[neo45007]

Hi Everyone,

I am planning 8-day south India trip in 2nd / 3rd week of March.

Travelers: Me, my wife & our baby (5 months old).
Vacation Type: Leisure
Car: Ritz Vxi
Places MUST visit: Guruvayoor & Munnar

Need your views & suggestions on the plan below:-

[neo45007]

The one which is hidden behind t-bhp logo above:-
SAT : Kanyakumari - Madurai

[ravib]

Hi Neo,

Few comments and suggestions from my side.

1) On your first day (Saturday), i would strongly recommend you to start little late around 5 or 5:30 am, considering safety point of view because you traveling with your small kid. Usually, drivers will not be very alert between 1:30 to 5 am. You understand what i mean
2) Just in case, if you don't know, you need to wear dhoti to enter inside guruvaayor temple. So don't forget to pack it when you leave bangalore.
3) On sunday, i don't think you can reach munnar from guruvaayor in 4 hours. Its very unlikely considering the ghat roads, but i may be wrong here. My guess is atleast you would need 6 hrs.
4) Again on Tuesday, from Munnar to Thekkaday, reserve half a day for drive alone. We have done that atleast 8 years back. There are no good restaurants excepts for small villages and the drive is completely in ghat roads. So suggest you to finish breakfast early, pack some food for safe side and they drive to Thekkady. Even in Kumili, there are no great restaurants, so you may want to reach inside Thekkady, have it at hotel restaurant (Periyar house or Aranya Nivas or wherever u planned to stay)

I would recommend you better stay in Munnar for 2 days, and skip thekkady, since you wanted it to be a leisure trip. Munnar is an awesome place to stay and relax with great views. IMPO, the list of places you mentioned itself is bit hectic, considering that you are traveling with a small 5 month old baby. Also, you may want to consider driving at less than 100 kmph as well from safety aspect, which might increase your driving time throughout the trip. Just a thought....

-Ravi

[neo45007]

Hi Ravi,

Thanks for your views & suggestions.

YES, I am planning to skip Thekkady and can utilize 'Tuesday' as reserve or rest day.

As you rightly said - this being a leisure trip & with our 5 month old kid, I can skip some place & relax than driving for longer time.

[ampere]

BLR-GVR :

Via Mysore-Bandipur-Nilambur-Perinthalmanna-Kunnankulam

Bad Part: Bad roads around Perinthalmanna. Others can suggest deviations.
(I think the option via Manjeri may be able good)

What ever said and done, better than NH7/47 as of today.
Even if you deviate around 4L, you will add to distance. At least more than 80-100 Km.

Place to stay: Kanoos Residency. Very nice and decent.

GVR-Munnar

GVR-Trichur-Angamaly (NH47)
Angamaly-Perumbavur-Muvatupuzzha. (BC Road)
Muvattupuzha-Munnar (49).

Options for stay: Sienna Village. Good rooms and nice views. (they are Chinnaknala 22km from Munnar towards Madurai on the NH49).


Munnar - TVM : I dont have much details on the current status.
Dont go via Vaikom/Kottayam.


Kanyakumari:

Hotel Singaar International

KK-Madurai : The beautiful 4L NH7.
Stay : Many options according to purse.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by ampere

Angamaly-Perumbavur-Muvatupuzzha. (BC Road)

It is MC road "Main Central road".

Where ever you stay in TVM, to go to KK, come back to the Kovalam route, and instead of taking right towards Kovalam, take a left to Balaramapuram.

TVM - KK road is very crowded, you escape the crowd up to Balaramapuram at least. Budget 3 - 3.5 hours for this route, unless you are very lucky.

Avoid getting "inside" the Guruvayoor temple, since you have the small kid with you. Instead of taking th queue from the East, enter the temple through the West gate, or the small gate on North East corner. Pray from near the flag mast (Dhwaja sthambha). Apart from that, not sure if they allow 5 month kids inside the temple. Me and wife used to take turns with our kids outside the temple (that is, inside the agrashala) while the other went inside the temple.

Edit:-

Missed this.

YES, I am planning to skip Thekkady and can utilize 'Tuesday' as reserve or rest day.

As you rightly said - this being a leisure trip & with our 5 month old kid, I can skip some place & relax than driving for longer time.

You can also consider skipping Kanyakumari. Instead, spend couple of days in Wynad especially if you are driving down via Mysore.

From GVR, proceed to TVM, then to Munnar. Madurai is closer that way (especially if you consider that the other KK - Kodaikanal is on way). Or, GVR > Munnar > TVM > Quilon > Madurai. Not sure of Quilon > Madurai route though.

[neo45007]

@ BaCkSeAtDrIVeR - Thanks, I understand that they allow children only after he / she starts taking rice (eating). I am not sure though !

@ Ampere : Thanks for the info.

[neo45007]

@ BaCkSeAtDrIVeR - YES, I am open to change my plan after Munnar, may be something like this as well apart from Wayanad:-

1) Munnar - Madurai
2) Madurai - Rameshwaram
3) Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari
4) Kanyakumari - Bangalore.

But, with this the whole tour becomes more hectic and I don't want to do that.

About Wayanad :- Is it okay to cover Munnar & Waynad in same trip? Aren't they similar or is it worth it?

Thanks for all suggestions.

[ampere]

@BaCkSeAtDrIVeR I did mean MC road. Thanks for that correction.

@Neo even I felt TVM/KK may be an overkill. You can definitely enjoy Munnar. Stay longer, relax and infact directly go to Madurai.

[CliffHanger]

Since the summer has just begun, be wary of the weather you are going to experience in places other than hills and ghats.

Ampere, I find your replies in almost all threads that seek travel advices.
Kudos to you Bro!!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by CliffHanger

Since the summer has just begun, be wary of the weather you are going to experience in places other than hills and ghats.

Ampere, I find your replies in almost all threads that seek travel advices.
Kudos to you Bro!!

Thank you sir! In fact if you my previous comment, I actually said no idea about TVM. (Its that I have not driven but been there by train!)

@Neo, @CliffHanger comments are very valid about heat in those times. Not worth driving to too many places. What I can recommend is that you can stay in Madurai for about a 2 days and visit many temples nearby.

If you are in a dilemma that you will have more temples to visit than relax, you can add Thekaddy to the route and skip KK/Rameshwaram and then come back to Madurai.

[ranjitp1]

Its not worth going via Nilambur-Perinthalmana to GVR at the moment.Crowded roads,heavy traffic.Stick to NH7-NH47 combo.BLR-Thrissur would be done in 9 hours and 45 mins to GVR.The day you reach and the next night can be spent at GVR,with a visit to the elephant sanctuary a must.

Like Ampere said,GVR to Munnar via Thrissur-Angamaly is the best route.Would take you around 5 hours with all the road widening work in progress in b/w Thrissur and Angamaly.

You could easily spend 3 days in Munnar.Edasserry East End IMhO is the best place to stay in Munnar considering its within the town itself and some lovely views as well.Most of the other resorts are out of town and quite a distance from town.

In case you are inclined to see Thekkady,then you could do it as a day trip from Munnar.I would suggest that you hire a local taxi for this trip as they would help you with the boat timings/booking etc at Thekkady.While at Thekkady,you could do a lunch at Elephant Court.Its a nice one.

[ampere]

@Ranjit,

With work at Avinashi and CBE-Kerala border, would NH7/47 be better? I thought one may lose lot of time.

About the Nilambur stretch I would say that the routes around Pattambi-Perinthalmanna are bad. Thats why I was asking others if there is a work around. But one the whole I thought it would be better to take this option compared to GQ.

But then if as per what you said, if one needs to take NH7/47, then I think as we discussed some time back in the Kerala thread, it would be good to come out of 47 at Pallakkad and go via Ottapalam-Shornur-Wadakanchery (I hope I got the spelling right!)-Kunnankulam, instead of Trichur.

Here is the route link:

Bangalore to GVR

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by ampere

@Ranjit,

With work at Avinashi and CBE-Kerala border, would NH7/47 be better? I thought one may lose lot of time.

About the Nilambur stretch I would say that the routes around Pattambi-Perinthalmanna are bad. Thats why I was asking others if there is a work around. But one the whole I thought it would be better to take this option compared to GQ.

But then if as per what you said, if one needs to take NH7/47, then I think as we discussed some time back in the Kerala thread, it would be good to come out of 47 at Pallakkad and go via Ottapalam-Shornur-Wadakanchery (I hope I got the spelling right!)-Kunnankulam, instead of Trichur.

Here is the route link:

Bangalore to GVR

True on the route via Shornur,but for a non-keralite,it is going to be difficult navigating around these roads.Best would be to stick to NH47 and then onto Thrissur and GVR.Even with the 4 laning in Avinashi,Avinashi to L&T Bp wouldnt take more than 1.5 hours,which is ok I guess as compared to driving the Perinthalmanna stretch.Not to mention the heavy private bus traffic as well.

[neo45007]

Thanks Ranjit & Ampere.

I guess, I am modifying my plan like this now:-

SAT : Bangalore - Wayanad
SUN : Wayanad
Mon : Wayanad - GVyoor
Tue : GVyoor
Wed : GVyoor - Munnar
Thur : Munnar
Fri : Munnar - Thkddy - Munnar (By local taxi)
Sat : Munnar - Madurai
Sun : Madurai - Bangalore

Though; I am still not sure about following points :-
1) Is it worth visiting Wayanad & Munnar in the same trip (Aren't they similar or Are there any unique points at Wayanad) - I am not going to do any trekking or adventure at Wayanad.
2) What about route to GVyoor from Wayanad ? (Via Gudalur - Manjeri)
3) Is there any other place than Wayanad - on way to GVyoor where I can spend couple of days (leisure)?
So, Except Wayanad my plan is almost final now.
Skipping TVM, KKumari, RMSwaram.