[anandpadhye]

Hello Friends,

We are going on a road trip from Pune to Chennai, starting on Friday (23/09/2011) and returning on 1st Oct 2011.

Can you help by recommending some fantastic things/places we should visit and the most enjoyable route to take?
I have some cousins and friends in Bangalore that I would like to visit so I am thinking of including Bangalore either while going or while coming back.

In Chennai, we will stay with my cousin, but at all other places, we would need to stay in a hotel/lodge. So please recommend good accomodation options as well (budget places with good hygene, cleanliness and good vegetarian food).

Any good activity/moderate adventure sports/trekking/water-sports opportunities in Tamilnadu?

And I have a choice to make - should we take the Hyundai Tucson or the Skoda Laura (TSi)?

Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

[CliffHanger]

Obviously you wouldn't want to miss the Queens of Hills - Ooty and Kodaikanal. Dindukul to Kodaikanal route is very scenic and is a belter to drive on. But, it might be raining in Ooty and Kodai, so check out the weather conditions.

Some of the other places you would like to visit:
1. Vaalpaarai - Will be beautiful at this time of the year
2. Pollachi
3. Pondy, Kovalam - If you like quaint, serene beaches. You can go for Catamaron ride in these places
4. Hogenakal - It might be overflowing at this time of the year
5. Masinagudi, Topslip and places around - For wildlife safaris and trekking
6. Temples - There are just too many to list out here

I would suggest to take the Laura, Tamil Nadu is very well connected and you can expect well laid out roads almost everywhere. Also, you would be able to cover distances quickly in Laura than in Tuscon.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by CliffHanger

Some of the other places you would like to visit:
1. Vaalpaarai - Will be beautiful at this time of the year
2. Pollachi
3. Pondy, Kovalam - If you like quaint, serene beaches. You can go for Catamaron ride in these places
4. Hogenakal - It might be overflowing at this time of the year
5. Masinagudi, Topslip and places around - For wildlife safaris and trekking
6. Temples - There are just too many to list out here

I would suggest to take the Laura, Tamil Nadu is very well connected and you can expect well laid out roads almost everywhere. Also, you would be able to cover distances quickly in Laura than in Tuscon.

Thanks @CliffHander.
Yes, I know this trip will be full of temples so want to include some other attractions like adventure sports, etc.

So what should be a good route to cover these from Bangalore to Chennai?

Bangalore - Mysore - Masinagudi - ??? - Chennai?

And what about food? Apart from Dosa/Idli, any Tamilnadu special stuff we should look for? And any local speciality eateries?

[Fauji]

Hi Anand,

Since you are coming from Pune to Chennai, these are the places you can visit on the way or with small deviation.

In Karnataka

a) Belgaum fort
b) Chalukya temples in Haveri - On outskirts of Haveri town on NH 4
c) Chalukya temples in Gadag - a deviation of 30 KMs from Hubli
d) Chitradurga fort in Chitradurga on NH 4

In Tamil Nadu

a) Vellore fort and temple
f) Pallava temples of Kanchipuram - a small deviation from NH 4

If you are staying in Chennai and assuming that you are not staying in Bangalore, you can do the following

a) A day trip to Mahabalipurm and extend it to Pondicherry. Stay overnight. See Pondy next day. Stay put another day. Visit Chidambaram - famous Nataraja temple of Chola period and Pichavaram mangroves and drive back to Chennai by late evening

b) If you are comfortable and don't have any specific date on wich you have to be present in Chennai, this is the route i would recommend which will also help you to see Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal - Hampi ( All world heritage sites, see nice TL by P K Biju) and then onto Bangalore

taks a look at my post in this thread for routing
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...mpi-route.html

c) I am not sure whether there are any water sports on the beach. But East Coast road - Mahabalipuram road - have excellent water parks which you can visit.

d) Visit Dakshina Chitra, heritage village on Mahabalipuram road.

On the way you can enjoy Kunda - the famous milk sweet of Belgaum, world famous Butter Dosas in Davanagere. See Mumbai - Bangalore road trip thread for more details

While in Chennai

a) you should visit Ponnuswamy hotel for outstanding Chettinad cuisine. You will love it if you are fond of sea food or Non veg.

b) Murugan idli hotel for Idlis and chicken curry.

Decide and let us know your programme in bangalore, then we will tell you what to do

[rohan_iitr]

If you are going from Bangalore to Ooty via Mysore, you may spend a day or two in Mysore.

Mysore palace, Mysore Zoo, Brindavan garden and Ranganathittu bird sanctuary are nice spots to cover in and around Mysore.

Bring the SUV.

Rohan

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Bangalore - Mysore - Masinagudi - ??? - Chennai?

And what about food? Apart from Dosa/Idli, any Tamilnadu special stuff we should look for? And any local speciality eateries?

If you are one who loves jungles and mountains then Masinagudi/Bandipur/Ooty is for you. The three are so close that you can stay at one place and cover all the three and gives you taste of Jungles/Mountains all in one.

Remember me entering the same info in some other thread, just made sure its not this thread . We stayed at (Weekend Getaway | Holiday Weekends | Holiday In Ooty | Zest weekends) in Masinagudi do take a look.

[ampere]

Are you interested to see things along the route or plan to deviate from it?
For example Ooty/Msyore would be a good 600km deviation from Chennai-Bangalore.

Along the route if you want to stay and continue without much deviation:

I can suggest:

NH4 till Hubli

Hubli-Yellapur (stay) NH63
Yellapur-Sirsi-Jog-Shimoga (stay at Jungle lodges: River Tern)
Shimoga-Tumkur-Bangalore-Chennai.

[libranof1987]

How many days do you want to be on the road between Pune and Chennai? That'll help in suggesting places and routes.

Since you're going to go to Chennai, you MUST visit Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry. In Auroville, there's the Maitree Mandir that you should visit. But the thing is, only some 50 people are allowed to go inside per day; at 10am. The booking is done a day or 2 earlier. So, when you plan your Pondi visit, do keep this in mind.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Hi Anand,

In Tamil Nadu

a) Vellore fort and temple
f) Pallava temples of Kanchipuram - a small deviation from NH 4

If you are staying in Chennai and assuming that you are not staying in Bangalore, you can do the following

To add to Fauji's long list of places to visit in Chennai, you can also visit
1) the snake park
2) dolphin park and dolphin show (not sure of the timings)
3) Crocodile park
4) Kanchipuram and the temple (famous for sarees)
5) VGP beach - its a cool and neat place (visited last year)
6) You can also visit hotel Anjappar that serves yummy spicy food if you are a spice lover.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

So what should be a good route to cover these from Bangalore to Chennai?

Bangalore - Mysore - Masinagudi - ??? - Chennai?

And what about food? Apart from Dosa/Idli, any Tamilnadu special stuff we should look for? And any local speciality eateries?

You can also do Bangalore-Mysore-Masinagudi-Ooty-Kotagiri-Coonoor-Chennai.

Can make Kotagiri as a base if you do not wish to stay in crowded places. Kotagiri is less crowded with beautiful climate (its termed, switzerland of India with respect to the climate). You can visit a lot of places such as Emerald lake and Dam, Doddabetta peak, Kodanad view point while in Kotagiri and Ooty and many other places in Coonoor.
You can find more information in my travelogue at where we had done this route 3 months ago.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-kotagiri.html

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Hi Anand,

Since you are coming from Pune to Chennai, these are the places you can visit on the way or with small deviation.

In Karnataka

a) Belgaum fort
b) Chalukya temples in Haveri - On outskirts of Haveri town on NH 4
c) Chalukya temples in Gadag - a deviation of 30 KMs from Hubli
d) Chitradurga fort in Chitradurga on NH 4

Awesome input. Will definately put this on my list. How about Vijapur (a friend highly recommened this)? And what's the best way to cover that along with these?

Originally Posted by Fauji

In Tamil Nadu

a) Vellore fort and temple
f) Pallava temples of Kanchipuram - a small deviation from NH 4

If you are staying in Chennai and assuming that you are not staying in Bangalore, you can do the following

a) A day trip to Mahabalipurm and extend it to Pondicherry. Stay overnight. See Pondy next day. Stay put another day. Visit Chidambaram - famous Nataraja temple of Chola period and Pichavaram mangroves and drive back to Chennai by late evening

Great. Yes I will be in Chennai for a couple of days at least and don't want to sit at home, eat and sleep. If I want to take a feel of the Chennai local train journey, any tips? Which direction I should travel and what time (any rush hours to avoid like Mumbai)?

Originally Posted by Fauji

b) If you are comfortable and don't have any specific date on wich you have to be present in Chennai, this is the route i would recommend which will also help you to see Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal - Hampi ( All world heritage sites, see nice TL by P K Biju) and then onto Bangalore

taks a look at my post in this thread for routing
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...mpi-route.html

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Fauji

While in Chennai

a) you should visit Ponnuswamy hotel for outstanding Chettinad cuisine. You will love it if you are fond of sea food or Non veg.

b) Murugan idli hotel for Idlis and chicken curry.

Decide and let us know your programme in bangalore, then we will tell you what to do

Thank you so much. I am planning a couple of days in Bangalore, will post the dates once they are final.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Mysore palace, Mysore Zoo, Brindavan garden and Ranganathittu bird sanctuary are nice spots to cover in and around Mysore.

Bring the SUV.

Rohan

I have heard great things about the Zoo. But others on the trip have been to Mysore many times, so let's see.

And, thanks for the SUV recommendation. I am tilting towards it as I can be generally tention-free taking the Tucson on unknown roads than the Laura.

Originally Posted by ampere

Are you interested to see things along the route or plan to deviate from it?

Hubli-Yellapur (stay) NH63
Yellapur-Sirsi-Jog-Shimoga (stay at Jungle lodges: River Tern)
Shimoga-Tumkur-Bangalore-Chennai.

Yes, we can deviate but not by a huge margin, unfortunately, else I would love to make an all-coastal trip of the south. Next time...

I have been to Jog falls already, though I must say Jog falls to Honavar to Karwar was an amazing experience.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

How many days do you want to be on the road between Pune and Chennai? That'll help in suggesting places and routes.

Since you're going to go to Chennai, you MUST visit Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry. In Auroville, there's the Maitree Mandir that you should visit. But the thing is, only some 50 people are allowed to go inside per day; at 10am. The booking is done a day or 2 earlier. So, when you plan your Pondi visit, do keep this in mind.

I would love to be on the road all days (if it was up to me), but honestly, max 3 to 4 days.
Wow, Maitree mandir - interesting name, I will read about this and try to book before hand. Thank you.

Originally Posted by kirantp

To add to Fauji's long list of places to visit in Chennai, you can also visit
1) the snake park
2) dolphin park and dolphin show (not sure of the timings)
3) Crocodile park
4) Kanchipuram and the temple (famous for sarees)
5) VGP beach - its a cool and neat place (visited last year)
6) You can also visit hotel Anjappar that serves yummy spicy food if you are a spice lover.

This is good. Will definately love the Dolphin park. How is Anjappar for veg food?

Originally Posted by kirantp

You can also do Bangalore-Mysore-Masinagudi-Ooty-Kotagiri-Coonoor-Chennai.

Can make Kotagiri as a base if you do not wish to stay in crowded places. Kotagiri is less crowded with beautiful climate (its termed, switzerland of India with respect to the climate). You can visit a lot of places such as Emerald lake and Dam, Doddabetta peak, Kodanad view point while in Kotagiri and Ooty and many other places in Coonoor.
You can find more information in my travelogue at where we had done this route 3 months ago.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-kotagiri.html

Thank you. I looked up and this looks nice - is all of this in Coimbator district? How much time will it take to drive to Chennai from there?

Thanks again, everyone. Looks like the trip is shaping up well with all your vital inputs.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

This is good. Will definately love the Dolphin park. How is Anjappar for veg food?
Anjappar is not for the veggies though I am also a veggie

Thank you. I looked up and this looks nice - is all of this in Coimbator district?
Yes
How much time will it take to drive to Chennai from there?
Approx 9hrs to Chennai from Ooty.

@anandpadhye: My commens highlighted

[Fauji]

My answers are in bold

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Awesome input. Will definately put this on my list. How about Vijapur (a friend highly recommened this)? And what's the best way to cover that along with these?

Bijapur is definitely doable and it is a beautiful place. for that it will be good to come via Sholapur

Look at this Google map
Pune, Maharashtra to Bengaluru, Karnataka - Google Maps




Great. Yes I will be in Chennai for a couple of days at least and don't want to sit at home, eat and sleep. If I want to take a feel of the Chennai local train journey, any tips? Which direction I should travel and what time (any rush hours to avoid like Mumbai)?

Chennai local train journey will be same experience like Mumbai except that it will be more humid and hot even in Oct. If you want, get into the train at Harbour and travel upto Tambaram.

Thank you.

And, thanks for the SUV recommendation. I am tilting towards it as I can be generally tention-free taking the Tucson on unknown roads than the Laura.

I dont see much issues as you are driving mostly on NH and not deviating into bad roads.





I would love to be on the road all days (if it was up to me), but honestly, max 3 to 4 days.
Wow, Maitree mandir - interesting name, I will read about this and try to book before hand. Thank you.

It is Matrimandir - not Maitree - and is dedicated to Holy Mother. Yes, you have to see a documentary and get a free pass a day in advance. Also if you are in Pondy don't miss visiting Auroville Bakery, it is mouth watering!! The aroma of the bakery is to be smelt to be believed!!
Also visit Appachi in Pondy for outsanding Chettinad cuisine. I am a veggie but it is still great.

Have a drink/dinner on the roof top retaurant on Promenade hotel facing the sea. If it is full monn, it will be bonus!! Book a table in advance.

This is good. Will definately love the Dolphin park. How is Anjappar for veg food?
Good. But Ponnuswamy is good as well.




Thank you. I looked up and this looks nice - is all of this in Coimbator district? How much time will it take to drive to Chennai from there?

It will be lot of deviation. I would recommend that you stick to Pune - Bangalore - Kanchipuram - Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Pondy - Chidambaram.

Thanks again, everyone. Looks like the trip is shaping up well with all your vital inputs.

If you take regular NH4 to Bangalore, do visit outstanding Kadamba style Kamala Narayana temple on outskirts of Kittur - which comes aftre Belgaum on the highway - at a village called DEGAON. Look at this link.
Kamala Narayana Temple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Fauji

If you take regular NH4 to Bangalore, do visit outstanding Kadamba style Kamala Narayana temple on outskirts of Kittur - which comes aftre Belgaum on the highway - at a village called DEGAON. Look at this link.
Kamala Narayana Temple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks. Will include on the way back.

BTW, the trip has started and thanks to inputs from all of you, I had some sort of a plan (which I do not always have).

We started Friday morning and did Pune --> Bijapur -->Almatti Dam --> Badami --> Hubli -->Bangalore -->Chennai (Vallanchary) and are now roaming in and around Chennai.

A quick route update and some thoughts/experiences/suggestions:

I could not resist and have taken the Skoda.

We started on NH4 upto Peth (26 km south of Karad), took exit to Islampur --> Sangli --> Bijapur (This road is good, no problem at all).

Visited Gol Gumbaz and some other sites in Bijapur (Gol Gumbaz is the only noteworthy of all). Stayed at Hotel Navaratna (Rs. 600 for non AC double room and Rs. 900 for AC double room) and ate at Kamat. Navaratna is so so place, rooms are OK, but some cockroaches and a lot of mosquitoes. I bought a Hit! and went in and "cleared" the rooms and toilets before letting everyone in...Kamat is excellent - very tasty food and good service. Overall, Bijapur can be given a miss, IMO.

From Bijapur to Almatti, it should have been NH-13 all along, but took some other way out of Bijapur (I think the Bijapur Bagalkot highway) that would have taken us to Badami but no Almatti. So at some place, asked for directions, took some interior road and joined NH-13. Drive on NH-13 was a kind of nightmere for Skoda. NH-13 is work in progress - relaying some part, widening some, etc). Honestly, once completed it will be a good road, but right now, it's a challenge to drive on especially in a car. The biggest hurdles are man-made (monstrous speed-breakers - single huge ones and at times a bunch 5 or 6 accute ones irritatingly spaced). The Laura (with 4 heavy adults on board and boot full of luggage), scrapped here and there, driving across over these also did not help). Later on discovered that such speed-breakers are all over the place in karnataka (there is no standardization of their size and shape) - shame on you Karnataka!

Almatti Dam - they don't allow visit to the actual dam but they host a light show with musical fountains at 7:20 PM every day. Watched that and it is very nice. But I would have loved to watch the actual dam...

From Almatti to Badami was a hell. Started on NH13 (this section of NH-13 has some award winning spead-breakers of Karnataka)and took a deviation Badami on an interior road which for most part did not exist! Went through a lot of small and poor villages where the road is unfortunately more used as common toilet than as a road and finally entered Badami. Stayed in KSTDC (Rs. 950 for a non AC double room) which is OK. Location is good, service is with a smile and rooms are OK.

Visited the Banshankari temple (nice one and was a relatively pieceful visit compared to other temple visits I have experienced), the ASI museum (nice place, except for the approach road which is very very narrow and goes through road-cum-toilet kind of thing, very sad), the caves (which are very good and even the road and parking is decent) and the temple site at Pattad Kallu (this is an excellently done place - very very beautiful, clean and enjoyed walking around the entire campus in nice cool breeze and lovely afternoon/evening sun, again the road from Badami to Pattad Kallu is horrible).

By this time, I decided that enough is enough for the Skoda (and I will visit Hampi next time - either when roads are sorted out in this part of Karnataka or I will bring the Tucson - because I want to roam around learn about Vijaynagar without any rush or tension). So went to Hubli instead of Hospet and stayed overnight (Hotel Chalukya on Club road, Hubli - Rs. 450 for a non AC double room, very very nice and couteous staff and the Skoda was kept in the basement covered parking). Hubli was a pleasant surprize - terrifc weather - nice cool breeze flowing and clund road and around is a nice place to walk around, the place was awake till 10:30 PM and Iyengar Backery, Mishra Sweets, Kamat, everything is within 2 minutes on foot. Thank god there in no toll charged for the nice cool air and soft sun are still free to use. But seriously, what a place this Hubli - I can settle there.

From Hubli took NH4 straight to Bangalore (Skoda in all it's glory touching sppeds I can not mentione here...he he he. But Catuion: there are speed breakers here and there on NH-4 as well, and all of the Karnataka speed breakers are unmarked and if you do not spot them in time you can loose your car, especially if you are doing speeds the Skoda is capable of doing).

Once into Bangalore, quickly managed to loose our way. They do not have many signs on how to continue on NH-4 or how to proceed to chennai etc (may be everyone is using GPS here hehehe!) we went all the way to Doordarshan (missed the right to Hosur road?) and then some one directed us to Ursul Lare and KR Puram - may be our bad, one of us thought we were not pronoucing Chennai preperly and decided to ask for "Madras" (I opposed to this move but by the time I got off the car and asked for Chennai, damage was done) - we were rewarded for my cousin's over enthusiasm and sent off on "Old Madras Road" instead of NH-4...ha ha ha. When the 4 lane road reduced to an undevided one, we stopped for tea and asked how far is Tamlnadu border and they told us that we are going to Andhra and not Taml nadu though this is the correct road for Chennai! So a lesson learnt - in real world, NH4 to Chennai is called Hosur road. Nobody knows it is GQ or NH-4...alas. But it was a bliss in disguise. Old Madras Road is really an old world charm - with beautiful greenery and nice curves and thin traffic, loved the drive very much. Some 100 km before Chennai this road joins NH4 and all the modern world chaos of slow moving trucks overtaking each other coupled with toll gates, etc starts.

We wated to go to my cousin who lives in Valanchary (SRM puram near Tambaram) so took the NH4 exit to Kanchipuram and asked for GST Road/Cangalpat/Tambram). At one intersection, I saw Chengalpat was straight ahead and Tambaram was to the left. This put us and the Skoda into severe misery - this road went from bad to worse to completely non-existent...it seems to be a road into an industrial area being developed and had to ask everyone to get out of the car and drive carefully across the moon like surface trying to save the underbody). Should have countinued to Chengalpat, but the problem was according to my cousin, anybody could have guided us to GST road, but in reality, nobody knew anything by the name of GST road so we were left to the road signs). In the end when we merged on this so called GST road, I discovered it was actually NH-45, not that asking for NH-45 would have helped in any way.

Hope this info helps anyone who is going to any of these places by road in the near future.

We will spend 3 days here in Chennai and start for Bangalore coming Saturday morning, be in Bangalore till Sunday noon and then head back to Pune. It's going to be strictly NH-4 all along for the reason of safety of the car!

Thank you.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Once into Bangalore, quickly managed to loose our way. They do not have many signs on how to continue on NH-4 or how to proceed to chennai etc (may be everyone is using GPS here hehehe!) we went all the way to Doordarshan (missed the right to Hosur road?) and then some one directed us to Ursul Lare and KR Puram - may be our bad, one of us thought we were not pronoucing Chennai preperly and decided to ask for "Madras" (I opposed to this move but by the time I got off the car and asked for Chennai, damage was done) - we were rewarded for my cousin's over enthusiasm and sent off on "Old Madras Road" instead of NH-4...ha ha ha. When the 4 lane road reduced to an undevided one, we stopped for tea and asked how far is Tamlnadu border and they told us that we are going to Andhra and not Taml nadu though this is the correct road for Chennai! So a lesson learnt - in real world, NH4 to Chennai is called Hosur road. Nobody knows it is GQ or NH-4...alas. But it was a bliss in disguise. Old Madras Road is really an old world charm - with beautiful greenery and nice curves and thin traffic, loved the drive very much. Some 100 km before Chennai this road joins NH4 and all the modern world chaos of slow moving trucks overtaking each other coupled with toll gates, etc starts.

Great update on Almatti/Badami section.
Some notes on your Bangalore-Chennai Sector.

1. NH4 is not called Hosur Road. Its NH7.
2. From Bangalore there are 2 options to Chennai. NH4 is called Old Madras Road.
Old because the new and more popular road is NH7/NH46. You go on NH7 till Krishnagiri and then take NH46 which meets NH4 at Walajapet.
3. So GQ is Chennai-Walajapet-Krishnagiri-Hosur.
4. On the way back, when you are coming via "Hosur" Road (or NH7) from Krishnagiri towards Bangalore, you should take the NICE road to Bypass Bangalore.
5. Here is a thread on bypassing Bangalore:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...bangalore.html

Hope this helps.