Hampi is an ancient place in South Indian state of Karnataka. This place has so many mesmerizing monuments , art , culture and this was life changing trip for me. I reached hampi on Saturday morning which was 8th February,2020. I reached Hospet on Saturday morning Hospet is basically the junction where you can reach via bus or train and then you can take either public transportation bus or auto to reach hampi. It's hardly 45 mins from Hospet. Once you reach hampi you can look for hostel or room / dorms. They are preferably in a budget of 350-700 per person depending on the season and demand you are visiting this place. I made my booking prior reaching to Hampi so my hostel owner had sent his staff to pick me from hampi bus stand just in courtesy. Which was very overwhelming for me. Name of that guy was "krishna " . While commuting he asked us some general questions and then later we requested him if he could be the guide for the day and he agreed . You can either ask local auto person for the same in your case.
After checking in the hostel we changed our clothes and got ready for the day . Here are some must have things list that you must carry
1. Sunglasses
2.caps / stole
3.sunscream
4. Please withdraw cash @hospet bus stand or station because you might find difficulty in finding atm nearby.
5. You can wear vibrant colours in this trip as you are going to click numerous pictures . Please let me know in comment you want any suggestions on dresses/ colours you need to carry .
Here are some must visit places that you shouldn't miss from your Day1 list
1. Kadalekalu Ganesh
This temple has idol of lord ganesha which is 15 ft in height and it's one of the largest idol in the world.
2. Hemkuta temple
This temple is close to kadalekalu temple
3.lakshmi Narasimha temple
This temple has mythological background also it's only the one temple of Lakshmi and narasimha in india .
4 . Big shivlinga
Carved out of one boulder. Stands at 3m in water . Huge attraction of hampi . This place is close to Lakshmi Narasimha so you can cover two places at one halt.
5. Krishna temple
You can visit this place for its architecture. You can admire at the stone and the way the temples has been designed .
6.stepwell of hampi
This place is famous for the stepwell also if you seen hampi movie you can relate to this place so you can't miss this one
7 Hazara Ram temple
8.Shiva temple
This temple has shivlinga in water and it's dark so becareful you may see some bats on the roof of temple .
9. Queens bath
Then we had our lunch in some cafe which was on our way to vithal temple
So after taking an hour break we were heading towards vithal temple
Our next visit was to vithal temple which is very known for stone chariot in 50₹ notes.
Don't forget to click pictures and appreciate the beauty of this place has very old tree which you can find outside the temple.
Do visit kings balance which is close to vithal temple .
Later we headed to see hampi sunset from Malyavanta Raghunatha Temple.
This place has different fan base as it is quite less known to people and less crowded. This was one of the best sunset of my life. Please make sure you experience all sunrise and sunset in your trip to Hampi you will fall in love with such beauty.
After sunset we came to virupaksha temple which was near to our hostel. We planned this to the last because it was near to our night stay. Also vithal temple and virupaksha temple are famous temples of hampi so don't miss out these. Vithal temple has significance to vithal temple which is in pandalpur, Maharashtra so please read out some documentation on the temple you will know the history also if you want me writing about this . Please let me know in comments.
For dinner you can go to Mango Tree restraunt which is near to virupaksha temple or dream monkey so I went to dream monkey which was closer to my hostel and we were suggested by locals about the food
So here are some foods suggestions
1 .banana pancakes are must try
2. Lasagna
So that's how I ended my day.Also at night you can check local market and could buy some of the skirts and pyjamas just to be little hampi and could follow the trends 😀
Day 2
Photos from day1- day 3
We started our day by waking up @4 am in morning because we planned to go for trekking to matanga hill to view sunrise . Do check out below pics you will know what I am talking about. We planned for some mediation while watching sunrise at matanga hill also please be careful while trekking to matanga hill I would suggest better wear sport shoes or atleast shoes with grip that would be very helpful .
Also listen to some mesmerizing flute while watching sunrise they go perfectly with each other.
After doing some photo sessions . We went to our hostel and took our luggage because we planned other 2 day stay on hippie island
Don't worry if you guys don't know about hippie island
We packed our luggage and we went for breakfast near to the tungbhadra river. You will get numerous options like idli , dosa, bhajiya and tea.
We had our breakfast and we sat on the bank of tungbhadra river and watched lakshmi bath . Please check out the photo below.
After this adventure begins which is on hippie island , the Island that is located other side of the river and you can cross this river via boat which takes 20₹ without luggage and 30₹ with luggage so it's the same place after watching lakshmi bath we crossed this river and headed to hippie island which is hardly 10 mins .
After crossing river you can hired bikes/ scooty from locals which was around 400-700₹ per day depending on the bargain you can make and bike. So this place has lot of foreigners and hippie culture. Also this place has lot of events and places related to ramanyan . Ramanyan kishkindha Kant has occurred in this mainland . Here are some places list you can add to your bucket list
To the people who know ramanyan and interested in visiting these places do check this list
1 . Anjani hills
Birth place of lord Hanuman
2.laxman caves
3. Sabri caves
So after reaching hippie island we hired bike and checked in our hostel which was close to Anjani hill and the name was "dream mango" .
After fresh up we went to sanapur lake which is also famous for coracle ride
We spent almost 2 hrs at sanapur lake having coracle ride. Please do enjoy the ride and " vede".
We had our lunch to some cafe and later we explored Sabri caves and durga temple. Durga temple is famous so you will find this easily .while Sabri caves is lesser known to people so you can ask for lake view they will understand .
After exploring both places we went to hostel and relaxed. After relaxing we planned our dinner @gauthami cafe which is the best cafe in hampi especially the staff members they are so friendly also the food is unbelievable very nice ,very well cooked and tasty.
This cafe has hippie culture and hippie music that sets your mood so do check this place .
You can go for star gazing at sanapur lake only under hostel owner supervision or if you are group of 10 people because the route to sanapur lake is quite dark and no street light so if you want to avoid night travel better go under supervision
Here comes the end of our trip ,
So we went to Anjani hill to view sunrise @5 am 600+ steps so please be ready do carry water bottles.
You can also check this as sunset point and enjoy your morning in bed. Totally upto you .
This day was travel day for me so wanted to keep it light and relaxing so hurry burry to things so we went to anigundi which is a village close to hippie island just for bike riding and exploring the place.
We had our breakfast there to some local shops amazing idli vada they had.
After exploring for a while we thought of exploring local markets on hippie island so we went to local store and checked out as we haven't done this one day 1 so after this we spent some time in gauthami restraunt had lunch a little then went to return our bikes and crossed river
After crossing we went to virupaksha temple nearby and hampi bazar and took our bus to Hospet.
And that's how my trip to Hampi comes to an end.
Thanks for reading !
Let me know if you liked my experience .Also do share if you have any different experience .
