Let me take you to Hampi | India

9 min readDec 12, 2017

Hampi is an ancient village in the south 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 :)

In first sight it will for sure give you the glimpse of our famous movie “Bahubali” locati0n. the more you go the more you feel that somewhere Bahubali shooted here,Place is surrounded by big heavy rocks that can be dis-balance at any time as it seems but they never will, endless fields of banana tress, perfect blend of nature and architecture.

What is Hampi famous for? Follow my answer in Quora.

How to reach :

By Air : Nearest airports are Hubli and Bangalore, after that you can take train or bus or taxi to Hampi directly.

By Train: Nearest railway station is Hospete after that take an auto in around 250–300 rs. to reach Hampi, sharing one of the auto driver number here: lway station is Hospet after that take an auto in around 250–300 rs. to reach Hampi, Hampi is around 13km from Hospete.sharing one of the auto driver number here: Nagarjuna (9731970755) very helpful. you can also book him for local sightseeing and also he will guide you to hotels. The train is a best and cheapest way.Hampi is around 13km from Hospete.

By Bus: Hampi is connected to all major stations like Pune, Banaglore, you will get directly bus to Hospete.

How to reach from Pune

By Train:

1. Pune -> Hospete-> Hampi
2. Pune -> Solapur -> Hospete -> Hampi
3.Pune -> Hubli -> Hospete -> Hampi
4. Pune -> Solapur -> Guntakal -> Hospete -> Hampi

You can take any of the route according to availability.

Where to stay:

Hampi is partitioned by Tungabhadra River, you can stay either side of the river, by crossing the river you will reach to Hippie island what people called it.In hippie island so many hotels and cafe with meditative music, food of every cuisine, foreigners, writers, artist stayed and yes night life is there as late night party booze and all available there, on this side after 8 pm. you have nothing to do as such other than roaming in a Hampi bazaar or spending some time in cafes like mango tree.we stayed in hut provided by mango tree(1500 per night), an awesome way to reach there, very scenic, about 500 meter from river and yes in late nights you need to carry torch. as village have not many street lights.

How to explore:

On bicycle: Yes, you can rent a bicycle in 150–200 rs for a day and can visit all the monuments as all the places are within 22 km.

We hoped in a bicycle.

bicycle is a good idea but make sure you wear full clothes, sunscreen-up, stay hydrated and shoes.I am still suffering from tanning. cycle seems a cool idea, you will feel fit as “Cycle sabke bus ki baat nahi”

On Moped: If you are planning for moped, book in a one day prior, they will provide you all fuel up as there are no petrol pumps. it will cost you around 400–500 per day.

On Auto: Yes, You can hope in a 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 much places before sunset, Hampi is very safe place so don’t worry just roam wherever you want.

On Foot: Yes even you can explore whole Hampi in your feet too, the all places around Hampi bazaar you can explore on your feet around effortlessly for some places you have to trek. there are some short cuts, 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 get a chance to see huge numbers of travelers, photographers holding their tripod and trying to capture beautiful decoration of earthen lamps all around in the form of Rangoli. the whole road in front of the temple was decorated, 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:

Civilized 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 careful about your belongings just enjoy their company around.

After some rest again we started, we hoped in a bicycle and started with.

For now, as we know we have a shortcut to reach Hampi bazaar we choose a path full of rocks and adventure where we lift our bicycles and try to be 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 digitized and ATM is in Hospet, yes wi-fi works but still good to have cash.

3. Carry sunglasses, sunscreen, and caps as 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 total 83 marked buildings and temples.

7. Best place for trekkers, travelers, photographers, writers, and artists

By evening at 5,our train to Solapur, so we call Nagarjuna and he takes us to station while going to station you can visit “Stepped Tank”, beautiful old style well.

Golden Garden Hampi

After spending full day we took our dinner at this place, less crowd, awesome food and great hospitality, Cheaper than mango tree, I saw people here working on their books and some of the artist.

This is the most beautiful temple located at the center of the city, wherever you will reach it will be visible.

This is huge open place and rocks all around, big rocks some monuments and wheresoever 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 near by.

These all the places are situated in the city you can easily cover in 4 to 5 hours.

Now we go all the way to 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 go by road reached there, had watermelon, plus point to reach by cycle is you don’t need to take a small open bus from there to reach 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 start climbing Matanga Parvat, it will take around half an hour to reach there, mid-level trekking but yes when you will reach on the top, you will feel fresh like never before as the view will not let you think 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 started and now all the Places connected. after riding up to some km. you will reach to.

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 bicycle, we spent some time in Hampi bazaar, had Panipuri and some stuff and after dinner back to 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 small bazaar selling Jewellery, bags and all. when you enter to hippie island you will see very beautiful endless green field.so many cafes around, ambiance was different here, most of the cafe doesn’t serve south Indian food, we spent some quality time with English breakfast, scenic views of river, meditative music.one can take some spa and join yoga here.most of the people who come for many days, stays here.

Hidden gem: Waterfall near Matang -> In to the wild kinda place

When you will climb Matang Hill you’ll see a waterfall from there, so on our last day as we almost visited everything we give a try to this hidden gem and yes we succeeded. we spent some “into the wild” time here and clicked some awesome pics .here is a proof.while going to Matang instead of climbing just take a right and follow the sound of the waterfall, you will see some caves also and yes you reached.