Hyderabad - Rameswaram - Kanyakumari - Kerala Trip

[ssroadie]

I had been planning this trip for 2 months with my wife and 9 year old daughter, finally materialized in month of June 2015. One week back we did all the preparations for week long road trip. Got my Skoda checked at service centre and bought all essential items to be carried along.
Day 1 – Jun 5th
June 5th- 2 pm we hit the road with mixed feelings (risks of 8 day road trip in India and excitement). I had noted down the steps to bypass Bangalore and reach directly to Hosur.
Reached Hosur around 1030 pm and checked in TTDC Hosur. We had booked an a/c cottage. The hotel is at a pretty good location (NH7 / NH 44) and well maintained for a Government run hotel.


Day 2 – Jun 6th
Had a good complimentary breakfast at the hotel and started our journey towards Rameswaram. We took at lunch break around 130 pm before Madurai at Temple City restaurant. The thali was amazing.
I had also researched how to bypass Madurai ( Take NH 7 till Tirumangalam , take left and then 45B followed by Rameswaram highway. On the way we passed through Madurai Airport and the road was in pretty good shape.

View of the road enroute


We reached Rameswaram around 5 pm and stopped at Pamban bridge.


Unfortunately we didn’t witness passing of a train or a ship but clicked few photos.
Checked into TTDC Rameswaram, the hotel is on the beach and we had taken a sea view room. We then went to Ramanathaswamy Temple for darshan. It was crowded but was manageable. Had darshan and did a stroll on the beach side.


View from the hotel room

 

[vijay_968]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Nice Summary and cool Pics. Though it has its own quirks like dated infrastructure, noisy AC and average food, TTDC is an assured decent option in TN, and they don't bomb you with Bill. Plus point is one can do on-line booking and cancellation.Glad you availed it. Pls elaborate bit more on your opinion on the roads, which will help others. Waiting for your updates on Kanyakumari and Kerala.

 

[ssroadie]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Contd (will definitely include maps and road conditions. )

We took NH7 / 44 till Madurai except when bypassing Bangalore. This is the route which we took for reaching Hosur. We exited NH7 when it was kind of dark but managed to reach Hosur hotel in 1.5 hours.



This is the route which we took to by pass Madurai, its slightly longer but worth the extra miles.



Road conditions were very good on NH 7 ( except few patches between Kurnool and Anantpur where re carpeting work is on). From Madurai to Rameswaram, its 2 laned road but in good condition.

I relied on Google maps for my entire trip ( though have Sygic in my car dashboard). Google maps was very accurate except one place in Wayanad where it asked us to climb a hill and then take a U turn ( or maybe we missed a turn).

One learning - Google maps shows the route based on least travel duration and suggests local roads instead of highways. While entering Kerala we blindly took the route suggested by Google but later we used to stay on highway and it would recalculate the route, difference being 5-10 minutes.

 

[ssroadie]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Contd
Day 3- Jun 7th

We had planned to visit Dhanushkodi in morning which was a town destroyed by cyclone in 1964. A 4 wheel drive is required to go to Dhanushkodi, since road is not present (but we did see road being built and should be ready in next 3 months) We had hired a jeep from TTDC the previous evening and had asked him to come to the hotel at 630 am. There was slight delay but we finally started at 715. The jeep was pretty old but 4 wheel drive worked in that. We finally reached Dhanushkodi around 815 am and saw the remains of railway station, church and other buildings. Since this place is not visited by many , the beach is less crowded and very clean unlike other beaches. Clear skies is one thing which we loved at Dhanushkodi.

Remains of the railway station



Beach at Dhanushkodi



Remains of the church



New road being built till Dhanushkodi



Why you need a 4 wheel drive vehicle



Came back to hotel and started for Kanyakumari around 11 am.
We took the East coast road, which was well maintained and less crowded. The road was 2 laned but in good condition , later we joined 45B / 7A / 7. which were 4 laned.



We stopped for lunch at Capri restaurant , food was amazing there.
Before entering Kanyakumari, we saw huge number of windmills. A quick google search showed that Aralvaimozhi near Kanyakumari has the largest wind mill farm in the world (Muppandal wind farm) and produces around 1500 MW of electricity ( which was a big surprise for us)



We reached Kanyakumari around 430 PM and checked in TTDC hotel. The hotel is again on the beach (I liked the locations of all 3 TTDC hotels and were well maintained for a government run hotel).
We went out for a stroll on the beach side and the local market. My daughter bought lots of shells and other small items.

 

[ssroadie]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Contd

Day 4- Jun 8th
Got up early and reached around 815 am to catch the ferry to Vivekananda rock memorial. Swami Vivekananda, who is supposed to have attained enlightenment sitting atop the rock in meditation for three days, before going to attend the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. We had to wait around 15 minutes in the queue and finally reached the memorial. It’s a very clean and well maintained memorial. We did buy some souvenirs and books on Swami Vivekananda.

Vivekananda Rock Memorial





We reached back to the hotel, checked out and started towards next leg which is towards Kerala at 1030 am.
We took NH 47 till Nagercoil, crossing the town took us 20 mins, so we shifted to “west coast” road (our experience with East coast road was good). The road was a nightmare to drive in both TN and Kerala but was scenic. We should stayed on on NH 47 and used Trivandrum by pass ( which we anyway used through this local road)



On the way we had planned to visit Vikram Sarabhai Space center in Thumba ( just after Trivandrum). We reach there around the closing time and were told that we had to get passes from PRO which is around 5 kms away. Finally we were able to get the passes and saw the museum. It’s a good place to visit for kids and has replicas of satellites and some audio visuals ( including recent Mars mission). No electronic equipments are allowed, since this is inside ISRO facility.

We finally reach Varkala around 530 pm and checked into Deshadan resort. We had limited time to visit the beach before dark , so immediately started towards the beach. Its one of the “cliff” beaches in India and you have to descend around 100 steps to reach the beach. Since this was off season and late evening, we hardly saw any people on the beach. Again a very clean beach but there were “Danger” signs everywhere telling everyone not to venture into the beach. Enjoyed the waves and headed back to our hotel ( it had started raining).
By the time we reached hotel , it had started raining heavily and we enjoyed the rain in the swimming pool of the resort.

Deshadan resort



Varkala beach from cliff

 

[ssroadie]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Contd

Day 5 – Jun 9th
We started our journey towards Athirapally falls around 930 am. We crossed Alleppey & Kochi ( had been to both places few years back ). We took NH 47 this time and it turned into 4 laned 30 kms before Kochi. Google maps automatically threw route which bypassed Kochi town. After exiting Kochi, Metro work is on and so we were slightly slow on that route.



We had booked in Riverok villas near Athirappally falls but during checkin were told that our cottage was non ac. On checking with online portal, they told that its upto the hotel, finally we checked in.

We were advised that the falls gate closes at 5 pm however we went ahead to Athirapally falls at around 430 pm. There are good number of steps to go down to the falls (which we did) and saw the falls in full glory( it had been raining earlier).





Learning - try to book hotels directly rather than through online portals. I had booked all hotels directly except 2 and had to repent.

 

[ssroadie]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Contd

Day 6 – Jun 10th
We decided to check out early and started for Wayanad around 8 am. We passed through Thrissur and just 15-20 kms before Kalpetta, witnessed ghats which were beautiful. The climb was pretty steep and had 9 hair pin bends. The roads were pretty decent throughout the route.

We checked in the hotel at 4 pm and decided to do “nothing” for the rest of the evening.



A view of our cottage

 

[ssroadie]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Contd

Day 7 – Jun 11th
We planned a hike to Chembra Peak and started around 745 am towards the peak. There were 2 options provided Rs.20 ticket till a view point or hiking (with a guide till heart shaped lake) for Rs 750 , we took the hiking ticket. It’s a very steep climb and is slippery during rains. Noticeable thing is that 5 kms road till the hike start point is non existent and driving at speed of 5 kmph is difficult. But it was a lovely experience away from city noise.

Views from the Chembra peak climb, unfortunately didn't click any photos of the actual trek , its a 0.5 metre wide trek through dense forest.









We then planned to visit Edakkal caves , which again involves around 360 steps climb, but were able to manage it. The caves have painting dating back 6000 years.

Edakkal Caves



I would recommend to do both of these on different days since both involve lot of climbing.


We had lunch around 3 pm on way back (Nest n Mist, it’s a newly opened one) and came back to hotel around 430 pm and again decided to do “nothing” for rest of the evening.
We decided to skip the dam, since we have been to so many dams earlier.

 

[ssroadie]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Contd

Day 8 – Jun 12th
We started to Bangalore around 930 am. The road passes through Muthunga wild life Sanctuary and we spotted 4 animals (Cow, Crow, Monkey and spotted Deer) in the sanctuary

We took the Mysore route ( which again as per google was longer in terms of travel time). NH 216 is being re laid and we moved very slowly after exiting the Bandipur national park till Mysore.



Reached Bangalore around 430 pm and again did “nothing” for the evening.

Day 9 – Jun 13th
Started back to Hyderabad around 11 and reached home safe and sound in evening after completing a long road trip.

Special thanks to my Skoda and Google maps

 

[abhijeetp]

Re: Hyderabad-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari-Kerala Trip

Thanks for such a detailed travelogue. The photos are wonderful.
I am planning a similar trip from Hyderabad in october. I would probably include Madurai.
I am also looking at TTDC properties. Infact 1 advantage of these properties is the locations are always good. Any govt. owned tourist hotel/resorts are located at the most scenic locations.

 

[AppU]

Excellent pics and crispy writeup

Do post more pics if you have any ;)

 

[Rajeshmurali]

Superb pics and simple but detailed narration.

I stayed at TTDC properties at different places and liked it. But, the one at Rameswaram was not up to the expectation because of greedy staff DEMANDING tip on every move, mosquitoes in A/c room, may be because they have left the room open when not occupied, and noisy air conditioner.

Location of the property is wonderful.

your photography is superb.

In kerala you might have faced different driving atmosphere because of heavy traffic and narrow roads even on National highways.

 

[ssroadie]

Yes Kerala was a different driving experience in terms of traffic and population density.

 

[Ani191]

Beautiful travelogue and great pics Ssroadie. So how many kilometers did your travel in total?

 

[Rajeshmurali]

Expecting more pictures. Your car pics not seen anywhere.

Travelling through sea shore at Danushkodi is a different experience.