[samsan02]

Could anyone guide me approximately how many hours will it take for going up to Tirumala, doing mundan for kid, darshan (by 300 rs ticket), and coming back to tirupati.
Usually Is darshan possible during afternoons or should I need to check that days schedule as well.
Is it a good idea to begin our ascend up at 8 to 9.am or is it late. Some suggestions please.

Thanks
Samasan02

[ajitkumarlb]

@Samasan02,

It depends on the day of the week and any other important events on the Hindu calendar.

However, what has worked best for me is to go on a week day. I avoid weekends.

300 rs ticket earlier this year took us 1:30 min and in Sep it took us about 2:30 min.

It would be a good idea to plan a night's stay. What I prefer nowadays is to start from Bangalore in the early afternoon. 2 or 3 PM. Reach Tirupathi/Tirumala depending on where I got the room booking and stay over night. If I do reach early I try vising Alamelumangapuram.

Next day start early (6 AM or earlier). On a week day with no religious events one should be done between 9 to 11 AM, have breakfast/early lunch and head back to Bangalore before dark just in time for the peak hour traffic .

(Did this same trip for my kids mundan)

Nov-Dec is good from a weather point of view (winter), but with a kid would avoid afternoon especially if its sunny as they will be quite uncomfortable.

[samsan02]

Hi I couldn't find bhimas paradise on the google maps properly, can someone who has visited provide me the exact location. Planning to go tomorrow so looking at different hotel options.

Thanks
Samsan02

[ajitkumarlb]

Originally Posted by samsan02

Hi I couldn't find bhimas paradise on the google maps properly, can someone who has visited provide me the exact location. Planning to go tomorrow so looking at different hotel options.

Thanks
Samsan02

here it is:

Its very close to cetneral bus stand.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...61673e4df2d073

Hotel Bhimas Paradise

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by samsan02

Some suggestions please.

Hi,

It seems that you are going first time to tirumala.
Spare a day at tirumala, the place is cool, clean and scenic, as good as any hill station.
There are many places at tirumala and tirupati you can/must visit.
At tirumala, you can visit akashganaga, papvinasham, japali hanuman and one more place on that route.
The route and places are scenic.
At tirupati, you can visit govind temple, hare rama hare krishna temple, mangapuram[padmavati] etc.

[samsan02]

Originally Posted by ajitkumarlb

here it is:

Its very close to cetneral bus stand.

Bhimas Paradies - Google Maps

Hotel Bhimas Paradise

Thanks a lot found it later, actually it comes properly when i search with a wrong spelling Bhimas Paradies instead of Bhimas Paradise.

[samsan02]

Got back from the trip to Tirupati, the 4 lane NH4 till mulbagal was a very smooth drive, still toll plazas are empty so no tolls yet and one can easily maintain good speeds 90 to 110 kmph.The google maps show the directions via mulbagal town, which can be avoided using the by pass, which I realised only later, Both ways i had to go thru the town which was wasting time in the traffic.
Took a break at CCD near palmaner. The road till chitoor by pass was all nice with 2 lane traffic. Avoided driving thru chitoor as suggested. Chitoor bypass has about 1km, 3.5 km stretches which are like pothole sanctuaries, took about 15 to 20 mins to cover it which I think is reasonable against driving thru chitoor city.
We had a difficult time going thru tirupati traffic and reached bhimas paradise which is on the bypass road, again had i known I could have taken the bypass to reach there.

Went on wednesday for darshan, Took a bus from Tirupati to Tirumala and reached there at 10 a.m, and straight away went to kalyan katta and after we finished the mundan of our kid at 11:30 we entered the 300 Rs seeghara darshan which took us about 7 hours as there was some Lagu Darshan on wednesdays/tuesdays. So anyone planning please be informed of this. I was under the impression that weekdays it will be less crowded.So it was late for us and we couldn't visit other places like akashganaga, papvinasham at Tirumala.

Next day we started our trip back to bangalore at 1:30. This time i avoided the tirupati city traffic and took the by pass to reach chandra giri after that it was the same route. Reached bangalore outskirts by 6:30 p.m and took the SH 35 via hope farm, varthur, marathalli and ORR and reached sarjapur junction. This i think is much better than coming via KR puram due to traffic and ORR construction delays.


Beware of this IOC petrol bunk on the bypass road, its right after the circle very near to Bhimas paradise. I thought of filling it there as it was on the left side on my way back , they were trying to cheat me. One guy comes and fills up and spills deliberately, he says there is air inside the tank and its not taking it, and asks me is the tank empty or was it parked in a tilt.Then he fills about 3.5 liters about 260 rs, and tells me to make a note of it puts back the nozzle, then he starts shaking the vehicles as if he wants to remove the air. Then one more guys joins him and helps him in shaking the car. And finally out of no where this guy comes and asks me if i need 2T oil or something I said no. This was just to distract me, meanwhile the other guy continues filling petrol until full tank and it takes about 15 liters. Then he gives me a bill of 18.5 liters. I was like shocked, he says when we put back the nozzle it resets to zero and i need to pay up for two fills.Then I just blast both of them and tell them that seeing my out of state KA reg don't mess with me, i very well now how much my car has consumed when i came with a full tank from bangalore so its no way it will take 18.5. And it has taken 15.15 ltrs as expected.Without a word they take the exact amount of for 15.15 ltrs, i thought of making a complain and fighting with them but since i was with wifey and kid i just left.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by samsan02

we entered the 300 Rs seeghara darshan which took us about 7 hours as there was some Lagu Darshan on wednesdays/tuesdays. So anyone planning please be informed of this. I was under the impression that weekdays it will be less crowded.

7 hours for seegradarshan

Thats too much, but are you sure it is for every tuesday & wednesday Lagu darshan happens?
I heard, on Tuesdays and wednesdays, they allow us inside and we can see the deity more closer (like many years before), take a U turn and come out of sanctum sanctorum. Other days, we just see the god from a distance and take immediate left near the big bell.

Anyone else has idea about Lagu darshan?

BTW, sad to hear about your fight with IOC guys. Ofcourse, unless we know local language and if we have KA regn number, they try to cheat. Got to be very strict and diligent with such guys.

-Ravi

[ajitkumarlb]

Originally Posted by samsan02

We had a difficult time going thru tirupati traffic and reached bhimas paradise which is on the bypass road, again had i known I could have taken the bypass to reach there.
...
seeghara darshan which took us about 7 hours as there was some Lagu Darshan

My bad, I should have mentioned about the bypass road to reach bhimas, I am, sorry about that.

7 hours is really shocking, need to find more about this Lagu darshan.

My parents did 300rs darshan today morning at around 6 am which took them about 2:30 min and Sr. Citizen darshan at around 10 AM today which just took them about an hour.

[smsrini]

Did a quick trip to Tirupathi on Fri/ Sat.

Started 5:30pm from Blr, reached Tirupathi by 9:30pm, and reached Tirumala at 11:00pm after dinner at Bhimas Residency.

From puttala pattu turnoff, if you follow the road ( and not GPS ), it leads you directly to the junction with the road to Thiruchanoor, where you take a left, and drive about 2kms to reach Bhimas Residency.

There is road work 4-laning going on near Tirupathi on the renigunta highway.

You have the option to book/rent the more private cottages now. These are typically the private guesthouses of companies or individuals, and available from TTD, on a first come basis, subject to availability. Rates start from 2000/- to 5000/-. You need to goto the Padmavati Enquiry office, Padmavathi Nagar, at TIRUMALA, and book in person. Some of the cottages are excellent.

Took the Seegrha Darshan at 4:00am and took 1.5hrs on Saturday morning.

The chittoor bypass is a big nuisance, and I found coming back via Chittoor town to be easier on the car and the occupants. Used GPS and the sign boards to navigate thru. it was pretty easy and took the same time.

There are more than 4 CCDs now on this route.

1) Before Kolar, and Kamat Upachar
2) After Woodys
3) Palamner
4) Before Chittoor Byepass attached to a HP fuel station

but nothing to beat Bhimas Residency lunch / tiffin.

Return trip took about 5.5 hrs.

cheers!
Srini

[srimath]

Originally Posted by ravib

Anyone else has idea about Lagu darshan?
-Ravi

There are two types of darshan, Laghu Darshan & MahaLaghu Darshan.

In MahaLaghu Darshan, You can go till the images of the Dwara Palaks and then take a you turn. During Laghu Darshanam, You can enter the Snapana Mandapam, and then take a U turn to come out. Laghu is implemented on Tue/Wed. All other days, its MahaLaghu Darshan which is also implemented during various festivals/Bhramotsavams and when there is heavy crowd.

[ajitkumarlb]

Originally Posted by srimath

There are two types of darshan, Laghu Darshan & MahaLaghu Darshan...

@srimath: any idea about the cost of these and the place where to buy the tickets.

Nothing much on web about it and need to dig more through this thread on darshan:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...-query-10.html

[srimath]

Laghu & MahaLaghu are not any special darshans. These are like policies which are implemented for all darshans on a particular day.
This will be same for free/fifty/Sheegradrshan.

[samsan02]

Originally Posted by ravib

Anyone else has idea about Lagu darshan?
BTW, sad to hear about your fight with IOC guys. Ofcourse, unless we know local language and if we have KA regn number, they try to cheat. Got to be very strict and diligent with such guys.

-Ravi

Sorry ! my bad typo, I actually meant lagu Dasha on Tuesdays & Wednesdays as mentioned on some pretty new boards around the 300 rs seegharadarshan queue. May be they mean the same thing, not sure but yes it took us close to 7 hours but one good thing got to see the lord at a very easy pace and from quite close. Since we entered the queue at 12 p.m and during normal afternoon time it would take 3 to 4 hours for seeghara darshan then add another 2 to 3 hours for this lagu dasha. But early mronings and late nights it would be faster i suppose.

I know telugu so local language was not a problem in that way they were too nice to me so that i get distracted, their main motive was to rip the KA reg vehicle regardless of language.

Originally Posted by ajitkumarlb

My bad, I should have mentioned about the bypass road to reach bhimas, I am, sorry about that.

No problem sir, was able to get back using the bypass which was pretty fast.

[rki2007]

I am planning to visit tirupati. Last time when i went in the month of June, it took about 7.5 hrs for the dharshan. All the people at home were extremely tired. So, i am planning to visit this time early in the morning. I think the dharshans are open from 3AM isnt'it? Can anyone clarify on this.

I checked with Bhima's paradise and found out that there is no room vacant till 2nd Jan. Can anyone suggest a safe stay in some place with family.
I prefer to stay at tirumala rather than tirupati because of the reason that if i prefer to take the dharshan early in the morning at 4AM , it would be difficult to reach the hills.

Thanks in advance.