I'll try to keep the review short and informative as much as possible:
Car - Wagon R Lxi - 30K KM odo meter - 2007 model - Full service done before travel. Traveled with my wife and 8yr old. Took a dozen of water bottles and lots of healthy snacks. Folded the rear seat and converted the back space into a room with a 5'X3' bed and pillows for comfort, an 8yr old can spend his time at will - sitting, sleeping, playing:-), managed some luggage under the rear seat, child lock'ON' driving at @80Km on good roads w/o taking any risk of overtaking or speeding. Avg speed of my journey of 3100 KMs was 50kmph(NH17 traffic and in some places the road condition will bring your avg speed from 80kms to @50kmph)
Travel Plan as follows
Day 1 - Pune to Kolhapur(Mahalaxmi Temple and Jotiba) - My Uncle stays at Kolhapur hence I stayed at night in Kolhapur and planned to started early morning to Udupi.
Day 2 - Kolhapur - Udupi(visited Krishna temple and Malpe Beach) - Its a better option to take a stop in Hubli on day one and take a stop at Kannur instead for Udupi on day two. As you are covering additional @225Kms on day one and all the drive is on NH4, you can stretch your day two stay to Kannur instead of Udupi. On the way I had visited'Murudeshwar Temple' it on the Murdeshwar Beach, I had spent 45mins and then moved fwd.
One point I'd ilke to add over here is that, instead of taking the Kittur exit on NH4 to SH63(if you don't wish to visit Dandeli Forest) its better option to exit NH4 at Hubli, this way you'll add @30km of your travel distance but you'll cut down the travel time by 1hr and less fatigue due to travel. SH63 Hubli to Ankola was a dream ride, road condition is excellent, no traffic at all, no speeding, no overtaking, no honking, just enjoy your time with nature. From SH63 take the NH17 exit at Ankola(extream left) and then follow NH17 for the rest of the journey till Thrissur. I took a break - overnight stay at Udupi - Hotel Sagar International. Decent for a night rest and had a good restaurant too(there are no much option at Udupi - othere than the beach resort, one can try it)
The road from Murudeshwar to Bhatkal was horrible, for 23kms, you just can't believe that ur traveling on NH17, no road at all for 10kms stretch, all pot holes. I never went on the 3rd gear and never crossed the 10kmph mark, if you are traveling with a low road clearance car, than better watch out ur bumpers, A/c radiators and bottom guards.
Day 3 - Udupi - Kochi(Fort Kochi - Marine Drive - Boat Ride) - Being a 2 lane road in good condition, the traffic is very very heavy, with very little bad patch on road. As for directions, don't assume you are on the right track, if you are not sure. Instead of cont. on NH17 till Kochi, take an exit at Thrissur and take the NH47, that road is under construction in some places, but is laid down recently.
I took a stop at Kochi as I didn't got any reservation at Kumarkom. If you can manage to get a Hotel stay at Kumarkom, then visit Fort Kochi and then move ahead to Kumarkom for night stay. Kochi to Kumarkom, or you may go to Kottyam(if you with too) - which is 2hrs drive from Kochi at max. Roads are in a good condition.
Day 4 - Kochi - Kumarkom - Thekkady: On the way to Thekkady I took a stop at Kumarkom for House Boat ride in Vembnad lake for 2hrs. Drive to Thekkady from Kumarkom too was very good one. 60kms of ghat, winding roads in spice, rubber and coconut plantations. At Thekkady I stayed at Aranya Nivas, a KTDC resort, which is on the banks of Periyar lake. If you can want and affordable one, then try the Periyar house, again a KTDC guest house in the Thekkady forest premises.
Day 5 - Thekkady Periyar lake: Spent some peaceful time at the Thekkady, booked the boat ride for next 2 days at Aranya Nivas reception counter. Got to see most of the animals(other than the tiger, which you can see once in 3-4months if you are the lucky one). Try to get the first ride of the day at 7:30 am. If you are not staying at Aranyanivas, then make sure that you are there at 6am for the boat ride ticket. Visited the Spice plantation, it was an information tour, took a elephant ride in the spice garden. Buy spice in the Kumali market and not at the spice garden, as the rates are high considering the travel operators commissions.
Day 6 - Thekkady - Munnar: Again a good drive in the hills, Spice, rubber and Tea plantation. Buy tea at the Munnar town, there is factory outlet, or you may find one on the way to Munnar from Thekkady, a Tata Tea Factory outlet. Munnar was foggy and cool. Stayed at Hotel Shamrock(as I mangaed to get the booking online)
Day 7 - Munnar: It was nice and cool in Munnar. Visited couple of watefalls and travelled through the mountains. Had a good time.
Day 8 - Munnar - Kannur: Star of my return journey from the'Gods own country'. Go via Thrissur, avoid going into Kochi city, traffic will be very heavy, I reached Kannur at 7pm, I had started from Munnar at 8:30am. I had planned to take a halt at Mangalore, but it was impossible to cross Kannur, I was tired in the slow moving traffic.
Day 9 - Kannur - Pune: Started fresh for the final day, 6:15am, had to travel @1000kms in a day. Tried to cover as much as distance before 10am, my target was to reach Udupi at 11am, and I did. Check for NH17 bypass sign where ever possible. Key here was to avoid the city traffic, road condition at Kasarkhode is not so good, but you can see it through in light traffic. The hick up was Bhatkal - Murudeshwar 23km patch. I was so terrified that I had though of going via Bengaluru, then my wife, gave me some inspiration and told me to stick to the KNOWN road, she helped to keep my temper cool and we cleared the patch, this time in 45mins. From then it was a dream ride. Took pit stops at Udupi and kolhapur and reached Pune at 12:30am.
If you have a bigger car/SUV, then try not to over speed on empty roads, not to overtake on blind spots, as there maybe another vehicle at the same time coming at you, from nowhere and even if you are in control of ur vehicle, the other fellow won't be.
Try to start the travel very early in the day for long distance(day 1 and final day). Try to avoid the city traffic, specially in Kozhikhode, Mangalore, Kannur by starting your travel early in the day.
Not a single person in our family and friend circle was comfortable of my idea of traveling to Kerala by car, but at the end of the trip I am very happy as so is my family. We enjoyed my trip very much.
The best part was the boat ride at Periyar lake(2 times), boat ride in Vembnad lake and the drive through the mountains.
My Wagon R too gave me a very good ride without any problem, one stretch Udupi to Kolhapur was a non stop one, which the vehicle took it in stride, most of the time I was above 90kmph, even on SH63 Ankola - Hubli(only slowing down on very zig-zag winding roads) if you have an SUV then you don't have to worry:-), there was neither anyone on the road to overtake me, nor I was racing against anyone, just rRajeev_Vermact the ability of your vehicle and drive in your comfort zone.
In all a good trip, if I get a chance to to do it again, I'll try to plan the trip via Kochi-Munnar-Thekkady-Kumarkom/Kottyam-Kochi, Kumarkom/Kottyam-Thrissur part will save me 2hrs as compared to Munnar - Thrissur on return journey.
Ratheesh Nath(MS member) and from other blog reviews helped me to prepare myself for the potholes on NH17
Thanks for reading the review.
