Weekend Getaways near Lakshmeshwar

And Hampi is not too far away from Badami, so why give it a miss, if you have the time. Hopping from the Chalukyan dynasty to the Vijayanagara Empire completes you journey into this time machine. Here every rock has a story to narrate. History comes alive at every nook and corner of Karnataka.Badami can be reached from Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore and Mumbai by flight to Belagavi (IXG) and from there you can hire a cab. There are trains to Badami from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. And buses you will find plenty.The landscape on the way to Badami is all spruced up and beautiful, if you vroom on your bikes/car from both Hyderabad or Bangalore. Give the wind an opportunity to play with your hair.Go, click some selfies on some filmy locations and make some memories to flaunt!"If You don't know History, then you don't know anything. You are a Leaf that doesn't know it is part of a Tree" - Micheal CrichtonCover Picture Credits: Wikipedia

Hampi town and the group of monuments at hampi as recognised by the UNESCO is spread over a very large area. We rented an auto for a day to visit these attractions covering monuments like Lotus Mahal, Elephant Stable, underground shiva temple, sasive kalu ganesha temple and many others. The auto drivers here could communicate comfortably in english and hindi (helps when you don't know the local language) and gave a brief history of each of the monuments.

The next day, we planned on checking out early, and crossing back to the mainland. As we waited for our boat to cross over, I bough some colourful and cute anklets for myself from the stalls that lined the road. One of my friends decided to buy himself some flowery and flowing shirts to appear more "hippy".When we crossed over to the other side, we got ourselves an auto who said he would show us around Hampi and take us to all the famous places. Our train back to Bangalore was only in the night, so we realized that this was the best plan for us.We went past famous land marks, some of which were being renovated.

The next day, we woke up, and headed to Gopi's cafe for breakfast. After a salad-y breakfast, we found someone who let us rent some mopeds to get around. We instantly mapped out a few places we could get around to. We found the route connecting us to the mainland from the island without having to go across the river.The first destination I had in mind was this place called the White Elephant. It was supposed to be a good cafe and a good 15-20 km away. The route leading to this cafe was beautiful to say the least. We stopped at several locations along the way to take some fun photos!

We stayed in a cottage right next to a paddy field. The setting sun always cast its last rays on the paddy fields giving it a warm glow. We had booked two rooms for 5 of us and the hosts warned us about wild animals roaming around at nights, especially sloth bears. The moment we reached, we were extremely hungry and we had spotted a nice cafe to eat, Gopi Island, on our way to our stay. We unpacked, freshened up quickly and walked back to Gopi Island to eat.The menu items in all the cafes in Hampi are almost the same. Organic salads, pastas, burgers, and sometimes pizza. The key word is organic. They are meant to be healthy and non-fatty.

Standing throughout the night, exhausted I was and so booked a cheap place at 03:00 AM adding a note that I'll be checking in by 08:00 AM. I didn't quite expect the keeper to be there waiting for me because I had booked at the Witching Hour! I took a quick nap to juice myself up after the tiresome journey and then headed to explore Hampi.I know there'll tons of people who'll say I could've taken a bus to Hospet and with a reserved seat that would have been much much better. Well, I know, and I didn't.I walked around the town, explored all the places, learnt a lot about the fascinating history of the place full of ruins and monuments that is spread across around 25 sqkm. Wait! Whaaaat! Amazing, right?

I took a bus from Bangalore to Hospet on the night of 4th August, around 11 p.m., and reached Hospet at 7 in the morning. I was swarmed by Auto drivers who offered to take me to Hampi for anything between 200-400 rupees (which is a short 8 km drive). I decided to walk down to the local bus stop and get a bus to Hampi from there. Buses deploy from Hospet to Hampi every half an hour, so I had to wait for 15 minutes to catch the 7:30 bus. It was just 13 rupees for the ticket.I got down at the Hampi bus stop, and could immediately see the overdose of culture and heritage this UNESCO World Heritage site had, and decided not to stay on here. Instead, I walked towards the Virupaksha temple, towards the Tungabhadra river site, and got on a ferry (which is 30 rupees per ride per person) and made it to the other side of the river to an island called the Virupapura Gadde (though it is famously known as Hippie Island).When you get on this island, people swarm you with offers to stay at their guest house or to rent a bike, but I walked through them to a small quiet guest house called 'Nargila' (a friend of mine who shares common travel goals with me suggested this place) and it was beautiful. I got a nice clean room for one night for 600 rupees, attached bath, and a hammock outside the room.I hadn't slept a lot from the bus ride in the night, so I decided to get some coffee and some food in me. Ganga (the caretaker at Nargila) got me some coffee and breakfast in the Nargila cafe which was right next to my room. They don't have the concept of chairs and tables in the cafe. Instead, you remove your shoes outside the cafe and there are mattresses on the floor on which you can sit.

Hampi can be visited any time of the year, but if you want to be bedazzled with colours of the culture, visit Hampi during January, because you can be a part of the celebrations at Hampi Utsav, a festival of bonhomie – a congregation of various events to highlight the glorious past of this empire. The cultural extravaganza is a spectacle to behold. It’s a three-day long carnival. Festivities include classical & traditional dance performances, skits and dramas, fireworks, puppet shows, and spectacular parades. Book your tickets accordingly.How to Reach Hampi:Hampi is 353 KMs from Bangalore and 74 KMs from Ballari in Karnataka. The nearest commercial Airport is Hubli/Bangalore. The nearest Railway Station is at Hospet which is 13 KMs away. Hampi has a number of resorts and home stays. There are direct trains and buses to Hospet from Goa, Hubli, Ballari, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Once you land in Hospet, you can check in at any Hotel there. Hospet is dotted with numerous Hotels, Star, Economy and budget.Hampi is at a distance of 13 KMs from Hospet and you have hourly buses which ply from Hospet Bus Station. Or you can hire three wheeler Autos. Equip yourself with a good quality camera, because what you see remains etched in your mind, but what you see should also be immortalized in pictures so that others, who cannot make it to Hampi, can at least enjoy it through your pictures.When in Hampi, don’t miss to see the following:Achyutaraya Temple,BadaviLingaElephant StableHazara rama Temple ComplexJain TempleLotus MahalVittala TempleVirupaksha TempleZanana EnclosureArchaeological Museum at KamalapuraTungabhadra Dam and Nandanavana GardenJapanese Garden at MunirabadHaving soaked yourself in the magic of the Hampi rocks, its time to meet the flowers and say hello to them. Tungabhadra Dam welcomes you with flowers at its Nandanavana Garden built on the lines of Brindavan Garden and on the other side of Tungabhadra Dam you have Munirabad with a Japanese Garden. Don’t miss it.

To explore only Hampi 2 days are enough.The hotel staff arranged auto for us we reached Hampi in 10min . After getting there we saw tourists riding mopeds and bicycles,we enquired about the rental they said only one shop is renting and unfortunately by the time we reached all bicycles and mopeds are hired out(be early for vehicles by 7a.m) shop is near virupakshi temple.It's about to be off season there and the weather was too sunny. Mostly 80 percent of the tourists were foreigners and the other side we find many restaurants and shops in narrow lanes and its called Hampi Bazaar. The food points are themed differently and the food is outstanding, the other side of tungabhadra river also we got plenty of eating out options.