Tirupati Balaji Temple is the most famous Hindu temple. Here Lord Vishnu is worshipped in the form of Balaji. It is believed that Lord Sri Venkateswara, also known as Srinivasa, Balaji and Venkatachalapati, made Tirumala his abode five thousand years ago. And it is said that even today Lord Vishnu is present here in his physical form. This is the reason why every year crores of people from all over the country and abroad come to this temple to have darshan.
If you want to have immediate darshan of Lord Balaji’s idol, then you will have to buy Special Entry Darshan (Seeghra Darshanam) ticket / token which can be booked online only and its price is Rs. 300.
Apart from this, online booking is also available in Differently Abled, Senior Citizen and Medical Caces categories. In the Differently Abled category, people whose disability is more than 20% get tokens. In the Senior Citizen category, only those above 65 years of age get online tokens. Under the Medical Caces category, people who have been suffering from some serious illness and are not allowed to walk much get online tokens. Online token is free for the above three categories.
The entry point all online token for entry in Tirumala temple is near ATC circle, Tirumala.
But the problem with online booking is that this booking can be done two months before of Darshan and that too only on the first date of month. But all its tickets get sold very quickly due to which online booking is also difficult.
But if you have not been able to book online, it does not mean that you will be able to see Lord Balaji. Even after reaching Tirupati temple, you can have darshan of Balaji in many ways.
The first option is Sarvadarshan queue. You do not need to buy any ticket or token to stand in this queue. This queue starts from , Krishan Teja Circle. From here you can stand in the queue without taking any ticket or token. On normal days, by standing in this queue, you can see the idol of Lord Balaji in 8 to 10 hours. And if there is a special festival, then through this queue you can see the idol of Lord Balaji in 20-24 hours. This path is about 9 kilometers long and has 3550 stairs.
The second option is Divya Darshan token. This is absolutely free. There are two types of queues for Divya Darshan. One queue starts from Alipiri, which leads to the temple through stairs. To stand in this queue, you have to take a token which is available at 3 am in the morning at “Bhudevi Complex”. Here, after taking the Divya Darshan token, you go to Alipiri and from there go up through the stairs. On the way you will find Gali Gopuram, you will have to get your Darshan token scanned, you can proceed after that. If you go through this route, you will be able to have Darshan of Lord Balaji’s idol in 5 to 6 hours. This route is 9 kilometer long. The thing is that this journey is done by continuous stairs, so elderly people, children and women should not choose this uphill route.
The second route for “Divya Darshan” is Srivari Mettu Footpath route which has 2388 stairs and you can go through this route by climbing 2.1 km to reach the temple. Srivari Mettu Footpath is about 10 km from Tirupati. You can go to Srivari Mettu Footpath from Tirupati by vehicle. This route is open from 6 am to 5.30 pm. If you go through this route, you will get Divya Darshan Token after covering half the distance. This is free. If you go through this route, it may take you at least 5 to 6 hours.
The third option to visit Lord Balaji is the Slotted Sarva Darshan (SSD) token. This token is also absolutely free. And you can get this token from (1) Vishnu Nivasam Rest House Complex, (Opposite Tirupati Railway Station) (2) Srinivasam Rest House Complex (Near Tirupati Bus Stand) and (3) Govindaraja Swamy Choultry (GNC) Rest House (Behind Tirupati Railway Station) located in Tirupati. If you reach any one of these three before 5 am, then you will get the token for that day. If you are late, you will not get the token. Here, at the time when you will get the slot token, you have to stand in the queue for Slotted Sarva Darshan.
Although the Slotted Sarva Darshan queue is very long, there are many facilities in the queue of SSD. The entrance for this darshan is through the Vaikuntam Queue Complex. The complex is a series of inter-connected halls that leads to the main temple. An efficient queue system ensures that pilgrims move in an orderly fashion through the Queue Complex, towards the main temple.
The halls in the Queue Complex are clean, spacious and airy. TTD provides a wide range of following facilities in the Queue Complex:
- Annaprasadam is provided for the waiting pilgrims on free of cost.
- Milk, Coffee & Tea are provided for waiting pilgrims on free of cost at every 3 hours interval.
- Free Medical facility is also provided.
- Well maintained toilets and RO filter water are available.
There are locker room in the middle of this queue where pilgrimages can deposit their bags. After exit from temple pilgrimages can collect their bags from outer counter. It is advised that pilgrimages should not keep precious thing in the bag for keep in locker.
Usually, it is easy to get offline Sarvadarshan tokens in Balaji temple from March to June. The number of devotees remains relatively less during these months.
Remember that as per the new rules, only those people can book rooms online to stay in Tirumala who have got online tokens for Balaji Darshan. Online booking of rooms in the Dharmashala located in Tirumala Balaji Temple Camps is done on the basis of the same Darshan Token number.
If you have not been able to book rooms online, then after reaching Tirumala there will be a long queue to get a room. If rooms are available, then after waiting in a queue for seven to eight hours, you will get rooms or halls in a complex in Tirumala itself where you can stay for 24 hours.