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-   -   Hyderabad to Bangalore : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/44823-hyderabad-bangalore-route-queries-143.html)

Especially Kurnool-Hyderabad definitely needs 6 lane road now.
Another important thing I observed is when I start early morning between 5 and 6 is there is a lot of traffic. I guess everybody is starting early to beat traffic thereby increasing the traffic. Last month I overslept and started at 8.30 am on a Sunday and was dreading the traffic. Surprisingly there was less traffic than the early morning ones except the bikes and autos till shadnagar. But less number of cars. I repeated this for my next two trips where I started at 8 on weekends and it worked well.
P.S : Since I travel to Whitefield via strr and in Hyderabad I stay at gachibowli so I didn't have to worry about city traffic. So this strategy worked well.

Did Bangalore-Hyderabad trip day before. Started at 6:30 from Bommanahalli and reach HYD at 4pm. Kurnool-Hyderabad stretch is the worst mainly due to all trucks sticking to the right land and the increasing number of these four wheeler auto like goods carriers slows you down a lot.

Also, I have noticed a pattern where these KIA drivers are acting like Thar-KTM rulers. Am I wrong here? Have not seen others feel offended when I overtake them but almost every one of these KIA folks feel offended and try to get into race mode only to know that their SUV cannot take a corner or winding road like a Sedan or they are just 'masters of straight line driving'. Most probably it has to do with a Toyota Etios going past them.

Food
Pranav veg was pretty good for breakfast.
Food Pyramid is totally overrated. The only thing good there was parking space. We went there for pot biriyani and when I ordered 'pot biriyani', that guy said 'okay, chicken dum biriyani'. When the food came, the biriyani did not taste like biriyani. What I figured out is that the dining area has attached kitchen. There is another fast food (KFC style) outlet and pot biriyani outlet is separate. It was not open that day. When we sat, this fast food outlet guy gave that menu and we were wondering where the food menu is. The waiter from attached kitchen did not even correct us that the pot biriyani outlet is closed and that this is another kitchen. He just gave their biriyani. It was absolutely below average. Rotis were okay and curry too was just average. For kids, we ordered roti and to order extra, we had to go to that person and ask for more roti. Had to do the same to pay. Also, there is a try and buy ice cream counter. Suggest you not to try as you do not know how many people use same disposable spoon to dip into multiple ice creams to decide which one to buy.

Avoid this place. Just a little further down the road, there is another restaurant attached to petrol bunk and that place too had good amount of parking.

I think the best time to travel between these two cities is night. Too many trucks but the bigger problem is that there are too many idiots on the road in the morning who are looking to satisfy their frail ego.

Traveled from Hyderabad to Bangalore on Dec 12th. Started from Chandanagar at 4.30AM and reached BTM by 2.30PM. Drove at 80-100 for most part.

Leaving early helped avoid traffic between Hyd and Kurnool. It was a breeze.

We stopped at Paakashala after Anantapur for breakfast and coffee. Reached around 9AM. Good food, and decently quick service.

We reached Devanahalli by 12.30 and was hoping we'd avoid traffic since it's mid-day. Ran into horrible traffic starting from Hebbal all the way to BTM. It is extremely frustrating when you make good time on the highway only to spend 2 hours in crawling BLR traffic.

Road condition was good throughout. Most flyover work is completed.

Did the BLR-HYD and HYD-BLR legs last week. Apart from what folks have mentioned in the thread above, thought I'll add some interesting points I observed.

1. Left at 3 AM from Bangalore and reached Begumpet at 11.30 AM on a Thursday. This helped me avoid all the private buses along the route. The route is well lit throughout.

2. If you're traveling with a dog, Food Pyramid after you cross Kurnool is a great place to stop. There are proper shades for the car park. Also a good place to take the dog out for a walk.

3. If you are leaving at night, make sure you drive a little slower than your regular speed - encountered quite a few Karnataka special back-breakers (speed breakers) out of nowhere, with the well thought-through zero lighting/zero markers on them. Also the diversion roads are heavily filled with giant craters.

4. Once you cross Telangana, I could see a lot of speed cameras, especially at the intersections. I do not know if they are functional, but will be wise to keep your speeds to less than 80.

5. On the way back, started on a Sunday at 8 AM and reached at 4 PM. This I could do because my stops were limited to a few minutes each and a largely empty highway. Again no private buses. Empty toll gates.

6. Again, watch out for speed cameras. As I entered Andhra, I could see 2 patrol cars on either side of Kurnool with speed cameras. Unlike Telangana, these were mobile speed cams. So can't predict where they'd be next. Thankfully, I was below 80 and I could notice them slightly ahead of time. Others whizzed past me and I'm quite sure they'd be challaned.

7. During the day time, there are a lot of times in the Andhra stretch, where you'd notice tractors with large bales of hay just calmly driving on the right side of the road. You'll also see shepherds with large flocks of goats on the road. Both highly dangerous but it is what it is.

8. If you are on the Whitfield side, please take the Satellite ring road without fail.

You are lucky that the traffic was from Hebbal circle. 3 weeks back I encountered traffic from Devanahalli to Hebbal circle and it shaved off close to 1.30mins. It was during 6.30pm to 8pm maybe peak traffic hours. 2.30 hrs Anathpur to Devanahalli.

Hyderabad Bangalore highway is being expanded to 12 lanes. This is a confirmed news. Plot buyers are now staying at least a km away from either side of the highway or else they may loose it due to land acquisition.

Am planning to drive down to Hyderabad (Gachibowli) from Bangalore (JP Nagar) this Fri at 5am. How is the road surface? Am planning to take my sedan (Honda Amaze). Would that be ok considering the potholes / road surface etc?

There are no potholes on this stretch. Only thing you need to look out for are rumble strips and speedbreakers. That too will be around Ananthapur. Apart from that nothing to worry about.

Just did the trip this weekend, roads are all good and Sedan will be right at home, just be careful of speedbreakers.

Took us 7 hr 30 mins to cover 582 Kms to reach our home in whitefield, we started from hussain sagar lake at 1030 am so had some city traffic to encounter as well.

Bengaluru to Hyderabad in my Kia Seltos; the last long drive for 2024

Date of travel 28.12. 2024 and 30.12.2024


(always wanted to take a picture of the Kia outside the massive Kia factory in Ananthpur, AP. Could only stop very briefly as it was a busy road but still managed to get some good clicks of the Kia from it's home)

Prelude
When the opportunity presented itself for my friend and I to drive from Bengaluru to Hyderabad, it was the perfect opportunity to take my Diesel Kia Seltos GT on a nice long drive. I had driven this stretch 2.5 years ago so it was going to be interesting to see how this drive would be different. This write-up is to highlight a few of my observations and point out some tips for those driving on this route.


The Route:
The route is extremely simple, from Bangalore Airport Road you join NH-44 and you stay on this route till Hyderabad, passing Anantapur and Kurnool on the way. The roads are great for a good majority of the journey. Almost 98 percent, but there is the occasional lane closure and road works.

(Stopped for a chai around 240 KM from BLR, there was not much options we knew about so stopped at this small shack with a great view)


The car
The car was my eight-month-old Kia Seltos Diesel AT GTX+, I have already written a few write ups on TeamBHP about this car. This drive was perfect for the car as it was only 2 people, many stretches I could use ADAS, great mileage and compact enough to not be a nuisance in city traffic. I also took it on the drive as it was recommended by many on this forum to prevent DPF issues.


(snapshot of Hyderabad ORR)


PUC Certificate: at least 150 KM from Hyderabad, you see a lot of Omni vans with PUC testing equipment. Turns out
other state cars are checked by Telangana Police. As my car was still very new, the Police at the check post didn’t ask me to stop but I saw many other cars being stopped and were apparently fined. Do get an updated PUC before visiting Hyderabad.

Hyderabad ORR: Hyderabad Outer Ring Road is a 158 Kilometre, 8 lane expressways. This is an expressway unlike no other in India and even makes the really good NH44 I drove on from Bengaluru seem small. This ORR has strict rules on speeding, lane disciple and going the wrong way. Ensure your car has sufficient fuel and you know your correct exit before entering ORR.

Restaurants and Toilets on the way from Bengaluru: I keep doing the Bengaluru- Kochi drive frequently, there are ample choices of clean and comfortable restaurants and rest rooms. In the Bangalore - Hyderabad stretch, there are not that many good places with clean washrooms in the middle of this route. Near Ananthpur, and Kurnool there are some places as well as 100 km before Bengaluru and Hyderabad. But if you are travelling for the first time, and unsure, take some snacks and refreshments with you and research on maps the good places to stop. I also saw many restaurants that were advertised as open but were closed when we reached. This is important for you to do your research especially if the washroom is a priority, I visited Big Bay and the KFC in the food complex near Ananthpur.


Stray Cattle and People crossing randomly: the route from Bengaluru is great. I drive from BLR to Ananthpur to Kurnool to Hyderabad via the really smooth NH 44. There are some road works but overall great drive for your car. Only thing I noticed is there is quite a bit of stray cattle on this route to be careful of. There are also many junctions in NH 44 hence should be careful as many careless two wheels without helmets and other crazy drivers merge onto the highway without proper knowledge of driving.


Fuel: there is ample selection of the usual Indian Oil, HP and BP but if you want Shell, I only saw one shell In Karnataka just before crossing into AP. Also I noticed that the fuel in Telangana was aa bit pricier per litre compared to Karnataka. Some of the petrol bunks I saw on the highways looked old and dilapidated, so just felt more peace of mind filling up in Hyderabad city (especially since the DPF in the Kia and the entire fuel management system is quite finicky)


Speed: this stretch is overall mostly not too crowded, some cars do go quite fast and should be careful of them but if you drive between 100-120 KMPH you can make very good time, enjoy the drive and still be safe.


Heat: when driving through the day, it does get quite hot outside. Almost 40-45 degrees. Ensure your car is serviced well and equipped to deal with the heat before the long drive.


Emergency services: I didn’t see many ambulances stationed on the roads or emergency phone booths, but did see highway patrol cars parked very frequently. Did see a hospital every 50-60 km


Driving in the night: would as much as possible avoid driving in the night as I didn’t see much passenger traffic, a lot lesser than the other routes I’ve seen. Also, not many places to stop and stay the night so best to avoid driving at night. Many seasoned drivers who used to drive through this area did tell me that many years ago dacoits used to be an issue on this stretch during the night. Not sure of the authenticity of that statement today though.


Overall, a great drive. Feel free to reach out in the comments

(This post is just my experience on my drive, the factors and circumstances may change when you set out on your drive!)

I also did the same route on 21 Dec (BLR-HYD), 26 Dec (HYD-BLR). Drive was Kushaq 1.5DSG.
Fully agree with all points. There is a real dearth of good highway eateries along the route. Make sure to pack something substantial and filling.
Also was pleasantly surprised to see loads and loads of fuel stations, HP being the most frequent. I would happily trade in a few fuel station locations for a good eating joint with a washroom. Good roads throughout. ORR is a gem.

I surely hope I am mistaken, but please do not do 87km/hr on the fast lane of the ORR. It ideally should be used for passing or at least be doing 100+.

You can stop for breakfast at Blue Moon Hampi Delight Motel & Restaurant (https://maps.app.goo.gl/RVJPFmQJqGQZXXSL7) about 45kms after Anantpur while going to Hyd and Hangout, Kurnool (https://maps.app.goo.gl/gFWg9Bd6h3gf3Si86) on the return trip.

Plenty of parking place and EV charger (not sure if it's working) at Blue Moon.
Decent food at both places.

The speed limit on the fast lane of ORR has been increased to 120kmph :Cheering:

We did a Hyderabad-Bangalore round trip from Feb 21 to 24. Started by 4.15am from Hyderabad and reached BTM by 1.30pm with one breakfast break at Paakashala just after Anantapur. There was blacktopping work going on between Bagepalli and Chikkaballapur that slowed us down a bit but otherwise the drive was smooth.

Started around 4.15am from Bangalore too and reached Chandanagar by 2pm. Stopped at Hangout Kurnool for breakfast. Below average place.

While there seem to be a lot of new places that have opened, other than paakashala and food pyramid, I don't know if any are decent.

Road condition is good as usual with only one diversion for construction. Unmarked speed bumps in AP are a pain.

I have a 3 year old XL6 now and had a 2013 Ertiga before. Both petrol. With the Ertiga, the drives were physically draining. Would need the day to recover but with XL6, I am ready to step out and do things the same evening/night. A good car makes a big difference.