I was a solo driver and did not need a meal break, so the scarcity of restaurants did not bother me much.
BHPian Sandy2345 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Guys!
I drove back to Coimbatore from Bangalore on 19th December, and I must say the Bangalore – Kanakapura – Malavalli – Chamrajanagar – Dhimbam – Coimbatore route is excellent.
At the beginning of December, I took the usual route via Salem – Krishnagiri – Bangalore, twice and was completely fed up with the truck traffic occupying all the lanes and the bottlenecks near Omalur and Hosur, which took up a considerable amount of time. On top of all this, the toll charges of around Rs. 700 one way felt completely unjustifiable for the experience. So, decided to take the other route, and boy, was I blown away by the condition of the roads. Butter smooth, they were. I did not find a single pothole! There were three non-functional toll booths which might come into use in a few months, I guess.
Fueled up from Shell, Bellandur and started at around 6:45 AM and exited the city via Silk Institute Metro Station. Apart from the craters we see inside the city, the road condition was a breeze once I exited the city. I was a solo driver and did not need a meal break, so the scarcity of restaurants did not bother me much. I was able to maintain a steady speed of around 90-100 kmph, and my Octavia didn’t gulp much fuel. I received 21 kmpl until Dhimbam, and it dropped to 19 kmpl once I reached Sathyamangalam. Only the hill roads had a small amount of truck traffic, but it was not a dealbreaker. The total time it took for me to reach Coimbatore was 6.5 hours.
For anyone going to Bangalore from Coimbatore or vice versa, I would recommend this route 10/10. No toll charges as well, apart from the Rs. 20 entry fee that you pay in the forest area near Dhimbam. However, avoid using this route at night unless your car has powerful headlights. There are no street lights throughout the route and no restaurants as well.
For people going from Coimbatore, please make sure you turn right towards Kanakapura from Malavalli and continue in NH-948 since Google might ask you to continue straight towards Maddur which will join the Mysore – Bangalore expressway.
A couple of pictures:
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