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Hi Ranjith,

I suggest Coimbatore - Palakkad - Mundur - Perinthalmanna - Ramanatukkara - Kozhikode bye-pass - Vadakara - Thalassery - Kannur

Some pointers:

1. An early start (5 am) from Coimbatore is ideal so that you avoid traffic almost till Malappuram.
2. There are a lot of rumble strips on the Malappuram Ramanattukara stretch.
3. End of Kozhikode bye-pass to Kannur town is like driving thru the city. (Except the bye-pass near Nadal gate).
4. Payyoli, Thikkoti are choke points.
5. There is a lot of road widening in progress on the Kozhikode Mahe stretch.
6. Ooty - Kannur is not worth it as it is circuitous and takes much longer. (We faced a lot of road construction after Gudalur).

Need help on the best route to Guruvayoor from Bangalore, should we deviate from Palakkad or proceed to Thrissur and Guruvayoor, the plan is to start from Bangalore on saturday afternoon.

Traveled to Cochin airport today from Palakkad.

Noticed operators inside the booth at the Panniyankara toll (after Vadakkencherry) and the toll gates operational - may be for checking the influx of vehicles? I wonder if the toll will be operational soon.

The second tunnel at Kuthiran (from Thrissur to Palakkad side) is operational but the road leading to it is a single carriageway for some distance. This might continue for sometime until the flyover is completed.

Planning a trip from Bangalore - stop over at some town on the way probably Palakkad- Alleppey - Kochi- stop over at some town on the way back probably Coimbatore - Bangalore. Traveling with kids so trying to restrict drives to within 6-8 hrs in a day.

What is the best route (if there are more than one)?

How are road conditions? Anything to watch out since this is first time I'll be driving down all the way to Kochi/Alleppey?

Also any recommendation for sightseeing in and around these places. Deliberately left out Munnar from the plan as I intend to cover it some other time.

Speed cameras ! The moment you cross Walayar border, be very gentle with the A pedal. Cameras are strategically placed, like at the end of a downward slope of a hill / bridge where you could cross the magical figure for a few seconds. The aim is to extract their pound of flesh, rather than safety of road users. A safe bet would be to stick to 80 kmph or below throughout this section. This is the dumbest implementation of a national highway that I have seen. Signals instead of underpasses or flyovers but no shortage of speed cams. I believe they have one every 3 kilometres. The 6 lane sections between Wadakkenchery and Mannuthy is rated at 100 kmph, but you still have sections rated at 80 or below in between them. I believe speed cameras are not yet operational in this section as of now.

Adding to this - if your vehicle has cruise control engage it at 85 kmph and not any higher. Kerala has cops manning these cameras like hawks (I think at the expense of bread-and-butter L&O work) and the fines are a major source of revenue for the state. Now that they have tapped into the Vaahan/Sarathi databases your non-KL vehicle or DL does not save you - the fine notice will come to you wherever you are.

To paraphrase a line from a movie: They know where you are and that you have money, and they have a very particular set of skills. They will look for you, pursue you, find you and kill your bank balance.

A few years back - there were 28 cameras in the 70 km section between
Thrissur and Palakkad. Several people I know, and a lot more viral on social media/whatsapp, ended up being clocked in each one of them. At that time the fine was Rs. 500 a pop, so they ended up paying Rs. 14000. Now after revision, the fine for each violation is Rs. 1500.

Kerala also has a very complicated multivariate formula to determine the speed limit - divided or undivided carriageway, NH or SH, within municipal or panchayat limits, near a school or college etc. And on NH 544 you will find posted speed limits that are confusing (like, one limit on the left edge of the road and another on the median; one limit here and another 20 metres ahead etc.).

Take it as a challenge to complete the trip without getting trapped in any of the speed cameras rl:. If it's daytime you're driving, you wouldn't be able to breach the speed limit anywhere. Watch out if you're driving in the night. Treat your A pedal like how you would cafunč your kids' hairs, once you cross the border.

The below table with various speed limits applicable should help you. Translation of column headers of that table is as mentioned below, the first line is what's applicable for you, which is for private cars.

The column headers in order:

Type of Vehicle
school limits
ghat roads
corporation/muncipality limits
NH
SH
4 lane
other roads



Please note it's not an uniform speed limit on the Kerala NH. Good luck and have a safe and enjoyable trip. Summer has already set in by the way in that part of the world.

On your query regarding road conditions, below post and thread would give a gist of what's in store for you.

We are also planning a trip this week to Alleppey and looking for a stop over for the night somewhere in Coimbatore bypass or Palakkad bypass as we are starting only post lunch from B'lore. Not decided where exaclty, and start next day morning to Alleppey.

Any hotel recommendation just for a night stay in Palakkad bypass? Google not throwing any results.

The diversion to Coimbatore from the highway has a lot of hotels near the bye pass.

Some of them.
https://g.page/tag-hotels?share
https://goo.gl/maps/9GGjZYWvkXiGbfPg6

Palakkad has very few options for overnight stay. Srichakra, at the Chandranagar junction along the access ramp from NH 966 to NH 544 is what my relatives (settled in Palakkad) think is OK, but I generally have an aversion to the Kerala-style "star hotel" whose only purpose is to serve alcohol.

I have twice stayed in a place called Boon Inn inside the city (in Sultanpet) which is very barebones; but at least it is not bar-attached. There are a few more scattered through the town.

If you can drive onwards till Thrissur, Kallada has a hotel along the NH in Mannuthy. A bar attached one, but as per some reviews it does cater to the highway travellers' needs. I don't like its appearance much either.

Further down, there are several in the Angamaly-Aluva belt (catering to the airport, Little Flower hospital etc.).

The other option is to stay overnight in Coimbatore. From Salem side the road that leads into the city and airport (at the bypass start) has several hotels catering to all budgets.

Hey all. Am in need of advice for best route between Kochi and Iruppu falls in coorg. This is in South coorg, and close to kutta check post

I need to break the journey round 50-150 kms before iruppu and stay one night. Currently am considering manathavady for the halt.

Which routes to consider? Currently am thinking of taking the angamaly route to thrissur, Pannithadam, kuttipuram, kottakal, malaparamba, kuttiady, mananthavady.

Am I better off taking the route from guruvayur?

And is kuttiady a better option than thamarassery - vythri

Take the Pannithadam route only (which is basically the Eranellur-Perumpilavu bypasss to Kunnamkulam). Don't go near Guruvayur unless you have to go to Guruvayur.

Take the Thamarassery churam instead of Kuttiyadi churam. The roads leading to the latter from Kozhikode (Atholi-Ullyeri-Perambra-Kuttiyadi) are narrow and congested; the former route at least has a national highway for namesake till Kalpetta.

Have you fixed the place to stay in Mananthavady?

Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't booked a hotel yet. I just need internet on Thursday so any town which has good 4g would do. And second requirement is I should be able to get to iruppu in 2 or 3 hours max the next day.

Does the vythri churam have Terrible jams like before? I have been there dozens of times but more than 8 years ago. I used to be stuck almost every trip

Oh don't worry about it. It has improved lots in 8 years. Now if there is a jam it is an exception, not the norm.

But be aware that exceptional events like breakdowns, accidents etc. do occur.

Travelled from Kochi to Mysore via Perinthalmanna - Nilambur - Gudalur - Mudumalai Tiger Reserve- Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
Till Mudumalai, roads are in pretty bad condition.

Took Chamrajnagar - Sathyamangalam - Coimbatore route while returning back. Roads are excellent except few bad patches.

There was no checking in any of the check posts.