[Tharle Subba]

Visited Mantralayam this past Saturday in my uncle's Hyundai Exter AMT. The occupants were my uncle, my father and myself.

Departure - 3:00 a.m.
Arrival: 8:30 a.m.
Route taken: Bangalore - Anantapur - Gooty - Pattikonda - Aspari - Adoni Bypass - Yemmiganur - Mantralayam
Route conditions: The drive between Bangalore to Gooty is great with a couple of diversions. The road after Gooty is patched, but not at all places. Certain places still sting with potholes. Also, the patchwork is extremely poor, leading to a very bumpy ride. Adoni bypass to Mantralayam is a breeze as always.
Journey time: 5:30 hours
Toll:
- Devanahalli - INR 110
- Bagepalli - INR 115
- Marur - INR 140
- Kasepalli - INR 125
- Halaharvi - INR 50

Started the return leg at 1 p.m. Like last time, chose to return via Madhavaram and Guntakal. Unfortunately, this route had deteriorated compared to my last drive in December 2024. Net-net, both roads are now equally painful.

Route taken: Mantralayam - Madhavaram- Adoni - Alur - Guntakal - Gooty - Anantapur - Bangalore

Managed to reach my uncle's house in Vijayanagar at 7 p.m.

Journey time: 6 hours
Toll:
- Kasepalli - INR 60
- Marur - INR 70
- Bagepalli - INR 60
- Devanahalli - INR 55

Stats for the nerds

Total distance - 782 km
Total travel time - 11:30 hours
Fuel consumption (Petrol) - 49 litres
Total toll - INR 785

Happy driving!

[fly]

Visited Mantralayam in my Tata Altroz(Manual Petrol) on 23/03/2025 and returned back on 24/03/2025 with two passengers and myself.
(Note: This was my first time visit to Mantralayam in my own car)

Route taken: Bengaluru - Ananathapuram Bypass - Gooty - Pattikonda Bypass - Chinna Hulti - Jutur - Gudikallu - Yemmiganur - Mantralayam

I used the same route while coming back too.

Road from Bengaluru to Gooty is great. Then from Gooty to Chinna Hulti it is a double road with few potholes but manageable. Then from Chinna Hulti to Yammiganur the road is good, but it is a single road, it is difficult to overtake sometimes but given the low number of vehicles using this route, I felt this is manageable.

Food details:
I had my dinner in the temple which was good.
Since the other day was Ekadashi and no Prasada is served in the temple, I went to Manatralaya Mami Mess which served a combo breakfast consisting of Poori, Idli, Upma, Pongal, vada and I liked them all.
Went to Paakashala at Anantpur for lunch, we took Butter masala dosa and it was not at all tasty and I saw another family leaving the Pani puri that they bought. I would not recommend this to anyone.

As this is my first reply, I did not take note of the total distance, time and other details during the trip. Will try to keep them noted and update here for my next trip.

Thanks to this thread of TeamBHP for helping me plan properly.

[asmr]

Hello all,

I am planning to visit Mantralayam sometime this month to complete a vow. I thought I could drive from Chennai but plans got changed and family had to drop out of the trip plan.

I have the option of booking tatkal tickets or flying to Kurnool and back. Given the timing, I am more inclined to just take the second option. However, I am not sure about places to stay (saw only one post here with DVR mansion being recommended in Kurnool), food options, road connectivity options with Mantralayam etc.

I am thinking it would be a good grounding experience for me to stay in Kurnool for 2 nights, take the APSRTC/TSRTC bus option for a day trip to Mantralayam and cover Panchamukha Anjaneya temple as well using share taxis/share autos. If there are any other places to cover in a matter of a few hours, I can bake those in to the schedule but I do intend to get back to Kurnool the same day.

The last time I have been to Mantralayam was some 30 years back by train with my family and am sure things are very different now. So, it would greatly appreciated if people who have traveled to Mantralayam recently and/or are familiar with Kurnool area as well can share any tips by which I can plan this better.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by asmr

I have the option of booking tatkal tickets or flying to Kurnool and back. Given the timing, I am more inclined to just take the second option.

I am thinking it would be a good grounding experience for me to stay in Kurnool for 2 nights, take the APSRTC/TSRTC bus option for a day trip to Mantralayam and cover Panchamukha Anjaneya temple as well using share taxis/share autos.

I honestly don't see the value in flying to Kurnool and then taking the bus to Mantralayam.

Best route to Mantralayam from Kurnool is via Aspari, which is a good 50 km over the shortest route via Kodumur. It takes the same 2.5 hours.

None of the routes from NH7 are in flawless state. All 3 routes I've driven take 11-12 hours for the Madras-Mantralayam drive. You can see the updates from post 17 (Chennai to Mantralayam : Route Queries).

If you are not comfortable driving 650-700 km then take the train. An alternate to direct trains, you can combine Madras-Bangalore Vande Bharat/Shatabdi and Bangalore-Gulbarga Vande Bharat. It takes roughly the same time as driving overall. MALM station is just 14 km from the town.

The town and roads have changed significantly in 30 years. Mantralayam was a small shrine when I first saw circa 1999-2000. There have been significant changes even since 2012.

On Kurnool, you also have Suraj Grand. Kurnool Haritha is just ok for an overnight stay.

[asmr]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I honestly don't see the value in flying to Kurnool and then taking the bus to Mantralayam.

Thank you for your response sir.

The trains from Chennai are all booked full for weeks now. Hence, the flight option was being considered. I shall look in to the Vande Bharat option. Usually, they are not fully booked and can be reserved at shorter notice.

I guess I can get autos/taxis to go to nearby places as needed.

Any suggestions on decent places to stay/eat in Mantralayam?

Thanks again!

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by asmr

The trains from Chennai are all booked full for weeks now.

MALM being on the Bombay train route is always booked. You may try in Pune/Bombay quota just in case.

If you are ok with the 2 Vande Bharat option, the Gulbarga VB is mostly available.

Am not familiar on the local travel options, apart from the share autos that do Mantralayam-Panchamukha Anjaneya trips.

You can look at SRS Matha stay or Abode for stay. I've not explored other options. Adode is expensive, so it is available in relatively short notice (< 1 month)

[galahad]

Any suggested routes these days for Mantralayam to Hampi/Hospet ,kindly share inputs

[ampere]

Originally Posted by galahad

Any suggested routes these days for Mantralayam to Hampi/Hospet ,kindly share inputs

I think the standard route would be Mantralayam-Adoni-Alur-Bellari-Hospet

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by galahad

Any suggested routes these days for Mantralayam to Hampi/Hospet ,kindly share inputs

I have heard from my relative who traveled recently, and the taxi people who do trips to Mantralaya, whether you take the Kurnool-Veldurthi route or the Adoni-Yemmiganur route, the travel time does not change much because of the bad stretches you encounter on the way to Mantralaya. If you are planning daytime driving, take the Kurnool-Veldurthi route; if planning for a midnight or early morning route, the second option is preferred.

[galahad]

So i did this stretch on Apr 30, passed Anantapur around 545am. All great till Gooty and even the Pattikonda bypass. Ended up following google maps/local checks through small roads such as Billekal-Yemmiganur (32 km) and some others . Lost some 30 mins from the original map estimate and before reaching Mantralaya at around 920am.

I even took screenshots of the recent suggestions and yet burnt it. Should have probably added Alur bypass as a google map intermediate stop to have avoided this confusion

[galahad]

Originally Posted by ampere

I think the standard route would be Mantralayam-Adoni-Alur-Bellari-Hospet

Thanks. Took this from Mantralaya to Hosapete, started around 1130pm. Google map was confused when we departed from the temple, between the Raichur road and the Yemmiganur road. Good to be prepared in advance with the routes.
Didn't spot any fuel pumps or eateries with restroom facilities until nearing Bellary. Took a 15 min power nap by the roadside under a rare canopy at 1pm;location - Hathi Belagal after Adoni bypass, also had a Rs.10 tea.

Spotted a HP fuel pump earlier on this road converted to a local political meeting venue


Reached Hosapete ~ 320pm

[asmr]

Originally Posted by narayans80

MALM being on the Bombay train route is always booked. You may try in Pune/Bombay quota just in case... Adode is expensive, so it is available in relatively short notice (< 1 month)

Just wanted to give a quick update on this.

I did manage to go visit Mantralayam in the second week of April. The trip was only for 2 days. Traveled by train on tatkal tickets and stayed at Hotel Abode. Departed from Chennai Egmore on Tuesday morning 6:35AM, reached Chennai Egmore on Wednesday night by 10:25PM.

Thanks for all the inputs!

I shall write a detailed post when time permits and post in the travelogue section.