[andydude]

Originally Posted by hillsnrains

Yes there is special provision for physically challenged people as andydude mentioned. There are two slots per day 10.00AM and 3.00PM. One attendant is also allowed.



For people aged >65 are also allowed in the above mentioned slot.

I had used it in 2012 for my aunt and seen 4-5 slots mentioned on the board and those above 60yrs were allowed as senior citizen. Thanks for the latest information.

[ravib]

I believe sometimes they also ask for some document proofs. Please carry one for safe side, so that you are not in surprise at the gates.

-Ravi

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by andydude

I had used it in 2012 for my aunt and seen 4-5 slots mentioned on the board and those above 60yrs were allowed as senior citizen. Thanks for the latest information.

Originally Posted by ravib

I believe sometimes they also ask for some document proofs. Please carry one for safe side, so that you are not in surprise at the gates.

-Ravi

Documentary proof is insisted upon nowadays. Latest update, my parent visited in November. Both are above 65. They had to carry their ID proof. The senior citizen one is above 65 only. One of my uncle was 64 and he was denied the darshan in that queue. The slots are 10 am and 3 pm only.
Max one darshan in one day in this category. But you can take one darshan each day as long as you stay in Tirumala. No restriction on that.

The attendant is allowed with handicapped only. For senior citizens, the attendant is not permitted if the person can take care of himself.

[pgupta]

I need some information to plan my darshan. I am planning to book darshan ticket online and then drive to tirupathi. I plan to take darshan in the slot 3-4 pm so that I can start on the same day early morning from Bangalore.

- Start 5 AM from KR Puram expected to reach by 11 am (max)
- Check into hotel and get fresh by 12 pm
- Take bus to Tirumala by 1 pm so as to reach by 2 pm
- Be on time for the start of queue by 3pm
- Finish darshan and come back to tirupathi stay in the hotel for the night and start for bangalore next morning


Since I have not done this before do you think its a good plan ? what are the risks ? I do not know from where I should catch the bus to Tirumala and if I will have sufficient time for all of this. Please help me in planning. Thanks.

[andydude]

Originally Posted by pgupta

I need some information to plan my darshan. I am planning to book darshan ticket online and then drive to tirupathi. I plan to take darshan in the slot 3-4 pm so that I can start on the same day early morning from Bangalore.

- Start 5 AM from KR Puram expected to reach by 11 am (max)
- Check into hotel and get fresh by 12 pm
- Take bus to Tirumala by 1 pm so as to reach by 2 pm
- Be on time for the start of queue by 3pm
- Finish darshan and come back to tirupathi stay in the hotel for the night and start for bangalore next morning


Since I have not done this before do you think its a good plan ? what are the risks ? I do not know from where I should catch the bus to Tirumala and if I will have sufficient time for all of this. Please help me in planning. Thanks.

Your plan is fine. Don't worry and go ahead with your bookings. I did the same in September, started at 5am and took 2pm Darshan.

You will get tirumala bus from tirupati bus depot throughout the day. Book a hotel near bus stand for convenience.

BTW, Since you will drive down to Tirupati, why do you wish to take bus for Tirupati-Tirumala and not drive the Tirupati-Tirumala leg also?

[jkrishnakj]

^^ + 1

Easy to drive up. Plenty of parking space at Tirumala, so it will be a breeze. Only, bear in mind the speed limits, since they will check the entry time to the ghat roads and the time you exit and are very particular about the speeds.

If Driving, be prepared to go spend about 10 minutes at the base / start of the ghat roads towards Security check. Same goes even if you take the TTD Bus.

Timing wise - you are good. After you get down in the evening, it will be worth while to hire a local taxi and visit Padmavathi temple and Sri Kalahasti temple, i.e. if you and your family still have energy left.

And since you are planning this in advance, and if you are able to take a Weekday off, I strongly recommend the visit on a Tue/Wed. Also note that between now and Jan 15th 2015, you will encounter much more rush, thanks the Sabarimala season that is on now.

[prabhu789]

As Krishna pointed out you should drive to Tirumala as its a nice experience for enthusiastic drivers. You need to be bit careful when you drive down from Tirumala as it has quite a lot of hairpin turns. Nevertheless it's enjoyable.

I usually prefer Tuesdays as its less crowded compared to other days. Your plan looks good, proceed with it.

[hillsnrains]

Originally Posted by pgupta

I need some information to plan my darshan. I am planning to book darshan ticket online and then drive to tirupathi. I plan to take darshan in the slot 3-4 pm so that I can start on the same day early morning from Bangalore.

- Start 5 AM from KR Puram expected to reach by 11 am (max)
- Check into hotel and get fresh by 12 pm
- Take bus to Tirumala by 1 pm so as to reach by 2 pm
- Be on time for the start of queue by 3pm
- Finish darshan and come back to tirupathi stay in the hotel for the night and start for bangalore next morning


Since I have not done this before do you think its a good plan ? what are the risks ? I do not know from where I should catch the bus to Tirumala and if I will have sufficient time for all of this. Please help me in planning. Thanks.

TTD blocked 2-3 & 3-4 pm slots of 300/- tickets for over the counter sale (read not available online). You have to choose between 11-12 & 12-1PM slots only. Read post no#250 for more details. Another important point is you are allowed to enter into the queue 1 hour before the slot time. For example your slot is 11-12 PM, means you are allowed into the queue @10.00 AM itself (they call it reporting time).

Believe me Tirupati-Tirumala road is one of the safest ghat road in India and one can drive very easily. More over police on top of hill are co-operative and help you in every possible way, so no issues with parking etc.
P.S: I will drive every year at least once to Tirumala for Darshan.

[ns94]

Hi, Thanks for the replies. Just one more query. Are there 300 rs slots during the morning, 6 AM onwards? They are not listed online. If they are available, can booking be done for them through the local TTD office?

[luvurride]

Originally Posted by ns94

Hi, Thanks for the replies. Just one more query. Are there 300 rs slots during the morning, 6 AM onwards? They are not listed online. If they are available, can booking be done for them through the local TTD office?

No there aren't any slots for 300/- darshan earlier. Best is to call and check - Please contact Helpdesk no's 24/7: +91-877-227 7777/ 223 3333 / 226 4252 , 91-877-226 3922 for any enquiries.

[narayanang76]

Just been to Tirumala (temple) and back last week end.

Most of the bookings (darshan, pooja etc) are now online: https://www.ttdsevaonline.com/

It was our first visit to temple and my observations:

Tirumala (up of the hill) is totally neat and clean. Wonder how they maintain given a 100 Thousand visitor approx in a day there. Tirupati (town at the bottom) is just like any other city as you feel like.

For stay (mostly needed unless you are able return in same day, mostly cant predict) you have 2 options at Tirumala or Tirupati. For Tirumala, you need to book early, as early as 60 days (most of them TTD accomodation) and Tirupati you get plenty of hotel, lodge etc. Tirupati you need be careful with the hotels as most of them are not clean. They get plenty of customers and dont bother to maintain the rooms and bathrooms.

Darshan, online booking only available for 300 Rs. Slots from 12-1 uptill 4-5 PM, afternoon 5 slots only. as we understood the morning time, 50 Rs and free are available for other timings. 12-1 & 1-2 slots open 14 days in advance and the other slots 2-3, 3-4 etc open 7 days in advance.
For booking online darshan, you need to register at the above site and have your PP photo (less than 20 KB size). At one point you can only book for 6 members. Max one user can book for a day is 12 (2 bookings). For all other members also you need photographs less than 20 KB size available while booking, their name as in ID proof and age. Bookings open at 9 AM IST every day, not sure till what time in the night.

Darshan receipt has darshan time and reporting time. for 1 PM darshan, our reporting was 12 PM. It was also mentioned to report at a particular place to enter at 12 PM. All detils mentioned on the booking confirmation receipt, including photos of all members, date, time, gate etc.

You can also go to TTD booking centers in your city but for that you need to take all other members along with you since they need to take their pictures while booking. What I heard from someone is the TTD rooms are available sometime from these centers, even if the online booing shows as completely booked. I am not completely sure about this since I havent tried it myself.

Driving from Bangalore is not tough, we reached Tirupati from Whitefield, BLR by approx 4.5 hours. Driving to Tirumala you need to consider another 1 - 1.5 hrs due to the driving restrictions (28 minute timing) and the security check on toll plaza. The security checks every bag, inside and outside the car including the seat covers of each and every vehicle. Its time taking. You can also take the available APSRTC bus that also goes through security check.

In our case it was a Friday 1 PM darshan, we started from BLR Friday early morning, reached the gate in time. our darshan was done 5 minutes before 1 PM, not sure if that was possible always. We feel lucky.

We heard people saying darshan take anywhere between 2 to 5 hours for 300 Rs ticket, more for 50 Rs ticket and some 15 hrs for free darshan. Also its better to avoid Saturday and Sundays, if possible.

Few more tips:
Dont carry mobile phone, camera, plastic water bottles, etc while going for darshan. in between queue, there are multiple security checks and the items will be either taken away or need to go to the locker place to keep them safe. Waste of time and you need to go back to get them back. Water bottles will be thrown away in dust bins.
There is no need for booking for children below 12 years for 300 Rs darshan. Not sure about the other darshan types.
Everyone need to carry an ID card showing your name, DOB as per the booking done.
There is dress code, gents - Dhoti and shirt / Kurta and Pyjama, Ladies - Sarie, Salwar with duppatta. All other dress is not accepted and wont be allowed to enter.
While parking your vehicle, if any, remember the place and find out a mostly visible land mark. just in case to coe back easily
Free bus service is available in Tirupati and Tirumala, just in case to roam around and see the place.


Hope it helps.

[pgupta]

I think this thread has some very useful information regarding the darshan. Lot of good and practical advises are also found which is so very helpful.

I would like to however add one point which in my opinion can save some time.

I took the bus to go to Tirumala from Tiruati instead of driving my car. However this proved to be a good decision as I saw that there was a long queue for security Checks for cars but buses were taking merely 10 minutes. I could easily estimate that a car joining the queue at the same time must have spent at least 45 minutes if not more.

While returning too it was dark and raining and sitting in the bus comfortably I felt again that it was a wise decision as otherwise I had to drive in the ghat section in dark and rainy condition which needs lot of attention. And generally while coming back from the temple we feel a bit.tired. Hope this helps.

[JoseVijay]

Tirumala ghat road might be closed for a few days

Source link and full article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/45589936.cms

Tirumala: An experts committee from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, has said that the ghat road to Tirumala temple would have to be shut down for three days if loose rocks that are endangering pilgrims are to be cleared. TTD officials reportedly said they would discuss the issue before taking a decision.

The temple authorities had summoned the experts' team after frequent incidents of boulders falling on ghat roads during rainy season, causing injuries to devotees. The team led by IIT professor Narasimha Rao visited the second ghat road on Saturday.

According to sources, the experts informed TTD that there are four areas where landslides could occur and one area where loose boulders could fall down. The expert committee reportedly told the temple authorities that if the loose rocks have to be removed, the ghat road has to be closed for three days. The ghat road is the link to Tirumala for vehicles and devotees alike.

[Ketan]

Planning to take my parents and grandma to Tirupati. My parents are senior citizen (dad 64 and mom 60). However, from the TTD website it seems they consider age>65 consider senior citizen only. Can someone confirm if my parents can get to the senior citizen queue? If not, I can surely send one of them with my grandma to the senior citizen queue, else I'm planning to send all 3 of them which is 10AM and 2PM according to TTD website (reporting 2 hours early).
Some quick questions that I have,
Are they going to consider my parents senior citizen (M64,F60)?
Can senior citizen get the tickets over there or do I have to buy online?
We have this decided in hurry so may not be able to book online etc, my grandma is going back to Gujarat in a few days so we are planning to get this done between today-tomorrow itself. Next weekend may be Srisailam is where I want to drive before she is back to GJ. Most probably planning to start early morning today so that I can reach there by 7AM for 8AM reporting. I understand we may need 6-7 hours drive time, correct me if I'm wrong and tell me what time should I leave from Bangalore to report at tirumala by 7-8AM!
Thank you.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by Ketan

Are they going to consider my parents senior citizen (M64,F60)?
Can senior citizen get the tickets over there or do I have to buy online?

Please refer my post written earlier as below.

Originally Posted by shipnil

Documentary proof is insisted upon nowadays. Latest update, my parent visited in November. Both are above 65. They had to carry their ID proof. The senior citizen one is above 65 only. One of my uncle was 64 and he was denied the darshan in that queue. The slots are 10 am and 3 pm only.
Max one darshan in one day in this category. But you can take one darshan each day as long as you stay in Tirumala. No restriction on that.

The attendant is allowed with handicapped only. For senior citizens, the attendant is not permitted if the person can take care of himself.

There are no tickets for senior citizens queue. You join the queue directly.