Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horizon81 (Post 3524813)

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.

I took the same route yesterday. The dreaded S curve and the checkpost were passed without an incident. I think, the clear skies during the day and the one before helped. What annoyed me most in the NH208 stretch were the small towns which slowed us down considerably. At one town there were numerous diversions but they were all marked properly, we never lost the way. The drive on the nh7 stretch were uneventful, to the pont of being boring as there was no virtually no traffic.

Roads inside kerala were good, but heavy traffic was there due to onam. Did not get stuck anywhere since all junctions had a heavy presence of traffic police.

The total drive was about 13 hours including breakfast and lunch breaks, and 3 other short breaks.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with the route options.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 3524742)

Plan your journey in such a way (if possible) so as to avoid getting into Bangalore city during
*This is quite a long trip so plan your stops for breaks and overnight stay, suggest you don't make it very hectic.

Thanks for your valuable suggestions and nice break-up of the routes. Its immensely helpful.
We actually plan to reach Bangalore by 2 pm latest. Can't avoid it, so let's see how it goes. Is the Bangalore ring road from NH7 north to NH7 south towards Salem, a crowded route? If so, are there any faster alternatives?

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Originally Posted by Rajeevraj (Post 3524743)

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.

Thanks for the heads-up about distances and time taken to cover the same in kerala, we shall plan accordingly.

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Originally Posted by tomraven99 (Post 3524760)

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.

We plan to travel by duster, so underbody hits should be minimal I guess. I hear most roads in kerala right now are a little rough. I guess it all comes down to picking the least rough route. Thanks for your suggestion.

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Originally Posted by deepclutch (Post 3524773)

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.

The bad roads in kerala, I believe will help us enjoy the lovely greenery a little more. We are considering alternate routes to muvattupuzha- kottayam stretch. Any suggestions? Thanks.

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Originally Posted by laferrari (Post 3526028)

The Outer Ring Road from Hebbal (where you get off the Hyderabad Highway) to Silkboard (Where you get in to the Salem Highway) is generally crowded. But it is now largely signal free and if you hit it around 1-2 PM, it should be ok to take this route. It should take around an hour to reach Silkboard from Hebbal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by laferrari (Post 3526028)

Is the Bangalore ring road from NH7 north to NH7 south towards Salem, a crowded route? If so, are there any faster alternatives?

I would suggest to use the option mentioned by NPV on previous page to use NH207. By skipping Bangalore city (Hebbal ~ ORR ~ Silkboard) you can save at-least 30 minutes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 3524742)

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 :)

Cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horizon81 (Post 3524813)

Thanks Horizon81. Though I saw this message post my trip, I anyway decided to take the tenkasi-thenmala route and it was a good drive with fairly good roads.. Hope anyone planning to drive in this route anytime soon can use our reviews.

FundaG

Quote:

Originally Posted by laferrari (Post 3526028)

The bad roads in kerala, I believe will help us enjoy the lovely greenery a little more. We are considering alternate routes to muvattupuzha- kottayam stretch. Any suggestions? Thanks.

you can consider taking NH47 till Kalamassery and take SA Road(Seaport-Airport) and reach Thrippunithura-Piravom-Pala-Ponkunnam-Sabarimala which may be slightly longer.
http://goo.gl/maps/9luQV (skipping NH17 which may be too narrow)

If you are taking MC road, it is Muvattupuzha-Kuthattukulam-Pala-Ponkunnam Route to Sabarimala. Koothattukulam-Pala stretech is good. Muvattupuzha-Kuthattukulam MC road stretch will be bad too. but, it is 18kms or so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by laferrari (Post 3526028)

We actually plan to reach Bangalore by 2 pm latest. Can't avoid it, so let's see how it goes. Is the Bangalore ring road from NH7 north to NH7 south towards Salem, a crowded route? If so, are there any faster alternatives?

The Bangalore ORR is quite unlike the Hyderabad ORR - the former runs through crowded areas of the city and is really an inner-city orbital road.

At the time you suggest (2 PM) the Hebbal-Silk Board stretch which I think is about 35 km could be done in an hour to 75 minutes. Things to watch out are, in order: two-way flyover at Nagavara, avoiding the hanging bridge at KR Pura, staying on the correct lane between Marathahalli and Iblur, speed breakers near HSR Layout and the "right" way to exit the ORR and enter the southbound NH 7 at Silk Board.

The alternative to Bangalore ORR is to turn off NH 7 at Devanahalli onto NH 207 and rejoining it at Hosur in Tamil Nadu.

Quote:

Originally Posted by laferrari (Post 3526028)

I still think it's better for you to get into Devanahalli and turn left onto NH 207 near Bus stand/market/police station. This will lead you directly to Hosur where you rejoin south both NH7 totally bypassing Bangalore and almost all the places with choking/slow moving traffic.

If you decide to go on NH7 all the way till Hebbal, then turn left onto Outer ring road, merge onto Old Madras Road, take the lanes directly ahead that go beside the KR Puram Hanging bridge. Once you go past the KR Puram Railway station, take the up ramp to ORR again and this will lead you to Hosur Road near Silk board. Note that there is a lane resembling a service lane on extreme left and this leads to south bound NH 7 (Hosur Road), kind of free left to merge onto Hosur Road. About 1 Km later you will see the elevated expressway and you take this upto Electronics City and another 10 km or so later you will reach the border toll at Attibele and then onto Hosur.

Compared to the Outer Ring Road route, the NH 207 is a much more relaxed, straight forward and stress free option to take you into Hosur directly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj (Post 3526058)

The Outer Ring Road from Hebbal (where you get off the Hyderabad Highway) to Silkboard (Where you get in to the Salem Highway) is generally crowded.

The NH207 to Hosur is sounding more and more appealing as suggested by NPV. Your suggestion too has been duly noted for any future use. Thanks a lot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by treadmark (Post 3526075)

I would suggest to use the option mentioned by NPV on previous page to use NH207. By skipping Bangalore city (Hebbal ~ ORR ~ Silkboard) you can save at-least 30 minutes.

Cheers!

Thanks. Yes it is something we are seriously contemplating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepclutch (Post 3526318)

Thanks for the directions. If the road conditions are good and if it doesn't mean a very long detour, we would definitely give it a try. I'll check the distances in Google maps and revise our plans accordingly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 3526328)

The Bangalore ORR is quite unlike the Hyderabad ORR - the former runs through crowded areas of the city and is really an inner-city orbital road.

The alternative to Bangalore ORR is to turn off NH 7 at Devanahalli onto NH 207 and rejoining it at Hosur in Tamil Nadu.

Yes the ORRs of both the cities are quite different as I experienced it myself when travelling to Mysore in may this year. Pretty complicated too.

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Originally Posted by NPV (Post 3526533)

Thanks a lot NPV NH207 sounds a lot better. We'll definitely be taking it. Sounds stress-free too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 3526533)

Quote:

Originally Posted by laferrari (Post 3527551)

The NH207 to Hosur is sounding more and more appealing as suggested by NPV. Your suggestion too has been duly noted for any future use. Thanks a lot.

See this reference:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3265885

@laferrari : Please see he subsequent posts too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgupta (Post 3527978)

I am planning to go to Kochi from Bangalore and need advise on the best route to take. Have gone thru the thread couple of times but not able to finalise on the route. So need expert guidance.

I will be travelling for the first time to Kochi. Travelling with family so safety is primary concern followed by good roads and duration of travel (the less the better, of course ).

Should I plan to stay somewhere in between to have a less stressful drive ? Some suggestions on good hotels to spend the night would be very helpful.

See post no. 401 in the link shown below

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3528313

Back after a 1300 km round trip in Kerala. Quick summary:-
1. The Bangalore->Kanakapura->Chamaraj Nagar route: The road is good, and if travelling early in the morning it is a very pleasent experience.
2. The Chamraj Nagar->Gundulpet route: The route is not in its best shape. Uneven surface and pot-holes. The pot holes are not really deep, but they are minor irritants.
3. Gundlupet->Muthanga->Sulthan Bathery->Kalpetta route: Excellent road condition and driving here was smooth. The forest area have frequent speed breakers, but that is acceptable (considering it is for protecting wild life).
4. Kalpetta->Pana Maram->Niravil puzha route: Pathetic!!! You can safely assume that roads don't exist here. Too many pot holes, uneven surface and the road is any way not very wide.
5. Niravilpuzha (Wayanad Dt.)->Kuttiyadi Ghat->Calicut (Calicut Dt): The road is again in excellent condition. Watch out for interceptor vehicles in the Calicut byepass.
6. Calicut->Thrissur (via Valanchery & Edappal) route: Good road, but the vehicle density is very high. The highway passes through towns like Valanchery where there are big traffic jams.
7. Thrissur->Palakkad (via Shornur & Ottapalam) route: The roads are fine. Does any one know if the toll (Rs.2) at Shornur bridge (Cheruthuruthy) is valid? I see some vehicles just ignoring the toll booth operator and moving ahead.
8. Palakkad->Pollachi->Palladam->Avanashi route: I have fallen in love with this road. Very scenic route with very good points to take a break and have a meal (home cooked meals taken at the way-side).
9. Avanashi->Salem->Hosur->Bangalore route: The usual tolled highway. I travelled yesterday and the vehicle density was very less. Krishnagiri & Attibele toll booth looked really empty :D. Looks like on a regular week day the number of vehicles on the high way are very less. We could maintain steady speed for quite a long distance and this did reduce the over-all travel time.

For the next trip my plan is to try the Bangalore->Chamrajnagar->Dimbam Ghats->Sathyamangalam->Avanashi route.