[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by aspire

Hi,

Yes travelling from Bangalore, travelling with infant, hence was more keen on breaking mid way.

Regards
Shailesh

Salem at 3hrs from electronics city.Coimbatore at 5_6hours from electronics city,palakkad at 8hours from electronics city and kulappully at 9.5hours from electronics city all have options to stay on the highway itself.

[binand]

Originally Posted by aspire

Yes travelling from Bangalore, travelling with infant, hence was more keen on breaking mid way.

I usually drive Bangalore-Palakkad (about 400 km) in 7 hours non-stop. This is 1 hour to get out of Bangalore, 3 hours Bangalore-Salem and 3 hours Salem-Palakkad.

Palakkad-Thrissur would take 1.5 hours and Thrissur-Guruvayur, another 1.5 (this includes time taken to pass through Thrissur town).

Overall you are looking at 10 hours driving. Based on how long you reckon you can drive without having to break, we could arrive at a city where you might want to put up overnight. Most people in your situation do that at Coimbatore.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by aspire

Planning to drive down to Guruvayoor in the first week of June, any advise regarding the route to be taken, quality of roads, any tips would be helpful as travelling with family.

If you can start early say 5am (4am would be even better), nothing like it - Getting out of Bangalore is easy and fast at those times and you can reach Guruvayoor for a late lunch. This equation changes if it's a long/holiday weekend.

Nothing to worry about the route - Bangalore-Hosur-Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Thrissur-Guruvayoor. In case you take more/longer breaks, you can stop at Palakkad or Thrissur for lunch and then proceed to Guruvayoor.

[iVento]

Did Bangalore - Thrissur - Bangalore last weekend.

On our way back, we've found a new eatery called Sri Adhith Bhavan. It is located approximately 6.5 KM after Krishnagiri Toll Plaza on the left side towards Bangalore.

Food was very tasty & reasonably priced. Their sign board is a direct lift from A2B. Fortunately there ends the similarities. The ambiance was good and the service was excellent. They have both AC & Non-AC area. Washrooms were very neat. The open parking can easily accommodate 25-30 cars.

Some Pictures:

[arun_josie]

Any good hotels for stay near to KIMS, Trivandrum?

[shrionsong]

We are planning a trip to sabarimala on sunday. It is given as idol installation day in the calendar and seems to be open on sunday only. Any tips from members?

[binand]

Originally Posted by shrionsong

We are planning a trip to sabarimala on sunday. It is given as idol installation day in the calendar and seems to be open on sunday only. Any tips from members?

It is open between 5 PM on 3/6 and 10 PM on 4/6, for the anniversary rituals of, well, the idol installation. I expect it to be very crowded. Since the SW monsoon has started in Kerala, it would be very wet as well (heavy rains are predicted over the weekend).

[aspire]

Originally Posted by NPV

If you can start early say 5am (4am would be even better), nothing like it - Getting out of Bangalore is easy and fast at those times and you can reach Guruvayoor for a late lunch. This equation changes if it's a long/holiday weekend.

Nothing to worry about the route - Bangalore-Hosur-Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Thrissur-Guruvayoor. In case you take more/longer breaks, you can stop at Palakkad or Thrissur for lunch and then proceed to Guruvayoor.

Back after the short trip.

Started at 6 from HSR, reached Guruvayur by 5, with lot of breaks and visits to a friends house, really nice roads, absolutely hated the L&T bypass, poor condition of the roads, the ghat section to Palakkad was bad too.

Lot of road infra being built hopefully in the next year or so, the roads will be top notch throughout.

For the return journey, started at 2:30 PM, dropped relatives at Thrissur station, then started back, got stuck at the ghat section, for close to 3.5 hrs, pathetic private buses, and no driving sense ended up in a huge roadblock.

Finally got onto saner roads and saner traffic, stopped near to coimbatore for dinner, and a few tea breaks, reached HSR by 4 am in the morning.

All throughout the journey rarely exceeded 110, my elite i20 petrol was super smooth, returned a mileage of 16, out of which 150kms were in B2B traffic of bangalore!!

I had tanked up at Essar outlet at Guruvayur, seems the quality was top notch, I still have a few bars remaining in the gauge.

Avinashi road--> Saw many near misses, people seems to be in a hurry to meet their maker, insane speeds and crazy driving, no room for any error, it seems I was seeing a go kart race or something!!

The tolls were less crowded, as it was a week day, all the tiredness just went away after having the dharshan of Guruvayurappan.

Would have loved to stay there for a few more days, and explore nearby places but couldn't.

Till next time.

Regards,
Shailesh

[RobC]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Any good hotels for stay near to KIMS, Trivandrum?

Assuming you are looking for a mid-range decent stay option with quick access to the hospital, I would suggest Biverah Hotel and Suites, Kumarapuram. It's just 2.5 kms away from KIMS and should take no more than 5-12 mins from KIMS, depending on traffic at Kumarapuram Jn..

Other more premium option would be farther away into the City centre.

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Doing a bike ride to Vagamon this weekend with Dominar group buddies. I know it has started raining in Kerala and ready for it, but good to know any first hand experience? Just want to know what to expect

KK

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by RobC

Assuming you are looking for a mid-range decent stay option with quick access to the hospital, I would suggest Biverah Hotel and Suites, Kumarapuram. It's just 2.5 kms away from KIMS and should take no more than 5-12 mins from KIMS, depending on traffic at Kumarapuram Jn..

Other more premium option would be farther away into the City centre.

Thanks RobC, I will keep this option in mind for any feature requirement. We stayed in Keys which was 7-8 Kms away and took us around 15-20mins to reach.

[b16h22]

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

Doing a bike ride to Vagamon this weekend with Dominar group buddies. I know it has started raining in Kerala and ready for it, but good to know any first hand experience? Just want to know what to expect

KK

The roads can be dangerous in heavy rain. Gravel in corners near Vagamon heights can be a bit if a handful. Last year a rider from our group crashed and the bike slid into a ditch while trying to brake in a downhill corner. Because the abs kicked in and there was a lot of gravel on the wet road.
The visibility reduces drastically thanks to fog and rain. And roads last year were in terrible condition up top

[vinodh_eee]

Hi Guys - I will be traveling from Bangalore to Thrissur, then on to Kottayam and come back to Bangalore via Dindigul. Please let me know any trusted petrol pump (preferably COCO) in and around Thrissur and Kottayam. I will be driving a Laura TSi, so range is about 650 Kms.
I didn't see any shell pumps in Kerala. Is it true?

[aspire]

Originally Posted by vinodh_eee

Hi Guys - I will be traveling from Bangalore to Thrissur, then on to Kottayam and come back to Bangalore via Dindigul. Please let me know any trusted petrol pump (preferably COCO) in and around Thrissur and Kottayam. I will be driving a Laura TSi, so range is about 650 Kms.
I didn't see any shell pumps in Kerala. Is it true?

I had tanked up at Guruvayur from Essar, there are quite a few Reliance and Essar pumps enroute.

Regards
Shailesh

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by vinodh_eee

Hi Guys - I will be traveling from Bangalore to Thrissur, then on to Kottayam and come back to Bangalore via Dindigul. Please let me know any trusted petrol pump (preferably COCO) in and around Thrissur and Kottayam. I will be driving a Laura TSi, so range is about 650 Kms.
I didn't see any shell pumps in Kerala. Is it true?

There is a BP COCO pump after Coimbatore bypass. It's near a flyover. So you have to take the service road to enter it. Not very prominent as it was partly demolished for road widening. Fill up your tank here as Petrol is slightly cheaper in TN. If you miss this, there is a Reliance pump after this. In Kerala, you will find lot of Reliance pumps.