[Akadian]

Hi prince,

I don't know the entire route but the part out of Hyd and for the next 100 kms is fantastic. I traveled at night from Hyd till Jadcherla on the NH7 recently and it is a superb 4-lane stretch. Night driving was not complicated as the road was smooth and there was lighting at many places. I'm sure HVK can enlighten you about the entire 580 kms. IMHO it may take you 9 hours at max. The route for you would be the NH7 all the way from Bangalore till Hyderabad

[prince_pervez]

@Akadian. Thanks for the info. Pretty much sums up what I gotta do. Thanks man!

[MileCruncher]

@ Pervez: The NH7 out of Bangalore is 4 laned uptil about 100 Kms from Devanahalli. After that there are a few diversions till Kurnool. Kurnool - Hyd is blacktop 4 laned road capable of taking upto 160kmph.

Night driving absolutely safe. You can expect about 8-9 hrs of driving time between city center to city - centre

[tortoise]

Any recommendations for good restaurants whne traveling from Hyderabad to Bangalore. Plan to start by morning 6 am

[anurag_p80]

@tortoise, there is not much to write home about on that stretch in terms of facilities. You will find a few BP Ghar Dhabas at Anantapur, and Gooty/ Kurnool. That is about it. Totally barren. Better carry eatables with you.

[tortoise]

@anurag_p80, thanks for a quick reply. Are these BP Ghar dhabas good? Do they have clean toilets?

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by tortoise

@anurag_p80, thanks for a quick reply. Are these BP Ghar dhabas good? Do they have clean toilets?

They serve decent food. But, there is no other better option on the NH7 from B'lore to Hyd.

They have clean toilets too.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by tortoise

Any recommendations for good restaurants whne traveling from Hyderabad to Bangalore. Plan to start by morning 6 am

Apart from the BP Aapno Ghar, - I think there are 4 of them- Kurnool , Anantha Pur, Gooty, Chickballapur, there is also a good dhaba near Jadcherla. Apart from that you have small restaurants in the small town centers. Btw 6am may be a bit late. Try 5 am if possible. Btw which car are you travelling

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Apart from the BP Aapno Ghar, - I think there are 4 of them- Kurnool , Anantha Pur, Gooty, Chickballapur, there is also a good dhaba near Jadcherla.

@MileCruncher, thanks for the details

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Btw 6am may be a bit late. Try 5 am if possible. Btw which car are you travelling

Infact, it is one of my relative who is starting from Hyd tomorrow. He has a WagonR. Do you think traffic will go up when he starts by 6 am?

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by tortoise

Infact, it is one of my relative who is starting from Hyd tomorrow. He has a WagonR. Do you think traffic will go up when he starts by 6 am?

Morning airport traffic and by the time you cross Shamshabad, the regular morning traffic till Kurnool. So by the time your uncle hits Bangalore, it would be in evening office hours

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

@ Pervez: The NH7 out of Bangalore is 4 laned uptil about 100 Kms from Devanahalli. After that there are a few diversions till Kurnool. Kurnool - Hyd is blacktop 4 laned road capable of taking upto 160kmph.

Night driving absolutely safe. You can expect about 8-9 hrs of driving time between city center to city - centre

Thanks for the info pack @MileCruncher. Sounds like fun.

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Morning airport traffic and by the time you cross Shamshabad, the regular morning traffic till Kurnool. So by the time your uncle hits Bangalore, it would be in evening office hours

thanks MileCruncher. I will ask him to start early

[sriturl]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

So by the time your uncle hits Bangalore, it would be in evening office hours

Depending on which side of city they want to reach in Bangalore, there is an option to avoid Airport, If you are going towards Sarjapur/Whitefield side, get into devanahalli town, (at the end of by-pass) and take a right, opposite devanahalli police station, that is NH 207, travel a little bit into NH 207, and you will find a right again, with the board which says Electronic city, hoskote, white field, that will take you a few kms before hoskote on KR Puram - hoskote section, that place is being 4 laned, you need to take a right to reach whitefield just around 1 km into that road.

You can even use NH 207 to go towards Sarjapur road, but last time when I travelled, it was not a in a great shape as it is used by trucks. This section is a good road - 2 lane, but well marked and smooth, except for a few speed breakers near 2 villages on the way

map is here.
from: devanahalli, karnataka to: marathahalli, bangalore - Google Maps

[kutlee]

Originally Posted by tortoise

Any recommendations for good restaurants whne traveling from Hyderabad to Bangalore. Plan to start by morning 6 am

none...carry your own. there are couple of small dhabas which you won't notice anyway due to speed. I went to local small coffee shop and since i don't speak telugu, they asked me to leave..arrogant people.

[prince_pervez]

Hi guys,
I completed my round trip [BLR - HYD] yesterday.

No. of people:
3 initially and then 2 for the rest of the trip.

Reason: Friends Marriage.

Dates:
Start date: 27th Nov 09.
End date : 28th Nov 09.

Car used: Zen 2004 model.

Kilometers crunched:
573 one way (ODO reading till Shamshabad).

Fuel consumed:
A little more than a tank full. (one way)

Mileage:
15-16 km. Could have got more.

Time:
From BLR to HYD = 11 hours (2 hours lost due to heavy fog and
breakfast at Anantpur).

From HYD (Shamshabad) to BLR (Devanhalli) = 9 hours flat including bio breaks, breakfast and prayer brakes. From Devanhalli to Jaynagar 1 hour more.

Route taken:

BLR(Jayanagar) - Devanhalli - Chickbalapur - Penukonda - Anantapur - Gooty - Dhone - Kurnool - Mahboobnagar - Jedcherla - Shadnagar - Shamshabad - Hyderabad.

The trip details.
Started from Jayanagar @ 4:30 AM.

Encountered heavy and I mean heavy fog before chickbalapur. Visibility was zero at times. I wonder what purpose the fog lamps serve that I fitted ater market. Reached a mosque, prayed, and by that time there was some natural light permitting further journey.

I do not understand why do they have speed brakers and so many of them on National Highways. I know NH4 has just 1 or 2 at the max, but NH7 is infested till say 50-70 kms from Chickbalapur. They are not thaaaaaat well marked. So it was very frustrating at night to stop from decent speeds. The first couple of times I burnt some rubber braking, much to the annoyance of the co-passengers making them think about their choice of the driver.

Also till Anantput the contractors building the roads have bad end to end edges once the road has been laid. I mean there is an elevation at the begining of a road just laid which is always encountered by an unplesant thud and once the road has finished at the other end there is another suspension tester waiting. I guess they have made roads keeping in mind only SUVs and trucks and buses and not small cars. So much so that I have a Wheel balancing and suspension check up on the cards this coming week.

Road from Jayanagar to Devanhalli and beyond are good.
Just before Chickbalapur they are nothing to write home about. After Chickbalapur they are again good minus the speedbrakers/suspension brakers/backbreakers/tyre burners.
After that till Anantpur, roads are good but one would lose good time in figuring out diversions and uneven surface of the roads. I was badly in need of an SUV. But again like Prophet Muhammed said : If man were to be given 2 forests of gold, he would desire a third.
So I shut up and carried on.
The same continues from Anantpur to Kurnool.

Coming from the wrong direction is a norm. I thought the initial 2 -3 people coming from the wrong direction were morons but it is a norm here and as long as you stick to any left hand side of the road you are on the correct side of the road. The terms 4 laned and 2 laned roads do not matter, I repeat, do not matter here. Please this is not a rant but some observations.

Then from Kurnool to begining of Shamshabad I was reminded of NH4.
No humps, no wrong side morons and roads that would please you and your vehicle. Saves time and covers distance in a giffy.

I saw a lot and I mean a lot of AP registered Vernas and Skodas all over HYD and en route. I think they are famous there.

We attended the wedding which was near Malkaj giri. We put up at Shamshabad for the night for faster exit from HYD. That paid off really well in the end. While leaving HYD we covered the good stretch at night till Kurnool.

The only sad part is while covering Devanhalli to Jayanagar on the way back a stone from under a truck ricochet and hit the windscreen. There is no crack or anything but from the inside I can see a star/snow flake formation which is very small and from the outside it is no more than a peck. I cannot feel it by hand from the inside. Is this serious and will have to fix this immediately ? I have no intension of a long trip 6 months from now.

All in all it was a good trip but I am spoilt NH4 brat so....
The Biryaanis were awesome. I am so so jealous of the folks staying in Hyderabad.

Thanks guys. Thanks T-Bhp and special thanks to @Milecruncher and @Akadian for answering my queries here.