My First Road Trip (Vizag-Hyderabad) & Laknavaram

[4GSK]

Hello Guys, My name is Sai Kumar, this is my first ever travelogue about my first road trip. Coming to the prologue of my road trip, I completed my Bachelors Degree in December, so jobless and free most of the time, after 10 months, we bought a Maruti Suzuki Ciaz SHVS RS on Dassara of 2016. I was very excited about my new car . As far a car description goes my Ciaz was a Limited Edition so it had few bits and pieces extra compared to the regular Ciaz and it has a black interior & I personally I give 9/10 for comfort of the car 

 

So coming back to my Road Trip, First Solo trip and a long distance to cover…I was excited to an extent where I wasn't believing myself and how my mum & dad allowed me for this 

 

Started of from my home(Vizag) at 6:15 am with good music and without even knowing I was about to reach Rajahmundry by 9 am, Then came trouble, My Car's GPS wronged me (& Government Sign Boards too) and it took me onto State Highway. I have to say I was quite disappointed with my car's Navigation system…from an 4 Lane National Highway it took me onto a Single Road State Highway

The Route was Kovvur-Devarapalli-Nallajerla-Bhimadole, I couldn't even enjoy the very good music by Mr. AR Rahman, the road was that BAD . Thank god after that 60 odd kilometers, I got onto the National Highway at Gundugolanu (which is right before entering Eluru) .

 

By 12 PM I Reached Vijayawada, from there I had to go to Edlapadu (which comes after Guntur, a Half hour drive from Vijayawada..Excellent Road 6 & 8 Lane) to pick up my Uncle (this trip ain't solo no more from here :-/  ) from Edlapadu, we started off at 3:30 PM , going through Kondaveedu Mountains (which looked Fabulous) reached Piduguralla around 5 PM

 

Piguralla to Narketpalli is a State Highway, Well Maintained at some parts and very bad at few, I mostly recommend this route during day light and not at night as most of this way doesn't even has a street light or radium markings. Narketpalli To Hyderabad is National Highway, Reached Hyderabad By 8 PM.

 

Total Kilometers from My Home to Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad clocked around 710 KM

Fully Tanked up Ciaz in Vizag, Without Refuelling Reached Hyderabad with 8 Litres of Diesel to Spare

Mileage was 21.5 KM per Litre 

 

 

Some Do's & Don'ts of the Route & for you(My Experience)

 

• Do take regular driving breaks 

 

• Don't skip your meals - Breakfast Spot at Tuni's Udipi Hotel or A very Good Restaurant which I don’t know the name of before or after Annavaram (if your coming from Vizag check to your left for this nice place). Lunch At Wherever you feel like in Vijayawada (There is a McDonalds in Vijayawada if your into Burgers for Lunch)

 

• Do Check & go through google maps of your route.

 

• Don't Trust your Car's GPS blindly .

 

• Do Buy Guavas at the toll before entering Vijayawada, They're Cheap & Good.

 

Google Maps Screenshot of My Route - 

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After 2 Days ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hyderabad To Laknavaram Lake

 

Laknavaram is a very good weekend getaway which is just over 200 KM from Hyderabad. Laknavaram is famous for its Lake & the suspension bridge over it, it has a resort & nice play area in between the lake. You can cover Ramappa Temple & Ramappa Lake which is very near Laknavaram (34 KM) & if you more willing drive & got more hours you can proceed to Bagotha Waterfalls which is 72 KM from Laknavaram.

 

Route Details

 

My start point being Dilsukhnagar(Hyderabad) it took around 5 hour 30 min (Total Distance being ) to reach Laknavaram with 30 Min breakfast break at Warangal & a 30 Min visit to Ramappa Temple. The road is very well maintained National Highway uptil 100-115 KM of the journey, you can even hit 150 kmph at few spots but after that 100-115 KM it becomes into a 2 lane kinda bad than a state highway road (they are making this road a 4 lane, work in progress) as of on my date of journey i.e., 18th December 2016 & from Warangal, the Warangal-Laknavaram Road is a big 2 lane road, 100 kmph can be maintained.

 

 

I recommend going an hour or two before sunset as sunset view is just too awesome. Recommended season is after rainy & not in summer or before summer as water would be less or no water at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Places to Eat

 

There Is  KFC in Kazipet & a Dosa place in Warangal called Naivedhy.

 

KFC Review - As usual overpriced chicken with usual KFC like ambiance.

 

 

Naivedhy Review - Wide variety of dosas with decent pricing which taste very good !

Ambiance - There is no ambiance, eat on the road 

 

^opposite Reliance Digital

 

Nearest Attractions

 

• 1000 Pillar Temple In Warangal

^Source - Google

 

• Warangal Fort in Warangal

^Source - Google

 

• Ramappa Temple In Palampet

  

 

*Varsham movie was shot here.

 

^1000 Pillar Temple

 

^Ramappa Temple

 

^Warangal Fort

 

 

[sagar]

Excellent travelogue with detailed pointers to help others to plan their drive pretty comfortable.  Information about the food joints you have provided for a roadtripper is commendable .. Thanks a lot for sharing the route updates in your summary. Not to forget those amazing screenshots captured of the movie to explain things better.. 

[venu]

Superb information on the post.. Thanks a lot for sharing

[Naveen1]

Nice attention to the detail, Thank you for sharing.

[Gowtham]

Excellent post @4GSK
 

On 10/02/2017 at 10:45 PM, 4GSK said:

First Solo trip and a long distance to cove

First solo drive will always be special.
A decade from now, it will fun reading back these fascinating memories.

 

On 10/02/2017 at 10:45 PM, 4GSK said:

Do take regular driving breaks 

Agree on this, a quick 5 minutes break can recharge you for the next 2 hours drive.
Highways + tea breaks are fun.

 

On 10/02/2017 at 10:45 PM, 4GSK said:

Do Check & go through google maps of your route.

 

Google maps is getting more accurate than other maps out there.

Car GPS is worst to use, be it any car. Results are always in accurate.

 
 

[balag]

Great post @4GSK superb detailing about the restaurants and route maps put up in the post.. really informative