Darshan ticket will take anywhere from one hour to three hours. Two hours is generally average time which our customers had. With all these arrangements what you get is just about 10 seconds darshan of Lord Balaji. The crowd and the security personnel would not allow you to have darshan for more than 10 seconds. But our customers say that those 10 seconds are some of the most satisfying moments in their lives.
Generally our customers for car packages prefer the same day package ie leaving Bangalore by 6:00 AM, having darshan around 3:00 PM and coming back to Bangalore around 11:00 PM the same day. Just one day leave or a holiday is enough to plan a Package Trip To Tirupati. If you can sacrifice a comfortable sleep on a spring mattress, you can have a night travel the day before the darshan, starting at 11:00 PM the day before and reaching Tirupati around 4:00 AM early in the morning next day. You can have a short nap and then fresh up at the hotel room which we provide in the package for freshup for a duration of 2 hours.
By 6:00 AM you will checkout of the hotel and visit Padmavati Temple at Tiruchanoor. After having darshan of Shree Padmavathi the cab will take you for breakfast. From there around 8:30 you will start your journey to climb the Tirumala hills. There is a check post at Alipiri where all the vehicles, luggage and travellers are checked and scanned for security clearance at the foot hills. There is special speed limit instruction will be given mentioned in the toll ticket. The minimum time taken to climb the hills is 35 minutes.
Going up Tirumala Hill and Tonsuring
Once you start your journey in the ghat roads of Tirumala, the beautiful view, curvy roads will make you fresh and positive about your pilgrimage. After reaching Tirumala if you like to have your head tonsuring (mundane) done, the diver will assist you to the Kalyanakatta where tonsuring is done. The cleanliness of the all the places is maintained very well in Tirumala. After having you head tonsured, you can have bath at the adjoining bathrooms which are also well maintained. If you are someone who visited crowded pilgrim centres before, you will be amazed at the cleanliness maintained at Tirumala in spite of the crowd.
After tonsuring, the driver will guide you to the Rs 300 ticket queue. The driver will show the place where the car will be parked. Take his phone number for any emergencies as no electronic items are allowed to take with you while going for darshan. Keep the ticket copy ready with you along with photo ID card like Aadhar of all the people In your group handy. No electronic items like mobiles, cameras are allowed. Keep the electronic items in the car. You can carry your wallets. There is dress code which is to be strictly followed by those who are going for sheegra darshan (300 Rs queue). For men it is dhoti with formal shirt or kurta pyjama, for women saree or salwar suit with dupatta.
In the Rs 300 quick Darshan Line
At the entrance of the queue free milk, coffee, butter milk and tea are offered to the pilgrims. Depending on the crowd, you can have darshan in 20 minutes to 3 hours with the special entry darshan tickets. There are many waiting rooms which are used only when there is huge crowd. Devotees need to wait in these waiting rooms and the gates will be opened one by one. Once you reach main temple, the santum santorum the crowd will be heavy. Try to go in through the right side queue which is longer and time for darshan will a couple of seconds more. Once you are in side the temple do not blink your eyes and fill them with the grace of Lord Venkateshwara.
Laddu Prasadam
Once you come out of the temple, there are smaller temples which you can visit and have darshan. Sit down for a couple of minutes. You can drop your offerings in the Hundi kept in the temple outside the garbha griha. Prasadam is distributed in small leaf pouches in the temple. After coming out of the temple go to the laddu distribution centre which is located nearby and collect the laddus. Each one of you with 300 rupees ticket will get two very tasty laddus. Reach the car and start your journey back to Bangalore.