[shipnil]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

So if I donate 50K, am I entitled 5 visits (named - ONLY for me) or can I use all 5 for a family for a single visit?

You can use it both ways. BTW, it is 10k donation + 500 rupees for break darshan ticket. Also, you don't need to pay 50k at once if you are going to use it for yourself. You can do one 10k+500 during every planned visit.

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

So if I donate 50K, am I entitled 5 visits (named - ONLY for me) or can I use all 5 for a family for a single visit?

This is not very clear either on the website nor on any other forum or discussions here. Hence asking if anyone here knows.

Shipnil is absolutely right. You can book 5 donation plus tickets for a family of 5. For just yourself you can always book one or two days ahead of each of your visits.

[daretodream]

Me and my family completed darshan on 08-Nov and had a day trip from Bangalore.

Car: Toyota Innova Crysta Diesel ZX Automatic Jul-21
Drive: Yours truly (solo driver)
Personnel and Travel details: We did a day trip from Bengaluru. 4 of us adults- me, my wife, my sister in law and my senior citizen mother in law. We left our home in Bellandur by 5:15AM and reaching Alipiri by 09:15AM.
The main roads in Outer Ring Road are closed for metro constructions - so instead of going all the way upto Tin Factory in service road of ORR, I took detour to Varthur via Panathur underpass and then went to Hopefarm junction and then onward on Whitefied Hoskote road to join Old Madras Highway.
Onward, there was lot of fog for good portions between Hoskote and Mulbagal. See pictures below-


We had a 5 minute bio break near Hoskote and 20 minute breakfast stop at a2b near kanipakam


On return, we left Alipiri by by 6:30PM and reached home by 10PM. This included a 10 minute fuel stop.

Additional personnel joining us in Tirupati: Wife's colleague's father (henceforth called as Uncle) is a retired employee of TTD and being a retiree, he has certain privilege to accelerate darshan.

Getting tickets and Darshan: Wife's colleague's father (henceforth called as Uncle) is a retired employee of TTD and being a retiree, he has certain privilege to accelerate darshan. He had booked a Homam/Seva for us which would entitle us to get Srivari Special Entry Darshan (Rs 300) via the Special Entry Darshan. However, the catch was - to avail Srivari Special Entry Darshan, pilgrims must participate in the Homam and get the seva ticket validated without fail. This ticket validation is done only after Homam gets over at 11AM (Starting at 08:30AM).
The name of Seva is "Sri Srinivasa Divyaanugraha Homam" and this Homam happens at Sapthagiri Gau Pradakshina Shala, near Alipiri toll gate.

Padmavati Temple Darshan: Uncle told us there is no by-passing the Homam function to get Darshan sooners. We did not want to sit for Homam, so we picked Uncle up from Alipiri and decided to used this time to complete darshan at Padmavati temple. Padmavati temple darshan was done quickly - Uncle flashed his TTD retired employee card and we were allowed to take some shortcuts and get good darshan. We would have saved some 30 minutes here. My Mother in Law spent some time doing purchases from the shops outside temple.

Back to Alipiri: Then we proceeded to Alipiri so as to reach by 11AM. Uncle told us to wait in car and he will return after validating the Seva ticket. He returned by 11:20AM. Uncle got us to VIP lane for toll/security check and we started upward journey. Another 10 minutes saved here.

Drive up to Tirumala: The drive upward was not pleasant: There were 3-4 e-buses of TTD who were competing with each other- hogging both the lanes and not giving space to overtake. Unlike the older diesel-engine ghat-certified older buses, these new electric buses have the immense advantage of having all tonnes of torque on demand. So, the drivers were having fun, immensely competing and lane hogging.

Car parking: We eventually reached and parked the car at our recular spot which we take everytime: here so that we have to do bare minimum walking post collecting laddus from laddu counters.

Entering the queue: After parking car, we locked mobiles in car glovebox and locked it. Then we took a jeep which dropped us to the entry place for Rs 300 tickets. We went in around 12:20PM and were out by 3:50PM. Uncle helped us bypass the queue in the complex where ticket inspection is done. We saved around 20-30 minutes here. Once we got in, we were on on continuous move until the second luggage scan/security check was done. Here, there was a long stop and we had to keep standing for ~1hour. I would have preferred to wait this 1 hour in cage rooms vs standing on the stairs.
After an energy-sapping 1hour, queue started moving - I was expecting to join the Foot Over Bridge on South Mada Street but they opened the ground level entrance but it was again badly chocked. Uncle was not feeling well - so we sat for 10 minutes as security got him some water. It started raining and we had nowhere to go so we got soaked in that 10-15 minutes of shower.
Then queue started moving but uncle was not well.. so he stopped for 10 minutes again at the final security inspection point. Post that as we moved, uncle helped us by pass the queue at bunch of places with his previleged TTD retiree card and we almost directly reached the sanctum sanctorum. We got a very good Darshan - almost 20 seconds without any one bothering us.
We completed darshan by 3:30PM but it took us another 30 minutes to come out after taking prasad and finishing hundi donation. I was smart enough to see which prasad queue has which item - 2 queues had curd rice and 2 queues had sweet pongal. I changed queue to join sweet pongal.
I could see most devotees who got curd rice were like- we also want sweet pongal, we do not want curd rice and some went back to exchange or ask extra- and they were shooed away.

Post Darshan laddu collection: Uncle had become really unwell - so he said he will walk to Ram Bageecha bus stop and we can proceed to collect laddu and incence sticks and pick him up from the bus stop. I asked my sister-in-law to accompany him and get him some refreshments/juice etc.

This is where the biggest downer came in- Getting laddu. I believe was artificial creation of rush. Out of 30-40 laddu counters, only 8-10 were operational. I took one counter - and after 10 mins, the counter person just shuts down and says counter closed- go to next one. I went to another one and same thing happened there. I finally got laddus in the third counter which I only realized is only for Senior Citizens. Thankfully we had senior citizen in visiting group so I used that excuse to get tickets for all of us.

The laddus taste different from before in a good way - they are so pure and divine now! No placebo effect now (with all the controversy on ghee etc.)

In the time I got laddus, my wife got incence sticks boxes (that also had huge crowd).
We walked to the car parking in next 10-15 mins and were on the move. We picked up uncle and my sister in law and got going to Alipiri. Uncle flashed his id card and helped us traverse some of the blocked ways for general public - saved 10 minutes here.

Drive down and early dinner: All passengers were tired and hungry and took a good nap in the ~1 hour we took to reach PS4 Restaurant. I did not have trouble of the electric buses this time. We all had a very filling meal and also bought some snacks/savories for home. We were clear we will not take any break on return. So, this was our 5:30PM dinner.

Return to Bangalore: Post dinner, we went back to Alipiri toll gate as uncle had parked his bike there. Uncle's house is 1KM away from Alipiri. Post dropping uncle, we started for Bengaluru by 6:20PM. Just before exiting Tirupati, I also added some fuel so that I have sufficient to reach home.
There were 2 B11 multi axle Volvos buses - APSRTC and another private player who were easily doing +120KMPH in the Mulbagal-Hokote section. I safely gave them way and very soon they disappeared into the horizon. These Volvos are so powerful and silent - amazing machines.

The return was uneventful- we were in home safely by 10PM and hit the bed by 11 PM.
I felt the roads in Kolar-Palamner section are tad better after some of the repair works to smoothen out the roads- bridge joints and lanes- but I was sure taking caution- using middle late in the bridges/flyovers and slowing down for joints/entry/exits - but I felt it was better than my last trip in Dec'23.

Thanks lord balaji for a good darshan and thanks to our Innova Crysta for a fast, safe and comfortable ride without breaking a sweat!

[aka_iitd]

Hi All - Struggling to get tickets online this time in 2024. I can see all slots blocked till Feb 2025. Any idea when slots would be available for Mar 2025. I am checking every day - but any idea when it would be open.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by aka_iitd

. Any idea when slots would be available for Mar 2025.

The SED slots would open around 23 December for March 2025 month. You can check thw notice around 18th December.

[aka_iitd]

Originally Posted by shipnil

The SED slots would open around 23 December for March 2025 month. You can check thw notice around 18th December.

Many thanks - One more question - Do these slot open at 12 am (midnight) on that day? Or later. Please confirm if you are aware of

[ValarMorghulis]

A question to the regular devotees:

A friend recently took his 7 month child to get the head tonsured for the first time.
He mentioned that for an infant less than a year old, all you need is the birth certificate and mother's adhaar, and you can get a direct entry.

Any one has any idea about this? TIA

[DigitalOne]

I went to Tirupati and had a darshan of the Lord last Thursday (5-Dec).

This visit was after a decade and this is the first time I did an online booking of the Special Entry Darshan ticket (SED; Rs300/-). So, some of the experiences were new to me and below points may help others. Experts who have done the SED multiple times before may please correct or add:

• Online booking starts (and ends ) at 10 AM on the 24th of each for the 3rd subsequent month i.e on 24th Dec, the slots will open for March 2025. Schedule can be seen here.
  
• Keep a simple Notepad file ready with Full names, Aadhar numbers (no gaps), and age of the people who are travelling with you.
  
• Decide on preferred dates beforehand. I believe Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are easier to get slots, but I may be wrong. Experts can opine.
  
• Keep your UPI id (9xxxxxxxxxxx@xyz) in the same file. This is useful for copy pasting later.
  
• Login is just you mobile number and OTP. Login 5 minutes before 10 AM. The website's OTP server gets loaded after 10 and you may not get an OTP.
  
• You will be put into a timed queue based on the load. Wait patiently.
  
• Choose a date, choose a slot (I believe evening slots are easier, not sure).
  
• Steadily copy-paste the names, Aadhaar numbers, and ages of the people.
  
• Choose UPI for payment. Copy-paste your UPI id.
  
• If you have a Rupay credit card linked on your UPI app (Gpay or Paytm), be careful not to choose this option on your app. The first time I tried booking (in July), I made the mistake of choosing this option on my app. The Rupay credit card UPI option is not allowed; you will be thrown back to the login and you will not get a new OTP from the already overloaded servers.
  
• Once SED booking is done, you can do accommodation booking on the same day at 3.00 PM. I logged in a 3.30 PM, by which time accommodation in Tirumala got over and I had to book in Tirupati.
  
• Accommodation is for 24 hours starting from the day previous to the darshan. So, if your darshan is in the evening and you want to stay overnight (after darshan) this would not be possible. This was an inconvenience to us, so we later booked a non-TTD accommodation.

We had the slot at 4 PM on Thursday. We started from South Bengaluru at 6 AM by taxi and reached Mangapuram Ammavaari temple at ~11.30. The roads around the temple are jammed now because of ongoing Brahmotsavam. Thought the temple was crowded, the special darshan (Rs200/-) was very quick.

After lunch we proceeded to Tirumala. As per the written rules:

• Vehicles have to take a minimum time of 28 minutes to reach the top. If you reach the top earlier, you are deemed to be over speeding and liable to be fined or even blacklisted. A blacklisting of a taxi would be a setback for the taxi. So please plan accordingly, be considerate and do not ask your taxi driver to speed up.
  
• Veshti/Dhoti is mandatory for men, though this not being enforced. Please be prepared that on any given random day they may enforce this.

We reached the SED gates at ~4.10 PM and were out after darshan by 6.15 PM, i.e just about 2 hours 15 mins . We had 3 senior citizens in our group and even they were not too inconvenienced. After darshan, there was excessive crowding, near the Sri Vari Hundi as they blocked the exit and allowing exit only in groups. A little bit of bad crowd mismanagement in what was otherwise a pleasant and unexpectedly quick darshan .

After overnight stay in Tirupati we left at 5.30 AM and reached South Bengaluru at ~11.30. Morning was foggy on the highway, so take care.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

A question to the regular devotees:

A friend recently took his 7 month child to get the head tonsured for the first time.
He mentioned that for an infant less than a year old, all you need is the birth certificate and mother's adhaar, and you can get a direct entry.

Any one has any idea about this? TIA

Yes, this option has been around for more than a decade.
But it may not be for darshan anytime during the day. There could be only couple of slots (I mean reporting time) per day. You can check with TTD website or some online toll-free numbers about the exact reporting times.
If the child is <1 year old, parents and elder siblings are allowed to accompany for darshan. Good luck.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

I went to Tirupati and had a darshan of the Lord last Thursday (5-Dec).


We had the slot at 4 PM on Thursday. We started from South Bengaluru at 6 AM by taxi and reached Mangapuram Ammavaari temple at ~11.30. The roads around the temple are jammed now because of ongoing Brahmotsavam. Thought the temple was crowded, the special darshan (Rs200/-) was very quick.

• Vehicles have to take a minimum time of 28 minutes to reach the top. If you reach the top earlier, you are deemed to be over speeding and liable to be fined or even blacklisted. A blacklisting of a taxi would be a setback for the taxi. So please plan accordingly, be considerate and do not ask your taxi driver to speed up.
  
• Veshti/Dhoti is mandatory for men, though this not being enforced. Please be prepared that on any given random day they may enforce this.

Many thanks for your detailed post. I have booked the same Darshan and it's on Friday, 13th December, afternoon 4.00 PM slot.

I shall be driving with my cousin from Bangalore on the same day and return back to Bangalore, immediately after the darshan.

Thanks for the information. It helped me to plan the whole trip better.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by aka_iitd

Hi All - Struggling to get tickets online this time in 2024. I can see all slots blocked till Feb 2025. Any idea when slots would be available for Mar 2025. I am checking every day - but any idea when it would be open.

If you need to visit earlier, try KSTDC or APSTDC, they have package tours. They are decent and takes care of getting a slot, accommodation to take shower and decent breakfast.

[nareshtrao]

Originally Posted by aka_iitd

Many thanks - One more question - Do these slot open at 12 am (midnight) on that day? Or later. Please confirm if you are aware of

These slots usually open at 10 am on the day the booking is slated to start. However, by last couple of years of experience, most of the slots are gone by around 12 noon or a little earlier.

Be prepared for multiple payment failures and log-outs in the form of a message which reads something like - "another pilgrim has booked this slot. Please try another/again".

[AudiFan]

yes, Tirupati Seegradarshanam can be availed from SUPATHAM entrance for couples with a child less than 12 months old. There is no limit or quota for number of couples permitted. If I am not wrong, this provison is available through the day. Birth certificate of the baby and Aadhar card for couple is mandatory.

[nareshtrao]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

I shall be driving with my cousin from Bangalore on the same day and return back to Bangalore, immediately after the darshan.

Any updates on the visit and the procedures in general? Any updates on the route or anything to watch out for?

Asking as I am visiting next week after over a year and the rate at which things change there it is always good to figure from our fellow travelers.

All guidance sincerely appreciated.

I am also planning a day visit as my slot is at 2.00 pm.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

Any updates on the visit and the procedures in general? Any updates on the route or anything to watch out for?

Asking as I am visiting next week after over a year and the rate at which things change there it is always good to figure from our fellow travelers.

All guidance sincerely appreciated.

I am also planning a day visit as my slot is at 2.00 pm.

I am sorry for the late reply, as I was traveling a lot these days.
I had booked for the darshan, paying Rs. 300 per person online (at their TTD website) on 24th September and my allotted slot was at 4 PM on Friday, 13th December.

Alipiri is the base of the Tirumala hills where the temple is situated and Tirupati is the city at the base. Our car was checked and we were physically frisked at Alipiri ( Tirumala Hill base) and we were given a gate pass which mentioned that we had to reach the top of the hill only after 28 minutes of driving / time spent on the road journey. If you arrive earlier at the hill top, I heard you will be penalized and it was clearly mentioned in the electronic gate pass which had the entry time stamped and the arrivel time at the top also stamped. So please drive slowly and leisurely as there's ample time to cover the distance of around 20-25 odd kms.

The single reference that you need to have atop the Tirumala hills is the Museum. There's a museum atop the hill in the close vicinity of the main temple and please keep it as your reference point.

Right in front of the Musuem is the Gate 4 (W4) which is useful to exit the temple after darshan or for re-entry (if you come out of the que for any reason).

I read that you have a 2 PM slot. Well, next to the W4 gate, after say 50 mtrs there's an entrance through which all the free darshan and paid darshan devotees have to pass. As you walk through that passage, there are signboards continuosly that guide you to the entrance of the paid darshan que. Once in the que, you will have to first validate your slot at one check point and then a secutiry check at another check point. Please carry an identity card ( AAdhaar / DL /passport) for verification (only for paid darshan and not necessary for free darshan).

The paid darshan devotee que will join the free darshan que at a particular junction and thereafter there's only one que. there's no distinction between the paid and free darshan devotees after a certain point. The push and rush increases thereafter, be ready for that. Keep your cool and do not get angry over others.

Once in the que, depending on the rush, you should be able to complete the darshan and be out of the temple premises in a span of 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes. That's the general window of time you could take for completing the darshan and come out.

In case if you need to come out of the que for any reason, you could exit through the exit gates and then you can re-enter the que through a specific "Re-entry" gate that is on the W4 (opposite Museum) path. Just walk on the W4 gate path and after some 50 mtrs, the Re-entry board sign board is visible. However most of the paid darshan devotees dont come out while the free darshan devotees tend to come out as their waiting is quite longer.

The arrangements are awesome.
Points to Note:
ALways tend to keep to the right most lane. This is because when you arrive at the Lord's door the devotees on the right most lane get to stand directly in front of the lord ( while the middle and inner lane wont get that opportunity as the right lane devotees would obstruct their view). So please always stay on the right lane. it gets a bit pushy on this right lane as you enter the temple. Don't mind the few minutes delay and just stay on the right most lane in the que always.

Even though your slot is 2 PM, you can go and enter as soon as you arrive at Tirumala. The check point people check only the date and are not specific about the time slot. We had 4 PM slot and we went around 12 PM and we were allowed to pass, no question asked. So, do not wait for your time slot.. As soon as you arrive at the Tirumala hills walk up straight to the paid darshan que and you should be through as long as the darshan date is matching.

Wear a mundu / Dhoti as that is the traditional attire. Wear the dhoti in such a way, that the lower portion is not very low as you could trip on it while getting pushed and pulled in the que. Tie your dhoti a little up so that chances of tripping is eliminated. Do not worry about how you would look, every one is totally focussed on darshan and no one bothers.

Carry only the printout of your darshan slot and an ID. Do not carry anything such as purse, mobile etc. Just an ID and the print out of the darshan slot letter. Also do not wear the slipper anytime. Keep your slippers in your car always.

One ticket gives you one Laddu free. after darshan there is a place you will be given 'Prasad'. Dont mistake it for laddu. Prasad is given as soon as you exit the temple. We got Puliyogare (lemon rice in a small leaf bowl) as prasad. The laddus are distributed out side the main temple premises and in an entirely different building. there are enough signboards that direct you to laddu counter.

You can buy as much laddu you want. They cost Rs. 50 per laddu. My cousin purchased 20 laddus paying Rs 1000 over our free Laddus. Carry a large bag and also take a friend / family member along to the laddu counter if you are buying a large quantity. Your friend can hold the bag open while you can count the laddus and put it in. Please do count the laddu loudly as the delivery guys try to confuse you. It happened with us. We were supposed to get about 29 Laddus (including about 5 free laddus) and the delivery guy stopped at 22 laddus and said we are done. we were counting loudly as we put it in bag and hence he had to deliver the balance 7 laddus too. So spell out loudly the number of laddus going in the bag. Also carry some cash if you want to buy extra laddus.

The paid darshan will be over max within 2 hours from begining to completion. The arrangements are excellent and there's help everywhere if you need it.

After getting the laddu, you walk out and then that path leads to the W4 gate and subsequently the Museum. We parked the car in the W4 gate parking lot and it was easy for us to locate it after getting the laddus. Its a straight walk.

If you are interested in a second darshan after the paid darshan, you can do onething. Tokens are issued for free darshan too. It has your image and some additional information like your compartment number and approx time of darshan etc. The token for the free darshan can be taken at Tirumala (walk a bit ahead of Museum and take the free darshan / paid darshan path and stand in the free darshan que and get the token.
Alternatively, you can get the token at Alipiri, at the base of the hill itself before you embark on climbing the hill.

So, if you intend for a second free darshan, do like this. At Alipiri where your car and you will be searched at the check post, ask for free darshan token counter and get the token there itself. So, now you have the free darshan token.
Complete your paid darshan as soon as you reach the Tirumala hills. Once your darshan is over, if you feel like going for the free darshan again, go to the "Re-Entry" door and walk in. There will be a security check at the re-entry door and you will be guided to the compartment number mentioned on your token. There are 31 compartments and people are allowed into the compartment on first come fist serve (again based on the token time) and your token will have your compartment number. So, you will be directly sent to your compartment where you can wait for your turn. Evening around 7, dinner comes to the compartment and every one is served. there's toilet and hand wash facilities available in the compartment. So, it's pretty manageable. Whem the dinner comes, there will be a rush at the serving counter. Just take it easy and sit for a while, the counter becomes empty after some time, then please go and get your dinner. There's no need to rush and push as the common junta generally does. Also please remember that it's free darshan and the devotees could be unruly, not accomodating, a bit rushy / pushy / loud / sort of not hygenic and you may have to put up with it.

Do not go by what the free darshan token says about your probable time of darshan. we went for free darshan after the paid darshan and our compartment no was 23 and expected time of darshan was next day that is 14th December night 9.45 PM. We were not keen to wait the whole next day and were ready to leave and then the door man told us that our compartment will be opened in another 30 minutes (on 13th Dec) and we will finish our free darshan by 9 PM max. True to what he said, we had our second free darshan and out of the temple premises by around 10 PM and were on our way back to Bangalore by about 10:30 PM (after 2 darshans)

If you are in a group, tell everyone that if they are lost they should all meet near the Museum or your car and so there's no confusion or ambiguity.

Facilities are excellant, everything is streamlined and there's help at hand everywhere. Remember the gate number, your vehicle parking location and you are sorted. The Free darshans also gets concluded the same day, so, if you are interested and can spare the time, you can attempt that too, after your paid darshan is completed. (and dont go by the printed date and time of probable darshan time on free tokens. instead ask the door man of the compartment. He will provide a very realistic time frame)

Please remember, The Lord as asked you to come and see him. It's not the darshan that you get. It's the darshan that he gives.
So, please have patience, have empathy, maintain hygiene (do not litter), be respectful of elders, women and children, do not get impatient or get in a rage ( during the heavy push and rush moments), stay silent, do not be too vocal, Get your darshan and be grateful for the lord for allowing you to see him.

Hope that helps. Stay blessed