Trip To Chennai


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Dear mates i am planning to visit chennai in the last week of november to attend a conference. i have decided to drive from here.
route planned - payangadi - mysore - bangalore - hosur - vellore - chennai.
any other better route ? what are the must see, must do, things in chennai. possible to meet our members there ?
 
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Re: The chennai trip

Dear mates i am planning to visit chennai in the last week of november to attend a conference. i have decided to drive from here.
route planned - payangadi - mysore - bangalore - hosur - vellore - chennai.
any other better route ? what are the must see, must do, things in chennai. possible to meet our members there ?

First of all, Welcome to Chennai[clap]

Regarding the Route, I hope AR Ram sir can help you out here.

But, I can able to let you know the road condition from B'lore to Chennai.

From Banglore - Vellore -> it is a newly Tared Six lane road with few diversions at some places.

from Vellore - Chennai -> Six lane road ends at Walaja(Next to Vellore towards Chennai) toll booth. After that, Normal 4 lane NH with some good number of patches.

Places near Chennai: Marina, Mahabalipuram, Malls, Besant Nagar Beach, Adayar children's park are the places to Visit inside the city.

If you want go to Pondy, then have a pleasant drive in ECR road.

As you are crossing Vellore, why don't you visit Golden Temple in Vellore?which is around 10Kms from NH.

Yes, we can have a meet in Chennai.

I guess, you will be coming in Vento this time.

BTW, let us know your plan.
 
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Thread Starter #3
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appu thanks for the input. could you let me know if the Tamilnadu tourism development corporation is conducting one day conducted tour of chennai city now. ( last time when i was there, more than 12 years ago, newly married at that time, me and wifey had gone for it ). i intend to make it a tour of some part of TN, depending on the leave we can get. regarding the vehicle not yet decided......i think bolero it will be.
 
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SR, Welcome to chennai. Regarding route Appu has given you correct and perfect route. there could n't be better that one. Upto Bangalore as appu said Mr. Ram or other friends familiar in that route will be able to help you.

Regarding your stay in chennai, that is great that you are coming here after 12 years. it has changed a lot. Lot of one-way/divertions etc. sometimes even google maps/gps got confused.

Yes you can take TTDC Tour. There are some private operators also offering such tours. If you want I will let you know with details. If you are interested in ECR TTDC has new concept called HOP ON HOP OFF Tour which helps you to cover all the places in ECR upto Mahabalipuram. BTW, are you planing with family or alone?

Regarding a Chennai meet, yes we would love to join you for a meet. pls keep us posted with dates so that we can inform Chennai members and plan accordingly.
 
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sethu thanks for the link. i will be coming with my family.the dates i will let you know after getting my leave sanctioned.
 
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At Chenai there is a 6th century dravidian style temple, which is taken care by UNESCO. This site is declared world heritage and its very nice if you like visiting historic places.
 
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Dear mates i am planning to visit chennai in the last week of november to attend a conference. i have decided to drive from here.
route planned - payangadi - mysore - bangalore - hosur - vellore - chennai.
any other better route ? what are the must see, must do, things in chennai. possible to meet our members there ?
The above route is perfectly ok. But I don't know the road condition between Payangadi and Mysore.

You can consider taking the route via Tholpetty and Nagarhole, you will really enjoy the drive through the reserve forest. I traveled on that route many times and roads were also good at that time, last I think two years back.

In Chennai the important tourist spots are Marina beach, Santhome beach, Beasant Nagar beach, Thiruvanmiyur beach, Gandhi Mandapam, Snake park, Egmore Museum, and on East Coast Road, VGP Golden beach, MGM theme Park, Crocodile park, Boating in Muthukadu, Mahabalipuram, Vandalur Zoo, Vendanthangal bird sanctuary etc etc. And if you have time you can extend to Pondychery also.
 
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the dates are 28/11, 29/11, & 30/11. plan to start from here on 27/11.
Great. Couple of clarification. Based on that our friends and myself can suggest best plan for you so that you can enjoy with your family here in Chennai.

  • Have you fixed the place where you are going to stay?
  • if not pls let us know what kind of accommodation you are expecting we can help you if needed.
  • I remember seeing that you have mentioned about some conference. Does that mean this official/personal trip?
  • in that case how many days you are going to be official and personal respectively?
  • You have different options like availing local tour operator thru bus, you can drive on your own (with the help of GPS) or you can have a call driver who can help you with your car (best to my knowledge)
  • Finally, shall we plan for our TAI meet on 30th along with our friends (I can make myself free mostly on 30th only)
 
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-place of stay will be booked by the conference officials.
- its the national conference of pulmonologists.
- evenings will be free.
-how about 29th. on the 30th i plan to leave for rameswaram. how long will it take for a drive till rameswaram ? while returning can i come back via palani ?
 
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-place of stay will be booked by the conference officials.
- its the national conference of pulmonologists.
- evenings will be free.
-how about 29th. on the 30th i plan to leave for rameswaram. how long will it take for a drive till rameswaram ? while returning can i come back via palani ?
Hope i will be able to manage on 29th evening.

Regarding your travel to Rameshwaram and Palani, yes you go do it. . The route from rameswaram to bangalore will be Rameswaram - madurai - dindugal - Vedasanthur - Karur - Salem- Bangalore. In this you might need to take a diversion after Dindugal to Palani and again come back and join in Vedasanthur and proceed to Bangalore. Pls find the following pics

Comparison - With and without palani.
via palani-comparistion.png

Chennai - Rameswaram - Palani - Bangalore
chennai-rameswaram-palani-bangalore.jpg

Chennai - Rameswaram - Bangalore
Chennai-rameswaram-bangalore.jpg

Difference between both route is only 83 KMs. To my knowledge except palani section all roads will be 4 lane road. So you can easily try it.

Distance between Chennai and Rameswaram is 554 KMs. It will take 7 to 8 hours. In my sparky last year i have covered 600 KMs in 8 hours in normal speed (mostly between 80-100.
 
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thanks a ton for your efforts sethu. on my return i don't need to go via bangalore. i can come back to payangadi via pollachi- palakkad- kozhikode - kannur.
 
Thread Starter #13
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so the tentative plan would be like this-
day 1 - payangadi - mysore - bangalore
day 2 - bangalore - chennai
day 3 - chennai
day 4 - chennai - rameswaram
day 5 rameswaram - madhurai - palani.
mates few points i need advise -
1) accomodations in rameswarm .
2 ) day five - is visiting madhura temple ( i believe its the madhurai meenakshi temple ) & the palani subramanya temple possible ?
after visiting these temples can i drive back to payangadi ? will it be too hectic ? is it safe to drive at night in TN roads ?
 
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so the tentative plan would be like this-
day 1 - payangadi - mysore - bangalore
day 2 - bangalore - chennai
day 3 - chennai
day 4 - chennai - rameswaram
day 5 rameswaram - madhurai - palani.
mates few points i need advise -
1) accomodations in rameswarm .
2 ) day five - is visiting madhura temple ( i believe its the madhurai meenakshi temple ) & the palani subramanya temple possible ?
after visiting these temples can i drive back to payangadi ? will it be too hectic ? is it safe to drive at night in TN roads ?
1.During my Rameshwaram trip, I stayed in Shanmuga Paradise, which is present just opposite to west gopuram. The rooms were average and it is cheap.

there are so many lodges available there at Rameshwaram, so no need to worry about it.

2. Yes you can cover Madurai Meenakshi temple & Palani Murugan temple in one day. But, after visiting the temple, you will be definitely tried. so it is better to halt & proceed next day.

BTW, I've driven so many long trips in TN(Day & Night). I never felt driving in TN is unsafe. So you can proceed Night drive in entire TN without any worry[:)]

Here is TL, just for your reference:http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...-rameshwaram-vellore-round-trip-vista-vx.html
 
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so the tentative plan would be like this-
day 1 - payangadi - mysore - bangalore
day 2 - bangalore - chennai
day 3 - chennai
day 4 - chennai - rameswaram
day 5 rameswaram - madhurai - palani.
mates few points i need advise -
1) accomodations in rameswarm .
2 ) day five - is visiting madhura temple ( i believe its the madhurai meenakshi temple ) & the palani subramanya temple possible ?
after visiting these temples can i drive back to payangadi ? will it be too hectic ? is it safe to drive at night in TN roads ?
Accommodation in Rameswaram:
TTDC offers a good accommodation, and for online booking ; :::TTDC ONLINE-TamilNadu Tourism Development.

OR

You can book the hotel through Cleartrip which always offers good discount. And Hotel MCM towers is one of the good ones very near to the temple.
Good Hotel and value for money - Reviews, Photos - Hotel MCM Towers - TripAdvisor

After visiting both Madurai and Palani temples, I think it will be too tedious to drive back home on the same day. And TN roads are absolutely safe to drive round the clock.
 

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