[gops619]

Completed Hyderabad Kumbakonam round trip last week.

Onwards, 26 January, Hyderabad to Vaitheeswaran Kovil was our stop for the night and proceeded to Kumbakonam the next morning via Mayiladuthurai.

Route: Malkajgiri-Addanki-Tindivanam-Puducherry
Start 3:45am - End 4:45pm (~850kms)
Breaks: Skyview (Breakfast), 99km Coffee Magic(Lunch)
Stay: Hotel Sadabisegam
Puducherry to Cuddalore was a slow stretch even for a Sunday afternoon, the rest is good barring flyover works diversions along the route. Chennai Chengalpet stretch seemed like having traffic stops by the dozen.

In Kumbakonam for 4 nights, we drove to many temples nearby and also to Thanjavur and Trichy on separate days. The newly opened Thanjavur-Kumbakonam highway is impressive, but has plenty of wrong side driving to be vary of.
Stay: Lee Benz Ark Hotel
Return, January 31, Google showed Chittoor route as fastest but I prefer divided lanes for long as possible
Route: Kumbakonam-Anaikarai-Jayankondam-Ulundurpet-Nellore-Nalgonda-Malkajgiri
Start: 4:50AM - End 7:40pm (~910kms)
Breaks: A2B Olakkul(Breakfast), Skyview(Lunch), Hotel Vivera(Coffee)
Kumbakonam to Ulundurpet took around 1 hour 45 minutes avoiding all village traffic early morning. I would prefer this route to Kumbakonam until Vikravandi highway is completed. Rest is almost same onwards journey.

Couldn't find a dedicated thread for Hyderabad to Kumbakonam. Mods, please move post to existing thread, if any or please have a new thread for route queries, future updates.