Road trip from Chennai to Trivandrum - In

Indian Roadie Preferred Route for Chennai to Trivandrum/ Thiruvananthapuram: 

Option 1: 

Chennai/ Madras - Chengalpet - Melmaruvathur - Tindivanam - Villupuram - Ulundurpet - Samayapuram - Trichy/ Tiruchirapalli - Madurai - Kovilpatti - Virudhunagar - Tirunelveli - Kavalkinar (exit NH44 and drive on double lane congested road) - Aralvaimozhi - Nagercoil - Marthandam - Thengapattanam - Neyyatinkara - Trivandrum. 

Once one reaches Kaliyikavilai, one has two option to reach Trivandrum, either via Kovalam - Poovar  or  via Neyyatinkara - Balaramapuram. 

Instead of going towards Nagercoil from Kavalkinar go towards Boothapandi, and loop back at Marthandam. One can replace 50 kms of bad National Highways with decent State Highways. Google shows this route.

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Option 2: 

Chennai/ Madras - Chengalpet - Melmaruvathur - Tindivanam - Villupuram - Ulundurpet - Samayapuram - Trichy/ Tiruchirapalli - Madurai - Kovilpatti - Virudhunagar - Tirunelveli - Kanyakumari - Nagercoil - Poovar - Vizhinjam - Trivandrum. 

Nagercoil - Trivandrum = 62 kms. 

Chennai/ Sholinganallur (5.00 am) - Ulundurpet A2B (7.30 am) - Trichy (9.00 am). On Trichy bypass there is Grand Gardenia (on left) and Arya Bhavan (on right on Dindigul exit). 

There is another BPCL COCO attached to an A2B 2 km after the Othakadai toll (about 13 kms from Madurai). This place is about 450 kms from Chennai. There is a Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) Filling Station owned by TVS on the Dindigul exit for Trichy Arya Bhavan mentioned earlier, but that should be about 320 kms from Madras. 

Capsi Restaurant, Kayathar (2 hrs further south from A2B Madurai) for lunch. 

Chennai - Ulundurpet (2.5 hrs), 

Ulundurpet - Trichy (1.5 hrs), 

Trichy - Madurai (1.5 hrs), 

Othakadai - Tirumangalam via Madurai double lane bypass (45 - 60 min), 

Tirumangalam - Kavalkinaru (2.5 hrs).