[ravib]

Originally Posted by audioholic

It depends upon one's priority.

........... but in terms of the risk, for me driving through the Chittoor road is anyday more riskier at night compared to driving through a deserted place, since the probability of vehicles coming head on and throwing me off road is higher than the rate of crime in these areas

+1 I agree to this, regardless of on-going construction work in this 2L road normally itself. And now that construction going on it will be even worse with rash driving APSRTC/KSRTC/Private buses to meet their schedules. I many times felt that truck traffic manners is much better than the govt/private buses rash driving.

-Ravi

[slakhs]

Originally Posted by ampere

This is news! I hope the food court is still on ? Some other restaurant has taken place instead of Maiyas? Any update on that?

We had our breakfast on Sunday 15 July at Maiyas in the highway. Also took the Google suggested route of Bangarupalayem Kanipakkam Tirupati both ways and made good time. The initial maybe 10 kms are narrow but then it gets wide enough.

[yatin]

Good to know the Jayanagar & the Kolar highway Maiyas are running (the latter was closed the evening of 14th July).

[ravib]

Completed a weekend trip Bangalore-Tirupati-Bangalore. We were 2 families in XUV5OO including 3 kids.

Both the ways, took the below route.

Bangalore-Kolar-Mulbagal-Punganur-Kallur-Pakala-Chandragiri-Tirupati.

https://goo.gl/maps/JZxc5XHj3xm

Thanks to audioholic for identifying the route to take via Punganur, but i modified it slightly to go via Pakala and Chandragiri as we are heading to town instead of Tirumala directly.

On Friday 27th July, crossed K.R. Puram at 5 pm and reached Tirupati Bus stand area around 9.15 pm. This included 30 minutes break for Tea and refueling with sedate drive and never floored A pedal as we had kids on board.

Today 29th July, we left Tirupati at 1.15 pm and reached C.V.Raman Nagar at 6 pm which included ~1 hour break and also traffic between Tirupati till Pakala exit was quite high.

Its important to call out that this route is significantly stress free and your overall drive time will be less than 4 hours (excluding breaks).
You don't have to overtake with super caution every 5th minute once you enter 2L roads in AP border/Nangli. You make constant driving (medium speed 60 to 80 or 90 kmph and make up/cover easily 55 to 60 average kilometers per hour instead of reduced speed which is why overall driving time is less. This route is definitely not for those who would like to do high speeds and do triple digit speeds.

However, once you exit NH75, until you reach Tirupati there are no decent facilities at all for rest room breaks particularly with ladies/elderly on board until you reach Tirupati. But since the overall travel time is less between 4 to 5 hours, if you time it carefully and finish the breaks before exiting NH while going to Tirupati, that will be manageable.

The road conditions are pretty good overall, but you need to watch out for below sections which may be difficult for few as the road conditions are narrow.

1) Bangalore till old NH4 exit after Mulbagal (before Nangili) > Excellent as usual.
2) NH4 exit till KA/AP Border towards Punganur => Decent 2 lane roads, occasionally narrow but low to medium traffic. Watch out for good tomato farms and if you need it can buy it straight from farm
3) KA Border/AP border -Punganur => The moment you take left towards Punganur, the road is narrow and you have to get down to sand shoulder to give way for opposite side traffic if you bump into. Unfortunately in many places the sand shoulder also has pot holes. This road is about 7 to 8 kms till Punganur which will take about 15 to 20 minutes to cross this section which is the overall difficult section in entire 246 km journey.
3) Punganur bypass-outskirts => Medium traffic but decent 2L roads.
4) Punganur Tirupathi road-Sadum-Kallur => Empty / deserted good 2L roads with occasional villages for about every 10 to 20 kms. I won't say this stretch is unsafe from security aspect, but it is crossing through lot of farms/lakes/small villages with least to negligible traffic. Ensure your car is in good condition and don't end up in break down to get stuck. Otherwise, its good scenic greenery road. Keep honking where possible when you cross villages.
5) Kallur-Pakala exit at Damalcheruvu=> Excellent 10 kms road in Kadapa Chittoor highway.
6) Pakala Exit-Pakala-Nendragunta till you join NH140 => Good 2L roads but narrow at times crossing small villages.
7) Nendragunta-Tirupati => As usual, excellent roads but heavy in traffic.

My recommendation is we can take the above route via Punganur/Kallur until the NH4 road construction is complete as the distance/kms is same in both regular route via Palamaner-Bangalurpalayam-Chittoor-Puttalapattu. May be atleast for another 1 year or so?

-Ravi

[ravib]

Another update i would like to add here (just in case if not mentioned in previous posts).

For those who are walking up to Tirumala via Srivari Mettu steps, please be aware that only 6000 tickets are given to pedestrians climbing up per day to enter Divya Darshan queue (pedestrian queue). 6001th person onwards climbing up will have to take sarvadarshan (free darshan queue).

I guess there many be similar restrictions in Alipiri route pathway, but not sure. Someone can confirm who walked up via Alipiri route queue.

-Ravi

[yatin]

Thankfully, the Divya Darshan quota for Srivari side seems separate from the quota for Alipiri side, which is 14000. Some people climbing on the Alipiri side too late for the quota were sleeping midway at Gaali Gopura (plenty of simple eats available), and would have snagged the early part of the quota the next day. Unlike the Srivari side, the Alipiri side is open 24x7.

[damodar]

I usually travel frequently between Bangalore and Vijayawada, and now thanks to @audioholic had a stress free trip via Punganur avoiding the road widening mess till Chittoor.

It was drizzling throughout the trip except for the Tirupati by pass. After turning towards Punganur on NH206, the road was much better than I expected and only the last 9km of the 30km before the town was narrow and needed a bit of caution as the road shoulders had a sharp drop. I felt after taking the right at Kallur it's better to keep going on NH4O till the tri-junction and then turn left towards Tirupati.


Here is the road after turning towards Punganur



The road between Damalcheruvu-Pakala-Gadanki was narrow with a bit of traffic. Also crossed 3 rail crossings and got stuck at one of them for 15min.
Here is a picture of the narrow stretch

[ampere]

Originally Posted by damodar

It was drizzling throughout the trip except for the Tirupati by pass. After turning towards Punganur on NH206, the road was much better than I expected and only the last 9km of the 30km before the town was narrow and needed a bit of caution as the road shoulders had a sharp drop.

This is true. What Ravi suggested for the initial exit via Vaddahalli instead of Nangli also helps. I tried this a couple of weeks back. Also note, the entry to Punganur has a steep bund. One needs to be careful. Moving from this entry to the Kallur exit can be tricky and one can get stuck in a mini jam. The Palamner-Madanapalle (old NH219) sees quite some trucks and they tend to jam the town center.

I felt after taking the right at Kallur it's better to keep going on NH4O till the tri-junction and then turn left towards Tirupati.

The road between Damalcheruvu-Pakala-Gadanki was narrow with a bit of traffic. Also crossed 3 rail crossings and got stuck at one of them for 15min.

But yes once you are out Punganur, the stretch is very peacefull all the way to Kallur. And as you rightly mention the NH40 (old NH18) exit to Pakala all the way to Pakala town is a narrow road and difficult to hold. It also see quite some local traffic and frequent buses/trucks. One needs to get off and give way. Also when close to Pakala, traffic jams happen during sunday market. I was a silent recipient of this jam while return and also took a hit at one of the railway crossings. But will I bypass this to take the highway? I may not. The truck traffic on the highway is real bothersome and I think I will still stick to Pakala and face this music to the other one. (lesser of the two evils ! )

Thanks to @audioholic for the finds. If I were to assess the options, if one is heading to town/Alipiri, he should look for reaching the Pileru-Tirupati highway from Kallur, while if the idea is to approach Tirupati bypass to the south, Pakala definitely makes more sense but with the above caveats. Over all it is surely worth bypassing the mess on NH4.

Also my perception of driving on these stretches during day time still holds. These routes would be definitely safe at night, but given the turns, bunds, single lanes, railway crossings etc, I would still prefer to driving these stretches during day times.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by ravib

Completed a weekend trip Bangalore-Tirupati-Bangalore. We were 2 families in XUV5OO including 3 kids.

Both the ways, took the below route.

Bangalore-Kolar-Mulbagal-Punganur-Kallur-Pakala-Chandragiri-Tirupati.

Somehow missed seeing the updates on this thread. Glad to know it helped all of you. I completely agree with your observations. Our regular drive on the Chittor route would be very strenuous, risky and a waste of fuel. This in contrast was a calm drive even though it was dark. All you need is a good set of headlights which can illuminate a good distance. There was an Innova ahead of me a little while after Punganur who was not able to maintain good pace since his lights were weak and could hardly see ahead. He pulled over and let me pass him after which he tailed me for a bit. I lost him as we neared Mulbagal highway. In such situations, I feel that the roads in Karnataka are far better since they are at least wide when compared to the roads in interior AP.

@Ampere, since we have already discussed about the safety at night, if I have to relatively compare driving on the Chittor route to this one at night, my pick would be through Punganur itself. Though both routes are unsafe in their own ways. I too would prefer to drive in day time between Nangli and Tirupathi, however for those who dont have an option, then I consider driving through the Chittor route to be more dangerous than through Punganur.

On the other hand, I see that there is another route that connects Hebbani village(after we enter KA) to Nangli. This will help us enter the NH right at Nangli. Has anyone tried or is willing to try this one?



So right now what we have tested is route A. B and C look similar, especially with route B remaining on the NH for a longer duration.

[suresh_gs]

Folks

Had been to Tirupati on 22nd and 23rd August with my I son. Here are my trip details.

Took the Bangalore-Tirupati intercity express on 22nd morning. Train left Bangalore city at 7 40 AM sharp and reached the destination by 1: 10 PM. Considering the long week end the train was packed to capacity.
I had booked accommodation at Hotel PLR Grand in Tirupati which is just behind the central bus stand.
Took some rest in the room and decided to visit Govindaraja Swamy temple and Tiruchanoor. Govindarajaswamy temple is about 800 m from the hotel, so decided to walk . Both of us reached the temple by 5 PM only to find that Ekantha Seva was in progress and that darshan of the lord is not possible between 5 to 6 PM.
So me and my son decided to go to Tiruchanoor and then come back to Govindarajaswamy temple. Took an auto that cost us Rs 100. We reached Tiruchanoor and took the 100 Rs special darshan ticket. Surprisingly the rush was less and we were able to complete the darshan within 20 min.
We then decided to take the auto to proceed to Govindarajaswamy temple. This temple is fairly big in size and encountered more rush when compared to Tiruchanoor.
Had a wonderful darshan of Lord Ranganatha and there is another sannidhi of Lord Partha Sarathi which is again must see.
We then walked back to the hotel and were off to bed by 9 30 PM. The next day both me and my son got up by around 5 30 AM, took an auto to proceed to Srinivasamangapuram. We had planned to climb the hills by Srivari Mettu. The auto from the hotel to the start of Srivari Mettu cost us Rs 300.
We reached the foot of the hills by 7 AM and reached Tirumala by 8 10 AM. In the 1200th step, token was issued only for me while it was free for my son as he is 11 yrs old. With this token, we have the option of buying extra 4 laddus at Rs 70 or 2 laddus at Rs 20. I decided to go ahead with the former.
Once we reached the spot meant for Divyadarshan pilgrims, we were made to sit in an open area as my reporting time for darshan was 10 AM. Annaprasadam was served while we were sitting in the open area and the hot pongal was just too good.
By 9 30 AM, we were allowed to proceed to the spot where one has to pay for the extra laddus. We then entered the compartment by 9 30 AM and literally killed 2 hrs 45 min sitting inside.
By 12 15 PM, the crowd was allowed to join the queue. Within 1 hr we completed darshan of Lord Balaji. It was really nice to see the lord without any jewelry.
We came out of the shrine by 1 10 PM , collected the laddus and then decided to come back to the hotel by private car as my kid was a bit tired. We bargained the price to Rs 600 and the driver dropped us at the hotel as we did not wear slippers.
Completed the check out and then decided to head back to Bangalore. Since my house is in Bommanahalli and considering that the Old Madras road is under construction for 4 lane work, I decided to go to Vellore from Tirupati and then take the bus that proceeds to Bangalore from Vellore so that I can get down at Bommanahalli unlike the Old Madras road route wherein I will have to either go to Majestic or get down at Indirinagar and then take cab or auto back home.
Good to see the TNSTC buses operating pretty fast. In both the buses, I observed that the driver had music system beside his seat so as to keep him engaged.
Reached home at 12 30 AM after getting down at Bommanahalli. Overall both me and my son enjoyed the visit to the core and infact he mentioned that he intends to climb by the Alipiri route next time.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Folks

It was really nice to see the lord without any jewelry.

Great. Only on thursdays we get the different darshan of lord without regular alankaram/jewellery. I guess it is called as Paavadai alanakaram or something of that name. There is one large photo of perumal in that alankaram in Tiruchanoor temple in right side when you are about to exit Thaayar sannidhi.

-Ravi

[dailydriver]

A new flybus service has been launched from KIA to Tirupati and back.

The bus will leave the airport at 10 am and reach Tirupati at 3 pm. Another bus will leave at 10 pm and reach Tirupati at 3 am. In the return direction, it will leave Tirupati at 9 pm and reach KIA at 2 am, while the second bus will leave Tirupati at 11 am and reach KIA at 4 pm

Source

[arun.kulkarni]

Hello All!

I need some advice, i am travelling to tirupathi with my family on Friday Sept 14th. We have rs300 tickets booked for 3pm Darshan.
I am travelling from Yelahanka, Bangalore with my 2 kids and 3 elderly citizens and my wife in XUV500.

What time I should ideally leaving Bangalore?

The shortest distance from where I stay in Bangalore is devanahalli-chintamani- madanapalle-pilleru route.
Is this a good route to reach tirumala? Google map is showing 5 hours and 35 mins.
Are there faster routes to reach Tirupathi?

Thanks in advance!
Arun

[ravib]

Originally Posted by arun.kulkarni

I need some advice, i am travelling to tirupathi with my family on Friday Sept 14th. We have rs300 tickets booked for 3pm Darshan.
I am travelling from Yelahanka, Bangalore with my 2 kids and 3 elderly citizens and my wife in XUV500.

Hey, me too traveling this friday afternoon to Tirupati but for Saturday morning Darshan. Please read my post #1069 in this same thread and audioholic's post before mine. This is the best route available currently to Tirupati/Tirumala in current situation. You have both gmaps route for Tirupati in my post and Tirumala directly in audioholic's post.

To answer your question about leaving bangalore, i would say ideally leave by 6 am and finish breakfast before exiting NH as there are multiple options. Since you have kids and family on-board, best is to finish it in regular route before you exit NH as there are no good stopovers till you reach Tirupati. For a 6 am start, you can reach Tirupati by 11 or 11.30 am or max by 12. Add another 1 hour to drive from Tirupati to Tirumala, so that you can reach hill top by 1/1.30 ish and with short break, you can comfortably reach the queue entrance at 2 pm for 3 pm darshan.

HTH

-Ravi

[dass]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

We reached the foot of the hills by 7 AM and reached Tirumala by 8 10 AM. .

you completed the climb in 70 mins? That is some achievement.

The last time I went climbing, about 6 years back, I took around 4 hours