Chennai to Coimbatore

[ramanan.skr]

Reason why I asked was, I heard from my collegue that still there is a mafias menace along this strech active.
Fine, I would choose Chn - Mettur - Sathy - Cbe which comes to around 530 Km(per Googlemaps) considering this is quicker, good quality & considerably safe too.

Thanks for all your tips.

[kb100]

ramanan.skr » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:55 pm[/url]] I heard from my collegue that still there is a mafias menace along this strech active.

:laughing-lettersrofl:

Your colleague must be :obscene-smokingweed: :obscene-smokingjoint: and :confusion-seeingstars:

I have never heard of any such thing in the last 12 years that I have been using this stretch (albeit from Blr)

Anyway ... good choice.. have a safe trip - and do put up your report here (and send your colleague the link )

[ramanan.skr]

Luckily I am not getting all these compliments....

[ramanan.skr]

Actually I am planning to go to Munnar. Thought of retiring at coimbatore on the 1st day night. Just suggest
1. Are there any good hotels to stay in Udmalpet or Pollachi so that I can cover it in the first day itself?
2. Is the Udmalpet-Munnar highway (via Chinnar) open now for traffic?
3. Or is it good to stay in CBE itself in the night, because of the good staying conditions and start to Munnar in the next morning

[quicksilver]

You can actually save at least 50-60 KMs by skipping Coimbatore. You can take the Bhavani-Avinashi stretch then, go via Tirupur to Palladam, Udumalpet. Udumalpet does have some decent Hotels, nothing too fancy but good ones. It is on the foothills so willbe easy to start in the morning in case you are thinking of a break. You may not be allowed to drive on the Chinnar road after 6:00 PM normally, though there are always exceptions

Be warned that Tirupur traffic can get nasty though.... it can easily take you close to 45 mins to cross Tirupur. Another option is to go to Avinashi and then take the direct route to Palladam, skipping Tirupur, those roads are also good with very little traffic. About 25 KMs extra.

[kb100]

Yeah.. And no matter what you will most probably reach Udumalpet in the same time as it might have taken you to reach Cbe. The Avinashi-Cbe stretch can be, and is, a killer!

[ramanan.skr]

What about Marayoor?? are there places to stay there and is it also located in the foothills or need to drive over the hills to reach there??

[quicksilver]

Not many options at Marayoor as far as I know. Besides, you will also have to plan to cross the checkpost before 5:30. This is still doable, provided you start early (like 5:30 AM) from Chennai and reach Udumalpet by late afternoon. Munnar should be 3 hours from Udumalpet if you drive fast and Marayoor is sort of in-between.

I just ran a check on Google maps, and this looks like a better route. The last time I had been on these roads, they were good.... that was 4 months ago.

Bhavani, Tamil Nadu, India to Udumalaip ... oogle Maps

I have highlighted the first option I gave you (in RED)... via Avinashi

[NAGA]

Chennai to Munnar via Coimbatore :?

Did a distant check up and was :shock: with the distance of around 700+ kms... You can try Chennai-Villupuram-Trichy-Dindigul-Bathalagundu-Periyakulam-Theni-Bodi-Munnar which comes to the range of 500 kms.... another alternative is instead of taking the right cut to munnar (80 kms) after Theni, you can travel straight down towards Kambam,Kumuli and take left to Munnar (110 kms). This second option would be atleast higher by 75 kms

I guess these two are different routes... any travel guru, pls clarify....

Edit: Road works going on between Trichy and Dinidgul, 20% sections are of bad roads.

[hvkumar]

Although you can go to Munnar from Kambam also (Kumbam-Kumbamedu-Poopara-Munnar), the Theni-Bodinayakanur-Bodi medu-Poopara-Munnar route is better.

The route via Vellore, Krishnagiri, Salem and Perunthurai may be equally fast, if not faster.

I don't think there is any restriction in timings for the Udumalaipet-Chinnar (check post)-Marayoor-Munnar route. I have been on that road after 11 pm in the night also. There are no facilities at Marayoor, it is just a small village. It comes after Chinnar and the wildest part of the WLS is between Chinnar and Marayoor. The steep climb is after Chinnar.