[amohit]

Start Point: Basvanagar, Bangalore, 5:15 am.
Destination: Belum Caves, Near Tadpatri, AndraPradesh, 12 pm.
Vehicle: Esteem VXI, Milage: 17.5kmpl

Route: Bangalore->Devanhalli(NH7)->Chikabalapur->Anantapur->Rt turn on SH30->Tadpatri->Kolimigundla.
Total one way distance ~315kms.
Road Conditions:Upto Devanhalli raods are good.
After that upto Penukonda, roads are kind of ok..with some bad stretches.
15 kms after Penukonda road conditions are great.
SH30 is also in prestine condition except for the areas near the towns. roads just before Tadpatri are really bad. but the last 35kms is again good 2 lane road. Last 2 kms or so is 1/2 lane good road.

Driving directions:

Upto Anantapur the road is just one straight stretch. After reaching ananthpur, you need to take a right turn at the circle(landmark:Goddess Saraswati idol at th circle). Go straight for abt 2 kms, cross the bridge, and immideatly after the bridge is a clock tower. Take a left from there...then the first right and the straight. From Anantaput Tadpatri is 53 kms. Once you reach Tadpatri, you need to take the 2nd left double road...and then again its a straight road. From Tadpatri Belum caves is about 35 kms. 20 kms from tadpatri there is a T junction and you need to take rt at this place. Landmark: Cement Factory on the hill top just in front of you.

Traffic density is quite low and so is human habitation. Belum caves has a Andra style veg/non veg restaurant. not sure abt the food quality, as we carried our lunch. Drinking water is available there.
Carry a handtowel and your camera!.
The enterance ticket is charged at 30/-
Parking and toilet facilities are available.
There is also a dormitory for night stay. In Tadpatri also there are a few lodges.

The best trip plan could be to start really early, visit leepakshi, have lunch at penukonda, night stay at tadpatri, visit the caves next morning and return.

The caves are open from 10am to 5pm and it takes about 1-1.5 hrs to see the place. So you must reach there by 3 pm. It will be better to reach there early as there will be very little rush.

Verdict: Worth the travel.

Some Snaps:
Enroute:


The road just after penukonda:


Windmills after tadpatri:


A distant view of the destination:


One of the three holes in the cave:


Inside the caves:











Regards,
Mohit

[shuvd]

A very detailed travelouge Amohit. Nice snaps too!

[ravibhat]

Decent writeup.

I heard thats good place to visit I missed :( visiting that when I studied in Bellary.

Regards,

Ravi.

[snaronikar]

Nice pics and decent write up. The mileage given by our car is also good. Did you use a/c in your car? BTW, what are the caves famous for?

[BUSA]

Nice pics and a very well written and detailed travelogue.

17.5KMPL, wonder if you drove a Swift Diesel how much you would get

[vikram_d]

If everybody drove swift diesels the world would be an extremely boring place.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

good write up there mohit and surely thats a place to visit and would be on my driving radar soon for sure.

[amohit]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Did you use a/c in your car?

I used a/c only for 15-20 mins(on the stretchs that were dusty)...rest all it was fresh air.

Originally Posted by snaronikar

BTW, what are the caves famous for?

There are stalactite and stalagmite formations in the caves.
Check out APTDC :: Wilderness Camping : Belum Caves
and
The Hindu Business Line : Belum caves on the tourist map
for more info.

Regards,

[abhi_N]

Nice pics Mohit. Even I am also planning for it from Hyderabad. I guess, I have to do a night halt at Tadapatri. Are those lodges, you mentioned, decent enough and have parking space?

[rajen83]

We visited this place in Dec 07. We reached Kurnool previous day and stayed at our aunt's place. The route we took from Kurnool was

1. Kurnool - Bethamcherla => Exclent road Kurnool - Nandhyal road, Double road. We took a right diversion
somewhere in the middle to go towards Bethamcherla. From here freshly laid single
road. Very good, scenic and a lot of curves and ups and downs cutting across hills
where Bethamcherla rocks are being mined.
2. Bethamcherla - Banaganapalle - => Again single road. Kind of OK OK but expect sudden surprises in the middle of the
road and also the sides are all chipped off. So beware.
3. Banaganapalle - Owk => Roads become worse.
4. Owk - Kolimigundla => Worst roads. Actually no roads at all. These roads cut through the stone quarries and you can see a lot of mining activity up close. All rocks. Again worst
road one can expect.

The only positive from this route would be that you will know where and how Bethamcherla tiles we use in our homes are found.


But the visit to the caves was well worth all the hardship. These caves are actually naturally formed and are beneath a
paddy field. They are very different from Ajantha and Ellora caves.

Food- APTDC restaurant is kind of OK I think. But apart from that place you may not get any decent place nearer. We skipped
eating lunch there only to repent and later eat at Banaganapalle.

Lodging - I have no clue. Did not bother to enquire.
Parking - Acres of space. No problem.

There is another place Yaganti nearby to Banaganapalle and is a good place to pay a quick visit. We then went ahead to
Nandhyal and halted for the night. Then early morning visited Mahanandi and then to Ahobilam and back to Kurnool by evening.

Banaganapalle - Nandhyal => Kind of manageable. Patchy and uneven, but not many potholes. Again single road.
Nandhyal - Mahanandi => Excellent road. Great track to race.
Mahanandi - Ahobilam => Can say between Good and Very Good.

Sorry I did not maintain a trip log so cant recollect the distances.
Hope this info helps.

[akroy]

Excellent description Mohit, especially I liked the route direction inside Anantapur.

This is the place I am contemplating to cover for the last 4 years right from my bike days but could never implement. This place would always supercede with a beach / hill station kind of places.
Hopefully, we can do it sometime soon.

Abhi