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I booked a e-sudarsanam ticket for next month visit to Tirumala. The entry point is stated as "Near TB Cottage 74" on the ticket.

Do you have an idea where this is exactly located. Is it somewhere close to Lepakshi or Vaikuntam Q Complex car parking or somewhere close to Rs 300 ticket counter area itself?

Thanks in advance..

Did a Tirumal trip last tuesday.

• Chose my regular route, Bangalore - Hoskote - Mulbagal - Palamaner - Chittor (by-pass) - Chandragiri - Alipiri - Tirumala.
• Left home (Jayanagar) at 4:15 AM. stopped at Nandi restaurant near Bangarupalem / Gollapalle (around 15Kms before Chittoor by-pass) for a quick breakfast.
• Reached Alipiri by 8:45AM but took almost 30 minutes to finish the security check and cross the checkpost.
• Reached Tirumala by 9:45, there is a minimum travel time to reach Tirumala (24 minutes IIRC)
• Reported at the TBC cottage, opposite Alvar Tank at 10:15AM and was done with darshan by 11:45AM.
• Picked the laddoo prasadam and started our journey back by 1PM. There is also a minimum travel time to reach Alipiri (around 40 minutes IIRC)
• Reached KR Puram by 5:30PM and reached home by 7 PM.

Few points to note:

• The full stretch is pretty smooth and well marked diversions and speed breakers.
• The stretch of road that is in Karnataka is not 4 lanes.
• There are 2 tolls. IIRC, first one is 24/- and the second one is 96/- for a multiple entry ticket ( I stand to be corrected on the toll charges).

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

did you mean AP ? (KA has 4-lane for which you paid toll)

The entire stretch within Karnataka is 4 laned that's why the 2 tolls near Hoskote and Kolar, plus another one coming up at the border.
Earlier, the 4 laning was only upto Mulbagal and now it has been completed till the border on Karnataka side.

My bad guys..
Yes the stretch in Karnataka is 4 laned.

Did you have to make any advance booking for the Darshan ? Also how do you manage to book a TBC cottage?
Me and cousin are planning to go this sometime first-second week of march.

Even i will be going to Tirumala in the month of March. I have booked the 300 Rs ticket online. For accomodation, you can contact the Andavan Ashram or the Ahobhila Mutt Guest house in Tirumala

Ahobila Mutt No. 0877 2279440
Andavan Ashram No. 0877 2277826

I have read in Telugu news papers that from March 2015 TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam) is going to provide accommodation for those who book 300/- via internet.
According to the TTD EO (executive officer)
At present one has to book room and darshan separately. Most of the times rooms will not be available anything before 15 days (which is the timeline for 300/- tickets). This is great move and definitely going to help lot of folks like us.
Those who are planning to book after March 1st can look out for this option.

Folks

I had been to Tirumala/Tirupathi on 3rd and 4th March 2015. Since myself and my better half planned to climb the hills, we hired a taxi (Innova). We were accompanied by my parents and my 2 kids (1 yr and 8 yr old). The occasion was to get both my sons tonsured and ear boring for my second child.
We left my parents house in Malleswaram by 7:45 AM on Tuesday and reached the foot of the hills (Srivari Mettu at Srinivasamangapuram) by 2 PM.
This route has 2388 steps for a distance of 2.1 kms. Tokens for free darshan were given at the 1200th step and re verified at the 2090th step. We took about 2 hrs to climb the hills.
We did not go for darshan of the lord as tonsuring and ear boring had to be carried out. By the time we reached the place for tonsuring, it was close to closing time (6 PM). We requested the person out there to carry out tonsuring and he obliged.
We stayed at the Vysaraja Mutt in Tirumala. The room had 5 beds (2 double cots and a single cot). This was quite spacious as well.
The next day our darshan time for the Rs 300 queue was 10 AM - 11 AM. We stood in the queue by 8 30 AM and we were out by 10 30 AM. This being the marriage season, getting accommodation was slightly difficult.
We then left for Tiruchanoor to have darshan of Goddess padmavathi. After completing darshan, we left for Bangalore by 2 30 PM and reached my parents home by 8 PM.

Thanks suresh. Can you please provide few more additional information on TB Cottage 74 , if possible?

Also, you mentioned that you took the Srivari Mettu at Srinivasamangapuram. This is different from Alipiri foot hills right? Can you provide map location for that too?

-Ravi

Srivari mettu is different from the Alipiri Route. Once you proceed along the Tirupati by pass road , directions are clearly given how to go to Srinivasamangapuram. If in doubt one can even ask the locals. Regarding the map, you can see the same in google maps. Infact srivari mettu comes first followed by Alipiri.

From the room in Tirumala, we took a jeep after finishing tiffin to go TB cottage 74.

Returned from Tirupati Trip yesterday.

This time me and 3 of my friends took SriVari Mettu steps for a change instead of usual Alipiri steps footpath on 14-Mar-15.

We took a Jeep from Tirupati to reach Srivari Mettu steps via Srinivasa Mangapuram and it took about 30 minutes to reach the foothills.

We started at 8.45 am from foothills and reached Tirumala at 9.50 am - In just 1 hour 5 minutes ( :Shockked: - we were suprised that we could reach Tirumala so fast that too with intermittent breaks for few minutes as needed).

There are approximately 2400 steps in this route and is open only between 6 am to 6 pm. Unlike in Alipiri-Tirumala route steps, no walking in road and all are just steps. Some are quite steep though !

More details in this link which is updated almost everyday : http://gotirupati.com/by-walk-to-tirumala-hills/

If i have to describe this steps in comparison to regular Alipiri-Tirumala footpath, I would say if we put the same or little more effort for the distance between the Alipiri-Gaali Gopuram, in Srivari mettu footpath we could directly reach Tirumala.

The other advantage is that, the steps end just very close to the Rs. 300 entrance ticket near TB Cottage 74.

However, i would not recommend patients with Heart problems, BP and other ailments to take this route as there is no emergency services.

For darshan, it took 4 hours for us because after we entered the queue, there was a VIP visit and also Senior Citizens/Differently-abled persons queue was opened, so we ended up waiting. But still, for a saturday 4 hours is not too late IMO. But there was some mismanagement by TTD employees where they didn't close the cage gates as and when the crowd is joining the queue and a cage gets full. So everyone ended up standing in B2B cages without any space, so it started to suffocate with less air circulation.

-Ravi

Distance wise Srivari Mettu is only 2.1 kms as against 9 kms in the Alipiri route. Climbing the steps in 1 hr 5 min is very good effort on your part. It all boils down to how fit yourself and your company are to climb the steps.

Hi,

Are there any good hotels in Kolar, I mean with out getting into town? I am aware of Woodys near the medical college, I am afraid, it is not in a good shape, I am told.

I booked e Darshan @ Rs 300 each for three of us two days ago. No option for booking accomodation was available. As an aside, when you look at e Accom the whole of March was shown full for all categories