Shirdi Reviews

Food, sight-seeing and shopping
We only visited the main temple at night for the evening Aarti at 8.30 pm. The most sought after darshan though is the one early morning called the 'Kakkad Aarti' which happens at 4.30 AM. Still, waiting in the queue took us an hour before we reached. Remember we had gone over a weekend, so perhaps there was extra rush. Weekdays would be better. There was plenty of singing and chanting of Jai Sai ram all along which helps you get into the mood of the place. The Darshan experience though was very good and not rushed as is when compared to some other temples of large following like Tirupati or Jagannath Puri. Almost all restaurants and hotels have the 'Sai' prefix to them. You'll find good vegetarian food restaurants right outside the entrance to the main temple complex. 'Pao bhaji' is one of the hot selling items here in all restaurants. You'll also find hot milk being served by the street side at nights, which reminds you of the Ganga ghat in Haridwar. The food experience is just about ok though. And dessert, well I relished the Prasad laddu's which are sold in packs of three (for Rs.5 a pack) in the temple complex. There is plenty of Sai Baba idols, pictures, bhajan CDs/ cassettes available in almost all curio shops but none that came across as anything special. So I picked up a B&W picture which looked least flashy.

Activities & things to do
We didn't do much else because we had planned to go to the temple only. We were staying at the Sai Leela one of the better hotels, which is about 2.5 km away from the temple but offers a pick and drop on call which more than makes up for the distance. Anyways, it is not much of a walk if you don't have aged people in your group. The best hotel in the area though is the Park Inn of the Sarovar group. But in case all you need is basic comfort then the 5 star rates might appear irrational for a night at pilgrimage. Oh yes, one very important thing: do not carry mobile phone with cameras or Cameras with you into the temple complex as you would have to deposit them in the complex. Best would be to leave them at the hotel. Dont forget to sing along 'Jai Sai Ram' in the queue and come back with remembrance of the saint in your heart and mind.

Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc.
We travelled from Bangalore to Shirdi via the Karnataka Express which has a one minute halt at the nearest Station Kopargaon. From Kopargaon its a 20min ride in auto which costs you about Rs.70/80 (non-shared). We came back via flight from Pune which is about 240 km away from Shirdi. Actually Bombay is also just about 270km away so in terms of flight/train connectivity is a much better option.