[ramanan.skr]

Where one needs to park their car at Kanchipuram? How to reach from the parking place to the temple? Is the distance walkable?

[srvm]

Originally Posted by rajinibm

How much time did it take to finish the Darshan of Athi Varadhar at Kanchipuram?

I am planning to go and a getting varied answers of 5-7 hours waiting in line and extremely crowded even on weekdays.

Planning to go on a weekday for the Darshan.

Originally Posted by ravib

There is no straight answer as it varies every day and depends on the day you visit. Last saturday July 13th was the highest followed by sunday July 14th. Yesterday afternoon, people got darshan within 30 to 45 minutes even in after 3.30 pm. So it depends.
.....

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

Where one needs to park their car at Kanchipuram? How to reach from the parking place to the temple? Is the distance walkable?

I was one of those souls who went to Kanchi from Chennai last Saturday. I was in Kanchi parking lot by 6.30am. Stood in queue (one has to stretch his/her imagination to call it that) by 7am. After three hours and moving only about 200 meters, we gave up and quit the queue as the sun was blazing. Myself and entire family were dehydrated (we carried plenty of water but it wasn't enough). We came to Bengaluru by evening. Later, I learned it was a really poor choice of day - a 2nd Saturday, most State Govt officials and their families etc. were in Kanchi that day. Hope to make another attempt in August.

Kanchi to Bangalore route was: Chennasamudram toll plaza - Ranipet - Ponnai - Chittoor (through town) - Kolar bypass - C V Raman Nagar. The only slow section in this route is Ponnai-Chittoor town (average roads and occasional speed-breakers, but very less traffic). Everything else is peaceful. Overall, I would not recommend this route over what ravib suggested in his earlier post (Ranipet-Bommasamudram-Chitoor bypass-Bangalore).

Regarding parking space at Kanchi, if you are approaching from either Chennai or Bangalore, parking space is arranged near New Bus stand, Oli Muhammed Pettai (12°50'55.1"N 79°41'40.6"E). If you are coming from Chennai take the exit from NH just after Hotel Sakthi Ganapathi Veg and turn left below the overbridge into Kanchi. You will have to contend with a railway crossing in this route. If coming from Bangalore, take the right turn from NH to Kanchi town just after Hotel Ramanaas / Thiruppakuzhi. This road will go to Oli Muhammed Pettai parking lot via Kilambi and Thimmasamudram. From parking lot, you have mini-buses (Rs.10 per person but crowded) which take you to Chinna-Kanchipuram Temple (not walkable distance, about 6kms). Else you also have option of share-autos (Rs.50 per person).

I was told that there are atleast 2 more such parking lots for visitors coming from Chengalpattu/Walajabad side and Tindivanam/Vandavasi side. I think, one parking lot is near Orikkai and the other is much nearer to Varadarajaswamy Temple itself. Someone can confirm this since I'm not very sure about this info.

[narayans80]

Due to this Athi Varadar darshan mess, Walajabad-Military Road-NH4 is no longer an option. Military Road is one of the prime points where the traffic diversions are happening.

Some Athi Varadar pointers:

1. Get an online ticket or donor pass. Ours was an online ticket yesterday and it still took us 2-2.5 hrs for it. Even for this there is a huge crowd (~ 5000 odd), which is better than 50K or 100K waiting in general queue. If you are not the kind who will wait 7-8 hrs for darshan and don't have either of the above, don't even bother going.
2. Plan your food stops enroute, don't plan to eat at Kanchipuram. The whole town is a mess of one ways and blocked roads.
3. Park as close to the temple as possible, due to the one way-blocked roads mess even autos can't go everywhere. It would still be atleast 1-2 km away.
4. Don't bother taking your kids along. I am serious, don't even think. Taking senior citizens would be even bigger mess.
5. It takes 2-3 hours just to enter the town and park your car from say 5 km before town. Return is easier.
6. Take lots of water with you and be prepared to walk for 5 km atleast on that day, and mostly without footwear. No stands closer to temple.
7. Avoid today and tomorrow, because PM is in town.
8. Will be in standing position from tomorrow I think and there is expected to be even bigger crowds.
9. Lastly, Any silk saree shopping, avoid till 17th August.

Knowing Military Road towards Walajabad was a mess I went the other way towards 76th km milestone, had dinner at Murugan Idli shop and returned home at 1:00 am. At 10:30 pm Murugan Idli shop was full and had waiting times (Athi Varadar effect).

Am done with Athi Varadar for this lifetime!

[hserus]

As I'm going to Bangalore early tomorrow morning, is the main highway near Kanchi also clogged / a mess so that I should take the Chittoor Kolar route instead (which is still under construction in some parts) or is the main route fine and only the slip road to Kanchi clogged up?

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by hserus

As I'm going to Bangalore early tomorrow morning, is the main highway near Kanchi also clogged / a mess so that I should take the Chittoor Kolar route instead (which is still under construction in some parts) or is the main route fine and only the slip road to Kanchi clogged up?

To get to Chittoor, you would still need to go past Kancheerpuam (on your left) unless you go via Thiruvallur, which isn't worth it. I don't think the traffic would be so high as to clog the highway completely.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by swissknife

To get to Chittoor, you would still need to go past Kancheerpuam (on your left) unless you go via Thiruvallur, which isn't worth it. I don't think the traffic would be so high as to clog the highway completely.

Yeah I was thinking Tiruvallur. The road upto Kanchi is already fairly narrow and crowded so I was having second thoughts.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by hserus

As I'm going to Bangalore early tomorrow morning

Early mornings and late nights are still good to go. Main town is about 4 km from NH4 (both from 67th and 72nd km milestone).

I don't think PM is going to be crossing paths the early morning timings you are planning. He is in town today and tomorrow.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Early mornings and late nights are still good to go. Main town is about 4 km from NH4 (both from 67th and 72nd km milestone).

I don't think PM is going to be crossing paths the early morning timings you are planning. He is in town today and tomorrow.

The problem is cops will barricade the highways some one or two hours before any VVIP movement. Well, let me hope for the best.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by hserus

The problem is cops will barricade the highways some one or two hours before any VVIP movement. Well, let me hope for the best.

Leave early like 3am, this would any possibility of that. Or you should start after 9pm from here.

In general, the traffic density is going to be high compared to what we've seen rest of the year.

[iamnarayang]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Due to this Athi Varadar darshan mess, Walajabad-Military Road-NH4 is no longer an option. Military Road is one of the prime points where the traffic diversions are happening.

Some Athi Varadar pointers:

3. Park as close to the temple as possible, due to the one way-blocked roads mess even autos can't go everywhere. It would still be atleast 1-2 km away.

5. It takes 2-3 hours just to enter the town and park your car from say 5 km before town. Return is easier.

Little confusing. You are saying, "Park as close to the temple as possible" and then you say, "Park 5 Kms before town". Can you please clarify?

Do they even allow us to drive near the temple and even if they do, can one get parking spot near the temple?

I am planning to go next week to Kanchi for Athi darshan. Hence the question.

The website to make advance booking, https://tnhrce.gov.in, is down.

Regards,

Narayan.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by iamnarayang

Little confusing. You are saying, "Park as close to the temple as possible" and then you say, "Park 5 Kms before town". Can you please clarify?

Regards,

Narayan.

I suppose what he meant was, the traffic is high starting from about 5kms from the temple and that it could take 2-3 hours to find a parking as close as possible to the temple and find one's way to the queue.

[srvm]

Kindly refer to my post #3227 for details on parking arrangements at Kanchipuram (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post4622207 (Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore : Route Queries))

Originally Posted by iamnarayang

Little confusing. You are saying, "Park as close to the temple as possible" and then you say, "Park 5 Kms before town". Can you please clarify?

Do they even allow us to drive near the temple and even if they do, can one get parking spot near the temple?

I am planning to go next week to Kanchi for Athi darshan. Hence the question.
....

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by iamnarayang

Little confusing. You are saying, "Park as close to the temple as possible" and then you say, "Park 5 Kms before town". Can you please clarify?

Swissknife has clarified what I meant. I didn't mean 'park 5 km before town', the traffic jam starts 5 km before town. The first 40 mins I barely moved about 200 meters.

It takes 2-3 hours to wade through this maze of choc-a-bloc and one-ways to find a parking spot near the temple.

The place where I parked finally was some bylane near Lingam Honda showroom.

[Makin Rulesz]

Last weekend I had to make an unplanned travel to Bangalore on Saturday and return on Sunday. Following are few observations and updates on the road conditions.

Lot of small to medium sized potholes have appeared between Sriperumbudur and Chennasamudram Toll on either side of the road. Some of them are patched up and remaining ones are not concerning as of now and you can glide over them easily. I encountered some vehicles which were either slowing down abruptly or swerving lanes to avoid these potholes without caring much for the traffic around them.
I saw many cars and tempos haphazardly parked on either side of the highway, near side roads entering Kanchipuram. This could be due to weekend rush or may be daily phenomenon but be careful until the once in 40 year event ends.

Now the good part is I encountered very few barricades all along, which used to found every few KMs earlier. This was a pleasant surprise and I could engage the cruise control, which was not possible earlier due to these barricades.

[ravib]

As the Athi Varadhar vaibhavam in Temple City Kanchipuram is about to end, decided to see the lord in Standing Posture (Nindra Kolam in Tamil). So on Wednesday 14th Aug, left C.V. Raman Nagar home from Bangalore at 7 pm and luckily there was almost negligible traffic all the way (because the long weekend starts on 15th thur and more people head out of city). Reached Kanchipuram at 12 noon. After darshan in very heavy down pour, left Kanchipuram at 11 pm towards Madras and there was terrible traffic jam and it took 2.5 hours to reach Vadapalani at 1.30 am on 15th.

As @makin rulez mentioned, Roads from Chennasamudram Toll - Kanchipuram and to Sriperumbudur are back in its original form and really in bad shape. People end up in crazy zig-zag driving to avoid pot holes and with sudden maneuver and sudden braking. The same is true in return direction towards Bangalore as well. Given that more rains are expected with NE monsoon and now it is just a start, we can expect even more damage to road surface and obviously they are not going to fix it in near future as usual. So plan your trip with additional timings for this stretch.

On return journey, started at 1 pm on 15th and reached Bangalore at 6.30 pm including tea break. Again there was no traffic so was a peaceful drive throughout at 110 kmph.

Both the ways took Vellore-Krishnagiri-Hosur route and did notice the barricades in Vellore district are drastically reduced and present only in few junctions.

-Ravi