Best Plan to visit Tirumala Tirupati Temple.
Hi Everyone. I went to Tirupati for more that 5 times. We all know how much crowd will be there at temple. Based on my experience I’m sharing a best plan for people to visit Tirumala Tirupati Balaji temple from Tamil Nadu. Basically, I’m from Tuticorin, for the first time, when I was a kid, I traveled to Tirupati by bus. You know this will be a mess definitely. Travelling 700 Kms over bus and again waiting for Dharsan will be a real difficulty. So let us drop this idea.
Free Dharsan via srivari mettu (Cheapest and fastest way to visit Tirupati lord Balaji)
Recently, I went to Tirupati with my friends. This time we begin our journey by train. There is a day time train from Tuticorin to Chennai. Comparing to bus this journey was good. Lots of fun, talks, snacks etc, but the only drawback is it took 14 hours to reach Chennai Egmore station. Now the question is how to go to tirupati from chennai? We took our supper at a hotel near egmore station and reached CMBT by 10:30 Pm. Even at that time I could see 3-4 buses for Tirupati from CMBT. Don’t be hurry in start travelling, wait and spend some time in CMBT and start your journey after 11:30 Pm. 
Why I’m insisting is, if you reach Tirupati by 2:00 or 3:00 Am then definitely you’re not going to get bus to Tirumala or srivari mettu. After reaching Tirupati get a bus/cab to Srivari mettu. Srivari mettu is a good way to see lord balaji faster. For this you have to travel over 2500 steps to reach Tirumala. Before start using the steps you can refresh yourself in the rest rooms which are available near the Srivari mettu bus stop. While climbing the steps, there will be counters where you’ll be getting an Token for free dharsan. After joining the dharsan queue you will reach laddu token counter. For paying just 20 Rupees you can get 2 Laddu Tokens. Believe me, travelling via Srivari mettu will help you to see lord Balaji in 2-3 Hours and another 30 minutes for getting laddu. The total expenditure needed for this journey is Rs 800/ Head.
Please Note: We haven’t booked room for refreshing. We’ve started our return journey immediately to Tuticorin after dharsan.
Paid Dharsan using TTD seva online (Rs 300 Token)
This time we traveled by flight from Tuticorin Airport. There is a spicejet bombardier to chennai by 9:00 Am (Time subjected to change often, Please refer to the current schedule). This time we reached Chennai Airport by 10: 30. Don’t think that travelling in flight will be expensive. I went to tirupati thrice by Air and that too on a offer. Spicejet will announce more offers than any other carriers. Just sign up for an account in their website , you’ll be getting their newsletter. For the first time, I traveled to Chennai from Tuticorin for just Rs 600, then Rs 1200, then Rs 1700. If you didn’t get any offer, then plan your journey at least 30 days before so that you can get a ticket at nominal rates (Regular fare Rs 2400 to Rs 2800).
Forget hiring cab from airport. Just 200-300 Metres walk towards your right from Chennai airport you can see Tirisulam Station. Thanks to the chennai suburban rail network, you can get many trains to Park station. Park station is just 500-600 Meters from central station. From Chennai Central station there is a train (Train Number 16053) to Tirupati at 2:15 Pm. Travelling by this train, you can reach Tirupati station by 5:30 or 5:40 Pm. As we booked Rs 300 Dharsan token, we’re supposed to join the queue only on the prescribed time (For example let us say 11:00 Am). It took just 2 hours to complete the dharsan and another 30 minutes to get laddu. Make sure you read my next article which is about the prerequisite things needed to be done before starting your journey to Tirupati. The total expenditure at this time was Rs 3500/Head.
This includes accommodation at Tirupati (Srinivasa Complex near Tirupati bus station) fares starts from Rs 200/night for 3 people.
I just shared my experience with you and now its up to you to decide your Best Plan to visit Tirumala Tirupati Temple. Please don’t forget to comment your Plan to visit Tirumala Tirupati which may be useful for other people.