[rdee]

Hi BHPians,
Could you please suggest the best roads to cover the following route?

Trivandrum to Thiruvarur Temple (close to Thanjavur).
Thiruvarur to Vrridhachalam and Thiruvaheendrapuram (near Cuddalore)
Cuddalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple and
Tiruvannamalai to Bangalore.

I am planning to do this in 3 days time avoiding night driving.

Thanks
rdee

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rdee

Trivandrum to Thiruvarur Temple (close to Thanjavur).
Thiruvarur to Vrridhachalam and Thiruvaheendrapuram (near Cuddalore)
Cuddalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple and
Tiruvannamalai to Bangalore.

I am planning to do this in 3 days time avoiding night driving.

I. Trivandrum-Madurai-Trichy-Tanjore-Thiruvarur

(Not sure of the Trivandrum-Madurai route stretch and how it needs to be done. HVK sir?)

II. Thiruvarur-Kumbakonam (state Highway)

III. Kumbkonam-Vadulur-Panruti-Tindivanam (NH45C/NH45)

IV. Tindivanam-Gingee-TVMalai-Krishnagiri-BLR (NH66/NH7)

Points to note:
1. NH45C may not be as good as NH45. Please check with others.
2. Madurai-Trichy is very nice.
3. Trichy-Tanjore has lot of traffic. Need to be careful.

There may be someways to bypass Tanjore to directly hit Thirvarur. Please check with others. I am not aware.

4. N66 2L NH. with many potholes, cannot do high speeds.

[MX6]

Fastest way from Tvm to Madurai would be to take the road to Nagercoil and then NH7 up. If one start early morning to avoid the crowded TVM - NJC sector, rest of the route is a breeze.
Now there are two ways, once in TN side.
Either take the NH7 all the way till Madurai, then proceed to Trichy through Melur.
Then drive through tanjore to thiruvarur.

Another route that I'd have taken would be branching off at Aruppukottai and drive up through pudukottai.
Not sure about road conditions, but then most roads in TN are in good condition.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MX6

Fastest way from Tvm to Madurai would be to take the road to Nagercoil and then NH7 up. If one start early morning to avoid the crowded TVM - NJC sector, rest of the route is a breeze.
Now there are two ways, once in TN side.
Either take the NH7 all the way till Madurai, then proceed to Trichy through Melur.
Then drive through tanjore to thiruvarur.

Another route that I'd have taken would be branching off at Aruppukottai and drive up through pudukottai.
Not sure about road conditions, but then most roads in TN are in good condition.

I was thinking about the NH7 but was not sure.

One more option :
If one does want to divert from Aruppukkottai.

Go to Madurai and from Madurai take the Shivagangai route and drive via Tirupattur/Pudukottai and arrive at Tanjore
(This would by-pass Trichy) This is what MX6 mentioned.

That would also give a good break point option at Madurai. (PLUS Temple Visits )

I remember HVK mentioning some time back that NH226 which goes via Pudukottai was not in a good condition
with lots of traffic. But as you said, in TN you would never know. Road conditions are always good or better!

[hvkumar]

I had worked out teh route plan sometime ago for someone to drive from Trivandrum to Tirukadaiyur. Check out the route ion the following link. For Thiuruvarur, follow the Option 2 from Thanjavur to Thiruvarur.

http://hvkumar.googlegroups.com/web/...jzbYnpnkpmxcWg

From Thiruvarur to Kumbakonam,there is an excellent road, approximately 30 kms.

Best route is via Pudukottai (from Melur), although there are some rough sections, nothingh to worry. Going via Trichy would add too much of distance.

FRom KUmbakonam, as ampere and MX6 have suggested, go to Vridhachalam via Jayamkondam.

From Vridhachalam, you can come directly to Cuddalore (no idea where this Thiruvaheendrapuram is).

Cuddalore to Tiruvannamalai, you can take the road to Panruti, cut NH45 and then go via Tirukoilur to T'Malai (road is good, someone said it was very good).