[ramki067]

Hi all,

My mom wanted us all to make a tour to Thiruvaiyaru which is in Thanjavur district. Thiruvaiyaru is famous for Saint Thyagaraja who was born there. I don't know much about the place or near by places apart from this info. Please provide me driving directions to Thiruvaiyaru from Bangalore, resting place and also well known places to see nearby. I plan a short tour of 2 days on the next weekend.

Thanks very much in advance.

Regards,
Ramki

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ramki067

Hi all,

My mom wanted us all to make a tour to Thiruvaiyaru which is in Thanjavur district. Thiruvaiyaru is famous for Saint Thyagaraja who was born there. I don't know much about the place or near by places apart from this info. Please provide me driving directions to Thiruvaiyaru from Bangalore, resting place and also well known places to see nearby. I plan a short tour of 2 days on the next weekend.

Thanks very much in advance.

Regards,
Ramki

Ramki,

As you rightly said, Thiruvaiyaru is a great place for musicians who pay their tribute to Saint Thyagaraja.(especially in the month of January every year)

Your route from B'lore would be :
Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Salem-Namakkal-Musiri-Trichy-Tanjore-Thiruvaiyaru

It would be approximately 7 to 8 hours drive from Bangalore on average speeds. Roads upto Namakkal are excellent 4lane. After that from Namakkal till Trichy, 2 lane roads. Again from Trichy (bypass) till Tanjore excellent 4 lane roads.

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India to Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu, India - Google Maps


For staying options, Tanjore is the nearest best place to stay. You can easily cover and see Tanjore Big Temple & Thingalure Moon Temple.

Since your are going for just 2 days, if you have time, you can also see temples around Trichy enroute or if you can travel another 35 kms to Kumbakonam, you can see lots of other temples too.

Recommend you to read through other threads on information about Bangalore-Kumbakonam.

-Ravi

[ramki067]

Thanks Ravi for the useful info.
My mom was saying some very good places/temples to see near Thiruvaiyaru. Do you/anybody know the temples/places?
Me planning to leave in my WagonR on Friday night/Saturday morning on the next weekend.

Thanks,
Ramki

Originally Posted by ramki067

Please provide me driving directions to Thiruvaiyaru from Bangalore

You can go on this route: Bangalore>Salem>Namakkal>Thottiyam>Musiri>Trichy BP>Kallanai>Thiruvaiyaru on NH 7/SH 25/22. I drove on this stretch on my way to Swamimalai in February this year and I did Trichy-Bangalore in this April.

You have to take the service road on your left before the flyover on Namakkal BP that turns towards your right, go through Namakkal town, turn left after bus stand to go on SH 25 towards Trichy. There are plenty of signages to guide you through.

There is a bad stretch of less than 1 km with a lot of potholes/craters between Thottiyam and Musiri. Apart from that, the road is nice all the way to Thiruvaiyaru. At Trichy BP, turn to your left towards Kallanai on SH 22, which will take you directly to Thiruvaiyaru. That twisty road is also good.

Thiruvaiyaru is also famous for its Ashoka halwa. We bought some Ashoka halwa from the crowded Aandavar Sweet Stall at Thiruvaiyaru on our way back. The Ashoka halwa was simply fantastic.

[figo_united]

Originally Posted by ramki067

Thanks Ravi for the useful info.
My mom was saying some very good places/temples to see near Thiruvaiyaru. Do you/anybody know the temples/places?
Me planning to leave in my WagonR on Friday night/Saturday morning on the next weekend.

Thanks,
Ramki

There are a whole lot of temples in that area.

If you are on a tight schedule, you can just visit the big temple in tanjavur, srirangam temple in thrichy and anjaneya temple in namakkal, all of them are on the way back to bangalore.

If you have a day to spare, you could do the navagraha temple circuit.

Route is very good as ravib has mentioned.
I would suggest you take the thuraiyur route from namakkal to thrichy. it is in far better shape than the musri route.

You can refer to my thread for more details on the route and temples to visit.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ravelogue.html

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ramki067

Thanks Ravi for the useful info.
My mom was saying some very good places/temples to see near Thiruvaiyaru. Do you/anybody know the temples/places?
Me planning to leave in my WagonR on Friday night/Saturday morning on the next weekend.

Thanks,
Ramki

I will not recommend night travel, especially from Namakkal to Trichy. So better you reach Tanjore on friday night itself (starting from B'lore on friday noon) or start from saturday early morning.

The below link provides you complete list of temples around Kumbakonam & Tanjore. Many temples in Tanjore district are real master pieces, constructed more than thousand years back, so they are indeed very good and would need good amount of time to enjoy.

Rajamala's Maps - Google Maps

I assume you will have atleast 1 day from Saturday afternoon till Sunday afternoon to see all the temples. In that case, i would recommend you to see Thiruvaiyaru temples on saturday evening.
Start early on sunday morning, visit Tanjore Big Temple (1 hour approx) and drive to Trichy which is about an hour time.
Visit Srirangam or Thiruvanikaval. You can see one of these temples, due to weekend crowd. If you can stretch to have bit hectic schedule, see samayapuram temple as well.

Finish your lunch and drive back to bangalore.

-Ravi

[ramki067]

Thanks very much guys. Rather the plan is changed with respect to my driving as mom feels me only driving 350+ kms is risky. We now plan to take a bus/train to tanjore on Friday night, Avail a taxi for Saturday/Sunday to see the places around Thiruvaiyaru. Is this OK guys?

Thanks,
Ramki

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ramki067

Thanks Ravi for the useful info.
My mom was saying some very good places/temples to see near Thiruvaiyaru. Do you/anybody know the temples/places?
Me planning to leave in my WagonR on Friday night/Saturday morning on the next weekend.

Thanks,
Ramki

Ramki,

You can either stay in Tanjavur or Kumbakonam as the place is almost equidistant. There is nothing in Thiruvaiyaru in normal days except for a small shrine for Siant thyagaraja on the banks of cauvery which will be dry now. It becomes beehive of activity in Feb every eyear during Aradhana of Thyagaraja when for one week there will be huge carnatic music festival.

The visit to Thiruvaiyaru will not take more than an hour. Try to stay in Agrahara style resort which used to be Sterling Swamimalai. Very good place. Old world charm and your mom will like it. We have stayed there and it is good.

Anandham Swamimalai near Tanjore, Tamilnadu

Also visit the temples in Swamimalai (Murugan), famous chola temple at Dharasuram which are closeby. Ofcourse there are numerous temples in Kumbakonam to visit.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by figo_united

If you have a day to spare, you could do the navagraha temple circuit.

Navagraha Temple circuit - I got this document from a friend recently, I haven't yet done this circuit myself but do plan to sometime in the near future.
Hope this helps anyone planning to visit these temples.
Navagraha temples of Tamil Nadu.pdf

[ampere]

Ramki,

If you plan to go for navagraha circuit in one day, please note that, finishing the circuit in a day is not an easy job. Check Figo_united's log on the same. You have to time it right else, you may end up seeing a closed temple door!

@Figo your timing was amazing!

[ukderebail]

Yes i have done this circuit but by train upto Mylatdurai and from there on hired a cab for two days and completed the circuit.
First day hired a cab in the morning undertook the trip to Srikali temple, Chidambaram temple, from there we covered some Navagraha temple, than we visited Poompohar, Dansborg fort at Tranquebar, finished with Velankanni.
Next day from Kumbakonam, finished Darasuram, and few of the navagraha temples and visited Gangaikonda cholapuram temple. The roads generally are in good condition in Tamil Nadu when i visited. In case you want to have a detailed preview please visit my blogspot http://indiabackpacker.blogspot.com/...umbakonam.html

[figo_united]

Originally Posted by ampere

Ramki,

If you plan to go for navagraha circuit in one day, please note that, finishing the circuit in a day is not an easy job. Check Figo_united's log on the same. You have to time it right else, you may end up seeing a closed temple door!

@Figo your timing was amazing!

Thanks ampere
But its all down to the guide really. I really had not planned anything in detail for that day, It was just "Leave at 7AM, Catch hold of a guide and visit the 9 temples" in my itinerary.
Was very lucky to get a good guide and complete it.

[ramki067]

Thanks guys for all the inputs.

Originally Posted by Fauji

Ramki,

You can either stay in Tanjavur or Kumbakonam as the place is almost equidistant. There is nothing in Thiruvaiyaru in normal days except for a small shrine for Siant thyagaraja on the banks of cauvery which will be dry now. It becomes beehive of activity in Feb every eyear during Aradhana of Thyagaraja when for one week there will be huge carnatic music festival.

The visit to Thiruvaiyaru will not take more than an hour. Try to stay in Agrahara style resort which used to be Sterling Swamimalai. Very good place. Old world charm and your mom will like it. We have stayed there and it is good.

Anandham Swamimalai near Tanjore, Tamilnadu

Also visit the temples in Swamimalai (Murugan), famous chola temple at Dharasuram which are closeby. Ofcourse there are numerous temples in Kumbakonam to visit.

Fauji,
Thanks very much. Infact, we are planning to visit Swamimalai as its our home god.
Any good lodges to stay in Thanjavoor as I've booked my tickets to Thanjavoor via KSRTC.

Thanks,
Ramki

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ramki067

I've booked my tickets to Thanjavoor via KSRTC.
Thanks,
Ramki

In case if you are not aware (most case you would already be) you also have the train option.
Mysore-Mayiladuthurai express.

Originally Posted by ramki067

Any good lodges to stay in Thanjavoor

My recommendation is HOTEL GNANAM: Thanjavur . But, please reserve in advance as it is difficult to get accommodation there.