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I plan to drive to TCR on 23rd Dec early morning. Looks like there will be a lot of cars heading towards TN/KL from Bangalore on that morning; I know at least 8 cars from my own apartment complex.:eek:

Wondering how early is early enough to beat the morning rush??

21st would be early enough! :)

Expect a massive rush. I had a hard time last year for the Christmas drive and had to bypass Thoppur toll since the queue was over a km long! It took us almost 12 hours to reach home which usually takes 8-8:30 hours. Decided to take the trains this time. This is for the Chennai-Palakkad drive via Krishnagiri.

Good one, but unfortunately not possible

I plan to start around 3.30AM so that I cross Hosur by 4AM before people from Ecity starts their drive at 4 AM. If the traffic is high (based on what google maps show at that time of start), may take Kollegal - Sathy route to Coimbatore.

What about taking Sarjapur - Bagalur route to avoid Attibele, this way you need to worry about Krishnagiri toll only. Past that with your early start should not be an issue.

Thats the default option for me. Reason to consider sathy route is that it will be a sedate drive at that time of the day.

My brother in law started at 4am last Christmas and I remember him saying that Attibele was a mess. Even Saravana Bhavan was also crowded. So expect that and check google maps when you start.

I am hoping that my drive will be stress free since I am coming to Bangalore when everybody is going in the opposite direction :D.

Xmas is open season, you have to take it day by day. Last year I took six hours from Trichur to Koothatukulam around 2/3 days prior xmas, and seven hours back. This when i normally take 2/3 hrs one way. My knee was dead by the time I put my car in the garage. It took me 2 days to recover. So my advice is keep your fingers crossed, You may have no traffic or be boxed in one.:)

I am planning to drive on the Thursday prior, starting from Bangalore at 3 PM and hitting Palakkad-Shoranur-Thrissur-Angamaly-Perumbavur after 9 PM. Hopefully I will survive without much damage. :-)

Last Xmas with fast tag I remember it was Thoppur that was the worst. I was struggling to enter the left side fast tag lane and had to use the left shoulder, all this with a 3.30 start.
This time due to some personal work I will be leaving on the 24th, hoping for sedate drive.

Good that you brought this up. The symptoms are that there would be traffic hold ups in Attibelle, Krishnagiri and Thoppur. We our planning to go as a convoy (2-3 cars), and perhaps needs to check Google Maps to see the position at Attibelle & Krishnagiri.

If these areas are jammed (at 0400Hrs), then I would also have the duty of being the "pilot" and lead the rest of the convoy through Rayakottai-Palacode-Thoppur route, as I am the only driver in the group to have this "road learning".

A safe bet would be 3:00 AM. 3:30 AM is not bad as well. 4:00-5:00 AM is like testing our luck and beyond that, the toll traffic plus crowd at hotels will be horrible. Last time my friend started around 5:45 and spend 1 hour at Attibele toll.:Frustrati

Kollegal - Sathy is a nice option. Peaceful and no tolls.

To add, I know 6 cars from my office floor alone for 23rd Dec towards Kerala.
My suggestion to them was Kollegal ~ Sathyamangalam now looks like even that should be relatively crowded. If you have an option try for 21st or 22nd the worst case.

Cheers!

The NH209 route is certainly more peaceful if one isn't averse to driving on 2 lane roads. I find driving via T.Narsipura to be slightly faster than going via Kollegal (Taking the Bannur Road from Malavalli and turning left at Kirugavalu to go to T.Narsipura and rejoining NH209 at Santamarahalli. Note that one of the sections, i.e SH84 between Kirugavalu to T.Narsipur is marked as blocked to traffic on Google Maps, but the road is just fine, the culvert construction that was caused the road to be closed was completed almost 2 years ago !).

There is some road work ongoing at Chamarajanagar town on the road that runs in front of the KSRTC bus station which can cause some delays. Can be avoided by taking the bypass that goes towards Gundlupet and coming back to NH209 after you get to the Gundlupet road.

Also the Chamarajnagar to Dimbum section has some nasty potholes here and there which can catch you by surprise, so please be on the lookout for those.

Initially I was planning to travel on the 22nd from Pune to Hosur, stop for the night and then proceed to my hometown , Palakkad on the 23rd untill I remembered it's Christmas weekend and half of the Bangalore will be leaving for vacation:deadhorse. Now as per the new plan I will be leaving Pune on 21st evening by 3pm and take a halt at Kolhapur and proceed the next day all the way to Salem as I intend to pass Bangalore-Hosur post Lunch. Hope this is a good idea.