[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by nileshch

@libran, the easiest route I know is through Krishnagiri - Kanchipuram - Chengalpattu - Tindivanam. A 420 km 6.5 hour easy relaxed drive most of it through 4-lane highways (barring about 46kms between NH4 and NH45). May be better during the monsoon than other shorter routes which require keeping track of towns on the way.

this is the best route i feel, had taken it in May. Excellent roads.

Do not make a mistake of taking Chengam-Tiruvanmallai-Tindivanam-Pondy route.

[navan49]

The route I suggestis
Krishnagiri - Kanchipuram - Chengalpattu - Mahabalipuram-and on ECR to Pondy.. Allmost all suggest upto kanchipuram or Chingleput. Better take ECR instead of Tindivanam if you want to see Melmaruvathur take Tindivanam Road.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rk_sans

this is the best route i feel, had taken it in May. Excellent roads.
Do not make a mistake of taking Chengam-Tiruvanmallai-Tindivanam-Pondy route.

Originally Posted by navan49

The route I suggestis
Krishnagiri - Kanchipuram - Chengalpattu - Mahabalipuram-and on ECR to Pondy.. Allmost all suggest upto kanchipuram or Chingleput. Better take ECR instead of Tindivanam if you want to see Melmaruvathur take Tindivanam Road.

Instead of going via Kanchi/Chengelpattu/ECR, its much better to take the road via Arcot/Cheyyar/Vandavasi/Sothupakkam/Tindivanam.

One does not need to go through Kacnhi traffic and face the ECR traffic as well.
This also avoids the bad roads of NH66.

The roads are very decent through Cheyyar.

[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by ampere

Instead of going via Kanchi/Chengelpattu/ECR, its much better to take the road via Arcot/Cheyyar/Vandavasi/Sothupakkam/Tindivanam.

One does not need to go through Kacnhi traffic and face the ECR traffic as well.
This also avoids the bad roads of NH66.

The roads are very decent through Cheyyar.

@ampere,
You right, ECR is full of traffic, better to avoid it.
I had the option to try Arcot/Cheyyar/Vandavasi route but abandoned as i thought it was a state highway, single lane road.
How is this route compared to Kanci/Chengelpattu/Tindivanum route ? This route is 4 laned except for 30-50 kms near Kanci.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rk_sans

@ampere,
You right, ECR is full of traffic, better to avoid it.
I had the option to try Arcot/Cheyyar/Vandavasi route but abandoned as i thought it was a state highway, single lane road.
How is this route compared to Kanci/Chengelpattu/Tindivanum route ? This route is 4 laned except for 30-50 kms near Kanci.

J Ravi and Gopi KB are the right people to answer this question as they
have driven multiple times on this stretch.

Amitoj also drove recently. As per what they mentioned, definitely worth taking taking
option. Definitely less traffic and a few odd towns to cross, which is also not that difficult I think.

Originally Posted by rk_sans

I had the option to try Arcot/Cheyyar/Vandavasi route but abandoned as i thought it was a state highway, single lane road.
How is this route compared to Kanci/Chengelpattu/Tindivanum route ?

Arcot>Cheyyar>Vandavasi route is via SH 5 which is 2-laned decent road with less traffic. I drove on this route in June 2011. See here for details. Both the Kanchipuram and Cheyyar routes have some advantages and disadvantages. The former has advantages like more 4-lane road and better road-side amenities and disadvantage like driving through Kanchipuram and Wallajabad towns. The latter's advantages include shorter route than the former and less traffic. Its disadvantages include driving through Vandavasi and Tindivanam towns, less 4-lane stretches and road-side amenities. Time-wise, both the routes would consume almost the same time.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

The latter's advantages include shorter route than the former and less traffic. Its disadvantages include driving through Vandavasi and Tindivanam towns, less 4-lane stretches and road-side amenities. Time-wise, both the routes would consume almost the same time.

Ravi,

Gopi KB mentioned instead of driving to Tindivanam to Vandavasi, drive to Sothupakkam, and join the NH45.
That way you can avoid Tindivanam traffic and directly arrive the by-pass.


Vandavasi, Tamil Nadu to Pondicherry - Google Maps

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by ampere

One does not need to go through Kacnhi traffic and face the ECR traffic as well.
This also avoids the bad roads of NH66.

If you leave Bangalore early, there is not much traffic when you hit Kanchi. I spent only about 15-20 minutes to cross Kanchi at around 10:15 am on a weekend. Seems good enough. Kanchi to Chengapattu is just 38 kms (another 35 minutes).

Instead of taking the ECR, take the superb 4-lane NH45 from Chengalpattu to Tindivanam and then the butter smooth 6-lane highway from Tindivanam to Pondicherry.

[navan49]

Instead of taking the ECR, take the superb 4-lane NH45 from Chengalpattu to Tindivanam and then the butter smooth 6-lane highway from Tindivanam to Pondicherry.[/quote]

The toll from Chingleput to Dindivanam is just 40 Rs. The road is as told butter smooth. Dindivanam Pondy was under construction and don't know whether completed or not and toll booth opened or not.

[Dr.AD]

I did a Bangalore-Pondicherry roundtrip last weekend. Of course, I read this thread carefully and the advice given here by all of you was of immense help in deciding my routes.

I decided to try out the two routes which are most recommended here:

While going to Pondicherry, I took this route: Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Arcot-Cheyyar-Vandavasi-Sothupakkam-Tindivanam-Pondicherry

It took me a total of 6.5 hours (excluding time at pit stops) to cover this distance of about 400 km.

Overall, the road conditions were excellent, except for some ordinary (not too bad, though) roads between Vandavasi and Sothupakkam where I got on to NH45. Near Arcot, the advice given here of going over the bridge and then taking a U-turn back (thus avoiding Arcot town) turned out to be a very useful advice. I followed this and this helped me avoid pretty much all towns on the way. However, I had to go through Cheyyar town and this took some time because there is this one narrow road going through the town and the traffic was pretty bad (I guess I missed the bypass for Cheyyar that someone has mentioned here). But apart from this, the overall road was good. From Vandvasi, instead of directly going to Tindivanam, the suggestion of going to Sothupakkam and catching the NH45 was also a great suggestion. I did this and this helped me bypass the Tindivanam town completely. Had a great drive to Pondicherry once I got onto NH45, which joins NH66 just outside Tindivanam town.

While coming back, decided to try the other most frequently suggested route: Pondicherry-Tindivanam-Chengalapattu-Kanchipuram-Krishnagiri-Bangalore.

This turned out to be actually faster, and I was on target to complete my trip in about 6 hours (excluding pit stops), but unfortunately heavy rain and slow traffic caught me after Krishnagiri and it took me almost an hour extra due to this. But if we count the time only from Krishnagiri to Pondicherry, then the return route took me about 30 minutes less than what took me for the first route (while going there). By the way, the total distance while coming back was about 420km, so about 20km more than the forward route.

Overall, I would highly recommend this second route (i.e. through Chengalapattu) to anyone going to Pondicherry. The drive from Pondicherry to Chengalapattu (NH66 and NH45 combination) is just superb. From Chengalapattu, it is only about 50km of undivided state highway (via Kanchipuram) till we get back on 4-lane NH4. Thus, this route has about 370km of 4-lane highways and only 50 km of undivided state roads. The only drawback is having to go through Kanchipuram, but fortunately it took me only about 15 to 20 minutes to cross this town and it was not too bad at all.

In summary, I would recommend the Kanchipuram-Chengalapattu-Tindivanam-Pondicherry route to everyone and I will undoubtedly take the same route again when I go to Pondicherry the next time.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

In summary, I would recommend the Kanchipuram-Chengalapattu-Tindivanam-Pondicherry route to everyone and I will undoubtedly take the same route again when I go to Pondicherry the next time.

Good summary there. Most folks are for this option only.
However many used to point out the condition of bad roads on Chegelapattu-Kanchi section and about 30-40 minutes lost crossing Kanchi.

Maybe that would be just an extreme case. If those two points are not a major deterrent, it would be just fine.

[vicky76]

I am planning a trip to Pondicherry from Blore. Looking through this thread I came down to 3 routes. Which is the better of the 3?
I may be driving either a Xylo or an Accent. Seems like the best option is No.1 below reading through the thread. Would like to avoid the Kanchipuram route as it seems to have some heavy traffic in the town and longer too.
1)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Acharapakkan->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (377 km)
2)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arani->Chetpat->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (383 km)
3)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->NH234 to Tiruvannamalai->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (401 km)

Thanks for the advice.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by vicky76

I am planning a trip to Pondicherry from Blore. Looking through this thread I came down to 3 routes. Which is the better of the 3?
I may be driving either a Xylo or an Accent. Seems like the best option is No.1 below reading through the thread. Would like to avoid the Kanchipuram route as it seems to have some heavy traffic in the town and longer too.
1)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Acharapakkan->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (377 km)
2)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arani->Chetpat->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (383 km)
3)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->NH234 to Tiruvannamalai->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (401 km)

Thanks for the advice.

The first option is the best. But the other two are that good options. The real contender is:
Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Kanchi-Chengelpattu-Tindivanam-Pondicherry.

Many people take the above option because it maximises 4L usage. The negative:
- Going through Kanchi town
- Uneven roads on the SH between Kanchi-Chengelpattu (Recent updates say this is improvement. But I have not idea of the latest status).

But of the 440km of total distance, you drive on 4L for 400km!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by vicky76

I am planning a trip to Pondicherry from Blore. Looking through this thread I came down to 3 routes. Which is the better of the 3?
I may be driving either a Xylo or an Accent. Seems like the best option is No.1 below reading through the thread. Would like to avoid the Kanchipuram route as it seems to have some heavy traffic in the town and longer too.
1)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Acharapakkan->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (377 km)
2)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arani->Chetpat->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (383 km)
3)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->NH234 to Tiruvannamalai->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (401 km)

Thanks for the advice.

Out of these three options, I would go with the first one. However, as I explained in my post above (and also pointed out by ampere above), the best option is indeed through Kanchipuram and Chengalapattu.

I drove this route just about 15 days back and the road condition between Kanchipuram and Chengalapattu was pretty good (as good as any other SH usually is). Overall, I found this option to be the best.

[mohan41]

Originally Posted by vicky76

I am planning a trip to Pondicherry from Blore. Looking through this thread I came down to 3 routes. Which is the better of the 3?
I may be driving either a Xylo or an Accent. Seems like the best option is No.1 below reading through the thread. Would like to avoid the Kanchipuram route as it seems to have some heavy traffic in the town and longer too.
1)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arcot->Cheyyar->Vandavasi->Acharapakkan->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (377 km)
2)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->Arani->Chetpat->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (383 km)
3)Bangalore->Krishnagiri->Vellore->NH234 to Tiruvannamalai->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry (401 km)

Thanks for the advice.

I have driven through the route #2 last month, as i wanted to visit Gingee fort. I would not recommend the route because about 30-40km between Gingee and Arani is really bad. And between Arani and Vellore there are lot of road humps.

#1 should be the best option based on what I hear in the forum.