It's been a while since an Hampi trip was on my mind , cause when you stay in Bangalore visiting these places is probably quintessential , but the scorching weather condition was the only thing that I was concerned about , since it was my birthday weekend and the thought of palm groves , banana plantations , the lush green paddy fields , the awe-inspiring sights of sunrise and sunset from the Anjaneya hill along with the peaceful cafes and the historical treasures is what had me anticipating a weekend getaway to Hampi .
So as we did decide to head to Hampi we were thinking on which side of the Tungabadra river are we going to stay at ? would it be the Hampi bazaar side where all the temples and the ruins are at or the more chilled out side which is called the Hippie island .Did a little bit of research and decided we move to the Hippie island side (of course) near Anegudi where you get to stay near the paddy fields that are surrounded by massive boulders and palm trees and it did turn out to be a successful decision . Without further adieu let me tell you about the itinerary for the weekend Getaway.
Day 1 (Feb 23rd) - We happened to take a bus ride from Bangalore to Hampi and boarded the bus from Bangalore at about 9pm on the 22nd and we reached Hospet by 6ish , as Hospet is the final destination for the buses and the trains as well and no they have no stops near Hampi, we decided we'll take an auto till the Tungabadra river , if you do plan on taking the same auto to your resort or a cab that would be a longer route and possibly cost you more , so we reached the Tungabadra river via the auto that cost about 250 Rs , if you can, do take bikes from Hospet itself , but considering the fact that we reached there around 6 a.m. none of the bike rental shops were open we could'nt rent a bike in Hospet. So after reaching the river you can crossover to the other side via a very shaky motor boat your only viable option unless you'd prefer being drenched and rather swim over to the other side of course :P , it would roughly cost you 20 bucks, and tada welcome to the Hippie island, after you get there and as you start walking towards the guesthouses , you come across numerous bike rental shops , hence we rented the bikes and headed to the resort in Anegudi which is around 20 mins away from there . Our stay was called the Kishkinda Heritige Resort as the guesthouses were all booked by then and this was one of the other options and boy were we Ecstatic :D. This is one of the most down to earth and picturesque resorts that i've come across, it's surrounded with boulders and paddy fields and they also happened to have an old-school water park inside which is beautiful and free for the people staying in the resort . After checking out the paddy fields near the resort and spending some time in the water park , we decided to go Pampa Sarovar that is one of the 5 sacred sarovars in India, after that since we were famished post the ride we decided we'll have lunch on the Hippie island , so rode up to namaste cafe , DO NOT miss out on this place , cause the food is brilliant , also the location is one of the best and since the place was so quite and right in front of the paddy fields we decided we'll chill there for the evening . And then we checked out a few shops as the bazaar has some great clothes and collectibles and after all the lazying around we got back our resort in the evening.
Day 2 (Feb 24th) - We got up at around 6 a.m. and planned on trekking on one of the hills to take in the morning sunrise and we aced in doing so , considering Kishkinda has so many hills around it , you will be spoilt for choice ;) after completing the trek we went on to get some breakfast as our resort had one of the best breakfast layout with super yummy south indian food . In Afternoon went over to our hangout place the hippie island and decided to try out another cafe , this time it was laughing buddha and the view of the Tungabadra river from the cafe is outstanding and also ya'll can cover a few more temples on this days if you want to but we had saved the entire ruins sightseeing for Sunday . Also it was 40 degrees out there and all we wanted to do was unwind and that we did .
Day 3(Feb 25th) - So obviously we weren't gonna miss out on the sunrise this morning either so woke up by 5.30 rode up the the Anjaneya Hill and there are around 600 hundred steps that you will need to climb to the reach the temple and the view point and trust me it is absolutely worth the climb , took around 20 mins and there you are, in front of one of the most breathtaking sights and you can trek a little bit more out there , but the early morning climb to the Anjaneya hill is a must . After the climb considering we were famished we got some breakfast in us and checked-out of the resort so instead of the bikes we took a cab and covered the ruins and the temples started with Achyutraya temple , then Vijaya Vittala temple where you need to pay and get a bus ride till the temple or walk up if you do have sufficient time or are not concerned about the scorching sun and then we went to the Virupaksha temple after a tiresome afternoon of visiting few of the fabulous temples in the world UNESCO heritige site, we went to mango tree where you can get your calm on and get some great coconut lassi , you can go out to the Hampi bazaar and do some shopping and remember that bargaining is the key to it all . In the evening we boarded the bus back to bangalore.
So when you do plan a Hampi trip remember , the coconut water is your best friend , ask the bike rental people when they want the bikes back as they will try to rip you off , carry ample amount of sunscreen , do spend a lot of time in the cafes near paddy fields as they are very peaceful , do go for morning and evening treks as the view is brilliant and the sights are worth the climb . Do not depend on Atms , carry cash as there are very few atms there also there is very little or no signal on the Hippie island side of Hampi so don't count on it . So at the end of it all I hope you are going to be trippin' soon , pun intended 😁.