[naveen.raju]

Had a weekend off and was bored sitting at home. Decided to drive to some place to spend the weekend. Called up my cousins to check whether they are free and then it as deciding the place. After a recent trip to few hill stations, this was definitely out of our mind. Then we decided to drive doen to Kuttalam (Courtallam). Called the resort and booked the rooms.


Left Cochin at around 11AM. Here's the route info


Cochin – Alleppey – Changanacherry – Thiruvalla – Chengannur – Adoor – Pathanapuram – Punalur – Thenmala – Shenkottai – Kuttalam


Reached by 4PM.


Total Kms – 215kms


Had lunch from Avees Hotel (Alleppey – Changanacherry road ). Good food and wide variety of seafood. I would give a 7/10 rating. Ample parking space and they had many home made products. Bought some products and left the place.


Alleppey – Changanacherry road is well laid but watch out for some HUGE potholes at few sections. Some sections were flooded thanks to the recent rains. Have attached some pics.


After Changanacherry the road is bumpy till MC road. From here the road is brilliant. Then from Adoor the road is again bumpy with patched up roads. After Punalur the road is better.


The roads are really narrow (except for MC road) so watch out for the bus drivers.


Checked in at Srishty Resorts. Decent room but horrible room service. Had booked 3 rooms and in room AC wasnt working.


Kuttalam is famous for their waterfalls. There are around 4-5 spots here famous being Main falls, Old Courtallam, Five Falls. All these spots have entry charge of 30/- valid for a day. Since our resort was near Old Courtallam, we decided to check it out after a brief halt at the resort.


This place was so crowded that we couldnt find a parking space. Spoke to the policemen and asked the best time to come for a bath and they suggested between 10PM and 6AM. Being a second Sat and most schools in TN closed, it was crowded. We decided to wait and finally found a spot to park the cars. My cousin had hard time parking his X1 and people were all staring at him. Since this place is crowded with people from all walks of life he was literally scared to leave the car. Finally convinced him and changed our dress. On reaching the falls we were shocked to see the crowd. There were cops letting people in and gave them 10 mins to take a shower. Then he blew his whistle and next set of people rushed in.


Couldnt stand some local drunk people pushing their way in. They had applied oil all over their body was literally pushing all of us in. So you dont need to apply oil. Oil will be free :-)


The best time to visit this place would be during the monsoon and that too during a weekday.


Next day it was bit fine, had gone at 6am and was relatively better. Came back to the resort and left the place at 12pm. Reached back cochin at 6pm.


Some shopping tips (especially for women)


Shenkottai – Kuttalam – Wide variety of plants(nursery)
Tirunelveli - Saree showrooms
Tenkasi – Cheap Vegetables
Shenkottai – Mangoes
Alleppey – Changanacherry road – Fish, duck


Visited all the above place and got the stuff. Wife happy and my wallet empty!


Here are some pics.


Star of the trip

[DieselLover]

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[ANUJ GEORGE]

Looks like you had a good time there in Kuttalam. How was the 6 AM dip? Not many people will try that. Is that the Alleppey - Changanachery stretch that was flooded?
If you don't mind, post some pictures of the water falls too.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by ANUJ GEORGE

Looks like you had a good time there in Kuttalam. How was the 6 AM dip? Not many people will try that. Is that the Alleppey - Changanachery stretch that was flooded?
If you don't mind, post some pictures of the water falls too.

It wasnt bad. We usually take this place every year. But it's getting crowded each year.

6AM was crowded. We had a great time after 10PM. Not many people that time. Usually, people take the local bus to reach here. So the odd time would be the best. But cops didnt like this idea since ladies had accompanied us. So they asked us to be careful.

Yes, it was the Alleppey - Changanachery stretch. It was raining when we started our trip so it was flooded at certain sections. While coming back it almost dried up but it's better to avoid this section if it's raining heavily. Another option would be the Kayamkulam route.

Sorry, didnt take the snaps of the falls since the car was parked a bit far and didnt take the cam or mobile with me. They dont have any locker facilities so kept all valuable items in the car.

I would say, as of now it aint worth going there (especially during weekends). Since the water is less, you will find the place to be crowded. Best choice would be a weekday. Then it's worth it. I didnt find this worth the weekend drive but my wife thinks the other way round since she got to shop properly

[rajeev k]

The Bavarian looks princely. Quite new, I hope.

Ever thought of carrying a boat in toe to tide through Kuttanad.

Enjoyed the snaps. Looking for more.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

The Bavarian looks princely. Quite new, I hope.

Ever thought of carrying a boat in toe to tide through Kuttanad.

Enjoyed the snaps. Looking for more.

Yep, pretty new.
Good suggestion. Maybe we can try that one too. .

That's it for the snaps from this trip. Next one coming up in july.

[figo_mba]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

After Changanacherry the road is bumpy till MC road. From here the road is brilliant. Then from Adoor the road is again bumpy with patched up roads. After Punalur the road is better.


The roads are really narrow (except for MC road) so watch out for the bus drivers.

Very nice writeup and nice pics. i think i have seen the beemer near infopark a couple of times.
Wish you had some pics of the waterfall as well(though i agree with your reasoning behind leaving the cam in the car)

Changanacherry to Adoor is also MC road but from chengannur to adoor the road surface is superb.
MC road is from angamaly to trivandrum(via kottayam) and a section from trivandrum to chengannur has good surface. With the turns and corners it is a driver's roads.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by figo_mba

Very nice writeup and nice pics. i think i have seen the beemer near infopark a couple of times.
Wish you had some pics of the waterfall as well(though i agree with your reasoning behind leaving the cam in the car)

Changanacherry to Adoor is also MC road but from chengannur to adoor the road surface is superb.
MC road is from angamaly to trivandrum(via kottayam) and a section from trivandrum to chengannur has good surface. With the turns and corners it is a driver's roads.

Thanks dude. Yes, my uncle took that stretch a couple of times. I had plans of covering this trip well on tbhp but since we had parked the car a bit far we had to leave the cam in the car.

These roads are really amazing to drive. Apart from MC road, the other sections are too bumpy. I really felt this while driving the Swift, but the beemer flew here. Indeed, a drivers road.

Alleppey - Changanachery was another good road but some very deep potholes at few sections (bang in the middle of the road) kept me from stepping on the gas. But didnt some good drives here too.

[hvkumar]

Flooding on the Sh20 looks very bad, it seems to be an annual event! I remember last year too Dr Rajesh had uploaded some photos of the flooded roads in this sector.

Which alternative route is best?
Haripad-Mavelikara-Tiruvalla? OR
Chertala-Taneermukham-Kumarakom-Kottayam?

7 months ago, when we drove Adoor-Pathanapuram-PUnalur, it was non-stop pot holes and possibly the worst-ever roads in all of Kerala, will the patched up sections will survive the monsoons?

[pradkumar]

I don't know about flooding, but when I drove on Haripad-Mavelikara-Chengannur route just before the monsoons, the roads were in good condition. Don't know whether potholes have surfaced after that. I'm based in Pune; someone who drives regularly that side would be a better judge. Even if you drive this route, stick on the Kollakadavu route and not the other road which leads you to Chengannur railway station because there is lot of flooding under the bridge before Chengannur station.

Pradeep

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Flooding on the Sh20 looks very bad, it seems to be an annual event! I remember last year too Dr Rajesh had uploaded some photos of the flooded roads in this sector.

Which alternative route is best?
Haripad-Mavelikara-Tiruvalla? OR
Chertala-Taneermukham-Kumarakom-Kottayam?

7 months ago, when we drove Adoor-Pathanapuram-PUnalur, it was non-stop pot holes and possibly the worst-ever roads in all of Kerala, will the patched up sections will survive the monsoons?

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Flooding on the Sh20 looks very bad, it seems to be an annual event! I remember last year too Dr Rajesh had uploaded some photos of the flooded roads in this sector.

Which alternative route is best?
Haripad-Mavelikara-Tiruvalla? OR
Chertala-Taneermukham-Kumarakom-Kottayam?

7 months ago, when we drove Adoor-Pathanapuram-PUnalur, it was non-stop pot holes and possibly the worst-ever roads in all of Kerala, will the patched up sections will survive the monsoons?

The flooding is at certain sections and not all. But these sections were really bad. yes, he had even uploaded few videos too.

Adoor-Pathanapuram-Punalur is still not in good shape. There are few sections with deep potholes and they just patched up the roads. It's quite bumpy and not at all comfortable.

[cooljai]

Originally Posted by pradkumar

I don't know about flooding, but when I drove on Haripad-Mavelikara-Chengannur route just before the monsoons, the roads were in good condition. stick on the Kollakadavu route and not the other road which leads you to Chengannur railway station because there is lot of flooding under the bridge before Chengannur station.

Pradeep

The route then would be Haripad-Mavelikara-Kollakadavu-Kodukulanji-Mulakkuza (No need to go to chengannur)- MC Road- Adur.
Travelled this route last week and the roads are in excellent condition.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Which alternative route is best?
Haripad-Mavelikara-Tiruvalla?
Do not turn to Mavelikkara from Haripad, instead proceed further from Haripad to Kayamkulam and take KP Road(Kayamkulam Punalur Road) which is now SH-6
OR
Chertala-Taneermukham-Kumarakom-Kottayam?
To reach Kottayam from Kochi proceed via Thripunithura, Thalayolaparambu where the roads are quite good. But beyond till Chengannur road is very much bumpy.
7 months ago, when we drove Adoor-Pathanapuram-PUnalur, it was non-stop pot holes and possibly the worst-ever roads in all of Kerala, will the patched up sections will survive the monsoons?
I did this stretch a month ago and is very bad seing which made me confirm more than once that I have not lost way.

Originally Posted by cooljai

The route then would be Haripad-Mavelikara-Kollakadavu-Kodukulanji-Mulakkuza (No need to go to chengannur)- MC Road- Adur.
Travelled this route last week and the roads are in excellent condition.

To reach Adoor, via Kayamkulam through KP Road is the better option.

[rajeev k]

For going from Kochi to Kottayam a link road bypassing Tripunithura has been thrown open to traffic from June 5th. This link termed Tripunithura mini bypass considerably reduces traveling time (from city to Kottayam) if not distance, as a congested Vytilla Tripunuthura stretch can be avoided. This has been facilitated by the construction of a bridge, which would be at a toll, going by the completed construction of the toll booth. When made effective, the maximum toll may not exceed Rs 3.00 one way and Rs 4.50 for both ways.

To traverse this link, proceed in Trivandrum direction from Vytilla through the Cochin bypass and turn left at the next intersection, the Kundannoor junction, just before Hotel Le Meridian. The turn right, some distance after Nexus mall and you are into the link which takes you to the Kottayam road, after Tripunithura.

See the pictures of the bridge.

[figo_mba]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

For going from Kochi to Kottayam a link road bypassing Tripunithura has been thrown open to traffic from June 5th. This link termed Tripunithura mini bypass considerably reduces traveling time (from city to Kottayam) if not distance, as a congested Vytilla Tripunuthura stretch can be avoided. This has been facilitated by the construction of a bridge, which would be at a toll, going by the completed construction of the toll booth. When made effective, the maximum toll may not exceed Rs 3.00 one way and Rs 4.50 for both ways.

To traverse this link, proceed in Trivandrum direction from Vytilla through the Cochin bypass and turn left at the next intersection, the Kundannoor junction, just before Hotel Le Meridian. The turn right, some distance after Nexus mall and you are into the link which takes you to the Kottayam road, after Tripunithura.

See the pictures of the bridge.

You must be talking about the parallel bridge to Old Iron Bridge.
And yeah GUess you meant the Abad Nucleus Mall (No Nexus Mall here for now )