Road Trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore

 Road Trip from Bangalore to Pondicherry

Trip to Pondicherry(May 26^th to 28^th)

 

We as a family decided to make a dashing visit for 2 nights stay to Pondicherry.  We did a booking.com hotel booking. We took an apartment with kitchenette considering my mom’s requirement of making some instant food.

The Route from Bangalore

There are 3 routes which I am aware of and which google shows as well from Bangalore(Kanakapura Main road)

Route 1 – Bangalore – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Uthangarai – Singarampettai – Chengam – Tiruvannamalai – Gingee – Tindivanam – Pondicherry ( 310 Kms)

Route 2 - Bangalore – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Bargur - Thirupathur – Singarampettai – Chengam – Tiruvannamalai – Gingee – Tindivanam – Pondicherry(330 Kms)

Route 3 - Bangalore – Hosur – Krishnagiri - (Via golden temple)– Tindivanam – Pondicherry(365 kms)

About Route 1 – Shortest distance wise but not time wise. If you want an off-road drive experience and if you have a good SUV like XUV or Innova with good road clearance you try Route 1. It won’t be a great driving experience and you will take 6.5 hrs to reach Pondicherry with couple of pit stops for refreshments and bio breaks

About Route 2 –  This is one of the best routes. Good driving experience with an increased distance of 20 kms but travel time would be almost same compared to Route 1.

About Route 3 – It is the longest route and the best one. But longer by 50 kms approx. but you won’t have the experience of driving through the country side of our villages since you will be driving on the golden Quadrilateral 4 lane highway.

We took the Route 1 for our onward journey but took Route 2 for our return journey.

About our Place of Stay

We reached our accommodation. It is called as “ LA MAISON CHARU”, Situated on J . N   Road(which is like Commercial street of Bangalore).  It is in the heart of the city, 2 minutes aways from police station, 3 minutes away from veg restaurants and 6 to 7 minutes’ walk from the Promenade beach.

It is a two-bedroom apartment with a big kitchen and living room. Parking is cramped especially for big SUVs. The narrow lanes make it even more difficult to take out and park your vehicles. But if you have been driving for ages, you won’t have issues just be cautious around the corners.

Bedrooms were big with attached bathrooms. If you are going as a family, it easily fits 5 Adults and they provide extra bed which is not charged.

The staff were courteous, but they had no intercoms to call them from room. You must call them on their personal mobile numbers. There is no one always available at the reception. Also there was no coffee or beverages kit provided in the room by default unless you explicitly ask and they are unprofessional on that front. There are no TVS in bedroom which was little odd. The living room had a TV. They have very good WI-FI and you can stream using your Netflix or Prime account in their smart TV.

The Kitchenette has a toaster, electric kettle and an Induction stove. It also a fridge.

Bedrooms are spacious and have good AC working well.

Place to visit

Manakula Vinayagar temple, one of the prominent places to visit within Pondicherry. This place was 3 minutes walk from our hotel.

Annai/Aurobindo Ashram – A minute from Manakula Vinayagar temple.

Promenade Beach -  6 to 7 minutes’ walk from our apartment. Nice place to take walk in the morning and evening. Can witness beautiful sunrise if you are there in the beach by 5.40 AM.

Bakery Street- One of the famous bakery to try French  pastries, sandwich and other bakery items.

Restaurants – You have pure veg restaurants called Surguru and A2Bwhich is 2 minutes walk from the hotel. There are famous French restaurants within a KM from the apartment. You can even walk and explore to get a glimpse of the city and explore yourself.

Other places – You can go for Seagull cruise which organizes Sun rise cruises from harbor. You have to do online booking and make yourselves available by 5 am in the morning at the venue.

Drive to Auroville

On the way to Auroville on the highway to tindivanam, after 8 kms you will hit a place called Irumbai. There is a very famous Shiva temple in Irumbai called, Maha Kaleshwarar temple. This temple is a must see for temple lovers. Here one of the siva siddhar went and disappeared in to the Siva lingam which is the main deity. This temple is 1400 years old and was built by third Kuloothunga Chola. This temple has a nice and beautiful temple tank. You can reach Auroville from the temple very soon(use google maps)

Auroville is a French colony with Matrimandir a meditation center and some shopping places like Ravi Shankar Ashram in Bangalore. The meditation center is open for public visit only on Weekends. If you visit some other day you can go to a place called as Matrimandir view point. IMO it is not worth since you have to walk a km to the Matrimandir view point

The Boutique shops inside Auroville are very expensive , if you have lot money and desire to spend  you can try.

You can take a cycle on rent to ride within Auroville. It is 60 Rs per cycle , you have to return them by 4.30 pm. Caution deposit is 500RS which would be refunded when you return the cycle.

There are some eateries within Auroville to quench your hunger pangs.

The Hope Restaurant on the way to Auroville Bakery

If you are at lunch time, this is the best place to have Vegetarian food. Pure veg restaurants which server Pizza and other Mexican and French food items. You don’t get any south Indian or north Indian food items including meals or rice items. You should never miss there thin crust wood fire Pizzas .

The Auroville Bakery

This place is in enroute from Auroville to Pondicherry. If you are fond of Breads, Pastries and cakes(Vegan), this is the one of the best bakeries in Pondicherry never to be missed. You can hang out their to try some of their food items or pack bakery items like Sour dough breads, cakes with Vegan option. Never to be missed from getting a French flavors.