Bangalore to Puttaparthi road driving directions/route

Last updated on 30th Sept. 2014

This is a miscellaneous post and not a spiritual one :). Recently I dug up some info. and added some of my own, and got some clarifications/corrections from correspondents, on Bangalore to Puttaparthi road driving directions, to pass on to folks who plan to visit me by driving from Bangalore to Puttaparthi.

From http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/34714-bangalore-puttaparthi-route-advice.html in early 2008

The route is Hebbal - Yelahanka - Devanahalli - Chikkaballapur - Bagepalli (KA RTO Checkpost) - Kodikonda (AP RTO Checkpost) - Thummalakunta

Thummalakunta is about 9 km from the KA - AP border and identified by a sharp S curve just after an IBP bunk on the left and an IOC bunk on the right. Turn right here for Puttaparthi ...

-------- end team-bhp.com post extract -----------------

24th Sept. 2014

Ravi: What is given below is based on Google Maps route, a correspondent's recent input on the matter, and what I recall from my road trips (usually bus, but at least once by car) between Puttaparthi and Bangalore over 5 years ago.

From Bangalore to Puttaparthi, the initial and large part of the trip is on NH7, a national highway. So that part of the trip is quite standard stuff. But once one gets off NH7 on the route to Puttaparthi, the roads may not be in great condition and one needs to be careful while driving. For people not familiar with these roads, night driving is certainly not recommended on these roads.

1) The first major turn (highway exit) is from NH7 onto the road to Gorantla. Google Maps for Bangalore to Puttaparthi shows this turn clearly in its recommended route (in blue), https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Bengaluru,+Karnataka/Puttaparthi,+Andhra+Pradesh/. A correspondent wrote about this turn/highway exit (slightly edited): "After you pass Kodikonda check-post (Kodikonda is 10km after Bagepalli junction and is prominent with a large number of stationed trucks), travel 5 km and you will reach Budili/Kodur junction which is where you get off the NH7 by taking a right. This where the river Chitravathi crosses NH7. You can see it on the Google Maps. There is clear signage indicating Puttaparthi Road. If you search for directions on Google Maps, this is the route shown."

2) The next important junction is the Gorantla junction (on the outskirts of Gorantla town). The correspondent added the following (slightly edited) about driving directions at this junction: "Heading along this road, you come to the Gorantla junction, entering it from the South. The left (West) is the road to Hindupur(route 87). The right (East) leads you to Gorantla town. You need to head straight(North) from here to reach Puttaparthi."

3) The turn after that is a right turn at Mammilakunta cross to go to Puttaparthi town. I think there is a circle structure put up at this cross. If one goes straight missing this turn then one will shortly pass Sri Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam railway station on the left. That should let one know that one has missed the turn. [If one misses spotting the railway station on the left one will then get into the town Kothacheruvu which one cannot miss, and thereby know that one has to turn back (though there is another way too from Kothacheruvu to Puttaparthi)]

4) The next turn is at Yenumulapalli cross where there is a circle structure. It is a T junction where one takes left to go to Puttaparthi town and most of the traffic goes left. The right turn at this cross leads to Yenumulapalli village with the road being a smaller road. Also this turn has big signboards welcoming people to Puttaparthi.

5) You know you are in Puttaparthi town proper when you cross the music college/campus, student hostels, a planetarium (space theater), a sports complex, the school and college campuses and then a welcoming arch, all in very quick succession. Actually the welcoming arch is a rectangle-type shape. Here is its image on wikipedia, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Puttaparthi.jpg. In quick succession again, you will cross the bus station on the right, and the main ashram (foot) entrance on the left, and come across a right turn to the narrow Chitravathi road (very short road segment). The ashram main vehicle entrance is just a little further down the main road on which you entered Puttaparthi town (not Chitravathi road). The main road itself turns left, immediately after which you have the main ashram vehicle entrance on the left.

Devanahalli bypass note

An email correspondent wrote in response to the above route, on Sept. 25th 2014, the following:

Note: Devanahalli is not a stop between Yelahanka and Chikballapur. Its now a bypass. Just stay on the highway. Do not get into Devanahalli or Chikballapur or Bagepalli. You need to get off the highway to get into these towns which you don't need to.  Just stick to NH7 and get off only at Budili/Kodur.

Alternative but possibly longer route

1) The turn (highway exit) from NH7 that Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka state transport buses used to take over 5 years ago when I used them for my trips between Bangalore and Puttaparthi was not at Budili/Kodur but further ahead on NH7 at or near Palasamudram (if I recall correctly). Google Maps clearly shows NH7 intersection with route 87 at Palasamudram. Route 87 would be taken till one approaches Gorantla (outskirts of Gorantla town).

2) The next turn is when one approaches Gorantla. If I recall correctly one comes to a T junction with the left turn heading to Puttaparthi and the right turn to Gorantla town. As it is a T junction one is forced to turn left or right and so one cannot miss this turn.

A correspondent remarked about the above route:

"In the directions you have highlighted, you get off NH7 at Palasamudram, taking a right into Hindupur-Gorantla road(route 87). You then reach the Gorantla junction from the West and you take a left(North) to Puttaparthi. This route is around 30km longer. Also, it is not the one most frequently used for Bangalore-Puttaparthi transit."

Google Maps link for Bangalore to Puttaparthi road map: https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Bengaluru,+Karnataka/Puttaparthi,+Andhra+Pradesh/

Some notes related to the above map:

1) NH7 is also marked as AH43 on this map. It is also named as the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway.

2) Kodikonda is shown only at high zoom but Bagepalli which is the big town on the Karnataka side of the border is shown at lower zoom levels. Kodikonda seems to be at the junction of NH7 with Lepakshi road (shown in yellow on the map and to the left of NH7).

3) The Budili/Kodur right turn (highway exit) from NH7 is not clearly labelled (though Kodur is shown as the label of a larger area close to this turn/exit, at higher zoom levels). Thummalakunta, mentioned in above team-bhp.com post extract, is not shown - is Thummalakunta the same as Budili? Palasamudram is clearly shown on the map.

4) Palasamudram to Gorantla is named as route no. 87. The left turn/fork before Gorantla town (to get to Puttaparthi) is clearly shown.

5) Mamillakunta gets shown on the road towards Kothacheruvu, when the map is zoomed in enough. This road is shown in yellow. At Mamillakunta you can see a right turn leading to a white road labelled on the map as Puttaparthi Main Road.

6) The left turn near Yenumullapalli also gets shown when the map is zoomed in enough, and this left turn is shown leading to Puttaparthi town. Zooming in Puttaparthi town shows the student hostels, planetarium (space theatre), school and university campuses as well as Chitravathi Road (a very short road segment) and the 80 feet Bypass road (at which Chitravathi road ends). The map also shows the Chitravathi river in blue but most of the time, in reality, it is a dry river bed.

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Update on 30th Sept. 2014

My folks drove down yesterday from Bangalore to Puttaparthi (and went back to Bangalore in the evening). They took the first major right turn (highway exit) from NH7 (must be the Budili/Kodur one), and did not face any trouble in getting from Bangalore to Puttaparthi. As they started from near Yeshwantpur in Bangalore, they had a smaller distance to cover, and were able to make the trip in around two and a quarter hours.