Coming to the Hampi trip, this was a part of the Hyderabad – Gokarna and Hampi Year-End Travel.
The time that has been spent is roughly around 1.5 days to visit the temples and historical monuments and what we missed out is on Hampi on the other side of Tungabadhra river.
We reached Hampi from Gokarna at around 1730 Hrs after visiting Jog Falls (Gokarna and Jog Falls i would be covering in my next blog post).
Before moving on to the Hampi trip details, a few insights of the resort we stayed in, this place is a Rajasthani theme village and boasts of Satwik lifestyle (Pure Vegetarian) and does not serve alcohol, non-vegetarian food and also does not allow smoking inside the premises.
The resort has stay facilities and also has day packages for people from nearby places to have day or evening visits to this place.
A few cultural programs organized on a daily basis at the resort are as below:
Traditional Welcome with Kachi Ghodi
Welcome Drink
Chopal
Tea & Pakoda center
Horse Ride
Magic Show
Puppet Show
Astrology
Live Fire Stunts
Camel Ride
Children Play area
Bullock Cart Ride
Ghoomar Dance
Mehendi
Parking Charge
Now coming to visiting Hampi, we started in the new year after an yummy breakfast at our resort and reached the parking space by around 0930 hrs.
Below are a few clicks of the Resort we stayed in:
Our Room
Tata Nano converted into a Buggy
Vast Open Area in the Resort
We spent the 31st Dec night peacefully in our Kutia after some exploring of the Rajasthani new year celebrations and then going around in the lawn of the resort.
Day One of our Hampi Sojourn
The next morning, after breakfast, we started to Hampi, the UNESCO Heritage Site, reaching there around 10:30 hrs.
Now Hampi is a place where you can hire a guide who swarm around you when you get to the parking lot, or with a map in place, you can at leisure find your way in this wonderful Heritage town.
We choose the first option of hiring a guide and an Auto (combo) to visit all the attractions.
Auto n captions have some strange bonding..
Having booked in our trip in the Auto, we set on our journey to visit the places of attraction. The below is the site map of Hampi.
Hampi Map with places of Interest (Copyright of: Sri Venkateswara Toy Center, Hampi)
In case if you are interested to plan a similar trip, here is the google map link to map all places of interest on your journey: Google Maps – Hampi
You can use the below map to identify the most prominent places / attractions in Hampi.
Our Day Itinerary is as below: Date 1st Jan 2018
Day One:
09:30 Hrs: Drive to Hampi (took us 20 Minutes), Reaching Hampi, we hired a Auto as shared earlier.
09:45 Hrs: Parking near Virupakasha Temple and visiting Hampi Bazar, we boarded the Auto to go further, and our first stop was, Underground Shiva Temple.
Underground Shiva Temple, Hampi
10:00 Hrs: We then moved to Nobleman’s Quarters before heading to Zanana Enclosure, and the below are the places we visited at this place.
Lotus Mahal
Watch Tower
Queen Palace Basement
Elephant Stable
Museum
Parshwanatha Temple
Vishnu Temple Complex
We spent close to around 45 minutes at Zanana Enclosure taking time to visit the monuments as listed above.
Watch Tower, Zanana Enclosure
Lotus Mahal, Zanana Enclosure
Elephant Stable, Zanana Enclosure
Temple, Zanana Enclosure
Vishnu temple, Zanana Enclosure
Vishnu temple, Zanana Enclosure
11:00 Hrs: We then proceeded to visit the below on way back to the Hampi Main road
Hazara Rama Temple
Palace of Vira harihara
Pan Supari Bazaar
Royal Enclosure – Secret Council Chamber, Public Bath, Pushkarani, Mahanavami Dibba, Public Bath
Spending around 30 minutes at this place, before we proceeded onto Queens Bath which is towards the Main Road leading to Hampi
At around 12:00 Hrs, we then planned to visit to Gejjala Mandapa, Vijaya Vittala Temple, Kings Balance, Stone Chariot.
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We reached around 12:30 Hrs at the place, private vehicles are not allowed towards Vijaya Vittala Temple and you need to board a Buggy / KSRTC bus that frequents this place to ferry visitors.
After a 30 minute wait and a few sugarcane juices, we boarded the bus to reach Vijaya Vittala Temple in a 5 -7 minute bus ride. We were awe-struck with the sculptures and spent around an hour, exploring the place.
Time was around 14:00 Hrs, when we started feeling hungry. We then came back from Vijaya Vittala Temple towards Kamalapura to have lunch at Mango Tree.
This was one of the best decisions, as many of fellow bloggers and friends have recommended. We had yummy Veg. Thalis here and did not regret the choice.
Post Lunch, we started on our exploration of Hampi and below are the places we visited:
15:30 Hrs: Bhima’s Gateway, Sister’s Stone
15:45 Hrs: We went further to Ugra Narasimha temple, Badavilinga temple, the best part about this temple is that it has no roof and is always under water. There is a old priest who always is there and offers his prayers to Lord Shiva and provides his blessings.
Ugra Narasimha temple
16:00 Hrs: We then moved to visit Sri Krishna temple and Krishna Bazar which is another wonder in itself.
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16:30 Hrs: Post visiting Sri Krishna temple, we then moved on to visit Saasivekaalu Ganesha temple and then on to Kadalekalu Ganesha temple
By the time we reached the Virupaksha temple, it was almost 16:45 Hrs and we decided to visit one last place before calling it a day.
We then headed to Tunnel Cave and Sree Kodandarama Temple and by then it was almost 17:30 Hrs and it was time to call it a day.
Tungabadhra River
We went back to our Resort and spent the evening at the resort enjoying the Rajasthani folk activities.
Day Two:
We started the day at 09:00 hrs and after breakfast, visited Virupaksha Temple at around 09:30 Hrs.
Post our visit at the temple, we then moved on to Kamalapura Museum, this has all the monuments / idols preserved.
We then completed our visit to the Museum and were tempted to have lunch again at Mango Tree before we started back to Hyderabad.
We started back to Hyderabad at around 13:00 Hrs post lunch to reach Gachibowli around 18:30 Hrs to complete our year end trip to Hampi!
A few tips to those of you who are planning a similar RoadTrip:
Book at Vijayashree Resort, you would have a good post evening entertainment and authentic Rajasthani Thali as well, you can alternatively also look at Heritage Resorts in Hampi
Road traffic would be on the higher side as you enter Hospete, so plan your timing accordingly
If you are travelling from Hyderabad, you would be better placed if you go via Raichur, however be prepared to manage time as the roads are under construction both at Mahaboobnagar and Sindhanur in Karnataka
If you are travelling from Bengaluru, you could take the Bengaluru Highway via Anantapur – Bellari or via Tumakuru – Challakere to reach Hampi
While exploring Hampi, you could make a note of below points:
Start exploring the monuments at around 09:00 hrs in the morning
You would not need a guide, but if you would like a detailed history of places, you can opt for one
Visit most or all of the places in your own vehicle, please note for the route / points that you would want to cover and prioritize accordingly
If you wish to be taken around, you can opt for an Auto rather than yourself driving, Hampi Bazaar parking has lot of Autos, this might test your bargaining skills as a few quote exorbitant prices while most of the auto drivers are reliable
Carry lot of fluids / water, stay hydrated
Travel and explore the places responsibly and do not litter trash, carry it and put it at a bin in a designated place
Until my next blog post, this is Srikanth’s Traveldiaries signing off!!!
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One response to “Hampi Sojourn”
Nice place to visit. Know more about “India Tourism Guide”