[radiokidb]

Guys..need some help..am going to be driving to Pondy tomorrow from Bangalore. What is the best route to take right now?

Is it the same "Blr - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Tindivanam - Pondi" route as mentioned? Or is there another alternative route. And how about the return journey, same route?

Am planning to leave by around Noon from Bangalore and leave Pondi by late tuesday morning.

Please suggest and help me out..will be really grateful

[NPV]

Originally Posted by radiokidb

Guys..need some help..am going to be driving to Pondy tomorrow from Bangalore. What is the best route to take right now?

Is it the same "Blr - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Tindivanam - Pondi" route as mentioned? Or is there another alternative route. And how about the return journey, same route?

Am planning to leave by around Noon from Bangalore and leave Pondi by late tuesday morning.

Please suggest and help me out..will be really grateful

Yes, the detailed route would be:
Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot-Vandavasi-Tindivanam-Pondicherry

The regular route (was) Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai-Tindivanam-Pondicherry but the road conditions are quite bad in several places and haven't improved much on this route hence the route via Vellore is preferred now.

If you go back a few pages on this thread you will find posts with details of the turn off's with landmarks, etc
Hope this helps.

[denver85]

Originally Posted by radiokidb

Guys..need some help..am going to be driving to Pondy tomorrow from Bangalore. What is the best route to take right now?

Is it the same "Blr - Krishnagiri - Arcot - Tindivanam - Pondi" route as mentioned? Or is there another alternative route. And how about the return journey, same route?

Am planning to leave by around Noon from Bangalore and leave Pondi by late tuesday morning.

Please suggest and help me out..will be really grateful

The best route currently is the one which is mentioned by NPV below

Originally Posted by NPV

Yes, the detailed route would be:
Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot-Vandavasi-Tindivanam-Pondicherry

A small suggestion as you are leaving afternoon, its better to take the left from Vandavasi to Melmaruvathur(Chennai-Trichy Southern Trun Road), so that you can avoid the evening traffic chaos in the Tindivanam town. I have traveled through this route one month back and it was a very smooth drive.
The details of this route has been given below:
Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot-Cheyyar-Vandavasi-Melmaruvathur-Tindivanam-Pondicherry (Total -395 kms)
Major deviations:

• Bangalore to Krishnagiri in NH7
• Turn left at Krishnagiri to Chennai Route
• After crossing the Arcot bridge, take a U-turn, again cross the bridge and take left to Vandavasi
• Cheyyar- Cross the main intersection and go straight
• Vandavasi- Cross the main intersection continue straight towards Melmaruvathur
• Melmaruvathur- Take a right and join the Chennai - Trichy highway
• Tindivanam Bypass- Take left in the Tindivanam bypass to Pondicherry. Do not miss the signboard to Pondicherry/Puducherry. The excellent road directly goes go Puducherry town.

The google map link is here: MAP_link
Have a nice time there

[lambuhere1]

Bit OT

Guys,

I am planning a weekend trip to Pondy next week. Will be my first trip.

Can you kindly recommend good resorts with beach attached, for a family of 4 ? We don't want to rush things and take them as they come. Its a unwinding trip after the busy project release.

Awaiting for your reply

[Wheeliej]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Bit OT

Guys,

I am planning a weekend trip to Pondy next week. Will be my first trip.

Can you kindly recommend good resorts with beach attached, for a family of 4 ? We don't want to rush things and take them as they come. Its a unwinding trip after the busy project release.

Awaiting for your reply

Try KAILASH beach resort. We stayed there and liked it. Also stayed at zest big beach and enjoyed that as well. Both are away from main pondi city, so u will need a car to get to and fro.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Can you kindly recommend good resorts with beach attached, for a family of 4 ? We don't want to rush things and take them as they come. Its a unwinding trip after the busy project release.

You may also want to try St. James Court Resort - I haven't stayed there but a quick search in team-bhp will get you some results, including reviews and travelogues by members who have stayed there.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Can you kindly recommend good resorts with beach attached, for a family of 4 ? We don't want to rush things and take them as they come. Its a unwinding trip after the busy project release.

We stand in Ashok Pondy and found it good. They have huge garden, decent beach, TT, Tennis etc., Except for the fact that food is expensive, everything else was great.

Prasad

[lambuhere1]

@ Wheeliej, NPV, prasad14.

Thanks a ton guys. Will definitely explore the options and let you know the feedback in here.

Need to dig up t-bhp. Caught up with projects in here. Will definitely do in the devils time.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Will definitely explore the options and let you know the feedback in here.
.

In July, before I went and stayed in Ashok Pondicherry, I had done a survey of all available beach resorts. Just thought of putting it here:

• www.ashokresort.com/
• http://stjamescourtbeachresort.com/
• www.kailashbeachhotel.in/
• http://www.thedunehotel.com/
• http://www.lepondy.com
  http://www.oceanspray.in/
• http://www.zestbreaks.com
• http://www.thewindflower.com/pondicherry.html

Prasad

[raveesh_k]

Hi Guys,

I just returned from a 4 day trip to Pondicherry from Bangalore. Took a lot of help from various posts on this thread so thought that I will also contribute a little bit from what I can add to the information already provided.

Journey Statistics:

Bangalore-Pondicherry

Route taken: BLR-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot (bypass)-Cheyyar (bypass)-Vandavasi (bypass)-Tindivanam (bypass)-Pondicherry
Date: 29th Sept
Start Time from Bangalore (HSR Layout): 7 AM
End Time at Pondicherry (Auroville Visitor Center): 1 PM
Total Distance: 380 KM
Total Time: 6 hours
Break: 30 mins at Aryabhavan at Vellore.

Pondicherry-Bangalore

Route taken: Pondicherry-Tindivanam (bypass)-Vandavasi (bypass)-Cheyyar (bypass)-Arcot (bypass)-Vellore-Krishnagiri-BLR
Date: 2nd Oct
Start Time from Pondicherry (Auroville Visitor Center): 11 AM
End Time at Bangalore (HSR Layout): 5:50 PM
Total Distance: 380 KM
Total Time: 5:50 hours
Break: 40 mins at Aryabhavan at Vellore.

My Car: i20, Model: Asta. Just me and my wife on board with minimal luggage. Average with AC ~ 14 kmpl. Tyre Pressure: 32 psi front and back.

Looking at the travel time, don’t be surprised because the roads are so good that you can easily maintain 100-110 throughout.

Let me illustrate the route now.

1. Take the Hosur Road and head to Krishnagiri. It’s a good hour and half journey from Electronics City toll (down ramp).
2. Take a left.
3. Just after taking this left you will see a sign to go right for Pondicherry. This is a very bad road. Though its 80 kms shorter than the route I took, it will take much longer time to cover in addition to the rattling your bones and suspension will go through. Very bad roads.
4. Not taking the right as mentioned above, head straight to Vellore. It’s a six lane. Brilliant condition. A lot of diversions though due to construction going on at the moment. When I say a diversion, it’s not a detour but single lanes created for vehicles alongside the under-construction site on the main highway.
5. After about 100 kms you will hit a toll, (there will be two tolls in this area with each asking for 65 INR if I remember correctly) and keep going straight.
6. Just about here, keep a check on the right hand side of the road. You will spot a HP petrol pump along with a café coffee day and Aryabhavan. If you want you can take a pit stop here because as mentioned in an earlier post this is a fine eating place.
7. In case you want to stop here, you will have go straight further down and take a U-turn to come to the other side. U-turn when coming to the other side to Aryabhavan and when leaving Aryabhavan to come to your route will not be far to spot.
8. A special note I would like to mention here is that depending on your time of arrival at Aryabhavan, do try out the lunch meal if they are serving. Its 70 bucks and yum!
9. After the break, take again a U-turn and you will back on route. Keep going straight. After crossing Vellore and you will see boards of Arcot directing to your right. Ignore that and go straight.
10. After a while you will start seeing boards of Ranipet. Just after that you will hit a bi-fork (a Y junction). Take the left side.
11. This will take you to the arcot bridge over a dry river bed. Your aim is to come to the other side. So take a U turn after crossing the river bed and come back. Just after the bridge ends, take the first left. This is the bypass road alongside the dry river bed. It’s a two lane but decent condition. Minimal traffic.
12. At the end of the road, you will hit a T-junction where you will see a board pointing to Tindivanam towards left. Take that. Good roads, two-lane but almost no traffic.
13. Now you will be heading to Cheyyar. Just before hitting a town you will see another bi-fork. Take the right lane (will be marked as a bypass). Go straight, there will be a crossing, keep going straight. At the end of the road, you will hit a bridge over a river bed. Just after the bridge take a left at the T-junction to head to Vandavasi.
14. Keep following the road, till you hit a small bridge which almost ends into a T-junction. Take the road on the right as this is the Vandavasi bypass road. This road again hits a T-junction at the end from where you have to take a left.
15. Go straight and you will start seeing some outskirt markets in Vandavasi. That is because you have bypassed the town and reached the other side. Straight ahead you will also see a bridge. Don’t take that, turn right instead. Now you are heading towards the last town before Pondicherry, i.e. Tindivanam.
16. Just before you hit Tindivanam, you can take a left on the college road as illustrated by post #453. This road takes you to a railway bridge after which you hit the main Chennai highway.
17. Right where you hit the main highway you will see a divider cut for you to go to the other side and take a right. Keep following the highway.
18. You will see a flyover. Do not get onto it, but rather take left which takes you to Pondicherry. Again 6 lane and excellent roads.
19. Just when you are able to see the Pondicherry toll gates in a distance you will see a cut in the left. This left takes you to the auroville road and gets you to the other side on ECR.
20. Make your choice as to which side on Pondicherry you would want to enter from. I would recommend the auroville road because you avoid a lot of traffic inside the Pondicherry.
While coming back we took exactly the same route. The only thing that you have to adjust to is the arcot bridge detour (#11 above). On your way back, you don’t have to follow anything similar. After the bypass running along the dry river bed hits a crossing, you will see two possible lefts that can be taken. One is the extreme left and the other one is more of a left which is ahead of the extreme left (hope I am able to explain). Take this one, and you are on your way to Vellore.

You can stop over at Aryabhavan again for lunch/break if you please.
I also had a GPS device with me, which helped me a lot along with excellent guiding directions given in this post. After Vellore towards Pondicherry the roads are mostly 2 lane but excellent to drive on with minimal traffic.
References I took in coming up with this draft:
vsbabu's detailed route instructions is in post #446 in this thread
J.Ravi photos for Tindivanam bypass is in post #453

Hope this helps!
Cheers!

[Farukh]

I am planning a trip to Pondicherry this thanksgiving. Not driving down, will take a train till Chennai from Hyd. Are there self driven cars for hire in Pondicherry? Tried googling but din't find any useful info. OR may be in Chennai. Wouldn't be great to drive from Chennai to Pondi on the East coast road via Mahabalipuram (info from Pondi tourism website)?

[lambuhere1]

Need feedback on visiting Paradise Beach.

Planning a visit to Pondy on Mon/Tuesday.

Can you please guide me how to reach Paradise Beach ? Are there any timing restrictions ? Do we get a place to have our lunch there ?

Reason for asking is web gives a conflicting information as it is restricted to an hour's visit only.

What is the best time to go to paradise beach ?

Please help

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Need feedback on visiting Paradise Beach.

Planning a visit to Pondy on Mon/Tuesday.

Can you please guide me how to reach Paradise Beach ? Are there any timing restrictions ? Do we get a place to have our lunch there ?

Reason for asking is web gives a conflicting information as it is restricted to an hour's visit only.

What is the best time to go to paradise beach ?

Please help

About reaching the beach you can ask any locals and get the direction. Its a boat house where you purchase boat tickets and that is the only way to reach the beach

Its more than one hour for sure. May be couple of hours but when i went i never saw any marking on ticket which tells them how long you stayed. Its more to do with controlling the crowd i guess. I stayed there for about 3.5 hours

Best time to go? I always like early morning when crowd is less. I think first boat goes at 10

Not much to eat. Boat house arranges for drinks and snacks but nothing like full lunch. That was one of the reason i returned to shore.

Hope this helps. Btw isn't it raining in that part?

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Need feedback on visiting Paradise Beach.

Planning a visit to Pondy on Mon/Tuesday.

Can you please guide me how to reach Paradise Beach ? Are there any timing restrictions ? Do we get a place to have our lunch there ?

Reason for asking is web gives a conflicting information as it is restricted to an hour's visit only.

What is the best time to go to paradise beach ?

Please help

Paradise beach is a little outside the main city area of Puducherry. From the city it takes Rs.80 - Rs.100 one way in auto-rickshaw. The beach is separated from the mainland by the Chunambhar river back-waters. You have to enter the boat-house first with ticket for Rs.10/- per person. The boat house is kind of a small park which kids can enjoy.it has a small cafeteria where you'll get chips, cold-drinks, beers etc. one suggestion: there is virtually no toilet on the beach, so use the one in the boat house if you need before you go to the beach. You have to procure tickets for boat-ride to paradise beach at Rs.100/- per person. The ticket counter is just beside the jetty. You can enjoy speed-boat ride too. Last month I saw they were setting up water-scooter kind of rides, but I don't think they have started this service yet. anyway, the ferry will take you to paradise beach across the back-water. Enjoy as long as you want to, there is no time restriction. But the last boat from the beach to mainland is at 4-30 PM IIRC. There are small shacks in the beach for changing into swimming trunks both for ladies and gents. Regarding lunch facilities, nothing much except a shack selling over priced noodles, fried-rice etc which are of very bad quality. Beer is available in this shack. I should mention one thing. The beach becomes crowded after 12-00, so try to go around 10-30 AM (the boat house opens at 10-00 AM). If it is not raining, then a visit to this beach is must if you are planning to visit Puducherry.

P.S. - If you are driving : Ask any auto-walla for paradise beach, they are helpful. Otherwise ask locals for Chunambhar river.

[Added_flavor]

Hey Guys! Been reading this thread and I'm aware of the most common route to Pondicherry via Vellore and Arcot. However, has the below route been tried by anyone? If yes, any feedback on this would be helpful. I'm travelling to Pondi tomorrow morning.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...&via=5&t=m&z=9