Tiruvannamalai temple timings, pooja schedule and tickets

Tiruvannamalai temple timings are the first thing most pilgrims look up before a trip. The Arunachaleswarar temple, the great Shiva temple at the foot of Arunachala, opens in two sessions each day: 5:30 AM to 12:30 PM in the morning and 3:30 PM to 9:00 PM in the evening. Hours are extended on Pournami nights and on festival days such as Karthigai Deepam and Maha Shivaratri.

Daily timings at a glance

• Morning session: 5:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
• Evening session: 3:30 PM to 9:00 PM.
• Pournami and festival days: extended hours, announced by the temple.
• The temple is closed between the two sessions, so plan a morning or an evening darshan.

Pooja schedule

Like other large Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu, Arunachaleswarar follows a daily cycle of poojas from the early morning opening through to the night closing. The exact times of each kala pooja are set by the temple and are displayed at the entrance; on festival days the schedule changes. We do not reproduce the pooja times here because they are revised by the temple, and a wrong hour on a website is worse than none. Ask at the temple office or check its notice board on the day.

Darshan tickets

General darshan is free. The temple also issues special darshan tickets at ₹50, ₹100 and ₹200, which shorten the queue on busy days. Availability and the rules for each counter are decided by the temple and can change, so treat these as a guide rather than a promise.

Getting to the temple, and from the temple to the ashram

• Chennai airport is about 175 km away; most visitors come by road or by train to Tiruvannamalai railway station.
• The bus stand is about 2 km from the temple, with autos and shared rides outside.
• The ashram is at Adi Annamalai on the western side of the hill, on the Girivalam path, a short drive from the temple by the Girivalam road. The map on the darshan page shows the turning at Vediyappanur Road.

The Tiruvannamalai guide on this site has the quick-answer timings box, the Girivalam calendar and the Deepam section in one place. If you are coming for Mounasamy Siddhar's darshan, the Mounasamy hub tells you the hours at the ashram, which are separate from the temple's.