Hampi, Karnataka

Hampi, Karnataka

Hampi is a must visit place. No excuse to a passionate traveler. The experience is enthralling especially if one shows interest in historical and antiquity subjects. It is an ocean of knowledge on history and historical monuments of our country's one of the larger dynasty VIJAYANAGARAM.

The ruins of dynasty are well preserved and they indeed show the antiquity, even today one could visualize the kingdom by seeing them, it is so close to reality. This place is huge and takes many days to complete the trip if one is willing to visit all the historical ruins, the locals say it would take 3 months. However there is good sketch of places which can be visited in a days time. Once you arrive at Hampi the guides will incubate you and it is nice or rather one must go for a guide to really appreciate the place. And these guides will offer you time-based trips, for instance one can opt for 1 day or Half day guidance trips. Most of the guides are genuine and can be trusted.

Vittal Temple, The main monument of Hampi

The Powerful Nandi @ Main Temple in Hampi

The Shiva temple @Hampi

The Kalyani @ the Grounds (performance), Hampi

The Doors of one of the Ruins

The unfixed door @ one of the ruins.

Once you opt for a guide the unfortunate thing is that they will join you in your car which means you must have a seat reserved for the guide. In case this is not possible, then the guide will manage to be with you on the bike right behind you. What ever is the mode, it is highly recommended to have a guide. The advantage of having guide is, of course, he will provide the knowledge of the monuments, and second major advantage is he will navigate and help you in identifying the right places to visit in the available chosen time, this is more so important because it is wide spread land and locating the right place is a big challenge and highly time consuming and you might end up losing your precious time.

Museum complex

One of the models @museum

Museum: There is a museum in the premises of one of the temple ruins and it is worth a visit anytime as it gives some highlights of historical times of Hampi and takes you back in time with very stunning facts. This is a must visit for every one who is visiting Hampi. One must ask for it in case the guide is skipping it. Here are couple of pics.








Since it is always preferable to stay in Hospet as there are not many (actually none) options to stay right in Hampi, so while staying in Hospet, following attractions of Hospet can be visited. 

1. The Tunghabhadra Dam and the Park. Firstly, it would be little tiring as one has to walk for 15 mins to reach the dam and view the river waters. Walking on the dam is prohibited and so not much to see other than the river from a fenced portion. Secondly, the park is worth a visit which is adjacent to the dam area. It is huge and peaceful for anyone who is looking to relax in greens. It also offers dancing fountain right @7pm in the evening with some hindi and telugu music. 

2. The famous children park (this is the decent park in Hospet and is 10-15mins walk from hotel Mallige which is described below in the stay section of this blog). It is definitely worth a visit in the evenings after a coffee/tea break.

Travel:

Traveling to Hampi is absolutely stress free as the road conditions are very good. The drive is almost through out is on highways. Except at one location where there is small ghat section and some excavation work happening most of the times. At this junction one could spend 20mins to get over this traffic. The traffic is mainly due to load-trucks. Of course if one has little patience this is not a big stress. 

From Bangalore, one has to travel towards Chitradurga on NH4, basically on Tumkur road. At Chitradurga one has to take a deviation to Hospet, this deviation is little ahead of the Chitradurga town, there is a sign board however one might miss to notice, please pay caution. And one should look on the way for Kamalapura and then you will reach Hospet. Hospet to Hampi is around 15kms. 

Stay: There is a nice 3 star hotel called Mallige international and it is worth staying at this place as it is reasonably priced. And the rooms are clean and hygienic. The ambiance is also good. The restaurant embedded in the hotel is reasonable good. This is the only option i found good to stay in Hospet. I might have missed to explore more, but was quite satisfied with Mallige (around 3.5k rs per night). There is a Cinema Theatre right behind the hotel and screens some hindi movies, if one gets time for the second show it is a nice time pass.

Food:
However, there are many options in Hospet for good and sumptuous lunch or meals. Especially there is one restaurant near the famous children park (this is the only park in Hospet and is 10-15mins walk from hotel) which is too good for very nice meal. I like the ambiance a lot and it is little innovative. You get south and north indian cuisines in most of the restaurants in Hospet.
@Hampi, there is a beautiful restaurant called Mango Tree, in case you happen to eat lunch at 

Hampi then you must do it in Mango tree. It is run by some youngsters and the food is simply too good. This restaurant caters to foreign Tourists and Indian tourists, so be assured you will enjoy your food here.

Best Season to visit: This place is known for its harsh summers and rather hot even during the other days of the year. The best season to visit is during winter. It seldom rains and so one can be free from this worry and move around the places. It sometimes sultry, however manageable.