Team-BHP - Bangalore to Tirupati : Route Queries

Visited Tirumala over the last two days.

A big thanks to Ajith for the alternate route. Thanks also to Vinay & Fauji for convincing me not to use the Chitoor bypass.

I followed the route suggested by Ajith to & fro. Thanks to his clear instructions I did not have any issues (did stop to ensure I was on the right track a couple of times).

The roads are pretty good and the scenery would have been much better after the rains I guess. The tarred road from Bangarupalam to Aragonda is a single lane road (one car only). When you come upon an oncoming vehicle you would need to get two wheels off the road (there is enough space to do this) The traffic is hardly any and is mostly autos & two wheelers. Surprisingly they are willing to give way and heed the horn.
The average speeds would drop on account of the narrow roads.

It’s a welcome sight to see the mango orchards. Unfortunately it’s not the season yet. Would have loved to have them straight off the trees.

Road expansion/construction is underway closer to Tirupati but that hardly matters as it has no impact on your travel time / speed thanks to the existing road.

There is some road repair work going-on, on the road to Tirumala. This is adding to the travel time to reach Titumala & return to Tirupati. I understand that this work is being carried on daily between 10 AM & 5 PM. Apologies, I do not know when this is expected to be completed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rakirank (Post 2720852)

Great !
During the season, the mango orchards are great sights indeed, esp. with some background hills in some photoshoot points. Stop aside to click a few snaps, and you will meet villagers/locals who will be happy to give you some sweet mangoes with a smile, and a lot of them to any kids in your group.

And even if you need to get two wheels off the road, it is not a real dampener as there is no shouldering issue in the stretch. And about locals practising YIELD mentality, there are 2 reasons - first one is that they are genuinely humble (and also never in any hurry) and the second one is that many of the cars in that route goes to Apollo/Aragonda/Kanipakkam, all of which are favourite destinations of rich and mighty businessmen/politicians/bureucrats :)

Visited Tirumala on last Saturday. Thanks to ajithbr and rakirank for providing alternate root details.
Started from Bangalore at 5.15am. Took Kolar - Bangarupalam - Aragonda - Kanipakkam - Putalapattu - Tirumala for onward journey. Overall road conditions are good, Bangarupalam - Aragonda - Kanipakkam - Putalapattu will slow you little, but a decent drive. The roads are narrow but very less traffic and opposite traffic will give you the way as mentioned above. Reached Tirumala at 10.30 which includes a 25 minutes breakfast break.
After doing the tonsuring, and after having an early lunch we were Quick Darshan queue at 1pm. It took a whooping 7 1/2 hrs to get the Darshan and came out at 8.45 from the temple. I was expecting this crowd because of the continuous government holidays and vacation.

Again started from Tirumala at 10.15 pm, took the route via chittor town and reached home at 3 am. All the way roads are good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravib (Post 2744655)

Anyone tried Bans hotel in chittoor byepass recently?
How is the food (vegetarian) and what is the cost of breakfast & lunch? (I assume its a buffet service).

I may want to try it, if time permits.

-Ravi

I had food @ "Bans the hotel" last Sunday. They have exclusive vegetarian buffet for lunch (1st floor), cost Rs 149 (incl of taxes) the quality though was just OK. If you are not too worried about the quality of food but more specific about premise & ambiance then you may try that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravib (Post 2744655)

I understand Shanti Sagar which is after Palmaner and before Chittoor is a good hotel to have meals

Did a Bangalore-Tirupati-Tirumala-Tirupati-Bangalore trip this weekend.

Onward journey, Took B'lore-Kolar -Bangarupalayam - Chittoor Byepass - Kanipakkam (darshan) - Tirupati. Left OMR road big bazaar at 8:20 am and reached Tirupati at 1:45 pm including 30 mts breakfast, 30 mts lost due to deviation bcoz of road side roko, & 45 mts darshan at kanipakkam.

In return journey, took the usual route Tirupati-Chittoor Byepass-Palamaner-Mulbagal-B'lore.

Nothing new to crib about chittoor bye-pass. Its just a road only with thousands of patches. Otherwise, roads are good throughout.

Painful to drive with rash driving APSRTC bus drivers, and really really need to be careful. Don't even take your eyes off the road for a split second (ofcourse always !).

Thanks @Fauji & @ravigop. Didn't stop at Bans hotel, because at lunch time we were at tirupati and had delicious food at Mayura (opp. bus stand).

-Ravi

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajithbr (Post 2711959)

Instead, try my favourite route of Palamaner->Bangarupalam(left)->Aragonda(15kms)->Kanipakam(15kms)->Putalapattu(about 20kms after Chittoor)->Tirupati turn-off

I am going to try this one today, leaving in about an hour. Google maps suggested another one which looks interesting.

(NH75) Bangalore-Mulbagal (Turn left after)-Punganuru-Kallur-Pakala-Tirupati. Anyone tried this before, will check the thread in about 2 hours if there is an update on this route.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806 (Post 2753870)

Mayank - the alternate route suggested by ajithbr is a turn off after Palamaner and joins back to the regular route after chittoor. In effect you will bypass Chittoor which is good given that (a)Chittoor bypass is in bad condition and (b)Chittoor town maybe a painful drive with traffic and also needs you to pass through 2 railway crossings that can be painful if you get stuck.

However, the alternate route suggested by Google maps is a turn off after Mulbagal itself bypassing Palamaner, Chittoor and joins back at Pakala. I don't think we have current road conditions for this route.

In the event you do not receive positive feedback on road conditions for the google maps route, I suggest you stick to the first route that's been tried by ajithbr and others recently.
Drive safe, have a great trip and good darshan !

Started ar 2 in the afternoon, reached just now. Took us a little less then 4 hours.

Tried taking the route mentioned above but could not spot the left turn after Bangarupalam and ended up taking the chitoor bypass.

The bypass turned out to be good. Hardly 5 kms of bad road. They have freshly laid the tar, also i recall earlier they charged toll, which i did not spot this time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

The bypass turned out to be good. Hardly 5 kms of bad road. They have freshly laid the tar, also i recall earlier they charged toll, which i did not spot this time.

I remember them setting up the toll booths some time in 2008, although I do not recollect paying toll on my trips down this route (moved out of Blr in 2009 as well).

The bypass always used to be in motorable, if not perfect, condition in the mid-late 2000s, when I was a frequent traveller on this route.

Regards,
spadix