[AvonA7]

Need advice -

Days in Hand - 09 days

Start and End point - Bangalore

Places to cover - Madurai, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, Kodaikanal, Munnar (including periyar)

Places mentioned need not be in this order, it would be good if you advice considering the following points -

- equal distribution of journey would be good (I mean not 600kms one day and next day 100kms) though not mandatory

- Good roads : willing to take few extra KMs if roads are good

- driving time : 7am - 6pm, me the only driver

- willing to spend most of the days in Munnar & Kodaikanal and a day each in Madurai, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari. Open to suggestions, please
share your thoughts if you think otherwise

- hotels in consideration :

ttdc hotels in Madurai, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari - other good hotels please suggest
Munnar, Kodaikanal - please suggest some good hotels (~2k / night max.)

- lastly is it ok to visit these places in end july/early august keeping in mind the monsoon season

Thanks in advance.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

Need advice -

Days in Hand - 09 days

Start and End point - Bangalore

Places to cover - Madurai, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, Kodaikanal, Munnar (including periyar)

Places mentioned need not be in this order, it would be good if you advice considering the following points -

- equal distribution of journey would be good (I mean not 600kms one day and next day 100kms) though not mandatory

- Good roads : willing to take few extra KMs if roads are good

- driving time : 7am - 6pm, me the only driver

- willing to spend most of the days in Munnar & Kodaikanal and a day each in Madurai, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari. Open to suggestions, please
share your thoughts if you think otherwise

- hotels in consideration :

ttdc hotels in Madurai, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari - other good hotels please suggest
Munnar, Kodaikanal - please suggest some good hotels (~2k / night max.)

- lastly is it ok to visit these places in end july/early august keeping in mind the monsoon season

Thanks in advance.

--------------------
You have two choices in the order of places to see

1) Madurai-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Madurai-Kodai-Munnar-Periyar
OR
2) Madurai-Kodai-Munnar-Periyar-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari

Keeping Madurai as starting point, most of these places are in the range of 150 to 300/350 kms range in all directions, so should be doable in half a day or little more.

Except Munnar & Thekkady/Periyar (in Kerala), all other places would probably hot in july end/Aug and monsoon won't hit these places at that time of year.

-Ravi

[ampere]

Here is what I think would be best:

http://maps.google.co.in/maps?f=d&so...79&ie=UTF8&z=8


Bangalore-Kodai (475) (NH7/Nh45)
Kodai-Madurai-Rameshwaram (NH7/NH49) (~250km) (NH7)
Madurai-Kanyakumari (~300km) either via ECR(Tirchendur) or via ECR/NH7 (Turicorin/Tirunelveli)
Kanyakumari-Madurai (300)
Madurai-Munnar (150)
Munnar-Bangalore (480) (Udumalpoet-Dharapuram-Kangeyam-Perundurai-Salem-Bangalore)

Notes:
- Munnar may have rains.
- You can cover Periyar as a day trip from Munnar.
- You can time your stay in the the cities depending on your convinience

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

Need advice -

Munnar, Kodaikanal - please suggest some good hotels (~2k / night max.)

Thanks in advance.

Accommodation is bit costly in Munnar and there are no many places in 2K range, check out SN tourist home, there are few homestays in Devikulam within this budget.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ampere

Here is what I think would be best:


Bangalore-Kodai (475) (NH7/Nh45)
Kodai-Madurai-Rameshwaram (NH7/NH49) (~250km) (NH7)
Madurai-Kanyakumari (~300km) either via ECR(Tirchendur) or via ECR/NH7 (Turicorin/Tirunelveli)
Kanyakumari-Madurai (300)
Madurai-Munnar (150)
Munnar-Bangalore (480) (Udumalpoet-Dharapuram-Kangeyam-Perundurai-Salem-Bangalore)

Notes:
- Munnar may have rains.
- You can cover Periyar as a day trip from Munnar.
- You can time your stay in the the cities depending on your convinience

Sorry for the typo in bold. I meant Rameshwaram-Kanyakumari.
The idea to suggest that plan is : You can do a hill station at start and one an end and temples in between.

First Halt: Kodai
Second Halt: Rameshwaram
Third: KK
Fourth: Madurai
Fifth : Munnar.

[AvonA7]

Originally Posted by ravib

--------------------
You have two choices in the order of places to see

1) Madurai-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Madurai-Kodai-Munnar-Periyar
OR
2) Madurai-Kodai-Munnar-Periyar-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari

Keeping Madurai as starting point, most of these places are in the range of 150 to 300/350 kms range in all directions, so should be doable in half a day or little more.

Except Munnar & Thekkady/Periyar (in Kerala), all other places would probably hot in july end/Aug and monsoon won't hit these places at that time of year.

-Ravi

Thanks Ravi. Option 2 looks good.

I am thinking if I modify that route to -
blr - kodai - munnar - periyar - rameshwaram - kanyakumari -madurai - blr

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Accommodation is bit costly in Munnar and there are no many places in 2K range, check out SN tourist home, there are few homestays in Devikulam within this budget.

Thanks gadadhar. I noticed in the other thread mentioning Mariegold homestay, the reviews are mixed though in TA.

SN Munnar website is not showing the price, anyways can check it out, reviews are good at TA.

Originally Posted by ampere

The idea to suggest that plan is : You can do a hill station at start and one an end and temples in between.

Thanks Ampere.
This is an interesting suggestion. I`ll go with either Option 2 from Ravi or this point.

Originally Posted by ampere

I meant Rameshwaram-Kanyakumari.

First Halt: Kodai
Second Halt: Rameshwaram
Third: KK
Fourth: Madurai
Fifth : Munnar.

I noticed that in your first post, but its clear from the link you have posted of the route map. Thanks for putting the effort to clear the route map.

Couple of queries for you -

As per my understanding (all from team-bhp) -

blr-madurai-kk is NH7 and very good 4 lane roads

dhindukkal - batlagundu :
is it 4 lane good roads like NH7
can I bypass dhindukkal or its OK to pass through the city (gmap is showing a bypass)
dindigul - theni road, NH45 - is this road good or better to stick to NH7

madurai - rameshwaram : how is NH49

rameshwaram - KK :

please refer the link below, gmap is showing a bit different route, distance and time wise both the routes looks same, need your advise on road conditions though
Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, India to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India - Google Maps

last one, munnar - salem : road condition, marayur is a forest I guess, are there any restrictions on driving. Any other routes from munnar to blr.

[ravib]

I thought you are from Pune (as your location says) so started of with Madurai as the option. If you are starting from B'lore, then the route you mentioned would be good.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

Couple of queries for you -

As per my understanding (all from team-bhp) -

blr-madurai-kk is NH7 and very good 4 lane roads

dhindukkal - batlagundu :
is it 4 lane good roads like NH7
can I bypass dhindukkal or its OK to pass through the city (gmap is showing a bypass)
dindigul - theni road, NH45 - is this road good or better to stick to NH7

madurai - rameshwaram : how is NH49

rameshwaram - KK :

please refer the link below, gmap is showing a bit different route, distance and time wise both the routes looks same, need your advise on road conditions though
Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, India to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India - Google Maps

last one, munnar - salem : road condition, marayur is a forest I guess, are there any restrictions on driving. Any other routes from munnar to blr.

- Dindukkal-Batlagundu is NH45 2L,
- Bypasses are in place at Dindukkal. Its very easy getting out NH7 and on to NH45. The bypass shown in gmap is the NH7 bypass.
- NH49 is decent 2L. But do note you wont have major choices for food. Ramnad is one place where you find some hotels.
- There are two routes from Rameshwaram to KK. The full ECR which goes via Tiruchendur. And the other option which lets you go to Tirunelveli from Tuticorin and then the 4L'ed NH7.
I think both options are good. If you like driving ECR is a very good option as well. Plus if you are in time, you may be able to visit Tiruchendur as well.
- Munnar Bangalore : The other option is same one as Kodai, In other words: Munnar-Bodi-Theni-Batlagundu-Dindukkal-Salem-Blr, (NH49-NH45-NH7)
But do note that the 90km which you drive through to Udumalpettai is pure bliss and the scenery is very good. You should not miss that. Driving is not at all difficult. Just that its long (90km) and would take about 3 hours.

[AvonA7]

ravi : yes you are right, rt now doing pune-blr-pune, not sure but chances are that the trip would be from blr

ampere : Thanks once again for the info. I think this is sufficient information to plan and finalize the trip. May come back once more before the trip.

[ampere]

Here is a rough sketch of your schedule:

D1 : Drive to Kodai.
N1/N2 : At Kodai

D3 : Drive to Rameshwaram via Madurai by-pass. Reach by evening
N3 : At Rameshwaram

D4: Visit temple and Dhanushkodai. Should be by 12. Then proceed to KK
N4: At KK

D5: Visit KK temple. Should be easily done by 10. Proceed to Madurai (you can also add Suchindram to you list. Very close to KK). You would reach Madurai by 3-5PM.
If you want and there is no crowd, you can get darshan as well.
N5 : At Madurai

D6: Darshan at Madurai and visit other temples. (Pilliarpatti, Pazhamudircholai etc)
N6: At Madurai

D7: Start early for Munnar and reach by noon. (Via Bodi)
N7/N8 : At Munnar.

D9: Morning drive to Bangalore and Reach by evening.
N9: At Bangalore.

[AvonA7]

Originally Posted by ampere

Here is a rough sketch of your schedule:

Wow, thats great Ampere, you prepared the entire schedule, it`ll surely be of immense help to me

Originally Posted by ampere

Another thing I realized,

If you just want to visit Madurai Meenakshi temple alone, then you can stay for 3 days in Munnar by leaving one day earlier.

That was my initial plan, so in my first post I mentioned 01 day for Madurai, lets see how it goes.

[ampere]

Another thing I realized,

If you just want to visit Madurai Meenakshi temple alone, then you can stay for 3 days in Munnar by leaving one day earlier.

[Tempelhof]

Friends:

Planning to go from Bangalore - Madurai - Kodaikanal - Palani - Bangalore during the first week of November.

Will be staying in Madurai for 4 nights, in Kodai for 2 nights and in Palani for 1 night.

Need help on the following

1. Good place to eat / stop between Salem and Madurai
2. Road condition from Kodaikanal to Palani
3. Good place to stay in Palani for a day

Thanks in advance.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Tempelhof

[*]Good place to eat / stop between Salem and Madurai

Aristo at end of Karur bypass (going south)
Hotel Fantasy, between Dindigul & Madurai, immediately after the TAFE Plant

[Tempelhof]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Aristo at end of Karur bypass (going south)
Hotel Fantasy, between Dindigul & Madurai, immediately after the TAFE Plant

Thanks ! Waiting for other inputs.