[ramanan.skr]

Planning for a 3/4 day stay at Trichy & Tanjore, exclusively for temple visits.

Please give your suggestions on what is the "worthy to be covered" temples/places in Trichy and Tanjore, Also including Parking facilities.

I have given below a shortlist, please do add more if I missed anything very imp.:

Temples in and around -
Trichy
1. Uchi Pillayar Temple(Where to park?)
2. VekkaliAmman Temple
3. Uyyakondan Tirumalai
4. Vayalur Murugan
5. Gunaseelam
6. Mukkombu Dam

Srirangam
1. Sri Ranganathar Temple(Where to park?)
2. ThiruvanaiKaval(Where to park?)
3. Uttamar Koil
4. Samayapuram
5. Tirupattur Brahma Temple
6. Thirupainjeeli
7. ThenShirdi

Tanjore
1. Big Temple(Where to park?)
2. Maratha Palace(Where to park?)
3. Adi Mariamman Temple
4. PunnaiNallur Temple
5. Thittai Guru Temple

Thiruvaiyaru
1. Thiruvaiyaru Temple
2. Thingalur Navagraha Temple
3. Kandiyur Shiva temple


Also please suggest Food & stay Options in Trichy, Srirangam, Tanjore & Thiruvaiyaru

[Bottom Torque]

You have car parking opposite to Big Temple. It's legal (govt) paid car parking. You can stay at Hotel TamilNadu, Gandhiji Rd, Graham Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu 613001

[Iyencar]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

Planning for a 3/4 day stay at Trichy & Tanjore, exclusively for temple visits.

Please give your suggestions on what is the "worthy to be covered" temples/places in Trichy and Tanjore, Also including Parking facilities.

Temples in and around -
Trichy
1. Uchi Pillayar Temple(Where to park?)
.
.
Srirangam
1. Sri Ranganathar Temple(Where to park?)

Also please suggest Food & stay Options in Trichy, Srirangam, Tanjore & Thiruvaiyaru

Food is absolutely not a problem in Srirangam or Trichy. What is difficult is getting full rice meals at night. The entire south seems to have gone on some Sattvic diet where they avoid rice at night. No issues with dosas. idlis, etc. though. Try Adyar Anand Bhavan (A2B). The food is really good and the place is clean. Other than this there are many hole-in-the-wall kind of joints which serve simple, good food. We always park in some side streets and never had any issues. If you need more details please PM me.
P.S. There is a small, ancient Yoga Narasimha temple in Srirangam which is nice.

[ramanan.skr]

Thanks for your valuable inputs.

Originally Posted by Iyencar

There is a small, ancient Yoga Narasimha temple in Srirangam which is nice.

Narasimhar Temple
Is this temple are you referring to?

[bvasista]

Please include Gangaikondacholapuram which is about 70 Kms from Thanjavur if you have time. This is similar to Big temple in terms of architecture but Big temple is usually crowded, where as you can visit this in peace.

In Thanjavur, you can try Sree Ariya Bhavan (near Old bus stand) for food. I recently visited Thanjavur and had good meals here. It is in a busy market place so parking may be difficult to find. There are a good number of food options near Old bus stand.

Originally Posted by Iyencar

The entire south seems to have gone on some Sattvic diet where they avoid rice at night. No issues with dosas. idlis, etc. though.

Ha ha ha. I am from Hyderabad and done trips to Karnataka, Telangana & Andhra Pradesh. I remember having meals in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh at nights.

Usually people in Tamil Nadu do not have full meals at night (even at home). Hence restaurants also service only tiffins (idly, dosa, puri, etc etc). Finding curd rice/sambar rice also is rarity for dinner. This is what I learnt after a current stay in Chennai since 2 years.

[raju2512]

If you can, visit Tiruvarur, one of the holiest Siva temples and one of the grandest too. In fact it is a complex of temples .There is a scale model temple of Thanjavur big temple inside the complex

https://temple.dinamalar.com/en/new_en.php?id=598

[ampere]

That whole belt is BIG temple run! So if you plan to be around Trichy/Tanjore then just stick to that and dont do anything else.

Around Trichy and Srirangam, I think the best would to take an auto. For Samayapuram, Thirapattur and Gunaseelam you will have to drive down.

Thiruvarur is pretty much out of way. You may want to visit that when you do a Kumbakonam circuit. In fact even when around Kumbakonam, you will many visits to cover the lot.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

Planning for a 3/4 day stay at Trichy & Tanjore, exclusively for temple visits.

You can consider to visit the 3 temples known as Great Living Chola temples: Gangai Konda cholapuram, Airavatheshwar & Big temple.

You are welcome to read my travelogue/road trip on this if you are interested:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post4143606 (Chasing the Chola Architecture...)

[narayans80]

Srirangam and TiruvanaiKoil parking is there all around the temple. For Malaikottai, leave your car at Tiruvanaikoil and take an auto. Big Temple has a huge parking on the other side of the road.

There are half dozen Divya Desams near Trichy like Anbil, Uthamar Koil (which is on the way to Gunaseelam)

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ampere

That whole belt is BIG temple run! So if you plan to be around Trichy/Tanjore then just stick to that and dont do anything else.

Around Trichy and Srirangam, I think the best would to take an auto. For Samayapuram, Thirapattur and Gunaseelam you will have to drive down.

Thiruvarur is pretty much out of way. You may want to visit that when you do a Kumbakonam circuit. In fact even when around Kumbakonam, you will many visits to cover the lot.

+1. I would totally agree to what ampere mentioned. Infact, IMO, these 3 to 4 days dedicated for Trichy and Tanjore belt itself is insufficient

You can get the complete big list of temples in Google maps from this link:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...695000004&z=10

Also details about the temples is available in below link.
https://rajamala.wordpress.com/categ...around-trichy/

One important temple you should visit around Trichy is Thiruvellarai (which is one of 108 divyadesam).
I suggest you stay around Chatram Bus stand (in Hotel D Park Inn or Hotel Mayas or Hotel PLA Residency) which is centre point for all directions. Food is also excellent in Hotel Mayas and there are many good restaurants around that area.

One caution is be watchful about temple closure timings. Usually majority of temples are closed between 12 to 4.30 pm. Also, too many back to back temple visit also is tiring. Don't get me wrong, but that is also true. So my suggestion is take few minutes to really pick and choose temples in a logical order in straight line/direction or a circular route, so that you can make use of your 3 to 4 days in best possible way.
For ex. complete SriRangam, Thiruvanaikoil, Uthamar Koil, Thiruvellarai in the morning visit and in evening, you can goto opposite side/other temples in that direction. Like Tirupattur Brahma, Samayapuram, Uchipillayar Koil etc
Next day plan for half day around Uraiyur and Vayalur area and leave from Trichy post lunch, thus making use of 12 to 4 pm slot in travel and rest.

Around tanjore, apart from the ones you mentioned, there are couple of divya desams small temples in the main road itself from Tanjore to Thiruvaiyaru road. It will look like normal temples (assumed like that) and easy to miss unless you watch out for explicitly.

Use the below link to identify the Divya Desam temples around the areas you go and plan to stop by as time permits.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...76.4196005&z=4

Have a great darshan

-Ravi

[hserus]

For Trichy, I’ve started to stay at Hotel Grand Arcadia a couple of streets away from the Thiruvanaikaval temple, next to an under construction flyover so parking is occasionally a hassle but excellent food and clean, well appointed rooms. https://www.google.com/travel/hotels...Ke-6tXetvt6EAE

Another hotel I stay at for temple visits or a night halt if I start a bit late for Chennai or Tirunelveli is Hotel Sona Mina next to the Samayapuram toll

The advantage is that these two hotels are right off the NH and much closer to the major temples in Trichy - Srirangam, Uchi Pillayar (rock climbing takes time and tires you out!), Samayapuram (always crowded) and Thiruvanaikaval. Makes no sense to go into Trichy city and stay anywhere near the 24x7 traffic jam of the Chathram bus stand. If you do decide to stay inside the city, Hotel Red Fox is rather more expensive but excellent rooms. Srirangam and Thiruvanaikaval are massive and will take you easily over an hour each.

Besides the temples mentioned there’s also Swamimalai around 80 km away, one of the aru padai veedus - the six major Murugan temples. Crowded, needs a hill climb.

If you stop in Trichy then go to Kumbakonam (Hotel Rana’s is an old cheap and clean hotel steps away from the temple) and then to Chennai via the ECR, that road has several major temples, uppiliappan, Chidambaram, Thirukadaiyur besides the Navagraha sthalams (though Chennai has its own set of Navagraha sthalams, mostly in the Pallavaram - Porur area)

[ramanan.skr]

Originally Posted by raju2512

If you can, visit Tiruvarur, one of the holiest Siva temples and one of the grandest too.

How is the road condition between Tanjore and Tiruvarur & Nagapattinam via Nidamangalam?

Is it atleast upgraded to a better 2 lane now?
Or one, still, needs to go all the way through Mannarkudi till Velankanni to reach Nagapattinam via ECR if desired to drive on better roads?

[hserus]

Originally Posted by hserus

If you stop in Trichy then go to Kumbakonam (Hotel Rana’s is an old cheap and clean hotel steps away from the temple) and then to Chennai via the ECR, that road has several major temples, uppiliappan, Chidambaram, Thirukadaiyur besides the Navagraha sthalams (though Chennai has its own set of Navagraha sthalams, mostly in the Pallavaram - Porur area)

Correcting a typo here probably due to auto correct - Hotel Rayas not Ranas.

Mods please fix the typo in my original post and delete this one if you like. Thanks.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ramanan.skr

How is the road condition between Tanjore and Tiruvarur & Nagapattinam via Nidamangalam?

Is it atleast upgraded to a better 2 lane now?
Or one, still, needs to go all the way through Mannarkudi till Velankanni to reach Nagapattinam via ECR if desired to drive on better roads?

Tanjore to Tiruvarur is good 2L roads not wide though. Tiruvarur to Nagapattinam is not good as usual and is prone for heavy traffic.
Don't see a need for you to goto Mannargudi / Velankanni.

Are you planning to go that far to Nagai?

-Ravi

[neeravnaik]

Originally Posted by bvasista

Please include Gangaikondacholapuram which is about 70 Kms from Thanjavur if you have time. This is similar to Big temple in terms of architecture but Big temple is usually crowded, where as you can visit this in peace.

i will strongly second this !! this temple is like the Big temple at 60% scale. What is amazing is this is relatively lot less crowded (though even the Big temple tere is no problem of crowds) and feels like you are back in time.