At the starting of the steps route there is a temple for Lord Ganesh ( also known as Vinayagar ). Since this Vinayagar is at the steps, He is known as Paadha Vinayagar

After worshiping the Paadha Vinayagar one starts for climbing the hill through the steps route. The steps route is a scenic route and on the way there is a small temple for Edumban. On the steps there are lot of small Mandabams - people going through the steps route take rest in these Mandabams while climbing the hill.

On the entrance of the steps route the Giant Peacock stone idol is seen.

There are exactly 697 steps. While climbing the hill gentle breeze and the scenic beauty of western ghats make one feel less tired of the climbing.

Steps View :

The Elephant path was constructed for the facility of Elephants to climb the hill. Since the Steps Route steps are very small for elephants to climb this path was constructed. During the festival days elephants are seen at the palani hill temple ( Palani Murugan Temple ). On the Elephant path there is a small water source ( Theertham ) known as Valli Sonai.

Elephant Path View :

Palani Murugan draws the largest number of devotees among all the temples of Tamilnadu. All the devotees cannot walk up the steep hill -with 693 steps to climb up. The old, sick and children were carried in 'dolies' in the past by pandarams for a fee. Two sets of people operated. The first carried the infirm devotee up to 225th step; from their onwards another set of people took up the dolies up to top of the hill. Thanks to the modern technology man carrying man was stoppedIn 1966 the temple introduced the first winch-weighing 22 tons- with a capacity for 36 seats. Now the conveyance has become cheap; It is quick to go up; easy to operate. The travel is just for about 5 minutes.For this purpose the Devasthanam laid a rail road for a length of 290 meters with the help TNEB authorities from Kundha project. They further help in regular maintenance and periodic servicing.

The haulage system works well. If there is no electricity, generators are put to service for non-stop service. Second rail road was commissioned in the mean time.

The capacity of winch is 36 seats and length of the way is 290 meters from base station to hill temple and travel time is only 8 minutes. The cost of winch is cheap and It operates from 5.20AM to 9 PM. On festival days Winch will be operated from 3.2r0 A.M to 9.00 P.M. Three Man Riding Haulage Winches are operated. The 36 seater 1st Winch was installed in the year 1966, the 32 Seater 2nd Winch was installed in the year 1981 and the 36 seater 3rd Winch was installed in the year 1988.

The service is available between 5 am. to 9 pm regularly and for a nominal fee. On important festival days the winch service operates between 4 am - 10 pm. However there was a great demand for this service as more and more people were attracted to the winch facility which is available only in this temple. Naturally a second winch was also set on operation. Even then the ever growing numbers of devotees were not satisfied. Now the third is being planned and will be launched soon.

The cost of journey of the winch for upward and downward
Adults Rs. 10/-
Childrens Rs.5/-
Special way Rs.25/-

The small trip is really made pleasant and joyful due to the presence of greenery around. It draws children and old, sick and weak for the darshan of Kulanthaivelan. Not only the temple draws devotees. But the devotees also get literally drawn to hilltop temple by winches.At the lower part of the hill the adivaram winch station maintains artificial water falls and beautiful gardens with ponds, carpeted in green and complimented with flowers.

Cable(Rope) Car:

In addition to the winch a mono Cable Fixed Grip Reversible Jig-Back Rope way system was also launched in Palani in year 2004. Unlike the winches which run on rails and drawn by a steel rope, winches operate, hanging, on steel wires; moving up and down. The rope car is operated between 5 A.M to 9 P.M. Small colourful cars carrypassengers over the mountain. The distance covered is 323 metres. The travel is just completed in 3 minutes. Each car has 4 seats.The sight from the car is awe inspiring. One can see the far away fields, the distant Western Ghats and entire Palani town. The temple authorities have made sure that the hill is covered in green. A 30 feet high water falls is being constructed. The parks and gardens use modern methods like sprinkler for watering the flower plants and grass all over the path.

In Tamilnadu, Palani is the only place where rope cars and winches are available. Both of them have become great attractions for children and devotees

The fares are nominal. A one way trip will cost Rs.15 per head. The special trip is Rs.50.

Rope Car is from 7AM to 1:30 PM & Afternoon 2:30 PM to 9 PM.

Everday Rope Car will be stopped from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM for Maintanence.

Rope Car ticket will be stopped at Afternoon 1 PM & Night at 8 PM.

After 2:40 PM Rs 50/- ticket will be issued.

After 3:05 PM Rs 15/- ticket will be issued.

When the time of crowd every half an hour Rs 50/- & Rs 15/- ticket will be issued alternatively.

In the event of Heavy Rain or Heavy Wind Ropecar will not be available.