A relay visit to 4 out of 6 abodes of Lord Murugan.
Trip members: I, me and myself !
Trip date: 23, 24 and 25 April 2016
Trip Plan : Chennai - Palani - Madurai - Tirunelveli - Tiruchendur - Chennai
I had planned this trip with very limited buffer time to see 3 of 6 abodes on same day and one, the next day. I had planned train tickets and stay accordingly and booked respective rooms.
Six abodes are as below and the ones covered in this trip and in bold.
Day 1
Left Chennai by Palani express from Chennai central around 21:30 and reached Palani by 07:30 AM. I had booked Hotel Ganpat, just couple of days earlier through Goibibo for a good offer. The plan was to refresh, put the bags at room and have Dharshan and start to Madurai ASAP! I had booked the room just to ensure the bag is safe and not toil to find a cloak room; and also, to decent place to refresh and still have the bag safe!
Hotel Ganpat is located right near the temple - just 200m from the hill-climbing point. The rooms were quite good and clean for a budget hotel. Service was also good for the short period I stayed; for the questions I asked on details about timings, distance and crowd.
There are 2 ways to climb the hill - Yaani Paathai and steps. The Yaanai pathai is ramp like walk and steps inbetween; whereas the steps are quite steep and requires patience/stamina to climb. I was able to climb the steps almost half the distance, and thinking about the crowd, I moved into Yaanai pathai to almost walk as fast as I could. In 25 minutes I reached the Rs.100 counter around 8:30. Then, got to know that dharshan is closed until 9:30 for Alangaram. The crowd moved quite fast and in 20 minutes I was out after having a peaceful and satisfactory dharshan.
There are temple people all the way offering special and quick dharshan for money; be careful not to be cheated. Rs.100 dharshan is quite good for time as well as the money goes to temple. By 10:30 I returned back to room through main steps - 20 minutes to climb down. I had breakfast at Hotel Balaji Bhavan at the Adivaram; which was okay. There are few restaurants like Hotel Gowrikrishna and few more Balaji Bhavans. Hotel Subham is located right infront of the temple entrance - food for stay and food. Checked out by 10:30 and boarded the bus to Madurai in sweltering heat !! Cucumbers and lots of water helped me all the way back to Madurai safely.
I had booked room at Hotel North Gate with good offers from MakeMyTrip. The rooms were very comfortable, spacious and extra clean! Definitely a very good option to stay in Madurai little far from railway station and bus stands. The place also has ample parking space and nearby is hotel Ashok Bhavan.
After taking rest for 1 hour, I started to Alagar Koil by 4 PM with one of my friend and his family by car. Alagar Koil is around 26 kms from Madurai bus stand - normally not so crowded roads. We reached Palamuthircholai around 5 PM and had dharshan by 5:30. Palamuthircholai Murugan temple is on a hill. 3 kms from the Alagar Koil. At Palamuthircholai, there was a stagnation of crowd because of evening pooja. We had good dharshan of Lord Muruga and also got prasadam. We then climbed down the Alagar Koil; we would not see the main deity as Chittirai Thiruvizha was ongoing in Madurai; however, spent some time at Lord Karuppanaswamy and inside the temple.
We tasted the popular Alagar Koil Dosai and started towards Tirupparunkunram - from one end of Madurai to the other.
We reached the temple entrance by 19:15 after crossing the whole Madurai. The temple was sparsely crowded and had a very peaceful and satisfactory dharshan. After a quick visit to Thirunagar and dinner (Yummy Ghee roast) at Ashok Bhavan (Periyar Bus stand), a pleasant sleep was planned to end at 2:30.
Day-2
I had booked Nellai express till Tirunelveli, earlier in the morning. It left Madurai at 04:10 AM and reached Tirunelveli by 8 AM. After breakfast at a small hotel near railway station, boarded bus from Tirunelveli new bus stand to Tiruchendur.
I was visiting Tiruchendur for a marriage. I had room booked at Shunmugar Mahal - 250m from the temple. The rooms were clean and well maintained. There are lot of restaurants nearby - notably, Mani Iyer restaurant, Ramesh Iyer restaurant and Udhayam Tea stalls, providing yummy food.
Tiruchendur temple is on the sea shore, very close to beach. The beach also is quite nice and gives a grand view of the temple and sea. There are lots of shops all around to do local shopping and eatables. A very good time killer around the temple - beach and shopping!
I visited the temple by evening around 5 PM. I went in Rs.10 queue and it was quite crowded. There was golden chariot outside carrying God and had a nice dharshan outside itself. Sneaked through using a name into a higher cost queue and was able to have a dharshan in 30 minutes. We went through other Sannithanams - Valli, Deiyvanai, Perumal and tasted some prasadhams as well. Came out around 7 PM, and enjoyed the cool breeze from the Bay of Bengal.
Other places of interest nearby are - Valli's cave, Aali Kinaru.
Next day, drove back to Chennai with a friend in car after attending the marriage.
Trip members: I, me and myself !
Trip date: 23, 24 and 25 April 2016
Trip Plan : Chennai - Palani - Madurai - Tirunelveli - Tiruchendur - Chennai
I had planned this trip with very limited buffer time to see 3 of 6 abodes on same day and one, the next day. I had planned train tickets and stay accordingly and booked respective rooms.
Six abodes are as below and the ones covered in this trip and in bold.
- Tirupparunkunram
- Tiruchendur
- Palani
- Swamimalai
- Tiruttani
- Palamuthircholai
Day 1
Left Chennai by Palani express from Chennai central around 21:30 and reached Palani by 07:30 AM. I had booked Hotel Ganpat, just couple of days earlier through Goibibo for a good offer. The plan was to refresh, put the bags at room and have Dharshan and start to Madurai ASAP! I had booked the room just to ensure the bag is safe and not toil to find a cloak room; and also, to decent place to refresh and still have the bag safe!
Hotel Ganpat is located right near the temple - just 200m from the hill-climbing point. The rooms were quite good and clean for a budget hotel. Service was also good for the short period I stayed; for the questions I asked on details about timings, distance and crowd.
There are 2 ways to climb the hill - Yaani Paathai and steps. The Yaanai pathai is ramp like walk and steps inbetween; whereas the steps are quite steep and requires patience/stamina to climb. I was able to climb the steps almost half the distance, and thinking about the crowd, I moved into Yaanai pathai to almost walk as fast as I could. In 25 minutes I reached the Rs.100 counter around 8:30. Then, got to know that dharshan is closed until 9:30 for Alangaram. The crowd moved quite fast and in 20 minutes I was out after having a peaceful and satisfactory dharshan.
 |
| View of the temple from Adivaraam |
 |
| Steps to climb the hill |
 |
| View from the top! |
There are temple people all the way offering special and quick dharshan for money; be careful not to be cheated. Rs.100 dharshan is quite good for time as well as the money goes to temple. By 10:30 I returned back to room through main steps - 20 minutes to climb down. I had breakfast at Hotel Balaji Bhavan at the Adivaram; which was okay. There are few restaurants like Hotel Gowrikrishna and few more Balaji Bhavans. Hotel Subham is located right infront of the temple entrance - food for stay and food. Checked out by 10:30 and boarded the bus to Madurai in sweltering heat !! Cucumbers and lots of water helped me all the way back to Madurai safely.
I had booked room at Hotel North Gate with good offers from MakeMyTrip. The rooms were very comfortable, spacious and extra clean! Definitely a very good option to stay in Madurai little far from railway station and bus stands. The place also has ample parking space and nearby is hotel Ashok Bhavan.
After taking rest for 1 hour, I started to Alagar Koil by 4 PM with one of my friend and his family by car. Alagar Koil is around 26 kms from Madurai bus stand - normally not so crowded roads. We reached Palamuthircholai around 5 PM and had dharshan by 5:30. Palamuthircholai Murugan temple is on a hill. 3 kms from the Alagar Koil. At Palamuthircholai, there was a stagnation of crowd because of evening pooja. We had good dharshan of Lord Muruga and also got prasadam. We then climbed down the Alagar Koil; we would not see the main deity as Chittirai Thiruvizha was ongoing in Madurai; however, spent some time at Lord Karuppanaswamy and inside the temple.
 |
| Palamuthircholai |
 |
| Alagar Koil |
 |
| Alagar Koil - Main entrance |
We reached the temple entrance by 19:15 after crossing the whole Madurai. The temple was sparsely crowded and had a very peaceful and satisfactory dharshan. After a quick visit to Thirunagar and dinner (Yummy Ghee roast) at Ashok Bhavan (Periyar Bus stand), a pleasant sleep was planned to end at 2:30.
Day-2
I had booked Nellai express till Tirunelveli, earlier in the morning. It left Madurai at 04:10 AM and reached Tirunelveli by 8 AM. After breakfast at a small hotel near railway station, boarded bus from Tirunelveli new bus stand to Tiruchendur.
I was visiting Tiruchendur for a marriage. I had room booked at Shunmugar Mahal - 250m from the temple. The rooms were clean and well maintained. There are lot of restaurants nearby - notably, Mani Iyer restaurant, Ramesh Iyer restaurant and Udhayam Tea stalls, providing yummy food.
Tiruchendur temple is on the sea shore, very close to beach. The beach also is quite nice and gives a grand view of the temple and sea. There are lots of shops all around to do local shopping and eatables. A very good time killer around the temple - beach and shopping!
I visited the temple by evening around 5 PM. I went in Rs.10 queue and it was quite crowded. There was golden chariot outside carrying God and had a nice dharshan outside itself. Sneaked through using a name into a higher cost queue and was able to have a dharshan in 30 minutes. We went through other Sannithanams - Valli, Deiyvanai, Perumal and tasted some prasadhams as well. Came out around 7 PM, and enjoyed the cool breeze from the Bay of Bengal.
 |
| Chariot |
Other places of interest nearby are - Valli's cave, Aali Kinaru.
Next day, drove back to Chennai with a friend in car after attending the marriage.
