Visiting a temple: the questions people ask

Because most pages that rank for a temple are travel articles, and a travel article has no reason to revisit a timing after it is published. A schedule that changed after a renovation, a festival or an administrative decision stays frozen on that page for years, and the next writer copies it from there. Nothing in that chain ever checks back with the temple.

Very few do. A typical Hindu temple runs a sequence of ceremonies through the day with the sanctum closed between some of them, and the pattern shifts with the season, the lunar calendar and local festivals. A single pair of times is usually a simplification of something more complicated.

Many temples close the sanctum for a few hours in the middle of the day for offerings and rest. Visitors who arrive at lunchtime, which is the most convenient hour for a traveller, find the doors shut. Where a temple does this, its page here states the closure as clearly as the opening.

Some do and some do not, and it varies by country as much as by temple. Where one exists it is often the single most useful fact on the page, because arriving on it wastes an entire journey. It is stated explicitly rather than left for you to infer from a list of hours.

On major festival days the ordinary schedule is usually replaced rather than extended. Hours can move by several hours, queues can run all night, and at some temples the deity is not in the building at all. Treat a festival date as a different schedule, not a busier version of the normal one.

Often yes. The grounds, the queue and the exhibitions can be open when the sanctum is closed, and a temple that publishes one set of hours may mean either. Where the two differ, both are listed separately here, because that difference is what decides whether a visit is worth making.

Not on its own. Map listings are frequently edited by the public, rarely reviewed by the temple, and almost never updated for festivals or seasonal changes. They are worth checking against the temple's own source rather than instead of it.

Trust the temple over anybody else, and the more recent source over the older one. If the temple itself is silent or contradicts itself, treat the schedule as unconfirmed and plan for it: arrive early, keep the day flexible, and do not build a connecting journey around a time nobody can vouch for.

Usually yes, but not always. A small number of temples restrict entry to Hindus, sometimes to the main sanctum only and sometimes to the entire complex. This is stated on every temple page here, because it is the single fact most likely to turn a planned visit into a wasted journey.

It varies, and the rule often changes between the grounds and the sanctum. Photography of the deity is commonly prohibited even where photography elsewhere is fine. Where phones are banned entirely, there is usually a locker or counter at the entrance, and knowing that in advance saves a long walk back.

Large bags are refused at many temples and have to be left at a cloakroom, which may close before the temple does. Where a security check operates, expect the queue for it to be part of your visit rather than separate from it.

Most Hindu temples admit visitors free. Some charge for particular queues, particular darshan slots or particular exhibitions, and a few heritage temples operate as ticketed monuments with an entrance fee. Where a fee exists, the page says what it is for and where it is paid.

At some large temples the administration runs faster queues for a fee, alongside the free one. These are run by the temple itself, at its own counter or its own website. Anything sold through a third-party site is not that, whatever it claims.

Many temples run separate queues by gender, and a good number have a shorter route for elderly and disabled visitors, sometimes with wheelchair assistance. Provision varies widely, so where a temple publishes what it offers, its page carries it.

Yes, everywhere that admits the public. The practical constraints are the queue rather than the rules: long waits, no seating and stone floors in the heat are harder on small children than on adults, and few temples allow prams inside.

From the temple or the trust that runs it, wherever it publishes: its own website, its app, its notice board or its verified account. Each fact shows which of those it came from and the date it was last checked, so you can weigh it yourself rather than taking it on trust.

No, and no site can honestly promise that. Schedules move for festivals, ritual days, weather and repairs, sometimes at a day's notice. What you get here is the last verified position with its source and its date, which is enough to judge whether to rely on it or confirm first.

Because the temple publishes nothing, or publishes something that contradicts itself, and no honest source exists to quote. Saying so is the accurate answer. Filling the gap with a plausible time would make the page look finished and send somebody to a locked gate.

Nothing. No entry, no darshan, no ticket, no queue skip and no tour. Where a temple runs its own booking, the page points at the temple's own channel. Anyone charging you through a third-party site to arrange temple entry is not connected to that temple.

No. It is independent. It carries what temples publish, credits them, links to them and corrects itself when something changes. It has no relationship with any temple, trust or tourism body and is not funded by one.

Through the contact page, with whatever you saw. A photograph of the notice board is the most useful thing anyone sends. Reports from people who were at the gate are the fastest way a schedule gets corrected here, and each is checked against the temple before anything is changed.