Brihadeeswarar Temple Thanjavur | An architectural marvel & one of the largest temples of the world

Brihadeeshwara Temple is probably the most beautiful & clean temples I have visited.

Some key facts about this architectural marvel.

• 198 feet high sanctum tower - One of the tallest in the world
• 1000+ year old
• Dravidian temple architecture (one of 3 temple architectures in India)
• 12+ feet tall gigantic Shiva Lingam, the biggest afaik
• 16 feet long & 13 feet high Nandi, second biggest after Lepakshi Nandi
• UNESCO world heritage site

A must do

Roam around every part of the temple to witness rare beauty of temple architecture. Here is the video of my visit

How to reach

Thanjavur is the district headquarter of Thanjavur district & approximately 60 kms from Thiruchirapalli aka Trichy & 340 kilometers from Chennai, major cities near by.

By Air: Thiruchiralapalli/Trichy is the closest airport. Other major & international airport is Chennai.

By Train: Thanjavur has railway station and is well connected by train from Trichy & chennai. It falls on the Chennai-Trichy route.

By Road: Being the district headquarters, it is well connected by road and NH36 & NH83 passes through it. Though air-conditioned intercity bus service is not much available by State RTC, due to presence of cab-aggregrators like Uber, Ola & local taxi servies, you can have hassle free travel. 

Time

Indian winter (October to February) is the best time to visit Thanjavur as climate is hot & humid. Day in the winter can be hot & harsh (I visited it in September and got sun burn), hence avoid afteroon. The following is the climate data from Wikipedia.

Stay

I have not explored hotels here as I stayed in Kumbakonam and visited Thanjavur on the way to Thiruchirapalli/Trichy. But there should be good hotels, as its a district headquarters.

Near by

• Maratha palace, official residence of the Bhonsle family who ruled Thanjavur region.
• Kumbakonam, city of temples
• Trichy/Thiruchirapalli
• Srirangam