[Klever]

Guys, most of the roads in this route are now in a very good condition.

Travelled from Hyderabad to Chennai last weekend(Chevy Spark). Started from Srinagar Colony at 3:00pm. Reached Chennai at around 4am. Stopped for a couple of bio breaks + Chai breaks and dinner(Narsaropet).

The route was:

Hyd-N.Sagar-Macherla-Karempudi-Narsaropet-Chilkalurpet-Chennai.

Hyd - N.Sagar: 160kms. Great road.Little or no traffic.Covered this stretch in 2.5 hrs.

N.Sagar - Macherla: 30kms. Decent stretch. Traffic was on the heavier side. Covered this distance in 45mins.

Macherla - Karempudi: Around 40 kms. Road conditions are good.Traffic is ok. Had to stop at a couple of places and ask for directions.Must have taken an hr.

Karempudi - Narsaropet: Around 45 kms. The road overall is good. However, there is this stretch for about 10 kms which is in a very bad conditions. Unfortunately, did this stretch during night and heard a couple of loud thuds. The good news is, there are working on this stretch. If you do this stretch in the day time, you should have no problems.

Took 1.15hrs to cover this stretch.

Narsaropet - Chilkalurpet: A very decent 30 kms of road. Covered it in 30 mins,

Chilkalurpet - Chennai: Fasten your seat belts . 375 kms of absolute bliss!!! Covered in 4.5 hrs

Did the return journey in the day time. Cheers!!!

[Swordfish]

Did this route this weekend. Hyd-sagar-chilakaluripeta-chennai (both ways were night drive)

Wanted to update this thread with a Warning to fellow drivers.

Since there were updates saying that the "Karempudi to Narsaraopet" road is bad, i took the Piduguralla route from Macheral and it proved to be a very big mistake. The Piduguralla route is the worst road that i have ever seen in my life. The road is so bad that you need a Hummer to negotiate the ditches - the whole road is a big ditch. Dont understand what happen to the road but its like this, every 1km or so you will find a 100mts stretch which is completely gone. The road just disappears as if there was a flood or something. This was there in villages too where there were houses both sides, so its not the floods that ate the road. plz dont take the road to figure out what happened there. I consider myself a very skilled driver and 90% of my drives are at night so you can take my word when i say its a nightmare route for night drive. If you try this route at night(not fit for day time also) and if you are driving anything less offroad capable than a Hummer, there are very good chances that you will break something on your ride. My car (Swift VXI ABS) kissed the ground a good 3 times trying to negotiate minimum width which fits the car on the 60+ft wide road on these bad stretches. Most of the time (some 30-40kms) i was literally licking the windscreen and praying for God's mercy.

this stretch is a mini version of something like this:

YouTube - 4x4 Extreme Off-Road

Below is a map which shows what route you should NOT go.





The last time i tried the Kadapa-kurnool, it was excellent and was very scenic. I will try that route for the next trip.


God bless.

[gajadonga]

I have driven this route 1 month back.
I started in the afternoon and I took the Hyderabad-Narketpalli-Miryalguda-Piduguralla-Narsaraopet-Chilakaluripet-Ongole-Chennai.
Four lane is going on Hyderabad to Narketpalli but road surface good.
Narketpalli-Piduguralla Good roads and is being widened on either side.
Piduguralla- Narsaraopet huge potholes till we take the turn from the highway (Challagundla X roads)towards Narsaraopet.
Narsaraopet-Chilakaluripet drivable roads
It took 6hrs from Hyderabad to Chilakaluripet.

[Fordmanchau]

Why don't anyone takes the Tirupati route to Chennai from hyderabad. I am not aware of the road conditions from Tirupati to Chennai but I believe it must be good. Going by this thread and my recent trip to Tirupati, I believe, the Hyd-Tirupati-Chennai would be better than the "Hyderabad-Narketpalli-Miryalguda-Piduguralla-Narsaraopet-Chilakaluripet-Ongole-Chennai".
Also the time taken must also be similar, I did Hyd-Tirupati in 8hrs 45 minutes of drive time and chennai is another 150kms from Tirupati, so probably another 2.5hrs. So that would be around 11hrs 15minutes of drive time, excluding breaks.
Just my thought, but wont this would be a better route, plus you have lots of options to refuel and eat??

EDIT: just read that "swordfish" has taken that route. but my question is when you know there's a better route, why not take that?

[MileCruncher]

Guys, we (few of the Hydeez ) intend to drive to Suryalanka. We were planning to take Sagar - Guntur this road
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...,1.757813&z=10



But as per the Swordfish's review looks like is not doable. What is the suggested route then?

We don't want to hit NH-9 at all.

[Swordfish]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

But as per the Swordfish's review looks like is not doable. What is the suggested route then?

We don't want to hit NH-9 at all.

This should be your route then:




a little zoom in:



MAP LINK

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

EDIT: just read that "swordfish" has taken that route. but my question is when you know there's a better route, why not take that?

You meant tirupati route? My idea was to take NH5, the options were via Piduguralla or Karampudi. The later is a lot better(atleast has some road, not bad atall).

Next time will take the Tirupati route as you suggested:


Till Kadapa i'm sure the route is good since i did the chitoor-vellore route a few times earlier. The Kadapa-tirupati-chennai is what we need to try and see.

[Ravveendrra]

I am sorry, I thought I had posted this but seems that I did not.

I have taken the following route in January and all I can say is it is - excellent.

1. Drive up to Anantapur, at almost the end of the town there is a turn-off to the left marked "Chennai" etc. Take it.

2. Head to Madanapalle and then to Palmaner.

3 After that, take a right and head towards Vellore & Katpadi

4. Get onto the BLR-MAA highway at Katpadi.

5. Reach Poonamalle in about 12 hrs.

Then you crawl to your destination!!

Here are a few posts I made during that drive:

"4.06 a.m.: We are finally on our way. ETA (according to Ellen) is 18.57."

"Fog for a 100 km! Stopped after 310 km for a break moving avg of abt 99 not bad"

"‎600 km (according to Le Tank - 619 according to Ellen) and stopped for lunch just after Palmaner. Moving avg down to 84 kmph. Roads were good so far, have to see how the Ranipet stretch is but so far, this seems the best route to Tirupati & Chennai"

"Driving from Hyderabad to Poonamalle is easier than from Poonamalle to Adayar. Hyd-Poonamalle = 11.30 hrs. Poonamalle - Adayar = 1.30 hrs!"

The journey from Hyd to Maa was in the day.

The return was mostly at night and this is what I had to say before and after it:

"2.39 p.m.: We now have to change, load our stuff into 'Le Tank' fill er up and get on our way. ETD: 16.00 hrs."

&

"4.02 a.m.: Home! 10.15 moving time. 2.30 stopped time.

Now some zzzzzzzz"

[Ravveendrra]

I did that bit last summer after a darshan at Tirupati. The road is narrow, full of villages and traffic. Avoidable unless you want to visit Tirupati too.

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Guys, we (few of the Hydeez ) intend to drive to Suryalanka. We were planning to take Sagar - Guntur this road
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India to Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh, India - Google Maps

Attachment 530810

But as per the Swordfish's review looks like is not doable. What is the suggested route then?

We don't want to hit NH-9 at all.

I have posted on the "Meet thread" (as opposed to the Meat thread a.k.a. Food Guide). The best route to take in that part of the world is: NSD, Macherla, Karempudi, Pidugralla, Satennapalle, Guntur.

The road to Karempudi forks off to the right just after you pass the main town of Macherla. Then turn left for Pidugralla. You might have to ask for the left turn as it is unmarked but, it comes in the middle of a straight stretch with trees on both sides (tamarind). This road is pretty deserted and passes fewer villages.

Once you reach Pidugralla turn right and drive straight to Guntur. Once you reach Guntur turn right towards Madras on NH 5 and then take the left onto the new NH5 Guntur bypass. Turn right onto the Ponnur / Chirala / Bapatla road.

In Ponnur town you will have to take a left and immediate right to get onto the Chirala rd.

Cheers,

[alexkrish]

Guys,

I did Chennai to Hyderabad two days ago and this time I was very happy with the route i took... I did this route 3 times before and in 3 different routes.
Here is the difference... Below are two map coverages, one from google map and the other from ovi maps.. Both of them give a different route for the same origin and destination..

Route from Karempudi to Narsaraopet on Google maps..


the same route on Ovi Maps


The last time I did this route, i did it via Ipuru -> Rompicherla and it was very bad.. and that too just after the rains..

The google map does not show the route that ovi shows.. This time, I followed the ovi maps from my mobile and hit nakkarekallu to reach narsaraopet.

This route was very good execpt for some bad stretches from the X roads after Nakkarekallu to Narsaraopet.. This time I did Chennai hyderabad in about 10 to 10.5 hours, and this was my best timing till now..

The sagar road is very good now with all the bad stretches fixed. The roads are good till Durgi and after that its a little bad, but managable.. This time, my Polo did'nt kiss the ground even once..

On my way back, am planning to take the same route even though for a little bad stretch mentioned above.

Am planning to leave Chennai on Sunday early morning...

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by alexkrish

The last time I did this route, i did it via Ipuru -> Rompicherla and it was very bad.. and that too just after the rains..

Exactly!!!

On our way to Chirala, this was the route that was taken
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India to Chilakaluripet, Andhra Pradesh, India - Google Maps
Ipuru - Rompicherla is a narrow road and not suitable for sedans.It passes through small villages and one cannot do fast speeds.

Even Rompicherla - Narsaraopet was nothing great. Only after Narsaraopet did roads improve.

While returning from Chirala, we took the following road and had a trouble run

Chirala, Andhra Pradesh, India to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India - Google Maps

[hvkumar]

The NH205 route via Chittoor, Madanapalle to Ananthapur and then NH7 via Kurnool is simply outstanding. I drove from Madras to Kurnool via Tada, Kalahasti & Tirupati 2 days ago. Fantastic roads, no traffic, small town traffic nothing to worry about and some some irritants like humps. However, I would avoid this sector at night.

[8090guy]

All,
Why isn't Hyd-bangalore-Chennai a good option?
Road quality is very good - 95%,if not more, is 4 line. One can take NH 207 from Devanahalli to Hosur to avoid Bangalore outer ring road traffic. This road does not have craters but has speed breakers.

Distance wise its not bad. Yes 150+ kms more than other routes being discussed. IMHO driving 100 more kms or an additional hour is better than driving through craters for half an hour or 30 kms. ( Remember that the total trip is 700+ anyways)

Timewise it is it should be do-able in 12 hours, inline with any other route.

Cost wise, one might end up paying more towards tolls through bangalore since the entire route is tolled unlike the other routes where only chennai-chilakaluripet is tolled.
But then the car might provide more mileage through the BLR route. And, more importantly, wear and tear might be less for the car, comparatively.( No craters, not underbody scrapping )

So it seems to me that HYD-BLR-CHENNAI is a logical option.Am I missing something?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by 8090guy

All,
Why isn't Hyd-bangalore-Chennai a good option?
Road quality is very good - 95%,if not more, is 4 line. One can take NH 207 from Devanahalli to Hosur to avoid Bangalore outer ring road traffic. This road does not have craters but has speed breakers.

Distance wise its not bad. Yes 150+ kms more than other routes being discussed. IMHO driving 100 more kms or an additional hour is better than driving through craters for half an hour or 30 kms. ( Remember that the total trip is 700+ anyways)

Timewise it is it should be do-able in 12 hours, inline with any other route.

Cost wise, one might end up paying more towards tolls through bangalore since the entire route is tolled unlike the other routes where only chennai-chilakaluripet is tolled.
But then the car might provide more mileage through the BLR route. And, more importantly, wear and tear might be less for the car, comparatively.( No craters, not underbody scrapping )

So it seems to me that HYD-BLR-CHENNAI is a logical option.Am I missing something?

This could be an option from from now on as the Hyd-Blr stretch has been completed and Hyd-D'halli is covered in 6hours.The only down side from what I see is the huge toll that one would have to incur between Hyd and Blore(approx INR 400),else this could be a fast option.I guess this option would stand revised once the Hyd-Vijayawada 4 laning is completed,after which it would be easier doing Hyd-Vja-Chennai via NH9-NH5.

[gajadonga]

I agree with Ranjit1 as once the four laning is complete between Hyd-Vijayawada is complete we can take this route to Chennai.
The way the work is going on it may take another 2yrs for completion.
The traffic between Guntur and Vijayawada is pretty high.
Last week it took nearly 1.30hrs between these two places thou a four lane road
is there.I think they are upgrading to six lane as I saw a lot of diversions and construction activity.