Hyderabad To Rameshwaram

Day 1: Hyderabad → Arunachalam

We started early in the morning from home by 9:30 AM We reached Kurnool and had breakfast. Before Kurnool, we had one stop at Beechupally (one of the famous Hanuman temples beside the Krishna river).
After breakfast, we reached Kadapa by lunchtime.
After lunch, we drove directly from Kadapa to Arunachalam.
By 11:30 PM, we reached Arunachalam. If you travel in winter, you can reach a bit earlier, but since we traveled in summer, the temperature was higher than expected, so we had to stop in between for the vehicle to cool down.

Routes:

• HYD - KUR: via NH44

• KUR - KDP: via NH40

• Kadapa to Arunachalam via Chittoor, Vellore
  

  
  
  
  

Day 2: Arunachalam → Thanjavur

After completing darshan at Arunachalam, we started for Thanjavur by 5PM we reached.
It’s only 220 km — if we had started early, we would have reached earlier — but thankfully we reached just on time.
As soon as we entered Thanjavur, we directly went to Maratha Palace because it closes around 5:40–5:45 PM. We visited the museum, palace, and bell tower — all located at one place, making it easier to cover.
However, if you are really interested in history, I suggest starting early from Arunachalam so that you can spend more time at the palace.

After visiting the palace, we took a hotel near the Brihadeeshwara Temple. There were well-maintained hotels available just opposite the temple, costing around ₹2.5k to ₹3k.
By 6 PM, we reached the hotel, rested, and later went for a little shopping. Not tourist shopping — we went to the local market where people buy vegetables and snacks. We bought some really tasty local snacks and had dinner.

Day 3: Thanjavur → Rameshwaram

We freshened up early in the morning and went directly to the Brihadeeshwara Temple.
( I suggest visiting this temple as early as possible because the temperature gets high. The temple is huge and completely built with stone, so it feels quite suffocating due to the heat.)

After darshan, we had breakfast and started our journey to Rameshwaram.

(Optional suggestion)
If you have enough time, you can add two more places:

• Kumbakonam

• Gandikota Cholapuram
  These places are around 40–50 km from Thanjavur.
  (We skipped them because we didn’t have enough days.)

We reached Rameshwaram by 3 PM.
The best thing about Rameshwaram is that there is no left or right — only one main road! After crossing a small village, we saw the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial.
This is a must-visit memorial dedicated to Abdul Kalam Sir. No cell phones or cameras are allowed — it’s highly secured because they have kept many real treasures of Dr. Kalam.

We relaxed there for a bit and by 5 PM, we reached Rameshwaram town.
We didn’t go into the congested area near the temple. Instead, we took a hotel 1.5 km away from the temple — highly recommended!
Hotels close to the temple are available but parking is very difficult. Better to stay a little away.

After reaching the hotel, we freshened up and went for darshan by auto (₹100).
(Some people know this, some may not — there are 22 wells inside the Rameshwaram Temple, said to have formed from Lord Rama's bows.
Bathing in these wells is believed to wash away all sins.)

So, before going for darshan, carry an extra pair of clothes. Changing rooms are available inside the temple itself; otherwise, you’ll have to do darshan in wet clothes.
Darshan here is simple and not time-consuming if you visit on weekdays.

After darshan, we had dinner and rested.

   

Day 4: Rameshwaram → Dhanushkodi → Trichy → Salem → Bangalore

We woke up early in the morning to watch the sunrise at Dhanushkodi.
By 5:45 AM, we reached the checkpoint. (There’s a checkpoint after crossing Rameshwaram town.)
From the checkpoint to Dhanushkodi, it’s a direct road, which opens at sharp 6:00 AM.
Make sure to reach before 6 AM because vehicles line up at the gate.

At 6 AM, the gates opened, and we traveled around 15 km to reach Dhanushkodi.
Honestly, Dhanushkodi is one of the best beaches I have ever seen — so clean, so peaceful, with perfect weather!

We spent a few hours there.
As time passed, the crowd increased — surprisingly, you will find more people in Dhanushkodi than in Rameshwaram.

While returning, we visited a temple where Lord Rama did Pattabhishekam (coronation) to Vibhishana and also saw the famous floating stones near the temple.

We returned to Rameshwaram, had breakfast, and left for Tiruchirappalli (Trichy).

At Trichy, there is a famous temple called Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam — a marvelous architectural wonder.

From Trichy, we traveled to Salem.
Between Trichy and Salem, there’s a town called "Namakkal," where we joined NH44 — a direct road to Hyderabad via Salem, Hosur, Bangalore, Anantapur, Kurnool, and finally Hyderabad.

By 11:30 PM (Day 4), we entered Bangalore.
Google suggested using Bangalore’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) during the daytime, but at night it suggested traveling through the city.
We were worried about traffic, but since it was almost midnight, there wasn’t much traffic, and we covered most of Bangalore easily.

We had to reach home by the next afternoon because of work, so we continued traveling through the night.

Day 5: Bangalore → Lepakshi → Hyderabad

After crossing Bangalore by 12:30 AM, we stopped at a petrol bunk, slept for about 2–3 hours, and started our journey again.

By 7 AM, we entered Andhra Pradesh.

Just after entering AP from Karnataka, there’s a place called Lepakshi, famous for the world’s largest Nandi statue.(Brihadeeswara temple, thanjavur had the second largest nandi)
It’s about 10 km off the highway — we covered that as well.

Then we continued our journey towards home through Rayalaseema on NH44.
(Important note: If you’re traveling on NH44 in the Anantapur district, please carry extra snacks and water.
We literally found nothing — no villages, no good hotels — just stones and mountains everywhere.
You might find some abandoned hotels or mobile tiffin centers, but they don't look reliable.)

After traveling many kilometers, we finally found a vehicle selling breakfast.
We had Rayalaseema-style spicy dosas — really good!

By lunchtime, we had finally reached home.

we have seen most of the places in tamilnadu. we tried to cover the places which we have not visited before, so this is the route according to our preferences.
if you want to go directly to rameshwaram without visiting any other places " take NH44 from Hyderabad to madurai then madurai to rameshwaram" and same route while returning.
One more route suggestion if you have not visited these places
Hyderabad - kurnool - kadapa - chitoor - vellore (golden temple) - Kanchi - Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry - Thanjavur- Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari - Madurai- Hyderabad (via NH44)
In tamilnadu most of the towns are 150 to 200km apart so according to your time and preferences, you can add places to visit.