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@ What time are you planning to start.

If it is early (quite early, say around 3am) you can cover the distance in about 9 hours. I did Shorarnur to Trivandrum on Sunday in about 5 hours or so (started about 8:30pm and reached Kazhakuttom by 1:30am with fuel stop).

The road followed and its condition
1. Shoranur to Thrissur: So so road
2. Thrissur to Kochi: Pretty good road, 1 Toll
3. Kochi to Cherthala: Good roads with few potholes thrown in, 1 Toll
4. Cherthala to Alleppy: Roads ok, but narrow
5. Alleppy: Bad condition inside town
6. Alleppy to Haripad: Good roads
7. Haripad to Outskirts of Karunagapally: Lots of pot holes
8. Karunagapaly to Kollam: Good Roads
9. Kollam: Roads ok, but inside town
10. Kollam - Enjakkal (Tvm city): Good Roads
11: Chakai to karamana (through city) - Some good, some bad roads
12: Karamana to Balaramapuram - Good roads
13: Balaramapuram to Kanyakumari - Have not driven in the last 4 months, so I'm not the right person.


My suggestion would be to drive in the night, say start at 10pm. The roads are lot safer as no Autos, short distance buses, private buses, tippers, bikers will be plying and I find long distance KSRTC buses and truck drivers to be more sane than others.
IF you are driving during morning hours, then Guruvayoor to Trivandrum will take more than 10 hours as Onam is around the corner and the traffic will be horrible. Expect traffic snarls @Kodangllur, whole of Kochi, Alleppy, Karunagapally, Kollam, Attingal. Trivandrum to Kanyakumari stretch usually takes 4 to 5 hours during peak hours.

Even Google maps is suggesting the route via Dindigul. The drive through Kerala will be really painful. Even an early morning start will not help. With an early morning start, only Kochi traffic can be skipped. it will be pain to cross Alapuzha, Kollam and Trivandrum. Also, due to flyover work at Marthandum, there is a long detour. I would recommend to start at 5:00 AM and go via Dindigul. The Dindigul - Kanyakumari section is very good with minimal traffic. You can reach Kanyakumari by 3:00 PM. If you travel via Kerala, expect to reach Kanyakumari by 4:00 PM. The Dindigul route will be stress free also.

Folks,

What's the condition of the road from Palakkad to Thrissur via Vadakkenchery & Mannuthy? Is it still pothole ridden?

Normally, while traveling to Thrissur, we take the Shoranur route to avoid the horrid, pothole ridden stretch from Vadakkenchery, all the way to Mannuthy. Of late, we've heard the stretch has become quite good. Is that so?

I don't like being forced off the road by manic private bus drivers. We had found the traffic on the road connecting Shoranur & Palakkad to be much better, and the road surface was far far better! But this was last year I guess.

Can someone shed some light on the current road conditions? We will be traveling to Thrissur for celebrating Onam, when I'm back in India this month end.

Thanks in advance. Cheers!

The road was in good condition but is again starting to develop potholes due to the monsoons (recent post for reference - here). Also, chances of getting stuck at Kuthiran are always there.

I would suggest either take Shornur route or Palakkad-Alathur on NH47 and then go via Pazhayannur-Chelakkara-Wadakancheri.

The current road condition is better apart from a few bad stretches near Wadakkencherry thangam junction and pattikad. Blocks are totally unpredictable. I travelled thrice through the route last week and got stuck once in traffic jam which was huge and wasted almost 45mins. But on other two occasions the ride was smooth and took me hardly 2.5 hrs to reach Cochin from Palakkad.

The shornur route after sunset is very dark with absolutely no street lights at all and with reasonably heavy traffic. So won't be a good idea of you are traveling in late evening between 6-9pm.

I drove on Aug 11th and 15th. There are potholes but no big craters yet. I did not face any traffic jams. Shornur route will add 30 minutes to travel time during day time. I prefer Kuthiran route.

As everyone mentioned road conditions are manageable and not a concern but then the traffic block is the one that you should be concerned about, it is highly unpredictable and its a either a hit or a miss.

The route through Palakkad ~ Ottapalam ~ Shoranur ~ Wadakkanchery is not a proper alternate for NH 544. Here you'll loose more time crossing Palakkad town, instead you should try Alathur ~ Pazhayanur ~ Chelakkara ~ Vazhakode ~ Wadakkanchery ~ Thrissur. But then on both the cases road conditions between Shoranur and Thrissur have become badeven before monsoon and not monsoon have made the situation worse. On top of it traffic will be on the higher side during peak hours after Wadakkanchery.

So not to confuse you; the fact is no route is better than the other but depending on your time of travel choose NH during peak hours and SH during lean hours.

Cheers!

Thanks fellas for the suggestions.

I think we'll try the Alathur- Pazhayanur-Chelakkara-Wadakkanchery-Thrissur route this time round. The first time we used NH-544 to reach Thrissur, our experience was disgusting. We vowed never to drive through that road again.

But since you guys are saying the Alathur route may be slightly better, I'm tempted to try it out. Let's see. Will keep you posted :)

Thanks & Cheers!

No problems with the Alathur-Pazhayannur-Thrissur route.Good roads.Just that while coming from Palakkad,you need to know which flyover not to take:) The easiest way to do this is after Kuzhalmannam ,stay below all flyovers!

Not necessary at all (did Palakkad-Alathur just couple weeks ago, so saying with confidence) :)

When going from Palakkad, take all the flyovers. After the last flyover ends, there is a signal which is the first entry to Alathur (you will see Hanan bakery on your right). You can take this road to right (called court road), and get inside Alathur, about 200m later turn left, you will see SNR chips on left and just proceed straight.
Alternatively, you can also continue straight after the Hanan bakery signal and at the second junction with a break in median you will see a right turn which is a bit diagonal to the highway (almost like a free left exit for traffic in opposite direction). Take this, about 500m later you reach a junction where turning left will take you towards Kavasseri, Pazhayannur, etc. One more landmark is that this turn/junction is just after a newish hotel on the left side of the NH 544 highway, I think the name is Food Factory.

*If you took the right turn at the Hanan bakery signal you will reach the same road from inside Alathur town whereas the other turn enters the road at the end of Alathur nearer to Kavasseri.

Its a no-brainer to take the TN route if you are looking at a peaceful and comfortable drive. If you are looking to drive through KL route, then as mentioned by few already, do a night drive.

Here is my experience when I took the KL route till Nagercoil,

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post4069515

I have done the Guruvayur - Cochin - Trivandrum - Nagercoil stretch and it took us around 11 hours. Its traffic heavy throughout unless you do a night drive. As per google maps, TN route is quick despite being 150 Kms more, that says a lot about the traffic via KL route.

On top of this, Trivandrum - Nagercoil is more congested these days due to fly-over work a Marthandam and Parvathipuram.

The fastest and tolled is what Arun has posted. Guruvayur-Pazhayanur-Alathur-Pollachi-Udumalpettai-Palani-Dindigul-Madurai Bypass-Kavalkinaru-Kanyakumari.

Knowing your are toll free Suresh :D here's a toll free route (relatively) for you:

Guruvayur-Palani (same as above) -Oddanchatram-Sempatti-Vathalagundu-Usilampatti-Peraiyur-T Kallupatti-Srivilliputhur-Sankarankoil-Tirunelveli-Kanyakumari.

Bonuses: You can see Srivilluputhur, Sankaran koil, visit Nellayappar, buy iruttukadai halwa and reach Kanyakumari

I will advise: Guruvayur-Trichur-Angamaly-Ernakulam Bypass-Alleppy-Changanachery-Punalur-Shengottai-Thengasi- Trichy(Ambasamudram-Rosemiyapuram-Kanyakumari)Kanyakumari throu NH 44.

This is scenic and Rain-drive as rains are in Kerala now.
The Punalur-Shengottai-Thengasi is Forest roads, much shorter than Dindigal- Trichi very long drive(Highways are great though...)

Hope it helps...:)

Just back after a quick Ernakulam & back trip over the long week end.
1. Towards Kerala
Left Bengaluru at around 0415hrs. The FasTag counters all put up a good show. Most of them "worked as expected", though there was a minor delay at Thoppur. The breakfast point was the Saravana Bhavan at Vaigundam. Other than witnessing a fight between a passenger and the driver of a long distance bus, there was nothing worth to report. The L&T byepass still remained the usual trouble spot. But now right after the byepass the roads are four-laned with the even the fly overs now fully operational.

I pulled into a small town before Ottapalam to drop a few co passengers. It was 1100Hrs. Had to proceed to Thrissur from there and on, and that journey was irritating. The roads from Kulappully Jn to Thrissur town is not in a good shape now. Too many vehicles on the road as well. The worst trouble makers were slow moving diesel auto rickshaws, forcing other vehicles to queue up behind them. Sights of one "convoy" (!?) of cars led by a diesel autorickshaw crossing another convoy from the opposite side, led by a diesel goods auto rickshaw was quite common. It was at around 1245 I reached Thrissur town. Unsteady rains also added to the fun.

2. From Kerala
There was a function to attend at Ernakulam, so took the usual Paliyekkara toll & highway in the morning. Heavy rains all through the way. Paliyekkara toll had a FasTag lane, but they allowed every one to use that lane. Started the return journey at 1200Hrs. The first major road block was at Kuthiran ghats, where the roads are now pretty much non-existant. Huge craters, forcing slow moving trailer trucks to slow down further or stop have formed up. It was in the afternoon, and there were no highway police vehicles (in this area itself generally two squads; Kilo 13 & Kilo 21, operate other wise) to be seen. We lost around 30 to 45 mins here. FasTag was of good help in all toll booths, till we reached Thoppur. The queue was around 500mts long, and we missed the FasTag lane. Not a bother as my FastTag balance was also low now. Paid cash and moved on. Spent around 15mins at this toll booth.

By then since we knew that FasTag benefit cannot be availed, and there are two more tolls to cross we decided to take the Palacode-Rayakottai road. Traffic was very less yesterday and the well marked, and good roads was a pleasure to drive through. My 2130Hrs we reached our home in the suburb of Bengaluru city.

I was around 1 hr hour behind you. Spent 20 mts at Thoppur toll and 50 mts at Krishnagiri toll (Back up was 1.8 km long !!) . Every toll booth in Coimbatore bypass had 15-20 cars in front of me, still only one booth was functioning in 5 of them.