[sbraj]

Originally Posted by ampere

I am also OK with meals. Only problem is that at many places you cant sit next to a guy biting his non-veg delicacy in all glory! Your own hunger subsides seeing such a spectacle.

This hotel in Tirunelveli is a non veg one. And almost everyone was having non veg.

Originally Posted by ampere

In such cases, I prefer to pack the food drive out of the town and have it under the cool shade of a tree.

Unpacking a meal? All those small covers? By the time I unpack, my hunger will be gone.

Yes, curd rice/pongal/puliyogere/fried rice/noodles are better options if food is getting packed.

Originally Posted by ampere

The only thing you miss out under such cases are rest-rooms.

Rest rooms were ok. Even if one is getting the food packed, rest rooms can be used. I don't think the hotel would have issues there.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by ampere

Glad to note that there is a A2B between Madurai and Dindigul! Thanks for that info.
This seems like a ideal lunch stop !

Take note that this is not a A2B, but branded as Ghar Dhaba.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sbraj

Take note that this is not a A2B, but branded as Ghar Dhaba.

That confusion of mine got cleared in the other thread on Bombay-BLR.
It seems all hotels at BP are called Ghar-Dhaba.

Just that two of them on NH7 are A2Bs.

[phantom76]

I took the Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Salem-Madurai-Tirunelveli route to reach Nagercoil this weekend. The road is just amazing. What took 14 hours once now takes less than 9 hours (Approximately 630 Kms). If you are proceeding towards Trivandrum, the traffic slows down a lot after Nagercoil.

When you are driving in 4 lane sections in the night, just watch out for people trying to cross the roads or some headless two wheeler drivers coming in the opposite direction.

One other thing to note is that there are not many good restaurants after Madurai.

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by ampere

That confusion of mine got cleared in the other thread on Bombay-BLR.
It seems all hotels at BP are called Ghar-Dhaba.

Just that two of them on NH7 are A2Bs.

There is an A2B near Karur Bus stand. It is probably a km off the highway, not too difficult to reach most times.

[Iluvcars]

Any one knows a decent restaurant (in terms of ambiance, hygiene and taste of food) in / around Madurai, preferably not far off from the Salem-Tirunelveli route for lunch? Veg preferred but non-veg is not a problem.
Help appreciated!

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by Iluvcars

Any one knows a decent restaurant (in terms of ambiance, hygiene and taste of food) in / around Madurai, preferably not far off from the Salem-Tirunelveli route for lunch? Veg preferred but non-veg is not a problem.
Help appreciated!

I had breakfast at Hotel Saravanas. They have a air conditioned dining hall which was neat and service was ok. Food quality was good. It is a pure vegetarian hotel. I stuck to the local cuisine (idli/pongal). My suggestion would be not to try North Indian or Chinese stuff. Instead, stick to meals which would be fresh and hot.

On NH7, as one approaches Madurai, at Samayanallur junction, road diverts left towards Madurai city and straight for Tirunelveli. Take the left, proceed further for ~5KM towards Madurai city and on the right side, this hotel would be seen.

One can return back on the same route to reach NH7 and proceed to Tirunelveli.

[robimahanta]

Planning a road trip from bangalore to trivandrum on 18th. I have decided to take the bangalore-krishnagiri-salem-karur-dindigul-madurai-tirunelveli-nagercoil-trivandrum.

Any pointers would be highly appreciated.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by robimahanta

Planning a road trip from bangalore to trivandrum on 18th. I have decided to take the bangalore-krishnagiri-salem-karur-dindigul-madurai-tirunelveli-nagercoil-trivandrum.

Any pointers would be highly appreciated.

Nagarcoil- Trivendrum can be highly conjusted and slow at times, I would suggest taking Tenkasi route it is good. Though the name is hill highway but hills are really tame and easier to drive then on NH47. I have done only once but my experience on NH47 was not good . It passes through many small towns and I encountered 3-4 traffic jams lasting for 30 mts to 1 hour but that was around new year holidays so may be things are different normally.

Try
BLR -> Salem -> Madurai ->Thirumangalam-> Tenkasi -> Thenmala -> Kulathupuzha -> Palode -> TVM.

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Nagarcoil- Trivendrum can be highly conjusted and slow at times, I would suggest taking Tenkasi route it is good.
Try
BLR -> Salem -> Madurai ->Thirumangalam-> Tenkasi -> Thenmala -> Kulathupuzha -> Palode -> TVM.

NH47 between Nagercoil - TVM is a joke of a highway. 70kms on this road can take approximately 2 hrs on a good day and close to 3/3.5 hrs if you are there at the wrong time.

I have not used the Tenkasi route, but upto Valliyoor, this other route is a breeze and even after that and upto Nagercoil, the roads are good.
If you can avoid the peak times (8 AM to 11 AM and 6 PM to 10 PM) when you enter TVM, it should be okay.
Once you cross valliyoor, you should stop treating this as a Highway and drive accordingly!
Some Private Volvo buses do this BLR-TVM route in 12 Hrs approximately.

amitk26,
Any idea how long ( distance, time) the other route is from Madurai to TVM. ( Madurai ->Thirumangalam-> Tenkasi -> Thenmala -> Kulathupuzha -> Palode -> TVM)

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by robimahanta

Planning a road trip from bangalore to trivandrum on 18th. I have decided to take the bangalore-krishnagiri-salem-karur-dindigul-madurai-tirunelveli-nagercoil-trivandrum.

Any pointers would be highly appreciated.

Drove from BLR to TVM on last Friday and came back on Sunday.

Route was via Salem-Madurai-Tirunelveli-Nagercoil-TVM (NH7-NH47B-NH47). Total distance was 741 KM.

From Bangalore, early morning start at 3:45AM. Reached TVM at 4:15PM with stoppages for 2 hours and drive time of 10:30 hours.

Took the same route back from TVM, started on Sunday morning at 9AM. Reached BLR at 10PM. Drive time of 11:20 hours.

Both journeys on the Nagercovil-TVM stretch took 2:15 hours for me. I crossed this stretch during 2-4PM on a working day and 9-11AM on a Sunday.

I have driven on both Tenkasi route and Nagercoil route. As Tenkasi route has considerable ghat section with twists and turns, I prefer the Nagercoil route. NH7 till Mahendragiri is a bliss.

Heard from a friend about the route from TVM to NH7 bypassing Nagercoil. Route was TVM-Kaattakada-Vellarada-Kulasekharam-Aralvaimozhi. Anyone has info on the road condition? This friend took me till Kulasekharam, but beyond that we could not figure out the routes. The locals gave conflicting directions and we ended up on NH47 at Thuckalay.

Total distance via Tenkasi would be 705 KM.

[gkrishk]

Originally Posted by robimahanta

Planning a road trip from bangalore to trivandrum on 18th. I have decided to take the bangalore-krishnagiri-salem-karur-dindigul-madurai-tirunelveli-nagercoil-trivandrum.

Any pointers would be highly appreciated.

using this route from Pallapatti to Thirumangalam avoids the traffic in and around Madurai which can be quite a pain and takes up some time. The turning for Pallapatti is not well signposted but the road goes under a railway overbridge as the railway line runs parallel to the road for some distance at this place. Likewise since all the small towns along NH7 are bypassed it may be difficult to find the turning for Thirumangalam when coming from the south but it is marked as a service road (I travelled this route in May).

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by ampere

It seems all hotels at BP are called Ghar-Dhaba.

Ghar Dhaba before Madurai is at a place called Vadipatti. This is roughly 420 KM from BLR and 25 KM before the Samayanallur diversion.

Originally Posted by gkrishk

Likewise since all the small towns along NH7 are bypassed it may be difficult to find the turning for Thirumangalam when coming from the south but it is marked as a service road

While approaching Madurai from Karur, first is the Ghar Dhaba on the right at Vadipatti. Then comes the railway overbridge at Samayanallur junction. Here the left diversion takes one to Madurai city while the straight road continues on NH7 to Tirumangalam. Immediately after Tirumangalam, a service road on left with signages for Rajapalayam, Courtallam and Kollam is the diversion to NH208 towards Rajapalayam-Tenkasi.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

Any idea how long ( distance, time) the other route is from Madurai to TVM. ( Madurai ->Thirumangalam-> Tenkasi -> Thenmala -> Kulathupuzha -> Palode -> TVM)

i did this in around 11.5 hours with 2-3 breaks in between , This was in Dec 2009.

[robimahanta]

Thanks a lot for the help sbraj and gkris for all the help.

While coming back i'm planning to get back to BLR via Ernakulam, so which will be the ideal route? i would also like to tell you that i don't know Tamil/Malyali so would like a safe route with good roads even if its longer.