Airavatesvara Temple

The Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram, near Kumbakonam, is a UNESCO Great Living Chola Temple built by Rajaraja Chola II in the 12th century. Smaller than the Big Temple but exquisitely carved, it is famous for its stone chariot-form front mandapa and the celebrated “musical” steps.

Airavatesvara Temple, Kumbakonam
Practical guide

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Before you go to Airavatesvara Temple

Entry rules not verified for this temple. Some Hindu temples admit only Hindus, and most enforce a dress code at the door. We have not verified the rule for this particular temple, so please check before you travel — especially if you are not Hindu or are visiting from outside India.

We report each site's own published rules neutrally, and only where we can source them.

Typetemple
Nearest baseKumbakonam
DistrictThanjavur
Best timeOctober to March
Time needed45 minutes to an hour
EntryFree
Places to visit12Listed businesses85

It sits about an hour east of Thanjavur and is usually visited as a day trip from the delta or combined with Kumbakonam’s temples.

What to expect

Highlights

  • The chariot-form mandapa with wheel and horse carving.
  • The finely worked “singing” stone steps.
  • Dense Chola relief sculpture across the outer walls.
Getting there

How to visit

  • Drive from Thanjavur via Kumbakonam (about an hour); Darasuram is a short hop from Kumbakonam.
  • Combine it with other Kumbakonam-area temples to make the trip worthwhile.
  • Remove footwear before entering and confirm the midday-break timing.

Distance by road

  • Tiruchirappalli (Trichy)58 km
  • Madurai190 km
  • Puducherry170 km
  • Coimbatore215 km
  • Chennai350 km

Road km to Thanjavur; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.

Timing

Best time

October to March; morning light is kind to the carvings.

Weather in Airavatesvara TempleSeasonal guide

Live forecast loads in your browser.

Today at Airavatesvara Temple
Sunrise6:03 am
Sunset6:26 pm
Golden hour best light5:26 pm–6:26 pm
Blue hour after sunset6:26 pm–6:51 pm
Sun sets toward compass bearingW · 281°
Moon tonight🌔 Waxing gibbous · 96%
South-west monsoon. June to September is the south-west monsoon in Tamil Nadu. Expect heavy showers, mostly in bursts rather than all day — carry rain cover, allow extra time for getting around, and note that ferries and open-air sites are the first things affected.

Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.

Visitor notes

  • A small footwear-minding tip is common near the gate.
  • Foreign visitors may pay a separate entry fee.
Safety

Good to know

  • Timings run in a morning and an evening session with a long midday close.
Stay · eat · do · rent · see · shop

Stays, food & things to do near Airavatesvara Temple

Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around Airavatesvara Temple — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.

30 things to do near Airavatesvara Temple

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Hi-Way Cabs
Things to do
Taxi service
Hi-Way Cabs

A taxi and car rental operator at Christ Raja Nagar, Chettymandapam, covering local runs and business trips around Kumbakonam. Bookings are taken through the website or by phone.

Commission-freeView details
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Rimas Tours and Travel Service
Things to do
Travel agency
Rimas Tours and Travel Service

A full-service travel agent on Thiruvidaimaruthur Main Road near Naal Road, handling bus ticketing, tour packages, visa assistance for business travel, document attestation and immigration consulting alongside domestic and international tours.

Commission-freeView details
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Valli Tours and Travels
Things to do
Tour operator
Valli Tours and Travels

A Kumbakonam tour operator specialising in the Navagraha circuit, with Padal Petra Shiva temple tours, Pancha Bootha Sthalam tours and Divya Desam pilgrimages alongside airport and railway transfers across Tamil Nadu.

Commission-freeView details
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Temple Travels
Things to do
Tour operator
Temple Travels

A Kumbakonam travel agency running Navagraha temple packages, car rental and 24-hour call taxi, with airport pickup and drop to Trichy and Chennai. Their own pages set out the nine Navagraha temples and what each is visited for.

Commission-freeView details
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KJT Cabs
Things to do
Taxi service
KJT Cabs

A cab and tour operator working out of Kumbakonam since 2014, with cars up to a 21-seat Mahindra Cruzio and tempo travellers. Regular runs include Kumbakonam to Chennai and Tiruchirappalli airports; packages are sold by hours or kilometres.

Commission-freeView details
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Kumbakonam Temple City Travels
Things to do
Tour operator
Kumbakonam Temple City Travels

A car rental and Navagraha package operator in Kumbakonam. Their own pages list the full circuit with distances — Suryanar Kovil 12 km out, Agneeswarar at Kanjanoor 18 km, Thingaloor near Tiruvaiyaru, Tirunallar in Karaikal district and Keezhaperumpallam in the delta.

Commission-freeView details
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Annamalai Travels
Things to do
Tour operator
Annamalai Travels

A transport company headquartered in Kumbakonam offering tour packages, car and coach rental, car leasing, city local runs and tourist cabs. Their site doubles as a guide to the Navagraha temples and the Divya Desam temples around the town.

Commission-freeView details
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Levi Tourism
Things to do
Car rental
Levi Tourism

A car rental and tourism company on Kanmani Devi Nagar Road with more than a decade in the trade, running everything from an Indica up to Innova Crysta, tempo travellers and coaches. Work covers temple tours, airport transfers and corporate rental and leasing across Tamil Nadu.

Commission-freeView details
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JSD Travels
Things to do
Travel agency
JSD Travels

A travel agency at Chettimandapam in Kumbakonam. Their site carries an enquiry form and an e-mail address but no phone number or full street address, so allow time for a reply before planning around them.

Commission-freeView details
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Sri Vinayaga Travels
Things to do
Taxi service
Sri Vinayaga Travels

A call taxi and acting-driver service at NBS Tower on John Selvaraj Nagar Road, publishing its own tariff by vehicle class and running Navagraha packages, outstation cabs, airport transfers and college round trips.

Commission-freeView details
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Kumbakonam Navagraha Travels
Things to do
Tour operator
Kumbakonam Navagraha Travels

A Kumbakonam operator selling one-day and two-day Navagraha temple packages alongside a 108 Divyadesam package and an Arupadai Veedu package, with cars and drivers found through their own network.

Commission-freeView details
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Faisal Cabs
Things to do
Car rental
Faisal Cabs

A car rental firm on ARR Road run by S. Mohamed Faisal, with Swift Dzire, Chevrolet Enjoy, Xylo, Tavera, Innova, Tourister and tempo travellers available with or without air conditioning, by the day and across Tamil Nadu.

Commission-freeView details
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NBS Air Travels
Things to do
Travel agency
NBS Air Travels

An IATA, IRCTC and KSRTC affiliated travel agent trading since 2010, with its Kumbakonam office on Sekkangkanni Road near the income tax office. Work covers air ticketing around the clock, hotel and resort booking, and inbound and outbound tour arrangements.

Commission-freeView details
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Friends Track Call Taxi
Things to do
Taxi service
Friends Track Call Taxi

A call taxi firm on Main Road at Annai Anjugam Nagar, running fifteen years, working round the clock with background-checked drivers. Alongside town runs it sells Navagraha temple tours and tourist cabs across south India.

Commission-freeView details
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Delta One Way Taxi
Things to do
Taxi service
Delta One Way Taxi

A one-way drop taxi service running from Kumbakonam across Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh since 2010, from about Rs 13 a kilometre. Their published terms set out driver bata, hill charges and the minimum daily running for drop and round trips.

Commission-freeView details
D
Diosa Bali Spa
Things to do
Spa
Diosa Bali Spa

A Balinese-style spa inside the Cholaa Dynasty Hotel at Thiruvalanjuli, offering fifteen combination packages built from Balinese, Thai, Shiatsu, Swedish, deep tissue and hot stone massage with scrubs, wraps, facials and spa pedicures. Treatments are offered to both men and women, and a membership scheme carries discounted rates and priority booking.

Commission-freeView details
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Navagraha Temples Tour
Things to do
Tour operator
Navagraha Temples Tour

A tour operator at Annalagraharam with about a decade arranging the Navagraha circuit by car with a driver. Packages run one, two or three days — the longer ones adding the historic temples around Thanjavur and Trichy — and are built around each traveller's own pooja requirements.

Commission-freeView details
S
Senthil Travels
Things to do
Tour operator
Senthil Travels

A Kumbakonam car tour operator with sedans, SUVs and tempo travellers, running handpicked trips out of the town — Pondicherry, Thanjavur's Brihadeeswara and the Rockfort at Trichy, Rameswaram, Ooty, Tirupati and Kanyakumari — and quoting on a base-kilometre plus extra-per-kilometre tariff.

Commission-freeView details
K
Kumbam Tours & Travels
Things to do
Taxi service
Kumbam Tours & Travels

A Kumbakonam call taxi and tour agency handling local and outstation travel. Fares are published up front with no hidden charges, and the agency also sells temple tour packages, including Tirumala Tirupati.

Commission-freeView details
A
Andavar Travels
Things to do
Car rental
Andavar Travels

A car rental firm in Kumbakonam with sedans up to an eighteen-seat Force Urbania, working round the clock. Hourly packages around the town start at about Rs 1,000, and the firm also runs airport transfers to Trichy and Chennai, full-day hire and multi-day tours.

Commission-freeView details
K
KKV Cabs
Things to do
Taxi service
KKV Cabs

A Kumbakonam cab firm running one-way drops, outstation trips and hourly rentals with Tavera, Innova, Innova Crysta, Xylo, Ertiga, Mahindra vans and tempo travellers. The same business also handles train, flight and hotel booking.

Commission-freeView details
B
Barsin Traveling
Things to do
Car rental
Barsin Traveling

A Kumbakonam transport operator whose fleet runs to a Tempo Urbania, a twenty-seat van and a twenty-five-seat coach as well as cars, used for family trips, pilgrim groups, airport travel and outstation journeys.

Commission-freeView details
E
Esha Travels
Things to do
Car rental
Esha Travels

A car travel service at John Selvaraj Nagar Road by the new bus stand, running local and outstation trips, group and corporate hire and customised tour packages, available round the clock.

Commission-freeView details
C
City Track Call Taxi
Things to do
Taxi service
City Track Call Taxi

A round-the-clock call taxi in Kumbakonam handling local trips, airport transfers and temple tours. The firm specialises in the Navagraha circuit and says its drivers work to temple timings and pooja schedules; vehicles run from compact cars up to larger family cabs.

Commission-freeView details

Book with the place itself. India’s cyber-crime coordination centre warned in April 2025 that convincing copies of hotel and pilgrimage booking sites are being pushed through sponsored search and social ads, taking payment for rooms the property never hears about. Every listing here links to the business’s own contact details and its own Google or Bing profile — we take no commission and sit in nobody’s payment path. If a booking page reached you through an ad, check the address bar against the property’s own site before you pay. Fraud can be reported on cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.

Ranked

The best of Kumbakonam, ranked

Airavatesvara Temple sits in Kumbakonam, and these rank everything verified across the town rather than this one spot — built from the same listings shown above, ordered by the strength of the source evidence behind each entry rather than by anyone's star score. Every card shows how many places are really on it. Nobody pays to appear.

Across the whole of Kumbakonam

Ranked guides

Top experiences around Kumbakonam

3 more Kumbakonam experiences worth building a day around, each with a full guide, how to reach it and what sits next to it. Airavatesvara Temple is left off — you are already on it — and so is anything already shown in the nearby list further down, so nothing here repeats.

templeGangaikonda Cholapuram

A UNESCO-listed Great Living Chola Temple raised by Rajendra Chola I around 1035 CE to mark his Ganges campaign. It lies in Ariyalur district, on the Chola circuit north-east of Kumbakonam, and is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.

templeOppiliappan Temple

The Oppiliappan (Uppiliappan) Perumal temple at Thirunageswaram near Kumbakonam is one of the 108 Divya Desams, dedicated to Vishnu with his consort Bhumi Devi. By tradition it is the one Divya Desam where the offering (prasadam) is prepared entirely without salt, giving the deity the name Oppiliappan (uppu-illa, without salt), and the site is linked in lore to the sage Markandeya.

templeMahalingaswamy Temple, Thiruvidaimarudur

The Mahalingeswarar (Mahalingaswamy) temple at Thiruvidaimarudur near Kumbakonam is a large and historically important Shiva temple, traditionally regarded as the central Madhyarjuna among the great Arjuna (Marudur) Shiva temples of the Cauvery delta. It carries extensive Chola-and-later architecture and hosts major festivals.

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Before you go

Airavatesvara Temple — at a glance

TimingsRoughly 8:00 AM–12:00 PM and 4:00 PM–8:00 PM (some sources vary; indicative — confirm on site).
Best timeOctober–March

Entry: Free for Indian visitors; a small fee (~₹50) may apply for foreign visitors (indicative).

Getting here

How to reach Airavatesvara Temple

At Darasuram near Kumbakonam, ~35–40 km east of Thanjavur. Nearest railway: Kumbakonam (~5 km). Nearest airport: Tiruchirappalli (TRZ).

Getting around Airavatesvara Temple

We have not assessed physical access at this place yet. Across India, step-free routes, handrails and accessible toilets are the exception rather than the rule, and pavements are often interrupted — if step-free access matters to you, contact the site or a local operator before committing to the trip.

If you need help at Airavatesvara Temple
112All emergencies (police · fire · medical)The single number to call in any emergency (ERSS).

Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.

Nearby

What’s near Airavatesvara Temple

templeAdi Kumbeswarar Temple 1.9 km · 24 min walk · straight line
templeRamaswamy Temple 2.1 km · 26 min walk · straight line
templeSarangapani Temple 2.3 km · 29 min walk · straight line
templeChakrapani Temple 2.5 km · 31 min walk · straight line
templeNageswaran Temple 2.6 km · ~6 min by auto · straight line
damMahamaham Tank 2.6 km · ~7 min by auto · straight line
templePatteeswaram Durga Temple 2.8 km · ~7 min by auto · straight line
heritageThanjavur Bronze Icon Craft 3.3 km · ~8 min by auto · straight line
templeSwamimalai Murugan Temple 3.5 km · ~9 min by auto · straight line
templeThiruppurambiyam Sakthivaneswarar Temple 6.6 km · ~17 min by auto · straight line
templeNaganathaswamy Temple, Thirunageswaram 8.1 km · ~14 min by cab · straight line
templeGarbarakshambigai Temple 8.2 km · ~14 min by cab · straight line

All 12 places to visit in Kumbakonam →

On the map

Where Airavatesvara Temple is

Good to know

Airavatesvara Temple — frequently asked

When is the best time to visit Airavatesvara Temple?

October to March; morning light is kind to the carvings.

What are the entry fee and timings at Airavatesvara Temple?

Entry: Free for Indian visitors; a small fee (~₹50) may apply for foreign visitors (indicative).. Timings: Roughly 8:00 AM–12:00 PM and 4:00 PM–8:00 PM (some sources vary; indicative — confirm on site).. Fees and timings are indicative — confirm on site before you travel.

How do I reach Airavatesvara Temple?

Drive from Thanjavur via Kumbakonam (about an hour); Darasuram is a short hop from Kumbakonam. Combine it with other Kumbakonam-area temples to make the trip worthwhile. Remove footwear before entering and confirm the midday-break timing.

How much time do I need for Airavatesvara Temple?

45 minutes to an hour.

What else is near Airavatesvara Temple?

Nearby you can pair Adi Kumbeswarar Temple (1.9 km), Ramaswamy Temple (2.1 km), Sarangapani Temple (2.3 km), Chakrapani Temple (2.5 km).

What should I know before visiting Airavatesvara Temple?

Timings run in a morning and an evening session with a long midday close.

Read before you go

Airavatesvara Temple guides, stories & itineraries

Stories & history of Airavatesvara Temple

Written about Airavatesvara Temple itself — its history, its legends and the arguments about them.

Around Kumbakonam

Airavatesvara Temple sits in Kumbakonam, so these cover the streets, buildings and surroundings around it.

Tamil Nadu-wide guides & itineraries

Route-level itineraries and practical guides for the rest of Tamil Nadu.

See all 25 Thanjavur guides & stories →

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