[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by FanaticOnWheels

I'm planning a single day trip to Sri Sailam from Hyderabad, by bike, along with a friend (who will accompany me on another bike). Any tips on as to what all places MUST be covered? (Other than the temple/waterfalls?) What all can be covered in a single day?

I trust the drive wouldn't take more than 4 hours? We are planning to start at 4AM for the same.

FanaticOnWheels,

I am leaving for Srisailam today, camping overnight. Call me.
Regards,

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

FanaticOnWheels,

I am leaving for Srisailam today, camping overnight. Call me.
Regards,

Fazal Bhai, I am planning a day trip to Srisailam tomorrow (Oct 2nd). Hope your back from your trip by now?

Which route you took and how are the road conditions considering it was raining the past few days?

What'll places you visited?

[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Fazal Bhai, I am planning a day trip to Srisailam tomorrow (Oct 2nd). Hope your back from your trip by now?

Which route you took and how are the road conditions considering it was raining the past few days?

What'll places you visited?

Avinash,

I missed going this weekend due to some personal commitments, but was there with the whole family last weekend, about 20 of us.
The newly laid roads are good all through.

Route:
Pass Airport entry from NH7 and about half a kilometer ahead take the ORR entry ramp, continue on sign showing 'Nalgonda' about 10 plus kms take the Srisailam exit and right to...

Kadtal 40km
Amangal 60km
(Hanuman statue at JP tanda) kalwakurty 80km
Dindi 110km
Hajipur 130km
Mannanur (forest check post) 140km

Have a blast, weather is going to be awesome and the forest always was so.
Regards,

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Route:
Pass Airport entry from NH7 and about half a kilometer ahead take the ORR entry ramp, continue on sign showing 'Nalgonda' about 10 plus kms take the Srisailam exit and right to...

Thanks !!! The route that you outlined is via. the Old city through Barkas OR via. PVNR expway-cross the airport departure terminal and meet the old Srisailam highway?

Btw, I start from Himayathnagar

I plan to leave at 6am and would like to reach back home by 9pm ( meaning will leave Srisailam latest by 5pm).

Keeping in mind, I may have about 6 hours to see, what do you recommend that we can cover in this time apart from temple? Also, could you please give exact directions to the malletheerthan falls? Been there more than a year ago, kind of forgotten the exact details

Also, the distance you outlined is from each town or something else? Little confused

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks !!! The route that you outlined is via. the Old city through Barkas OR via. PVNR expway-cross the airport departure terminal and meet the old Srisailam highway?

Btw, I start from Himayathnagar

I plan to leave at 6am and would like to reach back home by 9pm ( meaning will leave Srisailam latest by 5pm).

Keeping in mind, I may have about 6 hours to see, what do you recommend that we can cover in this time apart from temple? Also, could you please give exact directions to the malletheerthan falls? Been there more than a year ago, kind of forgotten the exact details

Also, the distance you outlined is from each town or something else? Little confused

Please bear in mind that the temple is closed from around 130 pm to 430pm (don't remember exact time, but this is a rough estimate).

You could hire a jeep and visit that Ashta Kameswari temple, which involves off-roading of around 6 kms.

Alternatively, you could do boating on those round boats at the bottom of the dam.

Srisailam temple was around 230 kms via Chandrayangutta, but if you're going via PVNR and ORR , add 25 kms to it. ORR is certainly the better option now.

[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks !!! The route that you outlined is via. the Old city through Barkas OR via. PVNR expway-cross the airport departure terminal and meet the old Srisailam highway?

Btw, I start from Himayathnagar

I plan to leave at 6am and would like to reach back home by 9pm ( meaning will leave Srisailam latest by 5pm).

Keeping in mind, I may have about 6 hours to see, what do you recommend that we can cover in this time apart from temple? Also, could you please give exact directions to the malletheerthan falls? Been there more than a year ago, kind of forgotten the exact details

Also, the distance you outlined is from each town or something else? Little confused

Avi,
Take the Sarojni flyover and get off at Aramgarh and continue on/towards Bangalore highway.
Do not take the airport entry ramp, proceed ahead (towards Bangalore) about half a km from airport ramp, on your left take the ORR ramp up and continue straight towards Nalgonda until you come to Srisailam Exit (clearly marked on the overhead signage).

Take a right from ORR and first major town you hit is Kadtal 40km, likewise, I have marked in my previous post. Towns and their distances are from Hyderabad. So Mannanur should be around 140kms from Hyd. Proceed to Srisailam after signing at the check post here.


Mallelateertham: Cross the Farahabad Tiger Statue on the road, continue towards Srisailam until you come to the first town with a lot of shacks on both side selling snacks and drinks, this is Vatvarlapally. Ask for directions to Mallelateertham and anyone will direct you there. It is on the left, 8 kms from the main road. Important, make inquiries if they are allowing you there yet, as the Supreme Court ban continues. Do this on your way to Srisailam and you have a choice of coming back if it is open or you can take the rope way to Patala Ganga, after your Darshan followed by a boat ride to the dam or Akka Mahadevi Caves (I had done this on foot in my TL). Find out the timing.

Avinash, You are a foodie so the best place you to stop by for your lunch would be at Egalapenta. On your right (proceeding toward Srisailam) you will see a few colored flags and also the board of "Venketeshwara Mess". Meet the owner Mr. Venkatesh give him my ref. Fazal (Jeep guy) and order your food. It is good.

Or Asif of Royal Dhaba at (opp Hanuman statue) Kalwakurty (give him my ref), if you are having an early dinner on your way back. Good chicken at both places.

If you still are having problems do not hesitate to call me.
Regards,

[FanaticOnWheels]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Avi,
Take the Sarojni flyover and get off at Aramgarh and continue on/towards Bangalore highway.
Do not take the airport entry ramp, proceed ahead (towards Bangalore) about half a km from airport ramp, on your left take the ORR ramp up and continue straight towards Nalgonda until you come to Srisailam Exit (clearly marked on the overhead signage).

Take a right from ORR and first major town you hit is Kadtal 40km, likewise, I have marked in my previous post. Towns and their distances are from Hyderabad. So Mannanur should be around 140kms from Hyd. Proceed to Srisailam after signing at the check post here.


Mallelateertham: Cross the Farahabad Tiger Statue on the road, continue towards Srisailam until you come to the first town with a lot of shacks on both side selling snacks and drinks, this is Vatvarlapally. Ask for directions to Mallelateertham and anyone will direct you there. It is on the left, 8 kms from the main road. Important, make inquiries if they are allowing you there yet, as the Supreme Court ban continues. Do this on your way to Srisailam and you have a choice of coming back if it is open or you can take the rope way to Patala Ganga, after your Darshan followed by a boat ride to the dam or Akka Mahadevi Caves (I had done this on foot in my TL). Find out the timing.

Avinash, You are a foodie so the best place you to stop by for your lunch would be at Egalapenta. On your right (proceeding toward Srisailam) you will see a few colored flags and also the board of "Venketeshwara Mess". Meet the owner Mr. Venkatesh give him my ref. Fazal (Jeep guy) and order your food. It is good.

Or Asif of Royal Dhaba at (opp Hanuman statue) Kalwakurty (give him my ref), if you are having an early dinner on your way back. Good chicken at both places.

If you still are having problems do not hesitate to call me.
Regards,

Faizal Bhai,

Did the trip successfully. Started at 4AM in the morning and returned at 9 30PM. Had a power cut on Saturday evening, and hence couldn't PM you for your number. The drive was beautiful (Will try and pen down a travelogue). Couldn't make it to the temple as the rush was too much, and we were planning on completing 75% of the return journey in broad daylight. Checked out the ropeway, boating, and the tribal museum. Couldn't visit the caves as I trust the supreme court has ordered a stay on the visits.

PS : PMed you my number. I'll stay in touch with you. Please do share your number as well

[greenhorn]

checkin in from the haritha hotel

weather is awesome. just the right amount of drizzle

But the tiger safari/farahabad viewpoint/mallelatheertham and caves are shut down :( That SUCKS!

just went on the ropeway, saw a couple of temples, planning to come back early.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Avi,
Take the Sarojni flyover and get off at Aramgarh and continue on/towards Bangalore highway.

Thank you for the wonderfully detailed info.

Unfortunately, I had to cancel the plan as when we got up in morning it was pouring cats and dogs and decided it wouldnt be too much fun driving in heavy rains which we assumed will fall for entire day ( considering it was raining the whole night)

Will plan this trip in a few weeks time for sure.

[mobike008]

Finally, this trip to Srisailam may happen this weekend.

Anyone travelled recently on this route and have any fresh road surface condition updates?

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Finally, this trip to Srisailam may happen this weekend.

Anyone travelled recently on this route and have any fresh road surface condition updates?

I suggest you contact MotoringLover.He was planning to travel last Saturday, when we were on our way to Shirdi.

Lakshman Guntu also did it a couple of weeks ago.

[mobike008]

Visited Srisailam on last saturday (Nov 17, 2012) and returned the same evening. Below is a quick update on road conditions and other info that could be useful for folks visiting Srisailam

Route taken :-

Hyderabad-Kadtal-Amangal-kalwakurty-Hajipur-Mannanur-Srisailam

Due to a detour Hyd-Srisailam : 300kms, Srisailam-Hyd : 250kms. Total : 550kms

We left home at 6:30AM and took the route Fazal bhai outlined in previous posts and reached Kalwakurthy which is roughly 80kms at 7:45am and stopped for a liesurely 45 minutes of breakfast of Idli, Upma etc.

After breakfast, i dont know what happened, i suppose took a wrong route instead of going straight towards Dindi. This mistake costed us 60kms of detour from Macherial, Deverkonda and connected back to Dindi which if I had taken a straight road was just 10kms of good roads.

This detour was through some of the narrowest, broken roads with heavy traffic made it most harrowing experience for all of us. Since the Cruze is so wide, at some places i had to come to a standstill and wait for oncoming vehicle to pass through.

After wasting 60kms and 1.5 hours we connected back to Dindi and from there on it was swift journey to Srisailam which we reached at 11:30AM. Road condition is excellent at all places except that there are many many speedbreakers at short distances.

What suprised me and my mom was after crossing over to bridge to go to temple on other side of mountain, the journey just didnt seem to end and my mom was again adamant that I again took a wrong turn.

We realized, our last visit to Srisailam temple was way back in 2005/6 though been to Srisailam a couple of times in between but, didnt visit the temple though. We took Rs.100 ticket and our darshan was over in flat 10 minutes despite it being a Sravan Period which attractes hordes of piligrims ( Plenty of MH, GJ taxi vehicles on road). I dont know why people scare others unecessarily (for e.g, when i was signing at the check-post, I asked him is it too crowded at the temple, he said since morning 300 cars passed by so expect long queues and huge delay in darshan)

Had a good lunch at Haritha and were in two minds either to do the ropeway or Malletheertham Falls. MF won and we embarked towards the falls which we reached around 4:00pm.

It's an exact 8kms detour from main road and entry is Rs.20 for cars and Rs.5 ticket at Falls per person.

When we took this 8kms stretch i felt it was a mistake as entire stretch was muddy road and some really deep potholes and took us almost 30 minutes to reach one-way.

Malletheertham Falls is a nice small waterfalls ( A real teeny weeny one, especially after having visited the Niagara Falls in Canada) and takes exact 500 steps ( wifey counted the steps) to go down and 500 steps to climb back on.

This descent will test your lungs, your fitness level etc. I was in a bad shape after climbing back but, not as much as some others who were gasping for breath.

We started from MF at 5pm after spending an hour there and reached Himayathnagar at exactly 8pm.

Overall, the road conditions are quite good and scenary along the highway was good too but, that stretch is unbeatable during monsoons

P.S : I passed Hyd_Traveller in his Manza on the ghat section and we acknowledge each other too.

P.S 1 : On the ghat section, witnessed a bad accident ( thankfully nobody got hurt). An Indica slowed down for a speedbreaker and a black maruti zen just ploughs into his back at high speed. Zen front is totally crumpled and Indica rear too quite damaged. Parties of both vehicle busy on phones making arrangement for next steps.

[frequentflyer]

Friends,

I am going to reach Srisailam from Kurnool side on 11th by say 2 pm and leave for Hyderabad on 12 Feb by noon latest. Need info on where to stay...have heard some bad stories about Haritha. Am not sure whether one can go to the temple after dark and return to the hotel after that. Besides the temple of Shiva, what are the other places to visit? Can somebody who has been there often draw out a kind of itinerary that can be followed to make best use of time?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by frequentflyer

Friends,

I am going to reach Srisailam from Kurnool side on 11th by say 2 pm and leave for Hyderabad on 12 Feb by noon latest. Need info on where to stay...have heard some bad stories about Haritha. Am not sure whether one can go to the temple after dark and return to the hotel after that. Besides the temple of Shiva, what are the other places to visit? Can somebody who has been there often draw out a kind of itinerary that can be followed to make best use of time?

Haritha is the only good option available there.Apart from the temple you could stop by patalganga river on your way to hyderabad.There is also a ropeway from the temple to the river.Apart from these cant think of anything else that you can do there.Haritha is walking distance from the temple,so no problem with coming to the hotel after dark.As for Haritha just pray that the day you are there is one of their better days!

[rknair]

Originally Posted by frequentflyer

Friends,

I am going to reach Srisailam from Kurnool side on 11th by say 2 pm and leave for Hyderabad on 12 Feb by noon latest. Need info on where to stay...have heard some bad stories about Haritha. Am not sure whether one can go to the temple after dark and return to the hotel after that. Besides the temple of Shiva, what are the other places to visit? Can somebody who has been there often draw out a kind of itinerary that can be followed to make best use of time?

Adding to what Ranjith has said. Visit Sakshi Ganapathi Temple on the way to Srisailam Main Temple and Shikhareswara temple on your way back to Kurnool.

If you have time you can take Hyderabad road and visit the Dam. There is a view point where you can park the vehicle and have a detailed look at the Dam.