Tirupati

The town below the hill

Tirupati lies on the plain at the foot of the Seshachalam Hills, a range of the Eastern Ghats in the far south of Andhra Pradesh. Almost everyone who arrives is on the way up to Tirumala, the temple town on the hill at about 980 metres, where the Sri Venkateswara Temple receives tens of thousands of pilgrims a day. Tirupati is where you sleep, eat and catch the bus: the railway station, the bus stands, the hotels and the older temples are all down here. Tirumala is run by the temple trust, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), and works to its own rules.

Getting up to Tirumala

Two one-way ghat roads, each about 18 km, climb from Alipiri at the edge of town. Buses to Tirumala leave from their own bus station in town, and free buses loop around Tirumala once you are there. The ghat roads usually close for a few hours after midnight. Many pilgrims walk instead. The Alipiri footpath is about 7.8 km of roofed steps; the Srivari Mettu path is only about 2 km but much steeper. Walkers can collect free darshan tokens on a daily quota, with ID and fingerprints taken, so check where the counter is before you set off.

Book the darshan before anything else

Every darshan runs through the Vaikuntam Queue Complex beside the temple. The free queue, Sarva Darshan, can take many hours. The paid Special Entry Darshan slots are booked online through TTD and sell out early. Phones, cameras and bags are deposited before you join any queue. A traditional dress code is enforced at the entry points, and non-Hindus sign a short declaration of faith. Tirumala is strictly vegetarian, and meat, alcohol and tobacco are banned on the hill.

What else is in town

The Govindaraja Swamy Temple stands a short walk from the railway station and needs no booking. Kapila Theertham, a Shiva temple with a waterfall, is at the foot of the hills near Alipiri. The Padmavathi temple at Tiruchanur, about 5 km away, is where many pilgrims go after the hill. West of town, Chandragiri Fort holds a Vijayanagara palace, and up on Tirumala the rock arch at Silathoranam is about 1 km from the temple.

Weather and crowds

January to May is dry, and April and May are very hot. Rain falls from June to December, and the heaviest comes in October and November with the northeast monsoon, when cyclones off the coast can bring days of downpour. December to February is the most comfortable time, with cool mornings on the hill. Crowds follow the calendar more than the weather: weekends, school holidays and festival days are the busiest. In 2026 there are two Brahmotsavams because of an extra lunar month; the second runs from 12 to 20 October. Vaikunta Ekadasi, in December or January, brings the biggest single-day crowd. In January 2025 six people died in a crush at the token counters in Tirupati, so book online rather than joining an overnight token queue. See the best time to visit for the season-by-season picture.