So, this happened during March 2018 - 2 years now.
On a Thursday morning, my wife asked me
"Ram, why can't we go visit all the Navagraha temples, starting tomorrow, early morning and be back to Chennai on Sunday Night".
Though i was delighted internally, as Riding and Driving are 2 of my 4 favorite past times. In fact, had an idea to sign up with
Ola or
Uber for a day as driver, just to get that experience. Still having.. let's see.
So coming back, i said "Yes ma, we can do that, but cannot start by Friday Morning, rather by 4:30 that evening, so that the children can finish their schools and we can start off" as if they are preparing for IAS and IPS.
PS: 2 years before, my elder was in her 3rd std and my younger was in her Play School.
My wife as shrewd as any women, realized that it's not the school but my office commitments. She left it at that.
The Techie in me, NOT THE KIND OF TECHIE WHO CODES, BUT THE KIND OF TECHIE WHO USES SPREADSHEETS, 😁, opened the MS Excel and created the following.
The following table might be handy for anyone who plans a similar trip, once we are out of this lock down.
One main thing to note is, all these temples are closed from 12 noon to 4pm and during weekends, they are open up till 12:30. Hence if you are planning your travel during the weekdays, please be wary of this.
Plan A:
Always have a
Plan B.😆
Location and the respective Graha:
Decided to go with Plan B which was more comfortable, considering this being a family trip.
On the Day 0 night, according to plan B, we stayed at Chidhambaram. Booked ourselves at
Hotel Saradharam. Booked the same through
Goibibo.com.
Not so good rooms, after talking to Goibibo, we got a decent enough room. Thanks to them.
For bachelors and group of friends, this might still suit up, but certainly not for a family.
The car parking is spacious.
Old Hotel and it was showing in the rooms. Don't know how it is now, whether they had refurbished it or not.
But one thing, THE FOOD there at Saradharam is really GOOD. Will vouch for it. Again all these are 2 years before.
Would suggest
Hotel Vandaiyar which is just opposite to this hotel is good.. Really Good. Would certainly suggest that, as i stayed there as well in another trip and that's for another blog.
Both Vandaiyar and Saradharam are in walking distance from the bus stand
So, we went as per our Plan B and reached Kumbakonam. Here had booked myself at
Hotel Poppy's SET through Goibibo.com only.
Here one thing about Poppys SET is that, we accidentally found that hotel way back in 2013-14 and they were new at that time. Just opened. From then on, if it is Kumbakonam then it is Poppys SET only for many friends circle.
Good Place and with a Spaaaaacccciooooussss Car Parking. Yes, its's that spacious. HUGE. We had lunch there itself. Good Food. They had closed their restaurant in later part of 2018, don't know whether it is open now. Please do check for yourself. Good Food, again.
Finished our remaining temples for the day and crashed for the night.
We started as per plan, 7am the next morning. Thanks to the kids, the co-operated well.
Had our break-fast at Balaji Bhavan. It used to be a small joint and with in 3 years, it became a boutique hotel now in the name of Vainav.
This is how it was:
and this is how it is now:
Wishing them Very Best to scale great heights.
Both Poppys SET and Vainav are in walking distance from the Kumbakonam Bus Stand.
So, we finished off the remaining temples and had reached
Sri Krishna Vilas, Chidhambaram for lunch.
Please DO NOT miss this place for breakfast or lunch. Delicious Food.
Again, this was a small joint, when i used to visit Chidhambaram in the 2013-14 types and slowly it has morphed into a A/C Restaurant.
One thing which i noticed in several of my travels in the past several years, is that, somewhere between 2013 to 2018 there seems to be lot of people travelling which led many hotel establishments to develop multi-fold in those 4 to 5 years.
So after our almost 48 hours journey, we made it back to Chennai.
It was little over 48 hours.
Hope this might help people while they plan their travel in the coming days and which i WISH to happen ASAP.
For any further details regarding the trip plan, hotels, food joints in this stretch, please do ping me back. Happy to help.
The route map:
Day 1:
Day 2:
