[Sanjubose]

Did BLR -> Mantralayam last weekend. Route is a breeze. Take Blr->Anantapur->Gooty->Left to SH towards Adoni->Yemmigannur->Mantralaya. While going I did Adoni->Mantralaya skipping Yemmiganur but the road was pathetic for 2km stretch.While coming back on sunday did it right and reached bangalore in flat 6 hours including half an hour lunch stop. Please note that there is dearth of restaurants on the way. We had to stop forcefully at Gooty with our stomach in our hands and eat at a run down place. Either you get inside city to explore options or carry food with you. Thanks Ampere for the route.

[praveenp]

Visited Mantralaya over the weekend. Took the route suggested by Sanjubose. Road condition was good throughout. Was surprised to find out that my i20 CRDi delivered 20 KMPL mileage. Had a good darshan at the temple. A new restaurant has opened near Chikkaballapur. I don't remember the name. We have another option now along with Kamat.

Note: It's good to carry sufficient Rs.5 change for tolls.

[rajivtelang]

Visited Mantralaya over weekend. Took usual route Bangalore-Anantapur-Gooty-Adoni-Yemmiganur-Mantralaya. Same route back. It was a cool and pleasant drive as usual. Hit by very heavy rain between Pattikonda and Anantapur so bad that the bushes on the NH divider were uprooted and fallen on the road and almost zero visibility. Not sure but this is the second time in last 3 visits I was hit by very heavy rain in the same patch on road. But the trip is always very good.

[hamster]

Planning to visit Mantralayam this weekend.
The plan is to start early in the morning by around 4 am, reach by 10:30, refresh, have a darshan by 12:00, take a power nap, start by 3 and return by 10-11.
Is this feasible, taking into consideration there are three people who can drive.
Any updates on the road conditions and any good options for break on the way ?

[deehunk]

The roads are good up to Gooty; thereafter it is a narrow stretch up to Mantralaya. Try to avoid early morning truck traffic; it will take about 7-8 hours to reach Mantralaya.

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by hamster

Planning to visit Mantralayam this weekend.
The plan is to start early in the morning by around 4 am, reach by 10:30, refresh, have a darshan by 12:00, take a power nap, start by 3 and return by 10-11.
Is this feasible, taking into consideration there are three people who can drive.
Any updates on the road conditions and any good options for break on the way ?

Upto Gooty the roads are good .After that it is a single road with some patch works in between. After Bangalore , there are no good hotels on the highway,so please carry enough food and water. Maybe there are a few hotels in Ananthpur , but I have never ventured there.

[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by hamster

Planning to visit Mantralayam this weekend.
The plan is to start early in the morning by around 4 am, reach by 10:30, refresh, have a darshan by 12:00, take a power nap, start by 3 and return by 10-11.
Is this feasible, taking into consideration there are three people who can drive.
Any updates on the road conditions and any good options for break on the way ?

As others mentioned, there are not many options on the highway.
If you are starting at 4, then you would be reaching Anantapur around 8 am. So that would be good place to have breakfast. I had lunch at Naveed Residency when I was coming back from Belum. Not sure whether they server breakfast. But I saw many restaurants around this area. So you should be able to find a decent option for breakfast. Keep back up stock, in case you don't find anything suitable.

When you are coming back, you can stop at Kamat which is on the highway just before Chikkaballapur.

[hamster]

^^ Thanks All for the update. Have anyhow planned for backup, in case if we don't find any good options to break and fill (stomach).
The last time we traveled there, remember there was a hotel in Gooty. But never bothered to check.
Any good pointers for filling the car's belly ?
Was under an assumption that we can reach Mantralayam by 10:30, if we leave at 4 am from Bangalore. Looks to be it might take more time.

[hamster]

Trip Update :
Started from B'lore @ 04:15 AM morning.
Since it was an early morning start, was driving at 80kmph till it dawned properly.
Re-laying of road is done before Bagepalli (towards Anantapur) and since it was pitch dark, with no lane markings, had to slow down .
Reached Anantapur @ 07:00 AM.
Fuelled near the Gooty Toll and took a short break of 10-15 mins.
Reached Mantralayam @ 10:00 AM.

Went for Darshan around 11'o clock. There was a bit of crowd due to a public holiday.
Darshan took around 30-45 mins.
We decided to go for our lunch provided by the temple, which took a lot of time.
We were in by around 12:00 and were out only by 02:00.

Took a break for around an hour, started again at 03:15, had a coffee break in Gooty and reached home @ 10:15 with a dinner break of around 30 mins at A2B in the BIAL - Bangalore City Stretch.
Again, while returning too, since there were no lane markers after Bagepalli, combined with rain, we slowed down to 50-60kph.

Couple of other take-away of the ride :
1) Speed Breakers in NH till Anantapur
2) No decent options to eat/break along with family.
3) In Gooty town, the road widening is happening and have to be careful.
4) Pattikonda Byepass remains the same (un-tarred) even since my last visit in 2012.
5) Lot of speed breakers around villages are not marked properly, resulting in panic braking.
6) Overall, if you can plan properly and carry your own food, BLR-Mantralyam is doable in a day.

[Added_flavor]

Bangalore to Mantralayam Day-Trip Update:

Route: Bangalore - Anantpur - Gooty - Aspari - Adoni - Yemmiganur - Mantralayam.

Total Distance: 770 Km (About 385 Km one way)

Towns to be bypassed: Pattikonda and Adoni.

Start Time from Bangalore: 0430
End time at Mantralayam: 1000

Start Time from Mantralayam: 1300
End Time at Bangalore: 1930

(Timings inclusive of all breaks)

1. We had prepared some chapati rollls and bread for breakfast as we knew there are not much breakfast options after Chikkaballapur. Stopped in a safe place near Gooty and had breakfast.

2. Once we got off the Bangalore - Hyderabad NH near Gooty, the roads are average to good. Lot of marked and unmarked speed breakers in and around Gooty, Tuggali, Aspari and Adoni. Road in some stretches inside these towns and villages is bad - but only for a couple of hundred metres.

3. Since we were not staying overnight in Mantralayam, we did not want to pay high room rent in hotels. We approached the Mantralayam Temple central reception office (Next to SBI ATM at the main round-about) and were given a clean 1 bedroom cottage with clean a wash room at a measly rent of INR 100. We used this to freshen up and change to temple attire.

4. On the return, we took the same route. Kamat near Chikkaballapur and Nandi upachar near Nandi hills are some good options for dinner/snacks.

[meetbadri]

I am planning to drive to Mantralayam tomorrow. Will be starting at around 10 AM after performing pooja at home from Bangalore. Are there any good veg only hotels for lunch at Anantapur?

[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by meetbadri

I am planning to drive to Mantralayam tomorrow. Will be starting at around 10 AM after performing pooja at home from Bangalore. Are there any good veg only hotels for lunch at Anantapur?

I had lunch at Naveed Residency when I was returning from Belum Caves. Its about 3 kms from the highway. Easily accessible.

[sada]

Mantralayam trip update: Started from Bangalore on 18th morning at 6:45 AM and reached at 1:45 PM with about half and hour breakfast break. Could have reached by 12:45 -1:00 PM comfortably, but was delayed because of the road expansion work happening on Adoni - Yemmiganur route. You will encounter this bad stretch (could be about 6-8 kms or more) immediately after you take the the right turn to Yemmiganur from Adoni bypass road. I was quite surprised why there was no update about this road work in this thread. So, as of now, we need to take the Adoni-Madhavaram route until this road work is over. My return journey was on 20th via Madhavaram-Adoni and it was time consuming because we cannot bypass Adoni city when we take this route.

[meetbadri]

Completed attached strech just couple of hours back. Here are some of the inputs from my trip.

1) There are no proper place for having a cup of tea or breakfast or lunch all the way till Mantralayam after Chikkaballapur Kamat.
2) At last minute we decided to visit Puttaparthi and had our lunch inside Sri Satya Sai Ashram. Lunch was delicious and price was also reasonable.
3) Roads are very good till Gooty
4) Many potholes and Speed breakers after Gooty all the way till Mantralayam.
5) Try to avoid Adoni - Yemmiganur route as there is a road expansion work in progress and you will end up spending more than 30 minutes to cross a distance of 8 Kms.
6) Adoni - Omnagar - Mantralayam route is proper even though there are lot of Speed breakers.
7) I Purposefully took the Bellary route to check the condition and I completely regret that decision now as there is no road to Bellary from Adoni after Halaharivi to Yerragudi for a distance of about 6 Kms. ( The road is worse than a typical 4 Wheel drive testing roads). I took almost 1 hour to cross that distance in my Ritz and complete 6 Kms span was on 1st Gear.
8) After Yerragudi the roads have improved a lot and reached Bangalore via Challakere, Hiriyur, Sira and Tumkur in a span of four and half hours.

[rajivtelang]

Hi,

There is a map from Kurnool to Mantralaya as per google map. Did anyone try it? In that case the entire inside routes from Gooty to Mantralaya could be avoided and one can take NH-7 all the way till Kurnool. Any information on this route would be very helpful.