If you are taking a car, make sure you start earlier than 6 AM. You need to clear the silk board junction well before 6, so that you do not get stuck in the Bangalore traffic and waste precious time. Drive down to hosur and then to Krishnagiri. The road is awesome and you can cover this in 1.5-2 hrs. Recently, the work has started to expand some stretch of the hair-pin curves and in case you get some heavy truck movement, it can slightly slow you down.
The one way drive to Palakkad is 400 Km, so fill up the tanks accordingly. As petrol is cheaper in Tamilnadu, one can wait till tamilnadu to fill it up. At Shoolagiri just before Krishnagiri there is good integrated petrol pump + food jaunts like A2B, McDonalds and you may plan to fill up petrol from there. From Krishnagiri take the salem route. So you may need to take regular detour. Lot of new hotels has come on the way with options at Shoolagiri as mentioned earlier, Sharavana Bhavan after Salem and L&T highway in coimbatore (need a small 50m detour along the trichy road). In case the aboe location are not the right time for food another cheaper option is the hotels opposite the Vinayaka campus below the flyover (you will need to take the service road).
Another shorter option is through Mettur. Before you reach salem near Thoopur you will see a route to mettur to the right. This road is not so good now a days. When you reach the mettur dam, take the route to Bhavani. There is a bypass at Mettur town which allows you to skip the city.
Once you reach Bhavani, proceed on the route to Coimbatore. The road work is progressing in Avinashi/Perundurai section and hence be careful while driving. It has vastly improved from the old days when it was a 2-lane and once work is completed it will be a pleasure riding from Bangalore. This stretch is the only section till Kerala which can slow you down. You take the coimbatore bypass built by L&T. Recently there is some flyoer being built along the NH, so pl ensure you do not miss the L&T road. We did it and lost close to 45 mins through the city roads. For a car you have to pay Rs31/- (as on Aug 2012). This you paste it on to the windscreen else you would have to stop at multiple place for re-checking your payment. This is an excellent road, and you can try your car skills here. Traffic also is less and roads are straight. I did 150Kmph in my Wagon R. You will have to cross 6-7 counters before you hit NH-47. Drive straight and in another 50 Km ride will take you to Palakkad and another 100 Km from palakkad will take you to Thrissur.
You will find that you have paid toll more than the train ticket from BLR-PKD!!! I reached Palakkad in flat 8.15 hrs with my Wagon R and even faster with i10 and Honda Brio.
All the best.
The one way drive to Palakkad is 400 Km, so fill up the tanks accordingly. As petrol is cheaper in Tamilnadu, one can wait till tamilnadu to fill it up. At Shoolagiri just before Krishnagiri there is good integrated petrol pump + food jaunts like A2B, McDonalds and you may plan to fill up petrol from there. From Krishnagiri take the salem route. So you may need to take regular detour. Lot of new hotels has come on the way with options at Shoolagiri as mentioned earlier, Sharavana Bhavan after Salem and L&T highway in coimbatore (need a small 50m detour along the trichy road). In case the aboe location are not the right time for food another cheaper option is the hotels opposite the Vinayaka campus below the flyover (you will need to take the service road).
Another shorter option is through Mettur. Before you reach salem near Thoopur you will see a route to mettur to the right. This road is not so good now a days. When you reach the mettur dam, take the route to Bhavani. There is a bypass at Mettur town which allows you to skip the city.
Once you reach Bhavani, proceed on the route to Coimbatore. The road work is progressing in Avinashi/Perundurai section and hence be careful while driving. It has vastly improved from the old days when it was a 2-lane and once work is completed it will be a pleasure riding from Bangalore. This stretch is the only section till Kerala which can slow you down. You take the coimbatore bypass built by L&T. Recently there is some flyoer being built along the NH, so pl ensure you do not miss the L&T road. We did it and lost close to 45 mins through the city roads. For a car you have to pay Rs31/- (as on Aug 2012). This you paste it on to the windscreen else you would have to stop at multiple place for re-checking your payment. This is an excellent road, and you can try your car skills here. Traffic also is less and roads are straight. I did 150Kmph in my Wagon R. You will have to cross 6-7 counters before you hit NH-47. Drive straight and in another 50 Km ride will take you to Palakkad and another 100 Km from palakkad will take you to Thrissur.
You will find that you have paid toll more than the train ticket from BLR-PKD!!! I reached Palakkad in flat 8.15 hrs with my Wagon R and even faster with i10 and Honda Brio.
All the best.
