[ampere]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Planning to drive to Pondy middle of August. which route will be better? Krishnagiri - Vellore - Tindivanam OR Krishanagiri - Harur - Tindivanam ?

Would suggest Vellore option. Just for the reason, there are places to break on the way compared to Harur route.

[karty_83]

Had been to Pondy this weekend. Here are my updates.

From Bangalore to Pondi , the route was Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Karimangalam - Harur - Thiruvanmalai - Tindivanam - pondi.
The roads are excellent untill Karimangalam. From Harur to Thiru, it is good and patchy at times. From Thiruvanmalai to Tindivanam was a nightmare. Could not go beyond 40.

Return journey was Pondi - Mahabalipuram - Chengalpattu - Kancheepuram - Bangalore via (blore - chennai highway). It was longer alright but better roads anyday.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by karty_83

From Bangalore to Pondi , the route was Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Karimangalam - Harur - Thiruvanmalai - Tindivanam - pondi.
The roads are excellent untill Karimangalam. From Harur to Thiru, it is good and patchy at times. From Thiruvanmalai to Tindivanam was a nightmare. Could not go beyond 40.

Wow! So even Tiruvannamalai-Gingee-Tindivanam has deteriorated that bad !
I was not aware of that. Thanks for sharing.

But in case if one wants to go via Tiruvannamalai, then the other option is :

Tiruvannamalai-Villupuram-Pondicherry.
On the return you could also have done:
Pondi-Tindivanam-Vandavasi-Cheyyar-Arcot-Krishnagiri-Bangalore. (Unless you wanted to visit Mahabalipuram)

[karty_83]

Originally Posted by ampere

Wow! So even Tiruvannamalai-Gingee-Tindivanam has deteriorated that bad !
I was not aware of that. Thanks for sharing.

Another thing i would like to add is, after taking a deviation at Karimangalam not a single board is in English. Without Gps, we had to stop multiple times to find out where we were and which way to take when ever there was an intersection. So either carry a GPS device or learn Tamil

Tiruvannamalai-Villupuram-Pondicherry.
On the return you could also have done:
Pondi-Tindivanam-Vandavasi-Cheyyar-Arcot-Krishnagiri-Bangalore. (Unless you wanted to visit Mahabalipuram)

We were doing a night journey on or way back, so did not want to take any chances. So decided to add the extra miles to hit the Chennai-Bangalore expressway.

[ankan.m.blr]

After reading the last few posts, I've feeling a little apprehensive. I'm royally confused now which route to take because at some earlier post it was mentioned that the shortest and direct route to Pondi from Blr is undergoing patchwork/repairs. Most probably I'll take Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot-Vandavasi-Tindivanam route. I need to go through old posts again to find out the road conditions in this route and how much time it takes to cover this stretch for a small car with 4 people and luggage (I drive a Ritz P).

[karty_83]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

After reading the last few posts, I've feeling a little apprehensive. I'm royally confused now which route to take because at some earlier post it was mentioned that the shortest and direct route to Pondi from Blr is undergoing patchwork/repairs. Most probably I'll take Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot-Vandavasi-Tindivanam route. I need to go through old posts again to find out the road conditions in this route and how much time it takes to cover this stretch for a small car with 4 people and luggage (I drive a Ritz P).

If you don't mind adding an additional 80-90 kms then try this route. Bangalore to Kanchipuram via Bangalore Chennai expressway. It is around 270 odd kms. At Kanchi take a deviation. From there on its a 2 lane road for 170 kms viz Kanchi - Chengalpattu - Mahabalipuram - Pondi. So total distance is around 440 kms. Roads are excellent.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Most probably I'll take Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot-Vandavasi-Tindivanam route. I need to go through old posts again to find out the road conditions in this route and how much time it takes to cover this stretch for a small car with 4 people and luggage (I drive a Ritz P).

This is the best possible route today. Lesser traffic too. Just that we now need to bear the 6-lane work on the GQ.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

After reading the last few posts, I've feeling a little apprehensive. I'm royally confused now which route to take because at some earlier post it was mentioned that the shortest and direct route to Pondi from Blr is undergoing patchwork/repairs. Most probably I'll take Krishnagiri-Vellore-Arcot-Vandavasi-Tindivanam route. I need to go through old posts again to find out the road conditions in this route and how much time it takes to cover this stretch for a small car with 4 people and luggage (I drive a Ritz P).

I returned from Pondy this Monday (pl. see my post #568, 2 posts below your post on 31-Jul). I did Hosur-Pondy (via Arcot) in about 5hrs. I drive Honda City and not drive very fast. The roads are so good, even the 2-laned Arcot-Tindivanam, that you'd be effortlessly cruising at 100-110. Blindly follow @vsbabu's excellent post to pass thru each town and that of @J.Ravi's for bypassing Tindivanam.

Prasad

[ampere]

Originally Posted by prasad14

Blindly follow @vsbabu's excellent post to pass thru each town and that of @J.Ravi's for bypassing Tindivanam.

Very true. The college road at Tindivanam has a clean flyover, which lets you onto GST without getting into Tindivanam town. And then its the GST exit to 4-lane Pondicherry highway.

[ankan.m.blr]

Hi prasad, can you please share Link to the posts that you mentioned. Or even a Google map link.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Hi prasad, can you please share Link to the posts that you mentioned. Or even a Google map link.

Below is the route link. If you search older posts. All of these details are mentioned.

Route link

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Hi prasad, can you please share Link to the posts that you mentioned. Or even a Google map link.

1. @vsbabu's detailed route instructions is in post #446 in this thread. (route instructions are from BLR->Pondy)

2. @J.Ravi photos for Tindivanam bypass is in post #453 (while coming from Pondy though).

Take print out of these two and you are done.

Prasad

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by ampere

While looking at the maps and discussing in thread, just realized there is another possible alternative route to Pondicherry which can be more fun.
This route also takes through ghat sections. Distance via its almost the same. (350-360km).

But thought this can add to fun of driving.


Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Vanyambadi-Polur-Chetpat-Vandavasi-Tindivanam-Pondycherry.

Vanymabadi is the same place where one turns for Yelagiri.
One needs to get off the GQ and take the SH to Polur which goes a ghat section as well.

I have no idea about this section thought.

Bangalore-Pondicherry Via Vanyabadi-Polur

I had taken this route on my way back to Chennai from Hosur day before yesterday. Though the road condition is good in most places it cannot be an alternative as for almost 60 kms it is single lane road add the ghat section to a good measure. But the road passes through some lovely forests. It took me two hours and fifteen minutes from Vaniyambadi to Polur.

[vsbabu]

Drove to Pondy this morning via Harur. Was tiresome, though the roads were very good and scenic till Tiruvannamalai. It is only 20km more than Chengam-Tiruvannamalai route. Directions below.

* From Krishnagiri, go towards Salem/Dharmapuri. Just go over both the flyovers past the toll.
* After about 20km, you will see a board, Karimangalam 2KM that takes you into a service road parallel to the NH. Note - it has a small, but sharp speed breaker. My Innova bottomed out (!) at 40kmph
* When that road hits a junction, take left to go to Harur.
* You will go past the Railway flyover in Morappur, then reach Harur. No diversions required so far. Karimangalam - Harur road is SH-6, 2 laned and very good surface for most part.
* Into Harur, you will see a right turn for Salem/Erode. Take that. It is the Harur byepass and hardly 500m more than the normal route through town. Also, this one has boards in English :-)
* About 2km on to that road, you will see the road taking a slight right turn and the road coming from the town joining it from left. Take the left turn.
* 200m on, you will see a bridge to the right. Take the bridge. After the bridge, main road bears a left turn, take it.
* Just go straight - it is some 80km to Tiruvannamalai from here.
* Once you get into Tiruvannamalai, you will see a board asking you to go straight to the big temple (forgot the name, board also says left to Bangalore) and then you will see that straight road blocked at the junction! No worries, just take mild left, right U turn and another left. End of the road, you take a left in front of the temple gates.
* This road drops you on to a main road. Take right and follow the traffic.
* You will hit a junction with some 2 roads joining from the right. Take the milder right. If Police doesn't allow you to, just go little forward, take a U turn and come back.
* The milder right goes to Tiruvannamalai Railway station. Go past the station to hit the Gingee road. Take left on Gingee road. If you want to go via Villupuram, take a right instead and then the immediate left.
* Just go straight now. Gingee is some 30 km and then Thindivanam another 40km I guess.
* I took the left at Tindivanam to take the College road byepass.

I think depending on the time of the day, this road can be a bit troublesome. Today, I got stuck many a times behind tractors loaded up with sugarcane.

Note about Tiruvannamalai -> Tindivanam road condition. It has deteriorated a little bit than 3 months ago. Some pot holes here and there. More important, there are 1-1.5ft deep excavations on both sides often. At 80kmph, when you take a blind left and stare into a speeding TNSTC bus, you don't want to see such things right at the edge of the lane :-(

[vsbabu]

Came back via Vandavasi, Arcot. Since I don't go above 100kmph, Tindivanam -> Krishnagiri on that route also took 4 hours (same time I took yesterday going via Harur). However, if you don't mind going above 100kmph, this route should take lesser time. My decision is to take Arcot road when going with family and use Harur route when I am driving solo and want to enjoy the scenery.

One note - Between Cheyyar and Vandavasi, there are some 6 deviations on the road due to culverts being built. Be careful when you are driving this route at night - most of the sign boards aren't visible and rest of the road being good, you might get surprised by these.