[Shiwik]

Any new updates on the route to Tiruvannamalai? I am planning to start at about 12 noon today. I usually take the Harur route but that gets a little too long and looking at some of the earlier posts, it seems the NH66 is not too bad these days. I definitely intend to try NH 66 atleast one way today (either via Mathur or Tirupattur). My preference would be via Mathur but if that is too bad i wouldn't mind the Tirupattur deviation. Ground clearance and a little rough roads should not be a problem (unless there are huge pot holes). I am driving my Aria which excels both in GC and suspension.

Advance thanks for a quick response

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

Any new updates on the route to Tiruvannamalai? I am planning to start at about 12 noon today.

Looks like a delayed reply to your query. You can go via Krishnagiri, Bargur, Titupattur, Singarapettai, Chengam to T V Malai. I drove till Chengam in the last week of May 2016 and the roads were very good to drive.

[Shiwik]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

Any new updates on the route to Tiruvannamalai? I am planning to start at about 12 noon today. I usually take the Harur route but that gets a little too long and looking at some of the earlier posts, it seems the NH66 is not too bad these days. I definitely intend to try NH 66 atleast one way today (either via Mathur or Tirupattur). My preference would be via Mathur but if that is too bad i wouldn't mind the Tirupattur deviation. Ground clearance and a little rough roads should not be a problem (unless there are huge pot holes). I am driving my Aria which excels both in GC and suspension.

Advance thanks for a quick response

Took the usual shortest route from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai. The roads are still not the best but have come a long way from what it used to be. There are rough patches intermittently till Chengam but it is motor-able for most parts. Road from Chengam to Tiruvannamali is brilliant (wide and good). Interestingly they were trying to bypass all the villages en-route which is a good thing. It took me 5.5 hours way up (with a 45min Lunch break) and 4.5 hours way back (with a 45 min dinner break).

In summary take this route as against the Harur route. You definitely save about an hour. I also did not see any road work happening, so i presume this is probably as good as it can get. It could also be that folks were off for the Diwali holidays but i travelled there on a Monday and Diwali was on a Saturday. One other thing - the Chengam bypass route has a new restaurant (poovika). Would recommend that place for a good break for food. Although it is a huge prominent place right on the main road, you could easily end up missing it because it is actually a ceramics store and the restaurant is a smaller complex attached to it.

[sandsun7]

Need to drive Bangalore-Thiruvannamalai-Bangalore on this 25th. Is the Krishnagiri-Thirupattur-Singarapettai-Chengam-TVmalai route still the best option? Any recent updates?
Any pointers to locate the turn off towards Thirupattur from the Krishnagiri-Vellore Highway?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Need to drive Bangalore-Thiruvannamalai-Bangalore on this 25th. Is the Krishnagiri-Thirupattur-Singarapettai-Chengam-TVmalai route still the best option? Any recent updates?
Any pointers to locate the turn off towards Thirupattur from the Krishnagiri-Vellore Highway?

After Krishnagiri, you will have directions to turn towards Bargur. From Bargur, proceed towards Tirupattur. From Tirupattur head towards Singarapettai and then the regular route to T V Malai via Chengam
I drove on the Tirupattur route while going to Chennai in the 3rd week of December 2016.
Bargur-Tirupattur-Singarapettai-Chengam has good roads enroute.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Need to drive Bangalore-Thiruvannamalai-Bangalore on this 25th. Is the Krishnagiri-Thirupattur-Singarapettai-Chengam-TVmalai route still the best option? Any recent updates?

Alternative is to continue on NH 7 beyond Krishnagiri towards Dharmapuri and take the Morappur-Teerthamalai-Tiruvannamalai route.
Or take the longer route via Vellore.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

After Krishnagiri, you will have directions to turn towards Bargur. From Bargur, proceed towards Tirupattur. From Tirupattur head towards Singarapettai and then the regular route to T V Malai via Chengam
I drove on the Tirupattur route while going to Chennai in the 3rd week of December 2016.
Bargur-Tirupattur-Singarapettai-Chengam has good roads enroute.

Thanks a lot. Chengam-Tiruvannamalai I heard has very good recently relaid roads. So the entire stretch should be good then. Should 5 hours be realistically enough to cover the Bangalore(kanakapura NICE road junction) to Arunai Engneering college, TVmalai? We have a presentation to make scheduled at 10 AM, so a 5 AM start would be fine?

Originally Posted by NPV

Alternative is to continue on NH 7 beyond Krishnagiri towards Dharmapuri and take the Morappur-Teerthamalai-Tiruvannamalai route.
Or take the longer route via Vellore.

The Dharmapuri-Morappur route I see is 40kms longer. Does this offer any significant time advantage in spite of the extra distance?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Thanks a lot. Chengam-Tiruvannamalai I heard has very good recently relaid roads. So the entire stretch should be good then. Should 5 hours be realistically enough to cover the Bangalore(kanakapura NICE road junction) to Arunai Engneering college, TVmalai? We have a presentation to make scheduled at 10 AM, so a 5 AM start would be fine?



The Dharmapuri-Morappur route I see is 40kms longer. Does this offer any significant time advantage in spite of the extra distance?

5 AM start from Bangalore should be perfect. Have your breakfast completed at Krishnagiri at any cost. Reason being after krishnagiri till TV Malai, there are no options to break for food. You will find shops that sell juice, biscuits etc enroute but to the best of my knowledge I did not spot any decent hotel similar to Saravana Bhavan category when i drove on this stretch.

The Krishnagiri-Kambainallur-Morappur-Harur-Teerthamalai-Thanipadi route is 40 kms longer but post Thanipadi the road conditions till T V Malai could be bumpy. Need to check on the latest updates.

Also remember while going to T V Malai on the Morappur-Harur route, after reaching Harur do not ask the locals how to go to T V Malai. They will direct you via Uthangarai, Singarapettai to go to T V Malai.
Instead ask the locals the direction to Teerthamalai. Reason being when the regular route was in tatters, people preferred the Harur route to T V Malai. After reaching Harur, people asked the locals the direction to T V Malai for which they were directed to go via Uthangarai. That implied again joining the old route that resulted in a horrible journey.
So the catch was to ask the locals how to go to Teerthamalai and not T V Malai.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

The Dharmapuri-Morappur route I see is 40kms longer. Does this offer any significant time advantage in spite of the extra distance?

The only advantage was that it avoids the NH route between Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai which was a horror to say the least, but is now being restored in parts. Only recently, the Bargur route is being looked at as an alternative.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

5 AM start from Bangalore should be perfect. Have your breakfast completed at Krishnagiri at any cost.

A colleague who would be joining us has agreed to parcel a light breakfast, so would not need to stop for breakfast en route. Will probably have something after reaching TVmalai. Hopefully there is at least one decent restaurant in TV malai town. Anyways thanks a lot for the information.

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

The Krishnagiri-Kambainallur-Morappur-Harur-Teerthamalai-Thanipadi route is 40 kms longer but post Thanipadi the road conditions till T V Malai could be bumpy. Need to check on the latest updates.

Originally Posted by NPV

The only advantage was that it avoids the NH route between Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamalai which was a horror to say the least, but is now being restored in parts. Only recently, the Bargur route is being looked at as an alternative.

Will stick to Suresh's recommended route via Thirupattur.

[sandsun7]

Did Bangalore-Tiruvannamalai-Bangalore yesterday. Started from home near Hebbal at 4.30 AM and was at my destination (Arunai Engineering college, TVmalai) at 8.30. Took the route suggested by Suresh-: Krishnagiri-Bargur-Tirupathur-Singarapettai-chengam bypass-Tvmalai.

Updates below:
Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Bargur: Excellent 6 lane highway, well known.

Bargur-Tirupattur: Very good roads. Looks like this stretch was recently re-asphalted. Many speed breakers which were earlier there seem to be removed now.

Tirupattur-Singarapettai: Barring the first 2 kms where some digging work was going on, surface is very good all the way. Traffic was light. Negotiating Tirupattur town was also not so difficult. There are clear markings.

Singarapettai-Chengam: This is the only stretch which has a few bad sections. On either side of those 50-100 metres stretches, the road is very broad and good. But the bad stretches can catch you by surprise. I had a nervy moment at one such stretch when I accelerated on very good stretch of the road only to find an abrupt end and a big broken section ahead. This can be very dangerous as you don't see the broken stretch until you approach very close to it. Pic attached below:


Chengam bypass: The bypass is in very good condition except 2 stretches where small bridges are in construction (Work seem to be stalled, did not see any machinery around). See pic below:





Chengam-TVmalai: Excellent wide roads. No lane markings etc but very wide road.

Started return journey from Arunai college at 2.45 PM and reached back home at 9 PM with a 1 hour break at Ramana maharshi ashram and a 30 min break for tea at hotel Aaryas, Tirupattur. Got stuck at Ecity Konena agrahara signal for close to 30 minutes. Took the NECE road-Nayandahalli-HMT route to reach back home. Traffic was very heavy on NECE. Was literally like driving inside a crowded city.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Bargur-Tirupattur: Very good roads. Looks like this stretch was recently re-asphalted. Many speed breakers which were earlier there seem to be removed now.

I traveled on the above stretch in the last week of May 2016 and the roads were excellent to drive at that period itself. One can except some traffic in Tirupattur town otherwise no issues.

[dhuli]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Did Bangalore-Tiruvannamalai-Bangalore yesterday. Took the route suggested by Suresh-: Krishnagiri-Bargur-Tirupathur-Singarapettai-chengam bypass-Tvmalai.

Thank you for the update!

When I googled your route, I got this https://goo.gl/maps/ehSR1CRAzss

Can you confirm this? Specifically, at which place do you get off the AH45 to head to Tirupattur?

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by dhuli

Thank you for the update!

When I googled your route, I got this https://goo.gl/maps/ehSR1CRAzss

Can you confirm this? Specifically, at which place do you get off the AH45 to head to Tirupattur?

I exited the Chennai Highway exactly 14 kms after turning left from the Salem highway at Krishnagiri. Look out for the exit to Bargur which is well marked, take that exit on to the service road, turn right under the flyover and then straight on to Bargur town. It is a straight road to Tirupattur from Bargur. Almost 90% of the route between Bargur and TVmalai is well marked with direction as well as distance boards.
Google shows a slightly different route avoiding Bargur town, but I did not try that.

[jaaz]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Did Bangalore-Tiruvannamalai-Bangalore

Singarapettai-Chengam: This is the only stretch which has a few bad sections. On either side of those 50-100 metres stretches, the road is very broad and good. But the bad stretches can catch you by surprise. I had a nervy moment at one such stretch when I accelerated on very good stretch of the road only to find an abrupt end and a big broken section ahead. This can be very dangerous as you don't see the broken stretch until you approach very close to it. Pic attached below:

Thanks for the update. I'll be driving Bangalore to Pondicherry. I guess, I can follow the same route upto T V Malai.

Singarapettai to Chengam is about 55 kms. Can you just give an idea or approx. locations where rough patches are there. One of our member had a Oil sump damage on this stretch last week. As per his details, it was 10-15 kms before Chengam. I guess, it's the same dip, which you've mentioned as scary.