Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Route / Travel Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/)

-   -   Bangalore - Pondicherry : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/19838-bangalore-pondicherry-route-queries-42.html)

Not sure if you used this option to bypass Tindivanam. Hence suggesting:
Route Link to bypass Tindivanam town

Yesterday returned from Pondi after a short holiday. took Blr - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Tindivanam - Pondi route for both up and down journey.
Some observations : 6 lane road widening going on in full scale after Hosur, so please be careful while driving at night. although the diversions are marked conveniently.

Bypassing Arcot: Arcot has a wonderful bypass road. After crossing vellore, stick to NH 48. A bridge will come up on a dry riverbed at Arcot. Cross the bridge, stick to the right lane. After crossing the bridge, a diversion will come. cross it slowly. after that, take first available U-turn and cross the bridge towards arcot again. stick to left lane while crossing bridge.there is a crossing while entering Arcot town. take the left most road from that crossing. you can bypass arcot town. while going to Pondi, I went though the town, was stuck in arcot market for 20 mins. while returnig I took bypass road and crossed arcot in 5 mins.

Cheyyar : Cheyyar has a good bypass road too. While going to pondi, you have to be cautious; the bypass road bifurcates from the main road towards right.

Tindivanam : bypassing Tindivanam has been discussed already. it is recommended to use this bypass. There is a no-entry for vehicles going towards Pondi in Tindivanam city market and mosque area. You have to take Rajaji st to cross that area; Rajaji st merges with the main road at the foot of the overbridge that goes to Pondi. While returning from Pondi, you can pass through the city and it took me only 10 mins to cross Tindivanam

Vandavasi : Don't know if there is any bypass for this. Just followed google maps while going to Pondi and crossed Vandavasi in 10 mins. While returning, yesterday being Eid, al lthe main roads were closed/one-way for vehicular traffic. Had a harrowing time crossing this town. Circled inside the town for 40 mins to get a drivable road to bypass main city roads.

Road condition from Arcot to Tindivanam is very good in patches, sometimes good , and in some places poor. Betweeen Tindivanam and Vandavasi, there are 6-8 culverts are being built, so you'll face small diversions. Cross these diversions carefully as road surface is untarred here and has potholes.

vehicle : Ritz Zxi;
no of passengers : 4 + lots of luggage
time taken : [A] Bangalore to Pondi :
Bangalore (6:00 AM KR Puram) - Hosur (6-43 AM) - Arcot (10-30 AM) - Tindivanam (12-00) - Pondi (12-30 PM)
did not use bypass to cross arcot, cheyyar, tindi. took 30 mins break in between
[b] Pondi (10-00 AM) - Vandavasi (11-30 AM) -- Arcot (12-30 PM ) -- Shoolagiri (2-00 PM) -- Silk Board (4-30 PM)
bypassed cheyyar, arcot. took 45 mins to cross vandavasi. 20 mins break at McD Shoolagiri
FE : 15.96 KMPL while going to Pondi; did not calculate for return journey

Thank you for the info. Had no idea about this. Probably should have gone through all the pages in the thread. Anyway, next time, I know

Did a Bangalore-Pondicherry trip for the long weekend. Started on Friday early morning and reached back yesterday night.
Route: Bangalore-krishnagiri-vellore-arcot byepass-Cheyyar-vandavasi-tindivanam byepass-Pondy

Onward Journey:
Started at 5.00AM from bangalore. leisurely highway driving at sane speeds took me to the sharavana bhavan before vellore at 8.00AM. Started from there at 8.45 and reached Pondicherry by 11AM. Good roads all the way.

Return Journey
Tried to backtrack the same route. But forgot that the tindivanam byepass was in the chennai highway and ended up going through the town :Frustrati
Started at 12.30pm from Pondicherry , lost a good 45 mins near Tindivanam searching for the byepass and finally ended up going through the city stupid:
Reached Saravanabhavan on the highway after vellore at 3.30pm. There was a lot of traffic at krishnagiri and hosur toll gates which slowed us down and we reached bangalore by 7.30 pm.

The manager at the resort where we stayed suggested that the thiruvannamalai route is patched up except for a 15 km stretch, but we decided not to take any chances and stuck to the onward route.

Where exactly is this Saravanabhavan? Is it the part of the famous Saravanabhavan of Chennai?

Prasad

Yes the one in question is the hotel from the famed Chennai chain.
This is the one in Vellore which is being mentioned here.

12.926247,79.140143 - Google Maps

Thanks Ampere. This is not in bypass right? I might have passed it when I joined the highway after taking a detour to golden temple and missed a good lunch.

Prasad

Its not on the bypass. If you took the road to Golden Temple, then you must have exit GQ after Pallikonda toll both.

The hotel is right inside Vellore city. (The link I posted in the previous post, shows it right in middle).

I did take the exit after Pallikonda toll booth as BHPians had suggested. After the darshan, I continued towards Pondy and took a route that locals kept suggesting, which passed thru Vellore city, before I joined the 4/6-lane highway. When I looked at the map you posted, it appeared that I might have passed in front of it.

BTW, Ampere you are too much. Even if Team-BHP hires some folks they may not be able to respond so fast and with so much care. Hats off.

As an aside, if someone is including Golden Temple enroute Pondy/Chennai, it makes sense to come back towards Pallikonda again and take the highway, as against going thru Vellore city. One need not have to come back all the way till Pallikonda toll booth, but instead take a right turn much before which joins the highway before Vellore (as per Google map). If you want to be doubly sure, might as well re-trace the route till Pallikonda toll booth.

Prasad

Sorry I got confused with the name. The one which I went is not saravanabhavan, I think it is called arya bhavan or Aryaas. This one is on the highway on your right side when you come from bangalore, along with a CCD.

@Prasad,

I did not get this point. Why did you have to get back to Vellore city?
Is that because you took the Arcot road to Pondi? If yes then it makes sense.

Else if you visit the temple you can continue on that road to Arni and there on to Cheyyar.
And I think Arni has a good bypass too!

Vellore-Golden Temple-Arni-Cheyyar

Yes, I took the Arcot road to Pondy after Sripuram visit. Was not aware of this Arni route. Should have checked in the forum stupid:.

Prasad

Planning a Pondicherry trip this weekend.
Just to reconfirm: Is the
Blr - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Tindivanam - Pondi route the preferred one as the recent posts indicate? Anyone has taken the Tiruvannamalai route recently?

Just to add. My destination is the Ocean Spray resort which is on the ECR, not sure if in this case there is another route to take

Hi,

Arcot -> Vandavasi route is good. Tiruvannamalai is a bit bad now. For getting to Ocean Spray, check my post on cutting through Auroville in this thread. You will save some time avoiding Pondy town.

Just returned from a Pondi trip. Followed the above route. Thanks for the spot on directions to bypass Arcot and Cheyyar. Went through Vandavasi town and unfortunately had not read properly about the way to bypass Tindivanam. So ended up going through the town both ways. But did not get delayed at any point and also did not get lost in the town.


Thanks for this timely input. I was able to take the route via Auroville starting just before the toll gate on the Tindi-Pondy NH and reached ECR in 10-15 min.

Started at 5:30AM from Sarjapur Road. Reached the Arya Bhavan near Vellore by 8.30am. Took a half hour break and left by 9 and was at the Ocean Spray Resort by 12pm. Good Roads throughout apart from some small stretches of patchy roads between Arcot and Tindi. This stretch is 2 lane, but minimal traffic.