route 17 traffic Tirupathi is the service town at the bottom of the hill, with hotels, restaurants, and transport; a

Tirupathi is the service town at the bottom of the hill, with hotels, restaurants, and transport; a fleet of buses constantly ferries pilgrims route 17 traffic the 18km up and down. You ll find most of your worldly needs around the Tirupathi bus station (TP Area) and, about 500m away, the train station.

Vijayawada is on the main Chenna Kolkata and Chennai Delhi railway lines. The daily Coromandel Express (2841) runs to Chennai (sleeper/3AC/2AC 214/544/732, seven hours) and, the other way, to Kolkata (2842; route 17 traffic sleeper/3AC/2AC 395/1054/1440, 20 hours). Speedy Rajdhani (Thursday and Saturday) and Jan Shatabdi (daily except Tuesday) trains also ply the Vijayawada Chennai route. Trains galore run to Hyderabad (sleeper/3AC/2AC 190/478/639, 6 hours) and Tirupathi (sleeper/3AC/2AC 198/502/674, seven hours). The computerised advance-booking offi ce (%enquiry 2577775, reservations 2578955; h8am-8pm Mon-Sat, till 2pm Sun) is in the basement.