Srisailam

Srirangam is THE temple for Vaishnavas, known as 'Kovil' & No. 1 among Divya Desams. Chidambaram is THE temple for Saivas, known as 'Kovil', No. 1 among Padal Petra Sthalams.

What is Tirupathi for Saivas? In Tirupathi, Lord is atop Tirumalai. Saiva equivalent is Sri Sailam - Sri translates to Tiru and Sailam to Malai. Hence, Venkateswara equivalent is Mallikarjuneswara.

Logistics

From Hyderabad, Srisailam is a 4 hour drive. From Chennai, Kacheguda Express leaves at 5pm from Egmore and reaches Kurnool at 330am. You can take a taxi (3.5 hours) or bus (5.15 hrs). You can  stay at guesthouses. Temple is open 5am to 10pm,  not too much crowded, especially ticketed darisanams. I believe Sundays and Mondays are a bit crowded.

Temple Topography

The temple is slightly different from temple topography in Tamil Nadu. Utsava vigrahas of Mallikarjuna & Bhramaramba face the Moolasthanam, next to Nandi. Nataraja faces East, in front of another Nandi, showing back side to Moolasthanam. Bhramaramba sannidhi is behind Mallikarjunar Sannidhi, facing east. No Chandikeswarar, Dakshinamurthi or Durgai. In Durgai's place is Veerabhadraswamy. Moolasthana Vimanam differs in shape with a Trisoolam at the top.

Suggested Schedule:

Suprabhatam (only 10 tickets)/ Maha Mangala Harathi (only 50 tickets): Early Morning

Shikaram, Phaladhara - Panchadhara, Sakshi Ganapathi: Open entire day, can cover all the three in one hour

Akkamahadevi Caves  - 1030 - 1530

Ticketed Darisanam (if you cannot do Suprabhatam or MMH)

Connect with the Lord

Srisailam is one of the twelve Jyotirlingams. They are believed to have been given to Adi Sankara by Lord Siva Himself. You can touch and feel Sri Mallikarjuna and perform pooja yourself. Once, you do that, you can sort of think that you have established a direct connectivity with Lord Siva.

All the three  - Sambandar, Appar & Sundarar have sung a padigam each. Sambandar & Sundarar did not visit Srisailam, but have sung from Kalahasti. Appar visited Srisailam on the way to Kailasam. Srisailam is called Tiru Paruppadam. The padigams are engaved in marble slabs in the temple near Panchalingams.

Three Marudhurs

Three temples have Maruda maram (Arjuna tree) as Sthala vrikshams: Mallikarjunam (Srisailam) in the north,  Pudarjunam (Tirupudaimarudur, near Tirunelveli) in the south and Madhyarjunam (Tiruvidaimarudur near Kumbakonam) in the middle. The three sthalams must have been known together for a long time as Idai Marudhur is aptly named the middle one 

Krishna

Krishna, known locally as Patala Ganga, flows through Srisailam. You can take the rope car or descent 600 steps to reach it. You can take a holy dip, do boating. The view is breathtaking, reminds one of Madupatti lake in Munnar.

Akkamahadevi Caves

This is a must visit. Akkamahadevi is Kannada Andal, who worshipped Lord Siva. AP Tourism boat takes a single trip a day, starting at 1030 in the morning, you can expect to be back at1530. Pl take adequate water and food. No mobile signals.

Phala dhara - Pancha dhara is the believed to be the place Adi Sankara wrote Sivananda Lahari.

Sikharam is the top most point in Srisailam.

Photos here