Team-BHP - A week trip to temple towns of Tamilnadu and TVM

Hi,

I am planning a 6 to 7 days of travelling temple cities of TamilNadu and TVM.
Planned places for this trip are Madurai, Thiruchi, Thanjavur, Srirangam, Chidambaram, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, Tiruvarur, TVM

My ride is on a Swift VXI (60,000Kms service due before travel) with new XM1+ footwear and starting from Bangalore

Not planning to drive in night on undivided roads, however fine to drive until 9PM on a toll/divided roads. Along with me is my wife, son(8years) and my mother.

Please help me in planning this trip with information on route and budget hotels.
We are flexible in night halt locations, except we need to stay for a night at Kanyakumari for sunset and sunrise.

regards,
manju

Since you're planning Chidambaram, here's a small suggestion; stay in Kumbakonam, which is almost in the centre & try visiting the navagraha temples & surrounding. This would alone keep you occupied for about 2 days.

If you plan to skip this, then the rest can be done little relaxed.

In TVM, you cannot miss the Pazhavangadi Ganapathy temple, Padmanabaswamy temple & Aatingal Devi temple. Also try to make it Varkala, Sri Krishna temple; its little far off from Trivandrum & should take about 1+ hour of drive from the city one way.

Apart from temples, if you intend to stay in TVM, try making to Veli village & Shangumugham beach for sunset.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2061090)

Thanks, considering the route, and your suggestion, yes it is good to skip Chidambaram.

Request your guidance in planning here, with skipping Chidambaram.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manjubp (Post 2061059)

my suggestions would be as follows:
Day 1
blr-salem-namakkal-karur-dindugal-madurai
all 4 laned and comfortable. you can plan a stay in madurai and visit the temples there staying budget from 900 to 3000 for a dbl ac accomodation
Day 2
Madurai-tirunelveli-nagarkoil-kanyakumari all fourlaned till nagerkoil
staying budget the same
Day- 3
Kanyakumari-madurai-rameshwaram- trichy
This only should be a tedious part, try to leave asap after seeing sunrise u should be comfortable till madurai and upto a point till rameshwaram
I would suggest you skipping rameshwaram and drive to trichy straight which is again 4 laned throughout, in that case you can start at ease after having breakfast in kanyakumari. on reaching trichy you canvisit srirangam temple, rockfort and other places of interest
day 4
trichy-ulundurpet-asanur-tirukoilur-tiruvannamalai- vellore
night halt at vellore and if ur able to leave after breakfast from trichy, u can finish tiruvanamalai and also see the famous golden temple in vellore
day 5
vellore- krishnagiri-hosur-bangalore again four laned
if u came late to vellore, u can visit golden temple and then leave to bangalore even after lunch.
you can see that rameshwaram and tiruvarur has been skipped
Cos that would be a bigger deviation and the road conditions are questionable

the route what i have suggested would be more enjoyable and less tedious for the rest of the family travelling with you.

pls feel free to ask any questions about this

Quote:

Originally Posted by benzbala (Post 2061207)

Day 1
Bangalore-salem-namakkal-trichy
visit srirangam, rockfort temple and driving time is approx 5 to 6 hrs from blr
Day 2
Trichy-madurai( approx 2hrs drive, visit the temples there, have lunch)-tirunelveli-nagerkoil-kanyakumari
Day 3
Kanyakumari-nagerkoil-trivandrum( u can even stay at kovalam beach resort)
Day 4
kovalam-nagerkoil-tirunelveli-dindugal- karur-namakkal( stay there)
Day 5
Namakkal-salem-bangalore
hope this route should suit you fine

I'm no expert here @Manju, but I'm drafting a rough sketch here & expect other experts here to suggest their opinion to get something finalized.

Day 1 - BLR - Trichy; evening temple visits at Trichy & Srirangam
Day 2 - Trichy - Tanjore; morning temple visits; breakfast at Tanjore & head towards Tiruvarur; temple visit followed by lunch & drive to Madurai for dinner
Day 3 - Temple visit followed by breakfast & lunch at Madurai & head towards Rameshwaram
Day 4 - Temple visit at Rameshwaram followed by breakfast & lunch & drive to Trivandrum for dinner
Day 5 - Temple visits; followed by breakfast & lunch in Trivandrum & drive to Thrissur for dinner
Day 6 - Have breakfast in Thrissur, lunch on the way & reach Bangalore for dinner

BTW, when're you planning to start this trip?

There are two main things to note:

1. First finish Trichy/Tanjore/Tirvarur on the first 2-3 days. Finish Trichy in the morning and drive to Tanjore to stay for night. (Should be possible.)

2. Visit Tanjore temple and Tiruvarur the next day.

3. Then instead visiting Madurai drive to Rameshwaram (You can drive via Pudukottai/Devipatnam.)

Stay at Rameshwaram for a night visit the temple next day and drive to KK

3. Stay overnight at KK and visit the temple the next day and drive to TVM.

4. Visit Temples at TVM and come back to Madurai.

Why Madurai be the last? Because there are many temples around Madurai which you should not do in a hurry. You can spend 2 days visiting them.

That way you can also relax before you commence you return journey

Overall :
N1-2 : Trichy/Tanjore/Tiruvarur
N3 : Rameshwaram
N4 : KK
N5 : TVM
N6-7: Madurai (Depending on your choice).

Routes are pretty standard.
1. BLR-Trichy via Salem/Musiri.
2. Tichy-Rameshwaram : Pudukottai-Devipatnam
3. Rameshwaram - KK : Via Tutikorin
4. KK-TVM : Via Nagarkoil
5. TVM-Madurai : Either via Tenkasi/Rajapalayam or via NH7.
6. Madurai-BLR : Need I say? :)

We can discuss on the route status once you fix you itinerary.