Tirupati (with Tirumala)

Overview

Tirupati is the seat of Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh, a temple city at the foot of the Seshachalam hills. Most visitors come for Tirumala, where the Venkateswara Temple stands at roughly 980 metres, and the town suits pilgrims and travellers interested in old shrines and forts. October to February suits a Tirupati tourist places trip, though November is the wettest month, with around 260 mm of rain in a year of about 1,100 mm.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) runs the hill temple, which is estimated to receive around 24 million devotees a year, and its kitchens turn out more than 2.8 lakh laddus a day. Two one-way ghat roads of about 18 km climb to the top in roughly 40 minutes from the foothills. Walkers can instead take the Alipiri stairway, a roofed path of 3,550 steps. Darshan comes in general, special entry and pedestrian categories, and free buses link the town with the hill, so plan the visit through TTD's official channels and keep a full day spare.

Tradition asks pilgrims to see Padmavathi, the consort of Venkateswara, before the hill temple, and her shrine sits at Tiruchanur on the town's outskirts. Within the city, the Govindaraja Swamy Temple was consecrated in 1130 CE. Kapila Theertham is a Shiva temple where a mountain stream drops into the temple tank, also managed by TTD. At Chandragiri, the fort dates to the 11th century and passed to the Vijayanagara rulers in 1367; its Raja Mahal now serves as an archaeological museum.

The hills have a wilder side too. Sri Venkateswara National Park covers about 353 square km of the Seshachalam range, with leopards, elephants and roughly 178 bird species on its lists, and Talakona waterfall lies inside it (see the separate Talakona page).

For getting here, Tirupati Airport is at Renigunta, about 14 to 15 km from the city, and Tirupati Main (TPTY) is an A1-category station. Chennai is about 150 km away by road and Bengaluru about 250 km. Summer is hot, with the mean daily maximum reaching about 40 C in May, while December nights are the coolest of the year at around 20 C on average.

Known for

The hill temple at about 980 m, run by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams