Tirupati

Tirupati is the town at the bottom of the hill; the temple is at the top, at Tirumala, in the seven hills of the Seshachalam range. The deity is Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu, and the story most pilgrims know is that he borrowed a fortune from Kubera, the god of wealth, to pay for his wedding to Padmavati — and that the offerings of the faithful are still helping him repay the interest. The temple's hundi collections are among the largest of any religious site in the world.

The shrine is ancient; inscriptions show the Pallavas, Cholas and Vijayanagara kings all endowed it, and Krishnadevaraya's copper statue still stands in the temple with his queens. Today the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, the trust that runs it, manages tens of thousands of pilgrims a day — on festival days far more — with an efficiency that impresses even people who do not believe.

Pilgrims come to Tirumala to give something. Many offer their hair, shaved at the Kalyanakatta halls near the temple; the hair is later auctioned and the proceeds go to the trust. Many walk up: the Alipiri footpath climbs from the town through forest, with roughly 3,500 steps, and the shorter Srivari Mettu route about 2,400. The laddu given as prasadam, made in the temple's own kitchens and protected by a geographical indication tag, is the most famous sweet in the south.

Below the hill, Tirupati itself is a Telugu temple town with its own shrines — Padmavati's at Tiruchanur, Govindaraja Swamy in the centre — and its own food: pesarattu of green gram, pulihora tangy with tamarind, sweet pongal and bobbatlu stuffed with lentil and jaggery. The Brahmotsavam in September or October brings the god out on a different vehicle every day for nine days.

Book a special entry darshan slot online through the TTD website as soon as bookings open — free darshan without a ticket can mean many hours in the queue complex. Dress traditionally: dhoti or kurta-pyjama for men, sari or salwar kameez for women. Phones, cameras and bags are not allowed in the temple, and there are free deposit counters. If you walk up, start early and check TTD's current rules for children on the footpaths, which have been restricted since leopard sightings. And see Silathoranam, the natural rock arch near the temple, on your way out.

Tirumala is one of the holiest places in Hinduism, and the hill has strict rules: no alcohol, meat or tobacco, and the whole of it is treated as sacred. Respect the queue, keep your phone out of sight, and do not bring plastic up the hill — the trust has worked hard to keep it out. Buy laddus only from the temple counters; the ones sold outside are not prasadam.

Chennai, three hours east, is the obvious onward connection, and an hour or so south of it Mahabalipuram has the Pallava rock-cut temples — the same dynasty that made some of the first gifts to Venkateswara, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal.