[Driving_Dreams]

Originally Posted by ampere

Very close to Ramnad there is a Ram Temple where he is depicted as taking rest; in a "Darba Shayanam" posture.

Dont exactly remember the name of the temple. But was very nice. Its very close to the sea. The boatman takes you into the sea, a good 1.5 km to show the pillar formations of "Ram Sethu". Not sure what those formations were wen I went, but the whole experience was amazing.

@Ampere: The Place of "Ram Sethu" is as you mentioned "Sethukarai". Here you see part of the Ram Sethu which even this day you could see stones arranged like a bridge for about a mile into the sea.

The Ramar in Dharpa Sayanam is Thirupullani. Both are very close.

The other places near Rameshwaram is Utharakosamangai (one of the five "Sabai"'s of Nataraja and Maragadha Nataraj(Emerald Natarajar)),

Devipattnam - where you get to see natural formation of Navagrahas in Sea.

All of the above places are within 30 kms around Ramnad. Wonderful Temples with ancient history.

Also there are Nava Thirupathi & Nava Kailash around Thirunelveli which makes the South districts a great destination for temples apart from Trichy, Tanjore & Kumbhakonam & Adjacent districts. Probably it would require a thread for itself.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by Ranga

U are exactly right . I want to Visit Rameshwaram circuit next .

I went through a travelogue of Rameshwaram circuit and it was amazing . The Dhanushkoti pics were excellent .

The best will be to cover

1 . Madurai and related temples in the vicinity
2. Rameshwaram
3. Kanyakumari
4. If possible we can also visit Palani
5. While comming back we can look at Bhavani , Tirichongode Ardanarishwara temples

Thats a excellent circuit.

Madurai - Meenakshi Temple, Mahal, Alagar temple, Palamudicholai, thiruparangundram.
Rameswaram - Main temple, ramar padam, vibeshnar temple, danuskodi, Devipatnam.
Kanyakumari - The whole sea shore is fun Do you need anything else?

Good luck.

[Ranga]

The other circuit suggested for Navagraha temple is go to Tiruvnamalei , Vakra Kali temple , connect to Pondy and then hit Chidambaram and then touch Thirunallar

This route can be started from Bangalore .

This circuit along with Navargraha temple will take time . Hence i did not choose this route

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Driving_Dreams

@Ampere: The Place of "Ram Sethu" is as you mentioned "Sethukarai". Here you see part of the Ram Sethu which even this day you could see stones arranged like a bridge for about a mile into the sea.

The Ramar in Dharpa Sayanam is Thirupullani. Both are very close.

The other places near Rameshwaram is Utharakosamangai (one of the five "Sabai"'s of Nataraja and Maragadha Nataraj(Emerald Natarajar)),

Devipattnam - where you get to see natural formation of Navagrahas in Sea.

All of the above places are within 30 kms around Ramnad. Wonderful Temples with ancient history.

Also there are Nava Thirupathi & Nava Kailash around Thirunelveli which makes the South districts a great destination for temples apart from Trichy, Tanjore & Kumbhakonam & Adjacent districts. Probably it would require a thread for itself.

Originally Posted by mjothi

Thats a excellent circuit.

Madurai - Meenakshi Temple, Mahal, Alagar temple, Palamudicholai, thiruparangundram.
Rameswaram - Main temple, ramar padam, vibeshnar temple, danuskodi, Devipatnam.
Kanyakumari - The whole sea shore is fun Do you need anything else?

Good luck.

These are excellent places. Have done all of them in different stages of life. But those were times when we went places through trains and buses. Now I would love to do that once again. But this time through the road !

Driving Dreams, Thanks. Yes thats Thurpallani and its very close to Sethukarai. We did most of these temples, while on our way back from Rameshwaram. It was very thrilling, esp. Sethukarai.

[ikoneer]

Renga, a good detailed writeup.

We are planning for a Pillayar patti visit sometime next week.
Is it possible to drive down from chennai? How long does that take and how is the route?
Can you recommend a good hotel to stay overnight?

The last visit was by bus and this time i would like to go by car. so, it's a lots of queries.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

Renga, a good detailed writeup.

We are planning for a Pillayar patti visit sometime next week.
Is it possible to drive down from chennai? How long does that take and how is the route?
Can you recommend a good hotel to stay overnight?

The last visit was by bus and this time i would like to go by car. so, it's a lots of queries.

Is it the only this temple that you want to visit? The best thing is to stay in Madurai for a weekend and visit all the places.

The best way direct from Chennai is to drive to towards Madurai on NH45B (4L completed) and divert to Tirupattur.

Here is the route guide:

Chennai, Tamil Nadu to Pillayarpatti, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

[ikoneer]

ampere, we have to put 'mottai' for my second son. So pillayarpatti is priority, after that if time permits will go kunnakudi murugan temple and other temples. As it is, we can start only on sat eve, so not much time available.

How is the Trichy - Keeranur - Puthukottai - Karaikudi - Pillayar patti route?

Thanks for the google maps. Never tried that so far.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

ampere, we have to put 'mottai' for my second son. So pillayarpatti is priority, after that if time permits will go kunnakudi murugan temple and other temples. As it is, we can start only on sat eve, so not much time available.

How is the Trichy - Keeranur - Puthukottai - Karaikudi - Pillayar patti route?

Thanks for the google maps. Never tried that so far.

Google is the first place you should look! Trichy-Pudukottai-Karaikudi route is mostly used by folks going to
Rameshwaram via Devipatnam. But the route I gather is not as good as NH45.

Do you plan to drive at night? I would suggest morning drive to Tirupattur and stay there for the night.
(I am saying that because we are talking ~450Km. We are talking 6-8 hours of a drive.
You cannot drive all the night and land at the temple next morning. That would be way too hectic)

So drive during the day. Stay overnight at Tirupattur. Early morning next day finish every thing at the temple and drive back.
NH45 is way better than the other route. So better to stick to it.

Though I am not sure about any stay options at Tirupattur. Since its a town you should find some lodges.

[dsr_rpm]

I just completed a similar trip and an planing to start a thread on it. It may not be as detailed but hope it will be helpfull.

[Driving_Dreams]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

ampere, we have to put 'mottai' for my second son. So pillayarpatti is priority, after that if time permits will go kunnakudi murugan temple and other temples. As it is, we can start only on sat eve, so not much time available.

How is the Trichy - Keeranur - Puthukottai - Karaikudi - Pillayar patti route?

Thanks for the google maps. Never tried that so far.

Trichy - Keeranur - Pudhukottai - Karaikudi - Pillayar Patti route is a good route.

Instead of Karaikudi you can go to Thirupathur and also goto Pillayarpatty.After Thirumayam you take left to Karaikudy and right to thirupathur. Thirupathur is shorter to Pillayarpatty.

As far as stay is concerned you can stay in Pillayrpatty itself. The Trust has A/c Rooms and Non A/C rooms at cheaper cost. The Rooms are good and maintained well. You can Also book the Abhishekams and pooja in advance by contacting their trust(Nagarathar trust)

You can get the details by phone 04577 -264240/1. You can also visit their website illayarpattitrust.com

There are plenty of temple to visit nearby:
*Vairavanpatti Temple ~1km again a nagarathar temple
* Kunnakudi Temple ~3kms
* Karaikudi Amman Temple ~6 kms
* Thirumayam Cave Temples
* Pudhukottai Gkarneswarar Temple
* Pudhukottai Bhuvaneshwari Amman Temple
* Thirupathur Yoga Bhairavar
* Thirukoshtiyur Temple
* Avudayarkovil

If you have time for one more day you can visit all these places. God Bless!

[ikoneer]

Thanks a Ton guys for the wonderful insight.

Originally Posted by ampere

Google is the first place you should look!

Do you plan to drive at night? I would suggest morning drive to Tirupattur and stay there for the night.

So drive during the day. Stay overnight at Tirupattur. Early morning next day finish every thing at the temple and drive back.
NH45 is way better than the other route. So better to stick to it.

No night drives planned. I am never particular of night drives and with 2 kids around, just not possible

Good idea, will plan in a similar way, it would also provide time to cover other temples enroute.

Originally Posted by Driving_Dreams

Trichy - Keeranur - Pudhukottai - Karaikudi - Pillayar Patti route is a good route.

As far as stay is concerned you can stay in Pillayrpatty itself.

Thanks so much buddy. guess, i will check out the stay options in pillayar patti itself. let me check their site.

Thata a pretty neat list to cover, let me see how many i would be able to visit.

Now to finalise the dates for travel, most probably would be next weekend.

[ampere]

I just checked in Google maps. There is a difference of 25km between the Pudukottai and Madurai route.

[ikoneer]

Originally Posted by ampere

I just checked in Google maps. There is a difference of 25km between the Pudukottai and Madurai route.

Which route is more? btw, just checked the Pillayarpatti Karpaga Vinayagar Temple Welcomes ::, a nice divine opening page. But then, i am not sure hot to proceed further, there are no links, nothing to move forward. Can it be my browser issue?

edit: Just checked with the virtual God 'google aandavar' and got another link, http://pillayarpattitrust.com/about.html to get the required information.

Edit2: Stuck again, unable to move forward in that site as well. No more links. Seems to be a static page.

[ampere]

The NH45 route is longer.
But 4L all the way till you get out towards Tirupattur.

[xingamazon]

Originally Posted by aargee

Sorry Sir, it is possible to cover & this is why I reserved my comments earlier waiting for this question.

When we did during 2008 end, we found a travel agency (very very professional & kind people) who get it done on a single day. To be frank, until I visited Thirunallaru, I couldn't believe that they can do it in a single day.

Hi Aargee, do you remember of the travel agency which arranged for your visiting of all the places on one day???

And wanted to know where I can find him is he in Thanjore or kumbakonam?