[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Please use your CBI moles and do let me know of any more HOMP places around

My moles say Sea Inn, a.k.a. Rajugaari dhaba is the only one visited by HOMP. But bear in mind that the ambience is very dhaba-like and it is difficult to get a seat (bench is more appropriate) during weekends. Parcel is the best option from that place.

On your route to Vizag, if you want to shave off around 50 kms from your trip, take a left after Eluru onto the old highway that goes to Rajamundry. It is an undivided road, but decent. It passes through few villages though. But the icing on the cake is that there's a new bridge across Godavari river, and one need not cross the old road-cum-rail bridge that is not only in bad shape, but also takes you through traffic in the town. The new bridge takes you directly to the NH5 again. And I believe there is a CCD on that route.

Are you planning Araku directly on day 1, or after a break in Vizag?

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

On your route to Vizag, if you want to shave off around 50 kms from your trip, take a left after Eluru onto the old highway that goes to Rajamundry. It is an undivided road, but decent. It passes through few villages though. But the icing on the cake is that there's a new bridge across Godavari river, and one need not cross the old road-cum-rail bridge that is not only in bad shape, but also takes you through traffic in the town. The new bridge takes you directly to the NH5 again. And I believe there is a CCD on that route.

I mentioned this route in one of my previous posts, albeit from the VSKP side !

Originally Posted by poised2drive

3. This route bypasses Rajahmundry [ a sign board before entering the city is well placed and cannot be missed] , crosses the river on the newly constructed 4th Bridge, proceeds to Dommeru, Nallajerla and joins the NH5 after Tadepalligudem.

Distance- 338 KM

I took the 3rd route [and the shortest]

the traffic remains high in the 3rd route, which might be due to the fact that it is the shortest and also a no-toll road. But since it is a 2 lane road, overtaking is quite hazardous with the trucks.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Any similar suggestions for Vizag?
!!!

I have a suggestion !
Stay away from the dolphin . The food is awful there

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

On your route to Vizag, if you want to shave off around 50 kms from your trip, take a left after Eluru onto the old highway that goes to Rajamundry. It is an undivided road, but decent. It passes through few villages though. But the icing on the cake is that there's a new bridge across Godavari river, and one need not cross the old road-cum-rail bridge that is not only in bad shape, but also takes you through traffic in the town. The new bridge takes you directly to the NH5 again. And I believe there is a CCD on that route.

Is this route advisable? I don't mind the longer route if it's peace of mind

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Are you planning Araku directly on day 1, or after a break in Vizag?

Friday : Vizag
Saturday : Vizag
Sunday : Araku
Monday : OTR

Any pointers on Araku on what to see and do?

Originally Posted by poised2drive

I have a suggestion !
Stay away from the dolphin . The food is awful there

What is Dolphin? Is it Raju Garu Dhaba or some other place?

Finally, I'm thoroughly confused now. Can either of you please let me know the complete route to take until vizag?

Hyderabad-Suryapet-Vijaywada-Rajamundry-Vizag (Please fill in the names of smaller towns between these big cities and any diversion that you recommend?

Thanks in advance

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by mobike008

What is Dolphin?

The Dolphin is a pretty famous Star Hotel in Visakhapatnam. But please avoid this for the lack of taste of Food.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Is this route advisable? I don't mind the longer route if it's peace of mind

The suggested route is thoroughly advisable and very much doable with a bit truck traffic.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Finally, I'm thoroughly confused now. Can either of you please let me know the complete route to take until vizag?

Hyderabad-Suryapet-Vijaywada-Rajamundry-Vizag (Please fill in the names of smaller towns between these big cities and any diversion that you recommend?

Thanks in advance

Hyd-Vja-Eluru : Until this point, there's no second thoughts.

After Eluru and before Tadepalligudem [ the next major town on National Highway], you need to take a left off the NH that goes to Rajamundry via Bhimadolu, Nallajerla , Dommeru [ all places are semi-urban towns with almost no decent Restaurants]. Signboards indicating a left to Rajamundry are predominant and you won't miss it.

So it will be Hyd-Vja-Eluru-Nallajerla-Rajamundry-Vskp

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Vi...17.6868159!3e0

The first image is the route we are advising.

The other options; the 2nd image is road through Nidadavole town & 3rd image is through whole NH5 , both of them are rather long and cumbersome.
Hope this helps..

[vnabhi]

I second poised2live's recommendation. Route 1 is what i was advocating. It not only saves distance, but also time.

The pointer is to watch out for a signboard that reads as 'Kovvuru 70 kms', and take the left turn there from the GQ . That turn comes approximately 17 kms after Eluru.

Near Vizag, when you're around 8 kms from your destination hotel, there's a busy junction known as NAD Jn, which is a pain on working days. Tomorrow being a holiday, it shouldn't be an issue. It comes just after the Vizag Airport, right after the flyover that spans the train tracks below. You'll be crossing that junction even when you drive to Araku from your hotel.

On a working day, I'd have turned right after Vikas college after crossing Gajuwaka, instead of heading straight towards airport and NAD junction. That road takes one parallel to the runway to Convent Junction, and from there your destination is only 4 to 5 kms. But you need not take that roiute for reasons already mentioned.

Take home parcel of dosa or other tiffins from Sairam Tifins close to your hotel is strongly advised. Their chutney and sambar are great.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by poised2drive

So it will be Hyd-Vja-Eluru-Nallajerla-Rajamundry-Vskp

This is what I was looking at. Should I take the same route when driving back?

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I second poised2live's recommendation. Route 1 is what i was advocating. It not only saves distance, but also time.

You both seem to be walking talking encyclopedia of Vizag

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Take home parcel of dosa or other tiffins from Sairam Tifins close to your hotel is strongly advised. Their chutney and sambar are great.

You know what. FIH listed Sairam Tiffins in top of their list as place to eat in Vizag so you bet I heading there for sure

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by mobike008

This is what I was looking at. Should I take the same route when driving back?

Absolutely ! If you start early at Vskp and bypass Rajamundry, it will take less than 5.5 Hours, even with teabreak to reach Vijayawada where you can execute your plan of trying some Andhra cuisine.

[mobike008]

Thanks for your input guys. My trip to Vizag and Araku was fantastic (Pics and details on my car ownership thread)

Route details and time taken for this trip (April 8th-April 11th, 2016) :

Gachibowli-Financial District ORR Entry--Ramoji Film City ORR Exit-Vijaywada--Eluru--Nallajerla-Rajamundry-Vishakhapatnam (700+kms)


Left home at sharp 5:30am and took the ORR until we got down at Ramoji Film City and towards Vizag.

It makes a lot of sense to leave early as there was minimal traffic overall but, this route is infamous for truck traffic which was still there in good numbers. We made good progress and drove non-stop to VJW and stopped just before the city for a quick sandwich meal at around 8:45am after covering 320kms

Till Vjw, there is no problems at all as it's 4-lane but, there was lot of traffic as we got closer to Vijaywada. And, you need to weave your way out as people drive at varying speeds blocking the highway on this route

Resumed after this 15 mins break and took the parallel route which was horrible to say the least as it was full of wayward traffic and I have noted something unique in VjW till Vizag. People will drive/ride on right side of road and knowingly or unknowingly ignore your car honk and will just not budge

I almost missed the left turn to Nallajerla as I crossed it and then took a U-turn to get back on this route suggested by Vnabhi and Poised2Drive.

This route is very nice and no problems with respect to road surface but, yet again this route is notorious for truck traffic and we crossed this 50kms-75kms rather quickly before re-joining the main highway towards Rajamundry.

Some of this traffic congestion was contributed by Pawan Kalyan fans who were behaving simply ridiculous as they stopped our car and were dancing in front of it and one stupid moron started doing donut of his Splendor with one hand and bike was being rotated and seriously close to the car and I thought it will crash into it with a loud bang. Nothing happened though. Whew!

From here on, there was not much traffic and broad roads until Vizag and we made good progress till we reached outskirts of Vizag by 1:45pm

It took us little over 8 hours including one stop to reach Vizag which I think is pretty quick

We had to ask quite a few people to find out way to our hotel (Budhil Park) which we reached by 2:30pm

Return Trip :

We checked out from Araku Valley around 7:00am and had a planned stop at Annavaram temple to pay visit to god which we reached around 9:50am around 10 mins prior to an office call which I decided to take sitting in cool AC of the car parked outside the temple.

After completing the darshan which took another 1-hour we were on our way towards Hyderabad at around 12:00pm and encountered heavy traffic on Nallajerala road and stopped for 45 mins for lunch at a nice quaint dhaba on this road where the food was very good.

Crossing Vijaywada was a nightmare which we crossed around 4:30pm and finally headed towards Hyderabad and it was a non-stop drive and we were at home in Gachibowli at 7:30pm

Araku Valley to Gachibowli which is roughly about 830kms was done in 9.5 hours driving time (If you exclude the 2 hours at Annavaram and 45 mins for lunch)

Hope this helps future travelers on this route

[gajadonga]

I had traveled last weekend to Araku and Borra caves.

Onward was Hyderabad-Suryapet-Vijaywada-Rajamundry-Anakapalle-Araku.

Roads are in good condition.

Crossing Vijayawada is still the bottleneck.As was travelling between 11pm and 11.30pm
got caught in a traffic jam of lorries.

Vijayawada to Anakapalle via Rajmundary excellent roads throughout.

Anakapalle - Pendurthi - Araku.
Dual carriage way good roads loads of lorry traffic between Anakapalle and Pendurthi.

Return

Araku - Anakapalle-Rajamundry -Nallajerla- Eluru -Vijayawada -Hyderabad

Rajamundry -Nallajerla- Eluru .

Loads of lorry traffic and many small towns with speed breakers.
The road conditions is average lots of rough patches.
Was travelling in the evening and the traffic was heavy.
Travelling on Dual carriage way with good surface of road no problems probably the
roads have deteriorated.

Crossing Vijayawada on a Sunday and around 10pm was bliss .It took only 15mins
to cross the city.

Hope this helps

[ksrchowdary]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Crossing Vijayawada is still the bottleneck.

The problem of crossing Vijayawada is resolved with the inauguration of Inner Ring Road.

Following is the excerpt.
"The 9.84-km IRR was built at a cost of Rs. 122.35 crores to connect the national highway (NH)-9 and NH-5. The IRR will help to divert traffic coming from Hyderabad to the Howrah national highway at the Ramavarappadu junction."

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle8909697.ece

[vnabhi]

A friend of mine drove from Vizag to Mumbai via Hyderabad early this month. He took the Rajamundry -> Ashwaraopet ->Khammam -> Suryapet route, which is around 50 kms shorter than the Vijaywada route.

Per him, the roads are horrible on the route and it is worth taking the longer route via Vijaywada.

[vamsi2390]

Guys,
I'm starting in an hour to Hyderabad from Vizag.
I will be taking the Vizag - rajamundry - khammam - suryapet - Hyderabad road as my Duster is pretty new with only close to 500km on the odometer. A narrower and bad road is what is want I wanted to keep varying speeds.
I normally take the Vijayawada route which is a dream to drive.


I will update the road conditions once I am done with the journey

[vamsi2390]

Originally Posted by vamsi2390

Guys,
I'm starting in an hour to Hyderabad from Vizag.
I will be taking the Vizag - rajamundry - khammam - suryapet - Hyderabad road as my Duster is pretty new with only close to 500km on the odometer. A narrower and bad road is what is want I wanted to keep varying speeds.
I normally take the Vijayawada route which is a dream to drive.


I will update the road conditions once I am done with the journey

The road is almost complete but still no where as close to the brilliance of the Vijayawada route. There are lots of incomplete stretches as well in between.

I would anyday recommend the Vijayawada route. But, saying that I saved a hell lot of toll fees as well as this stretch doesn't have any toll booths

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by vamsi2390

The road is almost complete but still no where as close to the brilliance of the Vijayawada route. There are lots of incomplete stretches as well in between.

I would anyday recommend the Vijayawada route. But, saying that I saved a hell lot of toll fees as well as this stretch doesn't have any toll booths

Would the incomplete stretches pose a nightmare to low GC vehicles like sedans and hatchbacks? I know a Duster can take those with aplomb.

[9tMax]

Just returned from a small trip to Araku.
There is a decent new place for food on NH-16 (old NH-5) just before the Annavaram town bifurcation from NH-16. Name is One Food Court. It's on the lines of 7 Food Court, Suryapet and comes on your left hand side while coming from Vizag. Nice food with clean washrooms right on the highway. Highly recommended.
Will post further details about the road conditions in a day or two.