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Did my Sabarimala trip on this route during fourth week of December. Road is in good condition throughout from tenkasi to punalur. Not much of traffic mess even at famous 'S' curve.

I just came back from a weekend dash to god's own country & here is the update

Planned route :
Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Salem - Chengapalli - Tirupur - Palladam - Pollachi - Alathur - Wadakencheri - Kechery - Guruvayur

I know the roads are good throughout. Until Chengapalli its the 4 lane NH47. After that its state highways but really good roads

Route taken :
However based on suggestion from one of the friends I took the old coimbatore - pallakad section and here i my update.

Road Status Update :

• Bangalore t0 Krishnagiri : Road windening in progress & quiet a few diversions
• Krisnagiri to 5/6 Kms (approx) short of Avinashi : 4 Lane NH47
• Around 3/4 Kms (approx) either side of avinashi town : Old single lane road in above average conditions
• From 3/4 Kms south of avinashi town to Coimbatore bye pass junction : 4 Lane done in most places but not complete. Couple of diversions and the flyovers have speed breakers in between (probably the bridge is still in curing stage). The lanes are also not marked making it difficult in the night but the tarmac is good
• Coimbatore bye pass : A well surfaced 2 lane road, but be careful about people crossing this road in cross junctions as if its nobody's business
• Coimbatore to Pallakad bypass and onto Thirupaplur Jn : Quiet an uneven surface, Not horrible but not a smooth ride either. However no monstrous pot holes. Also there is road work going on in both side of shoulders and the shoulder is deep. So be careful and don't get pushed too much towards the shoulder
• Thirupapulr Jn to Thrissur : The entire surface has been tarred fresh and is good to drive. (this was the most horrible stretch until last
• Thrissur to Cochin : 4 lane NH47

Hopefully we'll cross Chalakkudy around 2:30PM setting our target to cross the first KL CP by 4 even if we stop in between for a while.

How far is the second TN CP from KL CP. I thought its back to back within few hundred meters.

I don't think there is a second TN Check-post. While coming from Chalakudy side first KL check-post is near Vayachal water waterfall, past that forest and section with bad roads start. Towards end of the forest is second KL check post and soon after that you have TN check post. Cross TN check-post and further ahead you reach Sholayar dam.
Do note that the forest between two KL check-posts and the stretch between Sholayar dam and Valparai are known for elephant encounters.

Yes there is only one TN check post immediately after KL post. Elephant encounter is highly likely during monsoon but better to avoid late evening drives. The stretch is almost 60 km and may take almost take 2 to 3 hours depending on road condition. Keep a tab on plastic bottles and items as these are counted at both check posts.

Hi,

We are planning to drive from Bangalore to Paripally (Kollam) for a wedding. While going the plan is to leave on Friday by 3:00pm, stay in Madurai and proceed next day morning to reach destination by noon.

Wedding is on Sunday. For return I was considering the Adoor-Ranni-Kanjirapally-Thekkady-Odaipatty-Dindugal-Bangalore route. We would like to halt somewhere after 5-6 hours drive on Sunday after starting back by 3:00pm from Paripally.

Need advice on the return route considering that we should reach Bangalore by 2:00pm on Monday after a 7:00am start on Monday and will need to halt at a decent place (travelling with family including 3 year old kid). The idea is to take a different route while returning if the road conditions are fine and time required is not too much.

Thank You

Vindy

Guys,

This is to update I had a wonderful drive via Valparai yesterday eve and reached Bangalore safely. Thanks a lot for the guidance. We did spot elephants on the road but safe. Below are my updates.

• From Kochi till Bangalore, Roads are good almost everywhere except <10KMs inside the forest. Any low belly cars can drive now.
• Total distance covered is 629KMs (May be ~80KMs extra is what we drove including a detour drive to Valparai town to see the estates)
• Travel time was 13hours (This includes atleast 5 quick stops of ~10 mins and 2 major stops of ~30mins each)
• May be <10KMs rough stretch inside the forest towards the exit range. Very well drivable as no potholes but soled condition.
• Some deviations near Krishnagiri and Hosur are still there but much better now.

Return journey is planned as Bangalore - Kanakpura - Malavalli - Kollegal - Chamrajanagara - Sathyamangalam - Annur - Karumathampatti - Palakkad - Trissur - Kochi.

Planning to start early like 3AM targeting to reach Karumathampatti by 9AM. Isn't it realistic? Any humps to watch out between Nice road exit till Chamrajanagar while we drive in dark?

You can also try :

Karumathampatti-Palladam-Pollachi-Kollengode-Vadakkencherry-Trichur.

Dindigul is your best bet to stay.Plenty of places to stay.Nothing on the highway,you would have to go into town.Parsons Court & Rockfort Palace are ok to stay.

Back from a Wayanad tour with friends in my Punto. Route and road conditions as follows:

Day 1, Sunday: Onward journey: Bangalore-Mandya-Mysore-H.D Kote (handpost junction)- Dammanakatte-Bavali-Kuruva Island

Good roads all the way till the forest entry at Dammanakatte. The forest stretch between Dammanakatte and ubur which is supposed to be permanently closed is now open for traffic because of the road upgradation work going on in the alternate village route. The forest guards at the checkpost hinted that the road will be open for another 15 days or so. There are some monstrous temporary speedbreakers on this stretch. Most hatches and sedans would scrape their underbody at almost all the humps if at full load! There is a stretch of aroud 5-6 km where there is no asphalt and is very very rough and dusty. Beyond Ubur, the road Is excellent all the way till Mananthavady. We spotted quite a few spotted deer, sambar deer, langurs, peacocks, and a herd of Gaur on the forest stretch.

The alternate road is getting completely relaid and once that is done, this (Mysore-HD kote-Bavali) would be the shortest and best route to reach northern Wayanad.

The road to Kuruva Island from Kattikulam is also excellent. We drove upto Thirunelli temple in the evening from the resort we stayed in Kattikulam. Road from Kattikulam to Thirunelli is in excellent condition. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to see any wildlife in this stretch.

Day 2, Monday: Kattikulam-Tholpetty sanctuary-Kattikulam-Mananthavady-Naalam mile-Tharuvana-Padinjharethara-Banasura sagar dam-Pozhuthana-Vythiri-Pookode lake- Lakkidi- Vythiri-Kalpetta bypass-S. Bathery

Woke up early morning and drove to Tholpetty sanctuary gate for jeep safari into the forest. Luckily, there was not much rush and got into the 3rd Jeep. Travelled aroud 22km (as per the forest guard who accompanied us ) inside the tourism zone of the sanctuary only to return back with ZERO sightings (bad luck!!) Returned back to resort, checked out and left for Banasura sagar. Again excellent roads till Mananthavady and Naalam mile. Nalam mile to Tharuvana is patchy with some potholes here and there. Tharuvana onwards road is again excellent all the way to Vythiri and Pookode.
We had fair bit of fun at Banasura sagar and Pookode and returned to Sulthan Bathery after dusk where we had our rooms booked for the night.

Got a chance to drive on the newly opened Kalpetta bypass and I should say, it was a breeze all the way! Excellent wide enough road with clear markings. This bypass is really a boon and one does not have to face potential jams inside Kalpetta bypass. Road uptill Bathery is great as reported many times earlier.

Day 3, Tuesday: Sulthan Bathery-Muthanga- Gundlupet-Bandipur-Theppekadu-Bandipur-Gundlupet-Mysore-Bangalore

We woke up early, checked out of the hotel and crashed in at the safari ticket counter at Muthanga as early as 6.30 AM, only to find a long Q already built up! Got to know that only 280 tickets would be issued out of which 145 have already been booked by a school study tour party. We waited in the Q till 7 AM and when the counter opened, the remaining tickets were sold out much before we could reach anywhere near the counter. Disappointed, we headed towards Theppekadu via Bandipur/Gundlupet just for a drive through the forest. Met excellent roads till Theppakadu with frequent speed hump on the Karnataka side of the forest. Returned back after going 2 km into Masinagudi-ooty road. Saw a few elephants and plenty of deer and langur on the forest stretch between Bandipur and Theppekadu.

Return journey to Bangalore was through Nanjangud-Mysore-Mandya. Traffic was sparse on Mysore road and inside Mandya and Channapatna towns , being a holiday I presume (Eid Milad) .

Some pics of roads:

Mysore-HD kote road


Road inside the forest, immediately after Dammmanakatte check post.


The bad stretch


Dust all around!


Somewhere inside the Bandipur forest range, between Gundlupet and Muthanga

There are a couple of humps around the Sri Sri Ravishankar Ashram which is a couple of KM after you exit the NICE Road. Other than that I don't recall there being any humps/potholes or even uneven roads all the way to Chamrajnagar.

Thank You Ranjit as always!

How much time would it take to reach Dindugal from Kollam? Any idea about road conditions - Adoor-Ranni-Kanjirapally-Thekkady-Odaipatty-Dindugal ?

Sorry,no info on the proposed route.I suppose it should take you around 6hrs at the minimum considering the terrain and traffic till Thekkady

Considering that he is starting from Kollam in the afternoon, 6 hours would be very optimistic considering that more than half the drive would be through Kerala roads (and a lot of them curvy / hilly sections) where averaging even 40kmph would be quite difficult. I think 7.5 to 8 hours would be a more realistic estimate with sedate driving.

Since reaching Kumily itself could take 4.5 to 5 hours, may be you might want to consider a break in Kumily instead of Dindigul.

And on the route options, you could perhaps skip Kanjirappally and join NH220 at Mundakkayam instead by going via Ranni-Erumely-Mundakkayam. (Take a right turn at Plachery junction about 7-8 kms north of Ranni). Roads on that section should be good now since it is normally done up pretty well before the Sabarimala season. Should save you about 15-20 kms.

There is a nasty hump at end of bridge over Cauvery between Malavalli & Kollegal, soon after the hump there is 'Stop & Proceed' barricade placed by police.