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Thanks ampere & rameshnanda.

The Dune is out of our budget. Heard some good reviews from my friend about St James Court Beach resort (Link: Pondicherry Hotel,Pondicherry Hotels in Pondicherry,Resort in Pondicherry,Beach Resort in Pondicherry India,Pondicherry Resorts), So planning to stay there (but havent got confirmed acco - they can only confirm by tomorrow morning).
Rooms are available in Kailash Beach resorts - but they said its eco friendly. So, no TV etc etc. So we may consider this if St James doesnt workout.

Did a Bangalore – Pondy trip over the weekend. Was very much in doubt on which route to take and finally decided to try the Krishnagiri – Thiruvannamalai – Tindivanam route.

Started at 7 am on Saturday from Koramangala. Vehicle – Estillo, a city car and not exactly a highway car. Had breakfast just a bit after Hosur at the McDonals place and tanked up full. Route was good till Krishnagiri. 4 lane and you can max it out. There is 6 laning work in progress, but no issues since it was morning.

At Krishnagiri took the turn to Thiruvannamalai. And hell was let loose. The 2 lane road was really bombed out. Maybe better stated as bombed over and over again. The route is scenic, lots of trees and a photographers paradise. But not the route for a city car. Pot holes appear all of a sudden and you cannot avoid taking atleast 5-6 major hits. You swerve to avoid one, just to land in another right away. I did manage to average 60-70km in the route though. Did take quite a number of hits. It would make you cry if you are doing this with a brand new car. But if you like the fun of rallying type of driving and have a decent setup that can take hits, this is the road for you. Mind it that you need to be careful while overtaking since you might have to break severely to avoid a pot hole. And also watch out for the rare oncoming traffic. You might both try to negotiate pot holes at high speeds and forget about each other head on!

Route from Thiruvannamalai to Tindivanam was decent. 2 lane road. You can average 80-90 here. There are odd pot holes, but very decent compared to what you have been through earlier. Tindivanam to Pondy was breeze, a great 4 lane. You can max it out. I averaged 100, not much point maxing out on an Estillo.

Reached Pondy at 1:30. So that’s 6.5 hours. Of that 30 mins was for breakfast at Hosur and another 30 mins for a tea break at Thiruvannamalai. So actual driving time was 5.5 hours and distance 315 kms.


I enquired with a couple of taxi drivers on which route to take back. They suggested the Tindivanam – Chengalpettu – Kanchipuram – Vellore – Krishnagiri route. They said, it would be longer by 60-70km, but the road would be good. There would be a 40 km stretch from Chengalpettu – Kanchipuram that is a 2 lane. They advised against taking the other bye-pass via Arcot etc since the route is under construction and also there is a 15-20 km stretch that is in a bad shape.

So return I decided to hit the route as suggested. Started off at 2 PM. Full tank (petrol was 69.90. WOW !!). Pondy – Tindivanam – Chengalpettu is a 4 lane highway. You can do the best as what your car can do. Odd scenic views. At Chengalpettu, you see a left diversion to Kanchipuram just before a flyover. Take that and you hit the Chengalpettu – Kanchipuram state highway. Road is 2 lane, but not bad. You can average 80-90 here. Scenic drive. There are a couple of intersections where you might have to ask for directions to Kanchipuram. Took a 30 min break at Kanchipuram. And then hit the Chennai – Bangalore road. 4 lane (occasionally 6). You can do the best speed your vehicle can do. Light traffic. I was lucky that it was lightly clouded so was a pleasant drive. The honeymoon ended at Krishnagiri. Trucks, Trucks and Trucks. All the way till the Bangalore elevated highway. Lost out all the gains in the meele. But, you would anyway have to face this either route you take to come back.

Reached Koramangala at 9 pm. So that’s 7 hours, of which 30 mins was a pitstop at Kanchipuram and 10 mins for refueling at Hosur. So driving time of 6.5 hours for 420 km. That seems more compared to the route taken earlier. But keep in mind that the average speed from Krishnagiri – Bangalore was a poor 40-50. I would shave off 1 hour to account for the traffic. So ideally you could do it in 5.5 hours. Time – wise no gain since you are doing an extra 100km, but your shocks are spared.(But your engine is not since you are revving to max :D)

My verdict, I would take the Vellore – Kanchipuram route. I would go the other way once it is repaired to enjoy the scenic drive.

Back from my Blr-Pondy-Neyveli-Blr trip. Here are the updates:


Blr-Krishnagiri-Chengam-Thiruvannamalai-Villupuram-Pondy
Blr-Krishnagiri: 6L work in progress and it slows you down a bit. Even more, if its a friday night.
Krishagiri-Chengam-Thiruvannamalai:
Agree with @Kutts, its best to avoid this route if you love your car. A very challenging drive.
Thiruvannamalai-Villupuram: for initial 3-4 kms, few potholes & rough patches followed by a 2-3 KM stretch of gravel roads
(The road is being re-laid). After that, the road condition vastly improves and its a breeze to drive.
You could easily maintain good speeds in this stretch.
Villupuram-Pondy: Good roads again. No issues.

Pondy-Cuddalore-Panruti-Neyveli:= Good roads throughout.

Neyveli-Panruti-Villupuram-Thiruvannamalai-Harur-Karimangalam-Krishnagiri-B'lore:
Neyveli-Panruti: Same as onward.
Panruti-Villupuram:
Not so great stretch. Not sure how the roads are in Panruti-Thirukovilur-Thiruvannamalai stretch, which could be an alternate.
Villupuram-Thiruvannamalai: Same as onward.
Since have experienced horror T.V.Malai-Chengam-Krishnagiri stretch, I took T.v.malai-harur-karimangalam-krishnagiri route this time.
Good roads all the way. Though its 30 KMs more, its highly recommended for all the cars with low GC. T.V.Malai-Chengam-Krisnagiri is best left to SUVs, Buses & Lorries.
Krishnagiri-B'lore: as usual.

Stay @ Pondy:
Suriya Guest House - A beach resort located on your right towards Chennai, 2 kms before Pondy University (ECR).
Rooms are clean & good. Easy access to the beach.
They have a swimming pool, SPA,GYM etc
Dint have the time to test any of these including Food.
Rent cheaper compared to other resorts with similar amentities.
Overall, I would rate the place 3.5/5.

Hi Kutts, Can you please detail your timings in the return journey. Pondi to Tindivanam? Tindivanam to Chengalpettu; Chengalpettu to Kanchipuram ; Kanchipuram to Vellore ; Vellore to Krishnagiri.
Also, from google maps, I see that this route passes through crowded town areas of Chengalpettu, Kanchipuram & Vellore; which might increase travel time. Can you share your experience in passing through these small towns.

Do you mean they said bad roads on Cheyyar/Vandavasi/Arcot? Because I thought its a pretty decent road.
At Tinivanam take the road to Vandavasi and via Cheyyar, you can join the GQ at Arcot.

Folks never take Krishnagiri-Chengam-TV Malai. If for any reason you want to go via Tiruvannamalai,
you can continue from Krishnagiri in the Salem direction for about 20km. At Karimangalam get out the highway
and take the road to Tiruvannamalai via Morappur/Harur. Its a much better road. The distances are almost the same.

This are the options I was referring about:

Via Harur/Tiruvannamalai

Via Arcot/Cheyyar

Your verdict is reasonable. Also, that is a good option if you are starting from any place in Bangalore where you can connect to NH-4 easily. That will avoid the Hosur->Krishnagiri->Vellore where 6-Lane work is happening. Also, the 4-Lane road upto Mulbagal is a great drive, and that too without any toll.

But I am afraid that you got wrong information about Arcot bye-pass route unless the conditions deteriorated so badly(highly unlikely) in the last month. The only work-in-progress stretch in this route is the "new" Vandavasi bye-pass but that is just a negligible 2-km stretch. Last time when I took this route, this bye-pass was still not open and had to take the older route that crosses Vandavasi town-cum-BusStand-cum-market-cum-temple-cum-Anything which would make an unpleasant 2 km (or about 10 minutes) drive. All other towns like Arcot, Cheyyar and even Tindivanam is beautifully bye-passed and you literally drive non-stop on a good 2-lane SH. On comparison, I felt Chengalpettu–>Kanchipuram is not so great with narrow stretches in between and relatively heavier traffic.

Not sure if others too felt so !

Hi Ampere, as this route avoids Gingee town, it should actually take up less time than the normal route, right ? also, any idea of road condition from TVMalai to Villupuram & Villupuram to Puducherry.

@ankan.m.blr

Which route you were referring to ? Because any route through Tiruavnnamalai to Pondicherri will go through Gingee town.
I thought crossing Gingee was not that big a problem. Is it so nowadays?


Tiruvannamalai to Villupuram situation is what @nfs mentioned in Post # 528. Here I quote the same:
Villupuram-Puducherry is decent road.

Crossing Gingee town is not a problem at all. Just one major junction where Arni/Chetpet road joins the NH-77 and the area of the bus stand.

Villupuram-Puducherry is not just decent, but a very good road as mentioned by the Pondy hotel guys. Had suggested this stretch from Pondy to goto Thirukkovilur and/or Ulundurpet(read Salem or Trichy).

BTW, your statement "any route through Tiruavnnamalai to Pondicherri will go through Gingee town" needs a slight correction for the following reasons: :)
a) T.V.Malai -> Villupuram -> Pondy is the shorter route (by about 10 Kms) as compared to T.V.Malai -> Tindivanam -> Pondy. We always think of Tindivanam route because it is the same NH from Krishnagiri and Tindivanam->Pondy is a great 4-Lane road.
b) From T.V.Malai, I guess there are almost same number of buses via Villupuram or Tindivanam to Pondy. I believe Villupuram is more than Tindivanam because of connectivity to places like Cuddalore.
c) Try GoogleMaps with "Tiruvannamalai" and "Pondicherry" to see the route that it suggests as the default one ..as a TBHP-ian, we look beyond though :-)

IIRC, you can bye-pass Thiruvannamalai town and switch from Harur->T.V.Malai road to T.V.Malai->Villupuram road. I say this because I made a mistake of taking Harur road instead of Gingee road because of some diversions. Then, after about 3-4 kms from Thiruvannamalai town, realized this and asked for directions back to my hotel. While returning, there was a road-block and then took some right turn on a decent looking road which immediately crossed first what I think is the Thirukkovilur road and then joined the Villupuram road. I faintly remember crossing the railway line too in this stretch.

BTW, there is a direct Harur->Thirukkovilur road (SH-6 + SH-68) in case anybody is interested. Not sure of the conditions though but remember seeing a bus in the Dharmapuri bus-stand when I went on a bus-trip to Hogenakkal long time back.

That is true. I meant almost all of them take the Gingee road only because its much better than the Villupuram one. And then you also get 4-lane from Tindivanam.

I also saw this map on the road. May be the Karimangalam-Harur-Tirukkoilur-Ulundurpet-Vridhachalam could be the gateway to Kumbhakonam and nearby locations.

I had marked this route (bold ones are the temple towns where there will be halts/breaks) for my round-trip to Chidambaram in the future, maybe X-MAS holidays:
Bangalore-Karimangalam-Harur-THEERTHAMALAI-TIRUKKOYILUR-Ulundurpet-Vridhachalam-CHIDAMBARAM-KUMBAKONAM-THANJAVUR-TRICHY-NAMAKKAL-TIRUCHENGODE-TARAMANGALAM-Bangalore

Anyone have updates on Panruti-Thirukovilur-Thiruvannamalai stretch?
Roads between Panruti-Villupuram is not so good. So, this stretch could be alternate for Panruti-Villupuram-Thiruvannamalai if the roads are good.

Actually I wanted to take Karimangalam-Harur-T.V.Malai route but once you reach Karimangalam there are two diversions one via Harur and other via Poachamalli. When I enquired the locals there, they directed me towards Poachamalli after knowing that I'm heading towards T.V.Malai. A big mistake, because that route took me through few villages and joined me back to the Krishnagiri-Chengam stretch. The route taken: Karimangalam-Agaram-Poachamalli-Mathur-Chengam-T.V.Malai

So Beware: If anyone wants to take Karimangalam-Harur route, you have to take the service road on your left once you approach the bridge in Karimangalam or if you are asking someone for directions, always ask for 'Harur' instead of T.V.Malai.

If you had read the "Bangalore->Thiruvannamali" thread, you would not have made this mistake. It is clearly mentioned (I guess it was myself only) that as you reach Karimangalam, look for the diversion to left onto a decent SH that says Morappur=28 or 29 Kms which is a big green board. I have seen this board even a couple of weeks back and IIRC, it also says right for Karimangalam = 1 or 2 Kms. Just for easy identification, this right road goes below the opposite (Salem to Bangalore) lane. Incidentally, this cuts the Dharmapuri->Thiruppathur road after a few kms which some people used to take towards Dharmapuri/Salem when 4-Laning work had been in progress near Dharmapuri stretch.

Sorry I thought you went via Tirukkoyilur. Did not realize you took the newly crowned NH234 ! :)
In fact I also directed @ankan.m.blr to your post!




Now that the newly crowned NH is available, I think they would maintain road better than the SH to Tirukkolyur. (Hopefully!)

As Ajit mentioned you should look for directions to Morappur. The instant you ask any one about Tiruvannamalai, they would direct you to Chengam.

oh ! I was planning to do this trip tomorrow. Bangalore- Pondy. Through Vanur, as I have some work in Vanur.

I am really confused after reading these posts, as to which route to take. I always go by Chennai, this is the first time on this route.

Google map suggests, NH77 after Krishangiri through Chengam, Thiruvanamali, Gingee. Is the stretch really in a bad shape ? I will do more reading now.