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Not exactly my idea of something that really works, but definitely better than many other government portals launched with great fanfare. :-)

I doubt they sent me this letter only when L&T took up the work earlier this month. :) But overall the feedback for this portal is good.
I was totally pissed off thinking the stretch is from Thoppur toll booth to Salem toll booth a length of around 45Km with mostly uneven roads. But as per the letter, the length of this stretch is 86 km, so the toll of Rs 88 is not very high.

If you want to visit Talakad and Somanathpura during your onward journey, I would suggest Bangalore-Kanakapura-Malavalli-Talakad-Somanathpura. Roads should be decent all through - Not 100% sure of the Malavalli-Talakad road though since I haven't driven that way for a long time now.

From there if you want to go to Jungle Retreat first, go via Bannur-Mysore-HDKote-Bavali-Kattikkulam-Thirunelli. This is as of now the best route to Thirunelli from a road conditions point of view (And very scenic, low traffic route as well). If wild-life watching is high priority, you have the option of Mysore-Hunsur-Nagarahole-Kutta-Thirunelli, but lots of average to bad roads in this route.

If you prefer to go to Kalpetta first, there are 2 options nearly equidistant. Somanathapura-T.Narsipur-Chamarajnagar-Gundlupet-Kalpetta is one, and Somnathpura-T.Narsipur-Nanjangud-Gundlupet-Kalpetta is the other. In the former, the roads are generally good except for the Chamarajnagar-Gundlupet section which has a few short bad patches. Haven't travelled on the T-Narsipur to Nanjangud road for a year or two, so not sure if it has improved - but when I travelled last it wasn't in the best of condition for several longish stretches.

You can retrace the same route in reverse if you're covering these places on the return journey - Don't think you'll need to stay in Chamarajnagar, you should be able to cover both places during the day itself and return to Bangalore by late evening.

I did an Ooty trip from Kochi on September 6th.Thanks for all the route inputs.

For onward journey i took Kochi-Shornur-Nilambur-Gudalur-Ooty.With a 5AM start and 1.5 hours break it took me around 8.25 hours to reach Ooty. Gudalur to Ooty road is in bad condition at lot of places with big pot holes which made the drive a bit slow.Roads were in good condition in kerala side.From Ooty it took 45 minutes to reach our destination 'Destiny' farm stay.

Stayed at Destiny Farm stay Emerald.Excellent location and recommended.

For return i took CBE-Pollachi-Nemmara-Vadakkenchery-Kakkanad Route.Started at 11 AM from Emerald Ooty and reach by 8 PM with a 1 hour break.Roads are in good condition for the entire stretch and only problem is we need to drive through CBE.

For anyone travelling i would recommend the Pollachi road due to bad condition of Gudalur-Ooty stretch in the other route.

You could have avoided Coimbatore by taking Annur route from Mettupalayam to Pollachi. By doing this you could have saved time especially during peak hours though it will be approximately 20 Kms longer than Coimbatore option. I always recommend Annur option to all my folks to Ooty from Thrissur.

Cheers

My plan was to take Annur route.But resort/cab drivers at resort were all against taking this route and asked me to take CBE way.Now i think driving through Annur would be easy and almost similar time as it was not in peak hours(2PM)

I'm back in Bangalore after a week in Kerala. I took a couple of alternate routes on the way to Kollam and back. Thought of sharing my feedback here.

Alternate route 1:
Attibelle > Kelamangalam > Rayakottai > Palacode > Dharmapuri and vice versa.

Roads are very good for a state highway. It took me a little under 2 hours to reach Dharmapuri from Attibelle. Take this route if you are traveling during a holiday weekend to avoid huge rush at Hosur and Krishnagiri tolls. Do not take this road when there is no Sun. Te road has no street lighting, the traffic coming from the other side almost blinds you with the high beams. I made this mistake, and it was very strenuous, taking 2 hours and 15 minutes to cover the distance.

Alternate Route 2:
Puliyangudi > Sankarankovil > Kalugumalai > Nallatinputhur > NH7 > Tirumangalam and vice versa

Reason for taking this route: Although you need to drive 25 kms extra to reach Tirumangalam, you will be taking exactly the same time to reach Tirumangalam via NH208. The advantage being, you will be driving more on NH7 rather than through NH208 passing through small towns. There is a disadvantage though - there are a lot of speed breaker humps along this route, though they can be easily spotted by road signs and markings. Take this route only if you need to avoid towns - Srivilliputhur, Sivagiri and Rajapalayam. If you need to take this route, watch out for this Y-junction just after passing Puliyangudi and take the road to Sankarankovil.

More than the Kelamangalam-Rayakottai road, I would suggest Hosur-Rayakottai road. This is much better than the former.

I thought the idea is to beat Bangalore-Hosur mainly. Because once past Hosur, the 6-lane is almost there.

As ampere said, I didn't want to touch Hosur on the way. Forgot to mention one more thing - on the way back, I noticed a lot of truck traffic taking this route. For them, I guess this is a perfect route as it is shorter, suited for their speed, and to bypass two tolls saving some hundreds of rupees. So if this route catches the fancy of many truck drivers in the future, it may not be a very good option for cars as it will be difficult to overtake them in this route.

Had taken this route last month. This makes much much more sense that taking the CBE route.

Will be travelling to Bangalore next weekend and I need route suggestions to Kannur/Calicut from Bangalore.

I plan to leave Bangalore in the night around 10 pm and would be driving alone. Which is the safest and fastest route to Kannur in the night.

Currently the best option for a night drive is:
Bangalore-Mysore (bypass town via outer ring road or via KRS road-Elivala)-Hunsur-Thithimathi-Gonikoppal-Virajpet(bypass at Bittangala)-Perumpadi-Makutta ghat-Koottupuzha-Iritty-Mattannur-Chovva-Kannur.

Google maps link: http://goo.gl/maps/xtWiI

Roads are excellent except for a stretch of around 10km or so between Hunsur and Thithimathi where construction is going on.

For latest updates, please follow this thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...eeded-100.html

Did the below streches last week and the feedback is as under

1) Chennai Coimbatore via NH47 all the way. Smooth and only irritants are the speedbreakers as you approach Coimbatore

2) Coimbatore - Palakkad via the Walayar route - in bad shape but I was kind of ok to do this in my Storme.

3) Palakkad - Thrissur - Did both the Shornur road and the NH47 route

Former is smooth but longer. Latter is around 60% smooth and 40% broken to really bad but shorter by almost 25-30kms

4) Palakkad - Vagamon - went via the ERATUPETTA route and came back via Mulamattam

Both routes the surface is good. the latter route is shorter but steeper.

I have to travel to Madurai from Kottayam. Anybody know how is the road condition especially Kumily-Theni-Madurai? I have never traveled Theni-Madurai. Which are the major town/villages? Any budget accommodation in Madurai with safe parking would also be helpful.

Planning to drive to Kerala (Thrissur and Pala) on 27th Sept, early morning at about 5AM. I am looking to do the following route.

http://goo.gl/maps/wKfX3

The route is made up by putting together many suggestions in this thread. Would like to know your suggestions or any concerns. The idea is to avoid tolls and crowded/boring 4 lane roads. I have already tried NH209 route through Sathy and not planning to do it this time. Btw, both routes indicate almost similar distance of 419 kms until Vadakkencherry. I have also given below a textual version below.

Bangalore > Athibele > Hosur IR road > Rayakottai > Palakode > Dharmapuri > Thoppur > Mettur > Bhavani > Avanashi > Palladam > Pollachi > Vadakkencherry > Thrissur...

For a 5AM start, what would be the good options for breakfast and lunch in this route?