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Anyone done the Nilambur-Gudalur - Gundulpet- Mysore stretch recently? Will be going tomorrow from Kottayam in an I10 Sportz. Just checking if I should change the route if the road conditions are bad in large stretches.

How does this route from Bangalore to cochin look like?
Bangalore-> Mysore->Gudalur->Nilambur->wadakkanchery->thrissur
Bangalore, Karnataka, India to Aluva, Kerala, India - Google Maps

I am starting at 4am tomorrow. Would I save some time if I took this route instead of the normal hosur-salem-CBE-palakkad route?

EDIT: Same query as @coolclouds posted. Can someone share the road condition?

If you are directly going to Kottayam, suggest you to take Salem, Dindigul, Theni, Kumily KK road route. Excellent roads till Dindigul, good surface (with short diversions for widening) till Kumily and excellent roads aftewards all the way till Kottayam. Nilambur route will increase the time spend inside Kerala and thereby cause significant delay, especially during day time.

The most important tip when driving to Kerala is to avoid being inside Kerala as much as possible. This is not because of bad roads, but because of high traffic density and two lane undivided roads in most places.

Thanks but I am starting from Kottayam.

Nilambur route would ofcourse add up time as opposed to the 4 laned NH7 route via Dindigul from Kottayam.If you must take the Nilambur route,route is good no issues with road conditions.Expect dense traffic till you exit Vazhikadavu.After that expect a traffic mess inside Gudalur town.Beyond that not much problems.Plenty of wayside facilities all along the route and ofcourse a very scenic drive.

Road conditions are good.No great savings in time.Both the routes would take you approximately 7-8hours to reach Thrissur depending on traffic conditions inside Kerala.Just that this route is not as boring as the NH7-NH47 combo plus wayside facilities are plenty on this route,plus the NH47 has again begun to break up between Vadakkencheri and Mannuthy.So overall I would suggest take the Nilambur route.

4am departure via this route would mean you would be able to cross Mysore by 630.You should be at Gundulpet by 730-8.You can stop for breakfast at Jungle Lodges Gundulpet.From there to Gudalur would take you another hour.From Nilambur to Thrissur should take you around 4hours via Wadakancheri.To avoid Wadakancheri railway gate I would suggest that you take this route.Completely avoids the railway gate and rejoins the Shoranur-Thrissur road before Athani.Its not as complicated as it looks in the map. SH 22 to Athani Junction, SH 22, Kerala, India - Google Maps

From Thrissur to NH47 I would suggest the following route,via Jubilee Mission Medical College.Completely avoids Thrissur town and the swaraj round.

Viyyoor Police Station to Chalakudy, Kerala, India - Google Maps

You could stop for lunch either at Nakshatra Regency at Koppam(it would be on your left side after Koppam town)or else at Samudra Regency at Kulappully(after Pattambi-approx 10kms from Pattambi,go 200 metres on the road towards Ottapalam and you would see it to your right)Samudra Regency

Thanks I am considering this route only from the scenic viewpoint and I was just checking the Dindigul since it was mentioned, looks like it adds up to a lot of extra kilometers?

Reached Kochi today morning. There were huge traffic jam at Walayar around 3am.

Noticed most of the vehicles avoid Trichur toll gate by taking parallel road. The vehicles coming from Ernakulam direction takes a U turn just 100 meters before the toll gate (just below the board saying Lane1 Lane2 etc) and enters the parallel road and rejoins NH after less than 1km :)

Not really long,you would drive an extra of around 40-50kms and not more than that,but then you would save quite a bit of time as you have 4 laned roads to drive on from Dindigul(thats approx 380kms of 4laned roads).Mysore route would definitely take a longer time.

Just did a Bangalore - Mysore - Sulthan Bathery - Calicut - Thrissur - Eranakulam.

The only bad section starts immediately after entering into Kerala border, which extends till Chundel. Rest, the roads are Super Good!

And, yes, the Ghats, in its current state, are a petrol heads dream come true.

:)

+ Deliza Residency, close to Ottupara Jn. in case you are early for both the above. It is close to point A in the map, I believe !

Just FYI regarding the timings, one of my recent Ernakulam trips (via Guruvayur) had the following timings: Bangalore/Koramangala(4 AM)-> Mysore(6.15 AM)->Gundlupet(7 AM)->Gudalur(8 AM to 9 AM : Breakfast@Harithagiri which is on the RHS just at the forest exit gate)->Nilambur(10 AM)->Perinthalmanna(11 AM)->Perumpilavu(12 PM - 15min Tea break at KR)->Kaloor/Ernakulam(2.30 PM and lunch at uncle's home)

Yes Deliza is good as well,but a little time consuming option.Service is a little slow and plus you need to divert for around 500meters from the Shoranur-Thrissur road onto the Vazhani Dam road to reach Deliza.But very clean place,especially for rest room facilities

10.666054,76.254875 - Google Maps

www.delizaresidency.com

I'm sorry I forgot to take a diversion at Annur and ended up taking the Kurumbapalyam route and joined the L&T bypass at Neelambur.

The trip was an unpleasant one after Coimbatore since we got stuck at Walayar for 1.5 hours from 4-5.30pm and post that a rashly driven Pvt bus overtook my Car from the Left in the mad traffic at Kuthiran and it ended up with a huge dent on the Left fender :Frustrati

Those morons didn't bother to stop and sped away. Unfortunately we could not note down the number and I was determined to track it down and with the color of the Bus and the rear glass as the only clues we did finally manage to get hold of the bus which was parked at a petrol pump near the Sakthan stand. Since no one was there we jotted down the number and promptly gave a written complaint at the Traffic station nearby only to be told over the phone yesterday morning that the complaint should be given at the Peechi station since Kuthiran falls under their jurisdiction :Frustrati

Sorry to hear that Lloyd. But thank god it wasn't much worse, encounters with heavy vehicles can quite often be much more serious than that.

The golden rule is to drive fast than those private buses or else pull to the left and let them pass.

The route I mentioned is two way! If you are coming back, it is even more advisable, since an early morning start from Kottayam will let you past the border in about 3 hours, before traffic picks up. I came back through that route last week. Started at 5.30 am and crossed border at about 8.15am. Reached Bangalore in 10 hours drive.

Distance via Dindigul is exactly 600 kms, between Silkboard jn and Kottayam town. Via Nh47 it is 604 kms and via Nilambur it is 550 kms. However the last option will take the longest time (~14 hrs) due to heavy traffic between Kottayam and Shornur. Regarding scenic roads, again Kumily route is the best ,especially an early morning start from Kottayam is very refreshing through tea estates near Peermade and Vandiperiyar which are in higher altitudes (~1200m) than Vazhikadavu route.