[lifeinpune]

Dear BHPians,

We have planned a trip to our family deity near Thirurmeyachur Lalithambigai Temple this weekend. Plan to leave on Friday afternoon around 4 PM. Overnight halt at Salem. Leave at 7:30 AM next day reach Thirumeyachur by 1 PM. Leave by 4 PM. Night halt is not decided yet. Considering Trichy or Salem. Salem could get late but better Hotel options and can also reach home early.

Need inputs on the road condition from Salem to Mayiladuthurai. Google shows this route.

[Tempelhof]

Originally Posted by lifeinpune

Dear BHPians,

We have planned a trip to our family deity near Thirurmeyachur Lalithambigai Temple this weekend. Plan to leave on Friday afternoon around 4 PM. Overnight halt at Salem. Leave at 7:30 AM next day reach Thirumeyachur by 1 PM. Leave by 4 PM. Night halt is not decided yet. Considering Trichy or Salem. Salem could get late but better Hotel options and can also reach home early.

Need inputs on the road condition from Salem to Mayiladuthurai. Google shows this route.

Recently visited this temple. The route shown by Google is correct.

However, note that beyond Vriddhachalam there are many sections where road construction is going on and so your effective speed per hour will be less than 30 kmph.

Also, check if the temple is open between 01:00 PM and 04:00 PM. Normally, most temples are closed during this time slot.

With respect to staying, my choices will be (Courtyard by) Marriott in Trichy, or Radission in Salem.

Normally, the rule of thumb anywhere near Kumbakonam / Mayavaram / Thanjavur is 30 kmph - not more.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by lifeinpune

We have planned a trip to our family deity near Thirurmeyachur Lalithambigai Temple this weekend. Plan to leave on Friday afternoon around 4 PM. Overnight halt at Salem. Leave at 7:30 AM next day reach Thirumeyachur by 1 PM. Leave by 4 PM. Night halt is not decided yet. Considering Trichy or Salem. Salem could get late but better Hotel options and can also reach home early.

Originally Posted by Tempelhof

Recently visited this temple. The route shown by Google is correct.

Another easier option:

Start on Sat very-very early say 3:30AM you can reach Mayavaram by 11-12 easily. Check in stay over night. Visit temple the same day evening and the start on Sunday again and drive back home.

You can also plan to stay in Kumbakonam. You can reach Peralam by taking the road via Tirunageshwaram/Kollumangudi. The road used to be great. But I dont how is it these days. But summary start early from Bangalore to reach Mayavaram or Kumbakonam. That is what I would suggest.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by lifeinpune

Dear BHPians,

We have planned a trip to our family deity near Thirurmeyachur Lalithambigai Temple this weekend. Plan to leave on Friday afternoon around 4 PM. Overnight halt at Salem. Leave at 7:30 AM next day reach Thirumeyachur by 1 PM. Leave by 4 PM. Night halt is not decided yet. Considering Trichy or Salem. Salem could get late but better Hotel options and can also reach home early.

Need inputs on the road condition from Salem to Mayiladuthurai. Google shows this route.

Please consider the suggestion mentioned by ampere. I agree that's the better way to plan this trip, instead of halting in Salem which is just 3 hours away from Bangalore.

For sure 99.9% temple will be closed from 12.30 to 4/4.30 pm. Thirumeeyachur is a remote village and many people don't know about Lalithambigai temple even though people are aware of Lalitha Sahasranamam. There aren't good restaurants as well nearby unless you goto Mayavaram/Thirunallar/Kumbakonam.

Its best for you to stay at Kumbakonam which has good hotels , as even Mayavaram is also not having good hotels. Or Stay in Hotel Sadhabishegam in Vaitheeswaran Koil and drive to Thirumeeyachur.

Given that you are going that far, i hope if you have time you can cover other nearby important/popular temples too.

-Ravi

[lifeinpune]

Thanks everyone for your responses. To clarify, our family deity is a small Ayyanar temple that is very close to the Lalithambigai temple. But will extend the time a bit and take darshan of Ambaal as well.

Leaving Saturday early morning is not an option as we have a 5 year old, so comfort is primary requirement. Even otherwise, we try to avoid early morning departures and late night arrivals regardless of mode of transport. I was planning to leave by 4 as I have some work to finish. But will leave before 3:30 PM. Could have considered Trichy during onward as well but 9:30 PM means won't be in shelter after sunset. So I think this works best.

[lifeinpune]

Originally Posted by ravib

Given that you are going that far, i hope if you have time you can cover other nearby important/popular temples too.
-Ravi

Will do a separate leisure trip just for this with some time off from work.

[lifeinpune]

Completed the trip as planned. Onwards, took the route suggested by Google for Salem to Thirumeyachur. The roads after Vridhachalam were manageable. I didn't encounter any significant slowdown due to construction. Started from Salem at 8:15 AM and reached the destination by 12:45 PM. There were quite a few sections that seemed freshly tarred. Guess those might be the sections that templehof tried to point out as possible cause of slowdown. Made brisk progress in those sections due to sparse traffic and the smooth roads.

On the way back, took a night halt at Thanjavur. We reached Thanjavur by 6 PM so found time to visit the Big Temple. The gopuram and vimana were brightly lit. There are multiple lawns within the temple complex. Looks like people combine the visit as a darshan-cum-picnic.

Started next day after a breakfast at the A2B in the city.

The thanjavur-trichy route is fine till you get close to Trichy. Need to be careful as you get close to the city. There are too many barricades and traffic density increases including number of 2-wheelers. After Trichy, took the Route #4 referred to in this port (Bangalore to Trichy : Route Queries). The roads were really good

[NPV]

What's the recommended route for Bangalore-Mayiladuthurai (destination is the Arulmigu Amrithaghateswarar temple, Thirukadaiyur) ?
Gmaps is suggesting going via Tiruvannamalai-Thiyagadurgam-Ulundurpet-Vridhachalam. Is this fine ?

PS:I'm totally unfamiliar with this part of Tamil Nadu, need help from the experts here

[NPV]

Originally Posted by NPV

PS:I'm totally unfamiliar with this part of Tamil Nadu, need help from the experts here

Thanks to @ravib and @ampere, I took the Salem-Attur-Vriddhachalam bypass-Jayankondam-Mayiladuthurai-Thirukadaiyur route, 460Km door to door and it took about ~9 hours both ways including breaks, thanks to lesser weekday traffic that helped with better average speeds.

Somewhere near Mayiladuthurai, gmaps went crazy trying to reroute onto alleys, but just stuck to the main roads and reached the destination.

Onward - started at 5:15am, break at Sai Sangeet Thoppur at 7:15am for breakfast, another short break at A2B Attur around 9:50am (this is on the opposite side of the road and needed a U-turn each both ways for entry and exit). We stopped there thinking we can pack something for lunch since we expected to reach the destination at 3pm or later! A2B had only breakfast/tiffin items so we left after having a coffee. Reached Thirukadaiyur at 2:15pm, on time for lunch at the event we were to attend.

Return - started at 1:15pm, quick stop on East Coast Road at an Indian Oil pump to refuel, stopped at A2B Attur at 5:15pm for a coffee, then a dinner break at Sai Sangeet Thoppur at 7pm, barely escaping darkness on the Thoppur Ghat. Kept to lower speeds post the dinner break due to water logging at few places on account on rain earlier in the evening and the madness of Bangalore bound vehicles - Innovas, Thars, Fortuners and others with all kinds of crazy LED lights and some even had colorful (disco ?) blue and white combo LED lights driving at very high speeds along with their dangerous overtake manoeuvres from left side! I just let all the morons pass and tried to maintain a consistent speed of around 80Kmph. Reached home at 10:15pm.

Road conditions
Bangalore-Salem was the usual stuff, out of 3 work in progress flyovers before and after the Omalur toll, 2 are open (though I think only one was open in both directions).

This was my first drive on Salem-Attur section and though road condition is good, it's an alternating 4 lane plus 2 lane highway (especially the bridges/flyovers!) and it becomes painful at times when caught behind a truck that holds traffic to ransom. To add to the woes, there are plastic bollards on the 2 laned sections that make overtaking almost impossible even when there's no oncoming traffic.

The Salem-Vriddhachalam NH532 is a wide 2 laned road with excellent tarmac and even the SH140 to Jayankondam was good. For a brief section, the route was via NH81 and NH32 before some Major District Roads and SH22 near Mayiladuthurai followed by the final section on ECR (East Coast Road).
The alternating one way traffic across Kollidam river on Anaikarai Dam bridge was also fine and we didn't lose much time.
The bonus on this route is one gets to see the UNESCO world heritage site of Gangaikondacholapuram which is bang on the highway

[srvm]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks to @ravib and @ampere, I took the Salem-Attur-Vriddhachalam bypass-Jayankondam-Mayiladuthurai-Thirukadaiyur route, 460Km door to door and it took about ~9 hours both ways including breaks, thanks to lesser weekday traffic that helped with better average speeds.
.....
Onward - started at 5:15am, break at Sai Sangeet Thoppur at 7:15am for breakfast, another short break at A2B Attur around 9:50am (this is on the opposite side of the road and needed a U-turn each both ways for entry and exit). We stopped there thinking we can pack something for lunch since we expected to reach the destination at 3pm or later! A2B had only breakfast/tiffin items so we left after having a coffee. Reached Thirukadaiyur at 2:15pm, on time for lunch at the event we were to attend.
....

Another decent place for food break on this route is Ramas Cafe on Attur bypass. Huge parking space. It comes on left side while going from Salem to Vridhachalam. I think it is accessible from both directions (no divider at this section of the road).

[ravib]

Originally Posted by srvm

Another decent place for food break on this route is Ramas Cafe on Attur bypass. Huge parking space. It comes on left side while going from Salem to Vridhachalam. I think it is accessible from both directions (no divider at this section of the road).

@srvm, it was a good place for many years, before Attur A2B came and was convenient while going from Bangalore, and a very huge parking space.
However, over time, the quality is deteriorated. Its not very bad, but just okay now.

Now , due to plastic bollards /dividers in many places in 2L road especially in the bridges, its difficult to cut across to other side.

-Ravi

[srvm]

Originally Posted by ravib

@srvm, it was a good place for many years, before Attur A2B came and was convenient while going from Bangalore, and a very huge parking space.
However, over time, the quality is deteriorated. Its not very bad, but just okay now.

Now , due to plastic bollards /dividers in many places in 2L road especially in the bridges, its difficult to cut across to other side.

-Ravi

Thanks for the update Ravi.
Too bad their quality has gone down. Yes, I haven't been there in a while (last visit was before Corona). Used to like that place since we used to look out for fresh culinary experience (got bored of A2Bs).

[vijaykr]

Need help with a trip planned mid to late next week from Bangalore to our family deity at Oradiyampulam (https://goo.gl/maps/G4u2DcSyYJAVjkzd8). This place is around 80km from both Mayiladuthurai and Kumbakonam. Our last two visits here were in 2016 and 2018 and both times we stayed at Kumbakonam.

We will be visiting some more temples based on various family member prayers/requests etc. The tentative plan this time around is:

Day 1 - early morning start from Bangalore. Visit temples at Chidambaram, Sirkazhi and Vaitheeswarankoil and overnight stay
q) Will this be too much to do in a day? If so, then I will keep Chidambaram for a separate visit

Day 2 - half day program at Oradiyampulam. Visit Thirunallar and Thirukadaiyur on return journey. Based on time, go to one/two temples in Mayiladuthurai

Day 3 - Visit Thirumeyachur Lalithambigai, Koothanur Saraswathi and Srivanchiyam temples in the morning. Go to Thirunageswaram, Oppiliappan temples and Swamimalai in the evening
q) depending on time available, possibly visit other Kumbakonam temples

Day 4 - after breakfast, drive back to Bangalore via Gangaikonda Cholapuram (could not visit this place both times)

From the recent posts, it seems that it is best to take the Salem route instead of Tiruvannamalai. Personally I prefer NH and 4-lane roads to cover more distance as much as possible.

Regarding hotels, which is better, Vaitheeswarankoil or Mayiladuthurai? I see positive recommendations for V Koil accomodations, but are there any good options in Mayiladuthurai? I don't know how much to believe hotel reviews on TripAdvisor/Agoda and inclined to go with feedback from Team-BHP members who have stayed there.

Request your feedback and comments please

[ampere]

Quite frankly it's too hectic.

Originally Posted by vijaykr

Day 1 - early morning start from Bangalore. Visit temples at Chidambaram, Sirkazhi and Vaitheeswarankoil and overnight stay
q) Will this be too much to do in a day? If so, then I will keep Chidambaram for a separate visit

Distance wise it can be done. But you need time to actually visit the temples. You will mostly reach Chidambaram by lunch time and temple may / may-not be open. If not then you can take rest and visit Chidambaram/Sirkazhi and reach Vaitheeswaran Kovil. You can visit this temple too and stay here itself for the night. (There are some decent places like Hotel Sadabishekam)

Day 2 - half day program at Oradiyampulam. Visit Thirunallar and Thirukadaiyur on return journey. Based on time, go to one/two temples in Mayiladuthurai

I see this is almost 100km. That means you start again early to cover the distance in about 2-2.5 hours. You can cover the other temples too. You need to plan a hotel to stay over night. Preferably Mayavaram.

Day 3 - Visit Thirumeyachur Lalithambigai, Koothanur Saraswathi and Srivanchiyam temples in the morning. Go to Thirunageswaram, Oppiliappan temples and Swamimalai in the evening
q) depending on time available, possibly visit other Kumbakonam temples

Start early visit Kothanur, Peralam, Srivanjiyam and drive to Kumbakonam. Evening you can visit rest of the temples.

Day 4 - after breakfast, drive back to Bangalore via Gangaikonda Cholapuram (could not visit this place both times)

Definitely possible. You can get slightly delayed at Anakarai. Take the T-Palur route and go via Jayamkondam to Gangai Konda Cholapuram.

From the recent posts, it seems that it is best to take the Salem route instead of Tiruvannamalai. Personally I prefer NH and 4-lane roads to cover more distance as much as possible.

Salem-Attur- V Koot Road - Veppur. Vridhachalam bypass-Jayamkondam

Regarding hotels, which is better, Vaitheeswarankoil or Mayiladuthurai? I see positive recommendations for V Koil accomodations, but are there any good options in Mayiladuthurai? I don't know how much to believe hotel reviews on TripAdvisor/Agoda and inclined to go with feedback from Team-BHP members who have stayed there.

Already commented about Vaitheeswaran Kovil. I have my doubts about places in Mayavaram. Kumbakonam there are many places. Rayas, Indeco, RAS Residency (Used to be called Sara Regency earlier I think)

[vijaykr]

Thank you @ampere for reviewing and your detailed feedback. Much appreciated!

Originally Posted by ampere

Distance wise it can be done. But you need time to actually visit the temples. You will mostly reach Chidambaram by lunch time and temple may / may-not be open. If not then you can take rest and visit Chidambaram/Sirkazhi and reach Vaitheeswaran Kovil. You can visit this temple too and stay here itself for the night. (There are some decent places like Hotel Sadabishekam)

Yes, I agree that this is hectic and given that the temples close by 12 noon, it will be a challenge to get there unless I start at 4am or something like that. The thinking now is to reach V Koil by 2pm latest and take a break for an hour or two. Visit Chidambaram and Sirkazhi in the evening. Planning to stay at Sri Akshardham at V Koil based on @procrj's recent comments on the Bangalore-Chidambaram thread.

Originally Posted by ampere

I see this is almost 100km. That means you start again early to cover the distance in about 2-2.5 hours. You can cover the other temples too. You need to plan a hotel to stay over night. Preferably Mayavaram.

We usually try to get there by 9/9:30am latest and the puja rituals take time. So likely a 6:30am start again. Plan to take a break at the priest's place after lunch and visit temples on the late afternoon return to Akshardham hotel

Originally Posted by ampere

Start early visit Kothanur, Peralam, Srivanjiyam and drive to Kumbakonam. Even you can visit rest of the temples.

Since this is the one day where we can be a bit flexible, wife is relooking at what temples are a must-do and which ones can be visited based on available time. We will stay over in Kumbakonam that night.

Originally Posted by ampere

Definitely possible. You can get slightly delayed at Anakarai. Take the T-Palur route and go via Jayamkonda to Gangai Konda Cholapuram.

Thanks for the tip. GMaps is showing Anaikarai route, but will go with your recommendation

Originally Posted by ampere

Salem-Attur- V Koot Road - Veppur. Vridhachalam bypass-Jayamkondam

GMaps shows *-Vridhachalam bypass-Bhuvanagiri-Chidambaram-V.Koil as the faster route. If I add Jayakondam to the route, GMaps shows *-Vridhachalam bypass-Jayakondam-Gangaikonda Cholapuram-Manalmedu-V Koil instead. Is this what you are suggesting instead? Just want to be sure so I key-in the route on app.

On another note, my uncle who had visited these temples earlier in Feb mentioned that the Mayiladuthurai-V Koil road was in pretty bad shape. Not sure if this has changed now. But again, this is a small enough stretch in the overall distance, so not too worried