Hampi is an ancient village in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It’s dotted with numerous ruined temple complexes from the Vijayanagara Empire. On the south bank of the River Tungabhadra.
How Hampi seems to me
At first sight, it will for sure give you a glimpse of our famous movie “Bahubali” location. The more you go, the more you feel that somewhere, Bahubali shot here. The place is surrounded by big heavy rocks that can be disbalanced at any time, as it seems, but they never will, endless fields of banana trees, a perfect blend of nature and architecture.
What is Hampi famous for? Follow my answer on Quora.
How to reach :
By Air: Nearest airports are Hubli and Bangalore, after that you can take a train or bus or taxi to Hampi directly.
By Train: Nearest railway station is Hospete, after that take an auto for around 250-300 rs. to reach Hampi, sharing one of the auto driver numbers here: Nagarjuna (9731970755) very helpful. You can also book him for local sightseeing, and he will also guide you to hotels. The train is the best and cheapest way. Hampi is around 13km from Hospete.
By Bus: Hampi is connected to all major stations like Pune, Bangalore, and you will get a direct bus to Hospete.
How to reach Hampi from Pune
By Train:
- Pune -> Hospete-> Hampi
- Pune -> Solapur -> Hospete -> Hampi
- Pune -> Hubli -> Hospete -> Hampi
- Pune -> Solapur -> Guntakal -> Hospete -> Hampi
You can take any of the routes according to availability.
Where to stay:
Hampi is partitioned by the Tungabhadra River, you can stay on either side of the river. By crossing the river, you will reach Hippie Island, which people call. In hippie island so many hotels and cafe with meditative music, food of every cuisine, foreigners, writers, artist stayed and yes nightlife is there as late night party booze and all available there, on this side after 8 pm. you have nothing to do with such other than roaming in a Hampi bazaar or spending some time in cafes like mango tree. We stayed in a hut provided by Mango Tree (1500 per night), an awesome way to reach there, very scenic, about 500 meters from a river and yes, in late nights you need to carry a torch, as the village does not have many street lights.
How to explore:
On a bicycle: Yes, you can rent a bicycle for 150-200 rs for a day and can visit all the monuments as all the places are within 22 km.
We hopped on a bicycle.
The bicycle is a good idea, but make sure you wear full clothes, sunscreen, stay hydrated and shoes. I am still suffering from tanning. The cycle seems a cool idea, you will feel fit as “Cycle sabke bus ki baat nahi“
On Moped: If you are planning to use a moped, book at a one day prior, they will provide you with all the fuel up as there are no petrol pumps. It will cost you around 400-500 per day.
On Auto: Yes, you can hop in an auto too, no exertion, no tanning and yes, no fun. It will cost you around 750 per day
Start early in the morning so you can cover as many places before sunset. Hampi is a very safe place, so don’t worry, just roam wherever you want.
On Foot: Yes, even you can explore the whole of Hampi in your feet too, all places around Hampi bazaar you can explore on your feet around effortlessly, for some places you have to trek. There are some shortcuts, you can choose “ bahubali marg”, yes way full of rocks to reach some places, but it will take some time.
Dussehra celebration:
As we reached Hampi on Dussehra festival, we got a chance to see huge numbers of travellers, photographers holding their tripods and trying to capture the beautiful decoration of earthen lamps all around in the form of Rangoli. The whole road in front of the temple was decorated, and some South Indian folk music was also playing along. I never saw a celebration of Dussehra in this way.
Eat local:
Try South Indian breakfast from the street, very tasty, neat and clean, cheap and yes, they will serve food on your plate along with politeness and simplicity.
Monkeys all around:
Civilised monkeys, you will get a chance to see how monkeys bother local people, but not us, not at all. monkeys and tourist have a fair deal, don’t bother them they will not give you a shit.
“Tum apne raste, Hum apne raste“, still care about your belongings, just enjoy their company around.
After some rest again, we started, we hopped on a bicycle and started.
For now, as we know, we have a shortcut to reach Hampi Bazaar. We chose a path full of rocks and adventure where we lift our bicycles and try to be like Bahubali, one guy from Puducherry helped us a lot to do this impossible adventure(Thanks to Nethaji).
Some must follow handy Tips:
1. Stay at Hippie Island if you are looking for nightlife with beer and non-veg. 3 days are enough to explore all main places.
2. Carry cash, Hampi is not as much digitised, and ATM is in Hospet, yes, wi-fi works, but still good to have cash.
3. Carry sunglasses, sunscreen, and caps as the days are really sunny. carry a torch.
4. People are so good, so help each other, maintain peace, don’t write on any rocks and keep it clean. Help in preserving this beautiful heritage village.
5. As Hampi is very trending, book your hotels in advance at least for one day.
6. You can spend as many days in Hampi, it has a total of 83 marked buildings and temples.
7. Best place for trekkers, travellers, photographers, writers, and artists
By evening at 5, our train to Solapur, so we call Nagarjuna and he takes us to the station. While going to the station, you can visit “Stepped Tank”, a beautiful old-style well.
Golden Garden Hampi
After spending a full day, we took our dinner at this place, with less crowd, awesome food, and great hospitality. Cheaper than Mango Tree, I saw people here working on their books and some of the artists.
This is the most beautiful temple located at the centre of the city, wherever you reach, it will be visible.
This is a huge open place and rocks all around, big rocks, some monuments and wherever you see, you’ll see rock and just rock. You can spend some time here.
A giant Ganesha statue, sculptured with a single rock.
Kadalekalu Ganesha: one more temple nearby.
All these places are situated in the city, you can easily cover them in 4 to 5 hours.
Now we go all the way to the very famous “Vijaya Vittala Temple”. So there are two ways to reach there, one you can go from Matanga Hill, or you can take all the way to a road where you will enjoy the roadside fields, the views, and much more. We went by road, reached there, and had watermelon. Plus point to reach by cycle is that you don’t need to take a small open bus from there to reach the temple, as well as you can skip the long queue for bus tickets. It’s around 1 and a half km, which you can easily walk. An old wheel chariot is the most attractive piece of this location.
Kings Balance:
We started early morning around 7 and started climbing Matanga Parvat, it will take around half an hour to reach there, mid-level trekking, but yes, when you reach the top, you will feel fresh like never before, as the view will not let you think of anything else. This is the place from where you will see the complete “Hampi” in one go. Yes, the Virupaksha temple, Hampi Bazaar, banana trees, and everything. must visit, don’t be lazy, worth to climb it. You can choose any time, sunrise or sunset, or I’ll suggest enjoying both.
Meet Local:
This will come on the way once you start and now all the Places are connected. After riding for some km. You will reach.
Okay, you can skip this one. You can take some pics here.
This is a beautiful place, we clicked lots of awesome pics here, old architecture, scenic views.
Yes, tickets are there, spend some time here, take a rest, a huge place to explore, one can easily spend around two hours here. Perfect place for your candid photography.
After covering almost all the places and riding a bicycle, we spent some time in Hampi Bazaar, had Panipuri and some stuff and after dinner back to the hotel.
Hippie island:
Early morning, we cross the river by a basket, try this once, it’s a fun ride paying 50 rs per person, across the river, there is also a small bazaar selling Jewellery, bags and all. When you enter hippie island, you will see a very beautiful, endless green field. So many cafes around, ambience was different here, most of the cafes don’t serve South Indian food, we spent some quality time with an English breakfast, scenic views of the river, meditative music. One can take a spa and join yoga here. Most of the people who come for many days stay here.
Hidden gem: Waterfall near Matang -> Into the wild kinda place
When you climb Matang Hill, you’ll see a waterfall from there, so on our last day, as we had almost visited everything, we gave it a try at this hidden gem, and yes, we succeeded. We spent some “Into the Wild” time here and clicked some awesome pics. While going to Matang instead of climbing, just take a right and follow the sound of the waterfall, yes, you’ve reached.
What else can you visit if you have more days?
1. Hemakuta Hill Temple
2. Anjaneya Hill
3. Anjaneya Temple
4. Monkey temple