[prkiran]

Originally Posted by binand

My only exception for highway non-veg is when I travel to Kerala, especially alone. Then my craving for non-chicken, non-veg food gets the better of me, and I know restaurants within a short distance of the interstate border where such food could be had.

I know this is OT for this thread; but as a fellow meat lover who travels to Kerala often, some info on the above mentioned places would be much appreciated.

[theexperthand]

After all the careful planning about at what time to start and marking all the restaurants available en route to Chennai, I turned my car towards KR Puram on a whim to take the Old Madras Road. It was years since I traveled beyond Kolar, but was of the impression that the road will be 4 lane till it joins the GQ.

All was well till I reach KA boarder and then the beautiful toll road gave way to a single carriage way with horrible lorry traffic. At many places, there was no way to overtake the slow moving trucks and to top it off, not a single place to stop for breakfast.

After a very irritated drive, reached Ranipet and stopped at a hotel on the right side (I am not sure of the name - IIRC, it was Honey bakery or something similar).

On the GQ, at the toll entered the FASTAG lane, only to realize that they are operating it as a normal tolled lane, so the fastag advantage was lost (more irritation).

On the way back, I stuck with the GQ route. The same tool booth was choke-a-block with people trying to jump queues and trying to squeeze through - somehow hold fort and passed the booth without any incidents. The weather changed soon and we encountered strong cross winds - the wind was so strong that it was literally pushing those mini autos with load towards the median of the road. This gave way to rain soon and the Mother Nature lashed with all fury. The visibility was minimal and the water flow was like someone opened a big bucket. This lasted for 30-45 minutes.

Slowed down the pace considerably till the rains are over, and the rest was smooth sailing. Reached home back by 7.30 PM.

--Anoop

[NPV]

Chennai folks - need some help with routing.

For someone going from Bangalore to Luz Church Road, Mylapore, is this route suggestion from google maps fine ? It will be an early morning 5am start - Link

Originally Posted by theexperthand

After all the careful planning about at what time to start and marking all the restaurants available en route to Chennai, I turned my car towards KR Puram on a whim to take the Old Madras Road. It was years since I traveled beyond Kolar, but was of the impression that the road will be 4 lane till it joins the GQ.

You just had to read some of these route threads here, these things are discussed over and over again and beaten to death

The Old Madras Route is nice for a change but need to start early to escape the trucks on the Andhra stretch after 4 laned section ends at the Karnataka border.

Also, there are options for food, and again needs planning for stops & timing.
Few options after Kolar (Woodys, Adigas, Maiyas, McD, et all) are Nandi plaza inside a Reliance petrol pump campus before Chittoor. At Chittoor you have a Coffee Day & Hotel Bans opposite each other. Then, there is also MGM near Ranipet which I heard is good. After that, you're on the Chennai-Krishnagiri highway and you have Sai Sangeet on right side near Chennasamudram toll and then A2B at Arcot is also nice. But yes, overall the Krishnagiri route has more options and does not need so much planning.

[ravib]

NPV,

IMO, the below route is much better/faster/wider roads compared to going via Maduravoyal/Koyambedu.

https://goo.gl/maps/RWNZjKCWhWK2

-Ravi

[binand]

Originally Posted by NPV

For someone going from Bangalore to Luz Church Road, Mylapore, is this route suggestion from google maps fine ?

Nope. Go via Porur-Kathipara interchange-Guindy-Adyar-Thi.vi.ka bridge-Mylapore. Keep going straight at the signal after Thi.vi.ka bridge; till a point where you are forced to take a left turn (straight is a one-way). Kamadhenu is then to your right.

Couple of hundred metres further ahead is Rangachari if you are into that sort of thing.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by binand

Nope. Go via Porur-Kathipara interchange-Guindy-Adyar-Thi.vi.ka bridge-Mylapore.

Thanks. To return to Bangalore from Cathedral Road (Hotel Maris), what is the best route on a Sunday afternoon ?

[couswheels]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks. To return to Bangalore from Cathedral Road (Hotel Maris), what is the best route on a Sunday afternoon ?

Cathedral Road - Nungambakkam high road - sterling road - Loyola college - nelson manickam road - Poonamallee High Road and from there straight connects you to NH4

[ravib]

Here is the link upto Sriperumbudur NPV.

https://goo.gl/maps/DRmEgBJ7wWu

-Ravi

[binand]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks. To return to Bangalore from Cathedral Road (Hotel Maris), what is the best route on a Sunday afternoon ?

You have four options on a Sunday:

You could cross Anna Salai under the Gemini flyover, take left at the next junction and go on Kodambakkam high road-Arcot road-Porur. This is my choice often.

You could hit Anna Salai, turn left and pass through Saidapet-Guindy-Porur.

If you don't take the left in the first option and go straight on instead (Nungambakkam high road), it ends on Poonamallee high road which is actually the in-city incarnation of NH4. Turn left and pass through Maduravoyal and Poonamallee to reach our familiar road.

You could even take Mowbray's Road-Alwarpet-Thi.vi.ka bridge-Adyar and onwards via your inbound route. Note that there are some confusing one-ways at RA Puram on this route and also the infamous CP Ramaswamy Iyer flyover. Your hotel is near Poe's Garden where the who's who of Chennai lives; so this route can be used if you want to see Rajnikanth's house or some such.

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks. To return to Bangalore from Cathedral Road (Hotel Maris), what is the best route on a Sunday afternoon ?

Best is to go straight take left below Gemini flyover, Teynampet Saidapet Guindy and porur. Don't venture into arcot road as it gets messy at Vadapalani due to forum mall.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

Best is to go straight take left below Gemini flyover, Teynampet Saidapet Guindy and porur. Don't venture into arcot road as it gets messy at Vadapalani due to forum mall.

Mid afternoon is ok 11 to 2. Anything beyond say 3 pm and forum mall will make vadapalani signal a nightmare.

Anyway turn on google maps, it has real time traffic updates for chennai so should steer you through the shortest route.

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by hserus

Mid afternoon is ok 11 to 2. Anything beyond say 3 pm and forum mall will make vadapalani signal a nightmare.



Anyway turn on google maps, it has real time traffic updates for chennai so should steer you through the shortest route.

It's not just Vadapalani alone. Valluvar kottam, trustpuram, powerhouse, vadapalani, AVM, Avichi, Alwar thirunagar, valasaravakkam signals and then porur . Narrow roads with lots of bus traffic. Contrast that with mount road. Apart from Nandanam it's just free and average km per hour will be higher.

[binand]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

It's not just Vadapalani alone. Valluvar kottam, trustpuram, powerhouse, vadapalani, AVM, Avichi, Alwar thirunagar, valasaravakkam signals and then porur . Narrow roads with lots of bus traffic. Contrast that with mount road. Apart from Nandanam it's just free and average km per hour will be higher.

My experience has been that mid-morning to early afternoon on a Sunday is always OK. Any loss in average speed is more than made up by the shorter distance to Porur (when compared with Anna Salai-Guindy-Kathipara).

I am nowadays only an occasional visitor to Chennai though.

[batman]

Originally Posted by NPV

To return to Bangalore from Cathedral Road (Hotel Maris), what is the best route on a Sunday afternoon ?

Originally Posted by binand

If you don't take the left in the first option and go straight on instead (Nungambakkam high road), it ends on Poonamallee high road which is actually the in-city incarnation of NH4. Turn left and pass through Maduravoyal and Poonamallee to reach our familiar road.

My suggestion is to take the above option indicated by binand. It should not take more than 10-15 minutes to reach Poonamallee High Road, from Cathedral road on a Sunday afternoon. Once you are in Ponamallee High Road, it is just a straight road to Bangalore Highway. Overall the route is literally a 'L' from Cathedral road; No confusing turns or roundabouts in between.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by binand

If you don't take the left in the first option and go straight on instead (Nungambakkam high road), it ends on Poonamallee high road which is actually the in-city incarnation of NH4. Turn left and pass through Maduravoyal and Poonamallee to reach our familiar road.

Originally Posted by batman

My suggestion is to take the above option indicated by binand. It should not take more than 10-15 minutes to reach Poonamallee High Road, from Cathedral road on a Sunday afternoon.

Thanks everyone for your superb inputs.
We took this route and it also happened to be the here maps suggested route, there was dense traffic closer to Maduravoyal but moved fast and we reached Poonamallee bypass in about 30 minutes. Started around 11:45am and recahed around 12:15pm.