[Sunil2307]

@nileshch I took the options that @ampere suggested last month and enjoyed every bit of it.

[mohan41]

Originally Posted by Sunil2307

@nileshch I took the options that @ampere suggested last month and enjoyed every bit of it.

Is there a good restaurant for lunch in this route after Pallikonda exit before Pondicherry?

Also on the way back from Pondicherry I want to visit Kanchipuram. Any suggestion which route is best for Pondicherry-Kanchi?

TIA

[ampere]

Originally Posted by mohan41

Is there a good restaurant for lunch in this route after Pallikonda exit before Pondicherry?

You have to drive all the way till Tindivanam, where you will find a decent restautant. (here)

[iceman07]

Had been to pondy recently (2-Oct long weekend) on return took the suggested Pondi - Tindivanam - Vandavasi - Cheyyar - Arcot - Vellore route.
Gmaps said it would take 7 hrs but managed it with only 6:30 hrs of actual driving.
Would suggest this route over the thiruvannamalai route i have taken earlier. barring the speed breakers and sudden sharp turns which can be anticipated, it had well laid single lane road with lush greenery on either sides.
Watch out for traffic if starting in business hours specially in and around villages.

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by nileshch

I am driving to Pondicherry on Sep 27. Since I stay close to Old Madras Road, I was thinking of taking the Kolar-Mulbagal-Chittoor-Arcot-Tindivanam route.

Originally Posted by NPV

*If you start early, Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Bargur-Tirupattur-Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam-Pondhicherry is another option.

An update after my drive - this route has turned out to be my new favourite route to Pondicherry!! It was only 5.5 hours of driving time through some really beautiful countryside. Left at 5:30am and reached the outskirts of Pondicherry at 11:30am with a relaxed breakfast break at A2B in Shoolagiri and a late morning tea break thrown in between.

Thank you for sharing this information!

Most of the roads were in great condition, except the Chengam bypass, as @NPV mentioned, which can be easily avoided. I accidentally took the right turn at the fork. But turned back in a minute when I realised vehicles around me had disappeared

Originally Posted by nileshch

Hows the progress of the highway widening after Mulbagal? Is the work still in progress?

Originally Posted by NPV

Last I heard, the work is complete barring a couple of flyovers and some lane markings, so all good till Chittoor. However, few months back there was some road work (not sure if it's widening or repair work) on the Chittoor-Ranipet stretch and I'm not sure if this is complete.

Originally Posted by ampere

And yes Bangalore-Chitoor is a breeze these days.

All good from after Chittoor towards Bangalore. Although, inspite of being older, the Mulbagal-Bangalore stretch is much more smoother than the newly laid concrete section after Chittoor. About 10-15 kms of highway at Chittoor bypass is still under construction (not repairs) and there are multiple diversions in that area. Nothing very bad but one has to be careful as the completed sections tempt you to speed up. The transition between the completed sections is not good.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by nileshch

All good from after Chittoor towards Bangalore.

Thanks for the update.

How is the Walajah-Ranipet-Chittoor section - any road widening/repair work there ? (I'm assuming you took Pondy-Tindivanam-Arcot-Walajah-Ranipet-Chittoor)

[samsan02]

Originally Posted by SNayak

Bangalore - Hosur - Krisnagiri - Pallikonda - Arani - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondicherry

Hi All,
It was a sudden plan for the dushera vacations.Kindly suggest a good route and places for food and rest areas. Will be starting around 10 to 11 a.m to Pondicherry on the 8th Oct, from bellandur, Bangalore. Will be travelling with wife & 2 kids. Is the above route ok.

Thanks

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by samsan02

Hi All,
It was a sudden plan for the dushera vacations.Kindly suggest a good route and places for food and rest areas. Will be starting around 10 to 11 a.m to Pondicherry on the 8th Oct, from bellandur, Bangalore. Will be travelling with wife & 2 kids. Is the above route ok.

Thanks

You may try the below 2 options

Via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Vaniyambadi, Ambur, Vellore, Arcot, Cheyyar, Vandavasi and Tindivanam

Via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Bargur, Tirupattur, Singarapettai, Chengam, T V Malai, Gingee and Tindivanam

[mohan41]

Originally Posted by samsan02

Hi All,
It was a sudden plan for the dushera vacations.Kindly suggest a good route and places for food and rest areas. Will be starting around 10 to 11 a.m to Pondicherry on the 8th Oct, from bellandur, Bangalore. Will be travelling with wife & 2 kids. Is the above route ok.

Thanks

While going to Pondicherry, I took this route. Roads are good but I found it has more traffic including trucks and two wheelers (after Pallikonda exit till Arni) and also has go inside the narrow roads of Arni. Arni-Gingee is excellent.

I took the Tindivanam-Cheyyar-Arcot route back to Bangalore from Pondicherry on Sunday. It is very comfortable to drive. BetweenTindivanam to Arcot the roads are quite wide, have very sparse traffic and mostly bypass every town.

Both these routes are longer than the Bargur-Tirupattur road which seems to be quite good as per other recent posts.

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks for the update.

How is the Walajah-Ranipet-Chittoor section - any road widening/repair work there ? (I'm assuming you took Pondy-Tindivanam-Arcot-Walajah-Ranipet-Chittoor)

Yes, right. I took this route on the return journey. The road from Walajah to Ranipet to just across the Andhra-Tamilnadu border is the same old 2-lane highway. The 4-lane highway construction is in progress from this point on till after crossing Chittoor bypass. After that the newly completed 4-lane stretch runs till Mulbagal. The stretch where the construction is in progress, is bad at the transition points and vehicles travel in both directions on both sides of the highway at times. So have to be careful.

[samsan02]

Originally Posted by samsan02

Hi All,
It was a sudden plan for the dushera vacations.Kindly suggest a good route and places for food and rest areas. Will be starting around 10 to 11 a.m to Pondicherry on the 8th Oct, from bellandur, Bangalore. Will be travelling with wife & 2 kids. Is the above route ok.

Thanks

Hi All Thanks for the suggestions. While going I took this route
Bangalore - Hosur - Krisnagiri - Pallikonda - Arani - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondicherry.

All through out it was a decent route. Arani - Gingee is excellent.

But while returning since we got delayed a bit until 4 p.m at auroville, had to cut short the route, I should have sticked to Bargur/Tirupattur route as others have suggested. Instead I took the Chengam- Uthnagarai, mathur Krishnagiri, which is horrible. Too many pot holes and it delays you a lot. This is better to be avoided. And it was dark so it made it worse.

I think time wise you dont save much as it slows you down on this shorter route.

Thanks

[RupamK]

Hello Everyone
I am planning for a drive from Bangalore to Pondicherry on 1st November 2019. Required some information about routes, halts and places to stay, if anyone has traveled recently. Planning to Leave by 5.30 in morning and return on 3rd November 2019.

Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Regards

[strawhat]

Originally Posted by RupamK

I am planning for a drive from Bangalore to Pondicherry on 1st November 2019.

You have 3 options:

• Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Puducherry
• Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Arani - Chetpet - Gingee - Tindivanam - Puducherry
• Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Bargur - Tirupattur - Singarapettai - Tiruvannamalai - Tindivanam - Puducherry

I have driven on the 1st and 3rd routes this month. Road conditions on both routes range from very good to fantastic. Monsoons have caused only negligible damage.

If you want majority of your journey on a plush 3 lane highway with innumerable places to break, look no further than 1st or 2nd options. Otherwise 3rd option is another excellent, scenic alternative. It is by far the shortest one too.

[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by strawhat

You have 3 options:

• Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Arcot - Cheyyar - Vandavasi - Tindivanam - Puducherry
• Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Arani - Chetpet - Gingee - Tindivanam - Puducherry
• Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Bargur - Tirupattur - Singarapettai - Tiruvannamalai - Tindivanam - Puducherry

I have driven on the 1st and 3rd routes this month. Road conditions on both routes range from very good to fantastic. Monsoons have caused only negligible damage.

If you want majority of your journey on a plush 3 lane highway with innumerable places to break, look no further than 1st or 2nd options. Otherwise 3rd option is another excellent, scenic alternative. It is by far the shortest one too.

Navigating through the Arcot-Arani road is a pain, especially if you're heading over from Vellore. During holiday or pooja time, it's more so. The market places are chock full of two wheelers and people. Once you've crossed those though, the highway is a scenic, open one- you can comfortably hit 160 kmph.

[ant_vas]

Completed Bangalore-Pondicherry-Bangalore round trip last weekend. Started at 4.30PM from bangalore on Thursday to beat the weekend traffic rush and were able to cross over to TN in no time. after a quick dosa break at Sarvana Bhavan, we took left at krishnagiri and proceeded straight towards Bargur instead of our usual route towards mathur-Uttangarai

Instead we took the bargur-Tirpattur route. The sufrace from bargur to tirpattur appears to have been laid recently as is in excellent condition. reached Tirpattur in real quick time. since i have used this route only once in the past (almost 8 years back), was dependent on google maps to guide me. one wrong turn and we ended up on a road which was single lane, no lights. This continued for 15+ KM and later connected to the tirpattur-singarapettai road.

The roads around singarapatti are in complete mess! thankfully this is only for few KM out towards Chengam. From there the road surface is consistent with a pothole thrown once in a while as a surprise. The route suggested in tiruvannamalai is via a tiny road with big potholes where only a car can pass at a time. Since it was already a little late we crossed it without any fuss. over all easy drive and reached pondicherry by 10.30PM

On the return back, we started at 12.30PM, took the same route with a long lunch break at tiruvannamalai at The Dreaming Tree (going by reviews on google). Enjoyed the food and started back. Took right at Singarapettai towards Tirpattur.

At tirupattur, there was some work being done on one of the roads and gmaps guided us on a route which went thru the country side with single lane towards pudupettai, which connects with the NH48 much before bargur.

Reached krishnagiri to fine huge line of vehicles waiting to take right under the flyover, then at the toll booth. took a quick brake at CCD and encountered a good amount of traffic all the way. E-City toll took almost 30mins to cross! took the flyover and left at Silkboard which thankfully wasn't congested and reached home at 8.30PM!