[spadix]

Originally Posted by ZENnist

no fancy restaurants for me...i am still not in the mindset of spending 50rs for coffee and 200rs on meals per person.

May (y)our tribe increase!

Originally Posted by ampere

I am with you on that Spadix. Mayura is an amazing place for food. Since Zenist was asking for stay options,
I did not include Mayura.

But Mayura has rooms! I've stayed there at least twice in the last 5 years (the remaining times being either in Sindhura or usually up at Tirumala).

Originally Posted by ZENnist

there is a slight change in the plan - i would be travelling tomorrow instead of Sunday, which means i will have to deal with the weekend crowd and also find a place to stay. could you tell me the room rates in these two hotels? i've heard good reviews about Mayura.

No idea about the prices, Sir. Visiting TTD is so taxing on mind, soul and body that I let my parents handle all the wallet tax for dragging me there. The only things I like about the TTD tours (in no particular order) are Mayura food, climbing up the ghat (foot/bike/car/whatever) and an all-expenses paid-for stay.

Regards,
spadix

[ampere]

Originally Posted by spadix

But Mayura has rooms! I've stayed there at least twice in the last 5 years (the remaining times being either in Sindhura or usually up at Tirumala).

I was not aware of that. Thanks. I always went there for lunch and never checked beyond !

[spadix]

Originally Posted by ampere

I was not aware of that. Thanks. I always went there for lunch and never checked beyond !

Have breakfast as well there once. I usually feast on breakfast (3-4 different items) and I'm all set for the climb.

Regards,
spadix

[ZENnist]

Reached Bangalore today early morning.

Took the Chinthamani - Madanappalle route for onward journey and Chittoor - Kolar road for return.

Onward route observations - road condition from Hoskote to Chinthamani is strictly so-so. lot of patch work done which doesnt really solve the problem. to add to it, there is road widening work going on resulting in one laned traffic on and off. may be a bigger or more comforable vehicle will make things slightly better (compared to my zen).

road condition improves a lot after chinthamani and the route is scenic with a lot of curves. however, watch out for unmarked and unexpected speed breakers at the entry & exit point of villages enroute.

as mentioned by ampere & spadix, there are no restaurants (small or big) in this route. There are small road side tea shops and lot of tender coconut / water melon vendors throughout. You can find small restaurants in Madanappalle, nothing else worth mentioning.

started from Sarjapur road at 12.50 pm and reached Tirupathi at 6.30 pm with 2 stops in between and slow driving mainly for sight seeing.

Night halt - stayed at a hotel named Sai Nilaya next to railway station, behind the TTD complex (forgot the name of the complex). Rent Rs 500 for double room (600 for a/c). good rooms but i am sure they overcharged me, but after getting lost in T'pathi town, roaming around back and forth with the problamatic clutch causing the car to shut down with every braking in traffic, i just wanted to crash into a bed some where.

Return route - finished darshan after standing in 300rs queue for 9 hours! checked out, had dinner at Mayura and started off at 10PM. not much observations of the surroundings was possible as it was night and i was constantly looking for signboards so i dont get lost. road condition is very good with lot of stretches freshly laid between T'pathi and Chittoor. few bad patches around chittoor town, but negligible. taliled a KA 02 registered swift (which saved a lot of pain of finding the route) till they stopped for coffee at Kolar. after kolar, the NH4 is perfect.....except for couple of flyovers where there are unmarked speed breakers at the end of ramp. can be really dangerous at night if you fail to spot it.

reached home at 2.15 AM with a 10 min stop for power nap. total travel time - 4.15 hrs. a big thanks to the new gen KA 02 White Swift vdi (with awesome 16" alloys) which helped save a lot of time.

Sincere thanks to all who gave suggestions...

Realised that this has become a travelogue. Mods - kindly excuse.

[vinay_tw]

Came back from Tirumala on Feb 27 night!

Onward: Took the Bangalore-Kolar-Mulbagal-Palmner-Puthalapatu-Chandragiri-Alipiri-Tirumala route. Had a break at Mulbagal. Overall time taken - 6 hrs.

On the way - Great 6-lane roads till Mulbagal. It would take you about 90 minutes to reach Mulbagal. Keep looking to your left when you near Chittoor. When you see the direction board showing 5kms to Chittoor you need to take a left turn to bypass Chittoor. But I am not too sure if this bypass is a good option. You need to go through almost 10 kms of hell before you hit the highway to Cuddapah! There are potholes of all sizes and it is a big risk for the vehicle and also people inside it to take this road in the present condition. However, I am not sure if there is any alternative. Is going to Chittoor a better option albeit it adds 10-12 kms to your overall distance?

You need to take a right turn near Puthalapatu to Tirupati. You see clear signboards showing 54 kms to Tirupati, you can't miss it. About 40 kms into this road you see a huge direction board that shows Chandragiri to the left and the distance to Tirupati shown as 14 kms. Take a left turn at this point to head towards Tirupati. A few kms into this road, you find the Tirupati bypass road to the left and the direction board shows Alipiri - 6 kms. Take this road to reach the bottom of the hill. From there, it is a cool drive up the hill for 18 kms to reach Tirumala. Note: Before you climb up, be ready to remove your luggage at the toll gate for a routine luggage scan.

Had darshan in 4hrs in Sudarshanam que. Had a great darshan.

Return - Was pretty much the same route.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by vinay_tw

Is going to Chittoor a better option albeit it adds 10-12 kms to your overall distance?

Going via Chittoor is a far better option - even though you hit city traffic, the roads are good all the way unlike the hell that the bypass is.

[binand]

Presumably, all these questions are asked and answered. But in case you folks have any updates, please let me know.

My family is planning a trip to Tirupati. Since I cannot take leave, the plan I proposed is to leave Bangalore around 6PM on 7/2, arrive in the night, perform darshan on 8/2 morning and return same afternoon (8/2 is a holiday). I am expecting we will be able to reach by midnight. We are planning to do the Seeghra Darshanam for which tickets I believe are available only at Tirupati. Since it is a Thursday, it starts at 9 AM (Darshan at Sri Venkateswara Temple).

Is this practical? There are three children and 2 elderly people in our group. How long will we have to wait in the queue?

We have two options - two cars (there are 10 of us including the children) or hire a larger vehicle. I have heard of terrible parking problems at Tirupati, so which is better?

What is a nice place to stay overnight?

Any/all help appreciated.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by binand

My family is planning a trip to Tirupati. Since I cannot take leave, the plan I proposed is to leave Bangalore around 6PM on 7/2, arrive in the night, perform darshan on 8/2 morning and return same afternoon (8/2 is a holiday). I am expecting we will be able to reach by midnight. We are planning to do the Seeghra Darshanam for which tickets I believe are available only at Tirupati. Since it is a Thursday, it starts at 9 AM (Darshan at Sri Venkateswara Temple).
Is this practical? There are three children and 2 elderly people in our group. How long will we have to wait in the queue?
We have two options - two cars (there are 10 of us including the children) or hire a larger vehicle. I have heard of terrible parking problems at Tirupati, so which is better?
What is a nice place to stay overnight?
Any/all help appreciated.

I had done a similar trip in April last year - see post #236. However, we left Bangalore on Saturday night and took the Seegradarshan at Tirumala on Sunday early morning. I would suggest something similar since Seegradarshan on weekends is good if you're in the queue by 6am. Better to avoid Thursday as you have mentioned and being a holiday expect extra large crowds. If you leave Bangalore on a Saturday evening you can get darshan on Sunday and return by evening so no need to take a day off from work.
I also did another trip on a Sunday morning late last year - we left Bangalore at 4.30 am and reached Tirumala at 8.30 am but darshan took much longer time and we got out at 1.15pm. With elderly folks and children as in your case I would not recommend this.

Parking may be a problem if you reach 10am or later. Also, you can park at the parking lot close to the Seegradarshan darshan entrance instead.

Hotels - Sindhu International is on the highway at the junction to the Tirumala Road. Other good options are Bhimas Residency and Bhimas Paradise.

Hope this helps.

[binand]

Originally Posted by NPV

Better to avoid Thursday as you have mentioned and being a holiday expect extra large crowds. If you leave Bangalore on a Saturday evening you can get darshan on Sunday and return by evening so no need to take a day off from work.

Thanks - #236 is really helpful . I was told that weekends are unbelievably crowded, so to prefer weekdays. Also, that in March crowds are comparatively lesser due to it being exam month.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by binand

Thanks - #236 is really helpful . I was told that weekends are unbelievably crowded, so to prefer weekdays. Also, that in March crowds are comparatively lesser due to it being exam month.

Though weekends are crowded if you can reach Tirumala before 6.30am you can expect to be out before 10am worst case. I'm not so sure about the crowds in March, but one thing I've learnt from my experience is that the place can surprise you and there's no guarantee about lesser crowds !

[spadix]

Originally Posted by binand

My family is planning a trip to Tirupati. Since I cannot take leave, the plan I proposed is to leave Bangalore around 6PM on 7/2, arrive in the night, perform darshan on 8/2 morning and return same afternoon (8/2 is a holiday). I am expecting we will be able to reach by midnight. We are planning to do the Seeghra Darshanam for which tickets I believe are available only at Tirupati. Since it is a Thursday, it starts at 9 AM (Darshan at Sri Venkateswara Temple).

Is this practical? There are three children and 2 elderly people in our group. How long will we have to wait in the queue?

We have two options - two cars (there are 10 of us including the children) or hire a larger vehicle. I have heard of terrible parking problems at Tirupati, so which is better?

What is a nice place to stay overnight?

First of all, it is not clear to me where you want to stay overnight. The temple is in Tirumala and most of the hotels discussed in this thread are in Tirupati.

If you plan to drive to Tirumala, accommodation there is dicey, and it's best (usually) to go with a confirmed reservation in hand. There is ample parking space available up the hill. You might just have to drop your folks off near the entrance to the queue complex, ask them to wait there while you find the nearest parking spot and then walk back. This should take you around 15 mins, and less if you properly recce the surroundings the previous night.

If you plan to leave the car in Tirupati and take the bus, your hotel's valet parking service will take care of it.

I will recommend either (excellent food as well) or Sindhura Park in Tirupati. Up on the hill, they are all the same so get something that's walking distance away from the queue complex (there are a few inns like that).

Feb/Mar is usually OK, especially after Sivaratri. The rush shouldn't be unbearable. Caveat is that some learned/holy man may suddenly decide that the current alignment of the stars and planets is the best time to get a darshan and then all hell breaks loose. You should expect to spend around 5 hrs tops in the queue at this time of the year. The longest I have experienced is 13 hrs on Dec. 17, 2010 (Vaikuntha Ekadasi) and around 10 hrs IIRC some time in June 1998 (start of the academic year).

Regards,
spadix

[binand]

Originally Posted by spadix

First of all, it is not clear to me where you want to stay overnight. The temple is in Tirumala and most of the hotels discussed in this thread are in Tirupati.

My understanding is that hotels are all at Tirupati, while Tirumala has only guest houses with basic features. Our plan is to stay at Tirupati in a decent-ish hotel. I need a recommendation for a good hotel - some of the ones I looked up have bad reviews either here, or on Tripadvisor.

Also, parking will not be a problem as we are going in a hired vehicle and the driver will take care of that particular hassle.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by binand

My understanding is that hotels are all at Tirupati, while Tirumala has only guest houses with basic features.

That is correct. In Tirupati, I have stayed more than once in both Mayura and Sindhura Park and would happily recommend either.

Originally Posted by binand

Also, parking will not be a problem as we are going in a hired vehicle and the driver will take care of that particular hassle.

That's the best thing to do, considering the hectic nature of your trip. I was about to suggest this but individual preferences do vary. I for one would not be very comfortable spending multiple hours in a queue in between two drives, even though I have done it a couple of times (including that 13-hour queue instance).

Regards,
spadix

[vinay_tw]

Accommodation has become easy in Tirumala if you plan in advance. Just visit www.ttdsevaonline.com and book accommodation. You get Rs. 100, Rs. 200, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 accommodations. I have booked accommodation this way many times recently and it works very well. In a Rs. 500 accommodation for example you get a large room with a large attached bath that has both Indian and European style closets and also a hot water geyser. Each such room can accommodate 5 people, even though there are only 2 cots.

On the ttdsevaonline you can also book Rs. 50 Sudarshanam tickets in advance for darshan. My experience has been that Rs. 50 tickets can provide you darshan as fast as the Rs. 300 tickets. But, my experience this time was slightly off mark. It took me 4 hrs to get darshan starting from 10 am in the morning. However, this was partly due to the interception of the Kalyanotsave crowd at around 1 pm, who are allowed darshan between 1 and 2 pm. Apparently, this happens everyday; so plan your darshan timings as early in the morning as possible. We lost almost 45-50 mins during this period, which contributed to the overall delay.

[binand]

Originally Posted by vinay_tw

It took me 4 hrs to get darshan starting from 10 am in the morning. However, this was partly due to the interception of the Kalyanotsave crowd at around 1 pm, who are allowed darshan between 1 and 2 pm. Apparently, this happens everyday; so plan your darshan timings as early in the morning as possible.

That helps. It seems on Thursdays the Seeghra Darshanam token issue starts at 9 AM; so I'm assuming if we turn up at around 7:30 AM or so we should be out by noon after the darshan?