[suresh_gs]

Folks,

I had been to Coimbatore from 24th March to 26th March along with my family. This was a last minute decision. Booked accommodation in Hotel City Tower.
On 24th, we left our home in Bangalore by 9:15 AM. Fortunately we did not encounter much traffic enroute to E city. As usual, I did not take the Attibele flyover. Instead, I went below the flyover via TVS Road. The road from Attibele has been patched up at many place till the TN border. The drive was not very smooth though. The moment you cross TN border, the road condition changes.

ATTIBELE – TVS ROAD


ROAD POST TVS FACTORY


I then went via the Hosur bypass road and reached the NH via the outer ring road.

HOSUR BY PASS ROAD


HOSUR OUTER RING ROAD


We stopped at Hotel Saravana Bhavan (Before the Krishnagiri toll on the left side of the road) for tiffin. I would have taken the Rayakottai-Hosur road but then got the updates couple of days back prior to my trip that the road was in tatters.
I then took a deviation towards Omalur town and reached Sankagiri via Omalur Tharamangalam road (SH 86).
Now this road has been newly re-laid. I was able to cruise at around 80-85 kmph on a consistent basis. I did observe mild truck traffic.

OMALUR THARAMANGALAM ROAD


THARAMANGALAM KONGANAPURAM ROAD


KONGANAPURAM SANKAGIRI ROAD


I then proceeded further on the Salem Kochi NH. We stopped for lunch at A2B before the Vijayamangalam toll plaza. Now there’s a way to avoid paying toll at Vijayamangalam toll plaza. As you see the board TOLL PLAZA 1 KM AHEAD, shift to the left lane of the NH and then take a deviation to the service road. The Landmark is SURABHI NURSERY on the left side. Then take the last left from SURABHI NURSERY and follow the road. This is a single lane tar road and surprisingly I found it to be very good. See the map for more details.

SURABHI NURSERY ROAD 1


SURABHI NURSERY ROAD 2

[suresh_gs]

I rejoined the NH after this deviation. We then have one more toll at Karumathampatti. To avoid this, I took a left turn after spotting the board KARUMATHAMPATTI. This road takes you to Karnampettai. From here I took a right turn on the NH67 Trichy Coimbatore road. Finally I reached the Hotel by 5 15 PM. Took rest for the rest of the day and made a plan as to what to cover for the next 2 days.



My onward journey map looked like this


I prepared the agenda as follows:

DAY1: Isha Yoga Centre, Kovai Kutralam and shopping in the evening
DAY2: Eachanari Vinayagar temple, Saraswathi temple, Dhanvantri temple, G D Museum and VOC Zoo. While proceeding to Bangalore for the return trip, we visited Karamadai where we have a famous Ranganathar temple.

More details to follow...

[suresh_gs]

DAY1

ISHA YOGA CENTER

We planned to cover Isha Yoga Centre and Kovai Kutralam first. We hired a taxi from the hotel and opted for 1/2 a day package. This comes to Rs 900 for 4 hours in Indica AC car. In case it got extended, per hour Rs 150 will be charged.

Our first halt was at Isha Yoga Centre. Amazing location in the real sense of the word. We deposited out mobiles in the entrance and proceeded to SURYAKUND. This spot is for gents only and they can enter the sacred waters after changing the attire to an orange coloured clothing provided by the Isha Centre.
We then watched a video describing the importance of Suryakund. The languages are in English, Tamil and Telugu.
Likewise for ladies, we have the CHANDRAKUND. We then visited the shrine of LINGA BHAIRAVI. Truly a wonderful sight to behold of the goddess.
Next we proceeded to visit the Dhyanalinga. It was silence all around. I was holding my second kind and he gently called out "Appa". This was enough for the noise to be audible and I walked out of the meditation hall.
We then had Payasam costing Rs 10. We spent close to 2 hrs 15 min in the Isha Centre. After taking possession of our cell phones, managed to click few snaps from outside.

To feel the sense of calmness, I would suggest people to visit the center sans their wives and kids.




KOVAI KUTRALAM

We came out of Isha center by 12 15 PM and then proceeded to Kovai Kutralam. After purchasing the entry ticket, all vehicles are not allowed beyond the parking area. From here the govt van transports all the passengers to the starting point of the falls. Then one has to walk for close to a km before reaching the falls. The scorching heat and the task of carrying the second kid was taxing.
After reaching the spot, we forgot all our pain and entered the waters. Even though the water quantity was comparatively less, it was still worth going there.

[suresh_gs]

DAY 2:

Our plan for the day was hectic and we intended to cover temples, car museum and zoo. First on the agenda was the Eachanari Vinayagar temple and Lakshmi/Saraswathi temple. Both these temples are very close to each other and located on the Pollachi main road. We were not allowed to take snaps inside the temple premises.

Coming from Coimbatore, one reaches the Lakshmi Saraswathi temple first. I managed to take a snap from outside.



A bit further on the right side is the Eachanari Vinayagar temple. Unfortunately I was not able to take any snaps of this temple as we had to cover the Dhanvantri temple in Arya Vaidya campus before heading to the G D museum.

The Dhanvantri temple is located in Ramanathapuram inside the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy campus. This temple is built in typical Kerala style and is worth visiting.

After covering the temples we then proceed to the G D Museum. This is a must vist place for anyone who comes to Coimbatore. This museum has a good collection of vintage cars, previous era devices, gadgets. I will post some of the snaps that I took there

GD Museum

[suresh_gs]

GD Museum (continued)




GD Car Museum

[suresh_gs]

GD Car Museum (contd)

[suresh_gs]

VOC Zoo

Next we proceeded to visit the VOC zoo named after the famous Tamil freedom fighter V O Chidambaram Pillai. This is maintained by the govt and has a pretty good collection of birds.









Thus we manged to complete all that we wanted to see for the day before reaching the hotel to break for lunch.
We checked out from the hotel at 4 PM and proceeded to visit the famous Ranganathar temple in Karamadai. We took the Mettupalayam route and reached the temple in less than 1 hr.

The road conditions till Karamadai were very good. The specialty of this temple lies in the fact that one does not get to see the sayana pose of the lord as in any other Ranganatha temple. This is a Svayambhu Ranganatha temple.







If you see the above map, I followed the directions as shown in blue arrow even though the road is a one way.

[suresh_gs]

RETURN JOURNEY

From Karamadai, I took the following route to reach Bangalore Via Sirumugai, Sathy, Anthiyur, Ammapettai, Mettur, Mecheri and Thoppur. From Thoppur it was the regular NH route to Bangalore.



After Sathy, I was not able to take snaps of the road condition as it was dark. Except for a small stretch near Ammapettai, rest of the tarmac right from Karamadai to Thoppur were brilliant to drive. The Mecheri-Thoppur section was being relaid at few places. Rest of this stretch was very good to drive.

KARAMADAI TO SIRUMAGAI




SIRUMUGAI TO SATHY





SATHY TO BHAVANI




After reaching Thoppur, we had dinner at Hotel Sharvesh Inn. This was opened only 2 months back.




I then proceeded via the regular Krishnagiri,Hosur route to reach Bangalore.

Overall I must say it was a short but nevertheless very much enjoyable trip.

[ampere]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[suresh_gs]

The hotel details mentioned in post #8 are as shown below

[ampere]

The roads definitely seem to have improved around Bhavani. The other favourite of mine is the Mecheri-Pennagaram section. Add to it further road to Anchetty.

Another good road is the one from Mettur to MM hills. Beautifully done.

This one was taken right at the state border.

[venkatt1800]

There aren't too many posts on Coimbatore as a tourist destination. Thanks Suresh for writing one. I am from nearby Tirupur. Isha Yoga is a very peaceful spot to visit, unless it is a weekend/holidays. The vibrations we feel inside the central dome housing the Lingam has to be experienced in person. Unfortunately, the place is getting too crowded nowadays. Kovai Kutralam too is a wonderful falls to enjoy with family, especially after the monsoons, but has become a nightmare for families in recent years because of unruly crowds. Never go on a weekend. Taking a diversion to avoid toll from Karumathampatti via Karanampettai, in my opinion is too much of a stretch. Trichy Road to Coimbatore city is just two lane and hence traffic congestion is more.

[EPMV]

Thanks for sharing the travelogue. Reminding me of the last trip we visited Isha Yoga Ashram last year. I second the opinion that this place is being crowded now a days.

I have planned to visit long back and able to finish it last year only. We stayed there for a day in cottage costing around 800 per day. You have to stay there to really enjoy the calm and peace nature and awesome food they serve. Volunteers / bramhacharis service is extremely polite and kind, simply turns you to be kind in front of them. We somehow managed with my kid as my wife holding him when I went inside the dhyanalinga temple and vice versa.

Really refreshing and relaxing one. Will plan again along with the other places you visited.