[cooljai]

Plan to drive from Bangalore to Kerala (Chengannur) this week, either Thursday or Friday, with wife and two kids.
In light of the recent events, which route is preferred?
If we take Salem- Coimbatore route, which are all the places that are generally affected by Kaveri agitations the most?
Does it make sense to start early morning (4 Am) or would you suggest later in the day (after 12 Pm)?

[pramodpk]

I plan to drive from Bangalore to Vaikom on October 1st. Want to avoid Tamil Nadu and hence will go via Mysore.

Route Planned is

Whitefield - Mysore - Sultan Bathery - Kunnamkulam - N Paravur - Vaikom

Google maps shows 2 options to go from Kalpetta to Kunnankulam.

Option 1 - Kalpetta - Areacode - Perinthalmanna - Pulamanthol - Pattambi

https://goo.gl/maps/Qfa2g9rgf6M2


Thanks in advance

Option 2 - Kozhikode (by pass) - Kottakkal

https://goo.gl/maps/djGGqHsqCoR2

Which one would be better? Any other option?

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by cooljai

Plan to drive from Bangalore to Kerala (Chengannur) this week, either Thursday or Friday, with wife and two kids.
In light of the recent events, which route is preferred?
If we take Salem- Coimbatore route, which are all the places that are generally affected by Kaveri agitations the most?
Does it make sense to start early morning (4 Am) or would you suggest later in the day (after 12 Pm)?

I drove to Kerala (Palakkad, to be specific) via Salem over the weekend. Left Bangalore at 10pm, and reached our place by 4am. Sparse traffic all along NH-7 / NH-47. Since my car was neither KA nor TN registered, both KA and TN cops had waved me off at the respective border checkposts at Attibele.
On the return, we started at 6 o'clock in the evening and was in Bangalore by midnight. Again, same story. Sparse traffic. I felt it was a good idea to have started by 6, so that we reached Attibele at around 11:30pm. Else there would've been a longer queue of vehicles, as TN vehicles were not allowed into KA, and vice versa - trucks need a lot more time than smaller vehicles to make a full U-turn, hence the hold-up.

Except for the sparse traffic, everything else seemed quite normal to me. There was an incident in Coimbatore city when an activist was killed and his supporters resorted to some violence on friday evening, but that did not seem to have any effect on the bypass or the highway

[cooljai]

Originally Posted by silversteed

I drove to Kerala (Palakkad, to be specific) via Salem over the weekend. Left Bangalore at 10pm, and reached our place by 4am. Sparse traffic all along NH-7 / NH-47. Since my car was neither KA nor TN registered, both KA and TN cops had waved me off at the respective border checkposts at Attibele.
On the return, we started at 6 o'clock in the evening and was in Bangalore by midnight. Again, same story. Sparse traffic. I felt it was a good idea to have started by 6, so that we reached Attibele at around 11:30pm. Else there would've been a longer queue of vehicles, as TN vehicles were not allowed into KA, and vice versa - trucks need a lot more time than smaller vehicles to make a full U-turn, hence the hold-up.

Except for the sparse traffic, everything else seemed quite normal to me. There was an incident in Coimbatore city when an activist was killed and his supporters resorted to some violence on friday evening, but that did not seem to have any effect on the bypass or the highway

Thanks, my drive is KA registered, and that's my worry! Is TN police not allowing KA vehicles into Attibele?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Google maps shows 2 options to go from Kalpetta to Kunnankulam.

Option 1 - Kalpetta - Areacode - Perinthalmanna - Pulamanthol - Pattambi

https://goo.gl/maps/Qfa2g9rgf6M2

Thanks in advance

Option 2 - Kozhikode (by pass) - Kottakkal

https://goo.gl/maps/djGGqHsqCoR2

Which one would be better? Any other option?

Stick to option 2 via Kozhikode Bypass. The first one may be slightly less on traffic, but will take the same or more time. The first route is pretty much made up of smaller roads and although the road conditions should be good, will not give you any real benefit.

Can also look at Kottakkal-Kuttipuram-Chamravattom-Chavakkad-N.Paravur route (to Vaikom)

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by cooljai

Thanks, my drive is KA registered, and that's my worry! Is TN police not allowing KA vehicles into Attibele?

Your best bet is the Mysore route. At Attibele, KA cops were seen asking KA registered vehicles to turn around and go back, while TN cops were doing the same to TN registered vehicles across the border.

[cooljai]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Your best bet is the Mysore route. At Attibele, KA cops were seen asking KA registered vehicles to turn around and go back, while TN cops were doing the same to TN registered vehicles across the border.

Thanks, so it seems the only option left for me is through Mysore- Wayanad. How much time would it take to reach Trichur, if we go in for a 4 Am start from Kammanahalli?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by cooljai

Thanks, so it seems the only option left for me is through Mysore- Wayanad. How much time would it take to reach Trichur, if we go in for a 4 Am start from Kammanahalli?

Roughly between 7 and 8 hours driving time to Calicut and ~3.5 hours from Calicut to Thrissur. So total around 11-11.5 hours. May be currently a little bit more since I assume there will be lot of vehicles trying to take this route to Kerala to avoid TN.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by cooljai

Thanks, so it seems the only option left for me is through Mysore- Wayanad. How much time would it take to reach Trichur, if we go in for a 4 Am start from Kammanahalli?

The last time I made this trip (which was the day after the bandh & bus burning incident at Bangalore) it took me 13 hours to reach Trichur. I started off from EC are by around 1200hrs, and did reach Vythiri (Wayanad dt.) by around 1815Hrs. This was with a 45 min lunch break. I went via Kanakapura. What did me in was the infamous Thamarasseri churam (ghat road) where I got stuck for 3 hours. It was only by 2115Hrs I was out of this area, then had to break for 30 mins for dinner. Reached Thrissur by around 0100Hrs.

[cooljai]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Roughly between 7 and 8 hours driving time to Calicut and ~3.5 hours from Calicut to Thrissur. So total around 11-11.5 hours. May be currently a little bit more since I assume there will be lot of vehicles trying to take this route to Kerala to avoid TN.

Originally Posted by sachinpk

The last time I made this trip (which was the day after the bandh & bus burning incident at Bangalore) it took me 13 hours to reach Trichur. I started off from EC are by around 1200hrs, and did reach Vythiri (Wayanad dt.) by around 1815Hrs. This was with a 45 min lunch break. I went via Kanakapura. What did me in was the infamous Thamarasseri churam (ghat road) where I got stuck for 3 hours. It was only by 2115Hrs I was out of this area, then had to break for 30 mins for dinner. Reached Thrissur by around 0100Hrs.

So 12-13 hours seems to be a fair assumption. Considering Kerala traffic, does it make sense to start a bit late from Bangalore, so as to hit Kerala during the night?
Is it safe to drive through those roads after nightfall, or would you suggest an early morning start?

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Has anyone done Mysore - Wayanad - Guruvayur - Cochin - Trivandrum recently? If so, how is the route condition and how much time does it take? Google Map says 14 hours. I may take this route to avoid TN route due to the current issues.

I see one more KL route from Bangalore/Mysore to Trivandrum. Which one would be better in terms of road conditions? Google timing/distance is similar for both the routes.

Route 1:



Route 2:

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

I see one more KL route from Bangalore/Mysore to Trivandrum. Which one would be better in terms of road conditions? Google timing/distance is similar for both the routes.

Route 2:

Please note that both routes pass through TN - Gudalur - Nilambur.
Route 1 would be slightly better I guess as road work is happening in route 2 between Kottayam & Chengannur.

If you want to avoid entering TN, go via Sulthan Bathery - Kalpetta.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by cooljai

So 12-13 hours seems to be a fair assumption. Considering Kerala traffic, does it make sense to start a bit late from Bangalore, so as to hit Kerala during the night?
Is it safe to drive through those roads after nightfall, or would you suggest an early morning start?

I always prefer an early morning start (at around 0400Hrs), and avoid driving after night fall. When we started from Thamarassery town at around 2200Hrs, the roads were getting empty. Yes, I could increase the speed a bit but with wife and a small baby, it was not a very relaxed drive. From Kozhikode byepass till Perumpilavu, there were some vehicles (and police patrols) which were moving. After Perumpilavu when we moved through Kunnamkulam etc. there was not a soul out there on the roads. It worried me a bit, if my vehicle got broken down.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Please note that both routes pass through TN - Gudalur - Nilambur.
Route 1 would be slightly better I guess as road work is happening in route 2 between Kottayam & Chengannur.

If you want to avoid entering TN, go via Sulthan Bathery - Kalpetta.

Thanks pramodpk. So, via Kalpetta means, I think Route 1 is better.

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Thanks pramodpk. So, via Kalpetta means, I think Route 1 is better.

Route 1 should be better. Expect to take around 19 - 20 hours to reach Trivandrum if you start by 5:00 AM from Bangalore.