[pjay_in]

I am driving to Tirupati with family on Friday, 3rd August (from Chennai). This is my first visit, so I don't know about the best route, road conditions etc.

1) Which is the best route to Tirupati from Chennai? I am not looking for an adventurous drive, but a peaceful one on good roads.

2) I heard that it is very difficult to get accommodation at Tirumala without advance booking. Is it a good idea to get a room at Tirupati and then go back to Tirumala next day if required? I hope getting accommodation wouldn't be a major issue in Tirupati.

My car is a 2005 Wagon R Vxi.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Dunno about route. Here is something about acco. 24 months old. May be dated. (Things change at Tirumala every 6 months or so).
At Tirumala, just after the checkpost at the end of the ghat section, there is a Pilgrim facilitation center on your right hand side. You get rooms of your choice there. If the TTD rooms are full, there are private choultries run my Maths, near the Karnataka Choultry / Museum. This is how we do it. There may be other ways also - I believe there is a pilgrim facilitation center near the bus stand at Tirupati (foot hills), and it is safer to inquire there before climbing the hills. In case you do not get rooms there, you can find a lodge in Tirupati itself.
Just before you starting climbing, at Alipiri, there is a security check point - it is at a different place than the toll gate. Get the security check before reporting at thd toll gate.
Find some more info about accomodation at the OFFICIAL website of the TTD devasthanams is:-
Accommodation
I recall somebody saying that there is a TTD pilgrim facilitation centre in Chennai itself, from where you can do the bookings. Please search the telephone directory for info.

[hrag]

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/375135-post21.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/377999-post22.html

[rkg]

In chennai TTD has an office where u can book. it will be TTD kalyana mantapam only. they have plenty of paid accommodation at tirumala. but if you are going on sat day and sunday it may be difficult.
u can book your Rs 50 darshan at chennai itself with time of entry. then it will be easy for you.
if you do not get accommodation at tirumala then try at Srivari Sannidhi ( a lodge by some society on kapila thertham road. some said it is good. TTD has accommodation even in tirupati. one big one called Srinivasam is there near Bus stand( it is new)

[BikerSG]

the best route at the moment is the tada route. when u see the first sign for Srikalahasti, take the left. once u are near srikalahasti, u will see signs for tirupati.

the poonamallee route is really bad right now. very bad roads.

[-GT-]

My route used to be one of the following:

Chennai - Tiruvallur (MTH Road)- Arakkonam - Tiruttani - Nagari - Puttur - Renigunta - Tirupati. This is a much longer route, but the roads used to be pretty good.

Shorter route will be
Chennai - Tiruvallur (MTH Road)- Uttukottai - Puttur - Renigunta - Tirupati. If Uttukottai road is good, this is the best option.

BTW, We used to go thro Tiruvallur purely because that is shorter from Western Chennai area. You may have to choose the route depending on where you will start from in Chennai. For eg: if you are in Northern Chennai, taking NH5 up to Cholavaram and driving through NH205 from then on may be the easiest.

[-GT-]

[quote=-GT-;518521]My route used to be one of the following:

Chennai - Tiruvallur (MTH Road)- Arakkonam - Tiruttani - Nagari - Puttur - Renigunta - Tirupati. This is a much longer route, but the roads used to be pretty good.

quote]

Sorry....no need to go thro Arakkonam; there is a route that goes direct from Tiruvallur to Tiruttani.

[csentil]

From Chennai take Poonamallee High road if you are in Anna Nagar side, otherwise you can come via Guindy, Porur and then to Poonamallee.

You need to take the right just after Hotel Highway once you exit Poonamallee. This is the road to Tiruvallur.

After that its Tiruvallur->Tiruttani->Puttur->Renigunta->Tirupathi.

Alternatively, you can use the Golden Quadrilateral for quite some distance. This route would be Annanagar (thirumangalam)->Padi Junction->Red Hills->Kaverapettai->Gummidipondi->Tada Till here its 4 lane. You need to take a left towards Kalahasthi Don't remember exact distance. This road leads on towards Tirupati

[pjay_in]

M any thanks to all for giving so much useful information in such a short time.

I had a good trip to Tirupati. After careful considerations, I had taken the option recommended in the second thread given by hrag:

Originally Posted by hrag

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/375135-post21.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/377999-post22.html

So my Onward route was Chennai-NH5-Cholavaram-Turn LEFT after toll gates - Periyapalayam-Uttukkottai-Puttur-Tirupati. The description given by prkothan in the above quoted thread turned out to be accurate, with the exception of the SH-61 milestones on NH205 (I didn't notice any). On the other hand SH-61 turned out to be the Renigunta-Nayudupetta road (which I took till Kalahasti on my return). Road conditions were generally very good, though upto Uttukkottai there were many places where you had to slow down because the road was in repair or in bad condition. Another factor that slowed me down a bit was that this road went through inhabited areas mostly, passing through several (beautiful) villages. And there were many buses plying in this route.

I returned via Tirupati-Renigunta-Srikalahasti-Tada-Chennai. Here it was possible for me to maintain higher average speeds. Very good roads throughout, barring a few places. Srikalahasti town was a bottleneck (I don't know if there was a bypass option), and there were small stretches of bad roads.

Chennai - Periyapalayam-Uttukkottai-Puttur-Tirupati was about 140km on my meter, and
Tirupati-Renigunta-Sri Kalahasti-Tada-Chennai was about 150 km.
I didn't check these accurately though (not between the same points I mean).

In short, both routes turned out to be good. You get to drive through some really beautiful country. After the rains, it was greenery everywhere.

Forgot to mention: Tirupati - Tirumala - Tirupati roads are awesome. It is one road on your way up and another on the way down. Two lane, one way. Top class surface. Lots of hairpin bends. Breathtaking scenery all round. Fabulous driving experience all the way.

Here are some photos I took on this trip.


NH 205 between Uttukkottai and Puttur:




Another shot, looking backwards (towards Uttukkottai):


Roadside scenery:


Tirupati town (the circle as you enter the town):




The way up to Tirumala: the two-lane, one way dream road



Scenery on your left while you go up:





Another shot:



Hope I am not posting too many pics!

Will add return trip phtos in the next post.

[pjay_in]

By the way, I solved the accommodation issue by taking a room at Tirupati itself. This is a good option actually. You can get refreshed, change and then go to Tirumala. After darshan, just drive down back to Tirupati. Even if you have to go to Tirumala for some reason the next day, driving up again is not a bad idea after all.

[pjay_in]

Photos taken on the way back:

SH-61, on the way to Sri Kalahasti:


Road from Sri Kalahasti to Tada. This one really surprised me, as someone had written that the road was virtually non-existent on this stretch. It was beautiful drive all the way to Tada, barring only a few places where the new surface was yet to be laid.







Some Eastern Ghats hills up close:





The road looked so beautiful that it was hard to imagine what was in store for a stretch of 4 km. From this:



it took just about a km to come to this:



However, that 4-5 km stretch was still driveable, because there were no sharp potholes.

The bullock cart in the above pic made a nice subject as it drew closer:

[suvi]

can Somebody suggest which is the best way to reach Poonamallee (en-route to Tirupathi) from Chromepet in Chennai. i heard Kattipara junction has lot of confusion / one-ways owing to flyover construction.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by suvi

can Somebody suggest which is the best way to reach Poonamallee (en-route to Tirupathi) from Chromepet in Chennai. i heard Kattipara junction has lot of confusion / one-ways owing to flyover construction.

You can bypass the Kathipara junction by taking the left at the signal which comes after the OTA (The Officers Training Academy is on the left, after you cross all the airport buildings). After you take the left at this signal, take the right at the T-junction, and then ask for directions (or you can just follow the general traffic, most of the 2-wheelers/cars will be going to the Mount-Poonamallee road). This will take you to Mount-Poonamallee road. Turn left to continue onwards to Porur and Poonammallee.
Hope this helps !

[csentil]

Or you can go towards Tambaram and once you cross Tambaram you can take the right at the flyover there. This is the ORR. Its a two lane ring road with no connecting roads to it until it ends at Madurayoil (i think). This would join the Poonamallee High road a few kms before Poonamallee. Be watchful about lorry traffic on the ORR.

I would prefer this route, as in the other route you would have to come all the way towards Pallavaram, Airport, OTA and then you also need to cross Porur junction which can be quite tedious at times.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by csentil

Or you can go towards Tambaram and once you cross Tambaram you can take the right at the flyover there.

Currently, there is no option to take the right at the flyover after Tambaram (the right turn option is under construction, should be ready soon). We need to climb the flyover, go down and then take the U-turn at Perungulathur.

Yes, this route is also one option. One needs to pay toll at the end of this bypass, and yes, it does end at Maduravoyal. I am not sure of the condition of the Maduravoyal-Poonamallee road though (Volvo and other air-suspension buses to Bangalore take the ChinmayaNagar/Porur/Poonamallee road to avoid the bad stretches in the Maduravoyal-Poonamaallee road )