[sandeepmohan]

Driving to Pondicherry tomorrow. I am not in any hurry to reach. Based on this, I'd like to explore the route Bangalore - Salem - Attur - Kallkurichi - Ulundurpet - Villupuram. It is a recommended route, though the longest on gmaps. Inputs on road condition after Salem will be helpful.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Driving to Pondicherry tomorrow. I am not in any hurry to reach. Based on this, I'd like to explore the route Bangalore - Salem - Attur - Kallkurichi - Ulundurpet - Villupuram. It is a recommended route, though the longest on gmaps. Inputs on road condition after Salem will be helpful.

Road conditions are excellent throughout till Villupuram.
Only between Villupuram to Pondy, there was road construction work going on, but even otherwise, its a heavy traffic route so will slow you down.

Otherwise, no major worries.

-Ravi

[Waxeloquent]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Driving to Pondicherry tomorrow. I am not in any hurry to reach. Based on this, I'd like to explore the route Bangalore - Salem - Attur - Kallkurichi - Ulundurpet - Villupuram. It is a recommended route, though the longest on gmaps. Inputs on road condition after Salem will be helpful.

I did this about 3 weeks ago; not very happy, frequent and sudden switch between 2 lanes to 4 lanes. For long stretches I did not find any decent hotels with rest rooms and then a bunch appeared altogether pretty close to Pondy. If you want to explore sure, take that route. Otherwise I thought Vellore-Tindivanam route is still my choice. Cheers

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Waxeloquent

I did this about 3 weeks ago; not very happy, frequent and sudden switch between 2 lanes to 4 lanes. For long stretches I did not find any decent hotels with rest rooms and then a bunch appeared altogether pretty close to Pondy. If you want to explore sure, take that route. Otherwise I thought Vellore-Tindivanam route is still my choice. Cheers

I agree. Though the roads are good, most bypasses switch from 4-lane to 2-lane. And hence at some points can be a bit tricky. One needs to be aware of the situation and make amends to the speed. Not many restaurants too on this stretch. Hence I dont like the extra distance for Pondicherry from this stretch. As is today we do extra distance of about 70km via Arcot/Cheyyar/Vandavasi to circumvent the problem on Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam. This is over on top of that. But the extra 70km on Arcot buys you good break points for the way.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ampere

I agree. Though the roads are good, most bypasses switch from 4-lane to 2-lane. And hence at some points can be a bit tricky. One needs to be aware of the situation and make amends to the speed. Not many restaurants too on this stretch. Hence I dont like the extra distance for Pondicherry from this stretch. As is today we do extra distance of about 70km via Arcot/Cheyyar/Vandavasi to circumvent the problem on Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam. This is over on top of that. But the extra 70km on Arcot buys you good break points for the way.

+1 And the good part is almost 95% of the drive is stress free and less effort.
All through 6L NH is a super smooth and beyond that even in 2L road from Arcot-Cheyyar-Vandavasi-Tindivanam is very less in traffic. Tindivanam-Pondy is also excellent 4L and you can zip through.
Only pain point will be to exit Bangalore traffic and cross Tindivanam town to get-in and get-out to cross NH45. Otherwise, even though it is close to 380 kms, driving to pondy from Bangalore is less stressful compared to driving to Madras because of bad roads/truck traffic after Chennasamduram toll.

-Ravi

[procrj]

Originally Posted by ravib

cross Tindivanam town

The bypass works very well. I haven't been inside Tindivanam in the last few trips as its so much easier to drive on the bypass.

[sandeepmohan]

We finally took the tried and tested route which is via Cheyyar, Vandavasi. We took a leisurely 9 hours to reach Pondicherry! I've taken this route twice in the past and it is a lovely road.

If there is one thing one must note about this route, it the lack of restaurants from Arcot - Tindivanam. Make sure that your food and everything else is sorted before entering the single carriageway road. We ended up eating lunch at a road side joint before Tindivanam. It was one of those "cooking on the road" joints. Fortunately the food was good.



On the return, we took a round about approach via Mahabalipuram, Chegelpettu and Kanchipuram. Directions by Google maps. Off course, you don't really enter any of these towns. They are all by passed. Two complaints for this route, one is the Military Road, which is the by pass road for Kanchipuram. The road surface is only ballast for a good 2km. If you are behind a heavy vehicle, the dust kicked up by it will blind you so make sure you get ahead of it. When you finally get to the Chennai Bangalore 4 lane highway, for a moment you are left wondering what happened to the excellent 6 lane road. It is terrible and you still got to pay for it. Patch work everywhere. No crash barriers too. 6 lane work seems to be underway in bits and pieces.

Except for two toll booths, every booth accepted Pay TM payments. Scan the QR code and you're done in <20 seconds. It is fast and convenient. No fiddling with change, etc. The booths that did not have Pay TM are the Pondicherry ECR road towards Mahabalipuram and the first toll booth on the Chennai Bangalore highway, after Kanchipuram.

We took it easy on the return as well. Almost 10 hour journey time. We entered Bangalore around 940pm, traffic was easing up and we had a stress free entry. From Silk Board to Cox Town area in 20 minutes is unheard off.

Hope the information helps.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Driving to Pondicherry tomorrow. I am not in any hurry to reach. Based on this, I'd like to explore the route Bangalore - Salem - Attur - Kallkurichi - Ulundurpet - Villupuram. It is a recommended route, though the longest on gmaps. Inputs on road condition after Salem will be helpful.

While commuting on the Salem-Ulundurpet Highway watch out for the change from 4 lane to 2 lane on couple of occasions and then back to 4 lane. Not many options to break for food except for Ramas veg near Attur.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by procrj

The bypass works very well. I haven't been inside Tindivanam in the last few trips as its so much easier to drive on the bypass.

Excellent. Good to know. When i went last year, the by pass was under contruction and the roads were mud road and no tarring was done. This will work much better to avoid cross the Market and Tindivanam town and Bridge over Railway station.

-Ravi

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ravib

Excellent. Good to know. When i went last year, the by pass was under contruction and the roads were mud road and no tarring was done. This will work much better to avoid cross the Market and Tindivanam town and Bridge over Railway station.

The bypass has been active for quite some years now. May be you went real long time back? The only problem is when you approach Tindivanam from Vandavasi, the bypass says Chennai to left and Pondicherry straight. That straight basically takes you into Tindivanam town. All you need to do is get on to bypass, hit the GST and drive back toward onto Trichy direction and you hit the Pondicherry exit for the NH66 4-lane.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ravib

When i went last year, the by pass was under contruction and the roads were mud road and no tarring was done. This will work much better to avoid cross the Market and Tindivanam town and Bridge over Railway station.

Ravi - as amp mentioned, the bypass exists and is actually very well documented on this thread in older posts, look up the ones by J.Ravi - it has pictures as well

[Piyush_Vroom]

Originally Posted by SAPVEN

Did the Bangalore - Pondicherry trip last weekend and the salient points noted below :

Hi,

I will be doing Bangalore Pondicherry next week. Should I stick to the preferred "Vellore-Arcot-Cheyyar-Vandavasi-Tindivanam route" or is the Tirruvanamalai - Villupuram route better now. Please suggest.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Piyush_Vroom

Hi,

I will be doing Bangalore Pondicherry next week. Should I stick to the preferred "Vellore-Arcot-Cheyyar-Vandavasi-Tindivanam route" or is the Tirruvanamalai - Villupuram route better now. Please suggest.

No point going to Villupuram. Just stick to the time and tested route. That would be the best. You can hope to reach in about 6 hours a with a decent food break.

[itwasntme]

What IS the current status of the Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam route? Being strengthened for at least 3 years now I think?

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

What IS the current status of the Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam route? Being strengthened for at least 3 years now I think?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post4119948

Not sure about the current status.