[tharian]

Originally Posted by Agarwaka

Hi, we will be driving from Bangalore (Indiranagar) to Pondicherry over this weekend. Would appreciate advice on the requirement of e-pass and how / where to apply for it. Thank you

I don't think an e-pass is required now.

Do update on the route and conditions after the trip. I will be returning from Pondy the weekend after.

[Bakash4u]

Hi
I [re] visited pondi in second week of Feb.
There is no need for E pass.
Howver beaches INSIDE pondi territory [like rock beach] are closed. You cannot enter water. You can only see [longingly] from the shore.
You need to go to beaches in TN territorial waters like Serenity beach if you want to enter water.

[Agarwaka]

Originally Posted by Bakash4u

Hi
I [re] visited pondi in second week of Feb.
There is no need for E pass.
Howver beaches INSIDE pondi territory [like rock beach] are closed. You cannot enter water. You can only see [longingly] from the shore.
You need to go to beaches in TN territorial waters like Serenity beach if you want to enter water.

Thank you very much for this info. From where we are staying in White Town, it looks like a 15 minute drive to Serenity Beach.

[vijaykr]

Originally Posted by Agarwaka

Hi, we will be driving from Bangalore (Indiranagar) to Pondicherry over this weekend.

Hi - can you share the route that you took and the condition of the roads? Anything to look out for? We'll be driving to Pondy the last week of March and current status will help. Thanks

[Agarwaka]

Originally Posted by vijaykr

Hi - can you share the route that you took and the condition of the roads? Anything to look out for? We'll be driving to Pondy the last week of March and current status will help. Thanks

Hi, we took the Blr-Krishnagiri-Ambur-Gingee-Thindivanam-Pondy route and it was decent; no noteworthy bad stretches per se. Just be watchful while taking a bit of a funny V-turn on the beginning of a bridge shortly after Thindivanam.

[vijaykr]

I did two trips from Bangalore to Puducherry in the last three weeks.

Both times while going to Puducherry, we took the route Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Ambur->Vellore->Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Tindivanam->Puducherry.

On the return to Bangalore, once we did Puducherry->Tindivanam->Gingee->Chetpet->Arani->Kannamangalam->Pallikonda->Ambur->Krishnagiri->Bangalore. And last week, we drove back on the following route: Puducherry->Tindivanam->Gingee->Chetpet->Arani->Kannamangalam->Vellore->Ambur->Krishnagiri->Bangalore.

Going to Pondy, we stopped at A2B in Krishnagiri and Arcot for breaks given the early morning start. On return, we returned via Vellore the 2nd time to stop at Saravana Bhavan. Family was particular about well-known veg food places with clean restrooms etc.

I found the route from Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Tindivanam is much better compared to Pallikonda (or Vellore)->Kannamangalam->Arani->Chetpet->Gingee->Tindivanam and this is what I'd recommend for now. Traffic is much lesser with far fewer road-humps. Also it was quicker to get through Vandavasi than Arani both times around similar times of day (once mid-week and other on weekend).

The Krishnagiri->Chengam->Tiruvannamalai->Gingee->Tindivanam showed almost an hour long every single time on Google Maps in either direction and hence I didn't even try this. Maybe we will do this when we will be visiting the Tiruvannamalai temple.

[rajathv8]

Originally Posted by vijaykr

I found the route from Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Tindivanam is much better compared to Pallikonda (or Vellore)->Kannamangalam->Arani->Chetpet->Gingee->Tindivanam

Strange. When we travelled in Oct, we took the former and then in Apr this year took the latter. I have the exact opposite observation as yours
I found the road surface better on the latter with wider roads and lesser two-wheeler traffic.

After the second run, my family members were grumbling that we took the Arcot route the last time because of my recommendation

Also in Arani, GMaps will suggest the red route to save a few seconds, but we learnt the hard way that this road is super narrow with bikes parked. It was a nigntmare navigating the Ecosport through it.
The next time we ignored Gmaps and took the green path, it has a signal at the turn, but the roads were wider specially for the Compass we were in this time.



On an unrelated note, the rocky beach is a very strange beach. During my first visit, the water was upto the rocks and no sand anywhere (first image), in the second visit we were surprised to find lots of sand all along the shore (second image), the water was a good 30 feet away from the rocks, on the third visit there was sand only on the ends of the stretch but sufficient for waterplay. Go figure.

[vijaykr]

Originally Posted by rajathv8

Strange. When we travelled in Oct, we took the former and then in Apr this year took the latter. I have the exact opposite observation as yours
I found the road surface better on the latter with wider roads and lesser two-wheeler traffic.

What do I say? To each his own, I guess But I'd still do the same next time too as I find it better for me from food stop/breaks perspective.

Originally Posted by rajathv8

Also in Arani, GMaps will suggest the red route to save a few seconds, but we learnt the hard way that this road is super narrow with bikes parked. It was a nigntmare navigating the Ecosport through it.
The next time we ignored Gmaps and took the green path, it has a signal at the turn, but the roads were wider specially for the Compass we were in this time.

Google Maps showed me the route you marked in 'green' and so the issue I noticed was several folks turning into the wrong side of road at the T-junction (I remembered the recent TBHP thread on this topic when I saw this live! )

[bong_voyager]

Originally Posted by rajathv8

On an unrelated note, the rocky beach is a very strange beach. During my first visit, the water was upto the rocks and no sand anywhere (first image), in the second visit we were surprised to find lots of sand all along the shore (second image), the water was a good 30 feet away from the rocks, on the third visit there was sand only on the ends of the stretch but sufficient for waterplay. Go figure.

That's how high tide and low tide works!!!

[rajathv8]

Originally Posted by bong_voyager

That's how high tide and low tide works!!!

Well this was observed over 3 days of stay.
There are 2 high and 2 low tides within 24hrs if I remember right, this does not seem like an effect of tides. Correct me if I am wrong.

[sudhvenu]

Hi fellow travellers - Am planning to drive from Bengaluru to Pondicherry later this week and would like suggestions on the route please. Is it better to go Arcot-Cheyyar-Vandavasi-Tindivanam OR Arani-Chetpet-Gingee-Tindivanam (Google maps suggested) OR Tiruvannamalai - Tindivanam route. Starting early at around 6am.

In addition, I am travelling further towards Cuddalore. So will it be better to continue on Villupuram-Panruthi-Cuddalore road or just stick with going through the Pondy town? - Thank you.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by sudhvenu

I am travelling further towards Cuddalore.

Have personally tried Arcot-Arani-Gingee-Villupuram. Roads are wide and in great condition, except that you have go through Arcot, which is a pain. The highway stretch is definitely a step better than Arcot-Cheyyar.

Not tried Pallikonda-Kannamangalam-Arani, so can't comment.

Villupuram-Pondy is definite pain. I did SH9 (Madapattu-Panruti) way back in 2018 which is an OK stretch where you can do 60-70. Don't know beyond Panruti to Cuddalore.

[Poornavakra]

Did the Bengaluru - Puducherry trip over the weekend. All of my travel and eateries were decided by going through last 20 pages of this thread and a few other threads here.

We took Bengaluru --> Hosur ---> Krishnagiri ---> Pallikonda or Vellore lower ring road - Arani - Chetpet - Gingee - Tindivanam - Puducherry
While returning we took Puducherry ---> Tindivanam ---> Vandavasi ---> Cheyyar ---> Arcot ---> Vellore ---> Krishnagiri ---> Hosur ---> Bengaluru.

As everyone mentioned, road from Krishnagiri to Pallikonda is a breeze. From Arani the road width is not as much as the 6 lanes but the condition of the road is quite good. Since it goes via the towns, the speed does get impacted.

We were hoping the return in the other route would be very good but it was just marginally better than the first route. The better part is mostly the bypass. While returning from Pondy, the roads get wider post Arcot.

Nowhere did we feel the roads were bad. There were couple of locations(cant precisely recall) where there was some construction activity but nothing that you should be worried about.

Thanks @k88k for the tip on bookshop next to Surguru restaurant. We spent a good chunk of time here and picked up a lot of books.

The Star Biryani's(at Ambur) link shared by another bhpian was also helpful for us while returning. Got decent parking space and the food was very good.(Apparently this is not the first outlet of Star Biryani but 2nd one. But the first one did not have very good feedback, hence we skipped it)

One Tip I would share with all is to download the offline google maps while navigating within Pondy. My Jio network was lame and it would not get updated making life very difficult for me to navigate those narrow streets of Pondy. Maps would show the turn is still a few hundred meters away when you have already passed it by half a km.

[sudhi29]

Travelled to Pondy this weekend.

Onward we took the Bengaluru --> Chittoor --> Arcot --> Cheyyar --> Vandavasi --> Tindivanam --> Pondy route. Bengaluru --> Chittoor had very little traffic but the stretch from Mulbagal --> Chittoor has lot of ups and downs, some speed breakers and some notoriously uneven culverts and bridges. If you are at a higher speed you might get thrown up and down at a lot of places. Arcot --> Vandavasi --> Tindivanam road is in good condition but is a little narrow and with speed breakers every now and then.

On the return, we took Pondy --> Tindivanam --> Gingee --> Arani --> Pallikonda --> Krishnagiri --> Bengaluru. Did not take the Chittoor - Kolar highway as it was dark and rainy by the time we returned and the Krishnagiri highway is a better choice I felt.

Tindivanam --> Arani road is scenic, broad 2 lanes with extra lane for two wheelers. Can consistently maintain higher speeds. Only thing is you have to travel through the market in Arani but that I believe can be avoided by taking a bypass as seen on maps. Arani to Pallikonda was just okay, I think we could have gone to Vellore and joined the highway.

Would suggest Vellore - Arani - Gingee - Tindivanam to and fro. Vellore <-> Bangalore can be either route depending on where you live and convenience. Krishnagiri highway has a lot of hotels too so thats another plus.

Also thanks to the food suggestions at Pondy on this thread! Enjoyed several places that were listed here!

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by sudhi29

Arani to Pallikonda was just okay

How bad is it?

Arani-Arcot is fantastic, you don't need to enter Arani in that case. Only problem is you have to endure Arcot town traffic. Not Bazaar level bad, but roads are narrow.