[ampere]

Originally Posted by csentil

I did this road a couple of months back. Very very sparse traffic. Few buses and lorries. Some local traffic. The only major town as I mentioned earlier is Kuppam and that too has a nice bypass bridge over the railway track. Peaceful drive. Palmaner to Kuppam is around 105kms+. Took us around 90 minutes to do it in a Swift. Couple of small ghat sections to add to the variety!!

Wow! Seems like a good road to experiment too! I would like to try the Sarjapur Malur link to this road and see how good is it.

[hunt]

6.30 hrs travel time including a pit stop at anand bhavan , its just before the thopur ghat and before the toll.

started at 7.30 am and reached home at 2 pm

fantastic drive in scorpio and what to say , roads are good.

tirupati - chittor- vellore- krishnagiri-salem- coimbatore.

straight road 4 lane and few places its double road. but you cant ask more 550 km covered.

[sudheermenon]

Hi Everyone,

I am planning another trip to tirupati. The route I have selected is

Coimbatore - Perundurai - Bhavani - Mettur - Thoppur - Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Kuppam - Palmaner - Chittoor outer - Tirupati.

I am doing the Krishnagiri-kuppam-tirupati route for the first time. How is the current road condition?

Thanks

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

But why kuppam and why not via Vellore where you get more GQ? IIRC, it is 30 KM on odd state highway from Vellore to Chittoor.

I have not done the route you suggest.

[ampere]

Krishnagiri-kuppam-Venkatagirikota-Palamaner is NH219 which a good 2L highway. A bit desolate, but good for daytime drives (hardly any traffic).

Not recommended for night driving.

From Palamaner turn on to NH4.
Palamaner-Chitoor-Bypass-Chandragiri-Tirupati.

If you take this route then sequence becomes:

NH47-NH7-NH219-NH4-NH18- SH (diversion through Chandragiri)-NH205.

CBE-Salem-Krishnagiri (Can take the Mettur route as you please. Choice is up to you)

Krishnagiri-kuppam-Venkatagirikota-Palamaner-hitoor-Bypass-Chandragiri-Tirupati

GM Route:
http://maps.google.co.in/maps?f=d&so...4&ie=UTF8&z=13


EDIT: I have corrected to add Chitoor By-pass in the google map route.

[sudheermenon]

Thanks everybody.

@Backseatdriver, the reason I chose Kuppam route is, it seems to be shorter than the other route

@Ampere, anyidea about the road condition from Krishnagiri to Tirupati>

Thanks once again

[sudheermenon]

Thanks csentil!

Also regarding the Coimbatore-Krishnagiri route, which one would be better? Via Mettur or via Salem?

Which one is shorter and faster? Also any idea about the 4lane work?

Thanks

[jeevmenon]

Just out of curiosity sudheermenon, which is the route you took 2.5 yrs back when you raised the query?

Btw, folks - wont the Bathery route be too round-about to reach Tirupati from Kochi?

[sudheermenon]

@jeevmenon, 2.5yrs back I took the Mettur route. At that time the 4lane work thru the salem route was going on and there was heavy traffic.

[ampere]

Nh219 via Kuppam is in good condition. Its a decent 2L highway.

[sudheermenon]

Hi everyone,

I completed the trip. Had a good darshan.
On the way to Tirupati I took the Coimbatore-Avinashi-Bhavani-Mettur-Thoppur-Krishnagiri-Kuppam route.
I started off from Cochin at 0515hrs and reached tirupati at 1830Hrs with breakfast and lunch stops of 30-40mins each.
The mettur-thoppur road is not in a good condition. I think that was a wrong decision I took. The kuppam-palamaner route is smooth.

I had to goto Chennai from Tirupati. On my return from Chennai I took the salem route and it was a smooth ride. I started off at 0500Hrs and reached Cochin at 1730Hrs.
Anyone travelling from Chennai-Cochin please avoid the Mettur-Thoppur stretch.
Thanks everyone for your inputs

[ampere]

Thanks for that update. So NH219 does serve as a good option. (Krishnagiri-Palamaner). Did you spot any eating/resting places on this stretch?

[natrajdr]

I'd be driving from Gururvayoor to Bangalore in a couple of weeks. Any inputs on the road condition between Thirssur and Salem. Are they 4 laned?

[sudheermenon]

@ampere: I didn't notice any eat outs specifically as I had my lunch just after Dharmapuri at a BP pump(Adyar Anand Bhavan outlet), it is a good place.

@natrajdr: Trichur to Palakkad the road condition is really bad. But once we enter the TN border the roads are good. The CBE byepass is two lane but still in good condition. After that, its all excellent 4 lane roads.

[natrajdr]

@Sudheer: Thanks for the update.