How to enjoy a three-day trip to Tiruchirapalli
There are some major towns in Tamil Nadu, where one can mix visits to temples, do a bit of shopping, see a movie and just relax as well. Of course, the city would have one or two tourist spots as well. Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu is one of them. Some travel tips are given in this article.
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Introduction
Tiruchirapalli is the fourth largest city of Tamil Nadu. It houses a big industrial unit of BHEL and has a prestigious IIM and the best NIT in India. It also has prestigious world-class Arts and Science Colleges like the St.Joseph's College. Yet, there are nice picnic spots in and around Tiruchirapalli and a good number of famous temples. Some practical tips are mentioned here. One should note that the names of famous hotels serving very good food mentioned only as a guide and not as any recommendation, in this article.How to get there and where to stay
Tiruchirapalli has direct flights to a number of locations including New Delhi and rail connections to most cities in India. It has direct trains to New Delhi, Howrah and Mumbai. It is just four hours by the prestigious Vande Bharat train that goes beyond Tiruchirapalli to a town called Tirunelveli. The best way to plan a trip is to come to Chennai in the early morning in the month of September and spend the full day going around to see the different tourist spots in Chennai. This metro city has numerous vegetarian hotels offering the high quality food and it worth trying. Details can be had through YouTube videos, or through Google. A comfortable stay in a fairly good AC accommodation for a couple would cost around Rs2500 per night and booking can be done online as well. One can also request for 24 hour check out.The best train is the Tejas express. Take this train from Chennai at 6AM. At around 10AM, you can conveniently reach Tiruchirapalli and have your breakfast. There are too many high quality hotels near the Central Bus Stand and just anyone for the bus that takes you there. A good accommodation near the Railway Station is a very good option. Another very important point to be noted is that the tourists can jolly we'll speak in English. The hotel managers speak some Hindi as well and it is quite easy to be guided. Anyway, even bus drivers and conductors understand English very well and since there are too many educated people all around, one can easily manage with English.
As an alternative, one can stay near the city centre called Chatram bus stand. One can easily find hundreds of buses to go to this city centre, that is just at a walking distance from the St.Joaeph's college, and the major shopping centre, that starts from what is called the Main Guard Gate. There are two or three highly crowded streets where one can do any amount of shopping. Bus No1 is connects Sriramgam with the Chatram Bus Stand and then goes towards the Central Bus stand.Hence, this is the bus that is extremely frequent and one can find the State Government buses and the private buses on this route.
How to visit the Tiruvanaikoil and Sriramgam temples
Just take bus no 1 and alight at the Tiruvanaikoil stop. This Akilandeswari temple is world-famous and should be visited between 630 and 7am in the morning. Come back to the main road and take any bus going towards Srirangam. Even from the main road, one can see the majestic Sri Renganathar temple, that is famous world-wide. This temple is best visited in the morning. There are special entrances and one can also buy these tickets if he or she wants to see the Lord early. The Lord can be seen in a sleeping posture in this temple.Now, after visiting the temples, at a very small distance,, one should ask for the prestigious Parthasarathy Vilas, a pure vegetarian hotel that is very famous for the ghee dosa and Pongal that is served red hot. However, it is fine to go to the Renganathar temple early in the morning and head straight to this hotel, as the specialities get over so fast and by 8AM, the ghee dosa may not be available. Hence, after darshan and breakfast, one can visit the other temple at Tiruvanaikoil. Please note that Tiruvanaikoil and Srirangam are so near and so not get fooled by some selfish auto drivers.
Options for lunch
There are too many vegetarian hotels in and around the Chatram bus station area, that offer very good food at any time of the day. The regular thali is mostly served on the traditional banana leaf and is very tasty. However, one message that is so famous in recent times and for which there are even Hindi videos of vloggers on You Tube, is a message called the Selvi mess. This hotel offers the best of organic food cooked through fire wood and served in small quantities in mud pots. The food is fabulous in taste and at current prices, will be priced at around Rs300. But it is worth the money. All that one has to do is to board a bus that goes to the tennur side from Chatram bus stand and alight near the Govt Hospital. The hotel is situated near the Government hospital. The big speciality is that one and pick and choose the dishes he or she wants to eat from the big variety of dishes cooked every day. For dinner, the branded hotels like Ramyaas near the Tiruchirapalli Railway Station are very good. Many vegetarian hotels near the Central Bus Stand also offer good dinner of the vegetarian variety.Program for day two
After seeing the two major temples on day one, one can always go to a lovely dam site called Kallanai. This was built several centuries ago by a king called Karikalan to store river water. It is a nice picnic spot. After visiting this place in the early morning of day two, one can have breakfast and then proceed to see the Valayur Murugan temple in the morning between 10 and 12PM. After a few hours of rest, one should take a bus to Tanjore, a smaller town, around sixty kilometers away. This lovely town is so famous for its green fields and is the Cauvery delta region, that feeds the entire State, as it produces the maximum quantity of rice. One should visit the gigantic Bragdeeswarar temple in this town and head back to Tiruchirapalli in the night, at around 8 PM. Please note that there are too many buses to Tanjore and the waiting time is just three minutes or less.Program for day three
The tourist should start the day by visiting the prestigious Samayapuram temple. Please note that it is not essential to hire a costly taxi. Just go over to the Chatram bus stand. Frequent buses to Samayapuram, some ten kilometers from Chatram Bus stand are available. Never give importance to the numerous touts who would pounce on you to buy something. Some fellows will also speak in Hindi. Just go ahead and buy the token to see the Lord. It is possible to see the Lord within one hour. Finish your darshan and come back by bus to your hotel. Please do note that there are straight buses to the Central Bus station from Samayapuram. If you have any doubt, any anyone in English and you will be guided very well.In the evening, you can spend a good two or three hours shopping in the teppakulam area and also climb up the stairs to see Lord Ganesa in the rock fort temple. The shopping should be done carefully in the Burma bazaar area, as it is famous for smuggled foreign goods. Textiles are of good quality and saree collections in the big branded stores are good.
