[Mohan Mathew A]

Hi

I am planning to go to velankanni end of this month/early next month. Will be really gratefull if fellow Bhpians can suggest the best route to travel from Kottayam to velankanni and back. Also suggested places where i can stay in thrichy or tanjavur.

I current plan to take kanjirapally, kumily, cumbum, theni, dindigul, trichy. stay at trichy and then proceed to velankanni the next day via thanjavur and and return to trichy. stay there and come back the next day. since i have 2 small kids i am taking a relaxed schedule as i don't want to tire them.

any suggestions on the route, road conditions, fuel stations, decent places to stay or any other useful tip will be highly appreciated.

thanks in advance

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

I current plan to take kanjirapally, kumily, cumbum, theni, dindigul, trichy. stay at trichy and then proceed to velankanni the next day via thanjavur and and return to trichy. stay there and come back the next day. since i have 2 small kids i am taking a relaxed schedule as i don't want to tire them.

any suggestions on the route, road conditions, fuel stations, decent places to stay or any other useful tip will be highly appreciated.

Its one straight route which you suggested. Good to very good roads all the way. Trichy the best place is Royal Southern. Very good place. Not sure about Tanjore.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its one straight route which you suggested. Good to very good roads all the way. Trichy the best place is Royal Southern. Very good place. Not sure about Tanjore.

thanks ampere. good to know that the roads are good. i was worried about that. i will check out the hotel. thanks for the tip

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

thanks ampere. good to know that the roads are good. i was worried about that. i will check out the hotel. thanks for the tip

Royal Southern is basically from the SRM group. The same guys who own the university. In Trichy they also run a hotel management institute. The staff of this hotel directly is mostly hired from there !

Amazing place. I was there some 3-4 years back. For such size and space, I am sure metros would charge way more than that !

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

any suggestions on the ... decent places to stay or any other useful tip will be highly appreciated.

Just in case you want to have some more options, you can consider staying at Thanjavur which is ~100Km from Velankanni. The thread on accomodation has recommendations for hotels in thanjavur as well like Hotel Gnanam, PLA Residency, Hotel Raya's (kumbakonam) - see here
@Amp - any idea how is Hotel Ramya's in Trichy, had been there several years ago and it used to be very good then.

[JohnnyBoss]

The route you're proposing is the shortest direct route from Kottayam and barring some widening works in progress on Theni - Dindigul sector, the road conditions are good.

I'd suggest you stretch your drive upto Tanjavur, so the next day's drive will be shorter by about 60 kms. The Malayalam Mass is at 9 am so you need to start really early. You can stay at Trichy on return journey, if you prefer so.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by ampere

Royal Southern is basically from the SRM group. The same guys who own the university. In Trichy they also run a hotel management institute. The staff of this hotel directly is mostly hired from there !

Amazing place. I was there some 3-4 years back. For such size and space, I am sure metros would charge way more than that !

i checked it online. looks a nice place. i am yet to decide between trichy and tanjavur

Originally Posted by NPV

Just in case you want to have some more options, you can consider staying at Thanjavur which is ~100Km from Velankanni. The thread on accomodation has recommendations for hotels in thanjavur as well like Hotel Gnanam, PLA Residency, Hotel Raya's (kumbakonam) - see here
@Amp - any idea how is Hotel Ramya's in Trichy, had been there several years ago and it used to be very good then.

thanks for pointing me to the thread. i am still figuring out how to find trichy and tanjavur from it as it is really a long thread. i will check on the hotels you mentioned

Originally Posted by JohnnyBoss

The route you're proposing is the shortest direct route from Kottayam and barring some widening works in progress on Theni - Dindigul sector, the road conditions are good.

I'd suggest you stretch your drive upto Tanjavur, so the next day's drive will be shorter by about 60 kms. The Malayalam Mass is at 9 am so you need to start really early. You can stay at Trichy on return journey, if you prefer so.

thanks for the mass timing. so i probably will have to then stay at tanjavur. i assume 2 hours should be sufficient to reach velankanni from tanjavur

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

i assume 2 hours should be sufficient to reach velankanni from tanjavur

IIRC, the road between Nagapatanam and Velankanni was narrow when I drove few years back. Also, it should be too hot there even during morning hours.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

thanks for pointing me to the thread. i am still figuring out how to find trichy and tanjavur from it as it is really a long thread. i will check on the hotels you mentioned

I think these are the ones recommended by members (direct links to the posts):
At Kumbakonam
Others
Gnanam and PLA Residency
Also, found one for Velankanni - Hotel Clinton

Every thread has a "Search this Thread" feature - use that to search. For your need search for keywords "thanjavur" and "tanjore" and you will get the results

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by NPV

@Amp - any idea how is Hotel Ramya's in Trichy, had been there several years ago and it used to be very good then.

Hotel Ramya is still a good budget option in Trichy. Sangam and Jenny are the top options - but rather on the expensive side

[JohnnyBoss]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

thanks for the mass timing. so i probably will have to then stay at tanjavur. i assume 2 hours should be sufficient to reach velankanni from tanjavur

Better start by 6 am. If you're too early to reach and have enough time, then follow the Way of Cross upto St. Mary's Pond and return by the time of mass. You can also escape from the scorching heat, if it is planned to be done after the mass.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by NPV

I think these are the ones recommended by members (direct links to the posts):
At Kumbakonam
Others
Gnanam and PLA Residency
Also, found one for Velankanni - Hotel Clinton

Every thread has a "Search this Thread" feature - use that to search. For your need search for keywords "thanjavur" and "tanjore" and you will get the results

thanks NPV. I didn't know about the search the thread function although i was wishing there was one. As you can see from my status i am newbie. thanks for the tip

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

Hotel Ramya is still a good budget option in Trichy. Sangam and Jenny are the top options - but rather on the expensive side

i am still undecided about where to halt. i don't want to spend lot of money as we are primarily looking at it to only rest. left alone to me i would have driven all the way to velankanni and returned the next day but there has been too many accident among known people so family is not letting plus the kids will probably tire. Does the road have divider in most areas. I know upto kumily there are none

Originally Posted by JohnnyBoss

Better start by 6 am. If you're too early to reach and have enough time, then follow the Way of Cross upto St. Mary's Pond and return by the time of mass. You can also escape from the scorching heat, if it is planned to be done after the mass.

I am not sure way of the cross is on the agenda. is it a long route for the way of the cross as carrying the kids won't be easy

[JohnnyBoss]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

I am not sure way of the cross is on the agenda. is it a long route for the way of the cross as carrying the kids won't be easy

No, its not the typical Way of Cross atop a hillock. It is on flat land and would take hardly 30 minutes with stopping at all 14 stations. Kids can walk as its a paved way.

[Mohan Mathew A]

I went on the velankanni trip as planned on the 2nd of april and decided to go straight to velankanni instead of staying at trichy or tanjore. I stayed at clinton park in velankanni. It is a decent hotel but slightly over priced for what is offered. The next day instead of returning directly we went to pondicherry from velankanni. The roads are not that good and finally after a couple of days in pondicherry we started in the morning and reached back in the afternoon. Thanks JohnnyBoss,mallumowgli,NPV,ampere & coolclouds for all the tips. Total distance was around 1500 km (including local travel) and went in a swift VDi

[JohnnyBoss]

Welcome, Mohan...
BTW, by which route you returned from Pondicherry?