Hampi Trip

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Distance:

Hyderabad 361 km 7h, 50m

Bangalore 372 km 7h, 10m

Pune 537 km 11h, 20m

Chennai 578 km 12h, 20m

Mumbai 696 km 14h, 50m

Best time to visit: October-March

Road Conditions: Very Good/some patch of village road (Mostly Toll Roads)

Fooding/Lodging: Yes

Days needed to see : average 3 full days.

The historical town of Hampi, is one of the most important tourist destination on the Indian as well as international map. Located in the state of Karnataka, the town is popular for its intricately carved temples and stone sculptures. Some of the most popular temple structures here include Shri Virupaksha Temple, Balakrishna Temple, Shri Vijaya Vitthala Temple and Sasivekalu Ganesh Temple. Few must see are : the Stone Chariot at Vitthala Temple and Ugra Narsimha statue at Lakshmi Narasimha Temple.

For history lovers and for pilgrimage alike, this place offers a lot. Much more about this place can easily be found from various blogs available over internet.

My trip summary and recommendations for Hampi:

In general Hampi can be divided into two sets of places depending on the taste of the traveller.

1. For Pilgrims : Hampi relates it to the ancient theology of Ramayana. It is considered to be the land of Monkey (Vanara) King Bali and his brother Sugriva, who ruled the kingdom called Kishkinda. This kingdom is identified to be the regions around the Tungabhadra river. The best way to have a peek of this region is to visit “Anjaneya Parvat”, said to be birthplace of Lord Hanuman. This peak offers very nice panoramic view of the Tungabhadra region. Places which can be spotted from there are: Matanga hills, Vitthala temple, Rishimukha Parvat etc. For pilgrims the places that can be covered are: Anjana Mata Temple, Lakshmi Temple, Durga Temple, Anjaneya Temple and Ranganatha Temple. If you are staying in Hampi, the best way to cover all of these is to cross the river from the Hampi Bazaar’s side. There is a frequent boat/coracle service which charges 10/50 rupees per trip respectively. Then you can take moped or negotiate for an auto rickshaw to show you all of these places. If you have stamina left then you can choose to cross river from the Anegundi village’s side and cover few more spots on the way back to Hampi at your stay.

2. For History and Architecture lovers: Hampi and nearby places offer most of what Hampi is known for. You can start your day after taking a bath in the nearby ghat and then head towards “Virupaksha Temple”. Then you can plan you morning covering Hemakuta Hills, Kadalekalu Ganesha Temple, Sri Krishna Temple, Badavilinga Temple, Narasimha Temple, Veerabhadra Temple, Sister Stones, and the Main Royal enclosure of Hampi which has plenty of places exhibiting amazing sculpture work on stones, done mostly during the Vijayanagar kingdom. My recommendation would be “Hazara Rama Temple” to witness mostly preserved art work depicting the stories of Lord Rama from Ramayana. You can head back to Hampi bazaar for lunch and have some rest as it gets too hot during afternoon.

Evening: get ready for a walk of around 3+ hours taking you to divine history. Start towards Hampi main bazaar street and feel the glory of most blossomed Vijayanagar empire having a street market which is known to be selling precious gems and other commodities. Take left to the royal walk way towards river. You will get to see a soothing Tungbhadra. You can get a coracle ride across the river to see few other secret places, one of them is the “Sahasra lingaam”. On the way ahead you can see few other temples and finally the most hyped “Vitthala Temple”. This temple is indeed of much interest and worth taking a guide who charges 150 rupees. This temple houses the most spectacular structure called “The Stone Chariot”. If you have enough time you can covers the nearby places which do passes amazing beauty of tranquillity else you can head straight towards main road. You can take a ride on the electrically operated vehicle which drops you at the gate side and charges 10 rupees each passenger. Take an auto back to you stay.

Next day you can plan for Matanga hills. People generally to go up to see sunset rather than sun rise for a better view. Depending on your plan you can over few more places of your interest at the foot hill of Matanga hills like; Veerabhadra Temple and Achutaraya Temple. Sun generally goes down at 6:30 PM and it gets dark very fast then after, so avoid staying at the peak for too late.

My travel itinerary says minimum 3 days for Hampi but you can make it in 2 days if willing to skip few places and have lots of stamina to walk and climb. You can opt to stay in main Hampi Bazaar or stay across the river where you can find better options for food as well as for lodging.

If you get little more adventurous then probably you can follow my trip itinerary which covers few other place, obviously it will cost you few more days J : https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=215053520020715622475.0004e2565d6c1b32465b3&msa=0

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