[deehunk]

Originally Posted by autospeaker

Yeah. It will be a good trip
And you are right. The detour is only to avoid the troublesome 2L road after Karnataka.
Another reason is, all of us stay close to PES college entrance of NICE. So, just enter NICE and the roads are good till Vellore. But the extra distance comes to around 70 Kms. We would anyway need about 1.5 hours to reach Hoskote, from Banashankari 3rd stage!

Since you stay close to NICE Road, just take the Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Chittoor route. The roads are far better compared to 2 lane roads after Karnataka. I am sure you can pass Krishnagiri for the same 90 minutes.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Overall, an excellent trip! However, from next time, we will stay overnight AND ensure we drive only during the day.

This is one reason, I never prefer to return the same day, we have a darshan. Its just too tiring. In fact I spread over two nights. Start on a friday noon to be in Tirupati by evening say 8. Use the whole of next day for darshan. Come back to the hotel relax and drive back next day morning.

In this scheme of things what helps :

- Good rest
- Tirumala and Tiruchanur in one day
- Kalahasti on the return day

And all without much getting tired out. I also prefer to park the car at the hotel and use public transport/cabs to go up to Tirumala.

[deehunk]

I too advise people to use public transport inside Tirupati, same day return makes only when you have a darshan in the morning. The pain point of reaching good roads during return journey is same whether you opt for Palamner-Kolar-Hoskote or Chittor-Vellore route. The summers are too hot in Tirupati, so it is good to have a rest day, highly recommended if there are senior citizens or small children.

[Keynote]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Returned from a peaceful drive. Left at 0530 and took KR Puram - Hoskote - Mulbagal - Chittor route. Excellent drive till Nangali toll, except that the road markings are quite faded now.

Thank you for sharing the details. It was a very informative and extremely useful post at the right time for us.

Originally Posted by ampere

I never prefer to return the same day, we have a darshan. Its just too tiring. I also prefer to park the car at the hotel and use public transport/cabs to go up to Tirumala.

Originally Posted by deehunk

I too advise people to use public transport inside Tirupati. It is good to have a rest day, highly recommended if there are senior citizens or small children.

Excellent points by ampere & deehunk.

Here is a summary of our trip (13th & 14th Macrh). We took the KR Puram - Hoskote - Mulbagal - Chittor route to reach Tirupathi.

Day 1 :
Left home from Kasturi Nagar at 6:15 am and by 11:15 am reached Pai Viceroy, Tirupathi. This was inclusive of the 1 hour leisure breakfast at Maiyas,Kolar.
After lunch, our initial plan was to use public transport to Tirumala, however we were told by hotel staff that the crowd is much lesser compared to other days hence taking our own car wouldn't be an issue. The only advise he gave us was to take atleast 30 minutes each way (16 kms each) while going up / down the hills as anything lesser would attract penalty by the authorities. This is to ensure safety for everyone and there is no rash driving in the hills by the public.
Our SED slot was for 5 pm, hence we decided to start by 3 pm for us to have enough time as we had Senior Citizens and a 7 year young child with us. After reaching Tirumala, we got a good parking space in no time inside the ATC car park area. SED online ticket was scanned at 4:10 pm and we were allowed inside to be part of the queue. By 5:20 pm we completed the divine darshan.

Day 2:
Visited Sree Padmavathi Temple, Tiruchanur which is about 8 kms from the hotel.
Checked-out from Pai Viceroy, Tirupathi at 12:30 pm and reached Kasturi Nagar, Bangalore by 6:00 pm. (Thanks to the traffic that was just building up at KR Puram and Tin Factory) This was also inclusive of 30 minute stop over for lunch at BANS Hotel, Chitoor which in our opinion can be avoided.

Overall it was a very satisfying drive and the information in this thread helped us to plan and execute this trip very well.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Keynote

This was also inclusive of 30 minute stop over for lunch at BANS Hotel, Chitoor which in our opinion can be avoided.

Bans can definitely be a avoided. But that apart there is:

- A coffee at Chitoor bypass start point
- "Mr & Mrs Idli" !! I dont know how good or bad the place is. But the name sure sounded funny!
- Nandi Plaza

And then of course Maiyas further up.

[Keynote]

Originally Posted by ampere

Bans can definitely be a avoided. But that apart there is:
- A coffee at Chitoor bypass start point
- "Mr & Mrs Idli" !! I dont know how good or bad the place is. But the same sure sounded funny!
- Nandi Plaza

And then of course Maiyas further up.

Our best option could have been
- Lunch at Pai Viceroy itself after check out and drive till Maiyas, Kolar for refreshments. PS : Entire stay, location, amenities, ambience, and most importantly the food was EXCELLENT at Pai Viceroy. Special mentions to the complimentary vegetarian buffet breakfast which had a wide variety of lip smacking food.
- With my Parents & a Child on board, driving till Maiyas for lunch would have been too late.
- "Mr & Mrs Idli" - read through some of the previous posts and decided to skip.
- "BANS" had no idea it would be the WORST of the lot

Oh by the way, Paytm FASTag worked flawlessly through out this trip.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Keynote

- Lunch at Pai Viceroy itself after check out and drive till Maiyas, Kolar for refreshments. PS : Entire stay, location, amenities, ambience, and most importantly the food was EXCELLENT at Pai Viceroy. Special mentions to the complimentary vegetarian buffet breakfast which had a wide variety of lip smacking food.

We have had a good experience in Pai Viceroy over the last few times we have been there. Great ambience and compared to the other hotels like Bhimas etc who dont know what good service is, Pai is a welcome change. Hope the service stays the same over time. We usually have lunch here and then leave towards Bangalore. Usually from there it takes 2.5-3Hrs to Mulbagal and hence, you can reach Adigas or Highway star food court on time for a coffee/bio break. Hotels in between are horrible and even for a decent coffee we have to rely upon CCD. The CCD too is at a strategic location right after the Chittoor Bypass ends towards Bangalore.

[govigov]

Originally Posted by ampere

In fact I spread over two nights. Start on a friday noon to be in Tirupati by evening say 8. Use the whole of next day for darshan. .

ampere, Where do you choose to stay in Tirupati? Also, do you check out from there on Saturday to reach SKH on Saturday night, or would you stay in the same place for 2 consecutive days?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by govigov

ampere, Where do you choose to stay in Tirupati? Also, do you check out from there on Saturday to reach SKH on Saturday night, or would you stay in the same place for 2 consecutive days?

Initially Bhimas was my go to place. Now I have shifted to Fortune. There are two of them now. There is a new one at the bypass road itself closer to Tiruchanur. Have been there once and already impressed with it. A bit on the higher side, but the place is good. (Fortune Select Grand Ridge)

Usually I land in by Friday night (Leave Bangalore by 3PM. At least I make sure I have crossed the KR Puram black-hole before 3:30!). I check out by Sunday morning after breakfast and reach home early noon or late evening depending on if I visit Kalahasti.

Last time it was near lunch time at Tirupati when I was returning back from Kalahasti. I could have chosen to go back to Fortune for lunch. But then decided to have a mini break at Coffee Day at Chandragiri and then again stopped for late evening snack at Maiyas.

[MadiMaama]

Quick narration of our pilgrimage to Tirumala last week.

We took the morning Intercity from Bangalore to Tirupati. ( For the railfans, loco was 22268 Erode WAP 4)
The journey was very good. I spent most of the time doorplating. We reached Tirupati with a minimal delay of 15 minutes. The scheduled arrival was 13:40. We reached by 14:00.

We had prebooked a taxi as we had to report for our Sahasra Deepakankara Seva by 16:30. We got a brand new Etios and reached our accommodation, Vyasaraja Matam by 15:00. Refreshed ourselves and went for Darshanam. First, we offered prayers to Lord Varaha and then sat for the seva. Seva began at 17:00 and ended by 17:30. We were sent for darshanam.

Lords Darshanam happened in one hour, collected laddoo prasadam and went for annadanam prasadam. The next morning, we again hired a taxi for 1000 rupees, a Tata Indica. He took us to Govindaraja Swamy temple, Alamelu Mangapuram and drop at Renigunta.

Return to base was by the weekly Howrah Yeshwanthpur AC Express that shares slot with Duronto. Train arrived late by 2hours to Renugunta, with 22537 Santragachi WAP 4 as the lead loco. We reached Yesvantpur 5 hours late due to a line block at Ambur.

The Sahasra Deepalankara Seva is recommended. You can watch the Utsava Moorthy for 30 minutes and then the darshanam line is separate for the seva kartas. Vyasaraja Matam has basic , clean rooms. Hot water for bathing is provided on request

[gypsyFreak]

A quick update on our trip to Tirumala on May 21-22.

• Started from Mysore at 4.45 AM in my Scorpio, reached Kamat near Kolar at 9 am. After breakfast, reached Tirumala at 1.30 pm.
• Had anna prasadam at tirumala and then checked in to Nandakam resthouse
• Entered queue complex around 5 pm through SED and finished darshan in 2.5 hours.
• Went to have dinner at Saarangi, which was too much crowded. They had buffet in 1st floor which was quite costly when compared to what it offered. Decided to wait out and have al-carte. Finally finished dinner and retired to our rooms by 10.30 PM
• Checked out from room at 6 am, after shopping and breakfast, left Tirumala at 7.30 am, reached KA border at 11.45 am, tanked up here as fuel was costlier by 7 Rs in AP.
• Had lunch at Adigas before Kolar around 12 pm and reached BLR railway station by 2.30 PM.
• My family members went to Mysore by Tippu express and i came home to relax and start work from 23rd.

Road conditions:
Mysore - Bangalore : Same status, some widening happening inside Channapatna, Ramanagara.
Bangalore to KA border : Excellent
KA Border to Chittor bypass : Road widening in progress throughout, so expect frequent deviations. Looks like they are straightening the road and it will be a concrete road. Expect this to be done in another 1 year.
Chittor bypass - Tirupati turnoff at Thenepalle : Medium, heavy truck traffic, 2 railway crossings
Thenepalle junction to Tirupati : Good. To avoid Tirupati town we took the Chandragiri route which was worth it.

[Grand Drive]

The TTD is considering closing the temple for five days on the eve of Astabandhana Balalaya Mahasamprokshanam, which will be observed from August 12 to 16. More details on the following links:

Link 1

Link 2


To express their opinion, pilgrims can contact the following numbers:

Call Centre Nos: 0877-2233333/2277777
Toll Free Nos: 1800425333333/18004254141
Whatsapp No: 9399399399
E-Mail ID:helpdesk@tirumala.org

[gadadhar]

We have done online booking for Seegradarshanam (Rs 300 per ticket) for Saturday 4 pm for a family of 4 people. We have gone few times in the past, but it is been long time since our last trip and are looking for some inputs

Our plan is to start around 4 am from South Bangalore by car and reach hotel in Tirupathi in the morning and take a brake till we go for darshan.

Our booking receipt states to report at "ATC CAR PARKING AREA" at 4 pm.

- Considering above reporting time, what time should be start from the hotel, we plan to drive to the top

- Where can we park in Tirumala? How far is this from ATC parking area (are we allowed to park in ATC parking?)

- Our return is on Sunday morning, we plan to visit Kanipakkam on the way back, is there anything else we can add to the plan?


Any other tips from your experience will be a big help

[rkg]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Our booking receipt states to report at "ATC CAR PARKING AREA" at 4 pm.

- Where can we park in Tirumala? How far is this from ATC parking area (are we allowed to park in ATC parking?)

You can take your car to tirumala. If you are allowed go straight, take left at the roundabout. its just next to Lepakshi emporium on the left side. Otherwise, Ask anyone about ATC parking, they will guide you. You can park your car safely there and enter Q complex. You need to walk a little distance of about half a kilometer. You can reach even by 2 or 3 PM. they will allow.

Even google maps show ATC parking

[nairrk]

ATC car parking is near the entry point of Rs.300 ticket holders. If reporting time is at 4PM suggest, please be there before 4 pm to join the queue.

It will take around 18/25 minutes to reach from Alipiri to Tirumala (may take more time depends the rush) but remind you that you will have to pass through security check in the Alipiri entrance (every one along with their baggages has to come out from the vehicle and then get scanned in the gate. Your vehicle and driver will be checked at the point without anything on the car, hence it may take more time than anticipating).

Once the security check is over then you can start climbing (driving) the hill. Suggest, keep at least 30 minutes for this climbing so that you will not get delayed for the reporting time.