[alexkrish]

Just completed the road trip from Hyderabad to Chennai, covering a total of 660 kms with my WagonR. I had to sell my car in Chennai and was planning for a long road trip for quite a long time.. I had done Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai 3 years back and I knew a little about highway driving..

We started at around 630 in the morning from hyderabad and took the sagar road to avoid the truck traffic at Vijayawada. The sagar road was very decent with good greenery around. Me, my wife and my daughter enjoed the drive via this road. Reached Chennai around 7.00 PM. NH5 from Chilkaluripet to Chennai was a breeze.

Thanks to Ranjith ( ranjitp1 ) who gave me proper directions and guidance.
Thanks to TeamBHP from where i gathered the courage and motivation for this wonderful trip !

[Venom_rider]

Guys need your help here

We (Wifey & I) are travelling to Hyderabad early in the morning on Friday the 3rd Sep. This would be our first visit to Hyd & we are super excited about the land of awesome Biryani & Kababs.

From the suggestions available in the thread, the following route seems to be the best.

Chennai>> Nellore>> Ongole>> Chilkaluripet>> Narasaraopet>> Karempudi>> Macherla>> Sagar>> Mallepalli>> Ibrahimpatnam>> Hyderabad. (maps.google.com)

I am seeking latest information on the following (rather usual) things...

1) Road conditions?

2) Stretches that I need to be extra careful?

3) Food joints?

4) Refueling options?

5) Is a de-tour to Sagar worth it? if yes, how much time would it take?

6) Is this the best route to reach Secunderabad(Our destination)?

7) We plan on leaving at 04:00hrs in the morning & hoping that we reach before the evening rush hour traffic. Is this a good time to leave or should we leave earlier? Considering that I have a fair amount of highway driving experience & have done several runs on South Indian Highways.

8) Should I be worried about rains? Heard horror stories last year.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!
Goutham

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by Venom_rider

Guys need your help here

We (Wifey & I) are travelling to Hyderabad early in the morning on Friday the 3rd Sep. This would be our first visit to Hyd & we are super excited about the land of awesome Biryani & Kababs.

From the suggestions available in the thread, the following route seems to be the best.

Chennai>> Nellore>> Ongole>> Chilkaluripet>> Narasaraopet>> Karempudi>> Macherla>> Sagar>> Mallepalli>> Ibrahimpatnam>> Hyderabad. (maps.google.com)

Yes thats the route you should be taking. My comments below

Originally Posted by Venom_rider

I am seeking latest information on the following (rather usual) things...

1) Road conditions? NH-5 is good and so is the Sagar -Hyderabad section. There might be slight patches of uneven road

2) Stretches that I need to be extra careful?

3) Food joints? After Chilakaluripet to Sagar there might be small Dhaba's but thats about it.

4) Refueling options? Nothing great after you turn-off from Chilkaluripet

5) Is a de-tour to Sagar worth it? if yes, how much time would it take? The reservoir is full of water so you may want to take a detour and also go to Vijay Vihar, the APTDC restaurant.

6) Is this the best route to reach Secunderabad(Our destination)? Once you enter Hyderabad at LB Nagar you'll need to navigate through the city

7) We plan on leaving at 04:00hrs in the morning & hoping that we reach before the evening rush hour traffic. Is this a good time to leave or should we leave earlier? Considering that I have a fair amount of highway driving experience & have done several runs on South Indian Highways.

8) Should I be worried about rains? Heard horror stories last year.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!
Goutham

[Venom_rider]

Thank you so much MileCruncher. Really appreciate it... I guess my best bet is to pack-up a bit of food then

Also, Do we know how bad the rains are?

[ranjitp1]

Did this stretch in late July in a M800,and the roads were still ok between C'pet & Sagar.Be very careful of stray cattle on nh5,its a very common occurence on this stretch as the cattle suddenly change their mind and come back onto the road they have already crossed.

petrol options exist at Narsaraopet & then at Macherla(approx 3hrs after C'pet).No eating options whatsoever on this stretch until you reach APTDC Sagar.The rains have been good and expect bad stretches between N'pet & Macherla.These are flat lands so in case the rains are bad,you might encounter some water flowing across the road from one side to the other side,thats the only thing you need to be careful.If you leave at 4 you would reach C'pet around 9-10am and you should be on Hyd outskirts (LB Nagar)by 3pm-4pm.

My timings were:
Chennai(redhills/nh5) to Ongole:4hours
Ongole-C'pet:1.5hrs
C'pet-Sagar:3hours
Sagar-LB Nagar:2.5hrs

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Did this stretch in late July in a M800,and the roads were still ok between C'pet & Sagar.Be very careful of stray cattle on nh5,its a very common occurence on this stretch as the cattle suddenly change their mind and come back onto the road they have already crossed.
My timings were:
Chennai(redhills/nh5) to Ongole:4hours
Ongole-C'pet:1.5hrs
C'pet-Sagar:3hours
Sagar-LB Nagar:2.5hrs

I'd add :
LB Nagar to Secunderabad Station: 30-40 minutes for the 14 kms distance, but it could be more after 530 pm.

A cousin of mine went to Nellore a week ago and used that route via Sagar, N'pet and C'pet. He says that route is ok, but there are a few bad stretches. But I believe he used that route while returning, and while going to Nellore, they missed a turn at Karempudi and went via Addanki, which was simply terrible.
Stick to the route via C'Pet and N'pet and you should be fine. I am sure N'pet will have some eating joints.

[Venom_rider]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

petrol options exist at Narsaraopet & then at Macherla(approx 3hrs after C'pet).No eating options whatsoever on this stretch until you reach APTDC Sagar.

Thank you... this certainly helps.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

A cousin of mine went to Nellore a week ago and used that route via Sagar, N'pet and C'pet. He says that route is ok, but there are a few bad stretches. But I believe he used that route while returning, and while going to Nellore, they missed a turn at Karempudi and went via Addanki, which was simply terrible.
Stick to the route via C'Pet and N'pet and you should be fine. I am sure N'pet will have some eating joints.

I will be extra careful of not missing the turn at Chilakalurpet.

Please let me if I need to know anything else.

Going on a long drive after almost 6 months now. Can't wait...

Cheers!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

they missed a turn at Karempudi and went via Addanki, which was simply terrible.

So true,its so very easy to miss the turn at Karempudi while going towards Narasaraopet,while coming back from N'pet one is safe as you cant miss the turn.

[Venom_rider]

Thank you everybody... Had a safe and fun filled trip.

A quick status update on the route:
Chennai - Nellore - Ongole - Chilakaluripet: Awesome roads (NH5)

Chilakaluripet - Narasaraopet: Average roads (good only till 80-90, but with a lot of really bad patches)

Narasaraopet - Karempudi - Sagar: Poor roads (Non-existent roads in a lot of places)

Sagar (Around the ghat section): Awesome roads (Winding & well laid with good scenery around).

Sagar - Ibrahimpatnam: Above Average roads

Ibrahimpatnam - Hyd: Average roads (SH)

PS 1: On an average it took 9hrs of driving to reach HYD. I was maintaining ~120KMPH on NH & ~90 everywhere else.

PS 2: The detour to waterfalls near Sagar is worth it.

Total distance driven: ~1400kms in 3 days.

Cheers!
Goutham

[rm_arjuna]

Just completed a round trip to chennai

Onward route as suggested here : Hyd-sagar-macherla-karempudi-narasaraopet-Chilakaluripet - joined NH5 -chennai.Total 680kms

Hyd-sagar : good roads,less traffic ,started at 6am and reached sagar Haritha hotel at 8.45am. 24 gates were open when we passed thru the dam,had good photo session.Left sagar towards macherla at 9.30am.

sagar-macherla-karempudi-narasaraopet-Chilakaluripet strecth took 5hrs including 45 mins lunch break and couple of stops enroute . roads where very bad ,however all canals were full and good scenic opportunity for photo shoots.

Joined NH5 at Chilakaluripet around 2.30pm , from here chennai is 388kms.took break at Reliance A1 at ongole for tea and drove non-stop to chennai.Reached home at 6.30pm



Return had to visit inlaws at Mahabub nagar , so took the following route.

Redhills-tada-srikalahasti-renigunta-kadapa-allagada-nandiyal-kurnool-joined NH7-boothpur-byepass to mahabub nagar . again mahabub nagar-jadcherla-hyd.total 702kms.


Chennai to tada NH5 - 57kms

Tada-(47 kms)Srikalahasti-(28kms)renigunta - State highway, single roads yet vgood, newly paved.

renigunta-kadapa-allagada-nandiyal-kurnool - thru NH18 , good roads except for some broken strecth between allagada-nandiyal . The best part was drive thru ghat section of 30kms from nandiyal to kurnool , vgud winding roads with stunning scenery.

Left home at chennai 5.15am and reached mahabubnagar at 7pm after stopover of 3 hrs at kurnool at relative's place.


Would anyday prefer kurnool,kadapa section over NH5.

Total funfilled drive of 1720kms in 10 days with trips to kancheepuram,and local sightseeing at chennai.

[srikanthpotluri]

Hi Team,

Planning a trip to Hyd shortly, what is the best route? any updates?

[straightdrive]

Go with Chennai-Ongole-Chilkaluripet-Narasaraopet-Macherla-Sagar-Hyderabad. That seems to be the favoured route of those who have done this recently.

An alternative between Chilakaluripet and Hyderabad would be through Pidiguralla and Narkatpally. I last drove on it a year ago and that was fine too.

[Prem Ganesh]

I am planning to travel from Chennai to Hyderabad on 16th Dec, 2010.

Pls let me know the best route and the current road conditions.

I posted a new topic but it was deleted as the moderator feels that it has already been discussed.

i posted a new topic because when I searched, I found a topic on this route but the last post was made on 15th Nov, 2010 and the topic was started in 2007.

There has been lots of rains in the recent past and hence wanted to know the latest road conditions.

Kindly update me on the same as I have just bought a new Skoda superb and do not want to abuse it.

Thanks.

[ranjitp1]

Take the Nellore-Ongole-Narsraopet-Karempudi-Macherla-Sagar-Hyd route.You might encounter some bad roads between N'pet & Macherla,which is manageable.

The other option is to come via Kadapa,but the section involves a lot of ghat driving and hence slightly more time.Distance wise not much in it between the two routes.

[Prem Ganesh]

Thanks Ranjit!!..What wd be the approx driving time from Chn to Hyd?...Which is the better road of the 2?