret as this is a great road trip.

[nix1976in]

Reviving an old thread here.

Am looking for a drive to Dhanushkodi from Mumbai in Mid Sept.

While the onward journey is kinda straightforward. i.e. Bombay-Bangalore-Salem-MADURAI-Rameswaram-DHANUSHKODI

Am looking for some suggestions for the way back....is the ECR a good option to drive to chennai and back to Mumbai via Bangalore?

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Nikhil.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by nix1976in

Am looking for some suggestions for the way back....is the ECR a good option to drive to chennai and back to Mumbai via Bangalore?

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Do this & you'll not regret - Danushkodi - Kanyakumari - Colachel - Poovar - Kovalam - Trivandrum - Varkala - Kollam - Ambalapuzha - Alapuzha - Mararikulam - Vypin - Guruvayoor - Ponnani - Kozhikode - Koyilandi - Mahe - Thalassery - Kannur - Kanchangad - Kasargode - Mangalore - Udupi - Kundapura - Maravanthe (though it lost its old beauty) - Bhatkal - Murudeshwar - Gokarnam. K'Kumari to Mangalore can be done in 2.5 or 2 days of good speed by visiting almost all the beaches enroute. Set aside about 2 days from Mangalore to GA for a relaxed riding or you can do in 1 day if you skip visiting most of the beaches as they're all like 1 Km from coastal route. May be you can visit fantastic ones like Kaup & skip regular ones like Malpe to do in 1 day as well.

From here multiple choices, proceed North towards GA to Bombay or go to Karwar towards Yellapura to join NH4 to Hubli & head to Bombay or continue further to Ponda towards Mollem to Ramnagara to hit Dharwad to hit NH4 towards Bombay

But my preference is...

Gokarnam - entire GA - Vengurla - Malvan - Kunkeshwar - Devgad - Vijaydurg - Ambolgad - Ganapatipule - Ratnagiri - Jaigad - Velaneshwar - Guhagar - Dabhol - Murud - Harihareshwar - Srivardhan - Diveagar - Dighi - Kashid - Alibaug - Bombay. Reserve about 3-4 days for doing a relaxed circuit on this route.

[am1m]

Bit of a associated question, how are the beaches/drives along the East Coast?

West Coast beaches are well-known and explored - Kerala's beaches, those around Mangalore and of course Goa. Even places like Malvan are well known. So how come the East Coast doesn't have a similar 'beach-appeal'? Apart from Kovalam, can't think of any 'recommended' beach on this coast. Is it because the seas are rougher on the East Coast?

(Naturally doesn't apply to the main discussion of this thread, since the OP is heading to Mumbai, so a West Coast drive makes more sense. But have always been curious about this, so asking.)