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Thanks a million for the route suggestion Silversteed! I took this route last weekend and it was so peaceful travelling through the windmill fields of Avinashi-Pollachi stretch and the mostly unbroken roads till Angamaly. It was a major relief compared to the usual grind via Coimbatore bypass- Walayar-Palakkad-thrissur road.

Was the stretch from Thrissur to Angamali really good? Popular opinion is that NH47 is in bad shape. What time did you travel?

Thrissur to angamaly is ok. Just a free potholes but nothing compared to the one's before and after!

Well, this is the National Highway, Kundanoor Junction. Expect traffic as long as 2-3kms during peak hours. Clicked during hartal so it was empty.



This was the traffic couple of days back.



Image Courtesy - Local newspaper

Hi guys

We are planning a trip for hyderabad-guruvayoor-sabarimala-thiruvananthapuram-madurai-rameshwaram-tirupati-hyderabad.

It would be an immense help if fellow t-bhpians in the area can guide us. It's my first time in kerala so every little help is gonna b helpful.

I would like to know the state of the roads due to monsoons, and the towns to skip due to probable traffic jams etc. Thanks a lot in advance.

For Sabarimala while coming down from Guruvayoor take the Muvatupuzha-Thodupuzha-Eratupetta-Kanjirapally route. Do not take the Kottayam route.

From Sabarimala to Trivandrum take the Pathanamthitta-Adoor-Kotarakkara route.

The first leg you can't go wrong - just hop on to the southbound NH7 and reach Bangalore.

From Bangalore to Guruvayur, there are three options that are generally discussed - entering Kerala via Vazhikkadavu, Walayar or Govindapuram checkposts. Depending on your preferences, you should choose one of them.

Guruvayur-Sabarimala you already have a recommendation. I am not the expert on the routes you should follow in TN.

On the other hand, I have done Chennai-Hyderabad both via NH 4/NH 18/NH 7 and NH 5/Nalgonda/NH 9; my preference has been the former - which would be applicable for Tirupati-Hyderabad too. I guess the decision these days would depend on where in Hyderabad you want to reach.

Hope you had a good trip. So did you take the Thenkasi- Thenmala route. How is it. i will be starting tomorrow morning. Heard its raining heavily in kerala.

FundaG

There are huge potholes on Kalady bridge resulting traffic block. I took this route from airport till Perumbavoor and no other major concern.

I could do Coimbatore to Alwaye in 3 hours yesterday but it took 3 hours 30 min to do Alwaye - Kaloor - MG road - Tripunithura. Its crowded everywhere and crossing Kochi city will cost you minimum 2 hours now.

Thanks a lot for the information. Do you by any means know the state of the roads post monsoons?

1.Hyderabad-Bangalore on the NH7 is straight forward. Plan your journey in such a way (if possible) so as to avoid getting into Bangalore city during 9am-8pm period, especially on weekdays. You can even bypass the city by taking Devanahalli (just before Bangalore airport)-NH207 and reaching Hosur directly :)
2.Bangalore-Guruvayoor -> you can take Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Salem (NH7 all the way till here)-turn off to NH 47 and go upto Perundurai-turn off from NH47 to Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Guruvayoor.
3.Not too sure about the Sabarimala part, I guess via Kottayam may be a good option.
4.Get back via Kottayam to Trivandrum.
5.From Trivandrum, your next stop would ideally be Kanyakumari as it's closer from there. Then go to Rameshwaram and return to Madurai. Most of the roads on these stretches are good as it will be NH7, NH49 and NH45B, ECR and NH7A.
6.Madurai-Bangalore is NH7 all the way.
7,Bangalore-Tirupati -> Take NH 4 towards Chittoor.
*This is quite a long trip so plan your stops for breaks and overnight stay, suggest you don't make it very hectic.

From Bangalore the standard route would be Salem-CBE-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Pattambi-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayoor. Regulars now take the Pollachi route from Perundurai/CBE to enter Kerala. DEtails on the route are there in the last couple of pages.

Several roads in Kerala have broken due to the Monsoon. But overall it should be still quite good. One key thing to remember is that almost all roads in Kerala are 2 lane and high on traffic. So make sure you consider that for the driving times. Couple of months back a colleague was planning a trip and while doing time estimates, he saw distance between 2 of the towns he wanted to go to was around ~150KM. He calculated in Tamilnadu highway terms and accounted for max 2.5 hours. I saw the route and told him that 150 stretch in Kerala would take a minimum of 5 hours if you are lucky :)

Wow this is really bad. And I thought Bangalore was the worst.

As previously mentioned most of the roads are in pretty bad shape. Please avoid the Muvattupuzha-Kottayam stretch . If you are in a sedan the under body can get a few bad hits.

Regarding Guruvayyoor-Sabarimala route, I think, there is a alternate way through Iringalakkuda reaching NH at Chalakdudy to continue towards Angamaly-Muvattupuzha. Road condition of MC road is not good between Muvattupuzha and Kottayam particularly the hilly region. The road condition after Thodupuzha also may be not good, but doable due to sparse traffic.

I just woke up after the drive yesterday. Hope this update is useful to you. My trip was good, no delays anywhere. It didn't rain yesterday, just some drizzle. Weather is pleasant till now in Kollam. Things to look out for on the way -
1. Immediately after you enter NH208 from Tirumangalam, there are a few places where road work is going on. In the next 30 odd Kms, there is some canal work which goes cutting across the road. So watch for these if you are at speed.
2. Aryankavu to Kottarakkara is good, with about 5-6 sharp turns having large potholes. Nothing to be alarmed of, if you are the right speed.