[Drivethru]

Originally Posted by o.D

Hi,
Need help on the current situation and best route to Srisailam from Bangalore.
Cheers!

As all our fellow bhpians have been saying to avoid any rasta rokos on andhra side please reach your destination before 10 am or travel in the night after 7 pm. The best route is get to Kurnool on NH7 which should take you around 4.5 to 5 hours. Kurnool - Nandikotkur - Atmakur - Dornala - Srisailam is the next stretch of the route. After Atmakur you start seeing dense greenery and forest cover. Safe to travel this stretch after sunrise and before sunset. The agitation is likely to gain pace as there is rasta roko on oct 5th. Please watch local telugu channels for rasta roko and weather update. If it is possible reach kurnool by 5 am and you should be able to minimise chances of getting stuck in rasta rokos.

[o.D]

Originally Posted by Drivethru

The agitation is likely to gain pace as there is rasta roko on oct 5th. Please watch local telugu channels for rasta roko and weather update. If it is possible reach kurnool by 5 am and you should be able to minimise chances of getting stuck in rasta rokos.

Travelling with family makes it hard to drive at wee hours or late through the night. How about via Bellary to Kurnool. Any issues nearing the border there?

Thanks!

[Drivethru]

Originally Posted by o.D

Travelling with family makes it hard to drive at wee hours or late through the night. How about via Bellary to Kurnool. Any issues nearing the border there?

Thanks!

Bangalore to bellary the road should not have any problems if you completely avoid any entry into AP. Bellary to kurnool road is safe if you are entering AP after 6-7 pm and take a halt at kurnool in the night. Kurnool srisailam journey may be avoided in the night.
Start at kurnool early morning and you should be able to reach srisailam before the agitation or rasta rokos start.

Bangalore Tumkur chitradurga hospet bellary is a good option to reach bellary if you want to
avoid AP roads and travel only on KA roads. This will avoid any chances of getting stuck due to any road blockades and dharnas. This is a longer route compared to Bangalore tumkur chitradurga challakere bellary route where a very small portion of the route goes through andhra.

Bellary Adoni yemmiganur kurnool route is option 1 to reach kurnool
Bellary guntakal gooty dhone kurnool route is option 2 to reach kurnool

The best option would be to start at Bangalore around 5 pm on the Bangalore hyderabad national highway and reach kurnool in the night. Take a night halt at kurnool and leave for srisailam next day morning say around 4 to 5 am.

have never stayed in a hotel in kurnool but request other senior bhpians who have used hotels in kurnool to share info.

[simplyself]

Originally Posted by Ketan

Route 2: Bangalore - Kurnool - Nadyala - Giddaluru - Cumbum - Markapuram - Dornala - SriSailam

If you touch Nandyal, you have the opportunity to have darshan at Mahanandi too ( about 15 km from Nandyal).

If you plan to halt at night, try to halt at Mahanandi, which has quite a few satrams. Also, Nandyal is not far.

Mahanandi to Srisailam is about 160 km on Nandyal - Atmakur - Dornal route. One can also go to Giddalur from Mahanandi.

I do not have an update of road conditions on Cumbam-Giddalur- Nandyal route as I travelled this route in Dec, 2011. You do get a few kilometres of scenic ghat section after Nandyal till Giddalur.

I travelled on Atmakur - Dornal route in 1998. The route is quite thrilling between Dornal and Atmakur with deep forest and winding ghats. Road was pathetic then.

It is better to stick to Giddalur - Cumbum route and avoid both the routes during night. Anyway, the forest department doesnt allow vehicles after 9 pm.

[perseus]

I am planning Bangalore- Srisailam this coming weekend. Has anyone traveled there recently? Would be great if someone can guide about the route and what my itinerary should be?

[daisyb]

Planning a 3 to 4 day trip to Srisailam, Mahanandi, Ahobilam from Bangalore.

1. Please suggest the best route(s).
2. Are there any other good places (ok with both Pilgrim and non-pilgrim places) we can add to our itinerary.

[rnidumolu]

Hi,

In last December I have taken the below route -

BLR -> Kurnool -> Atmakur -> Dornala -> Srisailam

The road condition -

1. BLR -> Kurnool is four lane and in a very good shape.
2. Kurnool -> Atmakur is a two lane but doable.
3. Atmakur -> Dornala road was in existing at some places during that time
4. Dornala -> Srisailam is a ghat section but road is in good condition

You may be aware but still wanted to remind you that the Dornala -> Srisailam road would be closed during the night. So please plan your trip accordingly.

@Srisailam:

1. You can plan to visit Akka mahadevi caves, which were around 16 KMs away from Srisailam and you need to take a boat ride for 2-3 hours to reach this place. I won't say this is a must visit place but okay to venture in. The main USP is boat ride in Krishna river for 2-3 hours.

2. After crossing Srisailam, going towards Hyderabad in between the forest there is a waterfall called Mallela Theertham. You have to take a detour from the main road into some village/forest route to reach out to this place. I feel it is worth to visit this place.

But one thing you should keep in mind is both the places mentioned above do not have any kind of hotels so you have to pack your food.

@Ahobilam:

You can plan to visit Yaganti which is somewhere around 80+ KM from Allagadda. A must watch place if you are interested in visiting good old temples with lots of sculptures. Enroute you can visit the birth place of Guru Veera Brahmendra Swamy.

Again, food is a problem in these areas.

Thanks,
Ravikumar

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by daisyb

Planning a 3 to 4 day trip to Srisailam, Mahanandi, Ahobilam from Bangalore.

1. Please suggest the best route(s).
2. Are there any other good places (ok with both Pilgrim and non-pilgrim places) we can add to our itinerary.

Bangalore - Gooty - Pyapilli(Peapully on GM) - Banaganapalli - Koilakuntla - Allagadda - Ahobilam.

Apprxox 6-7hr drive/420kms

From there you can head to Mahanandi.Both Mahanandi and Ahobilam have APTDC Haritha available via online booking.Both are average places to stay.

From there you can head to Kurnool and onwards to Srisailam via Dornala and Atmakur.roads are good.

Srisailam again there is a APTDC Haritha which is badly maintained.You can choose to stay at Kurnool.DVR Mansion is a good place.

[condor]

These are the two options for Srisailam. The road via Peapally was repaired 2 years back, before which it looked bad.

Agree on the Haritha @Srisailam. But not many options in this place, esp considering the importance of this town.

The APTDC at Mahanandi is again basic. Take a room on 1st floor or 2nd if possible.

[KALSANKRPAI]

I am planning to visit Srisailam temple in my Hyundai i10 along with my family
If anyone has traveled recently I need the following information
1. Route with road condition 2. Number of toll plazas on the way 3. Wayside
good hotels 4. Accommodation at Srisailam 5. Anyother nearby places to
visit

[ampere]

The usual route is :
- NH7 all the way to Kurnool
- Take the SH to Atmakur to Dornala
- And at Dornala get on to Srisailam road.
- Its about 550km to Srisailam. If you think you cannot make it in one day, you can break at Kurnool. Start early the next day and it should be about 3-4 hours.
- Its about 180km from Kurnool.
- For accommodation, you have an APTDC hotel available, which you can book.

[condor]

There are a few threads for Srisailam. Pls check

Important: entry towards Srisailam after Dornala is closed at about 5 pm or may be 5.30 pm. So make sure you reach Dornala in time. For food & fuel, Dornala would be the last major point before Srisailam

[condor]

Originally Posted by rnidumolu

You can plan to visit Yaganti which is somewhere around 80+ KM from Allagadda.

@Ravi, would you know how much time it would take to cover Yaganti ? Are the places open in the afternoon ? Is a guide required, or can we go around on our own ?

[rnidumolu]

Originally Posted by condor

@Ravi, would you know how much time it would take to cover Yaganti ? Are the places open in the afternoon ? Is a guide required, or can we go around on our own ?

1. To cover the entire places at Yaganti it will take at least 2-3 hours considering no elderly people who have challenges in climbing steep steps to the caves.

2. They are open in the afternoon. But not sure of the main temple.

3. Having a guide is a good idea. But as far as I remember there are no official guide service available at this place. But you can check with the locals/auto drivers for the details. Also there are some books available at the temple stall to explain about that place. The mahal in which the movie Arundhati is taken is near by and you can plan a visit to this place as well, if you are interested.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

..... head to Kurnool and onwards to Srisailam via Dornala and Atmakur.roads are good.

Srisailam again there is a APTDC Haritha which is badly maintained.You can choose to stay at Kurnool...

Originally Posted by KALSANKRPAI

I am planning to visit Srisailam temple in my Hyundai i10 along with my family
If anyone has traveled recently I need the following information
1. Route with road condition 2. Number of toll plazas on the way 3. Wayside
good hotels 4. Accommodation at Srisailam 5. Anyother nearby places to
visit

I visited Srisailam last week.

Started from Bangalore at 6:30 AM. There are 4 toll booths upto Kurnool almost equally spaced, each charge between Rs 80 to Rs 95.

Stopped for 40 min on the Highway at Kodikonda (near Lepakshi) for breakfast at the Andhra style restaurant and reached Kurnool at about 11:30 AM. So the first 360 KM was covered pretty quick in a little over 4 hours on the smooth AH43.

After Kurnool, the road is all undivided road all the way till Srisailam passing through Atmakur, Dornala, took 4 hours to cover 180 KM and reached Srisailam at 4PM.

Had lunch at Hotel Chakram at Atmakur. The road through Nallamala forest is very narrow, hardly space for two vehicles to pass with both remaining on the road. Have to exercise caution and slow down and be careful if you need to get off the road as the tar road edge can be higher than the muddy sides.
After Dornala, you need to take left and drive through the forested(ghat) road. The road is pretty smooth and not so narrow. There are a number of blind curves, its better to honk when the traffic is not visible on the other side of these curves.

The temple trust has a number of rooms, you can book online and I found them to be pretty decent(clean, spacious, with AC and geyzer) .

Didn't book the APTDC Hotel Harita as I didn't come across good reviews of it. Just out of curiosity, visited this hotel for lunch and it was silent with no customer inside. No one came and asked what we'd like to have. No service attitude at all ("We'll get our salary from Government whether we serve/work or not") So just left the place.

Hotel Trishul is the best place for food at Srisailam (variety, hygiene and service). Spent the whole of the second day visiting all the places (all nearby within 15 km). There is hardly any water in the reservior due to the scant rainfall. Returned back on the third day. Avoid your visit during weekends (Saturday to Monday) as it can get crowded.