[9tMax]

2themax, ampere, ajithbr, narayan, ranjit, vikrum - many thanks to all of you.
My conclusions:

1. Stay away from Victoria - as i will be travelling with family.

2. Sivaranjani appears to be the optimum choice now - both rate-wise and location-wise. I could see it on google maps. Is easily accesible from the NH-7. Only, i am not being able to see their current tariff as google reports their site to be suspicious. Anyone of you has got any idea about the current rates? Based on trrk's 2009 post, i am assuming it will be less than 2k now.

3. Renaissance - starting at 3.8k is slightly costly for me as a midway halt.

4. I am not sure whether i can continue upto Salem, as i will be driving thru the previous night (Hyd-Blr) to cross Blr during the early morning hours.

5. To save time while starting the next day's journey, i don't want to get inside the town.

Thanks again, all of you.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

4. I am not sure whether i can continue upto Salem, as i will be driving thru the previous night (Hyd-Blr) to cross Blr during the early morning hours.

Hyd to Salem can easily be covered in 11 hours time.I do this regularly while driving to Kerala.But ofcourse I do it with an early morning start from Hyd.I leave Hyd at 4am,cross BIAL,Devanahalli at 1130 and am at GRT Estancia at 330pm(875km).So if you are not sleepy,you could easily reach Salem as early morning hours,the roads would also be clear.Safe driving!

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

4. I am not sure whether i can continue upto Salem, as i will be driving thru the previous night (Hyd-Blr) to cross Blr during the early morning hours.

5. To save time while starting the next day's journey, i don't want to get inside the town.

Considering 4 and 5, another good choice would be E-Inn just after Electronics City. Please refer Luxury Star Hotels Bangalore, Luxury Suites in Bangalore. for details.

[9tMax]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Hyd to Salem can easily be covered in 11 hours time.I do this regularly while driving to Kerala.But ofcourse I do it with an early morning start from Hyd.I leave Hyd at 4am,cross BIAL,Devanahalli at 1130 and am at GRT Estancia at 330pm(875km).So if you are not sleepy,you could easily reach Salem as early morning hours,the roads would also be clear.Safe driving!

Salem in 11 hours! My usual Hyd-Blr time is 9.5-10 Hrs. In case you are wondering how, my user name should give you a clue.
But anyway, GRT at about 3.5k is also slightly high for my budget. I would prefer something within 2k.

Since you are a regular on this route, i am putting another query. I am planning to cross Blr at around 5 AM to go from Devanahalli to Hosur. And recently i have seen some discussion on the "Hyd-Blr latest road condition" thread about reaching HSR layout from the BIAL, where you have suggested the ORR and have given a detailed direction also. Since my knowledge about Blr is almost nil, so i am asking, is the same route valid for going to Hosur also? Because i saw HSR layout is near NH-7 and ORR. Or would you suggest going through the city during those early hours? In that case which route should i take?

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Considering 4 and 5, another good choice would be E-Inn just after Electronics City. Please refer Luxury Star Hotels Bangalore, Luxury Suites in Bangalore. for details.

At a minimum of 6k it is way beyond my budget. But thanks for the suggestion anyway.

[narayans80]

90max, since you are crossing Bangalore around 5am, you could use the Outer Ring Road all the way and join NH7 on the other side at Silk Board. It would be the route with minimal confusion, probably wont be that much traffic at that hour. There are quite a few flyover constructions though which might slow you down.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

Salem in 11 hours! My usual Hyd-Blr time is 9.5-10 Hrs. In case you are wondering how, my user name should give you a clue.
But anyway, GRT at about 3.5k is also slightly high for my budget. I would prefer something within 2k.

Since you are a regular on this route, i am putting another query. I am planning to cross Blr at around 5 AM to go from Devanahalli to Hosur. And recently i have seen some discussion on the "Hyd-Blr latest road condition" thread about reaching HSR layout from the BIAL, where you have suggested the ORR and have given a detailed direction also. Since my knowledge about Blr is almost nil, so i am asking, is the same route valid for going to Hosur also? Because i saw HSR layout is near NH-7 and ORR. Or would you suggest going through the city during those early hours? In that case which route should i take?

Night/early morning,you should be able to reach Blore in 8 to 9 hours and Salem in 3-3.5 hrs from blore.

Since you are reaching Blore early morning,stick to the route which you regularly take,there would be no traffic that early in the morning.

Follow the directions that I had detailed out in the other thread,its the easiest way to reach Hosur road.The only problem would be that if you want to take the elevated road till electronics city then at the signal where the ORR meets NH7,take a right(left would take you to Ecity-Hosur via the normal road,the ORR goes under the elevated road)go a few meters and take a u turn and then head back to climb the Elevated road.But since you are reachign early morning,there is no need to be unduly bothered about taking the elevated road as traffic should be light,taking the normal road,you would also save about INR 30 as well in toll.If there is heavy traffic or you reach the signal around 7,then I would reccomend that you take the elevated road

As for your stopover,I would still suggest that you drive till Salem,considering that its going to be a long drive on day 2 if you stay in Blore on day 1.If not GRT,then you could stay at Cenneys at Salem,which is also very good for a stopover www.cenneys.com

[2theMax]

Sivaranjini should be around 1400 - 1600 for a AC room. there are exec suites (??) also whic would cost a 200-300 more.

This was 6 months back. let me know for more details. i can get someone to book the rooms for you.

You can also try Guestline.. tad expensive than renaissance.

[9tMax]

Thanks narayanan, as of now i am planning to stick to ORR as suggested by both you and ranjit.

Ranjit, thanks for suggesting Cenneys. The rates look okay. I have not decided about the stopover place yet. But if i find it comfortable after reaching Hosur, i'll surely continue to Salem. But Cenneys looks to be located slightly inside the city. How do i reach there from NH-7?

Originally Posted by 2theMax

Sivaranjini should be around 1400 - 1600 for a AC room. there are exec suites (??) also whic would cost a 200-300 more.

This was 6 months back. let me know for more details. i can get someone to book the rooms for you.

You can also try Guestline.. tad expensive than renaissance.

Thanks 2themax, sivaranjani rates are just perfect for me. I'll surely get in touch with you if required.

[ampere]

As for your stopover,I would still suggest that you drive till Salem,considering that its going to be a long drive on day 2 if you stay in Blore on day 1.If not GRT,then you could stay at Cenneys at Salem,which is also very good for a stopover www.cenneys.com

I think even Cenneys is costly. Its about 2.6 to 3K. The basic room is always sold out. The hotels guys told me that the basic room (I think 2.4K) is booked by Salem steel plant.

[narayans80]

If you are going all the way to Salem, and looking < 1000 for A/c rooms, you could try Rasipuram. Its about 20-30 kms south of Salem on NH7, you have to 2-3 kms from the main highway, but no issues of traffic and stuff. There is a board on NH7 for Rasipuram. We stayed in the one opposite Lakshmi Vilas Hotel (which is a good veg restaurant there). This would workout cheaper for you considering its just a transit point, also avoiding the hassle of dealing with city-ish traffic.

[9tMax]

Originally Posted by ampere

I think even Cenneys is costly. Its about 2.6 to 3K. The basic room is always sold out. The hotels guys told me that the basic room (I think 2.4K) is booked by Salem steel plant.

That's quite an useful piece of info, because i generally prefer to travel without any advance booking.

Narayan, thanks for suggesting Rasipuram, will keep it on the radar.

But on a different note, now i have started thinking - why not directly go to KKR? Because from all the recent travelogues on KKR it seems, now NH7 is entirely 4-laned in between BLR - KKR. In that case driving will not be too much stressful on that stretch. And as per google, the BLR-KKR distance is about 650 km, that should take about 12 hours for me. So, if i cross BLR at 5 AM then by that evening i am in KKR. Doesn't look like a bad proposition at this point of time.

[ampere]

Imagine I booked a month and a half in advance and they said basic room is booked. I could not believe that at all. But since the place was good, I went and booked the next higher level room. I thought it would be the usual prank to get the customer book the costlier room.

(I did not want to take a risk as I was a baby also travelling.)

But when I reached there, and asked this question saying I had booked more than a month in advance the guys told me that the basic is almost like a guest house for Salem Steel Plant!

I am not sure what is situation now.

[kala]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

But on a different note, now i have started thinking - why not directly go to KKR? Because from all the recent travelogues on KKR it seems, now NH7 is entirely 4-laned in between BLR - KKR. In that case driving will not be too much stressful on that stretch. And as per google, the BLR-KKR distance is about 650 km, that should take about 12 hours for me. So, if i cross BLR at 5 AM then by that evening i am in KKR. Doesn't look like a bad proposition at this point of time.

Actually 12 hours is overkill for Blr-KK. If you are starting early in the morning from Bangalore, you should be in KK in about 8 - 9 hrs max. Traffic is quite sparse after Salem and you'd find it really difficult to stick to your nickname of 9tmax . Last time I travelled, I started from the southern side of Bangalore at 3:45 AM and was in Kavalkinar by 10:45 AM, (where I turned off to Nagercoil) - another 22 kms straight on NH7 instead would have taken me to KK, so I'd assume that I'd have reached KK by about 11 AM or so. (This was inclusive of a breakfast break of about half an hour).

[shenoytech]

If you are arriving to Bangalore after a long drive then I feel staying in Bangalore close to hosur road is better. There is this hotel which I found good for Family stay and had has a decent veg restaurant.

The Grand Krishna Hotel -
+(91)-(80)-25525723,25525724,25525725,25503535
The Grand Krishna


It is opposite to Total Mall in Madivala, hosur road near slik board junction from where the elevated flyover starts for Electronic city and then hosur.

[9tMax]

^^
That looks like a great option. Thanks shenoy

Kala, your post is quite tempting. Let's see where do i end up finally.