[ampere]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Appreciate all the tips Ampere and yes just as you have suggested, will do 2 different trips while heading towards Mahabs or getting back. Thank you bro or the information again.

Please note, there are no good family hotels/clean toilets after you cross Krishnagiri. This is OK while going, as you mostly will take a break for food before Krishnagiri.

But while coming this is a problem, as you wont find hotels till Krishnagiri.

1. On the NH46 (Chennai Highway), you need to get out on NH46 to hit Saravana Bhavan. (At Vellore)

2. On NH66, there are some hotels in Tiruvannamalai and then thats it. You need to drive all the way Krishnagiri and beyond to get a good hotel.


So, hence plan accordingly.

[reignofchaos]

Take the kanchipuram sh88 route. The roads are good all the way. The gingee fort route is in bad condition.

[yogesh.janghel]

Hi Guys
Planning to go to Mahabs this weekend. Would like some info on decent Hotels ( budget around 3k)

Thanks
Yogesh

[samsan02]

Hi Guys,
What is the best route to Mahabalipuram from Bangalore. I want to drive it in day time with family & baby, so would prefer some decent restaurants & with toilets on the way. Till krishnagiri I think it should be fine right, after that which route should I take.
If possible please provide the latest update on road conditions.

Thanks

[ampere]

Originally Posted by samsan02

Hi Guys,
What is the best route to Mahabalipuram from Bangalore. I want to drive it in day time with family & baby, so would prefer some decent restaurants & with toilets on the way. Till krishnagiri I think it should be fine right, after that which route should I take.
If possible please provide the latest update on road conditions.

Thanks

1. Drive till Kanchipuram all the way on NH46.
2. Get into the town.
3. Ask for Chengelpattu SH
4. Once you reach Chengelpattu, you will hit the NH45 (GST, grand southern trunk).
Cross this highway, take the road to Thirukalkundram and there on to Mahabalipuram.

Hotels: Break before Krishnagiri. You can also break at Saravana Bhavan in Kanchi.
(That may eat on your time).

Route Link:
Bengaluru, Karnataka to Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

Overall good roads. No need to mention about GQ. The SH between Kanchi and Chengelpattu
is decent, with pot holes here and there. And beyond, I dont have much of an update on the road status.
(But based on what I read, it decent SH I guess).

[samsan02]

Hi
Any one recently travelled and has some latest update on the roads from Bangalore to Mahaballipuram, please share.

Also suggest some good hotels and stopover places enroute.
If things materialise, I am Planning for this weekend,
Thank You

[musafir_blr]

Hi All,
We are planning to go to Mahabalipuram next week. Can anyone please advice which should be the best ruote considering the latest road conditions and eateries (for breakfast) available?

The routes I found in this thread are:
a) Bangalore -> Krishnagiri -> NH 46 -> Vellore -> Kanchipuram -> get into Kanchipuram town, take road to Chengalpet -> get into Chengalpet town -> Tirukalukundram -> Mahabalipuram

b) Bangalore -> Krishnagiri -> Uthangarai -> Tiruvannamalai -> Tindivanam -> Pondicherry -> Mahabalipuram

[ampere]

Originally Posted by musafir_blr

The routes I found in this thread are:
a) Bangalore -> Krishnagiri -> NH 46 -> Vellore -> Kanchipuram -> get into Kanchipuram town,
take road to Chengalpet -> get into Chengalpet town -> Tirukalukundram -> Mahabalipuram

Kanchi route is the only option. Pondicherry is roundabout.
Food wise after you go past Shoolagiri (A2B, CCD, McD, Kamat etc),
you get a CCD 5km after Pallikonda toll which also houses Aryas.

[musafir_blr]

Thanks ampere. Road condition wise, will it be a good idea to reach Mahabalipuram via Chennai?

Any idea on the hotels/resorts please - if anybody went to Mahabalipuram recently and can advice accordingly?

[Seek]

Originally Posted by musafir_blr

Thanks ampere. Road condition wise, will it be a good idea to reach Mahabalipuram via Chennai?

Any idea on the hotels/resorts please - if anybody went to Mahabalipuram recently and can advice accordingly?

Depends on your budget. Ofcourse grt temple bay is the best around and right in mahabs. Avoid hotel mamalla just outside town. Another option could be to stay at mgm resorts which has decent facilities and good food. It is between mahabs and chennai on ecr and gives you access to other attractions on ecr that you would anyways want to cover. Dakshin chitra, croc bank, mutukadu etc.

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by musafir_blr

Thanks ampere. Road condition wise, will it be a good idea to reach Mahabalipuram via Chennai?

Any idea on the hotels/resorts please - if anybody went to Mahabalipuram recently and can advice accordingly?

ECR from Chennai-Mahabs is quite good. But be prepared for continuous traffic and especially during weekends, the tool booths are jam packed. OMR is full of traffic upto Siruseri. After that upto Mahabs, its decent. But road is not as good as ECR. Plus no view of the Bay of Bengal.

Mahabs has got quite a good number of hotels for stay. Best being the Temple bay resort. Below this budget, you have Mamalla heritage which is also quite decent. It has also got a rooftop hotel which is quite good as well as a very good vegetarian restaurant. If you ask me, you can walk around the town and straight away walk into any hotel that appeals you.

If you are going as bachelors, look for Murugan lodge/Ayyappa Lodge (sorry dunno the exact name) which comes before hotel Moonrakers (famous landmark) on the right. It is a very decent place and you can straight-away ask for 15-20% discount on his quoted price saying that you are from/alumni of the famous MBA college nearby.

Eating options: Hotel guru is a very good place for Biryani but expect poor ambience. Just opposite to guru on the main road is a green walled unnamed hotel with extremely bad ambience but mouth-watering egg-dosa and chicken gravy. Hotel sea-gull is very good for sea-food with good ambience. Le-yogi, if you want french style food. Moonrakers for multi-cuisine food (but this place is crowded). Sea-Breeze with decent sea-food but little on higher side and access to the beach. Not to forget Mamalla heritage mentioned above.

Out of town, there is also a TTDC hotel (comes before Mahabs to the left). Good food, decent ambience and best of all, unhindered access to the beach.

[samsan02]

Originally Posted by musafir_blr

Thanks ampere. Road condition wise, will it be a good idea to reach Mahabalipuram via Chennai?

Any idea on the hotels/resorts please - if anybody went to Mahabalipuram recently and can advice accordingly?

Hi I just did blr mahabs trip last week. The route via kanchipuram/chengalpattu is shortest but still it would take more time due to traffic, i was travelling on sunday the city traffic was less but due to bad roads and big construction of some sort of flyover near chengalpattu, it took almost 2.30 hrs from the deviation to kanchipuram on NH 46. While returning i took a different route, via kelambakkam, vandalur and on to highway near sriperumbudur. Both sides it took almost 7 hrs of drive time.
Return was about 25 kms extra but good roads all through out. ECR was ok on a wednesday noon time. Vellore is midway so Sarvanna bhavan is a nice place for lunch in between, went their while returning.
While going did stop for lunch before vellore but had packed lunch so didn't go to any hotel.
By the way if you have a android phone then google navigation is just superb in helping out, it re routes as well. And it has voice navigation too. So never had to ask anyone for route and it helped us a lot, while coming i had to feed into phone crocodile park on ECR then vandalur and then sarvana bhavan vellore and finally bangalore, else it will show only shortest route. Also locally i used google navigation to visit all attractions . Don't forget a car charger thou. I stayed at chariot beach resort, good hotel but food is expensive thou food quality is average. The sea was a a little rough that time, the pvt beach is good but its too secluded thou, so unless you are in a big group advise some caution when with family and kids. We saw some drunk locals pass us by but luckily the hotel security was nearby.

[LonelyPlanet]

Planning to do this trip on coming weekend.
Any good diesel stops on the vellore-kanchipuram-mahabalipuram route ?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by LonelyPlanet

Planning to do this trip on coming weekend.
Any good diesel stops on the vellore-kanchipuram-mahabalipuram route ?

You should be able to find some good ones at Vellore it self. Or even some good ones in Kanchi. But as such not sure of any specific one.

Afteer Pallikonda toll there is a CCD. The HP along with it looks decent.

[Arjun Reddy]

I do Bangalore - Chennai on a weekly basis. I always tank up at Shoolagiri (McDonalds). On my way back I tank up at Arya Bhavan HP outlet just after Vellore. This is a company operated bunk. I have had no issues with these bunks. Quality and quality seems to be the best on this route. I get extremely good mileage and performance when I tank up at these bunks. Have a safe trip.