[msaudf]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

Reached Kochi from Bangalore just a few hours back and a quick report:
- Took Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Chengapalli-Thirupur ring road bypass-Palladam-Pollachi-Vadakkenchery-Mannuthy-Edappally
- Vadakkenchery-Mannuthy has fresh tarmac (yep, at Kurhiran too) up until 3-4 kms from Mannuthy. Have not driven that stretch on such a good surface in a long time. Don't know how long it will last. No lane marking etc. but is wide enough.
- Overall could do a 9.5 hr drive starting 6:20 AM from Bangalore with 4 stops (totaling about 1 hr 15 mts-ish).
- Pollachi-Vadakkenchery section is excellent but may hit averages
- Overall had a good drive and didn't feel much fatigued at the end of it!

Thats good news that the Vadakkancherry-Mannuthy road has fresh tarmac. I have planned a trip to Mayiladuthurai from Kochi and was planning to take the Trissur-Chelakkara-Kolecode-Pollachi route which is a bit heavy on traffic and has lower average speeds with too many small town crossings on the way. Now I think I'll use the usual Kochi-Trissur bypass to Mannuthy and proceed to Vadakkancherry and go on to Pollachi. Thanks mate for the valuable info.

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by msaudf

Thats good news that the Vadakkancherry-Mannuthy road has fresh tarmac. I have planned a trip to Mayiladuthurai from Kochi and was planning to take the Trissur-Chelakkara-Kolecode-Pollachi route which is a bit heavy on traffic and has lower average speeds with too many small town crossings on the way. Now I think I'll use the usual Kochi-Trissur bypass to Mannuthy and proceed to Vadakkancherry and go on to Pollachi. Thanks mate for the valuable info.

After Mannuthy, the roads are iffy for about 3-4 Kms after which it becomes good. With this, you can avoid the Chelakkara option and save time and Kms.

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

Reached Kochi from Bangalore just a few hours back and a quick report:
- Took Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Chengapalli-Thirupur ring road bypass-Palladam-Pollachi-Vadakkenchery-Mannuthy-Edappally
- Vadakkenchery-Mannuthy has fresh tarmac (yep, at Kurhiran too) up until 3-4 kms from Mannuthy. Have not driven that stretch on such a good surface in a long time. Don't know how long it will last. No lane marking etc. but is wide enough.
- Overall could do a 9.5 hr drive starting 6:20 AM from Bangalore with 4 stops (totaling about 1 hr 15 mts-ish).
- Pollachi-Vadakkenchery section is excellent but may hit averages
- Overall had a good drive and didn't feel much fatigued at the end of it!

Thanks to your inputs, I took the Vadakkenchery-Mannuthy road. The road condition is excellent till pattikkad.

I had to skip the Salem - pollachi section since we reached out usual breakfast point early, so I continued to cbe and took the road to pollachi. The road surface is excellent but do not expect to average more than 60 kmph. Same with the pollachi-vadekkenchery section also.
I was able to do a comfortable average of 60 kmph.
Thank you silvetsteed for the route.

--Anoop

[gops2009]

I searched around for some updated information on this route but found none and so the fresh thread.
I plan to drive from Trivandrum to Kozhikode on the 11th October, the plan is to start around 5:30 AM and reach Kozhikode by lunch time, could someone familiar with this route advice on the best route considering the road condition as well as the traffic?
Should there be a thread already with updated information on this route please guide

[ampere]

Originally Posted by gops2009

Should there be a thread already with updated information on this route please guide

Best routing I can think off is :

NH47 till Trichur. And then Kechery-Eddapal-Kuttipuram-Kottakal-Calicut.

[majumon]

To further take the stress of heavy traffic on the highway between Trichur and Calicut, we used to take the Guruvayoor- Chavakkad- Ponnani then take a ferry to cross over and then you go through a very less crowded route to reach Thanur -Chaliyam and Feroke. You may refer to http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2787787

Not sure this was the right way to post the old link.

[gandalf]

Hi All
I have to travel to Kerala in November and December for a couple of functions. The Destinations are Adoor (Kadampanad to be exact) and Trivandrum respectively.

I Usually take the NH7 NH47 combo till Ernakulam and halt there before going further. Now since I dont have too many leaves I dont have that option
For the Adoor Trip I have the following 2 options
1. Bangalore -> Dindigul -> Theni -> Pathinamthitta -> Adoor - >Kadampanad
2. Bangalore -> Madurai ->Tenkasi -> Punalur -> Kotarakara -> Enathu -> Kadampanad.

I don't mind a bit bad roads but I prefer minimal hill roads and a journey time of upto 12 hours. Reason being the passengers in the car get queasy very easily. On google Maps the Option 2 looks to have less Hill but some of the earlier posts say the roads have really bad crators. Option 1 I know it will have hill roaads all the way to erumeli.

Could anyone suggest the best road till Adoor with Minimal hill roads

[DieselLover]

Guys,
what is the best route (in terms of road condition) to Vandiperiyar/Thekkadi from Kochi. Planning to drive down during the coming long weekend.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by gops2009

I plan to drive from Trivandrum to Kozhikode on the 11th October, the plan is to start around 5:30 AM and reach Kozhikode by lunch time, could someone familiar with this route advice on the best route considering the road condition as well as the traffic?

Best route would be the one advised by Ampere. Be extremely careful on the stretch after Valanchery till Ramanattukara- perhaps the most dangerous stretch on entire NH 66.

Originally Posted by majumon

To further take the stress of heavy traffic on the highway between Trichur and Calicut, we used to take the Guruvayoor- Chavakkad- Ponnani then take a ferry to cross over and then you go through a very less crowded route to reach Thanur -Chaliyam and Feroke. .

Not less crowded anymore! Relatively narrow roads with heavy day time traffic. Road condition though is excellent. No need to cross ferry, now that Chamravattom bridge is open.
And last heard, there was some work happening near Chamravattom, so some diversions were in place.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by DieselLover

Guys,
what is the best route (in terms of road condition) to Vandiperiyar/Thekkadi from Kochi. Planning to drive down during the coming long weekend.

Shortest is via Kattappana.

Kochi - Kolencherry - Muvattupuzha - Pothanikkadu - Vannappuram - Kanjikuzhy - Chelachuvadu - Kattappana - Kumily. But not sure of the road condition between Vannappuram and Kumily after the monsoons.

Kochi - Ettumanoor - Pala - Erattupetta - Kanjirappally - Mundakkayam - Kumily is the most preferred route. There are bad stretch around Pampanar and Vandiperiyar in KK Road. Kumily town is also bad now. But drivable. I did a round trip on my Fusion from Kottayam on KK road till Wallardie yesterday.

[denver85]

Originally Posted by gandalf

Could anyone suggest the best road till Adoor with Minimal hill roads

As you want less hill roads, it's better to take the conventional NH/7NH47 route. As per the latest updates Kuthiran is in good condition and the bad sections near Alappuzha are patched up which means good roads all the way. So I will prefer the below route:
Bangalore-Salem-Chengapalli-Tirupur ring road-Palladam-Pollachi-Kollengode-Nemmara-Vadakkenchery-Mannuthy-Ernakulam-Aleppy-Karunagapally-Kadampanad.
Here is the route: http://goo.gl/maps/lu1Iv

Originally Posted by DieselLover

Guys,
what is the best route (in terms of road condition) to Vandiperiyar/Thekkadi from Kochi. Planning to drive down during the coming long weekend.

There are lot of options. The fastest will be:
Ernakulam-Thripunithara-Pothotta-Thalayolaparambu-Ettumanoor-Manarcaud-Mundakkayam-Vandiperiyar-Kumily(http://goo.gl/maps/oVJkN)
or
Ernakulam-Cherthala-Kumarakom-Kottayam-Mundakkayam-Vandiperiyar-Kumily(http://goo.gl/maps/aBQF6)
If you want scenic routes you can try out:
Ernakulam-Thripuniithara-Muvattupuzha-Thodupuzha-Muttom-Vagamon-Elappara-Peermade-Kumily(http://goo.gl/maps/fyKu1)
or
Ernakulam-Thripuniithara-Muvattupuzha-Thodupuzha-Idukki-Kattapana--Kumily(http://goo.gl/maps/0csXK)

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Not less crowded anymore! Relatively narrow roads with heavy day time traffic. Road condition though is excellent. No need to cross ferry, now that Chamravattom bridge is open.
And last heard, there was some work happening near Chamravattom, so some diversions were in place.

The roads were horrible around 1 month back from BP angadi to Chamravattom bridge. Not sure whether any patch work is done. The Tirur, Tanur and Parappanangadi towns are always crowded and consumes lot of time and what we save in Km's. There is another good option there, you can get a Ferry from Purathur angadi to Ponnani. This way we can around 20 kms. One of my friend has done this and this will be good option if you are ok with the NH17 stretch from Chavakkad to Edapally.

[vinucv]

Heading to Ettumanoor from Chennai this Friday. Planning to start by 4 PM and reach Dindigul by 10 PM for a night halt. Can someone please suggest a descent accommodation close to the highway ? Also, is there a bypass which completely avoids Dindigul town when going towards Theni ? If not, I am fine a hotel inside the town as well.

[gandalf]

Originally Posted by gandalf

For the Adoor Trip I have the following 2 options
1. Bangalore -> Dindigul -> Theni -> Pathinamthitta -> Adoor - >Kadampanad
2. Bangalore -> Madurai ->Tenkasi -> Punalur -> Kotarakara -> Enathu -> Kadampanad.

Originally Posted by denver85

As you want less hill roads, it's better to take the conventional NH/7NH47 route. As per the latest updates Kuthiran is in good condition and the bad sections near Alappuzha are patched up which means good roads all the way. So I will prefer the below route:
Bangalore-Salem-Chengapalli-Tirupur ring road-Palladam-Pollachi-Kollengode-Nemmara-Vadakkenchery-Mannuthy-Ernakulam-Aleppy-Karunagapally-Kadampanad.
Here is the route: http://goo.gl/maps/lu1Iv

Thanks Denver85
The reason i wanted to try the 2 options this time was because these routes would save time compared to the NH7 NH 47 route. also, if it works, it would help me avoid a stop in Ernakulam in future trips as well since most of my relatives are in the central travencore area.
My wife had a really bad time on the Masingudi - Ooty climb. She got increasingly queasy on the Kottayam to Elapara route. She is ok if we stop before the climb and we have Ghat roads for 1 or 1.5 hours and then we stop again. But having to traverse the Ghats for more than 2 hours may put her in a really bad situation. Would the Tenkasi route have Ghat/hilly section for more than 1 hour?

[denver85]

Originally Posted by gandalf

Would the Tenkasi route have Ghat/hilly section for more than 1 hour?

The ghat section is not much (http://goo.gl/maps/r9JnW). It may be around 25-30 kms. But as per the latest reports the roads are real bad in this section.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vinucv

Heading to Ettumanoor from Chennai this Friday. Planning to start by 4 PM and reach Dindigul by 10 PM for a night halt. Can someone please suggest a descent accommodation close to the highway ? Also, is there a bypass which completely avoids Dindigul town when going towards Theni ? If not, I am fine a hotel inside the town as well.

At Dindigul, Parsons Court is a very good hotel but it's in the town.
On the highway there is Aristo but not sure if it's good/bad.