[sathya_nars]

Folks,
I am planning 5-7 days trip (in my car with family) starting this weekend to visit various temples in Tamil nadu.

I need inputs from you wrt Route (from Bangalore), decent staying place, restaurant, weather condition, and so.

I'm planning to visit Nava graha temples (temple for each god in nava graha series ) and I heard it'll take only 1.5 to 2 days.

Planning to roam within and nearby areas of Kumbakonam/Thanjavur/Trichy.

Throw in your suggestions, thanks in advance!!

[hvkumar]

I have attached 2 excel files -

- the first a friend's trip to Navagraha temple circuit planned by me
- the second another trip also planned by me

Kumbakonam is the best place to stay at:

Hotel Raya's, near Head Post Office
0435-423170/1/2/3/422545

Hotel Green Park, Laxmi Vilas Street
0435 - 2403912

- Please note the temple timings which mean you have to plan your visits carefully so that you can optimise your drive.

[hvkumar]

Here is a map of the Navagraha Temple circuit.

[sathya_nars]

Thanks hvkumar!! Waiting for inputs from others as well.

[phamilyman]

what undyy, after kumar garu, no one can give more inputs

[hrag]

One route option is: Bangalore - NH7 - Hosur - Sulagiri - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Thoppur - Malur - Salem - Namakkal - SH25 - Valayappatti - Thottiyam - Musiri - SH25 - Tiruchi - NH227 - Lalgudi - SH22 - Tiruvaiyaru - Kumbakonam

In this thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ndition-3.html
members have reported the route via Kulithalai is a better option from Musiri but since you need to get onto the Lalgudi road, maybe sticking to the Tollgate route is better?

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by sathya_nars

Thanks hvkumar!! Waiting for inputs from others as well.

Hai Satya,

I did the exact route and Navagraha temple and some more in December, 2007. My post of 11/12/2007 in the Travalogue section has the full story with pictures. For planning the trip I got lots of useful inputs from Travel Guru, HV Kumar.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...gy-abad-2.html

I spent 3 days in Tanjore, 2 days for the Navagraha circuit, ideal to plan for 3 days, or there's a chance to miss some of the temples. Mine was tight fast driving, per day about 300 kms. Have lots of info., you need anything specific, ask me.

I also went down to Rameswaram, Terichendur, Trivandrum, Cochin and got back through Bangalore, Hubli, Pune on the same trip.

Happy Driving,

--Ramky
==========

[cnaganathan]

Kumbakonam would be the ideal place to stay as it is sort of a center point for the Navagraha circuit. A good alternative would be Vaitheeswarankovil where you have a very decent hotel called Sathabhishekam. They have a website also through which you can book your stay.
Spread the circuit over 2 days to avoid lightning visits to any of the temples. Avoid late evenings to Keezha perumpallam (Ragu sthalam). The temple vicinity is snake land and you may scare your family.

[csentil]

hrag's route is bad especially around the Salem - Namakkal sector. Read last post in below mentioned thread on road conditions.

Here's a very recent thread on the same route.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...road-trip.html

This has updates from the thread initiator and me.

Route to take is

Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri bypass - Thiruvanammalai - Thirukoyilur - Panruti - Sethiathopu - Kumbakonam.

This is the bus route as well.

Initial part of Sethiathoppu - Kumbakonam is not so great but the road gets better.

The number of temples in and around Kumbakonam is too huge to capture.

I'll try to tell you some of the interesting ones here:

There are three famous temples in Kumbakonam itself.

1. The Sarangapani Temple (Vishnu)
2. Kumbeshwarar (Shiva)
3. Mahamaham tank and temple (equivalent to dipping in the Ganges during Kumbh Mela)

After this there are a lot of other beautiful temples around Kumbakonam. Some of the interesting ones are:

1. Swamimalai (Murugan temple) about 7 kms
2. Airavetiswara Temple in Dharasuram (World heritage site) must visit. about 15 kms
3. Brihadishvara Temple in Thanjavur (World heritage site) must visit. around 40 kms
4. Uppiliappan Temple (vishnu) around 7 kms
5. thingalur temple (Moon god). around 30 kms.

Then you have the other navagraha temples all around.

If you are going uptil Trichy which is 100 kms from Kumbakonam, you should visit
1. Srirangam
2. Thiru yaanai kaaval Temple.

[sathya_nars]

Thanks ramkya, great info you shared with your thread. Thanks to others as well

[adithya.vittal]

All the experienced drivers out there ...

I am plannin for a trip from Bangalore to Kumbakonam sometime during mid-Jul. I plan to cover Kumbakonam and a couple of places close by.

Please advice if it would be a good idea to do the whole trip on car or if it would be better to hire cars from Kumbakonam.

Your suggestions would be very helpful in plannin for the trip.

Hoping for a reply at the earliest..

Cheers,

Adi

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[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by adithya.vittal

Please advice if it would be a good idea to do the whole trip on car or if it would be better to hire cars from Kumbakonam.

If you are taking a car all the way to Kumbakonam, you could as well travel in your own car.

You have not mentioned about the places, so cannot comment further.

Since that place (and the surrounding) is filled with religious tourists, you would be able to find routes etc very easily.

[Tempelhof]

Originally Posted by adithya.vittal

All the experienced drivers out there ...

I am plannin for a trip from Bangalore to Kumbakonam sometime during mid-Jul. I plan to cover Kumbakonam and a couple of places close by.

Please advice if it would be a good idea to do the whole trip on car or if it would be better to hire cars from Kumbakonam.

I'm from the neighbourhoods of Kumbhakonam, and I've been visiting that place frequently for a long time now.

Almost all the roads in that area are so bad, dusty, narrow and twisted that I'd strongly suggest that you travel by train (6232) upto Kumbhakonam and hire a car there - unless, you want to see many other places enroute to Kumbhakonam.