[roamingrao]

Drove to renigunta and back yesterday - on work. was raining throughout the day.

almost all diversions around flyover constructions near hoskote / kolar have been asphalted - no slush. Kolar byepass near railway gate remains bad despite asphalt. flyovers near budigere cross ( near hoskote ) and woodys ( kolar ) are open.

Mulbagal byepass is bad towards palamner end. huge potholes not visible in rains. roads inside mulbagal town are equally bad - cable / pipe laying work on.

narrow river bridge after Chittoor ( NH18 ) gives way to new broad bridge !

ummarked / illegal road humps ( put up by villagers ) before and after villages on Putalapattu - chandragiri stretch - did not exist a month back ! - be aware in dark .

[djay99]

thanks roamingrao for latest info

what is the distance between bangalore and tirupati via kolar-palamer route?

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by djay99

what is the distance between bangalore and tirupati via kolar-palamer route?

From HAL Airport Road, Alipiri is 253 KM and Tirumala is 275 KM. You can take Tirupati town to be approximately 255 KM.

[djay99]

Thank you all for suggesting.
I took Blr-Kolar-Mulabagal-Palamer-Tirupati route.

There are many diversions and in most of the places its tarred. But worst part is near andhra-karnataka border. Once you enter andhra, road is amazing. Probably KA government should look at this and act fast.

We started from bangalore (rajaji nagar) on saturday at 6AM and it took 6 hours for us to reach tirumala including 1 hour break. Car is getz crdi.
While coming back yesterday (sunday) we started from srikalahasti at 4PM and reached bangalore at 12AM including 1:30 hr break.

While returning from thirumala on highway, i encountered many vehicles with high beam and in some cases with four to six lights.
Many times i felt like i am blind because of such powerful light. Proably people should learn and realize how important it is to switch high/low beam as such blindness may lead to an accident.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by djay99

While returning from thirumala on highway, i encountered many vehicles with high beam and in some cases with four to six lights.
Many times i felt like i am blind because of such powerful light. Proably people should learn and realize how important it is to switch high/low beam as such blindness may lead to an accident.

The situation gets even more difficult, on the AP side as the road is single lane.
But yes on the whole the road quality way better on the AP side.

[addyhemmige]

I am planning to go to Tirupati/Tirumala tomorrow and I have the following routes in mind.

1. Blr-Hoskote-Chintamani-Madanapalli-Tirupati route

2. Blr-Hoskote-Kolar-Chittoor-Tirupati

I will be leaving early in the morning. Has anybody traveled recently on these route? Please update on the route conditions.

I am inclined to take route 1, but am apprehensive about the road conditions. If the road condition is good enough, I will take this road.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

I am planning to go to Tirupati/Tirumala tomorrow and I have the following routes in mind.

1. Blr-Hoskote-Chintamani-Madanapalli-Tirupati route

2. Blr-Hoskote-Kolar-Chittoor-Tirupati

I will be leaving early in the morning. Has anybody traveled recently on these route? Please update on the route conditions.

I am inclined to take route 1, but am apprehensive about the road conditions. If the road condition is good enough, I will take this road.

Check logs on Horseley hills. The road till Madanapalle is Common.
If you are in South Banaglore, as I mentioned try Sarjapur/Baglur/Malur/Kolar/ route.
I did it last month and its very nice. You by-pass the construction pain on BLR-Kolar.

[addyhemmige]

I visited Tirupati on saturday for a 1 day trip. Started from my house in Rajarejeshwarinagar at 5.15 am and returned back at 10.30pm.

Thanks to several travelogues on Horsely hills (thanks ampere), I decided to avoid the regular route and take the route via Chintamani-Madanapalle. This was a very good decision. I was driving my Swift VDi with 5 passengers.

The route I took

Bangalore-Hoskote-Chintamani(bypass)-Madanapalle-Pileru-Bhakarapet-Sinivasa Mangapuram-Alipiri-Tirumala. The total distance on this route (from my house) was 280 kms.

While returning, I took Tirumala-Alipiri-Chittoor-Palamner-Mulbagal-Kolar-Bangalore route.

Route conditions:

Bangalore-Hoskote: Road widening is happening and it is a mess at junctions
Hoskote-Chintamani bypass: Two lane road. Good surface and very straight. Watch out for undulations and humps in villages.
Chintamani bypass-Madanapalle: Bypass road is good but narrow. After the bypass, the road becomes very good with lanes marked all the way to Madanapalle. Lot of straight stretches.
Madanapalle-Pileru: Pot holes initially after Madanapalle. Good road to till Pileru. Watch out for potholes and huge humps while passing through villages.
Pileru-Bhakarapet-Alipiri: Beautiful road. Especially, the Bhakarapet ghat road. This is a very scenic route. There are a couple of level crossings though.
Alipiri-Tirumala: Beautiful road again.

The above route had very little or no traffic at all.


Return journey:

Tirumala-Alipiri: Lovely ghat road with more than 50 hair pin bends
Alipiri-Chittoor: Wide road, good surface and occasional potholes. Lot of traffic
Chittoor-Palamner-Mulbagal: Traffic is pretty messy in Chittoor. Missed the bypass and had to go into the city. After Chittoor, truck traffic is pretty heavy. The road is very good upto Mulbagal bypass.

Mulbagal-Kolar-Bangalore: Mulbagal bypass is very bad with huge pot holes. Road construction work starts from Mulbagal. Most of the time we drive on the new road, but we have to take diversions every few kms. Again very heavy traffic.

Distance wise, both routes are almost the same, maybe a difference of +/- 10 kms.

[Captain Slow]

We left for Tirupati Sunday morning and came back Monday night.
4 of us (My Family) Went in our first long distance journey on the Figo!

We started from Bellary road at 10AM Sunday and Reached Tirupati at 5PM.

Total Distance covered - 612KM. From Bellary road - Tirupati - Bellary Road.

Blr- Tirupati - 302KM
Tirupati-BLR 310KM

The Route We took

Bellary Rd, Bengaluru, Karnataka > Outer ring road all the way to Sarjapur >
Sarjapur > Bagalur >> Good roads! Very few cars/cabs. There are a couple of small bad patches. But these are real bad! You will need a 4x4 to go over this. The Figo struggled here. I was not the only car on this road. A well Driven Fabia gave me some company. You will have to slow down to 10-5KM in these bad parts.

Bagalur > Malur >> Beautiful Lonely ROADS! One of the finest roads I have seen! Hardly any traffic. some 400-500 meters in this stretch are completely broken. But this is way better than going via the usual Bangalore Hoskote Kolar Route.

Malur > Kolar
Kolar Bypass > Mulgabal
Mulgabal > Palamaner
Palamaner > Chittoor ( The Bypass is a little messed up with some rather large pot holes. I would advice you to go through the city)
Chittor > Tirupati


We Stayed at Ramee Guestline Hotel. Calling them up directly is no good. On the Phone they told 2500-/ Per room + taxes. After some bargaining they agreed for a 15% discount.
But on cleartrip.com the same hotel is available for 1890-/ Inc all taxes and Including free breakfast!
The hotel is supposedly a 3 star hotel but maintenance is pretty bad.

The hotel staff are courteous and friendly.
The rooms are good. Much better than the other hotels in this price range.

Monday morning 8AM we left for Tirumala. We took the Taxi. Charges- 1000 (Pick up and drop to the hotel)
We reached there by 8,45. 9AM we took special tickets. We waited in line for about 2 hours and got out by 11.
By 12.30 we were back to the room.


We Start back from Tirupati Monday afternoon at 3 and reached home at 10PM.

One Huge mistake I made!
It was already 7 by the time we reached kolar.
My Family thought the Malur> Bagalur > Sarjapur road was way too long and too lonely and wanted me to go Via the NH4.
They wouldn't budge and forced me to go via Nh4.
I took the regualr Kolar > Hoskote Route.
Things soon went from bad to insane!

Mad cabies with High beam lights overtaking me from left and right!
Drunk Truck drivers trying to run me off the road.
It was a total nightmare driving this stretch! Progress was slow and painful.
The countless Diversions, unmarked speed breakers and traffic on both sides just made things even worse.

Biggest mistake coming this way!
Kolar > Hoskote Took us more than an hour!

Finally we reached Hoskote and I couldn't take this anymore.
I was desperate to find a way out of this madness!

Pulled over took out the phone and started searching the maps.

Thats when I saw NH207 to Devanahalli. This would mean traveling another 40KM extra.
The options were 40KM on an Unknown road or continue on this mad road.
My Family advised me to continue on the same Hoskote blr route.

I took NH207 to Devanahalli.

This was another beautiful lonely road. With very little or no traffic at all! Once in a while you might see a couple of cabs zooming by. Other than that nothing! There are several speed breakers near the villages.
This road takes you 12-14KM behind the Airport.
We traveled about 40KM extra thanks to this route but it was fun driving here and totally worth it.

Please to anyone going to Tirupati AVOID
BLR > Hoskote > Kolar

Attaching maps of the route we took.

[ampere]

@CaptainSlow If you are in Bellary road, it does not make sense to go via Sarjapur. Its quite roundabout. You should have done what Addy did.

And @Addy you should have done, what captain did! Sarjapur road would have fitted you like a T (esp. for all guys who want to go to Tirupati from South Bangalore). I did the Sarjapur-Bagalur-Malur and as @captain, the roads are awesome except for some really rough patches. By the time you hit Kolar BP, most of the muck is already over. Yes there are some big pot holes on the rest of the route, but can be managed very well. Chitoor BP is a heaven and one should not miss it. (I did not thanks to my Garmin!).

[shwetanshu]

My mom and sister are coming on 21st of this month, they want to goto Tirupati. They want to leave on the same day and I want to return on sunday since i have to be in office on monday. I am presently in Bangalore and please help in making arrangements and what all other things i have to do. I have no mode of transport, so buses seem like the only option.

Most probably we will be able to leave on 21st night.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by ampere

@CaptainSlow If you are in Bellary road, it does not make sense to go via Sarjapur. Its quite roundabout. You should have done what Addy did.

And @Addy you should have done, what captain did! Sarjapur road would have fitted you like a T (esp. for all guys who want to go to Tirupati from South Bangalore). I did the Sarjapur-Bagalur-Malur and as @captain, the roads are awesome except for some really rough patches. By the time you hit Kolar BP, most of the muck is already over. Yes there are some big pot holes on the rest of the route, but can be managed very well. Chitoor BP is a heaven and one should not miss it. (I did not thanks to my Garmin!).

Yep, I could have taken the Kolar-Malur-Sarjapur route while coming back. While going, the route I took did not make any difference to me because, it was early in the morning and I went through the city via Mysore road and Old Madras road which is as straightforward as it can be. If I was taking the regular Kolar-Mulbagal route, I would have taken the Malur route.

@CapSlow, the route you have taken is way way too long. You could have tried out the route I suggested. I'm sure you would not have been disappointed.

Btw, for people living nearby Bellary road, the better option would be

Bellary road-Devanahalli (town)-Vijayapura-Chintamani-Madanapalle-Tirupati will be a better option. This is a better alternative than going through Hoskote or through the city. The distance on this route is approx 250kms. The roads are very good on this route. Upto Devanahalli, there is a six lane highway (we all know that). Devanahalli-Vijayapura-H cross-Chintamani route has a beautiful 2 lane highway. Chintamani-Tirupati, please refer my previous post.

This is the route I'm talking about.

[Rajesh K R]

@Addyhemmige, @Ampere :

I am staying in BSK 3rd Stage ( near Big Bazaar) and am thinking of driving to Tirupati sometime end of this month / early next month.

Addy, observed that you have taken a new route via Chintamani-Bhakarpet - Tirupathi. I will be driving a Wagon-R, so do you reckon my drive will be more comfy than the route via Kolar/Mulbagal ?

What about the safety aspects of this route i need to observe ? Did u observe, if any repair services available in case of breakdowns / punctures in this road / route ? Night driving advisable ? Will be travelling with family.

@Ampere : Can i go via Silk board junction-Sarjapur rd-Varthur-Hoskote and then take the route as suggested by Addy ?

Help required pls !!!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Rajesh K R

@Ampere : Can i go via Silk board junction-Sarjapur rd-Varthur-Hoskote and then take the route as suggested by Addy ?
Help required pls !!!

This then becomes too roundabout. If drive all the way till Sarjapur, you can then as well go via Baglur/Malur and join at Kolar. Route suggested by Addy helps if you are in North Bangalore. The but the main point is to By-pass Bangalore-Kolar, any which way you can. Both the routes suggested do that.

NH4 actually is not that bad. I agree there are potholes, but can be managed. Chitoor by-pass is very important and should not be missed. Else getting into the town is a pain.


Another point: I am not if Addy's suggested has good hotel/clean toilets. NH4 sure has plenty (3 CCD are good enough!) PLUS woodys at Kolar and many in AP.

If you have a GPS, I can upload the tracks for this route.

[Rajesh K R]

Thanks ampere !!

I know about the Kolar-Mulbagal-Chittoor route. Have driven to Tirupati about 5-6 times in this route.

But now since the road widening work is going on and reading various reports that driving is a pain till the AP border, so was thinking of some alternatives.

Came across Addy's report of an alternative route. Hence was curious to know more about it and also maybe give it a shot.

Then, u say that i am better off taking the route inside the city upto Hoskote ? rather than that via Sarjapur-varthur ?

Sorry, i do not have GPS with me.