TamilNadu Archives - Travel Duo

Bangalore to Kanchipuram Road trip of 570 kms (with route map)

Renu on November 17, 2020

Just two days back we returned from ‘Bangalore to Kanchipuram road trip’ by our #AllNewCreta 2020. This one day road trip from Bangalore was on 14th November 2020 for the occasion of Diwali celebrations.

We went to Kanchipuram from Bangalore, and it was a total of 570 kms drive in just One day.

Here is the route map to reach Kanchipuram by Car

Bangalore to Kanchipuram Road trip – Overview

Unlike our last week’s one day trip to Tiruvannamalai, we didn’t start our trip as early as 5am.

We took it slow this time, we leisurely started by 7.30 am.

Distance : The Bangalore to Kanchipuram distance is 280 Kms and we had plans to reach the destination only post lunch at Vellore.

Since we had plans to eat breakfast in our all time favourite restaurant in Bangalore highways called Krishna Inn, we each had half croissants with a cup of black tea just before we started. We had packed this butter croissant and a few baked buns for the trip a day before itself from our favourite baker.

Where we ate:

So Breakfast cum pitstop at Shoolagiri – Krishna Inn, followed by Lunch pit stop at Vellore – Khanna Fiesta.

The food quality of Khanna fiesta has come down and we felt guilty about driving all the way inside the city for this food diverting from the Highways.

So while returning to Bangalore from Kanchipuram, we made a wise decision of eating on the highways, a restaurant with a good rating called Darling Namma veedu in Vellore.

(This restaurant is right across Hotel Aryaas on the highways, also you have many other restaurant choices like Vellore kitchen, Saravana bhavan atc., But all are overpriced food items but scores okay in quality, thankfully).

We never ate anything in Kanchipuram because we don’t like to eat or stay here in the over hyped commercial town.

That’s the reason we chose to stay in Vellore, in our last 2 days trip to Kanchipuram for Athi varadar Raise once in 40 years.

Where we went:

Post lunch in Vellore, after a leisure drive to Kanchipuram, headed straight to Varadaraja Perumal temple for darshan (Must see golden and silver lizard).

Route Map – Why We Loved this Chennai Highways

Here is the route map for both 2 ways journey for Bangalore to Kanchipuram road trip.

Bangalore to Kanchipuram Road trip route map

For the onward journey, we had seamless driving experience in NH 48 Chennai Highways, the only best road that beats all the other highways from Bangalore.

Though Tirupati and Hyderabad highways are also best, we personally like Chennai highways because of the tight barricade on both the sides blocking the localities criss crossing on highways.

If you are a regular rider / road tripper, you would know how important this barricade is for better driving experience. Since these days its most common sight in the highways to see the vehicles come in one way (facing you) giving you a heart attack. As if people criss crossing on the highways are not enough.

From where we stay in Bangalore, google maps automatically highlighted the Vellore route on the Chennai Highways. It also happens to be the best route to reach Kanchipuram by Car.

Click the above link to know about our train trip experience and to know famous temples in Kanchipuram.

Route map – Return Journey

We were profoundly delayed by choosing auto suggestions from google maps.

It is not necessarily to choose the auto-suggestion (highlighted route) in google maps. You should analyse and choose the best route for your choice.

Sometimes google suggests bad roads since it’s the fastest and most people use it.

So, it is wise to choose better roads (yellow roads with NH mark) rather than just any roads (white roads) google suggests.

Again when you are suggested 2 yellow roads, choose the NH with better numbers (NH 77 are country side narrow roads – So its a NO- NO).

Even Though we knew these safety rules all along being regular road trippers, we were careless this time. Because of that, we were delayed by 45 mins before we diverted us back to Vellore highways from a small route google maps auto-suggested.

So for the return journey, choose the same onward route map. But gotta be careful to notice that the route takes you via Kanchipuram bus stand.

Road trip Destination

Why did we choose Kanchipuram for one day road trip from bangalore?. Why go all the way to Kanchipuram instead of stopping at Vellore?.

I for one strongly believe that there has to be a purpose in going on any road trip. That’s called a road trip theme or a goal. You choose your destination based on that theme.

For example, if your theme is ‘leisure’ you would choose places like Coorg or Wayanad or Goa.

I design my travel plans based on that theme.

Well, this time we just wanted to stretch our boundaries. Since it was our new car, we wanted to push ourselves to maximum kms in one day.

Last weekend, when we went on a One Day Road Trip To Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore. In that one day road trip, we covered a total of 400 kms in one day. And before that we went on just 300 kms of total in one day’s long drive to Mysore.

This time, in our Bangalore to Kanchipuram road trip, we covered a total of 570 kms in a day.

Speaking of which, this is not the first time we have touched 500 kms mark in one day. We rode 570 kms in day – 1 of our Tirunelveli for a 5 days trip. And 405 kms in day -1 by bike trip to Kumbakonam in the year 2017.

Successful Road trip to Kanchipuram

So, this time, we were successful in stretching our boundaries in our new car – Creta 2020. We will continue to do the same until we become comfortable doing great numbers in one day.

Read Related – Two Day Trip From Bangalore to Vellore and Kanchipuram (Best 2 Day Trip by Car)

And yes, we did visit the very famous Varada Raja Perumal Temple while we were there. Though we did not have plans to visit any temples initially, since the time matched and we just made it happen. After spending about an hr of blessed darshan in the temple, we returned Bangalore in the late night.

Overall happy with our One day road trip from Bangalore, covering total of 570 kms.

One Day Road Trip To Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore

Renu on November 9, 2020

How to go One day road trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore, and which is the best route to drive? Lets see.

Total distance of total 400 Kms, Tiruvannamalai is our all time favorite destination for weekend trips, for both our bike trips and car trips.

And this was our first trip to Tiruvannamalai post Covid-19 lockdown.

(Note – The above pic was clicked at Singarapettai Lake, on the way towards Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore via Chengam route).

Our Plan to Go On One Day Road Trip to Tiruvannamalai From Bangalore

Our destination was Tiruvannamalai – Arunachaleswara temple, always same destination in our one day trip, to darshan Lord Shiva representing element Fire.

Google map link for the temple – https://goo.gl/maps/bSaL75AiiG1AgKXt5

Though we are regular travellers to this temple, yet we never planned for a one day trip to Tiruvannamali from Bangalore. Because we used to go bike trip, we prefer to take rest at night before return to Bangalore. While we are there, never miss to visit Tirukoilur temples (at 35kms distance on Pondicherry route ) on the next day, yet another favorite place near Tiruvannamalai. So we never thought of going on a one day trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore.

Now that we have our new Creta car (named Milo), a comfortable SUV for long road trips, we decided on a one day road trip to Tiruvannamalai.

Note that covering long distances in one day is nothing new to us.

We covered 410 kms on our first day of 11 days bike trip in the year 2017. (And a grand total of 2000 kms in 11 days by bike, yeaahhhh ).

Even before that, We covered a total of 500 kms on an unplanned journey to Hassan, in our short trip to Adichuchunagiri hills

And one of our most favourite trip of 350 kms to lepakshi (Read – One Day Bike trip from Bangalore to Lepakshi ) in Andhra Pradesh.

And in the year 2019 in one of our car trips, we covered 590 kms in one day, when we went on a 5 days trip to Tirunelveli in TamilNadu.

So, we pat ourselves for being regular travelers and setting new milestones for every single trip.

But it is not the same when you plan on a long drive to one of the ancient, famous and all time crowded temples.

It requires proper planning and execution considering the temple open timings and our convenience in travel.

So here is how we planned our one day trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore by car.

How to Plan for One Day trip to Tiruvannamalai From Bangalore

We are travel duos from Bangalore, so all our starting points are from Bangalore. You could use my plan as a sample if you starting point is not Bangalore.

So, here are the factors to consider when you plan on a culture trip like this.

Temple Open timings

Knowing the exact timings of the temple is important, because your start and end time your journey is weaved around this information.

Tiruvannamalai temple open timings – 5 am to 12.30 noon and 4 pm to 9.30 pm.

This timing is quite common for almost all Lord Shiva temples and this is not applicable for Lord Vishnu temples. As the rituals and procedures vary entirely for both the temples.

Now, you need to decide on the time to visit the temple. We chose morning 5 am to 12.30 noon batch timing. That means we need to arrive at the destination atleast 1 to 1.5 hrs before 12.30 noon, giving enough buffer time to park the vehicle and waiting time to darshan Lord Shiva and Parvathi.

Now, How can we reach before 11.30 am driving 200 kms from our start point?.

Travel Distance to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore

Here is second important factor to consider for our one day road trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore.

Total travel time from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai by Car including pit stops – for 200 kms on one way. And considering the bad roads in the Krishnagiri – Chengam route, time varies based on the driver’s skills. If you are choosing an alternative route (that is Via Vellore), your travel time naturally increases for the increase in 100 kms.
Total Waiting time to Darshan Lord Shiva at Main sanctum: the time you take from entering the temple at main entrance (east gopuram) to the time you take to see Lord Shiva at the main sanctum needs to be considered.

Since we always go for paid darshan, we kept an average of 1.30 hrs for the darshan timing.

Now you know what time you need to start in the morning to darshan at the temple.

Same goes for calculating the return journey.

Yet, you cannot calculate the same hours for the return journey, it varies based on the traffic on the highways and in the city.

How Successful Was My Plan ?

All went well as per the plan. Infact, it was quite successful.

We started by 5 am with all pre packed bags with snacks and water bottles packed a night before.

We were able to drive to the destination even though we have spent more than 1 hr in our favourite fit stop on the Hosur highways. It is called Krishna Inn in Shoolagiri. It is the bikers meeting point on weekends, and I have written a great deal about their food here.

We reached the temple campus at 11am, and it took us 20 mins to find the right parking spot before we entered the temple.

We spent total of 1 hr for the entire darshan time in the temple, including the Goddess parvathi darshan.

By 12.30 noon, We were back to parking area, headed straight to our favourite resort called Sparsa resorts, one of the elite stays in Tiruvannamalai for lunch.

Stay at Tiruvannamalai, best veg restaurant in Tiruvannamalai — Lunch At Sparsa Resorts

We spent time on good lunch and stretching our legs before we started our return journey by 2.20 pm.

Success !!!.

We reached the destination as planned, had quick darshan to our surprise and relaxed in our favorite place for couple of hours before we started our return journey. Kudos.

Tiruvannamalai to Bangalore : The Return Journey

As usual, we were profoundly delayed by the evening traffic on the Bangalore – Salem highways. Since it was anticipated during our trip, we reached on scheduled time, totally tired and sleepy by the time we hit our home by 9pm.

It was a seamless peaceful journey except for the bad roads on the route we chose for this trip to Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore.

Next time we plan to take the Vellore route since we are fed up travelling on this bumpy NH77 roads forever.

Kudos to Rajesh for making things happen irrespective of how challenging our trip turns out.

Planning one day road trip from Bangalore?

Here are some interesting destinations from Our travel History –

Melukote (beautiful view on the hill),

Talakkad (temples and beach),

Shivanasamudra waterfalls – For twin waterfalls

Belur – Halebidu (Popular destination in Karnataka for Hoysala Architectures),

Nandhi Hills (beautiful spot for trekking and watch sunset),

Lepakshi (for hanging pillars and majestic sculpture on a single rock),

Hampi (for World UNESCO heritage site) and

Mysore (for monuments and palaces).

Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Thrilling Night Bike Ride Of 200 Kms

Renu on November 3, 2020

night ride from bangaolore to Tiruvannamalai temple

Travelling by bike is not new to us, but riding a motorbike in the dark night – definitely it was a new and scary experience. This was my first ever “well – planned bike trip” on Shivaratri night from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple.

The reason I particularly mentioned as “well-planned” is because we had another night bike ride experience which was “not-planned” but gave us thrill down our spines. You can find that story link at the bottom of this article. And after night bike ride of 200 kms from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple, the next day we went on 1 hr trekking to Theerthamalai temple near Dharmapuri.

Whoaaa yes. Read the story to know how we did this thrilling + adventurous trip by Bike.

Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Distance and Travel Route

Little Intro on Our regular Trips from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple

Tiruvannamalai temple has been our favourite destination for bike rides for 5 years since our marriage in 2015. We have always enjoyed the ride, riding amongst the never ending mango farms were our favourite.

After a couple of times from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple, there was no need to look at google maps for directions, because literally our bike took us there. It stopped in all our favorite pit stops, it stopped when we needed to click pics and it even stopped whenever we crossed village fruit stalls.

Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Route – 1 (203 kms) (Moderate roads after Krishnagiri)

Bangalore – Hosur – Shoolagiri – Krishnagiri (turn towards Chennai Highways, take Tiruvannamalai route) – Mathur – Uthangarai – Chengam – Tiruvannamalai temple

Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Route – 2 (285 Kms) (Best Route NH 48, only the last 80 Kms are state Highways -moderate roads)

Bangalore – Hosur – Shoolagiri – Krishnagiri (turn towards Chennai Highways, take Vellore route) – Ambur – Vellore – Tiruvannamalai Temple

Of the two routes mentioned, We prefer route -1 for bike trips and route – 2 for the car trips. Route -1 (chengam route) has a single state road once after you cross Krishnagiri. Most of the places are damaged or under construction always. For bike rides, we prefer this route for the less distance comparatively.

Since our couple of car trips to Vellore and Kanchipuram, we love this route – 2 with continous NH 48 2 ways – roads with partition barricades. The best route if you love to drive non -stop to the destination. Only the last 80 kms are bit narrow roads, but better than route -1.

The time takes to cover both the routes are the same, only route – 2 is better in terms of good roads and many restaurant choices.

We usually start our road trip journey by 7 to 8am, stop at Krishna Inn in Bangalore -Salem highways around 9.30 for a long break for breakfast and coffee.

Best restaurant in Bangalore - Salem Highways - Krishna Inn — The best TamilNadu style Pongal and vada from Krishna Inn, Bangalore – Salem Highways restaurant

We put on music from our Boat mini speaker, listen to songs to beat the boredom riding bike in the hot sun, all the while enjoying the countryside view and agrilands.

After a couple of pit stops, and lunch, we reach our destination by 2 to 3 pm, check-in the room to freshen up, preferably a short bath.

We would then ride to Tiruvannamalai temple by late evening for darshan, if possible (and lucky) we would stay back to watch 10pm Thiruoonjal sevai before calling it a day. Usually the next day, we always – mostly always went to Tirukoilur temples, situated about 1hr ride from Tiruvannamalai town towards Pondicherry.

We recently went on One day road trip to Tiruvannamalai by Car after we bought our new Car #AllNewCreta in 2020.

Travel Distances

Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Distance – 200kms* (little varies based on the location you start).

Tiruvannamalai to tirukoilur temples – 37 kms*

*Distances mentioned only for just onward journey

It is another countryside ride we love riding for the love of Tirukoilur Ulagalantha Perumal temple. We usually reach by noon, attend the noon pooja just before the temple closes.

bangalore to tiruvannanmalai temple — Trip to Tirukoilur From Tiruvannamalai

Before we return back to Tiruvannamalai town we lunch at Arya Bhavan, the only possible good vegetarian restaurant in the Tirukoilur town.

Then we collect our packed bags from the hotel reception (usually the saddle bags so we can ride stress free), stop at our favourite french coffee shop before we take the Bangalore road.

(Update: This coffee shop is permanently closed as on our recent trip to Tiruvannamalai on 8th Feb 2020).

The next day, Rajesh would go to office as if nothing happened in the past 2 days. He would resume his work in office as if he didn’t ride 470 kms by bike with just one night rest in between in 2 days.

I too force myself to go to the office on Mondays even though I was not the one driving bike for 8 hrs straight.

This has been our routine so far, until one day we decided to break the routine.

Night Bike Trip to Tiruvannamalai Temple – The Experience

This time, on 24th Feb 2017, at 5pm, we started our night journey from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple.

We rode our bike for 7 long hrs, reached the Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar temple around 1 am. Had we not delayed in Krishnagiri, we would have reached about an hour early to the destination (explained in detail below).

The main reason behind this night trip plan was to attend the ‘Shivratri’ pooja in the most significant Lord Shiva temple.

Since it was going to be a night bike ride on the highways and country side, we had to make sure everything was 100% perfect.

Just a week before our journey, Rajesh had got the bike from the service station, spent about 15k on the bike fixing all the issues, adding some fancy headlights and tail lights.

As a travel partner, I double checked on the travel essentials and packaging for the much expected Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple trip.

7 Good Qualities of A Bike Ride Partner (A guide to select a Travel Partner)

I have been always asking Rajesh –

“Will this workout?”

“Are we taking a blind risk?”

“Should we think again?”

“Will we reach safe?”

“What if anything happens along the way, how would we ensure our safety and road safety?”

It was Rajesh – who by nature never deviated from any set out goals, pressed me on to continue planning for the journey.

So, I went on to do what I do best for the travel plans. Write down all to-dos, things to pack, buying all the necessary stuff and packing the bags a day before the journey.

Rajesh would cross check the itineraries ensuring I have not left out anything in the overwhelming of planning.

Always expect the Unexpected – Delay in our well thought plan – In Our Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Temple Night trip

Since we had planned to go straight to the temple for darshan, we packed light and carried just one backpack for the trip.

Our bike is ready, bags are packed, mobile phone chargers, bluetooth speakers are cross checked. We all set to go from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai temple.

We started our bike at 5pm.

I never thought our journey would be delayed more than the usual travel time.

Though I kept the extra buffer time since we were starting on weekend evening, and very well aware of the volvo bus traffic until we crossed Hosur.

But this is how we got delayed.

Since both Sivarathiri and pradosham are falling on the same day making the day super special, I had a plan to stop at the Krishnagiri Lord Shiva temple for a quick darshan on Pradosham.

So, we diverted from the actual route from the national highways, entered the Krishnagiri town, found the temple I marked in the google map a week before.

To our shock, we found the entire town was gathered in that temple, we could not even walk past the main gate. Thinking that the crowd will clear like they usually do on the auspicious days, we kept waiting in expectation for about an hour only to realise we took a bad decision of stopping here.

And as the time went by, riding in the dark in the dark was becoming challenging as we were slowed down by the heavy beam of the opposite vehicles.

Not to mention the annoying tiny insects hitting on our helmets, some even crawling up under the helmets giving a tough time to focus and ride the bike.

Finally we reached the Tiruvannamalai temple on the next day i.e. 25th Feb, around 1 am. We then found a place in the temple, listened to the Navrathri songs until we waited for the early morning darshan.

Around 4am, we joined the early morning queue for darshan and by the time we came out, it was around 6am.

Tiruvannamalai temple trip from Bangalore — Tiruvannamalai temple

Then around evening we went to our next favourite destination – Tirukoilur.

Since we needed to take a good rest from the previous night long journey, I didn’t plan any other destinations except Tirukoilur.

Tirukoilur Perumal Temple Gopuram – Main Entrance

What followed the Night Ride was An Unimaginable Day

On our 3rd day, on 26th Feb 2017, Theerthamalai in Dharmapuri, a hill temple which was crowded beyond my imagination on the day we went.

Since it was “no-moon” day, devotees gathered in huge numbers to darshan Lord Theerthagirishwarar on the top of the hill.

As usual, Rajesh did not back off from the plan, so with no other choice, I decided to trek the hill on a hot summer. We dropped our backpack at a shop near the bike parking area and went on to climb 1km uphill with just 1 litre bottle in hand.

What seemed like easy to climb 1km in the google map, it took us more than 1hr with just 10 min break in between.

After standing in the long queue for the Lord Siva darshan, and Parvathi devi, Rajesh managed to get some of the holy water from the multiple tiny waterfalls (they say it never dry out).

Overall, it was more than we could take.

All the experience was new and it was too much to handle at once.

First ever experience riding 200kms in the dark.

As if that was not enough, going on a trek for an hour to the hill temple on the next day, cursed my guts to plan this trip, we suffered indefinitely.

But looking back now, I could not believe that we took all that risk, we have stretched our boundaries and achieved something great.

That’s all it matters now.

We did it.

From Bangalore to Hassan Road Trip: A tale of New Bikers Riding at Night, 500KM trip

Renu’s Solo Trip To Kumbakonam – How I Roamed 5 days in a Rented Bike

Renu on October 30, 2020

I went on a 5 days Solo trip to Kumbakonam, one of the best vacations ever in my life. Thanks to Rajesh for arranging my travel and accommodations. To roam around my favorite places in Kumbakonam, I have arranged for a 2-wheeler rental bike through my Kumbakonam native friend.

Trip To Kumbakonam – Decision on Solo trip

I (we) fell in love with this place on our first trip to Kumbakonam for the Masi Magam festival for 3 days.

So went on 11 days long bike trip to Kumbakonam in 2017, since then place is close to my heart. In the following year 2018, again we went to Kumbakonam on a 12 days bike trip.

I didn’t want to miss going there in 2019 too.

But my hubby was busy in organizing the “Cloud Summit” event. And he made it a hit, that’s a different story. Since it was a big deal finding speakers and organizing the event, I let him be.

So I have decided to go chill out in my favourite place, for 5 days, all alone.

I started my trip on 8th December 2019 from Bangalore, boarded a train from Bangalore Central and reached Kumbakonam on 9th December, 6am.

This is the story of my 5 days solo trip, from 9th December to 13th December 2019.

Solo trip is NOT new to me

Travelling alone is not new for me. I have been travelling to places since I was 18, traveled for studies, traveled for jobs, traveled to new cities for interviews. And finally I lived in London for more than a year, for my Management studies just before I got married.

I never had any fear or any concern on travelling alone. But since my marriage in the year 2015, I kinda fell in a comfort zone of being in a company all the time.

Any time I step out of my home, I am always accompanied by my hubby. Apart from weekly groceries and yoga classes, ofcourse.

Just like the years 2017 and 2018, I looked forward for this trip to Kumbakonam too. But, you know, unfortunately Rajesh had his own plans.

So rolled up my bachelor sleeves, and decided to go on a solo trip to Kumbakonam.

Yeeeyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!

Why Kumbakonam?

Kumbakonam – A small, very beautiful mesmerizing town, well connected with roads to Trichy, Chidambaram, Tiruvannamalai, Thanjavur etc., is always beaming with history and ancient temples.

A beautiful town surrounded by numerous ponds filled with lilies, lakes and dams, agri fields and ancient temples. I can never find the right words to fit the beauty of this simple town. And I never get bored of visiting this place over and over again in my life.

When I am in Kumbakonam, I feel connected to my ancestors (no kidding). Every temple has a story to tell, and it compels your undivided attention for long hours. The hardship behind each temple’s architecture makes you humble and fall in love with it forever.

Yes, that’s my connection with Kumbakonam and its temples – bond forever.

Long list of Famous temples in Kumbakonam with Google Map

Probably this is the longest list of temples in Kumbakonam you will get in internet, it took me 1 full week to compile this list with google map link. Click here.

I chose Kumbakonam because I would not want to be anywhere else on my solo trip, because it’s like my second home.

What did I do in those 5 days?

How I Spent 5 days in Kumbakonam – Overview

What I Did

I did exactly the same of what we both would do on a duo trip – i.e. roaming Kumbakonam and visiting our favourite ancient temples.

Read – Kumbakonam Famous Temples

Yes I visited my favourite temples in and outside of Kumbakonam, spent time hanging out near Mahamaham tank, watched the sunset sitting in UNESCO Darasuram, ate food in my favourite restaurants in Kumbakonam.

Sometimes, I went over and over again to some of the favorite temples in the late evening, which are close to my heart. They are Sarangapani temple, Adi Kumbeswarar temple and Ramar temple which are located within short distances in the centre town.

Late evening poojas are very special in those big ancient temples, and since it was an auspicious month, luckily I got to watch elephants parading with the idols in the streets – every single day.

Not all the time you get to watch these special parades and poojas.

It was a blissful moment when I spent long evenings in those favourite temples, my soul was at peace.

Where I ate

Everyday, I wake up, get ready with a pair of water bottles in my day bag. Then start my rented bike to go nearby “ayya kadai” (written all about my favourite famous food items in Kumbakonam), to have a hearty southindian, pocket friendly breakfast.

kumbakonam famous food items — Kumbakonam Famous degree coffee

Thanks to ‘ayya kadai’ brothers for all the yummy quality – budget priced food, otherwise it would have been difficult on budget on such a long trip.

It is one stop for all breakfast, snacks and lunch items, except for dinner. I would return back to this shop after a short trip to pack snacks (a couple of vada made fresh every day) and also lunch (variety rice ready by 12 noon itself ) if I have plan to go on a long bike trip away from Kumbakonam. Like the days I went to places like Thirukannapuram, Thiruvalanjuli and Alangudi.

Where I Went

Since it was a solo trip to Kumbakonam, I wasn’t too serious about visiting all my favourite famous temples in Kumbakonam.

I was not dead serious about going to all possible temples in and around Kumbakonam, that is not even practically feasible.

So in the 5 days of itinerary metioned below, you could see me visiting temples aggressively in the first 2 days. And the last 3 days, I slowed down, spent more time in any of the favorite temples leisurely. Unlike my past road trips to Kumbakonam, this time I took it real slow.

There has to be one special occasion in the solo trip right?

I could name many, but just one occassion holds strong place in my heart.

On day-2 of my solo trip to Kumbakonam, I traveled all the way to Tirukannapuram Lord Vishnu temple only to find the main sanctum closed at hardly 11 am. Since there was no anticipated devotees at that time, the temple panditji decided to close it for the day.

I was utterly disappointed to only to see the closed doors, sitting in front of the main sanctum cursing my luck as I couldn’t darshan him even in this trip. Because in our last couple of trips to Kumbakonam, we couldn’t even make it to this temple.

Just when I thought I will leave the place saying good bye to the care taker, a preist came hurridly saying he forgot to pick something from the temple. Soon after I introduced myself, before I could even ask that is there any possibility of darshan, he opened the main sanctum door, and in 30 secs he was showing me aarti (oil lamp plate) to the Perumal.

I stood there marveled at the height of Lord Vishnu, taller than 35 feet idol in Tirukoilur Ulagalantha Perumal temple. And humbled at the luck I have got that day to darshan the most beautiful, tallest Perumal (tallest among all 108 divya desams) in my life.

The best and most memorable moment in all my life.

What People Miss to See in Kumbakonam

Most people (devotees) visit Kumbakonam, for any of the following reasons.

Navagraha temples Trip
108 Divya desam Trip (Exclusive Lord Vishnu trip)
Lord Shiva padal petra stalam trip (exclusive Lord Shiva temples)

But what they don’t see (I assume) is this. Look at the beauty of Kumbakonam. Only for this reason, I will be keep coming again and again to this beautiful place on the first opportunity I am getting to travel after #coronalockdown.

trip to kumbakonam — Hundreds of Lily Ponds all over the temple town – Kumbakonam

temples of Kumbakonam — The beauty of Kumbakonam temples in one picture – Tirubhuvanam Temple

Trip to Kumbakonam – 5 Days Detailed Itinerary

The first thing I did after checking in the room was to visit my most favorite and beautiful temple in Thirubuvanam (see pic above), 5kms from Kumbakonam town. Next step was to Mahalingaswamy temple, enquired for Pradosa pooja and returned back to the same temple with all pooja items in the evening and did the ritual.

On the 2nd day, I enjoyed riding all the way to Thirukannapuram, among the green fields. Again, traveled long distance on the 4th day to Alangudi.

On the 3rd day, I took a break in the morning, just chill near mahamaham tank after breakfast and a cup of ginger tea.

Then packed lunch from my favorite ayya kadai, went to Darasuram with a book in hand. Spent the entire afternoon in the darasuram temple.

On the last day, I spent most of the day in the room reading books. Went out in the evening to spend time near Mahamaham tank after a cup of ginger tea.

Here is the Detailed Itinerary of 5 Days Solo Trip to Kumbakonam

Day 1 – 9th December Monday:

Thirubhuvanam Lord Shiva temple
Thirukadaiyur Mahalinga swamy temple -Lord Shiva temple
Adhi Kumbheswar temple -Lord Shiva temple

Lunch Break

Again Thirukadaiyur Mahalinga swamy temple -Lord Shiva temple

Day 2 – 10th December Tuesday:

Thirucherrai Saranatha perumal temple – Lord vishnu temple
Thirukudavasal Koneswaran temple -Lord Shiva temple
Engan Perumal temple – Lord Vishnu temple (due to the crowd I couldn’t see next door Engan Murugan temple).
Thirukannapuram -Lord Vishnu temple
Nachiyar kovil – Lord Vishnu Temple

Lunch Break

Kasi Viswanathar temple, near mahamaham tank in Kumbakonam
Sarangapani temple, Ranganathar temple in Kumbakonam
Ramar temple – oorvalam darshan

Day 3 – 11th December Wednesday:

Morning – Break

Evening –

Darasuram – Lunch, book read and darshan
Garbarakshambigai temple, Thirukaragavoor
Thiruvalanjuli – White Lord Ganesha in Lord Shiva temple
Ramar temple
Adhi Kumbeswarar – oorvalam darshan

Day 4 – 12th December Thursday

Morning – Break

Evening –

Alangudi guru temple – Lord Shiva temple
Uppiliappan temple – Lord Vishnu temple
Sarangapani temple – oorvalam darshan

Day 5 – 13th December Friday

Morning – Break

Evening – Adhi Kumbeswarar – oorvalam darshan

The Happy Ending – Weekend with Hubby in Kumbakonam

Whole 5 days of solo trip to Kumbakonam came to an end and I was ready to leave Kumbakonam.

But, at the last minute my Hubby announced that he would be coming to Kumbakonam to spend the weekend.

Since it was last minute decision, he had a very long journey by changing multiple private buses to reach Kumbakonam.

He arrived on 14th December, Saturday around noon, spent 2 days with me in Kumbakonam before we returned to Bangalore by Volvo.

Again we both went to darshan the most important and favorite temples in Kumbakonam town, he too personally loved Kumbakonam temples.

He made it all the way more special trip to Kumbakonam and till date this trip is very close to my heart.

Vaikunta Ekadasi Experience in Trichy Srirangam Temple

Renu on October 28, 2020

I remember the time we went to Trichy in Jan 2017 for Vaikunta Ekadasi darshan at Ranganathar temple.

Here is our experience on what to expect when you are planning a trip to Trichy for Vaikunda Ekadasi, and list of other important temples to visit in the city.

Overwhelmed by the Crowd at Srirangam For Vaikunta Ekadasi

Having gone to the temple at 4am on the day of Vaikunta ekadasi, we were standing in a queue that would take about 5 to 6 hrs to come across Vaikunta vasal (golden door – the destination).

Looked like as if the whole world had lined up around all the doors of this huge temple for celebrating the auspicious day. After seeing such a mass crowd as early as 4 am, and after a long dilemma, we decided to drop the plan. We exited the queue, then headed to the two other famous temples in Trichy for Vaikunda Ekadasi darshan.

Srirangam Vaikunta ekadasi — Police force and temple crowd at the temple entrance

Temple trip from bangalore to Trichy — View from Inside of Ranganathar temple- Srirangam

temple architecture of Srirangam temple — Wall inscriptions on Srirangam temple – inside view

Both are renowned 108 Divya Desams namely Kamalavalli Nachiyar temple and Uthammar kovil. Not only were we able to enter the golden door but also had good darshan at both of these temples.

Temple trip from bangalore to Trichy, uthamar kovil images — Uthmar kovil View – Trichy

And swore to ourselves that when we come back to Trichy next time for Vaikunda Ekadasi, we would never return back without a darshan at the Ranganathar Temple.

We were happy that atleast we could darshan Lord Ranganathar just before the day of Vaikunda Ekadasi. That too after waiting in the 200 rupees VIP queue for almost 3 hrs. Glad we did that darshan one day before, to count the effort we had put in for that trip.

Not always we fail to predict the crowd in the temple. In the year 2017, for Athi Varadar raise after 40 yrs from the temple in Kanchipuram – we planned the trip well, and did darshan on 21st July 2019. That too after long wait of 3.30 hrs (yet nothing compared to the predicted time wait in Srirangam for Vaikunda Ekadasi darshan) and walking for 8 kms in total.

Read – Athi Varadar raise once in 40 years and how we did darshan on 21st July 2019.

Bangalore to Trichy Travel

This was the time we were about to become ardent travellers.

We travelled many destinations by bike since then. This year was the stepping stone for making everlasting memories in our married life. We travelled back to back on all weekends, challenging ourselves to the longer distances as we grew confident.

From Bangalore to Trichy, we travelled by Volvo bus booked in Madiwala, Bangalore. This was a planned trip for 2 days, falling on 7th and 8th Jan 2017. 8th Jan 2017 being the auspicious Vaikunda Ekadasi.

Apart from memories from the Srirangam temple, we have also visited the very famous, ancient (padal petra stalam) Lord Shiva – The Jambukeshwar temple. We went late evening to this temple, waited till the last pooja rituals (see pic below) before retiring for the day.

Here goes our 2 days Itinerary.

2 Days trip From Bangalore to Trichy For Vaikunta Ekadasi Darshan:

We travelled by bus, so we would have 2 full days in our hands to roam around the Trichy city. Like the same way we did for 3 days train trip to Kumbakonam and yet another 3 days train trip to Madurai, many trips to Goa – where we have rented a bike to roam the destinations.

But, here in Trichy, we hired an auto to see around the places. Like how we did in our Tiruttani trip.

Nothing beats the comfort of riding your own vehicle, in any destination.

Day 01 – 7th July 2017 – List of temples Visited:

Ranganathar Temple, SRIRANGAM
Uthamar Kovil / Picchandar Kovil
Sri Sameevaneswarar (Mattrurai Varadeswarar) sametha Balambikai temple at TIRUVASI
Arulmigu Jambukeswarar Akhilandeswari Temple, THIRUVANAIKAVAL

Day 02 – 8th July 2017 – Vaikunta Ekadasi – List of Temples:

Ranganathar Temple, SRIRANGAM (left in 1 hr without entering Golden door )
Uraiyoor Kamalavalli Nachiyar Temple
Uraiyur Panchavarneswarar Temple
Thayumanaswami Temple, Rockfort
Uchi Pillaiyaar Kovil

We returned to Bangalore on second day night by train.

Now that we know to anticipate the crowd at Srirangam for Vaikunta Ekadasi, we are sure to go back with a proper plan.

Madurai From Bangalore by Bike: Copy My Trip Plan To Roam Around Madurai

Renu on October 27, 2020

We have been to Madurai a couple of times, and each time we had new activities planned to roam Madurai. One time we roamed all popular Hindu temples by Bike (rented) in our train trip to Madurai from Bangalore. The other time we went by Car to Madurai during our 5 days road trip to Tirunellveli and Papanasam, when we did nothing but shopping there. Of course, we did darshan the great Meenakshi temple.

Madurai From Bangalore – How We traveled

Since the year 2017, we were popular among friends for non-stop bike travel from Bangalore on almost all weekends.

But as ardent travellers, we didn’t restrict ourselves to just one mode of travel.

Our favourite train trips are to Hampi, Belur, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Tiruttani, Mumbai, and Madurai.

And most memorable air trips are to Delhi (Agra and Nainital), Cochin and Goa.

We did not take many bus trips, except for a few times to Kerala and Goa.

First trip to Madurai From Bangalore

Our first trip to Madurai from Bangalore was quite unique – that is, we arrived at our destination by train and rented a bike to roam the city for 3 full days.

We got inspired from our 3 days trip to Kumbakonam by train in the same year, where we rented a bike to roam the temple for 3 full days.

For three continuous days, that is 21st, 22nd, 23rd of July 2017, we roamed all the ancient temples in Madurai.

All the 3 days, we did not have any issues roaming the city by bike as an outsider. We had a good choice of restaurants all over the city and enjoyed all vegetarian south indian meals in our entire trip.

Road trip to Madurai

On our recent 5 days road trip to Tirunelveli and Papanasam, we stayed in Madurai for just a day, and did not visit any temples except the great Meenakshi temple. But roamed around the city by car, hung out around big temple lake, enjoyed Madurai’s famous Jigarthanda, and had awesome non vegetarian meals in Kari kanji restaurant. It is a must try restaurant for all kinds of non-vegetarian dishes. Click on the name to get the google map link.

Well, there aren’t many places to see in Madurai if you are not a temple architecture lover. So you can couple your trip plan with other famous places like Tirunelveli and Papanasam, or even kanyakumari.

Restaurant suggestion in Highways

Be it bike trip or road trip, the best Veg restaurant in Bangalore – Salem highways is Shri Krishna Inn. Its our all time favorite and this is where you could see hundreds of bikers hangout in the weekends. For more restaurant suggestions – you can find here.

Copy My Plan to Madurai

Of all the trips we went to Madurai from bangalore, not even once did we have issues on travel or stay or food.

The best place to spend your vacation, but only if you could couple it with other places. Because, many tourists including foreigners visit this majestic Madurai city for just one main reason – to darshan Madurai Meenakshi temple.

And, you could easily cover this place in just one day, including Thirumalai Nayak Mahal – another must see place in Madurai.

So what could you do to spice up your travel?

Go One Day Trip to Kodaikanal Hills:

Madurai and Kodaikanal are two like twins – inseparable in any trip plan. People who plan to go to Kodaikanal always make plans to visit Meenakshi temple and vice versa.

You could stay in Madurai and make a one day trip to Kodaikanal or just choose to stay in Kodaikanal for an extended period of your vacation. Kodaikanal is the best romantic place to visit near Madurai and makes it a place for best family vacation too. There are many options for kids to enjoy like cycling and boating – a complete package for family.

Madurai to Kodaikanal Distance – 116 kms

Go Long Drive From Madurai to Kanyakumari:

If you have been to Kodaikanal already, you could plan a long road trip to Kanyakumari. You could plan a direct trip from Bangalore to Kanyakumari, making Madurai as one of the pit stops. Or plan a drive from Madurai city.

Madurai to Kanyakumari distance – 245 kms

Bangalore to Kanyakumari distance – 665 kms

Woah, guess it is a practical idea to plan a long drive from Madurai instead of Bangalore.

Things to do In Kanyakumari – Kanyakumari beach, Tiruvalluvar statue, Visit Bhagavathy and Suchindram temple.

Places to Visit between Madurai and Kanyakumari

Tirunelvelli – Yet another popular city known for two things: Nellaiyappar temple (Lord Shiva temple) and for Wheat halwa (iruttu kadai halwa). Distance from Madurai to Tirunelveli – 163 kms
Papanasam – A very famous tourist spot in Tirunelveli district, popular for waterfalls (agasthiyar falls), and nearby manimuthar dam. We personally loved this place for never ending greenery and mountain view drive. (Read – Places to Visit in Papanasam in One day with distances)
Courtallam – Not any intro is required for this place. Popular among tourists for its Courtallam falls and lord shiva temple at the foot hills.

Visit to Madurai is incomplete without visiting these 3 popular places.

If you like to visit temples enroute madurai to Kodaikanal, you could then go to Thenkasi for a majestic Lord Shiva temple, situated 5.5. Kms from Courtallam. And you could also go to yet another historically important 3 temples called ‘Srivilliputhur andal temple’, ‘Sankaran kovil’ and ‘Tiruchendur’.

First two temples are close by, whereas Tiruchendur Lord Subramanya temple is situated at entirely different route.

I mean it is not practically possible to cover all the above places in just one day. That’s why we went on a 5 days road trip to Tirunelveli, and took time leisurely to see all the above mentioned places.

On the way back to Bangalore from Tirunelveli, we stayed at Madurai for a day and roamed the city.

If you are planning to Visit Kanyakumari from Madurai, you could go straight to the destination. Or if you prefer, stay in Tirunelveli for a day or two, to explore all the above mentioned places. It is definitely worth your time, especially Papanasam.

Go Long Drive From Madurai to Rameswaram:

Another best option to add tourist places to your trip to Madurai from Bangalore, you could go Rameshwaram.

In jan 2017, we went to Rameshwaram for 3 days by bus and we coupled the trip with Tirunelveli. We stayed in Rameswaram mainly to visit Ramanathaswamy temple to pay respect to my father on ‘mahalaya amavasya day’. We didn’t go to any other places in Rameshwaram. And we cherish the time we travelled on the pamban bridge – one of a kind experience.

Madurai to Rameswaram distance – 173 kms

Tirunelveli to Rameswaram distance – 226 kms

This is how we plan our travel – compare the distances from different places to the end destination, then decide which plan is best.

It is as simple as that.

Sum – Up

So, practically we know clearly about all the tourist places in and around Madurai.

Well, if none of the above places interests you, and if you are looking for particularly temple trips in Madurai, then copy my Madurai temples list.

Click on the link below.

The list of ancient temples in Madurai city alone.

There is no need to book any tour packages, because you know you will not be given any special access to darshan.

You could just follow the google maps, plan to visit temples between 6 am to 11.30 am and between 5pm to 8.30 pm. You could rest in the afternoon or find a nice restaurant to chill the day.

List Of Ancient Temples in Madurai

Renu on October 22, 2020

In July 2017, we went on a 3 days trip from Bangalore to Visit temples in Madurai city. We traveled by train to Madurai, where we rented a motorbike to roam the city. This was purely a temple trip, as we are always fond of exploring the less explored.

Here I have written a great deal about the reason behind visiting famous temples in our bike trips.

So, this was one such trip, where we wanted to see beyond the great Meenakshi temple. Because it is the only popular temple in Madurai among the tourists.

We dedicated 3 full days just to explore the temples in Madurai city, and we were not disappointed, thankfully.

In Fact we could not cover all the ancient temples you see. We picked the most historic and popular, and filtered those were within the feasibility of our travel distances.

(You scope is limited especially when you have rented a rotten bike).

Having said that, feel free to copy this list for your next spiritual trip to Madurai, a list filtered with only most ancient and important temples. A short and sweet list of temples in Madurai, closer to the city. You can thank me later.

List of Ancient Temples in Madurai

Even Though Madurai is significantly famous for just one temple – The Meenakshi Amman temple, there are many other temples in Madurai which are not widely popular. I have taken a list of those temples, selected the most ancient and important; and are also closely located ones to visit as much as possible in one day.

Since we have planned this trip to visit Madurai from Bangalore on auspicious days; Friday and Sunday being most auspicious, I kept flexible timings keeping the waiting period for darshan in each temple in the list.

Why We did not Visit Madurai Meenakshi Temple on Day -1 : Two Reasons

The entire Madurai tourism is weaved around the great Meenakshi Amman temple. Yet, I have planned to visit them on the 2nd day for the following 2 reasons.

First, we will become more tired of visiting this enormous temple on the very first day itself.

Second, this temple is always crowded on regular days, and extremely crowded on auspicious days. On the day we arrived it was auspicious Friday falling on the auspicious month for Hindu religion – Aadi month (Some call it Aashada).

So it’s decided to visit the temple on the next day – Saturday, that too early in the morning to avoid a long queue. Yet we could not completely avoid the crowd, we had to be in the queue for 30 mins before we darshan Lord Shiva and Goddess Meenakshi.

Day Wise List of Ancient Temples in Madurai

I have carefully planned our 3 days travel fitting all the famous temples possible in the map, also being careful not to overburden Rajesh like how did in Kumbakonam visiting 24 temples in 3 days.

Temples in Madurai – Day 1 (21 July 2017) Itinerary:

Morning trip:

1. Aapudaiyar Kovil, Madurai

2. Thirumohoor Kalameha Perumal temple

Evening trip:

3. Thiruparankundram

Day 2 (22 July 2017) Itinerary:

Morning trip:

1. Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple

2. Koodal Alagar, Madurai

3. Thiruvedagam Edaganatheswarar Temple

Evening trip:

4. Thirupuvanam Sri Pushpavaneswarar temple, Sivagangai district

5. Inmayil nanmai tharuvar temple, Madurai

Day 3 (23 July 2017) Itinerary:

1. Palamuthircholai and Rakkayi hill temple with waterfalls

2. Aaru padai murugan temple

3. Alagar temple

Short Note on the List of Temples in Madurai

If you are planning a trip to Madurai from Bangalore by road or any transport, feel free to copy my 3 days trip plan mentioned above.

For example, Thiruparankundram (see day 1) and Palamuthircholai & Arupadai Murugan temples (see day -3) are notable temples for Lord Muruga.

We absolutely loved riding to the Palamuthircholai located in the outskirts of Madurai City, riding among the trees, watching the atrocity of the monkeys was one of an experience.

Also, to add thrill to our trip, we have coupled a trek to a Rakayi temple with waterfalls on the hills near to Palamuthircholai. Since we had planned it on an auspicious day, we ended up in a long queue but otherwise it was overall a good experience. If we had planned to go to this hill temple on the normal days, we were not sure of the safety of the travelers given the location and ambiance of this temple.

And the final temple in the list, is Alagar temple, a sight to the sore eyes. Just as the name depicts, the Lord Vishnu is such a charm and beauty to darshan.

On day -3, we returned back to Bangalore with plenty of memories. We really did have a good time. Infact we watched a movie named ‘vikram veda’ at Vishal De mall, Madurai just before leaving the town.

In all our Bike trip From Bangalore – Why Did We Choose to Visit Temples?

Renu on October 21, 2020

We are bikers, duo travelers to destinations in SouthIndia mostly bike trip from Bangalore. What started as a casual outing for coffee in Kanakapura road and Mysore road has soon become a planned bike trip to similar places.

And what started as fun riding bikes to nearby places has soon become a passionate bike ride to the far destinations.

To the readers wondering why we always go to places with temples, here is the reason behind it.

Bike Trip From Bangalore: How it Started After Our Marriage

Our very first official bike trip was from Bangalore to Srirangapatna and its nearby places on 26th August 2016.

Definitely a date to remember in our life.

Then after a couple of train trips to Hampi and Belur, soon we realised that we don’t like any modes of travel except by road. Soon, we started going many one day trips by bike, challenged ourselves to go beyond the borders. One such trip was to Lepakshi from Bangalore (Andhra Pradesh) via Nandi Hills (Karnataka).

But what gave us recognition as bike riders among friends (majorly in social media since we started posting pics and total Kms we rode), was a night bike trip to Hassan. That was an unplanned trip to Hassan and we rode 500kms back to back in less than 40 hrs, day and night.

That was a greatest milestone achievement in the year 2016.

In the following year 2017, after numerous 1 day and 2 day trips, we had set another milestone of 11 days continuous bike trip within SouthIndia.

We broke the 2017 record in the following year by going 12 days long bike trip within SouthIndia.

Well, if you see, either 1 day or 2 days or 11 long days, we always visit a famous temple in that particular place. Sometimes our trip plan will be weaved around a particular famous temple in that destination.

Why temples? Why not just go to a exotic destination, chill out and come back?

The Reason Behind Visiting Temples – On All Our Bike trip From Bangalore

The only connection I remember having with temples are those in my childhood. I remember my mother dragging me and my sibling to an ancient Lord Shiva temple in the town I grew, barely giving us time to change from school uniform to civil clothes.

Many years after, I remember accompanying my roommate from Bangalore to Tirupati Balaji temple. That was a memory I still cherish.

And many years later, soon after our marriage, we went to temples with family as it was customary to darshan several temples.

But here we are, riding to all the famous places, visiting the famous/ ancient temples, taking pics, and taking great effort sorting them in all possible harddisks.

Well, to begin with, I suggested going to Srirangapatna Ranganathar temple, as a meaningful destination for our first bike trip from Bangalore.

We liked the idea of keeping a meaningful destination instead of just hanging out in any restaurant and coming back.

Unintentionally we went on a couple of temple trips in the following months.

Later we came to know, both our families liked (assumed?) that we both went on a spiritual trip, spending our weekends in a meaningful way.

Only we both knew it was not just visiting temples, it was about meaningful destinations in our bike trips.

Also we had some meaningful conversations while we were there in the temples – about the architecture and about us.

Sometimes our conversations gets more interesting, we used to compare with the previous temples we have visited, engage in that topic even after we return to our hotel rooms.

Like how we were amazed to see Karnataka’s only unique Hoysala arhictecture’s influence in Ambarnath temple, Mumbai.

Soon, by law of nature, we were naturally attracted to similar destinations, and many good things happened since then.

The Best thing Happened from Visiting Temples in Bike Trips

The constant planning and organizing the trips became my main hobby after marriage.

We were always on the wheels, sometimes going to the same destinations again and again because we did not have any plans laid for that particular weekend. Or simply because of silly reasons like how we liked to have black coffee in Tiruvannamalai (200 kms bike trip from bangalore) and going to nearby Tirukoilur riding among sunflower fields.

Sometimes we go out shopping, but change our mind soon after we exit our apartment building, ride to the far destination for cuppa coffee and come back home only late in the night.

We soon became best friends riding together, talking about the past and the future.

In the past 5 yrs of married life (as of Sep 2020), we grew together as a strong couple and the complete credit goes to all the numerous travels we went (including the ones by train, by air and car).

Note to readers

Click on the category in this website – Road trips from Bangalore to read about all the interesting places we went by bike and car.

Had we not started visiting temples in our short bike trips from Bangalore, we would not have planned our 11 days long bike trip in the year 2017 and 12 days trips in the year 2018. Because it is difficult to just kill time without any purpose.

Wow, what a journey we had. Looking back, it was like magic, but we did it. Riding under sun and moon, storm and rain, we rode bike continuously for those many long days.

You know what else we achieved from those bike trips?

Apart from becoming friends-

Apart from undertaking long bike trips and eventually becoming super confident riders-

We have realised one very important thing in life.

Together we are strong.

Together we can achieve anything.

As an individual, we have our own strengths and weaknesses. But when we both are together, we have only strength.

But Why did I go on a solo trip for 5 Days?.

Final Words – We are not Temple Crazy

Before you think of me as crazy visiting only the temples on our vacation – know this. I am not a spiritual nor a devoted traveler to temples. It’s just the curiosity to know the significant importance of many temples from one another. Also, I am totally in love with the ancient architecture and the lost temples. So you cannot find me visiting any modern age temples, or any non-historic temples for that matter.

Like this train trip to Belur in Karnataka, where we explored 2 less popular Hoysala architectures, the two very beautiful temples in Karnataka.

And once we have been to 24 temples in 3 days in Kumbakonam, the only place where temples are more than tea shops in TamilNadu. So could not get enough from those 3 days, we planned 11 days long motorbike trip to explore the Kumbakonam temple city.

Did we ever go on an exotic trips?.

Many actually.

We did go exotic places like when we stayed in Aveda Resort in Kumarakom, The continental Inn for a week stay in Mumbai, The Grand Mercure in Mysore, Riva Resort in Goa to name a few.

Famous Temples in Kumbakonam – A Very Big List with Google Map link

Renu on August 5, 2020

This is the only article which has long list of famous temples in Kumbakonam with google map links from our frequent visits. Probably its the only article in the internet with loads of temple list with google maps. Enjoy your cultural trip to Kumbakonam.

This article is useful for those who are looking to explore the famous and must visit temples in Kumbakonam, navagraha tour in Kumbakonam.

Kumbakonam became one of the favorite long bike trip destinations when we went on a 3 days trip for Masi Maham Festival in the year 2017. Soon in the same year, we planned a 11 days long bike trip from Bangalore to Kumbakonam. Because we loved the temple city’s breathtaking temples and its serene beauty.

So I can proudly say I know well about Kumbakonam like how well I know Bangalore.

Famous temples in Kumbakonam and other important temples in and around Kumbakonam are covered in this article.

Famous Temples in Kumbakonam and Much More

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock this holy town on all auspicious days.

As I mentioned earlier, we first went to Kumbakonam for the Masi Maham festival in the year 2017. Little did we know that time is that we are going to come back year after year to this beautiful temple town.

The famous temples in Kumbakonam and many other things people don’t know about.

Kumbakonam is famous for “Navagraha temples” – a unique spiritual experience of visiting 9 planet gods in their individual houses.
The temple city is famous for “108 Divya Desam” temples – of 108 Historic Vishnu temples, 40 temples are in chola region (trichy -tanjore- kumbakonam belt).
Kumbakonam is famous for “275 Devara Padal Petra Stalam” temples – Of 275 historic Lord Shiva Temples, 18 temples are in and around Kumbakonam town.
The city is also famous for one of the largest manufacturers of Temple brass and bronze items.
The Airavatesvara Temple built by Rajaraja Chola II (1146–73) during 12th century is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur, the Gangaikonda Cholapuram in Kumbakonam that are referred to as the Great Living Chola Temples.
Less known famous thing about Kumbakonam is that they are known for their unique handloom weaving of silk sarees. “Thirubhuvanam” is the place to look for power looms and sarees that are available for buying in all shops in the centre town.
The Flora and fauna of this town is very rich, thanks to the 3 rivers adorning the city, namely – Cauvery, Araslaru and Kollidam.
Needless to say, Kumbakonam is wide known for its coffee. Every sip is a bliss.

(Because I am a coffee lover, I wouldn’t miss a chance to try good coffee).

Other than the above mentioned list of historic temples, there are hundreds of important temples in and around Kumbakonam.

You will fall in love with the majesty and beauty of the temple architecture. They are so big that it would even take some time to figure out the entrance to the temples.

Here is the list of Kumbakonam famous temples and must visit temples in Kumbakonam once in life from our multiple road trip experiences.

List Of Famous Temples in Kumbakonam – An Intro

I am giving a list of both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu temples in the following order.

(a) famous temples in the center town Kumbakonam. They are within 10km radius and are the most beautiful temples you must visit once in your life. You could skip going to Navagraha temples altogether unless you specifically wanted to go for some horoscope reasons.

(b) famous temples around Kumbakonam. These are nearby famous temples in Kumbakonam from the main town. And some are far from town like Tanjavur and Chidambram).

The following list of temples are my most favorite and must see temples in Kumbakonam. I cannot give you the exact plan of where to start and where to end the temple trip. It is not practically possible actually. I can share my side of the story, hoping it would help you in planning your trip.

These are the most famous temples in Kumbakonam, let’s see them category wise.

A. List of Must Visit Famous Temples In Kumbakonam town

(i). List of Lord Shiva Temples

Let’s start with Lord Shiva temple for 2 reasons – they are open for darshan very early compared to Lord Vishnu Temples.

Click on the individual temples to get the google map link.

Kudamookku – Adi Kumabeswarar Temple – Padal Petra Stalam
Sri Nageswarar temple -Padal Petra Stalam
Sri Someswar temple – Padal Petra Stalam
Kottaiyur Shivan Temple – Padal Petra Stalam
Kasi Vishwanathar Temple
Abhi Mukheswarar Temple – Facing the Mahamaham tank
Shri Airavatesvara Temple – UNESCO Heritage

(ii). List of Lord Vishnu temples

These are the famous Lord Vishnu temples in the centre town Kumbakonam, all the following temples are connected with Mahamaham Festival.

Chakrapani Temple – Vila Archanai which is usually performed to Lord Shiva is performed here for Lord Vishnu.
Sarangapani temple – Lord Ranganathar residing on a big chariot mandap is the attraction here. And the temple is also breathtakingly huge.
Ramaswamy temple – A Marvellous temple with intrinsic work of paintings depicting the Ramayanam.
Varahaperumal Temple.
Rajagopalaswamy temple.

B. List of Temples around Kumbakonam

(i). List of Lord Shiva Temples

Thirusakthimuttam Temple,Padal Petra Temple – Padal Petra Stalam
Gnanambiga Sametha Sri Thenupureeswarar Thirukovil – padal petra stalam
Pazhayarai Vadathali Temple,Padal Petra Temple -padal petra stalam
Sri Garbarakshambigai Temple Thirukarukavur (for child birth) – padal petra stalam – Very beautiful Goddess Parvathi
Thirunariyur Shiva Temple – padal petra stalam (Also visit nearby Shri Saneeswaran Temple – Sani Stalam)
Thiruvanjiyam Arulmigu Vanchinadha Swamy Thirukovil – Lord Yama Statue
Sri Naganatha Swami Temple (Raghu Stalam) – Padal Petra Temple – Majestic Temple famous for Afternoon pooja on sundays to Planet Raghu.
Thirumanancheri Shiva Temple
Sri Kampahareswar Temple – Tirubhuvanam Majestic Very Beautiful temple.
Sri Mahalingaswamy Temple Thiruvidaimaruthur – Padal Petra Temple
Gangai Konda Cholapuram Thiru Brihadeswarar Thirukkovil – UNESCO Heritage
Thirumetrali Shiva Temple – Bramha Nandeeswarar Temple (Broken Lord Shiva temple with big Square Sivalinga)
Pasupatheeswarar Temple –padal petra stalam
Thiru Nallur KalyanaSundareswarar temple – padal petra stalam
Palaivana Nathar Temple,Padal Petra Temple – padal petra stalam
Sri Sivapuranathar Temple -padal petra stalam
Sakkottai Shiva Temple – Sri Amirthakalasanathar Temple (raghu Stalam) -padal petra stalam
Maruthanallur ShivaTemple -padal petra stalam
Sri Swarnapureeswarar Temple -Alagaputhur Shiva Temple – Padal Petra stalam
Tirupandurai Shiva Temple – padal petra stalam
Sri Sornapureeshwarar Temple, Andankoil – padal petra stalam
Thiruvirumpoolai Shiva Temple (Guru Stalam) – Padal Petra stalam
Kovilvenni Shiva Temple – Padal Petra stalam
Arulmigu Sathurangam Vallavan Temple – padal petra stalam
Shri Amirthanayagi Samedha Naganathaswamy Temple (Raghu Kethu Parikara temple) -Padal Petra stalam
Sri Saraparameswarar Temple -padal petra stalam
Thirunaalur Meignanam Sivan Temple -padal petra stalam
Kudavasal Koneswaran Shiva temple – padal petra stalam
Thirukollampudur Shiva Temple -padal petra stalam
Narthanapureeswarar Temple, Thalaiyalangadu (Lord Natarajar)
Manakal Ayyampettai – padal petra stalam
Karaiveera nathar Shiva Temple — padal petra stalam
Shri Suryanar Kovil – Suriyan Stalam
Sri Vijayanathar Temple, Thiruvijayamangai -Padal Petra Temple
Sri Vijayanathar Temple, Thiruvijayamangai,Padal Petra Temple
Innambur Shiva Temple – Padal
Sri Saatchinathar Temple, Thirupurambiyam
Vilvaneshwarar Temple, Thiruvaikavur,Padal Petra Temple
Vada Kurangaduthurai temple – padal
Thiruvisanallur Shiva Temple -PAdal
Sri Karkadeswarar Temple -padal
Apath Sahayeswarar Temple (Siva Temple), Aduthurai – padal
Thirukodeeswarar Temple, Tirukodikaval – padal
Thirukozhambam Shiva Temple,Padal Petra Temple
Sri Shanbakaranyeshwarar Temple,Padal Petra Temple
Thiruneelakkudi Shiva Temple – padal
Shri Natarajar Temple, Konerirajapuram, padal
Thiru Anniyur Shiva Temple, padal
Karuveli Sarguna Natheswarar Temple, (very big temple pond)- padal
Thiruveezhimizhalai Shiva Temple (big temple) -padal
Thirumarugal Shiva Temple
Uthrapatheeshwaraswamy Temple, Thiruchengattangudi
Nannilam Shiva Temple
Thirukondeswaram Shiva Temple
Thirupanaiyur Shiva Temple
Thirupugalaur Vardhamaneswarar Temple

(ii). List of Lord Vishnu Temples

These are the list of Divya Desam temples situated nearby from centre town Kumbakonam.

Famous Temples around Kumbakonam – Nearby cities

First we saw a list of must visit famous temples in Kumbakonam within 10kms radius(A). Second we saw important temples around Kumbakonam with little travel distances (B) (about 1hr).

Lastly, here is the list of famous temples around Kumbakonam that is – quite far from this city.

I tried my best to give this list up until the Tiruvaiyaru, Mayiladuthurai and Thiruvarur routes.

(C). List of Lord Shiva temples

Gangai Konda Cholapuram Thiru Brihadeswarar Thirukkovil
Sri Kampahareswar Temple, Tirubhuvanam
Sri Mayuranathar Temple – Mayiladuthurai
Vaithiyanatha swamy temple (Sevvai Stalam) -Vaitheeswarankoil
Sirkazhi Shiva Temple – Sirkazhi
Sri Abhirami Amirthakadeswarar Temple – Thirukadaiyur
Sri Dharbaranyeswara Swamy Temple (Saturn Temple) – Tirunallar
Thiruvarur Shiva Temple – Thiruvarur
Sri Aiyarappar Temple – Tiruvaiyaru
Thanjavur Big Temple
Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram
Ranganthar temple, Trichy
Rockfort temple, Trichy

The above temple lists are the very popular Lord Shiva temples in the major districts around Kumbakonam. We have covered all the temples during our long bike trip in the year 2017 and 2018.

If you are on a short trip, but want to make the most of your trip, here is the plan.

In that way, you will not only see Kumbakonam, but also cover most of the historically important places just in one trip.

That’s what many travelers do. Because all the above mentioned places are famous only for the temples.

Except for Chidambaram, you could go sightseeing to Pichavaram mangrove forest.

Since the accommodation and food was satisfactory beyond expectation we stayed in Kumbakonam for many days. Apart from that, we also loved the city very much. From there we traveled to the nearby cities by bike.

Note that there are no waterfalls in Kumbakonam, but it has lots of waterdams, lakes and ponds. One such famous place is Anaikarai Bridge – a very old bridge over the Kollidam river.

Read – Kumbakonam is Famous for Not Just temples.

How We Covered Many Temples in a Day

Even Though we had stayed for more than a week in Kumbakonam, we had crazy plans to cover as many temples we could in a day possible.

Once we have covered all the temples in Kumbakonam (A), we then traveled to nearby towns like Sirkazhi, Mayavaram, Thanjavur, Thiruvaiyaru, Mannargudi, etc

We covered many temples as we could because of the following 2 reasons –

We raised early, we were in the temple for the early pooja. Tirelessly, we visited temples until their closing time at 12 noon. Needless to worry about the food, as you will get plenty of good choices along the way. Almost all Lord shiva temples are open for darshan as early as 6am. Eventhough, Lord Vishnu temples are open early but early morning darshan time varies depending on the temple. Sometimes you would have to wait until 8 am. Therefore it is smart to visit the Shiva temples first, then later visit the Lord Vishnu temples.
We went by Motorbike, and it’s just the two of us. Both our energy level matched and we loved every single day of non-stop travelling in bike. We had a tank bag where we kept our SLR, mobiles, chargers, power banks and water bottles to keep the trip plan smooth. We never in a day deviated from our plan, thanks to my 10 days of research and planning.

From Bangalore to Kanchipuram Road trip or Train trip?

Renu on July 12, 2020

We are frequent travelers from Bangalore to Kanchipuram since 2017.

And we have experience of travelling by both car and train to this Famous Temple city in Tamil Nadu,

I am sharing our travel story here and giving you the best route with distances for you to choose.

Also suggestions on places to see in and around Kanchipuram.

Since it is a temple city, I have also given a list of famous temples in Kanchipuram to visit.

ImageCredit – Indianrailinfo

Distance From Bangalore To Kanchipuram

Distance from Bangalore to Kanchipuram via Vellore is 280 kms (which is the only best route by car).

We traveled regularly to this famous temple city Kanchipuram (also called Kancheepuram). Just how we well know Tiruvannamalai and Kumbakonam, same way we know Kanchipuram city in and out.

The name “Kanchipuram silk sarees”, for the silk sarees weaved in this temple city made it popular worldwide.

Many people travel exclusively for Temple trip and many for just shopping silk sarees in Kanchipuram.

Whichever are the reasons you are planning a trip to Kanchipuram, I have a best route for you.

And travel guide for both car and train.

Best Route – From Bangalore to Kanchipuram By Car

In July 2019, we went on a road trip from Bangalore to Kanchipuram, via Vellore.

Trust me if we had known this route earlier, we would have saved lots of pain going by train.

Bangalore to Chennai Highways is the route we took to reach our destination.

Bangalore to Kanchipuram Best route by Car

Home (Bangalore) – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Ambur – Vellore – Kanchipuram.

And this is the fastest route to reach your destination by road. Also it has many advantages, here is the list.

Advantages of Taking Chennai Highways

From our recent road trip from Bangalore to Kanchipuram, here are the major advantages of taking the Chennai highways.

Fastest and Best Roads – From Bangalore to Kanchipuram NH 48

Well paved route and seamless National Highways (Chennai / Mumbai Highway) connecting non stop from Bangalore to Kanchipuram with 280Kms.

If you compare the other alternate routes’ distance from Bangalore to Kanchipuram via Kolar and Chittoor, this route is the longest. Yet the fastest route with well planned bridges, tunnels and fastest toll booths with Fast tag facilities.

Best Restaurants Choices

Many good restaurants with toilet facilities just like in Bangalore – Salem Highways.

You could reach your destination in 6hrs driving non – stop from Bangalore, provided you have started early to avoid the traffic.

But if you ask me, you could stop at these following places for refreshment.

Here is the list of best restaurant from Bangalore to Kanchiputam

Hotel Krishna Inn – Shoolagiri (Before Krishnagiri)

For the best South Indian breakfast. I have talked more about this place. This place is famous for awesome food and a pit stop for hundreds of bike riders. You could see hundreds of them at the same time between 6.30 am to 9 am.

We never miss stopping here for breakfast at Krishna and coffee from nearby CCD or McD.

Here I am sharing some of our favourite south Indian dishes we try regularly here.

This is the google map location – https://goo.gl/maps/PHZGkqpGUA7g6AVa6.

From bangalore to kanchipuram road trip — Ghee Dosa from Krishna Inn, Bangalore – Salem Highways restaurant

restaurants in Bangalore highways — Pongal and vada from Krishna Inn, Bangalore – Salem Highways restaurant

I would not suggest any restaurants in Hosur, the most crowded place no good for any kinds of restaurants.

Otherwise there are many other options in Bangalore – Chennai Highways.

From Bangalore to Kanchipuram – the List of other Famous Restaurants

Adyar Ananda Bhavan
Hotel Krishna Inn
Murugan Idly shop
Sai Anandha Bhavan
Hotel Sai Sangeeth restaurant in Vaniyambadi (just before Vellore)
and plenty other good options in Vellore.

SaiSangeeth restaurant in Bangalore to Chennai Highways

Many good choices to Stay in Vellore

From our couple of trips to Kanchipuram by train and car, I suggest staying in Vellore for 2 main reasons – Food and Accomodation. In Kanchipuram, We had stayed once in GRT hotels and once in Pine tree hotels, those two were the only good choices in this crowded temple city. And for food, there were only Shree Saravana Bhavan hotels with a couple of branches in the city, a monopoly player with a very poor ambiance and service. Therefore we didn’t prefer that restaurant.

So, stay in Vellore where you will be spoilt for choices for boarding and lodging. And couples of famous sightseeing places that makes your stay even more memorable. Next best place would be Chennai, if you are en-route Chennai.

Read Related – Two Day Trip From Bangalore to Vellore and Kanchipuram (Best 2 Day Trip by Car)

Bangalore to Kanchipuram By Train

Distance from Bangalore to Kanchipuram by train is the same as road trip distance. Certainly there are no direct interstate trains to Kanchipuram Railway Junction.

You need to get off at Arakkonam Junction, which is the nearest Kanchipuram Railway station. Furthermore, you need to take a local train or bus to Kanchipuram town.

Though you have plenty of choices for local trains and local buses, all are unnaturally crowded at those early hours.

If you are planning to travel by train, I suggest travelling by A/c compartment. Otherwise, the whole journey will be an upsetting experience. This is why.

When we went to Kanchipuram from Bangalore by train, we had the worst experience of life.

In the General Sleeper we have booked, the entire compartment was outnumbered by the illegal passengers.

It was a total nightmare dealing with illegal passengers throughout the journey. Not a teeny tiny guilt of disturbing the sleeping passengers with their loud voice. Adding more spice, they occupy the little space left at the end of the berths giving no room for passengers to stretch their legs.

Above all, some using their small babies as a innocent image to pick pockets from the sleeping passengers.

Also, the big goons of locals adamantly blocking the way to the toilets and exit doors etc.,

Hence, We stayed alert every single minute safeguarding wallets and baggage. And ended grumpy whole next day.

How to Reach from Arakkonam to Kanchipuram

The train reached Arakkonam station around 5am, we exited with a pounding headache and sleepy eyes.

We then hired a local auto to the nearest bus station. From there we took the local town bus to Kanchipuram.

Otherwise one could take local metro train from Arakkonam to reach Kanchipuram.

We traveled for about 1.15 hrs by bus to finally reach our Hotel room.

That was the very last trip from Bangalore to Kanchipuram by Train.

List of Must See Kanchipuram Temples

These are the list of must see temples in Kanchipuram.

Kanchi Kamakshi Temple: The temple dedicated to Goddess Parvathi, one of the Sakthi Peedam temples in Tamil Nadu. It is important to first darshan Kamakshi Amman before any other temples in this holy city. Google map link – https://goo.gl/maps/vEr2RKARgG9Zj7C3A
Ekambareswarar Temple: Lord Shiva is said to have manifested himself in the form of Prithvi Lingam. This lingam represents one of the five elements “earth”. Since mother Kamakshi is the common Ambica for all the temples in Kanchipuram, hence Shiva temples in Kanchipuram does not have any goddess shrine. I mean most of the temples in and around Kanchipuram. Google map link – https://goo.gl/maps/Am3yv7WPpvPsmr9u8 .
Varadharaja Perumal Temple: The temple along with Ekambareswarar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kanchipuram is popularly known as Mumurtivasam (Credit – Wikipedia). Being one of the 108 Divya Desams, a most popular temples for vaishnavites. This “Vishnu Kanchi” is a must visit in kanchipuram temples.

Places to Visit near Kanchipuram

Kanchipuram city is one of the best weekend getaways from Bangalore for temple visit or silk saree shopping.

Yet you cannot spend more than 2 days as Kanchipuram visiting places are limited.

If you have more time in your Bangalore to Kanchipuram road trip, you could rather go nearby places. The nearest, famous tourist places like Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram.

Or you could plan a round trip to Chennai. You could start from Bangalore to Kanchipuram, then Chennai before returning back home.

Likewise, you could also make a round trip to vellore, stay in Vellore to look around the places.

Hope our experience would help you plan the trip schedule from Bangalore to Kanchipuram. Plan on the places to stay and explore the holy silk city.