In this post, I will share my experience of the trip to Tirupati Balaji Temple and provide some suggestions if you are planning to go in future.
First and foremost, the most appropriate time of the year to go to Tirupati is from February to early April. I went with my family on 3rd April. We had to stand in queue for about two hours and this, according to the localites, is considered as "no rush".
One-day Tirupati packages are available from Chennai and according to me they are very convenient in terms of booking and travel. The best thing would be to call Just Dial (08888888888) and ask for the same. The travel companies are very reliable. They charge Rs. 1300/- per person on sharing basis and Rs. 1500/- per person if we want a separate car. This includes everything: Rs. 300/- Darshan ticket for Tirupati, Laddus, Toll, Driver allowance Breakfast and Lunch. We booked a separate AC car for us.
We departed at around 5.30 a.m. from Chennai. Tirupati is about 120 kms away. It takes about two and a half hours to reach Tirupati. The travel agencies have ties with the restaurant owners and they provide you breakfast. Includes typical South Indian dishes like Idli, Pongal, Vada.
After that, we went for Padmavati Temple. It seems you have to go to this temple before visiting Balaji Temple. You might find it weird that there will be two queues for Darshan. "Free Darshan" and "Ticket Darshan". We experienced this first time so we took the free route. I will advice you to buy the tickets and join the shorter queue which goes nearer to the idol compared to the "free" one.
One thing to take care is that they strictly don't allow electronic devices. So it's better to leave the mobile phones and footwear inside the car.
Tirupati is a city. The Balaji Temple is located on Tirumala Hills, which is about 8 kms of climbing from Tirupati. Like in Vaishno Devi, walking route is available and takes about 4-5 hours. We took the road route, takes about half hour.
Balaji temple premises have a huge space of its own. There are several entry and exit points. The driver will guide you from where to enter and exit. There are costume restrictions for entering the premises. For gents, you have to wear Dhoti or Pyjama and for Ladies half/full sleeve dress/saree. It is advisable to wear a shirt as you can atleast keep your wallet and Darshan Ticket. The Dhotis are available outside and cost Rs. 100/-.
Coming to the Darshan Ticket, the Travel agency will take care of booking the Darshan Ticket for us. We need to provide Photo Identification Proof for each member during booking. They will then provide a ticket which we need to show at temple entrance. We need to show the original copy of photo ID proof along with it. Once again, no electronic devices are allowed and they are very strict with it.
We need to walk about a kilometer from Temple premises entrance to Darshan Entrance, that too barefoot. Once in the premises, they don't allow footwear as well. So you have to leave everything the car. Drinking water facilities are available but I advice you to keep a bottle with you.
There are two types of waiting queues at the Darshan Entrance. One is "Free Darshan" and another is "Ticket Darshan". After showing the ticket you can join the queue. There are about 25 waiting rooms with capacity of about 100 in each with sitting facilities. Unfortunately, they open these rooms only during peak times of the year. When we went, we had to stand for about two hours. I advice you to take some snacks with you. When we were in the queue, it was lunch time for us. At 8.30 am we reached Tirupati. At around 9.30am we finished our breakfast. At around 11 we reached Tirumala. The procedures and all took about 45 minutes. We joined the queue at around 12.15pm in the noon.
When you book the ticket, they will allot you time slots for Darshan. Our time slot was for 12 noon. You can enter the temple at most 30 minutes before and after your time slot. That means for us, they wouldn't have allowed us after 12.30pm and before 11.30am. I am not sure if they are lenient with this or not.
So after waiting for about 2 hours, we finally entered the main temple.
If you want to good view of the idol stay on the right side of the queue. We stayed on the extreme right of the queue and this queue went straight in front of the idol with no obstructions in between.
The Idol of Lord Balaji is quite magnificent in itself and it is a glory to the eyes. It is a bit dark inside the temple so you have to observe it carefully.
When you are inside the temple, there will be those temple management people, oh my god, such ruthless people, they just push you so hard that just with 2-3 seconds you will be out of the temple.
You just have a window of about 2-3 seconds for Darshan of the idol. I was also getting pushed from behind. So by the time I was in front of the idol, I just joined my hands and momentarily closed the eyes. The next instant when I opened my eyes, I was outside the temple. Yes, you have to wait 2 hours in a queue for Darshan of about 2 seconds.
After that there is a "hundi" where people donate gold. There is a temple of Mother of Lord Balaji.
Then just before the exit there is a small rock. It is believed that whatever wish you write on that rock gets fulfilled. Actually there was such a crowd that we almost missed that. Make sure you don't. It is just before the exit so it is very easy to miss it, especially if you coming for the first time.
After this they will be a queue for "FREE Prasadam". Yes, they write "free" in bold capital letters. You will get a small laddu. There are laddu counters after that. If you have taken the 300 Rs. ticket, you have to show it to the counters and you will get two big laddus. These laddus are very tasty. They don't provide extra laddus to anyone. We have a large family, so wanted to distribute laddus to our relatives. When we enquired, they said you have to book laddus online, and extra laddus are available only in the morning. So we had to do with laddus which we got. I guess if you want extra laddus, just inform the Travel agency, they will book it for you.
Head tonsuring is available just before the Temple entrance and is not compulsory. It is upto your faith if you want to do it or not.
There was a lot of crowd. By the time we finished Darshan and were in the car, it was around 3.30 pm. Restaurants are available nearby which provide fixed Thali. They are quite sufficient and a bit overpriced. In terms of cleanliness and hygiene, you have to trust Lord Balaji.
After that we departed and reached Chennai at around 8 pm.
Overall I must say it was a great experience, a once in a lifetime experience.
With matters of faith, it is best to have patience and trust the Lord.
First and foremost, the most appropriate time of the year to go to Tirupati is from February to early April. I went with my family on 3rd April. We had to stand in queue for about two hours and this, according to the localites, is considered as "no rush".
One-day Tirupati packages are available from Chennai and according to me they are very convenient in terms of booking and travel. The best thing would be to call Just Dial (08888888888) and ask for the same. The travel companies are very reliable. They charge Rs. 1300/- per person on sharing basis and Rs. 1500/- per person if we want a separate car. This includes everything: Rs. 300/- Darshan ticket for Tirupati, Laddus, Toll, Driver allowance Breakfast and Lunch. We booked a separate AC car for us.
We departed at around 5.30 a.m. from Chennai. Tirupati is about 120 kms away. It takes about two and a half hours to reach Tirupati. The travel agencies have ties with the restaurant owners and they provide you breakfast. Includes typical South Indian dishes like Idli, Pongal, Vada.
After that, we went for Padmavati Temple. It seems you have to go to this temple before visiting Balaji Temple. You might find it weird that there will be two queues for Darshan. "Free Darshan" and "Ticket Darshan". We experienced this first time so we took the free route. I will advice you to buy the tickets and join the shorter queue which goes nearer to the idol compared to the "free" one.
One thing to take care is that they strictly don't allow electronic devices. So it's better to leave the mobile phones and footwear inside the car.
Tirupati is a city. The Balaji Temple is located on Tirumala Hills, which is about 8 kms of climbing from Tirupati. Like in Vaishno Devi, walking route is available and takes about 4-5 hours. We took the road route, takes about half hour.
Balaji temple premises have a huge space of its own. There are several entry and exit points. The driver will guide you from where to enter and exit. There are costume restrictions for entering the premises. For gents, you have to wear Dhoti or Pyjama and for Ladies half/full sleeve dress/saree. It is advisable to wear a shirt as you can atleast keep your wallet and Darshan Ticket. The Dhotis are available outside and cost Rs. 100/-.
Coming to the Darshan Ticket, the Travel agency will take care of booking the Darshan Ticket for us. We need to provide Photo Identification Proof for each member during booking. They will then provide a ticket which we need to show at temple entrance. We need to show the original copy of photo ID proof along with it. Once again, no electronic devices are allowed and they are very strict with it.
We need to walk about a kilometer from Temple premises entrance to Darshan Entrance, that too barefoot. Once in the premises, they don't allow footwear as well. So you have to leave everything the car. Drinking water facilities are available but I advice you to keep a bottle with you.
There are two types of waiting queues at the Darshan Entrance. One is "Free Darshan" and another is "Ticket Darshan". After showing the ticket you can join the queue. There are about 25 waiting rooms with capacity of about 100 in each with sitting facilities. Unfortunately, they open these rooms only during peak times of the year. When we went, we had to stand for about two hours. I advice you to take some snacks with you. When we were in the queue, it was lunch time for us. At 8.30 am we reached Tirupati. At around 9.30am we finished our breakfast. At around 11 we reached Tirumala. The procedures and all took about 45 minutes. We joined the queue at around 12.15pm in the noon.
When you book the ticket, they will allot you time slots for Darshan. Our time slot was for 12 noon. You can enter the temple at most 30 minutes before and after your time slot. That means for us, they wouldn't have allowed us after 12.30pm and before 11.30am. I am not sure if they are lenient with this or not.
So after waiting for about 2 hours, we finally entered the main temple.
If you want to good view of the idol stay on the right side of the queue. We stayed on the extreme right of the queue and this queue went straight in front of the idol with no obstructions in between.
The Idol of Lord Balaji is quite magnificent in itself and it is a glory to the eyes. It is a bit dark inside the temple so you have to observe it carefully.
When you are inside the temple, there will be those temple management people, oh my god, such ruthless people, they just push you so hard that just with 2-3 seconds you will be out of the temple.
You just have a window of about 2-3 seconds for Darshan of the idol. I was also getting pushed from behind. So by the time I was in front of the idol, I just joined my hands and momentarily closed the eyes. The next instant when I opened my eyes, I was outside the temple. Yes, you have to wait 2 hours in a queue for Darshan of about 2 seconds.
After that there is a "hundi" where people donate gold. There is a temple of Mother of Lord Balaji.
Then just before the exit there is a small rock. It is believed that whatever wish you write on that rock gets fulfilled. Actually there was such a crowd that we almost missed that. Make sure you don't. It is just before the exit so it is very easy to miss it, especially if you coming for the first time.
After this they will be a queue for "FREE Prasadam". Yes, they write "free" in bold capital letters. You will get a small laddu. There are laddu counters after that. If you have taken the 300 Rs. ticket, you have to show it to the counters and you will get two big laddus. These laddus are very tasty. They don't provide extra laddus to anyone. We have a large family, so wanted to distribute laddus to our relatives. When we enquired, they said you have to book laddus online, and extra laddus are available only in the morning. So we had to do with laddus which we got. I guess if you want extra laddus, just inform the Travel agency, they will book it for you.
Head tonsuring is available just before the Temple entrance and is not compulsory. It is upto your faith if you want to do it or not.
There was a lot of crowd. By the time we finished Darshan and were in the car, it was around 3.30 pm. Restaurants are available nearby which provide fixed Thali. They are quite sufficient and a bit overpriced. In terms of cleanliness and hygiene, you have to trust Lord Balaji.
After that we departed and reached Chennai at around 8 pm.
Overall I must say it was a great experience, a once in a lifetime experience.
With matters of faith, it is best to have patience and trust the Lord.
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