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Yes Kanakpura road is two lane.

There are two 'bypasses' some of the regulars take which you can try

1. Sankari Bypass - Idappadi- Tharamangalam - Omalur. 45 km can be covered in 50-55 minutes. Saves Salem traffic, 10 km and 2 tolls, but will have good amount of 2 wheeler and truck traffic. All good roads. You can try this on your way back. Search earlier posts in this thread to get details.

2. If your Bangalore destination is on east or north, try Hosur - Bagalur - Sarjapur deviation. Will help avoid Attibele and Ecity toll booth queue ups.

Please cross Angamali town and stop for breakfast. Angamali town gets choked normally by 9 AM.

To be precise the 2 by passes are

1. Via Edappadi, Jalagandapuram, Nangavalli, Mecheri

2. Via Sankagiri, Konganapuram, Tharamangalam, Omalur

In both the cases, you get to avoid 2 toll plazas. But traffic can be sometimes high near Tharamangalam.

I had been on route no. 1 this January. Except for a a small strewth near the level crossing in Mecheri, the rest of the tarmac is brilliant to drive

For the Benefit of Team-BHP'ians. Here's the list of A2B restaurants on TN Highways.

I managed to capture this at the newly opened A2B restaurant at Company owned BP outlet before Samayapuram toll.

That doesn't seem to be a complete list. I count 5 A2B in TN when driving from Bangalore to Palakkad (Hosur, Soolagiri, Thoppur, Vaiguntam, Perundurai) but only 2 of those are mentioned in your list.

How is Sarjapur - Bagalur road condition? Normally when I drive from Hope Farm Signal towards Chennai used to take white field main road - Sarjapur - Attibele. Both white field main road and Sarjapur Attibele roads are not great to drive. However traffic is sparse wherein I have covered in 40 mins during afternoon time.

Sarjapur-Bagalur-Hosur is in excellent condition and traffic is sparse. Narrows a bit in Bagalur town and may have to negotiate some traffic just before merging into the NH.

Sarjapur-Bagalur is in excellent condition while in TN; but once in KA it was quite awful (about a year back). Maybe it is also scheduled to get a facelift.

Sarjapur-Attibele is currently being resurfaced and widened; right now only a short (50m) stretch at the Attibele end is still WIP.

Sarjapur-Dommasandra is also getting widened and converted to dual carriageway.

If you are starting from Whitefield don't you think it is better to travel towards Hoskote and then go to Chennai via Kolar-Chittoor?

Its in very good condition, I came via that road last weekend. There are few new humps introduced in KA side, but nothing to worry.
The dommasandra - Sarjapur road work is happening i suppose, but the road remains patchy most of the areas. Its better to drice on the shoulders which is newly done compared to the main road itself.

Thanks for the suggestion. Avoiding only from a single carriageway perspective as it is for longer part of the journey. Also not sure about road condition as well as the traffic. Will try this route atleast once.

Whitefield - Nandanam, Chennai via NH4 cover it in flat 6 hours with 45 mins break for breakfast/ lunch and refuelling.

I heard Bangalore - Kanakapura road is dug up till Kanakapura and a pain to drive. Any updates / recent travellers on that route?

Hello fellow members!

Reached Alleppey yesterday from Trivandrum. Took the scenic coastal highway instead of the default NH route. Although speeds reduced drastically, the scenery more than made up for it (Arabian sea on the left and backwaters on the right). Passed by a huge vessel that ran aground and is in a tilted state (looks like it’s lying there since ages) just before Kollam, before passing through the famous Quilon Beach hotel.

Traveling to Thekkady tomorrow – and plan on taking the Ettumanoor – Neendoor – Kidangoor – Chakinippaalam road (default shown by Google maps, if starting from Muhamma, Alleppey).

Then Thekkady to Munnar on the 27th – thinking of taking SH-19 as of now, to Chinnakanal.

Originally, I had cancelled Kochi from the itinerary, since I wanted to reach back to Bangalore on Saturday, April 29. However, what I missed was that May 1st is a holiday!!

So now I have decided to include Kochi as well, however, due to non-refundable bookings I cannot modify any of the existing stay at hotels, and must travel back to Kochi from Munnar on the 29th, and then from Kochi to Bangalore on the 1st.

I normally try and return a day in advance to beat the rush at toll queues, but this time looks to be an exception. I am willing to take that pain so that Kochi can be included too in this trip. 3 things on the agenda – Fort Kochi, Cherai Beach and boating at Marine drive (can also squeeze Lulu Mall if time permits).

Don’t want to start early from Kochi on the 1st.

Kindly help me out on the following –

1) Are the default routes ok to take between Alleppey-Thekkady and Thekkady-Munnar?

2) What is the preferred route between Chinnakanal – Kochi?

3) I haven’t booked a hotel in Kochi yet, any suggestions for that? Budget is around 3k per night, including breakfast. I would like to stay at a place that is kind of centralized (Fort Kochi, Marine Drive & Cherai Beach).

4) Do the ferries to Fort Kochi also take cars in them? If yes, I plan on trying this for an experience. I think there is a ferry from Marine Drive to Fort Kochi?

5) What is the best time to start from Kochi (considering it’s going to be end of a long weekend) to be able to reach the plains (say, Coimbatore) before 5 pm? I am ok to reach Bangalore by midnight if that helps me beat the queues at the toll booths.

6) Any other tips/pointers?

Thanks in anticipation!

1. Take Muhamma - Ettumanoor - Manarcaud - then the usual KK Road. Roads are good all the way, execpt a bit narrow for the first few kms from Ettumanoor.

2. Kumily - Nedumkandam - Pooppara - Chinnakanal.

3. Fort Kochi and Cherai beach are not the centre of Kochi/Ernakulam. In Marine Drive upmarket Taj Gateway is there. Also the Good old Sea Lord. If You are vegetarian, Bharat Hotel will be a good option with ample parking.

4. Now MD and Vypeen are linked by bridges so no ferry carrying cars, I think. You can take Vypeen - FC ferry to take cars, I think. Others may comment here.

5. Kochi - Bangalore is approx. 9 hours drive. So starting at 2 pm would see you in Bangalore by midnight. An AN start surely see long Qs in the toll booths, so an early morning start would be ideal.

Can you please give more details of this route?

Here you go - https://goo.gl/maps/S25wnV7QyHq - you can skip the turn off to Varkala / Varkala Helipad and continue straight.

The coastal road is available till Kollam, post which it's the regular NH-66.

Hi, Im planning to travel from Hyderabad to Thrissur this weekend. Vehicle is Innova Crysta and I will be driving it.Please do suggest the best route.

I've driven to Bangalore and then to Ooty,Conoor,Wayanad and Coorg earlier.It will be my first time to Thrissur.

Ranjitp1:Looks like we are neighbors. I stay at Sainikpuri and would be traveling to Ottapalam often..
It will be nice to be in touch.My ph.no.is 9000003003.