[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Suresh - are you suggesting I take the straight route to TMalai via Chengam? That will save an hour. If the roads are good, I would love to take this route.
If not, I will take the Vellore route.

Infact I would suggest you to take the bargur, Tirupattur, Singarapettai, Chengam route to T V Malai. My office colleague even suggested that instead of going via Tirupattur, the regular route via Mathur is also good though not as good as the Chengam-Singarapettai stretch.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Google says both the routes take the same time. I will take the Vellore route on the way up and come back via Polur.

I hope you meant Vellore-Polur route on onward journey and return by Theerthamalai-Harur route.

After your posts, I see Suresh has suggested other routes so I'm not sure which one(s) you're finally taking.

Anyways, do keep us posted on your experience & road conditions.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

In the last week of May 2016, I drove from Chetpet to Bangalore via Polur, Chengam, Singarapettai, Tirupattur and Bargur. Very good roads all the way. Infact after Chengam, work is in progress for widening the roads. No issues however.

How is the condition of Chengam-Tiruvannamalai? Is thats good, then I think the Bargur-Thirupattur-Singarapettai option works much better. Are you saying work still in progress, but manageable ?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by ampere

How is the condition of Chengam-Tiruvannamalai? Is thats good, then I think the Bargur-Thirupattur-Singarapettai option works much better. Are you saying work still in progress, but manageable ?

I did not travel on the Chengam- T V Malai stretch but my office colleague whose home town is Puducherry said that there are no issues travelling on the Chengam- T V Malai route. He said unlike the Chengam-Singarapettai route where the roads have been widened, the condition of the Singarapettai-Mathur-Krishnagiri roads is not to that extent of the former but still it is motorable.
I would still prefer the Singarapettai-Tirupattur-Bargur route as against the Mathur route as the roads in the former are great to drive.

[chakri400]

Came back to Bangalore. We took the kgiri > mathur > singaraipettai > chengam > T Malai route on the way up. NPV was right, avoid like a plague, avoid with a barge pole. Kgiri - mathur - s pettai road is bad. Big patches of bad roads and some maintenance work on the road will slow you down.
On hindsight, we should have tried alternate routes that NPV and Suresh suggested - but was destined to write this review by experiencing it myself

On the way back, we took TMalai - Polur - Vellore - Bangalore route as we wanted to visit Vellore temple. TMalai to Vellore is 80 km and we covered in less than 2 hours. Roads are excellent with minimal traffic.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

I did not travel on the Chengam- T V Malai stretch but my office colleague whose home town is Puducherry said that there are no issues travelling on the Chengam- T V Malai route.

Looks like still not there.

Originally Posted by chakri400

Came back to Bangalore. We took the kgiri > mathur > singaraipettai > chengam > T Malai route on the way up. NPV was right, avoid like a plague, avoid with a barge pole. Kgiri - mathur - s pettai road is bad. Big patches of bad roads and some maintenance work on the road will slow you down.

How was Chengam-Tiruvannamalai? If you had gone via Bargur-Thirupattur-Singarapettai, would have solved the problem? I think Vellore is a big big roundabout just for good roads. One should I think still stick to Karimangalam-Morappur-Harur. Its about a 40km extra compared to Vellore which is near 100km more.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by chakri400

Came back to Bangalore. We took the kgiri > mathur > singaraipettai > chengam > T Malai route on the way up. NPV was right, avoid like a plague, avoid with a barge pole.

You could have tried this route Via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Bargur, Tirupattur, Singarapettai, Chengam to T V Malai. Singarapettai-Chengam route is good to drive.

[chakri400]

Originally Posted by ampere

Looks like still not there.

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

You could have tried this route Via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Bargur, Tirupattur, Singarapettai, Chengam to T V Malai. Singarapettai-Chengam route is good to drive.

Chengam-Tiruvannamalai is good. Yes, Vellore is a big roundabout if you are just looking at to and fro from TMalai. We wanted to visit Vellore temple as time permitted. Bargur-Thirupattur-Singarapettai route would be a better bet.

[Thilak29]

Please advise route to Thiruvannamalai from Krishnagiri, both routes differ by 40 kms.

Option 1 or 2 ?

1. Krishnagiri>Bargur>Tirupattur>Singarapettai>Tiruva nnamalai
2. Krishnagiri>Kambainallur>Morappur>Harur>Theerthama lai>Thanipadi>Tiruvannamalai

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Please advise route to Thiruvannamalai from Krishnagiri, both routes differ by 40 kms.

Option 1 or 2 ?

1. Krishnagiri>Bargur>Tirupattur>Singarapettai>Tiruva nnamalai
2. Krishnagiri>Kambainallur>Morappur>Harur>Theerthama lai>Thanipadi>Tiruvannamalai

I would have suggested only Option 2 based on my earlier experience but looking at recent posts by @suresh_gs and @chakri400 I think Option 1 is fine too.
The much longer option 3 would be via Vellore-Polur.

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Krishnagiri>Kambainallur>Morappur>Harur>Theerthama lai>Thanipadi>Tiruvannamalai

On 4 Sep 2016, I drove on the beautiful single/double/4/6-laned village roads/MDR/SH and NH Tirukkoyilur>Manalurpet>Mungilthuraipattu>Theertha malai>Harur>Morappur>Karimangalam>Krishnagiri>Bang alore. Of course, I did not visit Tiruvannamalai. I drove via Thanipadi bypass.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Please advise route to Thiruvannamalai from Krishnagiri, both routes differ by 40 kms.

Option 1 or 2 ?

1. Krishnagiri>Bargur>Tirupattur>Singarapettai>Tiruva nnamalai
2. Krishnagiri>Kambainallur>Morappur>Harur>Theerthama lai>Thanipadi>Tiruvannamalai

I would suggest you to choose either of the options. The stretch from Krishnagiri to Singarapettai is a very good 2 lane road. Also the road from Singarapettai to Chengam is also a good one. I drove on this stretch in the last week of May 2016. Saw road widening work going on at some stretches. Otherwise the tarmac was very good to drive.

[Tempelhof]

Is the Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai route good enough for a Civic? Sometime back I was advised to go through the Morappur route. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Tempelhof

Is the Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai route good enough for a Civic? Sometime back I was advised to go through the Morappur route. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Via Chengam on the old Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai NH 66 route ?

Some variants of the that can be considered but not the direct route, don't even think about it!

See recent posts by @Chakri400 for reference.

Main viable options are via Morappur and other via Vellore, and as per @Suresh_GS, the Tirupattur route too.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Tempelhof

Is the Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai route good enough for a Civic? Sometime back I was advised to go through the Morappur route. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would suggest going via Krishnagiri, bargur, Tirupattur, Singarapettai, Chenagam to T V Malai. I had been on the Krishnagiri-Chengam stretch in the last week of May 2016. Good roads all the way even though we have road widening going on in Singarapettai. it should have been done by now. Hope so

Else go via Krishnagiri, Kambainallur, Morappur, Harur, Thanipadi to T V Malai.