[spadix]

Originally Posted by tckanth

1. Did anyone travel by the Bangalore -> Chintamani -> Madanapalle -> Piler -> Tirupati route recently? Is it advisable to do so?

Not recently but I have travelled this route by motorcycle and bus a few times in the mid-late 2000s. While Madanapalle - Piler (used to visit this town often as uncle stayed there) - Tirupati is smooth, Bengaluru - Chintamani - Madanapalle is always suspect. Expect rough patches and a fair number of potholes, if my experience is anything to go by.

Originally Posted by tckanth

2. Do you guys think the below plan is do-able? considering that it is the time of Brahmostavam.

IMHO, no.

We took darshan on Dec. 17, 2010 (Vaikuntha Ekadasi) and we were in the absolutely jam-packed and unruly 300 INR queue from ~4:30 am to beyond 6 pm. The rush during Brahmotsavams is similar if not more. You'll need a 1d/2n stay at least considering you're driving.

Regards,
spadix

[Chalu]

Which hotel is good for AC accomodation which clean & has a good car park? Hotel Mayura or Bheema's Paradise. Please advise. What are the rates at these hotels?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Chalu

Which hotel is good for AC accomodation which clean & has a good car park? Hotel Mayura or Bheema's Paradise. Please advise. What are the rates at these hotels?

Bhimas paradise is good with very decent parking.
I think its also a bit costlier (Not sure though).

But the place is very good.

[srimath]

Mayura & Bheemas Deluxe have limited parking. Bhimas Paradise/Beemas Residency & Fortune Kences have good parking. Another good hotel is Hotel Sinduri Park which is located behind Bheemas Deluxe. But they also have a parking problem.

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by srimath

Mayura & Bheemas Deluxe have limited parking. Bhimas Paradise/Beemas Residency & Fortune Kences have good parking. Another good hotel is Hotel Sinduri Park which is located behind Bheemas Deluxe. But they also have a parking problem.

+1 to Sinduri Park. I had been there in 2010 and its an excellent hotel. There is enough parking space there if I remember right. I parked the car and went to Tirumala by walk The rooms are excellent and the food is good too.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

+1 to Sinduri Park. I had been there in 2010 and its an excellent hotel.

Our preference over the past couple of years has been -

1. Overnight stay at Sindhura Park. The rooms are much more modern and better-equipped, although not as spacious as those in Mayura.
2. Breakfast (and lunch and dinner if we're in Tirupati instead of Tirumala at meal time) at Mayura. The food at Mayura is just infinitely better than at Sindhura Park.

For parking, we depend on the valet at Sindhura Park. There is space but cars tend to packed closely together and it is a little complicated because of the small receiving area as compared to Mayura. We park on our own at Mayura. It's fairly easy to manage parking on your own at Mayura during breakfast time on most days of the year. It's easy enough to get space inside the compound if you're early enough (say 7-7:30 am).

Regards,
spadix

[tckanth]

Originally Posted by spadix

Not recently but I have travelled this route by motorcycle and bus a few times in the mid-late 2000s. While Madanapalle - Piler (used to visit this town often as uncle stayed there) - Tirupati is smooth, Bengaluru - Chintamani - Madanapalle is always suspect. Expect rough patches and a fair number of potholes, if my experience is anything to go by.



IMHO, no.

We took darshan on Dec. 17, 2010 (Vaikuntha Ekadasi) and we were in the absolutely jam-packed and unruly 300 INR queue from ~4:30 am to beyond 6 pm. The rush during Brahmotsavams is similar if not more. You'll need a 1d/2n stay at least considering you're driving.

Regards,
spadix

Originally Posted by srimath

Your plan for darshan in Tirumala is not going to work as there will be lakhs of devotees during the Bhramostavams. You need atleast 1 day in Tirumala to be able to have darshan & even thats a very very optimistic estimate.

@ Srimath and Spadix,
Thanks a lot guys, even I thought so but may be I was extremely optimistic that it might be possible due to the Telangana bandh and agitation

Well, now the plan is to leave on Friday night in the hope that we can be home by Sunday night.

Hoping to take the
Blore - Kolar - Mulbagal - Chittoor - Tirupati route while going and
Blore - Chintamani - Madanapalle - Piler - Tirupati route while coming back (if I manage to leave the temple town while the sunlight lasts)

Please suggest if it is safe as I've read that there is NO or minimal traffic in the Chintamani route.

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions in advance,

- CT

[spadix]

Originally Posted by tckanth

Well, now the plan is to leave on Friday night in the hope that we can be home by Sunday night.

Hoping to take the
Blore - Kolar - Mulbagal - Chittoor - Tirupati route while going and
Blore - Chintamani - Madanapalle - Piler - Tirupati route while coming back (if I manage to leave the temple town while the sunlight lasts)

This plan sounds good.

The Chintamani route is shorter but sees lesser traffic volume because of the much smaller towns enroute, and also chances are the road condition isn't as good especially Madanapalle - Chintamani - Hoskote.

To the best of my knowledge there aren't many places where you could stop for food etc., and there won't be enough support if you need some help for self or vehicle. We once suffered a bent rim on the Chittoor - Blr route after falling into a pothole at speed, but luckily there was a mechanic just a few hundred metres ahead. The Madanapalle route won't have such facilities and given the worse road conditions (possibly), you'll have to take it slow and steady.

Other than this there are no issues. I think you'll be fine even on that route as long as you reach Hoskote before/just after dusk.

EDIT: But please check with someone on the latest condition on that stretch. I did it a few times but quite a few years back.

Regards,
spadix

[ajitkumarlb]

Originally Posted by roamingrao

Ajit, We had been to tirumala last week...

@roamingrao, did not see you post until now, could have saved some time! (had removed my subscrption to this post - my bad, added back now). chittor town earlier in the day is yet OK to drive through but evenging the traffice will slow you down.

I had taken the tirupathi bypass during the onward journey. but on the way back came through the chandragiri and had to take a detour and put my suv to use

The drive was good no glitches, I took 5 hours in scorp, usually in my santro it used to take me 7 hours and as I am yet in run in period I did not go more than 95kmph...

Darshan was good, had planned to it to be on Monday. INR300 took 3 hours. the highlight was they were allowing darshan inside, it had been along time since I had got that opporutnity.

Originally Posted by Chalu

Which hotel is good for AC accomodation which clean & has a good car park? Hotel Mayura or Bheema's Paradise. Please advise. What are the rates at these hotels?

This is first trip where I took a hotel room, usually would book in advance the TTD rooms.

I stayed at Bheema paradise in Tirupathi: Rooms are OK not good. parking good. Food is OK.
I had taken a standard AC and at about 1AM they switched off the AC .
Then had to go talk to the reception folks and get it back on again...

I would not go back if I have other alternatives...

[srimath]

Originally Posted by tckanth

...
Well, now the plan is to leave on Friday night in the hope that we can be home by Sunday night....

Try for the sheegradarshan ealy morning on Sat. Hopefully you should be able to make it.

[rohing]

I, along with my wife, 1.5 yr son, are going to Ongole, AP from Sarjapur Road, BLR (& Back) and google maps shows me the Tirupathi road to be the shortest. The route I am contemplating is -

BLR (Sarjapur Road/Outer Rd Jn) - 5:00 AM start.
Sarjapur Road to Varthur Road
Varthur Road to NH4
NH4 - Kolar - Palamaner -Chitoor Byepass - Renigunta - Srikalahasthi - Nayadupeta - NH5
NH-5-Nellore-Ongole

I want to reach hopefully by 3:00 PM in the afternoon. Need some suggestions

- Is the route OK? I posted here as I thought this was the closest thread
- appropriate places to break for bfst/coffee/Lunch etc. Would appreciate if I could find Cafe Coffee Day / Equivalents i.e. quick, clean.
- how should I time this, if I need to be at Ongole by 3:00 PM i.e. approximate time I should be at intermediate destinations?
- Anything I should look out for...?

Thanks in advance. Will update conditions when I am back.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by rohing

BLR (Sarjapur Road/Outer Rd Jn) - 5:00 AM start.
Sarjapur Road to Varthur Road
Varthur Road to NH4
NH4 - Kolar - Palamaner -Chitoor Byepass - Renigunta - Srikalahasthi - Nayadupeta - NH5
NH-5-Nellore-Ongole

I want to reach hopefully by 3:00 PM in the afternoon. Need some suggestions

- Is the route OK? I posted here as I thought this was the closest thread
- appropriate places to break for bfst/coffee/Lunch etc. Would appreciate if I could find Cafe Coffee Day / Equivalents i.e. quick, clean.
- how should I time this, if I need to be at Ongole by 3:00 PM i.e. approximate time I should be at intermediate destinations?
- Anything I should look out for...?

Thanks in advance. Will update conditions when I am back.

From my recent Tirupathi trip experience:
1. NH4 upto Mulbagal (few Kms beyond Kolar) is 4 laned. After this it's a 2 lane highway but road is good.
2. Avoid Chittoor bypass since road is bad. Since you're leaving early morning going thru the town should be fine.
3. Breakfast options - Woody's at Kolar (restaurant on the right side, look for signs on the left, I think you will need to make a U-turn nearby and get onto the service road).
Alternatives are A1 (inside a Reliance fuel station campus) or CCD - both near Mulbagal?, not really sure about the exact location though.
4. Roads are fine upto Kalahasthi (there's some road widening work few Km before you reach Tirupathi, but no issues). Don't know the road conditions beyond Kalahasthi.

Also, I think you are planning to take Sarjapur Road - Varthur Road - Hope Farm Junction - Sai Baba Ashram - NH4 (near Hoskote). This is a good choice, just did a test run of this couple of weeks ago to check out the route
Hope this helps.

[ampere]

I don't know how bad or good is going through Chitoor town,
but the by-pass is bad for about 3-4 km max. Its not bad not in the sense that there is no road.
Its only that road is rough.

But it eases out after some time. I found it to be easy to drive through the bypass.
But I guess every one will have his own experience and hence I cannot comment on which one is better.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by rohing

- Is the route OK? I posted here as I thought this was the closest thread
- appropriate places to break for bfst/coffee/Lunch etc. Would appreciate if I could find Cafe Coffee Day / Equivalents i.e. quick, clean.
- how should I time this, if I need to be at Ongole by 3:00 PM i.e. approximate time I should be at intermediate destinations?

The route is fab overall, no worries.

Eating options are Woody's near Kolar and the A1 is somewhere closer to Palamaner than Mulbagal.

Tirupati to Nayudupeta is a wide 2-lane undivided road (typical of most SHs in the area) with the odd pothole here and there. Think of it as an 80-100 kmph cruise-friendly road. There's just a couple of bad patches (very short) - one just outside of Tirupati and one near where the NH5 meets Nayudupeta. You won't hit the former if you bypass Tirupati completely. Nothing to worry about near the latter and the locals will guide you to the right entry ramp.

As for Chittoor bypass: we sometimes drive on worse roads inside cities! The only issue is that it's an empty stretch so there's very little help at hand. I always prefer the bypass.

If you start at 5 am you should hit Chittoor bypass at around 9 am, Tirupati - Srikalahasti bypass at around 11 am (you could break into town for early lunch; Mayura isn't very far inside from the highway but the holiday rush could be mad), Nayudupeta by around 12:30 tops and could comfortably reach Ongole by 3 pm. The NH5 is a near 100 kmph-average kind of road (Nayudupeta to Vijayawada takes only ~5 hrs tops).

Regards,
spadix

[sharat70]

Originally Posted by ampere

Just came back from Tirupati. Guys I must say its heaven bypassing BLR-Kolar.
In doing so, I discovered one of the best state-highways which I have seen.
Malur-Kolar is a beautiful state highway and its a belter.

Baglur to Malur has rough patches where you run on gravel and stones for about 200-300m.
The other problem is bypassing Sarjapur, which is again an ordeal as you almost do an 4X4 !
But overall, if you are in South Bangalore and are planning to go to Tirupati, its very-very good bypass option to Bangalore-Kolar.

Hi Ampere, I live in HSR and planning to go to Vijayawada tomorrow in my Safari Dicor. Usually we take the KR Puram-Hoskote-Mulbagal-Kolar-Palamaner-Chittor-Tirupathi-Naidupet-Nellore-Ongole-Guntur route. But having read your posts (and those of sureshurs and csentil and akroy) on alternate routes especially Bangalore-Malur-Kolar, I want to know what would be the time/distance if we take this alternative malur-Kolar route. Like what if I take HSR-Sarjapur-Malur-Kolar? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.