[ak916]

Food is an issue on this stretch. I have a solution for Hyd - Bangalore Stretch though. I just buy some biryani from Paradise, Hyd house or Café Bahar etc and stop after some toll booth on the way. Good food options are within 1 hour of both cities and that doesn't help at all.

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by ak916

Food is an issue on this stretch. I have a solution for Hyd - Bangalore Stretch though. I just buy some biryani from Paradise, Hyd house or Café Bahar etc and stop after some toll booth on the way. Good food options are within 1 hour of both cities and that doesn't help at all.

I think I found one good place on this stretch @ Kurnool ! - Holiday Inn
https://www.google.co.in/maps/search...78.0104664,18z
After crossing Tungabhadra river [ you'd be technically in AP now] , follow the highway towards Blore and to the left, there's a huge IOCL [ not HPCL as suggested in maps] outlet after about 2-3 km [ and I bet you wouldn't miss it] .
Here, behind the bunk, you'll find this place with the entrance from beside the bunk . The place is similar to a resort and has ample of parking place [ leaving apart any shadow due to less trees, but it would be fine in the evening] . We ordered veg items and tandoori rotis and they were fine . The bill was also moderate.
I suggest this place can be used between hyd and blore since there will be absolutely no need to get into Kurnool for a decent hotel thus saving us a lot of time.

[PMK-MoJo]

Last weekend i have been in this route.
Onwards Journey: (23-JAN)Bangalore to Hyderabad,started at around 8:30Am from Electronic city and reached Devanahalli toll plaza by 10:00Am and then Chikkaballapur by 10:15Am and there stopped for a breakfast @ Kamat hotel beside BPCL. Food is tasty, less crowd as it is late. After 1hr break started again and stopped for Lunch in one Dabha beside HPCL(COCO) after Ananthapur. Egg Fried Rice is very good, this is the second time we stopped here. Finally reached HYD by 5:30PM.

Return journey: (27-JAN) Started in HYD @11:30AM and stopped for lunch in AP Tourism Hotel,Kurnool(1/2kms after Toll plaza & entrance of the Town). it is little inside around 500mts from main road but food is good. One of my friend referred this. There is a direction board on the main road. Reached electronic city by 7:30PM.

Road is awesome, except speed barkers in between Bangalore and Chikkaballapur. Highway Traffic is very less on both the days.

[SyncNest]

Originally Posted by PMK-MoJo

Return journey: (27-JAN) Started in HYD @11:30AM and stopped for lunch in AP Tourism Hotel,Kurnool(1/2kms after Toll plaza & entrance of the Town). it is little inside around 500mts from main road but food is good.

I remember this hotel. I have done Hyderabad - Bangalore stretch 3 times in last 6 months and I think we stopped here on all 3 occasions.

The first time though, visit to this hotel happened at an interesting phase of my life - I was beginning to love long drives just then. Here is what happened: We ordered fro Jeera Rice and Veg Fried Rice; both were very tasty and the raitha was ok I guess. While I was commenting on how crisp and perfectly fried the capsicum was, my sister was looking over my shoulder at the display board. This was a tourism board of AP Haritha Resorts. It had nice pictures of all the tourist attractions alongside which Haritha was offering accommodation. It just so happened that a gentleman sitting across to us was also looking at the board and explaining to his pal about 'Borra Caves'

Now, this is where all 4 of us (I, my wife, my sister and her hubby) twisted our antennae toward him to get a good reception of this gentleman's chatter. Whatever he said inspired us enough to launch on a detour. We were coming back from Ooty and instead of heading home, we went to Tadipatri to halt for the night. In the morning we went to Borra Caves, hardly an hour drive from there.

And I must confess, the caves were really great. I have seen Stalactites before, but not like this - the scale of this cave is nothing short of awe. We totally loved it. Of course, it being an unplanned leave, all 4 of us were on phone now and then, talking to teammates, explaining how we got stuck back in Ooty because the Ghat section sheared off in places (this was an invented story obviously...)

[JoseVijay]

Originally Posted by SyncNest

It just so happened that a gentleman sitting across to us was also looking at the board and explaining to his pal about 'Borra Caves'

we went to Tadipatri to halt for the night. In the morning we went to Borra Caves, hardly an hour drive from there.

Oh! Wait. Borra Caves in Ananthapur Dist, near Tadipatri? I thought this place was near Araku. Is it different from that or you got confused? Now I am confused all the more.

[SyncNest]

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

Oh! Wait. Borra Caves in Ananthapur Dist, near Tadipatri? I thought this place was near Araku. Is it different from that or you got confused? Now I am confused all the more.

Hi, sorry. I meant Belum Caves. This is the second longest cave in India. The guide only took us to a tour of 1.5 kms. Apparently, another 3 kms is yet to be explored (or not open for visitors).

Borra is the one near Araku.
Iam unable to edit the post now. :(

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

Oh! Wait. Borra Caves in Ananthapur Dist, near Tadipatri? I thought this place was near Araku. Is it different from that or you got confused? Now I am confused all the more.

Originally Posted by SyncNest

Hi, sorry. I meant Belum Caves. This is the second longest cave in India. The guide only took us to a tour of 1.5 kms. Apparently, another 3 kms is yet to be explored (or not open for visitors).

Borra is the one near Araku.
:(

Hehe, simple confusion. Borra and Belum
Belum caves are an interesting natural phenomenon and Wiki says they are the longest caves in the whole of Indian subcontinent plains and 2nd largest. There is also a fort called Gandikota near those caves and I remember reading a travelogue here about those places. Did you visit the fort too?

[JoseVijay]

Originally Posted by SyncNest

Hi, sorry. I meant Belum Caves. This is the second longest cave in India. The guide only took us to a tour of 1.5 kms. Apparently, another 3 kms is yet to be explored (or not open for visitors).

Borra is the one near Araku.
Iam unable to edit the post now. :(

Oh Belum Caves! Now that clears my confusion.

Originally Posted by poised2drive

Hehe, simple confusion. There is also a fort called Gandikota near those caves and I remember reading a travelogue here about those places. Did you visit the fort too?

Here is the link to the travelogue by bhpian mpksuhas

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...travelled.html

[hyd_traveller]

Originally Posted by poised2drive

I think I found one good place on this stretch @ Kurnool ! - Holiday Inn
https://www.google.co.in/maps/search/holiday+inn+kurnool/@15.8437218,78.0104664,18z
After crossing Tungabhadra river [ you'd be technically in AP now] , follow the highway towards Blore and to the left, there's a huge IOCL [ not HPCL as suggested in maps] outlet after about 2-3 km [ and I bet you wouldn't miss it] .
Here, behind the bunk, you'll find this place with the entrance from beside the bunk . The place is similar to a resort and has ample of parking place [ leaving apart any shadow due to less trees, but it would be fine in the evening] . We ordered veg items and tandoori rotis and they were fine . The bill was also moderate.
I suggest this place can be used between hyd and blore since there will be absolutely no need to get into Kurnool for a decent hotel thus saving us a lot of time.

I had reported this as a nice pit stop way back in 2011 on this thread itself : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2622720

[Aiel]

Originally Posted by poised2drive

I think I found one good place on this stretch @ Kurnool ! - Holiday Inn
https://www.google.co.in/maps/search/holiday+inn+kurnool/@15.8437218,78.0104664,18z
After crossing Tungabhadra river [ you'd be technically in AP now] , follow the highway towards Blore and to the left, there's a huge IOCL [ not HPCL as suggested in maps] outlet after about 2-3 km [ and I bet you wouldn't miss it] .
Here, behind the bunk, you'll find this place with the entrance from beside the bunk . The place is similar to a resort and has ample of parking place [ leaving apart any shadow due to less trees, but it would be fine in the evening] . We ordered veg items and tandoori rotis and they were fine . The bill was also moderate.
I suggest this place can be used between hyd and blore since there will be absolutely no need to get into Kurnool for a decent hotel thus saving us a lot of time.

I will second poised2drive. This place has been our go-to place for food on the Bangalore - Hyderabad stretch. We have stopped for both lunch and dinner and there are no issues taking your family there - lots of local families visit there.

Only, their bathrooms are not the cleanest, just passable.

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

I had reported this as a nice pit stop way back in 2011 on this thread itself : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2622720
Attachment 1334664

That is great !!
Actually, I didn't know it was already on our list ! I think it would be good idea to maintain a list of such decent eat-out locations across important routes every now and then so that they'll not be lost by other members in oversight !

[ramm3110]

Wonderful idea Poised to Drive!
It would be a great idea to create and maintain a separate list of hotels on various routes. Especially for first time travellers on a route, a click on the app can be extremely useful when travelling with family.

[kittigadu]

Got to chance to drive a BMW 320D from Hyderabad to Bangalore last week. We started at around 12 in the night and while i was testing the car to its limits, the road between Ananthapur and Kurnool is an absolute mess. Not that it has bad surface, but BMW bottoms out for every 2 kms or so. Had to slow down to jeep speed to save my passengers who were getting tossed up and down due to general undulations on the road, especially at culverts, bridges and what not. The road is outright shitty. I suggest you to slow down a bit and keep a hawk eye on the road.

At one place between these two towns, not exactly sure but a speed breaker (before a flyover) out of nowhere tested the car's braking to its limits. Sleeping passengers were scared out of their wits. This stretch is not for adventure. especially not suitable for bold speeds. I enjoyed driving at moderate speed of 80kmph in my jeep than in the BMW. Personally, i was disappointed a lot.

Till Kurnool, the traffic keeps you grounded, from Kurnool to Anantapur, the road keeps you grounded. The only stretch to enjoy is some 100kms between Anantapur and Bagepally after which the fear of speed breakers keep you grounded.

Oh, BTW.. in between these 2 towns, always and always drive on the right side close to the divider. Some places will test your alloys and rims and one shouldn't be surprised if you end up damaging one.

Regards,
Krishna.

[Wagoner]

I did a Bangalore-Hyderabad-Bangalore trip on my Enfield Bullet 350. Started on Friday, March 27 and returned on Sunday, March 29.

Took me about 10 hours for a one-way ride, which included a halt every 100 kms to allow the engine to cool down a bit and also to replenish myself with tender coconut, butter milk etc.

Roads are in excellent condition for ride/drive. Watch out for some unmarked speedbreakers at a few places (between Devanhalli and Anantapur). Otherwise the trip should be a breeze.

Between Anantapur & Kurnool found a few Dashmesh dhabas, run by a Sardar family. Excellent yummy food. I had my lunch at these dhabas on both my to-and-fro journey.

Petrol bunks are very few, as far I could see. So, please ensure your vehicle is topped up when you spot a bunk.

[floyd]

I did another trip last weekend (03~05 April). As already stated, entire stretch is great, except a small section in Kurnool, where highway construction is in progress. The diversion in Kurnool is less chaotic now, than my previous trip. In the onward trip, I crossed Kurnool before 9AM, and there was hardly any traffic. On the return, it was about 5PM, and there was a little bit more traffic, but got out of the diversion soon enough.
Also, I was wondering... has anyone hit a bird on this route? There is one stretch after Anantpur, where birds fly really low across the road, and it almost feels like they would hit the windshield!