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I spotted a Saravana Hotel in Harur through Google Map. Has anyone been here before

Chidambaram-Bangalore per Google maps routing is via Vridhachalam. If roads are not all that great and potholed as per earlier posts, could you suggest an alternative route that permits a smooth ride ? Thanks

I'd stick to the Vriddachalam route. The other option is via Pondy-Cuddalore, which works only if you are doing off timings, due to the traffic on Pondy-Cuddalore section.

There is not much option there. You have to go via Vridhchalam. Its about 80km of a rough ride. But clear good roads beyond.

I travelled on that strecth in May and road laying work was on in full-swing. It is likely to have been completed by now. And the bad stretch was not 80km, if I recall correctly. More like 20-30 kms.

Either you have to go via Vriddhachalam or via Cuddalore. I would recommend the Vriddhachalam route to Chidambaram. But here lies the problem. If you take NH79 (Salem -Ulundurpet NH) after Thalaivasal till Vriddhachalam by pass (NH 532), the road is horrible.
Then to avoid this you have to go from Thalaivasal to Kallakurichi, Ulundurpet to Vriddhachalam.
I can suggest you another route.

Via Hosur, Krishnagiri, Singarapettai, Chengam, T V Malai, Tirukkoilur by pass, Ulundurpet to Vriddhachalam

Now the regular NH66 is vastly improved and infact I travelled on the Polur-Chengam-Singarapettai stretch in the last week of May. Very good roads to drive

that is, indeed, good news :thumbs up

Thank you all for the updates. Vriddhachalam it is.

Cheers

Guys please note, the Anaikarai bridge over Kollidam is now closed for 4 wheelers. You need to use the Jayamkondam T-Palur road to Kumbakonam.

Hi All -
I am planning to visit Kumbakonam from Bangalore in the 1st week of December.
Anyone travelled recently ?
Is the best route via Salem-Attur-Jayakondam-Kumbakonam ?

Please advice.

raghu

Yes this is good. Only updates:

- Use V Koot Road-Veppur-Vridhachalam bypass instead of Ulundurpet.
- This section as reported on the forum is now good
- Anakarai is closed for 4 wheelers.
- Hence you should use T Palur.

+1
One minor correction/update. One of my friend traveled during Deepavali time and confirmed that cars were allowed in Anaikarai bridge. So check at Jayankondam 4 road junction whether to take left to go via Anaikarai or continue straight to go via T.Palur route.

-Ravi

Good data point! Between Aug and Nov this change happened looks like. I went all the way till Anakarai only to be turned down. And then I had to retract to T-Palur. This definitely helps for Kumbakonam. But if one is heading further east its a big set back. One to cover all that extra distance and secondly cover all that traffic prone Kumbakonam bypass section and further down.

Did a quick Bangalore-Kumbakonam-Bangalore trip to attend a condolence.

Left Bangalore at 7 am on Monday 19-Dec-2016 and reached Kumbakonam by 1.30 with 1 hour break at A2B Thoppur for breakfast and refuelling. On the way, till Krishnagiri dense fog was there even till 9 am so the speed was slow for all vehicles.

Took the standard Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Salem-Attur-Thalaivasal-V.Koot Road (NH532)-Veppur-Vridhachalam-Jayamkondam-T.Palur-Kumbakonam route and effective driving time was about 5.30 minutes.

Yesterday did the return journey but this time took Kumbakonam bypass-Anaikarai-GangaiKondaCholapuram-Jayankondam-Vridhachalam-Thalaivasal-Attur-Salem-Bangalore. Traffic is allowed for all vehicles in Anaikarai both directions but controlled/managed by police with walkie-talkie.

Here are the timings.

Kumbakonam Bypass (Naal Road signal) ~ 1 pm
Vridhachalam - 2 pm
Exit NH532 to Join NH79 V.Koot Road - 2.33 pm
Salem - 3.25 pm
Took about 20 minutes to cross salem by pass from Madurai/Ulundurpet bridge to Grand Estancia.
Reached Thoppur A2B - 4.15 pm
10 minutes break for refuellinga and 20 minutes break for Snacks/Tea.
Left Thoppur A2B - 4.45 pm
EC Toll - 6.15 pm
Silkboard - 6.30 pm
And after that usual weekday city traffic took 1 hour to reach home at C.V.Raman Nagar at 7.35 pm.

The newly laid NH532 connecting road from V.Koot Road till Cuddalore via Veppur & Vridhachalam is awesome to drive with negligible traffic. However, you need to be careful on 2 things.
1) Monkeys crossing road suddenly so watch out for that.
2) The last 5 to 10 kilometers before Veppur (That cuts the NH45 Chennai-Trichy highway) while going towards vridhachalam - drive carefully because the farmers occupy complete one single lane in this 2L road for drying rice grains and they keep working. They also keep stones to protect, so you are left with one lane for both directions traffic.

Of late, after this new road is laid, i noticed there are lot of bus traffic between Salem to Chidambaram via cuddalore which was not a sight in last few years in my previous travels.

Overall, we can do Bangalore-Kumbakonam in about 6 hours to 6.30 in a normal day and if lucky/time it well, can be done in 5.30 hours. :thumbs up Thanks to new NH532 road.

PS: FASTag works best in all tolls between Bangalore to Kumbakonam.

-Ravi

Now that the NH532 has been relaid afresh, I guess this can be the fastest route to Cuddalore as against the route via Tirukkoilur, Panruti.

Mod Note: Please avoid quoting the entire post while responding

Yes indeed. Even to reach Chidambaram/Vaitheeswaran koil or further down in ECR, this is the fastest from Bangalore/Salem route IMO.

-Ravi