There are two tours offered by AP Tourism for Tirupati from Hyderabad. A four day tour which starts from Hyderabad on Friday and a three day tour which starts from Hyderabad on Mon, Tues, Wed or Thursday. We traveled using the three day tour. You can make your bookings through the designated travel agents or the APTDC offices. You can also book the seats online by going to this website.
Package Details
Since the website does not provide very good details on the package inclusions probably these details would be useful.
They are using new Mercedez Air Conditioned buses for the tours so on a lighter note you can say that you have taken a ride on the Mercedez. However these buses are similar to Volvo semi sleepers in terms of comfort.
The first pick up point is in front of the Vishwanath Theatre near JNTU circle at 6 pm. From there the bus goes to Yatri Niwas in Secunderabad and then to the last pick up point at CRO in Basheerbagh. It reaches Basheerbagh by 8 pm. The bus waits for you even if you are late by a few minutes. However, its advisable not to take chances and cause discomfort to fellow passengers. Also if you delay the journey you would reach late at Tirupati and will meet more crowd there. Also you might miss some of the other temple darshans which are part of the package as the schedule is pretty hectic.
The bus would stop at around 10 pm for dinner on its way to Tirupati. You would reach Tirupati town by 7:30 am and they would take you to Sreeniwas Guest House there. You will be given a room to freshen up and have break fast. The breakfast is served on the first floor of the guest house and is not complimentary. You will have around one and half hours to do this and this time is sufficient.
The guides have difficulty in conversing in languages specially Hindi so please be patient with them. Take help of your fellow passengers or request the guide for further instructions. The guides are helpful otherwise.
He will ask you to leave most of your belongings at the guest house, even you chappals. Do not leave your chappals as you will have places in the temple where you can leave them. Regarding other belongings its your call but I would advise you to leave them. This is because you would have to go through a number of security checkpoints if you are carrying bags etc. Also do not carry any electronic items if you can. These are not allowed inside the temple and in case you do wish to carry these you will have to leave it with the guide or you need to deposit it at the designated counters. However, given the rush that is there it would be harrassment.
The Sheeghra Darshan token which comes for Rs 300 is part of this three day package. The four days package has the Rs 50 token as part of the package. Your guide will arrange for this and you need not worry about it. In spite of the token please be prepared for a 3-5 hour wait for getting the glimpse of the Lord.
Two ladoos are part of the prasadam as part of the every full ticket/token. Incase you wish to buy more ladoos you can ask your guide to do so. This would save a lot of time for you and would not cause discomfort to other passengers as well. There is a long queue for getting the token to buy additional ladoos and then there is a separate queue to get the laddo. The guide gets the complimentary ladoo for you and can easily procure additional ladoos as he waits outside while you are in the queue for the darshan. You should be able to complete the darshan by 3:30 to 4 pm.
One the main darshan is complete you would head back to the guest house and would only get around 30 mins to wind up and leave. So if you happen to come out early from the darshan of Lord utilize the time to have lunch at the stalls near the Lord Venkateshwara temple.
You will have to checkout from the Guest house by 5 and this time you will board your Mercedez bus which will take you to the Padmavati temple. The tokens for darshan here are not complimentary. You can buy a Rs 40 token which will get you complimentary ladoo and the queue would be smaller or you could by the Rs 10 token as well. Again electronic items are not allowed in the temple premises.
You should be done by 7pm and then the bus would leave for Hyderabad. It would again make a stop for dinner at around 9:30 to 10 pm. You would reach Hyderabad by 5:30 to 6 am in the morning. The bus first makes a stop at CRO, then Yatri Niwas and then at JNTU.
