3 day Trip to Rayalaseema

My SIL family was in Hyderabad for a vacation and planned this 3 day road trip to Rayalaseema temples and Belum caves. As the kids were small, we planned to go by our 7 seater car.

Day 1: Started off from Hyderabad on Friday morning around 7.30 am and reached Alampur Jogulamba Temple around 11.30 am. This temple is on the banks of river Tungabhadra and pretty old. It is one of the 18 Ashtadasa Sakthi peethas. Had darshan and started off to our next destination. Had lunch on the way and reached Mahanandi temple. Had darshan of Lord Siva, also called Mahanandeeswara here and also the big Nandi statue nearby the temple. Went to Nandyal town to stay for the night.

Day 2: Woke up in the morning the next day and started off to Ahobilam around 10 am. Reached Eguva or Upper Ahobilam around 12 noon. Ahobilam consists of a total of nine temples dedicated to Lord Narasimha and 5 of them at upper Ahobilam. The main temple, Ahobila Narasimha, there was under renovation. Had darshan and engaged a guide to cover the rest 4 temples, Jwala Narasimha, Malola Narasimha, Kroda Narasimha and Karanja Narasimha, in the upper part which would involve a trek and all of us carried sticks for this trek cum spiritual trip. Though kids would find it difficult and may have to carry them during the trek but they enjoyed it fully. It was a very good trip overall and covered the 5 temples by evening and reached Kurnool for our night stay. Had snacks in the Haritha resort before heading to hotel.

Day 3: Woke up in the morning and started off to Yaganti temple which was our next destination. Reached there around 10.30 am, had darshan of Lord Siva and also Lord Venkateswara Swamy in the cave on hill. Here, the Nandi idol is believed to be growing by one inch every year. Also, the cave on the hill next to the temple has quite a few steep steps and one has to trek to go to the top for the darshan of Lord Venkateswara. Completed the darshans by 12 noon and started off to our next destination, which was Belum caves. On the way, visited Owk reservoir which is an earthen dam across the Paleru river. From there, went to Belum caves around 1.30 pm. There is a huge Buddha statue just next to the caves. These are believed to be few millions of years old and first recorded by Robert Bruce Foote in 1884 CE. Then explored and chartered by German caver H.D.Gebauer between 1982-1984. It was developed and opened to public from 2003. Started back home to Hyderabad around 3.15 pm. Had dinner on the way and reached home around 10 pm after completing the trip to Rayalaseema.

It is a good 3 day trip to Rayalaseema districts for those who are looking for a getaway with family/friends from Hyderabad with both adventure and spiritual touch. Click here for more road trips.