[Newpunter]

I'm planning to visit Tirupati this weekend and have booked the special darshan tickets.

I do have a question regarding the route. I would be starting from Sarjapur, so would it be a good idea to take the Sarjapur-Malur-Kolar route or would it make sense to take the Sarjapur-Varthur-Whitefield-Hosakote route? The former route is shorter, but I'm not sure if I would save much time on the Malur-Kolar route compared to the highway from Hosakote to Kolar.

[adi_gt]

Friends, I am planning for a visit to srikalahasti temple on 25th Jan Sunday. I just wanted to know what is the road condition from Kolar to Srikalahasti and whether same day return is possible after the puja ? Since most of the discussion on last few posts has been regarding the tickets and and entry for darshan at tirupati, I thought of posing a fresh query with all t'bhpians with latest road condition to srikalahasti.
Moderators please merge with a suitable thread if it's not the right forum.

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

Friends, I am planning for a visit to srikalahasti temple on 25th Jan Sunday. I just wanted to know what is the road condition from Kolar to Srikalahasti and whether same day return is possible after the puja ? Since most of the discussion on last few posts has been regarding the tickets and and entry for darshan at tirupati, I thought of posing a fresh query with all t'bhpians with latest road condition to srikalahasti.
Moderators please merge with a suitable thread if it's not the right forum.

It'll take about 6hours from Bangalore. Tirupati-Kalahasti takes about 1hour. You've got good roads till Renigunta after which it is patchy with pot holes, thus slowing you down. If you want the same day return, you have to start very early.

When you enter the temple, engage a govt. authorized agent(they'll flash id card), they will take you through the darshan/pooja swiftly.

[yogee]

Originally Posted by ravib

Anyone who recently visited Tirupati and had Rs. 50 /- tickets darshan ?

I am aware that for Rs. 300/- tickets they made Dhoti/Saree compulsory for darshan. Any update on Rs. 50/- will be appreciated. Did

When i went last in October, Rs. 50/- tickets queue was allowed with Pants but was not in Rs. 300/-.

-Ravi

Hi Ravi,

I visited on December 15 and both Rs.50 and Rs.300 ticket holders are not allowed with pants. Its allowed only for free or dharma darshan. I did not understand the logic behind it though as finally both the queues are merged when entering the main temple complex.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

Friends, I am planning for a visit to srikalahasti temple on 25th Jan Sunday. I just wanted to know what is the road condition from Kolar to Srikalahasti and whether same day return is possible after the puja ? Since most of the discussion on last few posts has been regarding the tickets and and entry for darshan at tirupati, I thought of posing a fresh query with all t'bhpians with latest road condition to srikalahasti.
Moderators please merge with a suitable thread if it's not the right forum.

i did a bangalore -> kalahasti -> bangalore one day trip in nov 2013. It took me ~5 hrs in one direction, with many bad-road stretches. Most of the roads should be better now, but here is my trip report from back then (hope it is of some use to you) :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3295349
The key is an early start - makes sure you are at the temple before the crowds thicken.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by yogee

Hi Ravi,

I visited on December 15 and both Rs.50 and Rs.300 ticket holders are not allowed with pants. Its allowed only for free or dharma darshan. I did not understand the logic behind it though as finally both the queues are merged when entering the main temple complex.

Thanks a lot the update Yogee. Appreciate it.

Yes, i too was in same state like you in last October to understand the logic when they differentiated between Rs. 300 and Rs. 50 tickets.

Now its between free and paid darshans. At any rate, from now on we should plan to carry dhotis for Tirupati darshans.


-Ravi

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by yogee

I visited on December 15 and both Rs.50 and Rs.300 ticket holders are not allowed with pants. Its allowed only for free or dharma darshan. I did not understand the logic behind it though as finally both the queues are merged when entering the main temple complex.

50 and 300 ticket ensures that your darshan is planned very well-so the dress code can be enforced on them; whereas the sarva/divya darshan sees people joining directly as they arrive at Tirumala and hence they will face difficulty in finding a place to change.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

Friends, I am planning for a visit to srikalahasti temple on 25th Jan Sunday. I just wanted to know what is the road condition from Kolar to Srikalahasti and whether same day return is possible after the puja ? Since most of the discussion on last few posts has been regarding the tickets and and entry for darshan at tirupati, I thought of posing a fresh query with all t'bhpians with latest road condition to srikalahasti.
Moderators please merge with a suitable thread if it's not the right forum.

Not sure about the road conditions. But after doing puja in kalahasthi, one should not visit tirumala to have darshan of Lord balaji. Instead one should head back home from kalahasthi directly else the fruits of doing puja during rahukalam will not materialize.

[Mafioso]

Originally Posted by adi_gt

Friends, I am planning for a visit to srikalahasti temple on 25th Jan Sunday. I just wanted to know what is the road condition from Kolar to Srikalahasti and whether same day return is possible after the puja ?

The road condition is good from Kolar to Tirupati, occasional deviations around the mulbagal region (widening roads). From Palamaner to Tirupati it is a two lane, but quite wide roads and plenty of space for enthusiastic driving

The roads from Tirupati to Kalhasti are pretty average lot of potholes which have been filled and very uneven and loads of speed breakers!!

Kolar to Tirupati would take approximately 3-4 hours based on driving styles and Tirupati to Kalahasti would be 1-1.5 hours! So I guess you can complete the trip in one day.

[hillsnrains]

Originally Posted by Mafioso

From Palamaner to Tirupati it is a two lane, but quite wide roads and plenty of space for enthusiastic driving

Just one correction mate: Road between Karnataka boarder and Chittoor is only two lane and forget about enthusiastic driving, over taking is very difficult due to very high truck traffic.
For rest of the strech, what you have said is valid

[ampere]

I see plans and contracts in place for 4-laning up to the state border (Palamaner). Dont know whats the plan from Palamaner to Walajapet.

[adi_gt]

Thanks everyone for the update. I started at 6am from my home in Ramamurthy Nagar and drove almost non stop and reached srikalahasti around 10.30am. Did pooja and lunch and started around 2.45pm from srikalahasti and reached home at around 8pm with one break of about 45 mins at woodys in Kolar. Loved the drive except heavy traffic sections from palamner to chitoor bypass. Road was being relaid. The situation got worse while returning as they had stopped the traffic from both sides and asking those jumbo sized trucks which carry cars to travel on one left left during broad daylight. It was insane. Other wise surface was ok with good number of speed breakers added as "tadka" to the curry.

[Newpunter]

Originally Posted by Newpunter

I'm planning to visit Tirupati this weekend and have booked the special darshan tickets.

I do have a question regarding the route. I would be starting from Sarjapur, so would it be a good idea to take the Sarjapur-Malur-Kolar route or would it make sense to take the Sarjapur-Varthur-Whitefield-Hosakote route? The former route is shorter, but I'm not sure if I would save much time on the Malur-Kolar route compared to the highway from Hosakote to Kolar.

I took the Sarjapur-Malur-Kolar route to go to Tirupathi and was happy with the road. There are a few potholes and bad patches, but the route was around 20 Kms shorter than the Varthur-Whitefield-Hoskote route and there was very little traffic. It took me around 50 min to reach Kolar from Sarjapur ( pretty sure it can be done in lesser time ), which I think was reasonable. It took me 4 hours to reach Alipiri from Sarjapur and another 40 minutes to reach Tirumala.

While returning on Sunday evening, there was very heavy traffic and it was slow going till we reached the Karnataka border. The roads in Karnataka are all 4 laned, so we made good progress, but the road stretch from the Andhra border till Chittoor was the worst, being a 2 lane road with lot of truck traffic.

The good news (and this must be old news since I haven't been on this stretch of road in more than a few years), is that the Chittoor bypass has been laid properly and it takes just around 5-10 minutes to cross Chittoor, compared to the moonscape a few years back, which took atleast 20 minutes.

[rki2007]

Last time when I visited Tirupati a couple of months back, I had e-sudarshan ticket booked well in advance. But still the e-sudarshan ticket holders were made to enter from the vaikuntam Q complex only which is opp to lepakshi. Normally e-sudharshan ticket holders can enter near the place where the counters for sheegra darshan tickets are issued which is close to the waiting cages.

Just need to know whether same is the position even now?

Can someone please update?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by rki2007

Last time when I visited Tirupati a couple of months back, I had e-sudarshan ticket booked well in advance. But still the e-sudarshan ticket holders were made to enter from the vaikuntam Q complex only which is opp to lepakshi. Normally e-sudharshan ticket holders can enter near the place where the counters for sheegra darshan tickets are issued which is close to the waiting cages.

Just need to know whether same is the position even now?

Can someone please update?

Entry to the queues is largely variant on the crowd that is present/expected. Twice I have entered in the gate near the 300 rupee *Ticket* counter and then they route you to the cellar. Once during this telangana strike, due to less crowd, we entered directly near the cellar entrance and were routed directly to the bridge across mada street after verification of credentials. It should be in the same place as of two months back, not sure if there are any changes.