Tirupati Darshan by Walk . Review on Tirupati

I would like to share my Tirumala by walk from Tirupati experience over here (July 28 - Saturday).

Reaching from Bangalore – Tirupati/Alipiri point

Foot journey till Tirumala

Divya Darshan

Back to Tirupati

Back to Bangalore

Basically I'm from Bangalore – we (my wife and I) wanted to go Tirumala by walk from Alipiri since long and finally decided a week ago. The main intention was Balaji Darshan in early morning and Padmavati Darshan in Morning then return back so we did not book any hotels in Tirupati and Tirumala, there was no vacant place available naturally.

1. Reaching from Bangalore – Tirupati/Alipiri point

We booked our tickets from APSRTC online for 3:30 PM July 27 (Shanti nagar/BMTC bus stand). As I did read somewhere KSRTC buses are better than APs one but I found APSRTC also quite good specially timings are perfect for the people who wants to go by walk. We reached Tirupati at around 9 PM and then went for light dinner in some south Indian restaurant opposite to Bus station. You can find various good restaurants near by bus station only. After refreshments we went directly to Alipiri by auto – 50 Rs. as it looks like night fare (but quite reasonable for Bangalorean Auto victims :-) ).

1. Foot journey till Tirumala

Okay so we reached Alipiri and if you want, you can give your luggage in the counter and collect back to TTD but we did not give thought we will manage. Ok so we started walk towards our Destination (10:30 PM). As there are around 3500 steps, we felt initial 1.5 hrs the toughest (till 2000 steps). Then after with God blessings’ the journey was quite smooth. The whole journey (11 kms) is like initial 2100 only steps – then walk/steps for some 3-4 kms and again last around 600 only steps. On the way only we received free Darshan token. Actually we planned to go for Seegra Darshan token (RS. 300/- which we heard at TTD VQC-1 only we get) . On the path there are various facilities available like refreshments/Toilets/Medical center (Medical center was closed though in night :-) ).

Tip 1 - We felt submitting our luggage (two backpacks each around 7 kgs) to counter would help at some extent :D and then collect back at TTD counter at Tirumala.

1. Divya Darshan

After reaching Tirumala at 2:30 AM, first thing we wanted to do was get refreshed and there are common facilities available (you can ask people there where to get Snana) where we can get refreshed. This was quite maintained if we consider thousands of pilgrims are using them. Ok so at 3:30 AM we were ready to get Seegra Darshan tokens from VQC-1. We asked few people there where is VQC-1 and it was quite far for walk, so one Cab helped us to reach there (he charged 80 Rs, and I did not want to argue much in the morning). As per the online information, these tokens are available 24 hrs but after reaching there it was shocked for us to see the window opens at 8:30 AM.

We had no idea what to do then. Suddenly we noticed Divya Darshan board for pedestrian pilgrims. We knew this but it looked like may take more time then Seegra Darshan but no other choice and went for Divya Darshan. We gave our luggage/shoes/mobiles at free Luggage center nearby VQC-1 (Note - you are not allowed anything inside the temple other then your wallet) . So we started preceding this at 4 AM. (Please keep the tokens which you receive on the foot way) and we could get Lord Balaji’s blessings at 5:30 AM. (1 hr in queue).

Tip 2 – if you are planning to go by walk and reach early morning, no need to take any special tokens since with this token itself you get turn in an hr or two.

1. Back to Tirupati

After Divya Darshan we went for Prasad queue. OMG what a rush :-( at 6 AM..but finally I could manage to get those and we were ready for back to Tirupati. I knew there are sharing Jeeps available but could not see even single so with people help, we reached Main Bus station and got bus. You can see very nice scenery on the way…OMG I was so much sleepy but did not want to miss viewing this natural scenery. As we know without Padmavati Darshan, this Yatra is not complete and I felt very much sickness so we took shelter at Srinivasa complex and my wife went for Padmavati Darshan. She could return by 11 AM (she told this time Padmavadi Darshan did not take more than 15 mins in queue). After this we went for snacks and then back to Bus station to catch Bangalore bus.

Tip 3 – no doubt Tirupati Prasad is very good but Padmavati Prasad is a little more tastier ;-) and you can buy more then 2 Laddus there – please don’t miss.

1. Back to Bangalore

As last time, we were free by 1 PM (both Balaji & Padmavati darshan), so I booked online returned ticket for 3 PM this time. But luckily we were free by 12 PM. In the bus terminus you can keep luggage in Cloak room and get rest in dormitory (90 Rs/bed for up to 6 hrs). By 3:30 PM our bus arrived and we reach back to Bangalore at 9:30 PM. So tired but our legs were not. Seriously we thought we will have pain in legs but was not at all – just felt very much sleepy. At home refreshed by both, bath and India's victory over SriLanka in 286 run chase

Tip 4- if you plan to get Lord Balaji’s blessings, please don’t plan – just go and it will fulfill. Make sure you be in queue at 3 or 4 AM.