About Tirupati: Tirupati is a famous Hindu temple of Lord Vishnu in the form of Lord Venkateswara located in the hill town Tirumala, near Tirupati in the Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The temple is situated on Venkatadri, one of the seven hills of Tirumala, and hence is also known as the Temple of Seven Hills (Saptagiri in Sanskrit). The presiding deity of the temple, Lord Venkateswara, is also known by other names - Balaji, Govinda and Srinivasa. The temple is reportedly the richest and the most visited place of worship in the world. The temple is visited by about 100,000 to 200,000 pilgrims daily, while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoots up to 500,000, making it the most visited holy place in the world.According to legend, the temple has a self-manifested murti (idol) of Lord Venkateswara, believed to have resided there for the entire Kali Yuga. In Sri Vaishnava tradition, the temple is considered one of the 108 Divya Desams.
Duration of the Trip: It is a 24 hrs trip from Bangalore. We started at 10 PM on Friday 2nd of July'10 and reach back to Bangalore on 10 PM on Saturday 3nd of July'10.
Transport: We took the package trip to Tirupati by ITDC. There are other Government bus services like KRSTC, APTDC which are also good. This package cost Rs.1400 (including the Rs. 300 as Shighra Darshan Fee of Tirupati temple). There is option to take the ticket manually also. But the queue for that is quite long and will waste a lots of time. Ticket values vary from Rs. 50-500. Ticket for the package tour can booked from the ITDC office near to Indira Nagar or www.RajeshTravels.in.
The physical addresses of Rajesh Travels are as follows:
1) NO.19/4, T.S.P.Road,Kalasipalaya,
Bangalore - 560 002.
Ph. No: 080-26703402,080-25997885,080-26700077,080-41738717,080-42047050
2) No.30,Travelers Point,
Opp.Axis Bank,Seshadri Road,
Anand Rao Circle
Bangalore - 560 009
Ph. No:080-22206077,080-22912566, 080-41713760
1) NO.19/4, T.S.P.Road,Kalasipalaya,
Bangalore - 560 002.
Ph. No: 080-26703402,080-25997885,080-26700077,080-41738717,080-42047050
2) No.30,Travelers Point,
Opp.Axis Bank,Seshadri Road,
Anand Rao Circle
Bangalore - 560 009
Ph. No:080-22206077,080-22912566, 080-41713760
Details of the Trip: We board our bus from Tin Factory bus stop at 10’o clock of Friday night. It reached Tirumala at about 4:30 AM in the next morning. Each family/ Group is provided a room to get refresh. For which 1 hr time was provide. Hotel was quite clean. We took bath and get ready. Then we started for breakfast which was arranged in a different hotel. Breakfast was totally south Indian style (Pongal, Idli, Vada, Sambar and chutney) but was hygienic, tasty and sufficient. After finishing the breakfast they took us to a temple which was told Lord Venkateswara’s wife’s temple. Ticket for that temple was Rs. 25/- and this we have to take by our own standing in a queue. After visiting the temple again we started and the bus dropped us in a local bus stop. From where they arranged us a different bus to go to the main temple. It took near about 20 minutes to reach near the main temple. The people who wanted to Mottai (Offering hairs to Lord Venkateswara) were dropped in a place in between for shaving the head and they were introduced to another guide for mundan. He charged 25 Rs. to take them to the mundan place. They gave 50 Rs. to the person who shaved the heads.After they are done they also joined us near in the place where we were dropped near to Temple at about 10:00 AM. Shoes, camera, mobile phone and other electronic gadgets (except watch) are not allowed inside the temple. So we keep our shoes and other items in a shop in the nearby shopping arcade and we all started for the main temple by walk. Inside the temple we had to stand in a long queue which was moving quite slowly. We finished our Darshan by 2:30 PM. Again we took a bus and came down to the place where we left our bus. After coming to the place and get into our bus we went for lunch which was served in the same hotel where the breakfast is served. After having lunch we started for Bangalore. In the way to Bangalore they have given one stop during evening to have some snacks. We reached Bangalore by 9PM same day.
Disclaimer: We went for this trip in July’2010. So the rates and timing might have changed by the time. Please check with travel agent about current timings and rates.I tried to provide as much as details is possible for the trip. For any further clarification please feel free to contact me @ dutshilpi@gmail.com. You can also refer to Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam official website.