[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its too late to answer now. You would already be back! Avoid the Kanchi option. Its a detour.

Yes I have come back. Anyway, thanks for the reply...it may help others who are planning something around this area.

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

We took the Bangalore-> Hosur-> Krishnagiri -> Ambur -> Vellore -> Arcot -> Cheyyar -> Tindivanam ->Pondicherry route. And the reverse while returning.

I took this road too. I was driving without GPS.
During my onward journey, i missed the tindivanam bypass. The result was a small stretch of potholed, narrow and town roads and that the vehicles that i had overtook rejoined me on the highway after i had passed the town.

Apart from that, almost the entire distance has good roads. Due to the weekend rush it took me 7hrs both sides with one 45minutes meal break

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Apart from that, almost the entire distance has good roads. Due to the weekend rush it took me 7hrs both sides with one 45minutes meal break

The biggest problem with Tindivanam bypass is that it has a board there at the entrance, which says go straight from Pondicherry and asks you to take the bypass for Chennai. But ideally you should take the bypass for both Chennai and Pondicherry. It helps for both.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by ampere

The biggest problem with Tindivanam bypass is that it has a board there at the entrance, which says go straight from Pondicherry and asks you to take the bypass for Chennai. But ideally you should take the bypass for both Chennai and Pondicherry. It helps for both.

Yes that's how I missed it. I didn't realise that i had missed it till i saw a vehicle that i had overtook before tindivanam driving ahead of me. So while coming back, before leaving Pondicherry, i checked google maps once and found the bypass road there.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by 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

Guys, I am planning a Bangalore to Pondy trip in the weekend of Dassera. Does the route mapped by Raveesh in post #640 about a couple of years back still hold good? I had followed it in 2013 and it was very helpful.
I missed the college road bypass at Thindivanam and had to go through the market for a bit. So any pointers on how to watch out for it?
Also the google maps route for the bypass will help a lot.
Rgds,
Balaji S.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by hrman

Guys, I am planning a Bangalore to Pondy trip in the weekend of Dassera. Does the route mapped by Raveesh in post #640 about a couple of years back still hold good? I had followed it in 2013 and it was very helpful.
I missed the college road bypass at Thindivanam and had to go through the market for a bit. So any pointers on how to watch out for it?
Also the google maps route for the bypass will help a lot.
Rgds,
Balaji S.

That road still holds good. I just did this last week.
As mentioned in the last couple of posts, I missed the Tindivanam bypass while going to Pondy but not while coming back.
The Tindivanam bypass starts 2-3 kms before the town the board mentions 'Chennai'.
The route is in the below link:
https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Be....9138598?hl=en

[raveesh_k]

Originally Posted by hrman

Guys, I am planning a Bangalore to Pondy trip in the weekend of Dassera. Does the route mapped by Raveesh in post #640 about a couple of years back still hold good? I had followed it in 2013 and it was very helpful.
Rgds,
Balaji S.

Hi Bala,
I did a trip last year as well and updated the route details in the following thread:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3427417
It is more precise in terms of details on the route, toll, distance etc. Please have a look. Happy journey!
Cheers!

[Sandy28]

I am doing Bangalore-Pondicherry during the Dusera weekend. Since I have 3 days, was thinking of doing a day trip to Mahabalipuram. Has anybody done Pondy-Mahabalipuram via the ECR? Hows the road? I believe 1 day is good enough for Mahabalipuram. Any suggestions?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

I am doing Bangalore-Pondicherry during the Dusera weekend. Since I have 3 days, was thinking of doing a day trip to Mahabalipuram. Has anybody done Pondy-Mahabalipuram via the ECR? Hows the road? I believe 1 day is good enough for Mahabalipuram. Any suggestions?

You can club visiting Crocodile park, Mutthukadu along with Mahabalipuram. Plus we also have Mayajaal on ECR.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

I am doing Bangalore-Pondicherry during the Dusera weekend. Since I have 3 days, was thinking of doing a day trip to Mahabalipuram. Has anybody done Pondy-Mahabalipuram via the ECR? Hows the road? I believe 1 day is good enough for Mahabalipuram. Any suggestions?

Barring a few stretches the rest of the road between Pondy and Mahabs is a dream to drive. I was there was few months back and road widening was in progress a little ahead from the ECR toll( Pondy) .

Only suggestion, if you are foodie try and make a lunch stop at Ideal Resorts in Mahabs. Their food is exemplary and I have always made it a point to grab a meal at this place every year during my visits to pondy.

[Sandy28]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

You can club visiting Crocodile park, Mutthukadu along with Mahabalipuram. Plus we also have Mayajaal on ECR.

Thanks for the suggestions. I assume you are saying that a day trip is enough to cover Mahabalipuram as well as the above places and come back to Pondichery?

[rjstyles69]

You can club visiting Crocodile park, Mutthukadu along with Mahabalipuram. Plus we also have Mayajaal on ECR.

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Thanks for the suggestions. I assume you are saying that a day trip is enough to cover Mahabalipuram as well as the above places and come back to Pondichery?

More than enough and actually there is hardly anything to do at these places. I would rather stay away from crowded places.

As far ECR is concerned it always boils down to the salt pans , the backwaters and the awesome drive along the beach.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Thanks for the suggestions. I assume you are saying that a day trip is enough to cover Mahabalipuram as well as the above places and come back to Pondichery?

Yep.When I went to Chennai in April this year, I covered the Crocodile park and Mahabalipuram in the same day. By the time I entered the Crocodile park, it was around 1 PM. By 7 PM we were done with both Mahabalipuram and Crocodile park
So in your case you can begin the proceedings much earlier so that you can cover all of the places. Infact you can keep Mayajaal as your last visit.

[unleash_thunder]

Dear All,

I am planning to drive down to Pondicherry from BLR on 22nd October 2015 and the route planned for the drive is Bangalore-> Hosur-> Krishnagiri -> Ambur -> Vellore -> Arcot -> Cheyyar -> Tindivanam ->Pondicherry. The return is tentatively planned on 25th October 2015 while taking the same route albiet in the reverse order. Have two questions related to the itinerary:

a) I am planning to start at 10 pm in the night from BLR. Just wanted to check as to how safe and convenient this option may be? The drive is planned with absolutely no stops.

b) Since i plan to do all the sight-seeing on Friday 23rd October 2015, just wanted to check which other places i can club while on a visit to Pondi.

Would be great if the fellow BHPians may advise on the same.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by unleash_thunder

a) I am planning to start at 10 pm in the night from BLR. Just wanted to check as to how safe and convenient this option may be? The drive is planned with absolutely no stops.

It sure does not help as per me. You might as well start by 3AM to cover the 4-lane section at night and are in time for a day drive for the 2-lane. Its about 100km of 2-lane from Arcot to Tindivanam. Hence makes sense to cover during day time. Its safe no doubt. But still I would suggest day drive. (Any reason for a 10PM night drive?)

[unleash_thunder]

Originally Posted by ampere

It sure does not help as per me. You might as well start by 3AM to cover the 4-lane section at night and are in time for a day drive for the 2-lane. Its about 100km of 2-lane from Arcot to Tindivanam. Hence makes sense to cover during day time. Its safe no doubt. But still I would suggest day drive. (Any reason for a 10PM night drive?)

Sure. Will start by 3 AM then. Well personally speaking, i prefer night driving ( i am a sedate driver and hence night driving has been a lot less frustrating experience for me in the past). The idea was to reach Pondicherry by 4 am, check into a relative's guest house, sleep till 9/9:30 in the morning and wind up the major attractions of Pondicherry on Friday 23rd October itself. Would have explored other attractions in and around Pondicherry on Saturday 24th October and return Bangalore by early morning Sunday 25th October (driving again during night) to avoid rush as most of the people would be returning on Sunday.