travel to Pondicherry and Chidambaram

my wife and my self are planning to go to pondicherry and chidambaram from thiruvannamalai in september. what is the availability of bus service from thiruvannamali to chidambaram. and where we can stay in chidambaram- not too costly as i am a retired person. and bus frequency between these places and from chidambaram to pondichery. i plan to come back from pondicherry to bangalore by train.

thank you in advance

It is difficult to predict what costly is for you but we stayed in Hotel Akshya in Chidmbaram, see this link
We stayed there early 2011 and managed to get a non-AC for 660 rs.

There would be frequent buses connecting these locations. If you are not able to find a direct bus, you best connection options are Villupuram and Tindivanam. You might take a bus from Thiruvannamalai to Villupuram, from where you would find a bus every 10 mins to Pondicherry. In the case of Chidambaram from Pondicherry, you might require to change in Cuddalore, if direct buses are not available. One thing assured is that these are well connected towns and transportation would never be an issue.