[Crow]

It's my turn to bump this thread. I'm going from Mumbai to Chennai sometime around Feb 13 weekend (may leave on Monday to avoid weekend traffic). An early start (before 5am) is planned, as D-BHPian @paragsachania always recommends.

I've looked at a bunch of routes and decided that Mumbai-Hyderabad-Chennai is the best one for the onward journey. I can stop at Hyderabad for two nights and meet some friends there. Any RT-PCR guidelines or route updates that I should know about? This is the first time I'll be driving to Hyderabad, so I am not sure how the roads are after crossing Pune.

Any route suggestions from Hyderabad-Chennai will also be appreciated. I am open to stopping somewhere on the outskirts of Chennai if it's needed. Can always start at 4am from Hyderabad to get to Chennai on the same day. Is that practical? Please bear in mind that I am used to Maharashtra's bad roads and heavy traffic on highways, which is why I'm a bit cautious about attempting this journey in two driving days.

Travelling in an MH registered Swift, and I am the only driver in this trip.


Secondly, while returning, the plan is to get back via Bangalore (and maybe even a stop at Coorg/Mangalore/Goa, depending on our mood. Any RTPCR updates from the KA/TN border will also be appreciated.

[narayans80]

Only KA asks for RT-PCR. Get a hotel booking in Hyderabad, that way you have a proof that you'll not stay in KA that night, mostly they may not ask. But just in case.

Pune-Solapur-Hyderabad is mostly done up. I don't know about Pune-Solapur, but Solapur-Hyderabad has some manageable diversions till Omerga and is smooth 4-lane from thereon.

Hyderabad-Madras is an easy drive via NAM-Ongole-Nellore. Will take 9 hours.

If you are used to doing 500-600 km a day, doing Bombay-Madras over 2 days is a relaxed drive.

Please plan your Pune crossing time, this I feel is the only pain point for the Hyderabad route.

[Crow]

Guys, I travelled to Hyderabad a couple days ago. There was absolutely no checking anywhere. No one stopped us at the MH-KA border and we didn’t even realise when we entered Telangana. There were no border markers there.

Mumbai-Pune stretch is the usual with nothing much to report. I left at 5.45am and reached Pune before 8am. Took about 45 minutes to cross the city and reach NH65 towards Solapur. The first 20km is a total mess with too many wrong way vehicles, U-Turn fools with no regard for any safety, and pedestrians walking in the middle of the fast lane as if it’s nana-nani park.

But after that stretch the highway is an absolute dream to drive on. Very low traffic, very smooth Tarmac (total surprise to find the first good highway in MH), and smooth progress throughout. There were some diversions and two-lane stretches after Solapur but it was so short that it barely made any difference.

Reached the hotel in Hyderabad at 6pm.

There were a couple of police Ertigas in Maharashtra with speed cams but I guess they weren’t functioning when we passed them. I was at 80-90kmph on a road with a speed limit of 80, but no challans showed up thankfully. Would hate to be challaned for being at a very safe speed of 85-90kmph on a highway that smooth with sparse traffic.

I tanked up at a Reliance petrol pump in KA to save a little money on fuel. Petrol is around ₹7 per litre cheaper in KA, as compared to MH.

I’m leaving for Chennai tomorrow. Google Maps is suggesting this route: https://goo.gl/maps/8GmKYbvBZhkurrqU7

Is this the NAM route? I can’t wait to drive on the Ongole to Nellore stretch either. Heard great things about the roads on the way to Chennai. Coming from the craterways of MH, I’m now waiting to be amazed with good roads.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Crow

Is this the NAM route?

Yes that is the one. Narketapally-Addanki-Medarmetla is NAM.

Beyond Nellore don't have high hopes. Tada-Madras is still not complete in over decade and half. One bridge construction is happening on Nellore-Gudur stretch.

On NAM too, Pidugurrala is a mess.

All said and done, this is still the faster route. The free sections more than make up for the messy ones.

[Crow]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Yes that is the one. Narketapally-Addanki-Medarmetla is NAM.

Beyond Nellore don't have high hopes. Tada-Madras is still not complete in over decade and half. One bridge construction is happening on Nellore-Gudur stretch.

On NAM too, Pidugurrala is a mess.

All said and done, this is still the faster route. The free sections more than make up for the messy ones.

You are an amazing person, thank you. I drove today and everything is exactly as you described in this post. Pidugurrala had slow moving traffic that wasted a good 15-20 minutes.

No checking for RTPCR or anything else anywhere. We left Hyderabad at 8am and reached our hotel in Chennai at 6.45pm. Took a couple of bio breaks and a 25-minute stop for lunch.

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Yes that is the one. Narketapally-Addanki-Medarmetla is NAM.

Originally Posted by Crow

No checking for RTPCR or anything else anywhere. We left Hyderabad at 8am and reached our hotel in Chennai at 6.45pm. Took a couple of bio breaks and a 25-minute stop for lunch.

I also travelled very recently between Chennai and Hyderabad and have put the road conditions in the Hyderabad - Chennai thread here

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post5261621 (Hyderabad - Chennai : Route Queries)

[shivaramanuma]

Hi all
This is my first post in Team BHP, so please pardon any errors. Sorry also if this is a bit long.

Wanted to share with you my experience in driving my Skoda Superb from Mumbai to Chennai. I have a 2012 model Skoda Superb Diesel Automatic 2.0 litre model. As I have more use for the same car in Chennai decided to take it there. The Trip was on February 19, 2022 and plan was to reach Chennai by February 20, 2022 evening.

Before I began my journey I read about the different options but decided to stick to the Mumbai-Pune-Bengaluru-Chennai route for two reasons – one I had to meet someone in Bengaluru and the other did not want to cross two more states on my way to Chennai (Telengana and Andhra Pradesh) given that the covid requirements may vary.

The plan was to cover the Mumbai Chennai trip of around 1360 kms in two days (24 hours of driving). Wanted to take a break in the middle, planned a break every 200-250 kms or 3-4 hours. Plan was also to take a break for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner and cover the planned distance between the breaks. So had to identify restaurants/stay area prior to the trip, trying to get all stops on the highway without deviating too much. There were only 2 of us and both decided to drive alternatively every 3 hours/break.

The plan was as below:

Day 1 :
Mumbai to Pune – Stop at Shree Kateel Pure Veg Restaurant (on NH48 after crossing Pune City) – 166 kms – Travel time 3.5 hours

Kateel Restaurant Pune to Hotel Amrapali Family Restaurant (just before Kolhapur) – 210 kms – Travel time 3hrs 15 minutes

Hotel Amrapali Kolhapur (just before Kolhapur) to S Jail Restaurant (just before Hubli) – 197 kms – Travel time 3 hours

S Jail Restaurant (just before Hubli) to DVG Socials Hotel (just before Devangare) – 161 kms – Travel time 2 hours 20 minutes

Halt overnight at DVG Socials Hotel.

Day 2:
Davengare to Pavithra Idli Hotel (just before Tumkuru) – 204 kms – Travel time 2 hours 40 minutes

Pavithra Idli Hotel (just before Tumkuru) to Bengaluru (through NICE highway) Bhoomi College – 75 kms – 1 hour 30 minutes

Bhoomi College Bengaluru to Hosur – 28 km – 45 minutes to stop for lunch

Hosur to Kanchipuram – 244 kms – 3 hours 47 minutes

Kanchipuram to R A Puram Chennai – 79 kms – 2 hours

The actual trip happened as follows:

Day 1:
Mumbai to Pune:

So my journey began on Saturday February 19, 2022 at 5.50am from Jogeshwari (East). Wanted to start early but could not. The journey was smooth in the city and there was not much of traffic. Took to Mumbai Pune Expressway and my first stop was at Shree Kateel Restaurant, a distance of 166 kms and reached exactly as planned in 3 hours 10 minutes (9am). Had breakfast at this restaurant which is bang on the highway – Idli was great, dosa was bad had to return it. Coffee was fine. The restrooms are clean.

Pune to Kolhapur (outskirts):

Left Pune at 9.40am. Traffic was medium but the roads were not super good. The ride was ok and we reached the intended restaurant by 1pm only to realise that the restaurant was on the opposite side. Did not want to waste time taking a u-turn and therefore continued for another 35 kms searching restaurants on the left side of the NH48. Missed a food court which had multiple restaurants and finally stopped at a Vittal Kamat restaurant at 1.45pm. Thought that the brand was good but looks like a franchise. The food was ok, full of oil and spice but only good thing was that the restaurant was not crowded. The restrooms were unusable to say the least.

Kolhapur (NH48) to Hubli (outskirts) – DVG Socials (outskirts of Devangare):

Left Vittal Kamat restaurant at 2.30pm. After driving for around 3 hours again realized that the S Jail restaurant (wanted to go there for the fancy of sitting in a jail themed restaurant) was 3 kms digression from the NH48. Since it was getting slightly dark did not want to waste time and decide to drive directly to DVG Social Hotel.

There is a stretch of around 30 kms after Hubli where the NH48 is only two lane with no divider. Was heavy in truck traffic, finally reached DVG Socials by 7.10pm.

Overnight stay here. Clean hotel, open air restaurant was great, overall slightly on the expensive side at total cost of Rs.4000 for stay and dinner.

Day 2:

DVG Social (Devangare) to Tumkuru (outskirts):

Left the hotel at 5.50am. However as the hotel staff was sleeping and the watchman had vanished after locking the main gate had to wait for ten minutes for them to let us go.

Could not find the intended hotel again as it was on the opposite side so again continued but this time found one good restaurant – Namaste Bengaluru which was 225km from DVG Socials and it took us only 3 hours. From here on I would say that the ride was fantastic with 6 lane roads and low traffic.

Namaste Bengaluru Restaurant to Bengaluru (Bhoomi College):

Drove for around 2 hours and reached this place which was a distance of only 75km. Used the NICE to bypass Bengaluru city. NICE was a great ride.
Bengaluru (outskirts) to A2B Veg Restaurant (Chinnar):
The ride of around 50 kms took us around 1 hour 30 minutes (reached around 1.30pm) as the interior roads near Bhoomi college was pathetic due to road work.

This is the best place you can stop for lunch if you are a vegetarian. South Indian thali for 2 costed only Rs.270, I rechecked with the waiter whether it was for 2 or he only billed us for one. He confirmed that this was for two people. Ample parking was available and rest rooms were clean.

A2B Veg Restaurant (Chinnar) to Ram’s Coffee (Arapakkam):

Left 2.30pm and drove 155 kms to stop at this place for coffee. This was one of the best drives with 6 lane highway and low traffic. Be careful to take the correct left turn after Krishnagiri (don’t go on the flyover) as otherwise you will go to Kanyakumari NH44. Did the mistake and wasted around 10 coming back.

Ram’s coffee is a standing restaurant so we took our tea and stood near our car. Good break, they also serve snacks.

Ram’s Coffee to Maduravoyal (slight detour for 3 kms) and to R A Puram Chennai:

There was heavy traffic between Maduravoyal and Vadapalani. Reached home by 7.30pm.

Summary and learning:
1. Took 25.5 hours (with a 1.5 hours detour so net 24 hours) of driving to reach Chennai from Mumbai.
2. Overnight stop after completing around 730kms on the first day.
3. Without the detour could have reached Chennai home by 6pm
4. Average speed of 55kms per hour (65kms without the detour)
5. 65% of the roads were 6 lane, 25% four lane and the remaining 2 lane.
6. Roads were the best between Davangere and Chennai (Tamilnadu section was excellent till Sriperumbudur after which traffic starts).
7. Heavy truck traffic throughout
8. Used cruise control with a speed of 80/90kms for the entire journey.
9. Please check the side of the stop and whether it is on the highway before planning as otherwise you will waste time in u-turns.
10. Average mileage (as recorded by Skoda Superb system was 24.1kmpl till Koyambedu). This is a diesel engine with Automatic Gear (DSG). AC was on throughout at 24C.
11. There was very less fatigue but due to the journey sleep during and after journey was sound.
12. There was no checking for vaccination or any other papers during the trip.

This is my first post, will improve in future. Appreciate any guidance for a good skoda superb mechanic in Chennai.

[soumenbanerjee]

Dear BHP Team
I am planning to make the Pune to Chennai (Navalur) trip in June / July of this year. Google shows that this is a ~20 hour stretch. I plan to break this in to 2 parts -- reaching Chennai the next day post a halt some where in between.

Can you please advise on the trip and the route, stops that I should take for a night halt. Many thanks for your kind help.

[Crow]

Originally Posted by soumenbanerjee

Dear BHP Team
I am planning to make the Pune to Chennai (Navalur) trip in June / July of this year. Google shows that this is a ~20 hour stretch. I plan to break this in to 2 parts -- reaching Chennai the next day post a halt some where in between.

Can you please advise on the trip and the route, stops that I should take for a night halt. Many thanks for your kind help.

There are two main routes to get to Chennai:

1. Pune-Bengaluru-Chennai
2. Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai

I travelled in February and took route 1 while going (from Mumbai) and route 2 while returning. Both routes are pretty good overall. Some observations:

Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai

• Pune-Hyderabad was in very good condition. You'll reach in around 9 hours and get access to good hotels etc to stay. There should be no shortage of places to stop at and eat along the way. There's one under construction stretch somewhere near Omerga (I forget the exact location, sorry!) but otherwise there was no hitch.
• Hyderabad to Chennai is also pretty good. You'll have to take the road towards Vijaywada initially and then take a right to join the N.A.M expressway (which is basically just a regular four-lane highway). This part is good except Pidurugulla where you'll lose about 15-30 minutes because you pass through the town and there's heavy traffic.
• Have a good breakfast before you leave and carry some food with you for this stretch because it lacks good food options until you hit NH16 near Ongole. From that point there's nothing to worry about. Ongole to Nellore is a beautiful six-lane 130-km stretch with arrow straight roads. One of the best national highways in the country.
• While entering Chennai you may end up on a really long bypass flyover. Be wary of unmarked exits and avoid them if you can. The exit was on the right lane for some reason and we ended up in traffic under the flyover rather suddenly. Ideally we should've just stayed on the bridge to save a good 10-15 minutes.

Pune-Bengaluru-Chennai

• Pune-Bengaluru is a great stretch overall but there is a 20-40km stretch near Dharwad where you'll be on an undivided two-lane road. That was a bit tiring to pass through, but otherwise it's all four- and six-lane smooth roads all the way.
• You also have lots of food options on the way and probably will never be too far from civilization, so finding hotels for night halt won't be too bad.
• We did this stretch in two days: Day 1 Bengaluru to Belgaum, and Day 2 Belgaum to Mumbai. It took about 7-8 hours each day and we had a stress-free drive overall.
• Bengaluru to Chennai is also a smooth six-lane highway with lots of good food options. We were coming from Pondicherry so we joined the highway from the middle and were going towards BLR. You should check the Chennai-BLR thread to get better updates and advice on entering Chennai.

Overall, if you can find a good place to halt for the night, I would recommend the BLR route. You're never too far from food or stay options on this route and the roads are wider by and large.

Generally, I prefer taking halts in big cities, so we chose to stay at Hyderabad and then at Chennai directly. That route gives a more even distribution in terms of reaching the destination (about 11-12 hours of driving per day from Mumbai).

PS: We don't drive post sunset, so please ignore everything I wrote if you are planning to drive at night.

[soumenbanerjee]

Originally Posted by Crow

There are two main routes to get to Chennai:

Dear Crow
Thank You so much for your guidance and inputs. I plan to use the Pune - BLR - Chennai route based on your inputs. I plan to spend the night in Devanagere and not Bangalore as it could be a stretch drive for the 1st day. And I too have a strict policy - Highway driving is only between 4:00AM - 7:00PM (strictly adhered) and mandatory breaks after 90mins (max 120 mins) of driving.
I will post my travel experience on this thread.

[RaghavEvoX]

I am planning to travel from Chennai to Pune day after tomorrow. I saw 2 options
1. Via Hyderabad
2. Via Bangalore

If I take the Hyderabad route, we'll stay in Hyderabad.
If I take the Bangalore route, we are thinking to stay in Hubli or Davanagere.

Chennai - Bangalore is a familiar route to me but I am not sure about the road conditions between Bangalore to Pune and what are the stay options available in Hubli or Davanagere. Which place would be the best to stay overnight ?

Never travelled in the hyderabad route. But wanted to try it if the roads are ok.

Any suggestions ?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

Chennai to Pune

I will not go into the details, since these have been discussed on a regular basis between Bangalore-Bombay, Madras-Hyderabad and Hyderabad-Pune threads. So I'll just touch upon general considerations between the 2:

• Pune is a large city without a bypass. So the choice is dictated on which side of the city you want to go and how flexible you are with driving off hours to avoid city traffic. Viman Nagar/Hadapsar are easily accessible from Solapur and Kothrud/Wakad would be from Kolhapur side.
• Madras-Bangalore-Bombay is start time sensitive. Depending on what time you start the traffic quantum you'll meet will vary. Kolhapur-Pune is the unforgiving stretch in terms of start time planning. Daybreak, 1 pm or 10 pm are the best from Kolhapur. The variance between best to worst timings is 2:45 hours and 6 hours.
• In Hyderabad route, Madras-Tada and peripheral Hyderabad city is where you'll see traffic. And you get a proper Hyderabad bypass. Rest of the stretches are easy going.
• Couple of towns (Elchuru, Pidugurrala) in NAM don't have bypass. Not significant time consumers. Also on NAM you have to keep 80-100, its not meant for consistent 100+.
• Technically you can make it to Solapur with a 4am or earlier start. Done it few times.
• If you are heading to eastern part of Pune, it opens up Chitradurga-Solapur-Pune as an option. Given Bijapur-Solapur and Solapur bypass have opened up.
• For Hyderabad you may also going via Kurnool, which is about 30 mins slower compared to Ongole-NAM. Kurnool itself has 3 different route choices with subtle variations in time taken.
• Hyderabad route will need little more planning on food stops and stay.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Yes that is the one. Narketapally-Addanki-Medarmetla is NAM.

Beyond Nellore don't have high hopes. Tada-Madras is still not complete in over decade and half. One bridge construction is happening on Nellore-Gudur stretch.

On NAM too, Pidugurrala is a mess.

All said and done, this is still the faster route. The free sections more than make up for the messy ones.

Hello Mr Narayans, have you done the Maa Bom via Blr and Hyd routing?

Which is better? Ha e done it via Blr 4 times and is the known devil, thinking if I should experiment via Hyd for a change.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Maa Bom via Blr and Hyd routing?

I haven't driven till Bombay, only till Solapur about 6-7 times. Generally traffic for the most part is way less than the Bangalore route barring Madras and Hyderabad peripheral traffic. If you are around Hyderabad in off peak times, its a non-issue.

NAM does not have bypasses for 2 or 3 towns. Pidugurrala is probably the worst, which would take 10-15 minutes to cross. On NAM, you will have speed breakers on either end of town.

The biggest disadvantage of the Hyderabad route is that you will end up doing East to West of Pune. If you are ok to deal with it, remaining route is more peaceful than Madras-Bangalore-Pune.

Even the Omega-Naldurg-Solapur diversions are not a deal breaker. It is easily manageable.

Originally Posted by Stribog

I will be leaving Chennai at around 1130 am on the 1st of Jan, Hubli seems like a decent spot I should reach by 2100 hrs.

1130 am start from Madras would land you at 530-600 pm in Hosur-Electronics City region. 9 pm Hubli is very unlikely. Davangere is more likely.

1st Jan is a Sunday and possibly the end of winter holidays for many. So I expect traffic to be high in general and Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore to be loaded.

Even if you are doing Hyderabad route, you'll feel the increased traffic on Narketapalli-Hyderabad section.

Originally Posted by Stribog

Do you have good break (clean food and toilets) options on this route? Also are there Shell pumps on this route

Rest stops have to be planned.

There is one Shell pump at NH5 entry in Madras, and nothing else until Solapur.

There are couple of BPCL COCO Enroute (one at Ongole another at Satwar). I guess there's one more at Zaheerabad, but it is not on the highway.

[ChanLee]

Hi,Planning to drive from Chennai to Hubli this week and exploring various route options.Which one would you guys suggest?Apart from the regular route via Hosur or Kolar Google is throwing with another option of Diversion near Mulbagal and joining after Tumkur.Has anyone used this route?Please suggest.