[Avinash_R]

Update:

Went ahead with 1 day trip:

Started in the morning at 4:15 am and there was slight traffic till the International Airport. But after that, it was just smooth sailing.

Took the Veldurthi-Laddagiri-Kodumur-Yemmiganur road and almost missed the Laddagiri exit. Total travel time - 5 hours 45 mins. Stopped twice to catch up on breakfast which we had made at home. What better place to have breakfast than on cotton fields or sorrounded by sun flowers Reached Mantralayam, took up 2 non-ac rooms in SVG, went to the temple at around 11am and finished darshan by 12. We had to wait 1.5 hours for food though and when it came, the taste was worth the wait.

Headed to Panchamukhi Anjaneya temple at around 3:30 after taking a power nap (about 21 kms further away from Mantralaya) and then headed back to Bangalore at around 5:15 pm. We got so engrossed in conversations that we forgot and landed up on the Gooty-Adoni route and got stuck at the railway crossing for 30 minutes. Once we came up back on the Hyd highway, we stopped at a restaurant called Blue Moon where the food was surprisingly good but on a slightly expensive side with less choices on the menu at that time. Reached bangalore at 12:30. Total Travel time: 6hrs 45 mins + 30 mins for dinner.

As people have advised here, please avoid Gooty-Adoni route even though it is shorter than Veldurthi-Laddagiri-Kodumur-Yemmiganur road by about 30-40 kms. You will encounter lots of villages, speedbreakers, broken roads, narrow roads on the former while on the latter, we hardly felt any issues save for one small stretch of the journey. There are a lot of petrol bunks on the latter route as well.

Took my petrol Fiesta 1.6S and it gave me a mileage of 19kmpl :-)

Given a choice though, I would stay overnight and not do a 1 day journey.

Thanks to everyone here for the inputs. Really helped a lot with the pleasant experience we had.

[babu.sundaram]

I have a wedding to attend at Chitradurga and we planned to extend the trip to Mantralaya. Now the dilemma, as I dont know the the route via Bellary:
- Should we go via Bellary or via Anantpur (~60 KM round about)?

Would be travelling with my toddler, so a round about is good compromise if I can maintain a constant (though slow) speed along with lesser surprises.

Planning to leave tomorrow morning, quick help please!

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by babu.sundaram

I have a wedding to attend at Chitradurga and we planned to extend the trip to Mantralaya.
Would be travelling with my toddler, so a round about is good compromise if I can maintain a constant (though slow) speed along with lesser surprises.

Planning to leave tomorrow morning, quick help please!

Nothing to worry, from Chitradurga you can go to Bellary via Challakere. The road is in good shape, from Bellary roads are Ok upto the border of Karnataka. The roads are better in AP, it should take 3 hours from Guntakal to Mantralaya. Please avoid the road to Alur from Bellary via Karekallu as it is horrible.

[babu.sundaram]

Originally Posted by babu.sundaram

...

Change of plans. Had skipped marriage and went to Mantralayam alone!

Up and down, both via Veldurthi-Laddagiri from Bangalore. Except for a couple of KMs after Laddagiri, good roads throughout.

Food options are pretty limited. Had lunch at Kamat on the way. On return had in a place called "UP Dhaba" (Good food, nothing exotic though. This is not authentic UP and is run by Kannada speaking people! ).

All toll booths accept debit cards, so it was a cashless travel !

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by babu.sundaram

All toll booths accept debit cards, so it was a cashless travel !

Good to hear that. Did you check if they accept credit cards? I prefer credit at new places to play safe
Visiting Mantralaya over this weekend. Thanks for the update.
Regards

[babu.sundaram]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Good to hear that. Did you check if they accept credit cards? I prefer credit at new places to play safe
Visiting Mantralaya over this weekend. Thanks for the update.
Regards

No, they said no to credit card. But Paytm is accepted in couple of toll booths. They have wireless machines, so you can get the machine to punch PIN yourself, without getting out of car.

You could also get Fastag at Devanahalli or Marur toll.
(DL, RC, address proofs + a photo needed to buy Fastag at Point of Sale). I couldn't get Fastag as the Fastag guy said his laptop crashed and Marur guy doesnt work on Sundays.

[rajivtelang]

Hi,

There is a road from Kurnool to Mantralaya that goes parallel to Tungabhadra river and very close to river bank. Just watching this road since if it is good it will be the best road for Mantralaya. It is called "Sunkesula" road on google maps. Reason being you will be on NH-7 all the time before you take a left on this road. No need to enter Kurnool, bypass the city, continue further and take this road. Distance from NH-7 to Mantralaya via this road is ~70KMs.
Anybody tried this road ever? Any updates will be great. I am trying to visit Mantralaya over weekend.

Regards

[rajivtelang]

Visited Mantralaya over weekend. Started at 5.30AM on Saturday and took the Veldurthi road. Reached at 12.30PM with 30 min breakfast halt at Kamat Upachar, Chikkaballapur.
Started return journey on Sunday 12.30PM and reached home at 8.30PM with 1 hour lunch break at Blue Moon. While reaching Bangalore traffic slowed us down drastically.
The road from Yemmiganur to Mantralaya is widened and there is an upcoming toll booth. Also they have put speed limit of 100KMPH. With this road going through villages, there are sheep, cows and people walking around. Why there needs to be toll for such a road? Also who will drive at 100KMPH and have a serious accident?

[deehunk]

Hi Rajiv, I was also there at Mantralayam at the same time and took the same route. Which was your car? May be we walked across each other, for the return journey we took Adoni-Alur-Guntakal-Gooty-Devanahalli-Whitefield route to avoid highly expensive tolls and avoid traffic. I was there with my BIL and sister in Grey Duster AMT.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Hi Rajiv, I was also there at Mantralayam at the same time and took the same route. Which was your car? May be we walked across each other, for the return journey we took Adoni-Alur-Guntakal-Gooty-Devanahalli-Whitefield route to avoid highly expensive tolls and avoid traffic. I was there with my BIL and sister in Grey Duster AMT.

I was in a granite grey ertiga. I saw many dusters but did not pay attention to any as such.
One question on your return route. I assume this route goes via Hosakote. Is this route really good to avoid traffic?
I am sick of the returning traffic especially on Sunday evenings when many cars return to Bangalore. If there is a less jamming road it is always welcome.

Regards,

[rohiT Nonu]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Hi,

There is a road from Kurnool to Mantralaya that goes parallel to Tungabhadra river and very close to river bank. Just watching this road since if it is good it will be the best road for Mantralaya. It is called "Sunkesula" road on google maps. Reason being you will be on NH-7 all the time before you take a left on this road. No need to enter Kurnool, bypass the city, continue further and take this road. Distance from NH-7 to Mantralaya via this road is ~70KMs.
Anybody tried this road ever? Any updates will be great. I am trying to visit Mantralaya over weekend.

Regards

I've been to mantralayam from Alampur via Sunkesula road recently on 19th November 2016. According to google maps it showed me 2hrs as max travel time to reach mantralayam from alampur. Oh gosh!!! that was the worst decision I've ever made. On my return journey to hyderabad, I took the Mantralayam-Yemmiganur-Kurnool-Hyd road. It was a breeze to go. I would recommend travelling to mantralayam via Yemmiganur. It just took me 1hr30mins to be back to Kurnool-HYD highway.
On sunkesula road, 95% of the distance to mantralayam from Alampur, I drove at max speed of 40kmph. At the last 10kms nearing to mantralayam I drove at 120kmph. On Mantralayam-Yemmiganur road my average speed was between 80-100kmph.

[deehunk]

Yes, it is via Hoskote but not the route taken by Airport taxis. This is a parallel road and connects the NH and continues upto Hope farm circle via Koralur, Channasandra.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by rohiT Nonu

I've been to mantralayam from Alampur via Sunkesula road recently on 19th November 2016. According to google maps it showed me 2hrs as max travel time to reach mantralayam from alampur. Oh gosh!!! that was the worst decision I've ever made. On my return journey to hyderabad, I took the Mantralayam-Yemmiganur-Kurnool-Hyd road. It was a breeze to go. I would recommend travelling to mantralayam via Yemmiganur. It just took me 1hr30mins to be back to Kurnool-HYD highway.
On sunkesula road, 95% of the distance to mantralayam from Alampur, I drove at max speed of 40kmph. At the last 10kms nearing to mantralayam I drove at 120kmph. On Mantralayam-Yemmiganur road my average speed was between 80-100kmph.

I am convinced that the sunkesula road is not good for Bangalore Mantralaya drive. From Veldurthi the distance to Mantralaya is 84KMs via Kodmur with good roads and minimum villages. Whereas if we continue till Kurnool and take sunkesula road to reach Mantralaya it adds 106KMs from Veldurthi as per google maps. And if this road is bad, it makes 0 sense to take it. So fastest road to Mantralaya from Bangalore is via Veldurthi Kodmur.

Regards,

[rajivtelang]

Planning to visit Mantralaya again on 18th Feb. Any updates on any routes please. I will be taking veldurthy kodamur yemmiganur road as usual to and fro.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Planning to visit Mantralaya again on 18th Feb. Any updates on any routes please. I will be taking veldurthy kodamur yemmiganur road as usual to and fro.

You are travelling from Bangalore, Correct? The road condition is good. No worries. The road is straight forward Bangalore - Gooty - Adoni - Mantralayam