hawaii ferries Tirupathi s bus station (%2289900) has buses to Chennai (deluxe/Volvo 70/155, four hours) and Hydera

B E N G A L B A Y O F N A D U T A M I L KARNATAKA M A H A R A S H T R A P R A D E S H M A D H Y A O D I S H A (Masulipatnam) Machilipatnam (Madras) Hanamkonda Bhongir Bengaluru Ramatirtham Guntupalli Bhattiprolu Chandavaram Chandragiri Vellore Kazhipet Nagarjunakonda Palampet Jagdalpur Kondagaon Medak Khamman Srisailam hawaii ferries Kondapalli Penukonda Hindupur Sri Kalahasti Chennai Bidar Nanded Kakanida (Bangalore) hawaii ferries Bheemunipatnam Anantapur Puttaparthi Dharmavaram Mahbubnagar Amaravathi hawaii ferries Macherla Anakapalle Vizianagaram Nellore Kurnool Adoni Guntakal Gooty Cuddapah Rajahmundry Eluru Vijayawada Tenali Ongole Guntur Tirupathi Chittoor Secunderabad hawaii ferries Warangal Nizamabad Wildlife hawaii ferries Sanctuary Pakhal RiverPenneri Sagar Nagarjuna hawaii ferries River Godavari Araku Valley CoastCoromandel Borra RiverKrishna Kirandul 4 7 4 18 18 5 9 9 7 Bavikonda Thotlakonda Sankaram Araku Lepakshi Visakhapatnam Tirumala Hyderabad 0 200 km 0 100 miles B E N G A L B A Y O F N A D U T A M I L KARNATAKA M A H A R A S H T R A P R A D E S H M A D H Y A O D I S H A (Masulipatnam) Machilipatnam (Madras) Hanamkonda Bhongir Bengaluru Ramatirtham hawaii ferries Guntupalli Bhattiprolu hawaii ferries Chandavaram Chandragiri Vellore Kazhipet Nagarjunakonda Palampet Jagdalpur Kondagaon Medak Khamman Srisailam Kondapalli Penukonda Hindupur Sri Kalahasti Chennai Bidar Nanded Kakanida (Bangalore) Bheemunipatnam Anantapur Puttaparthi Dharmavaram Mahbubnagar Amaravathi Macherla Anakapalle Vizianagaram Nellore Kurnool Adoni Guntakal Gooty Cuddapah Rajahmundry Eluru Vijayawada Tenali Ongole Guntur Tirupathi Chittoor hawaii ferries Secunderabad Warangal Nizamabad hawaii ferries Wildlife Sanctuary Pakhal RiverPenneri Sagar Nagarjuna River Godavari Araku Valley CoastCoromandel Borra RiverKrishna Kirandul 4 7 4 18 18 5 9 9 7 Bavikonda Thotlakonda Sankaram Araku Lepakshi Visakhapatnam Tirumala Hyderabad 0 200 km 0 100 miles

Tirupathi s bus station (%2289900) has buses to Chennai (deluxe/Volvo 70/155, four hours) and Hyderabad (deluxe/Volvo 408/717, 12/10 hours). Tonnes of APSRTC and KSTDC buses go to Bengaluru (deluxe/Volvo 153/365, six/five hours), and seven buses go to Puttaparthi daily (express/deluxe 165/227, eight hours).

The monasteries flourished during the Theravada period (Bavikonda, from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD, and Thotlakonda, from the 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD) and had votive stupas, congregation halls, chaitya-grihas, viharas and refectories. Today only the ruins of these massive monastic compounds remain, but they re impressive nonetheless, with a placid, almost magical, air and sea views to meditate on. Bavikonda and Thotlakonda are 14km and 16km, respectively, from Vizag on Bheemli Beach Rd. Vizag s autorickshaw drivers charge around 400 return to see both.