[luvurride]

Originally Posted by ampere

http://www.nijagunaresidency.com

at Chamarajanagar. Thanks to Karthik for finding this.

My 2 cents on this place -

It is pretty decent as a family dining option with sprawling space, children play area, etc. But the food and service were a let down.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by luvurride

My 2 cents on this place -

It is pretty decent as a family dining option with sprawling space, children play area, etc. But the food and service were a let down.

Thanks for that feedback.As you say, a place with decent parking, good rest rooms is the first priority. At least there is no a decent hotel on this highway.

But what I wonder is why they have chosen Chamarajanagar for this place?
Is it more like a city hotel which is used by highway folks?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thanks for that feedback.As you say, a place with decent parking, good rest rooms is the first priority. At least there is no a decent hotel on this highway.

But what I wonder is why they have chosen Chamarajanagar for this place?
Is it more like a city hotel which is used by highway folks?

As others have mentioned, the food is just ok, nothing great, we stopped for breakfast once. But the place is big, good ambience, clean rest rooms and has a good play area for kids (the only one to offer all these on this route).
From what the folks at the reception told me, they cater mainly to tourists who wish to visit Bandipur, BR Hills, K Gudi, etc since this place is quite nicely located for visits. Also, the tariffs were not very high from what I remember, and rooms were good too (did a quick survey ).

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by ampere

But what I wonder is why they have chosen Chamarajanagar for this place?
Is it more like a city hotel which is used by highway folks?

Originally Posted by NPV

From what the folks at the reception told me, they cater mainly to tourists who wish to visit Bandipur, BR Hills, K Gudi, etc.

Tourism is one thing, the other is that Chamarajnagar and Kollegal are one of the important rice market hubs for South India. Wholesalers from all over come here to buy. Nijaguna also tries to capitalize on that potential as there has not been a single decent hotel in the area till date.

[ravib]

I am planning to take NH209 from B'lore to CBE this weekend.

Can some one throw lights whether any Bharat Petroleum (BP) COCO pumps are available in NH209?

Thanks
-Ravi

[kala]

Originally Posted by ravib

I am planning to take NH209 from B'lore to CBE this weekend.

Can some one throw lights whether any Bharat Petroleum (BP) COCO pumps are available in NH209?

Can't recall seeing any COCO outlets on that route - not only that of BP but of any other company either.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ravib

Can some one throw lights whether any Bharat Petroleum (BP) COCO pumps are available in NH209?

Originally Posted by kala

Can't recall seeing any COCO outlets on that route - not only that of BP but of any other company either.

Are'nt there any decent ones even in Chamarajanagar? I though the town should have something decent. I remember we filled at Kollegal once. Dont remember which bunk was that. However it was decent.

[kala]

Originally Posted by ampere

Are'nt there any decent ones even in Chamarajanagar? I though the town should have something decent. I remember we filled at Kollegal once. Dont remember which bunk was that. However it was decent.

Almost all towns (and many bigger villages) do have petrol bunks - but it's just that I don't recall seeing any Company owned/operated outlets. I have used some of these in the past, but generally fill up only small quantities since it is cheaper to tank up in Kerala - so don't know much about the reliability of any of these.

[jraj]

Anyone took the Sathy-Anthiyur-Athaani-Mettur-Thoppur route recently?
How are the road conditions?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by jraj

Anyone took the Sathy-Anthiyur-Athaani-Mettur-Thoppur route recently?
How are the road conditions?

Dont know about the Sathy-Mettur route status, but if you need to take this route, I would suggest : Sathy-Athani-Bhavani-Salem-Thoppur.
You get lots of 4-lane drive.


Mettur-Mecheri-Thoppur road is good, but expect lots of truck traffic.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by ampere

I remember we filled at Kollegal once. Dont remember which bunk was that. However it was decent.

Was it a HP bunk just at the road junction where you take a right to CH Nagar?

Fuel quality was good there, but they tried the short fueling trick on me there.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Was it a HP bunk just at the road junction where you take a right to CH Nagar?

Fuel quality was good there, but they tried the short fueling trick on me there.

I think it was a BP bunk. The location was very close to where the SH to Mettur exits. (Location)

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by jraj

Anyone took the Sathy-Anthiyur-Athaani-Mettur-Thoppur route recently?
How are the road conditions?

The route is actually Sathy-Athani-Anthiyur-Ammapettai-Mettur-Thoppur. I have traveled in this route almost 6 months back, but it was pretty neatly tarred. I do not expect much damages would've happened in the interim. So it should be good to try.

[jraj]

Originally Posted by luvurride

The route is actually Sathy-Athani-Anthiyur-Ammapettai-Mettur-Thoppur. I have traveled in this route almost 6 months back, but it was pretty neatly tarred. I do not expect much damages would've happened in the interim. So it should be good to try.

Thanks - used to do this route almost every week for Coimbatore Chennai travel until I relocated 3 years back.

This time did the Annur- Avinashi route.Started from home in Gandhipuram coimbatore at 10:30 and reached HSR layout at 16:30.The roadwork beyond krishnagiri was such a pain.Hope they complete the work soon

[ravib]

Last weekend did a trip to BLR-Coimbatore-Marudhamalai-Isha Dhyanalingam-Pollachi-TopSlip-Valparai-BLR.

Took NH209 from BLR-CBE. Was at Silkboard at 9 am in the morning and reached CBE Ganapathy Annapoorna restaurant at 2:45 pm, which included about 1 hour break for kid. Roads are good throughout and was surprised to see i got more mileage (2 kmpl) than what i usually get in 4L, mainly due to driving between 80 to 100 all throughout i guess. I actually expected lesser mileage due to ghat road driving, 2L and villages, but it was the other way.

Nijaguna residency in chamrajnagar is a good breakpoint with clean rest rooms.

In Pollachi, stayed in Sakthi Hotels (in Pollachi-Kovai main road itself) which had neat rooms with clean toilets, for a decent price that is affordable & not very expensive.
For veg food, tried Hotel Amutha surabi which is about 100 meters from Sakthi hotels and is very good. Also tried Hotel Gokul Krishna which is again another 100 meters from Amutha surabi ( where you take left towards palladam road) which is also decent enough.

Road condition from Pollachi-Sethumadai is good, but from sethu madai to TopSlip, roads are in very bad condition. Elephant safari in top slip is a very good experience, but it makes sense to go to top slip for night stay to see animals rather than in day time. May not be ideal for a family trip to stay overnight for few, due to lack of facilities, but in a forest, it is unreasonable to expect when you venture out to view wild life. Basic facilities are there, which is good enough.

Also visited masani amman temple in Anaimalai in return journey from top slip. They have renovated the temple well now.

Pollachi-Valparai are discussed in detail in Valparai thread, so i am not mentioning anything about it here in this thread.

-Ravi