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4 AM start will get you to Pollachi around 10 AM, then my suggestion is to take Kollangode - Mannuthi route.

Avinashi turn off - Dont remember any landmark; I am a googlemaps person stupid:

But, its around 62.3km from Bhavani bridge ( http://goo.gl/maps/mpRZy) , its on an upward incline, you need to keep left before a flyover.

GPS coordinates for the turnoff : 11.173308,77.271885

Next time I travel, I will surely check for a landmark.

I would say stick to Wadakancheri route still.Less traffic and less truck traffic to negotiate.

On the Avinashi Bypass,keep below the second flyover and take left towards the Mangalam-Palladam Road.

https://goo.gl/maps/Liw2W

Back after the Deepavali long week end :). And I would honestly that the research on Team-BHP paid off. We reached Thoppur Toll Plaza at around 16:30Hrs and saw the vehicles getting queued up. Again people were criss crossing tracks etc. I kept myself to the right most corner, so that I am sure I would land up in a Toll Booth/counter.

Immediately decided to take the Dharmapuri->Palacode->Rayakottai->Hosur RS->TVS Factory route. The road had minimum traffic till Palacode town, and then it thinned out even further. And I could see atleast 10-12 KA registered cars on the road. Looked for Team-BHP stickers but could not find any. The road is in good condition. By 20:00Hrs we were inside Karnataka. I had marked all points in my MapMyIndia Device, after double checking in Google. So no embarrassing moments this time. My brother-in-law had an iPhone, and the version of Google Maps on it could show us the traffic situation on the NH. Toll booth areas at Krishnagiri and Athibele showed deep red, indicating major traffic blocks *. At 22:10, got messages that traffic is slowly returning to normalcy.

PS: On my way to Kerala, I tried the Omalur route as well. Was not very convinced on taking this route again. Roads are not in good shape, there are houses/business establishments on both sides of the road and so that meant more people on the road. So unless I see a clear picture that traffic on Salem City is messed up, I would not take this route.

* The Google Maps version I have on Windows Phone some how does not show the traffic condition :( .

Started by 1526 at Coimbatore Hopes- did 100-120 kmph till Salem as i was well aware that toll booths will frustrate- and Thoppur did not disappoint- about half a km length of queue.

Skipped A2B, dined at Rajabhohanam(got a glimpse of KPN scania here!).

Immediately shifted to Palacode road, tyres had 32 psi, so was bumpy. Palacode bypass was rough.

As bhpian coolclouds updated, Kelamangalam road was not bad, doable, it has some 60% superb surface, 20% doable, and 20% bad surface.

Overall, not bad for an extended weekend evening rush. I saw some private omni buses taking this route- maybe to evade the permit checks.

Reached Kudlu gate by 2140. Going by DTE, fuel efficiency must be about 18 kmpl(with 100% AC).

Next time, i am going to book bus tickets for those restless relatives and will drive through NH209 peacefully.

Had the evening coffee+snacks at Rajabhojanam. To be honest, I would rate the food quality even lesser than that at A2B. Our first rank holder is Saravana Bhavan, then A2B. Rajabhojanam may become a distant third. A2B at Thoppur had the usual crowd, and with the attitude of the staff there I decided to try Rajabhojanam. Had briefed all fellow passengers that this is a stop-gap arrangement.

And yes, Palacode bye-pass was a bit rough. But other wise the road seems to be quite okay. Well marked, but a bit bumpy.

I had tried the same route when proceeding towards Kerala. And I did notice that lots of Volvo buses (Kallada et.al) using this route. And they have that usual "I don't care attitude" when driving. I did feel that this route is becoming popular, and would add to its own detriment.

LOL! My take on this: If some how you can plan to be at Silk Board by 5:30 Max, you will never experience the return toll booth rush. When ever I have returned from a long weekend, this has never hit me. The problem creeps in only after evening, when every wants to make the best of the vacation before returning back.

Very true. Earlier I thought Raja Bhojanam was much better. Looks they are falling with time. On a different note; for regulars what you say makes sense. But for once in while guys like me, I prefer to break at Salem and splurge at Grand Estancia or Park Plaza. And after that I drive home non-stop. Couple it with the fact, I plan to be in Bangalore by/before 5:30; the drive through the toll booths is also quite easy.

Same is case when I drive out too. Try to make it till Salem for the first break. Only when its too late a start, I think of a break in between. And as every one, I have grown wary of A2B ways. I too like keep it to a minimum.

Hi all,

I am planning to do a round trip to Kerala in a couple of weeks: BLR-Cherai-Munnar-BLR. I will be traveling to this part of Kerala for the first time with my two year old so better and predictable roads are a priority over lesser kms.

I have been reading multiple threads (including this). Here's what I have concluded, just need your help to fill in the finer details:

• Bangalore to Cherai: Stick to NH as much as possible on the way to Cherai except Kerala Border. So essentially this would mean Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Salem - Coimbatore - Palladam - Pollachi - Vadakkencherry - Thrissur - Cherai. Is this right? Have the roads around Kerala border improved?
  
  
• Cherai to Munnar(Chinnakanal): from what I checked is
  Cherai - Athani - Perumbavoor - Kothamangalam - Adimali - Pottankad - Chinnakanal. I did not find enough info about this route. Are all these roads in decent condition? Anything to look out for specifically?
  
  
• Munnar to Bangalore: There are two routes Munnar - Udumalpet - Tiruppur & Munnar - Theni - Batlagundu - Dindigul. Of which, the first one consists of a single lane road through the Chinnar Sanctuary and 2-lane upto Tiruppur. Which is preferable, given that I would be leaving from Munnar early in the morning?

Drove back from Vaikom to Whitefield yesterday. Started at 5:35 AM and reached at 2:55 PM with breaks of around 40 mins.

Took the Vaikom - Kakkanad -Aluva - Thrissur - Walayar - Coimbatore - Salem - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Attibele - Sarjapur - Varthur route.

Since I reached Salem at 11:30 AM, decided to stick to NH 7 itself. It took almost 10 mins to clear one of the signals at Salem. The toll booths were empty. Maximum 2 cars in front.

Saw a nasty accident between Thoppur and Krishnagiri. Looks like another incident of a biker crossing the road without checking the oncoming traffic. The biker was still lying on the road. The car ( a sedan) was lying on the other side of the road with severe damage to the front left side.

Till Trichur bypass its the same. Beyond Trichur, be on the 4-lane till Kodakara. Follow what Google shows as per my opinion. Good to check with others too on this.


Thats seems to be a good option. Though I dont the road conditions from NH17 to NH47 cross-section. The other option is drive via Edapally to Tirpanithura and get on NH49. But then thats a full a traffic congested region.

Take the road via Udumalpet. Would give you a refreshing drive for the first 90km. And then you can do Palladam-Mangalam-Avinashi bypass and 4-lane there on. (Please note: No Thiruppur).

Thanks to all the folk and their wise words , my drive to Kerala was amazing.Here is a quick update.
1) I travelled on Diwali morning so did not encounter any traffic. So reached Coimbatore in 4 hours flat including breakfast at Shoolagiri. The traffic as I approached Coimbatore was a bit slow since there are lots and lots of speedbreakers.
2) I knew that roads in Kerala would not be that great but it started off in TN itself just after the last outroad from Coimbatore.
3) There was a long single road patch after Palakkad upto Thrissur which was newly laid I think but good. Of course the 4/6 lane road on approach to Kochi was amazing.

The drive back -
1) Reached Palakkad in 2 hrs but then it was painful slow progress and getting into Coimbatore took 2 1/2 more hours.
2) Post Coimbatore the road was very good. But at Salem I got a brief preview of what was to be in Hosur. Lots of cars inbound to Bangalore. So I took the SH from Dharmapuri-Rayakottai-Attibele.
3) I must thank the folk who suggested this road. It is smooth it is quick and there is very little traffic. The drive on this brought memories of the days when driving on single highways was the only option and one had long treelined highways with twists and turns and beautiful landscapes. I had all this on one road. I made it to my home in IndiraNagar in under 2 hours from there. So not only did I escape the toll but the traffic and a lot of irritation seeing errant cabbies breaking rules and queues en-masse.
My drive home was peaceful.
So I highly recommend this

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/12...!2d12.7768!5i2

Though I would love to reach back at the city, many a times it becomes a tough ask. The more number of people travelling with me, more is the delay in leaving Kerala state. So I generally try to leave by around 0800Hrs, if things are within in my full control. Or else it would be in the 1030-1100Hrs time window.

My standard departure time is 0430Hrs (we plan to leave by 0400Hrs, but now the delay is also a standard). In that case our first break invariably would be at Vaikuntam - at Saravana Bhavan for a heavy breakfast :). After that pretty much all places I visit in Kerala can be reached by around 1300-1400Hrs (for lunch). May be the folks who regularly travel with me are also happy to start early from Bangalore; perhaps they want to reach Kerala at the earliest :).

TN state highways on that account are really good. Infact I have started getting bored with the very mechanical drive which we have on the tolled highways - reminds me of an engine driver, driving a train always on the look out for signals, caution boards etc. etc. This time we had even brought packed lunches, but the place we decided to have it was wrong :(. Our lunch break was in the Palladam->Avanashi sector, and any where we parked the vehicles large flies started coming in droves. We also had to use this area as there are trees to give some shade. On the tolled highways, we don't have such luxuries.

Avoid going through Tiruppur at any cost. Traffic can be a big pain here. I would recommend going via Udumalaipet, Dharapuram,Kangeyam,Perundurai, Salem and the usual NH route to Bangalore.

Can any one share the exact GPS coordinates of the Vijayamangalam toll->Perundurai->Kangeyam->Palladam route? The unfinished highway between Vijayamangalam and Avanasahi (random speed humps, uneven surfaces etc.) thought of trying out the Perundurai route.

@ nileshch - avoid dindigul-batlagundu-theni-bodi route. The roads near these towns are very bad. Stick to Udumalpet road and avoid Tiruppur as suggested by Ampere & suresh_gs.

As always, thanks, @ampere!

Will make sure to avoid Tiruppur. Thanks for the tip, Suresh.

Great, that solves the puzzle for me. Thanks, @nfsfreak.

Yes, very true. I miss those days when I had travelled to Coorg and BR Hills on a single lane highway ten years back. Everything was so relaxed and roads were mostly empty. Thanks for the recommendation!