[darklord]

Another December, time for another road trip with the family. Our last two December road trips were long trips, ~6000 km and ~4000 km. Photolgoues are in our forum, Gujarat (Ananthapuri to Dwarkapuri | Kerala <> Gujarat road trip) and Ajanta-Ellora (Safari 2.2 goes cave-diving - From Trivandrum to Ajanta-Ellora).

This time we wanted to do something similar and I was looking at Ujjain as a possible destination. As December approached, another possibility for a long trip in May 2025 opened up and since that would be an extra long range road trip, we decided to curtail our December trip to a short one. Right on cue, my cousin and family decided on a vacation at Chennai and Mahabalipuram, and they invited us to join in the Mahabalipuram leg of the trip.

The trip plan was finalized as thus, me and family would drive from Attingal to Bangalore, pick up my sister and kids (BIL had no leave this time around), do the Mahabalipuram trip and if possible, have a dekko at Kanchipuram as well and return to Attingal as the vacation ends.

The trip at a glance:

[darklord]

Attingal to Bangalore:

Me, mom, wife, and kid set off from Attingal at 2 p.m. after catching a bit of a shuteye after my night shift. The route taken was Kilimanoor-Nilamel-Thenmala-Elathur-Puliyangudi-Sankarankoil-Kovilpatti-Krishnagiri-Bangalore.

The day before, the Safari got washed and cleaned:


Ready to roll:


At Kadakkal, we stopped for a diesel fill:


Since it was Sabarimala season, there was traffic buildup from Thenmala onwards, reaching its peak around Aryankavu. Luckily though, we were not held up anywhere and we crossed the ghats and reached the plains of Tamil Nadu:


Though NH744 is a single lane road here...


...it offered exquisite views:



We left NH744 at Puliyangudi and turned onto SH76 onwards to Sankarankoil:


Sun began to set as we approached Sankarankoil:



There was a bit of a town traffic around Sankarankoil and Kalugumalai, but otherwise, the going was smooth except for speed humps and the traffic was minimal.

By 6:45 p.m. we reached Kovilpatti and entered NH44 and stopped for a tea break soon after:


We continued our journey and crossed Etturvattam toll plaza at 8 p.m., accompanied by a slight drizzle, which luckily did not last long:


Dinner was had from Ayyankottai Temple City:


Drove nonstop thereafter, crossing Karur at 11:45 p.m.:


Took a breather at Paramathi for bio/fuel:


As we took a break at Dharmapuri for tea at 2:15 a.m., what began as a drizzle...


...soon developed into a blinding rainstorm:


This continued off and on and for varying intensities for quite some time, but since traffic was scarce, did not hamper our progress much.

We rolled into Attibelle and entered Bangalore accompanied by foggy conditions at 4:15:


Dad, sister, niece, and nephew were awaiting our arrival with hot tea.

[darklord]

Bangalore to Mahabalipuram:
After a couple of days of rest in Bangalore, we set off towards Mahabalipuram. GMaps was showing two routes to Mahabalipuram, one through Thiruvannamalai and one through Kanchipuram. Since we were planning on staying one night at Kanchi on the return trip, we decided to try the Thiruvannamalai route for the onward journey.

The Safari set off with 5 adults and 3 kids one fine morning at 8:45 a.m. First order of business was to fill diesel up. Taking advantage of the huge price difference compared to Kerala, decided to fill it up to the brim:


Bangalore to Krishnagiri had highway works going on for blackspot eradication in terms of underpass construction at multiple places, slowing down progress considerably:


After two painful hours, exited NH44 at Krishnagiri and decided to have breakfast there:


After breakfast, we drove for a short distance on NH42 and then turned onto NH77 onwards to Thiruvannamalai-Thindivanam, which was a single-land road:

https://youtu.be/6fUAk0VKkPw?si=tFzcE0SCi76LU8mt

The going was good initially, but as we approached Thiruvannamalai around 1 p.m., the roads had permanent cones fixed in the middle and there was no room to overtake, and we were stuck multiple times behind slow-moving vehicles:

https://youtu.be/iKWKpR2CnaY?si=qa7zs5M9SD3GcMHR

We passed by Gingee Fort on the way:



Although it was a single-lane road, it was still a toll road, pictured is the Nangilikondan toll plaza:


After driving for a bit more, we entered onto NH32 at Tindivanam. This road is a multi-lane highway, but the traffic was heavy:



We crossed Athur toll plaza by 2:40 p.m.:


A few minutes later, we stopped for lunch, which proved to be an excellent decision. As we drove on after lunch, we got stuck in an ~1 hour traffic block brought on by road retarring works. After huffing and puffing through it, we turned off from NH32 at Malalipettai onto Tirukazhukundram road.

At first, I was skeptic as the road looked like this:


But then the road widened just after a few hundred meters to these:



We crossed Palar River en route:

https://youtu.be/kEXhPacUr6g?si=6rggxigJWwpM8W-S

All the traffic bottlenecks on the way meant it was about 5 when we finally rolled into Mahabalipuram.

[darklord]

We quickly checked into our hotel. Cousin sister and family had already arrived. Since it was already evening, we decided to visit Shore Temple first, which was just a couple of minutes' walk from our hotel.

We purchased tickets, 40 per head, and was told it was valid for all ASI monuments in Mahabalipuram.

We walked into the Shore Temple compound and was greeted by what we initially assumed was the stage for a political gathering:


We made the mistake of not engaging a guide, we could not find one as we walked in.

We paid no attention to the stage and walked towards the temple:


As the name itself denotes, it is right by the beach:


Remains of a stone wall:


The temple:




Reliefs and carvings:



Sixteen-face Shiva linga:


An inscription:



Side view of the temple and a Nandi (?):




The lion monolith and Mahishasuramardini carved inside:


Front view of the temple:


Reliefs on the walls:


A couple more shots:



The beach was all lively:


One last shot before we walked out:


As we reached the stage, realized that the stage was not for a political meeting but rather for Indian dance festival. We stood and enjoyed the Karakattam being performed for a few minutes:


We walked outside and the streets were bustling with people:


The kids chose this restaurant for our dinner:


The kids did not err. The restaurant was a nice one, good ambience and friendly and fast service. The food did not disappoint either:



As we finished our dinner and walked back to our hotels, the crowds were beginning to thin out:

[darklord]

Compared to the dinner, the breakfast was a muted affair:


Another set of monuments was just a couple of minutes away. We knew that we won't be able to finish seeing them all, but we set off towards it, hoping to see as much as possible.

The first few were right by the roadside.

Descent of the Ganga River/Arjuna's Penance:

This is a huge ~1400 years old rock relief depicting the descent of Ganga after Bhagiratha's effort and also Arjuna's penance to obtain Pashupathastra.

Right next to it is the Panchapandava cave:

This is an unfinished cave temple, the largest in Mahabalipuram.

Next to it is the Krishna Mandapa. Per our guide, this used to be an open relief like the Arjuna's Penance and dating to around 7th century but during the Vijayanagara Empire period, around 16th century, the relief was enclosed within a mandapa. The relief depicts Krishna lifting Govardhana Mountain:



We walked to the entrance of the compound after viewing the roadside reliefs.

The living and the life-like:


The map for the group of monuments was placed at the entrance:


Entry into the site brings one right in front of Krishna's butter ball:


These two rocks formed a shelter, nicknamed Bhima's kitchen:


Stone breaking technique example on another rock:


Trimurthi shrine:






Gopi's churn:


Trimurthi shrine and Gopi's churn (the middle rock):


Next was this sculpture:


If you notice, there is a water path carved above the sculpture. During rains, water will flow down this, and this will be a perfect representation of the baby elephant drinking water.

A panorama of the compound:


Another view of Krishna's butter ball:


We next walked over to Ganesha Ratha. Since it was an active place of worship, did not take much photos, just the one while walking out of the compound:



Time was approaching for us to leave as we had to check out of the hotel rooms, but decided to visit the Varaha Temple too:



Varaha relief inside:


Gajalakshmi relief:


As a malayali, this one struck a chord. The Vamana relief:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=X6m4ZUuP...OSAiZV5JK-nFhA

Our time to get going was approaching and we did a quick photoshoot around Krishna's butter ball and walked out of the compound.

We went back to our hotels, checked out, settled the bills and kept the luggage in the hotel itself. We had one more site to visit before we got moving from Mahabalipuram, the Pancha Rathas.

[darklord]

Pancha Rathas was about a 5 minute drive, or so we thought. We were stuck in a traffic jam as we moved towards Pancha Rathas and the designated parking lot was not only full, there was nobody to manage it, except one guy who was forcing cars in, making exit difficult after finding zero slots. We drove around for a few minutes and found another parking area right opposite the gate of Pancha Rathas. Perhaps owing to the crowd, we found no guides here.

First up was the Droupadi Ratha:



Right next to it, Arjuna Ratha:



A statue in front of the rathas:


Another statue with Bhima Ratha to the left and Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha to the right:


Next was the largest of the rathas, aptly named Bhima Ratha:




After clicking a few photos, we walked over to the Dharmaraja Ratha:




The last of the rathas, Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha:


We spent some time clicking a few family photos and walked out. It was past lunch time and the kids were getting restless.

The parting shots:



While returning, we were stuck in a huge traffic jam that it took us nearly 30 minutes to cover the approximate 1 km distance. We were famished by then and had lunch at the first decent restaurant:


Post lunch, we returned to our hotel to retrieve our luggage while the cousin sister and family were waiting for a taxi to take them to Chennai where they were planning to stay a couple of days before their return to Trivandrum. We parted ways a bit upset because cousin sister's 1-year-old broke out in tears when he realized that we were leaving without them.

Mahabalipuram to Kanchipuram:
Our drive to Kanchipuram was rather uneventful and nonstop, except for road works and diversions at multiple places and the traffic inside Chengalpattu, Walajabad, and Kanchipuram itself:



It was about 6 when we reached Kanchipuram. We had no prior bookings. Our plan was to check with a few shortlisted hotels and if no rooms were available, to drive on to Bangalore itself. The first on my list was TTDC Aalayam. They were fully booked out, but somebody had made cancellations and we got two rooms allocated. The rooms were big and clean, the parking lot was big, and they offered complimentary breakfast. They even provided a toiletries kit. All this for 4600 for two rooms with an extra bed:



Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xMMajbMjRTKAnNdY7

Only drawback was that on one side was the Kanchipuram tourist bus parking lot:

Since it was peak season, there were a lot of buses with Sabarimala and Om Shakti pilgrims. Not only those, there were also lots of buses with GJ, UP, RJ and MP registrations. Closing to door to the balcony and turning the a/c on reduced the noise to tolerable levels.

We spoke with the reception staff, who were helpful, and got to know that parking was limited at most of the temples and was advised to hire autorickshaws after keeping the car parked at the hotel. They also suggested visiting Ekambaranathar Temple nearby as the closing time was 8:30 and if we hurried, we may get darshan.

We dumped the luggage in the room, freshened up quickly and walked out of the hotel. Since the bus parking lot is next door, there is an auto stand right in front of the hotel. We hired an autorickshaw, was quoted Rs. 300 for the return trip. Did not haggle over the price and hopped on. The autorickshaws are configured such that all eight of us fit in.

The temple had a long queue, so we got quick darshan tickets and had a very quick darshan. As we did our pradakshina, we were told to wait for the Lord's procession and we had the opportunity to participate in that as well.

The 3500 year old mango tree inside the temple:



Temple pond:


We walked out of the inner temple and clicked a few photos outside:





As we wrapped up and walked out, the priests were also leaving, closing the temple for the day.

We returned to the hotel and had dinner from the hotel restaurant:


It was a long day. Per my phone, we had walked nearly 8 km through the day. As soon as we hit the bed, we were fast asleep.

[darklord]

The morning brought with it heavy showers. This was the scene as we looked from the hotel balcony:


Gopuras of Ekambaranathar Temple are in the background.

Even though we were worried that temple visit with small kids in this weather might be difficult, we got ready and went for breakfast:


Our plan for the day was to visit Kanchi Kamakshi Temple and Varadharaja Perumal Temple. The ladies wanted to shop for Kanchipuram sarees as well. Post this, we planned to drive back to Bangalore.

We decided to leave the Safari parked at the hotel today as well, opting to travel in auto. The driver who ferried us yesterday had arranged for his friend to pick us up from the hotel in the morning.

As we left the hotel, the rain toned down to a light drizzle:


We first visited Kanchi Kamakshi Temple. There was a fairly long queue for darshan, but it was moving and we had a good darshan without much wait.

We came out and clicked a few photos outside:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4N0oz1oz...t5Z7LOWK5ISoel

Of note the temple requests traditional wear, though not enforced:


We quickly did a parikrama and rushed to Varadharaja Perumal Temple. The young nephew was fast asleep on my shoulder by now, so pictures are minimum. The queue for darshan was extra long and unruly and zero effort from authorities to regulate. After some heated words were exchanged all around and an elderly gentleman taking discipline enforcement into his own hands, there was a sense of discipline as we approached the sanctum and we had a good darshan. Don't understand why all the jostling and pushing and queue jumping even at a place of worship is necessary, it is not as if the Lord will dispense blessings on a first-come first-serve basis . Luckily, the queue for Golden Lizard was better managed and we had an easy darshan here. Altogether a poor experience from a spiritual standpoint.

A couple of pics from the entrance:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DCBllJ5j...t8binjzjFfcbnz

As we came out of the temple, it was already past our checkout time. We hurried to the hotel and quickly checked out. Luckily, the hotel staff accommodated our late checkout without issue. By the time we settled bills and loaded our luggage in the car, it was approaching lunchtime. Since everyone was exhausted, we decided to have an early lunch from the hotel restaurant itself:



The ladies were adamant on saree shopping and we again sought the help of our auto driver from our morning trip. Dad preferred staying back in the car, and we left it parked in the hotel parking lot. The auto driver took us to a weaving center/home shop named Sri KRB Silks. The ladies shopped to their heart's content while I babysat the kids:




It was 3:45 p.m. when we reached back in the hotel and started our onward drive to Bangalore.

We took the usual Chennai-Bangalore route, which was under various stages of renovation throughout its length. Some sections were smooth:


Some sections were freshly tarred:


Some underpasses and flyovers were still under construction, with minor blocks, but nothing significantly hampered our progress. The weather was pleasant with light showers every now and then.

The Safari kept munching miles effortlessly:



Stopped at a bakery after Vaniyambadi toll plaza for a tea break:



We drove on and the sun had begun to set by then:


We drove nonstop, except for a bio break and a courtesy fill at a fuel bunk, and reached Bommasandra in Bangalore by 8:45 p.m. We decided to have dinner from Nandhana Palace there before reaching home:



It was 10:15 p.m. when we reached home after this leg of our trip.

[darklord]

Bangalore to Attingal:
And just like the blink of an eye, the vacation was over and it was time to head back home.

We started around 2 p.m. from Bangalore. Filled the tank full of diesel:


I briefly contemplated taking NH844 to Dharmapuri, but decided against it and took the usual Krishnagiri route.

Going was slow till Krishnagiri owing to underpass works:



We stopped at our usual stop, Hotel Sharvesh, Thoppur for a tea break:



We approached Karur around 9:


Stopped for dinner at Velu Biryani just after Karur:



Drove on and reached Madurai just past 12:


Owing to the road works and potential road blocks, decided to skip NH744 route and owing to desolateness, decided to skip Sankarankoil route, choosing instead to go via Kavalkinaru-Nagercoil-Kaliyikkavila-TVM Bypass route, even thought it was 90 km longer for us.

Rains began once we crossed Kovilpatti and continued off and on till Kavalkinaru:


Reached Nanguneri toll plaza just past 2 a.m.:

https://youtu.be/mCZ7lNWyfAw?si=R8dYVxDVCvoLJqUQ

Took a brief breather at Thirupathisaram toll plaza at 2:45 a.m.:


Drove nonstop thereafter, covering Nagercoil to Attingal distance in 2 hours, reaching Attingal at 4:45 a.m.:


This brought an end to another December road trip story.

[darklord]

Observations/thoughts/notes:

• Even though GMaps suggested Thiruvannamalai route to go to Mahabalipuram from Bangalore, I think via Kanchipuram would be the easiest route. That we drove through a new route was a plus for us though.
• We filled cheapest diesel from Karnataka, compared to TN and KL.
• Mahabalipuram requires at least two full days to explore.
• Kanchipuram has so many temples, I would guess 2-3 days just to see the major ones.
• One of the sarees that we purchased from Sri KRB Silks, Kanchipuram had a minor defect, which we noted when we reached home. The seller couriered another one for free.
• Come end-2025, NH844 and Rajapalayam-Tirumangalam section of NH744 should be ready, making it a bit more easier for us to drive to Bangalore.
• Karode-Nagercoil-Kanyakumari widening of NH66 is at least another year away from completion.
• Safari yet again proved to be an effortless mile muncher.

TL;DR shorts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjbvfylXl94

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpWK10jI36Y

Till next time:

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Kkumar]

Wonderful travelogue with beautiful photos. Can you please rate the various roads as well as the hotels as it would be of great help to prospective travellers. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

[sweettoothfun]

I think I am a bit late to come here. By the way wonderful depiction of your travel journey. keep enjoying the Real SAFARI.