[shashi792]

I am planning to drive to Varkala this Thursday and returning back on Sunday. I will be using my Harrier.

What I have in my mind is:
Onward:
Bangalore - Salem - Madurai - Tenkasi - Varkala

Return
Varkala- Coimbatore - Bangalore.

I will be the only driver. Can you suggest some route options and some not-to-miss things. I plan to stay at IHC at Varkala

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by shashi792

Return
Varkala- Coimbatore - Bangalore.

Coimbatore as in through Kerala?

Avoid!!! Unless you really want to visit some places in Alappuzha or Ernakulam.

Even for adventure, the ongoing NH66 construction will make progress real slow and bypassing Coimbatore will rake in almost same toll amount as going through Tirunelveli- Madurai- Bengaluru route.

[shashi792]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Coimbatore as in through Kerala?

Avoid!!! Unless you really want to visit some places in Alappuzha or Ernakulam.

Even for adventure, the ongoing NH66 construction will make progress real slow and bypassing Coimbatore will rake in almost same toll amount as going through Tirunelveli- Madurai- Bengaluru route.

What route do you suggest for the return ?. I am just travelling back to Bangalore (no intention of visiting Alappuzha or Ernakulam).

Also, how is the drive between Tenkasi and Varkala post sunset & is this even the right route to reach Varkala ?.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by shashi792

What route do you suggest for the return ?. I am just travelling back to Bangalore (no intention of visiting Alappuzha or Ernakulam).

For return you can take Varkala - Nagercoil (If you have time, you can cover Kanyakumari) - Bangalore. This route will be quicker than Tenkasi route.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by shashi792

What route do you suggest for the return ?. I am just travelling back to Bangalore (no intention of visiting Alappuzha or Ernakulam).

Also, how is the drive between Tenkasi and Varkala post sunset & is this even the right route to reach Varkala ?.

If you are planning for post sunset in the Tenkasi-Varkala route, would say to avoid it. The only reason I would prefer the Tenkasi-Thenmala route is that it would be scenic during daytime and a one time try for your journey. Then again, there are widening constructions going on in the Tenkasi-Kollam stretch and the villages enroute would be a hassle.

For return, just take the NH66 from Varkala till Nagercoil (the new four lane highway is only till KL-TN border, after that it is the old pre independence road till Nagercoil), get on the Nagercoil bypass(NH47B) till you get on NH44. Take the NH44 straight to Bengaluru. And you can surely squeeze in Kanyakumari too. The extra ~100kms taken for this route would be worth the piece of mind and safety.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post5646709 (Trivandrum to Bangalore : Route Queries)

Check this thread for latest updates.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by shashi792

I will be the only driver. Can you suggest some route options and some not-to-miss things. I plan to stay at IHC at Varkala

Do not take Varkala - Coimbatore - Bangalore. Alleppey to Cochin is dreadful due to the elevated highway construction and not to mention Cochin - Thrissur traffic during peak hours. Avoid it!

As for things to do at Varkala, if you are a foodie then it's all set. Park the car in the helipad, walk on the cliff and explore the restaurants. Abba, Darjeeling cafe (renovated), Caffe Italiano, Cafe Del Mar are couple of popular ones.

Then of course you have the beach (They might restrict entry to the water here and it's a long walk down the cliff so try beaches on the other side of the cliff (black sand, odayam beach).

There's an aquarium on the end of the cliff. Nothing great, but a break from food and it's empty most of the time (empty as in visitors and not the tanks).

[shashi792]

Thanks @naveen.raju, @DicKy, @arun_josie.

I completed a total 1700km in 4 days. Like most of you guys had suggested, I took the Bangalore-Madurai-Nagercoil (actually continued to Kanyakumari) and stayed there for the night.

Next day early morning, I started form Kanyakumari to Varkala. This is when I realised how good that highway the previous day was.

On return, I drove from Varkala -> Jatayu Earth Center -> Tenkasi.
The road from Tenkasi to Madurai is not good goes through a lot of villages & towns. After travelling for half an hour, I decided to take a different route and reach the Madurai-Kanyakumari highway. I took a detour towards Sankarankoli and reached Kovilpatti but that extra effort was worth when I reached the highway.

[Awaz]

Hey Folks,
My itinerary requires me to travel from Varkala to Mysuru later this month. What are my route options considering NH66 construction cautions ?

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by shashi792

Thanks @naveen.raju, @DicKy, @arun_josie.

I completed a total 1700km in 4 days. Like most of you guys had suggested, I took the Bangalore-Madurai-Nagercoil (actually continued to Kanyakumari) and stayed there for the night.

Next day early morning, I started form Kanyakumari to Varkala. This is when I realised how good that highway the previous day was.

On return, I drove from Varkala -> Jatayu Earth Center -> Tenkasi.
The road from Tenkasi to Madurai is not good goes through a lot of villages & towns. After travelling for half an hour, I decided to take a different route and reach the Madurai-Kanyakumari highway. I took a detour towards Sankarankoli and reached Kovilpatti but that extra effort was worth when I reached the highway.

Hi Shashi,

Could you recommend routes for Blr Varkala from your experience. In addition things to do in varkala and kanyakumari will help.

Also does it get tiring driving solo and how is the traffic?

Thanks

[shashi792]

If you are planning to visit kanyakumari and varkala, I would suggest you do the Bangalore Kanyakumari strech. This is BLR - SALEM -MADURAI - NAGERCOIL - KANYAKUMARI. This strech can be done in 8/9 hours with breaks in between. Start Early to escape the Bangalore Salem strech. Once you cross Madurai and beyond it's very less traffic.

Yes you can do it solo driving and with breaks (breakfast, lunch, tea) and still go out to watch sunset near kanyakumari.

One day is more than enough for kanyakumari. From kanyakumari, the road to varkala is mostly dual carriage way (even though it's less in terms of kms, it's a bit tiring).

Varkala is mostly relaxed beach place. Nice cafes. But again two days is more than enough.

[HighOnSpeed]

Originally Posted by shashi792

If you are planning to visit kanyakumari and varkala, I would suggest you do the Bangalore Kanyakumari strech. This is BLR - SALEM -MADURAI - NAGERCOIL - KANYAKUMARI. This strech can be done in 8/9 hours with breaks in between.

I was planning on taking this route to Varkala as well. I did the same route 2.5 years ago when I was driving back to BLR from Poovar and I noticed they were installing numerous speed traps between Madurai-Nagarcoil. Do you happen to know if they are functional now?

PS: I got flagged by a speed trap near Poovar on my last visit for doing 10kmph over the limit(40 in a 30 km/h section) and had to pay a hefty fine of 3K! So anyone planning to do this route, be cautious!

[maddy42]

Thanks to the feedback from Shashi i was able to do the round trip from Bengaluru - Hosur - Salem - Madurai - Kanyakumari in about 10 hours. Started at around 6.30 am, was able to have breakfast near dharmapuri Saravana bhavan at the toll booth.

Finding a spot for lunch after Madurai was a pain as every hotel needed us to exit the highway. Finally found a Saravana Bhavan about 2 hours away from Kanyakumari to have some meals.

Reached Kanyakumari at around 4 and was able to get to see the sunset and the temple.


The Kanyakumari - Nagercoil - Varkala stretch was terrible to say the least. I believe Google Mama made us drive through fully crater roads and we were able to reach Trivandrum with a little stretch of the NH 66 to throw as a compensation.

Trivandrum - Varkala was 5 kms of Highway followed by 35 mins of kerala town roads.

Return - Should have listened and maybe taken the Varkala - Nagercoil stretch.
But took Varkala - Thenmala - Tenkasi - Kovilpatti where we met the NH 44. This stretch will give you a average speed of 40 with aggressive driving.

Kovilpatti to Salem was covered with very good time. Post salem the traffic increased.

Near Dharmapuri - Google mama took us on NH 844 which is not ready at a more then 50% of the places and we had to take all sorts of detours and town roads to reach NH 44 at hosur again.

Hosur and Bengaluru traffic is one and the same. Trucks were all over in all lanes at 8pm and we crawled our way back to Blr by 9.40pm.

12 hour 40 mins of total journey time with breaks. This was achievable due to my better halfs contribution between kovilpatti to Salem.

Originally Posted by HighOnSpeed

PS: I got flagged by a speed trap near Poovar on my last visit for doing 10kmph over the limit(40 in a 30 km/h section) and had to pay a hefty fine of 3K! So anyone planning to do this route, be cautious!

We did see a lot of these speed cameras but got to wait a couple of days to see the result of it.

There was a cop flagging random vehicles down at a toll plaza between Madurai and salem on the way back, but thankfully my wife was driving so he didnt stop us for some sympathy or maybe Saar Ladies Saar.

[automash]

Originally Posted by maddy42

We did see a lot of these speed cameras but got to wait a couple of days to see the result of it.

There was a cop flagging random vehicles down at a toll plaza between Madurai and salem on the way back, but thankfully my wife was driving so he didnt stop us for some sympathy or maybe Saar Ladies Saar.

Any updates on the speed cameras? Did you trigger any ?

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by automash

Any updates on the speed cameras? Did you trigger any ?

Sorry for the late update. I have not received any notification yet so fingers crossed none was triggered.

One observation is every state and sometimes every road has a different link to check for Challans. This should be streamlined for ease of both checking and payments.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by automash

Any updates on the speed cameras? Did you trigger any ?

Originally Posted by maddy42

Sorry for the late update. I have not received any notification yet so fingers crossed none was triggered.

One observation is every state and sometimes every road has a different link to check for Challans. This should be streamlined for ease of both checking and payments.

As of now, it looks like they will just display the speeds one does, in red if it is over the limit and green if it is under the limit.

Haven't started issuing fines. Haa..., that stretch used to be quench some maniac speed thirsts.

But truly wish they have some sensible speed limits like 100 or 120km/h that the stretch deserves. 80km/h is just horrible in that stretch. Even the narrower, more traffic dense Kerala highways have a sensible 80-90km/h limit. Why shouldn't the much more wider and desolate south TN highways have more sensible ones.

Guess the authorities are aware of that, hence why they are not issuing fines now.