[ampere]

Originally Posted by denver85

ampere sir, I usually takes left from Dommasandra and takes Gunjur-Varatur road to reach Kundanhalli. This will not good for those want to reach somewhere inside the city.

I agree. I just wanted to mention it such that in case one uses this option, he takes Varthur road and does not come towards ORR. During day time its pretty good. NH207 is also very good. Crossing Sarjapur town is the only issue.

[shyamk]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

How do I take this route to Hebbal from Hosur? I am planning to return by sat night to Bangalore. Is it safe to take by night? Are the roads in good condition ?

Have you considered the chittoor route ? I took this route two week ago. As long as you reach mulbagal by nightfall, you should be alright. There are medians to help post mulbagal, all the way till Bangalore.

Shyam

[mail4ajo]

Chennai to Bangalore 6 lane working is progressing. Was on this road few weeks ago. Onward is slower. Return direction most lanes are almost done. Nothing major, except occasional diversion from main lane to left lane.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

How do I take this route to Hebbal from Hosur? I am planning to return by sat night to Bangalore. Is it safe to take by night? Are the roads in good condition ?

I have taken this route in the night and is certainly safe. There is a checkpost on this route as well when you cross the border just a few km before Sarjapura. When you travel late hours, they might do a routine check.

Chittoor route is also a good option these days until the 6-laning is complete. I've driven the route around midnight and is also very safe, that is, if you are comfortable driving in the night with the oncoming lights.

[KarthikK]

I'll be visiting Chennai on 9th and 10th of July, since I need to attend a friend's wedding there. I'll be driving down from Bangalore to Chennai and usually prefer parking my car at the hotel and walking/hiring a rickshaw to the wedding hall (no parking hungama).

Could anyone please help with suggestions on Hotels? My requirements are pretty simple:

- Wedding hall is in Mylapore, near Mandaveli bus stand. Something close to this would be preferable

- Budget not an issue, but since I'll only be using the hotel for overnight lodging, splurging too much on star hotel fare is going to be useless. Any decent hotel with A/C accommodation and a decent restaurant will do.

- Hotel should have adequate car parking space where I can leave the car for a couple of days, without worrying too much about vandalism / accidental scraping by cabbies in tight spaces, etc.

It would be great if anyone can help me out here.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Could anyone please help with suggestions on Hotels?

I suggest New Woodlands Hotel, Dr Radhakrishnan Salai, Chennai 600004. You can try Idli Vilas, located diagonally opposite New Woodlands Hotel, below the flyover adjoining a church, for tasty tiffin and meals.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

I suggest New Woodlands Hotel, Dr Radhakrishnan Salai, Chennai 600004. You can try Idli Vilas, located diagonally opposite New Woodlands Hotel, Below the flyover for tasty tiffin and meals.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion Ravi sir! The website looks good. I think this hotel seals the deal for me, it has everything I need with the location advantage too.

I'll definitely try the Idli Vilas restaurant after your suggestion now . Any route tips / traffic bottlenecks I should avoid when going from Bangalore side?? I am just going to use MapMyIndia's route to reach Mylapore. Any deviations necessary from the standard approach? It might be peak afternoon by the time I reach Chennai city on a working day, hence the question.

Thanks, KarthikK.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Any route tips / traffic bottlenecks I should avoid when going from Bangalore side?

For my frequent night trips between Bangalore and Chennai, I prefer Kolar/Chittoor route mainly to avoid the traffic jam and bottleneck at Attibele-Hosur KA-TN border. Since no traffic jams are expected during the day time, you can drive via Hosur/Krishnagiri, which is fully 4/6-laned NH 7/46/4 with some diversions for road-widening works.

Any deviations necessary from the standard approach? It might be peak afternoon by the time I reach Chennai city.

Since you will be driving in the day time, expect a lot of vehicles from Sriperumpudur onwards, which will slow you down. And the quality of the toll road is also bad from Kanchipuram bypass. The net result is torture. But, one has to bear with it by paying hefty toll. At Porur junction - which can be easily identified with an incomplete flyover on a busy junction - you have two options: one is to take left towards Arcot Road/Kodambakkam High Road; the other is to go straight via Kathipara junction/Guindy. I suggest, you can take left at Porur junction, drive on Arcot Road and Kodambakkam High Road, one straight road and then, turn to your right at the T-junction towards Cathedral Road and Dr Radhakrishnan Road. Please note that Arcot Road/Kodambakkam High Road is one straight drive but a busy route.

[kshivaa]

Originally Posted by arjithin

1. What is the best place/by lanes to park my car for 3 hours near US consulate? Should be around Annasalai around 7:30 AM

you could park in peters road, opposite to saravana bhavan, under the flyover. place should be free in the early morning.

Originally Posted by arjithin

2. To reach US Consulate at 8:00 AM, how early should I start from Pondy and what is the best route ( in terms of surface condition and traffic)?

best would be to reach chennai the previous day night itself.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I think this hotel seals the deal for me, it has everything I need with the location advantage too.

I'll definitely try the Idli Vilas restaurant after your suggestion now . Any route tips / traffic bottlenecks I should avoid when going from Bangalore side??

I'm a regular at New Woodlands and I can vouch for the hotel!

While Idli Vilas is the latest sensation, the Krishna restaurant at New Woodlands itself has been serving delicious food for over decades. A lot of old timers still frequent the place. I've seen the legend late P.B.Shrinivas there many a times.

There are 2 category of rooms. The basic one costs Rs.2100 and the executive costs Rs.2700. The price is inclusive of taxes and complimentary breakfast. The difference is that the executive rooms are redone and hence look better. They do not offer online reservations, you could call them up and reserve. The best part is they do not take any advance money!

There are couple of other options too in the vicinity-
1. Hotel Maris
2. Hanu Reddy Residences at Poes Garden

You could find a good deal on Hanu Reddy Residences if booked through travel portals like Yatra or Cleartrip as they always have some promotions going on for hotel bookings. The reason I choose Hanu Reddy is because they are fairly new and offer great ambiance.

As for the route, I always prefer the Chittoor route as I find it quicker as I am comfortable driving the dual carriageway. Whitefield-Poonamallee takes about 4.30 hours with typical food/loo breaks. For reaching New Woodlands, I'd prefer the following route which will be the best to reach without much traffic hurdles.
http://goo.gl/maps/WuzRF

But if it is too much of twists and turns, you could just take the usual Inner Ring road-Arcot road(Kodambakkam high road) route.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I'll be visiting Chennai on 9th and 10th of July, since I need to attend a friend's wedding there. I'll be driving down from Bangalore to Chennai and usually prefer parking my car at the hotel and walking/hiring a rickshaw to the wedding hall (no parking hungama).

Could anyone please help with suggestions on Hotels?

Woodlands is a great place as others have mentioned here.
Another option to have just in case you need it (in case rooms aren't available, etc) is Hotel Palmgrove which is in T Nagar, not too far from Woodlands. This is another old time place that is good (owned by same group that owns Hotel Ballal Residency in Bangalore).

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by arjithin

What is the best place/by lanes to park my car for 3 hours near US consulate? Should be around Annasalai around 7:30 AM

2. To reach US Consulate at 8:00 AM, how early should I start from Pondy and what is the best route ( in terms of surface condition and traffic)?

I strongly suggest you leave the previous night and stay in Palmgrove which is walkable distance to Consulate. Finish your work and make a move. Once wrote an almost turn-by-turn directions from NH4 to Palmgrove to NPV, dont know where I can find it.

[narayans80]

Found it, here it is:

Note that this was written a year ago in August, so some of the metro construction I mention on Mount Road might be completed You could follow the same directions past Kathipara if you are taking Pondy-Tindivanam-Madras.

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=S...ra=ls&t=m&z=17

B is where you go on side of bridge to bypass Poonamalee. There is a signage that you have to go straight on the bridge for Poonamalee. There is a Tirupati turnoff, Meenakshi Dental College 3-4 km ahead of this point.

C is where you have turn towards Porur, Guindy (there is a signage that says exactly that, though small). The identification far off is bridge on opposing side and plain on your side. Note that there is a divider between the lane going right and one going straight. You don't need to do a U-turn like GMap says.

D is the first signal you see after C. The left here is almost like a hair pin bend.

Till E keep following the road.

E is the sharp 90 degree left hander at St. Thomas Mount. This is a km ahead of the Kathipara cloverleaf.

The cloverleaf is a bit confusing for 1st timers, you'll have to take the bridge. On the bridge, left will go towards Airport and straight towards Guindy. Go straight here!!

You'll see a metro construction, then Guindy railway station on right as you pass this and SPIC building on left as the road takes the ramp up. Once you are past SPIC, try keeping the left side of the road. You should be on the left side of barricades at the ABT Maruti showroom signal.

There is metro construction bang on the middle of the road at point F (Checkers Hotel). 200 m ahead you have a signal. Keep continuing on the same road.

Pass 4 further signals and continue on the same road. You'll cross

Panagal Maligai on left at signal 1
Saidapet bus stand on right before signal 2
DSC Hyundai on left corner and Audi showroom on right around signal 3.
Buhari Hotel on left immediately after signal 4.

Once you cross 4th signal, there is a 1 km stretch to the next one. You should cross MPL Ford on left and YMCA on right. You should get on the left side before the 5th signal. You'll have ample speed and distance to make that. Point G is slightly ahead of 5th signal. Post 200 in this thread is Point G. Southern Hero Honda on post 199 and post 198 are pics taken of 5th signal from other side of the road.

There is metro construction happening past signal 5, take a left at Nandanam signal and immediate right to H (yes, the U-turn is wrong). Keep continuing straight.

Be careful from H to I, there will be lot of misc traffic this way. There is a signal just ahead of I (you should see Residency Towers on left and Kasi Arcade on right).

Point J is at the 2nd signal. Take a right and you should see a bridge (Gemini/Anna Flyover) in 500 m. You don't need to take the bridge. The road on side is pretty narrow. You'll hit a signal in 200m, take a left (you should see Park Hotel on left) and immediate left. Palmgrove is the 2nd or 3rd building from here.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Found it, here it is:

Note that this was written a year ago in August, so some of the metro construction I mention on Mount Road might be completed

Wow! that's a comprehensive detail!

I used to take this route earlier but then it was proving too time-consuming due to the Metro work, as you literally travel through the Guindy-Mt.Road stretch of construction. That's the reason I started taking the Kathipara-Loyola as you would pretty much avoid any Metro work along way. And I did not get delayed anywhere in this route during my latest two drives.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by luvurride

I used to take this route earlier but then it was proving too time-consuming due to the Metro work, as you literally travel through the Guindy-Mt.Road stretch of construction. That's the reason I started taking the Kathipara-Loyola as you would pretty much avoid any Metro work along way. And I did not get delayed anywhere in this route during my latest two drives.

The advantage with Mount Road is there are minimal turns, and it is far easy for a newbie to follow plus there are signages here and there. I am a local and have always take the above route just that I plan my entry/exit to avoid traffic.

BTW which route you are talking about? I used to work in Ekkaduthangal, and traffic is virtually at a standstill in peak hours near Kasi Theater and Ekkaduthangal