[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by avk

We have planned a Christmas trip to Hampi. Stay would be at Hyatt for 3 nights.
Planning to start from Marathahalli, Blr between 6 am to 6 30 am on 24th Dec and checking out on 27th by 11 am. Considering that we would be reaching our hotel by noon, looking for suggestions to best utilize the 4-5 hrs of daylight available for the day.

Also would like to visit the Daroji bear sanctuary. When should we slot it in as we are having 2 full days at our disposal?

Would also love to know about any must visit eatouts (preferably non veg) in and around Hospet.

There are these main points of interest in Hampi town which can be covered in 1 or 1.5 days depending on your preference.
- Vitthala Temple
- Queens Bath - Mahanavami Dibba - Hazara Ram temple - Lotus Mahal
- Virupaksha Temple

I'd strongly suggest to hire a tour guide for these places. It is totally worth it to know interesting facts and stories behind these magnificent monuments. If you want I can pass on contact of the guide I hired last month I was there.

There are many other historic places and ruins around the town which normally people are not able to cover due to limited time. Since you have 2 clear days, you can take help of the guide to explore more.

Then there are these points which you can plan yourself.

1. Daroji Bear centuary (may be a place to cover on the day of arrival in afternoon). There are some blogs in this group you can refer for better planning. I could not make it due to bad weather.
2. Tungabhadra Dam & Watch tower (if you have time at hand, this can be nice picnic place, weather permitting).
3. Anjaneya Hills (there is Hanuman temple situated on top of a hill, about 500 steps involved). It can be visited in evening for viewing sun set. It is slightly away from Hampi town (opposite side of the river), about 45-60 minute drive on nice 2 lane road in countryside.
4. Hampi Archeological Museum in Kamalapura. This is very well maintained museum with lot of artifacts on display. We found it very interesting and my kids were very engaged looking at the displays/reading up history. I think it is closed on Fridays so do check out timings. We visited on the last day after checkout and spent close to an hour/hour and half before starting for Blr.

You'd love the Blr to Hospet drive as the highway is superb and very sparse traffic after Tumkur. Just before Hospet, there is a watch area called Gunda Park with a breathtaking view of the Tungbhadra dam backwaters as far as eye can see. You can spot it very easily on left side just before the tunnel to Hospet. If you are not in a hurry to reach hotel, you can spend 15-20 minutes here for a quick break.

Enjoy your holidays and I am sure it would be a memorable drive and visit to Hampi

[mpksuhas]

Visited Hampi for 3 days during first weekend of this month.

Road wise, no concern as such. The worse section is around Tumkur, where you need to search for road in-between potholes.

Stayed at Royal Orchid, liked the food. But hotel housekeeping lacking, even basic mopping of rooms were not done before check-in. Will still rate the cheaper Malligi, where we stayed last time, higher than Royal Orchid.


Saw daily police checking right here at Hampi. It didn't look like any specific drive, but the regular stop, ask for papers and try luck kind.

Originally Posted by avk

We have planned a Christmas trip to Hampi. Stay would be at Hyatt for 3 nights.

You will spend some time in driving up and down from Hyatt to Hampi. So if possible, on way stop at Hampi, finish off sightseeing for the day and do a late check-in to hotel.


Regarding what to visit, Hampi can be divided in to 3 sections broadly.

1. Around Virupaksha temple, Hemakunta hill etc, till the two Ganesha statues.

2. Queens bath, Royal enclosure and surrounding places upto underground Shiva temple.

3. Vittala temple and surrounding.

Not saying that these are the only locations of intrest in Hampi, but if driving and doing sightseeing, geographically these are the 3 major clusters.

There are few places which comes in between these also, like the Narasimha statue, Krishna temple etc, which comes between 1 & 3.

So, based on your energy level and time available, you can select the one which you want to do on first day.

My suggestion will be 1.
Start from Ganesha statues, go to Virupaksha temple and then end with sunset near Hemakunta hill.

For non veg food around Hampi, do check out Green restaurant. Loved the food there. There is a post about them in this same thread few months back too. It is just off the main road and have only a small signboard, but do visit it. This was the best food for us in our trip.

Another place where you get non veg food is Hotel Varsha. I haven't visited here, but my friend did last month and he was saying the food was tasty.

[kvk]

We went on a trip to Hampi Dec. 6-9. I was going back after 2009 and the rest of our group were first timers - we greatly enjoyed the scale and sights of Hampi.

I agree with the points made above: the road conditions around Tumkur are horrible, but the rest of the way is quite good. We also stayed at the Royal Orchid (Executive Suites). We were very underwhelmed - the restaurant is OK and they are very short staffed on housekeeping - the hotel is in bad condition. Everything you read on the hotel reviews is true.

Hiring a guide is very helpful. We spent the first day with the guide and the next on our own including a trek up Anjanadri hill. I

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by kvk

We went on a trip to Hampi Dec. 6-9. I was going back after 2009 and the rest of our group were first timers - we greatly enjoyed the scale and sights of Hampi.

I agree with the points made above: the road conditions around Tumkur are horrible, but the rest of the way is quite good. We also stayed at the Royal Orchid (Executive Suites). We were very underwhelmed - the restaurant is OK and they are very short staffed on housekeeping - the hotel is in bad condition. Everything you read on the hotel reviews is true.

Hiring a guide is very helpful. We spent the first day with the guide and the next on our own including a trek up Anjanadri hill. I

We also stayed in Royal Orchid - Ex suite and had similar experience as you have described. Also, being close to a railway station, constant honking sounds through the night did not help the matter. I guess the only saving grace is hotel location which is only a 20 minute drive from the Hampi ruins.

[anandavinash]

Great thread and I am glad to have read this as I am driving to Hampi from Bengaluru (Bull Temple Road) tomorrow morning. A close friend of ours strongly advocated taking the Ananthapur Route to Hampi as it avoids truck traffic. He is from the mining industry in Bellary and makes trips regularly.

However, Google shows 5hrs 30min via Chitradurga-Hospet as compared to 7hr 30min via Ananthapur. From what I have read above, the Hospet road is a clear winner. We're staying at Evolveback so via Hospet may be faster.

Will update this thread with the latest information as soon as I get back from our travels.

[deehunk]

I suggest you to take Hiriyur-Challakere route, there won't be much traffic after you cross Dobbespet, Hiriyur to Challakere should take you 40-45 minutes, road work is in progress between Challakere to Bellary. I had travelled during the heavy rains in November on this route.

[sureshurs]

Travelled to Hyatt Hampi , JSW township from Bangalore. I prefer the Bangalore- Ananthapur -Bellary route so as to avoid the traffic on Blr-Tumkur road.

Took me abt 6 hrs from HSR layout to Hyatt Hampi with a 30 min lunch break

Ananthapur to Karnataka Border is very smooth two lane with hardly any traffic. Karnatak border to Bellary is ok. ( 4 landing half completed)

[sureshurs]

Returned from Hyatt Place Vidyanahar via Sandur- Kudligi-Chitradurga- nice road- HSR layout. Good roads all through. Sandur- JSW Vidyasagar has huge speed humps but manageable.

Took 4.5 hrs from Vidyasagar to HSR layout.

[anandavinash]

Just returned from a 5 day visit to Hampi. We were staying at Evolveback and although multiple people recommended taking the route via Anantapur-Bellary but Google showed the route via Chitradurga-Hospet as being 2 hours faster.

From Bull Temple Road in Basavanagudi to Evolveback Hampi took us 5.5hours including a 45min break for breakfast. My average speed from door to door was around 82 kmph and the highest I ever got to was 120 kmph on the Chitradurga-Hospet highway. This is mainly because it was an empty stretch and I wanted to see how long I could hold that speed which was around 15min. Otherwise, most of my highway driving is between 90 and 100kmph.

The road from the Hospet to Hampi is still work in progress so that last 20 odd kms are snaking in and out of service lanes. Over the 850km that I drove in total, I only scraped the bottom of my sedan twice and that too very lightly with 4 people in the car.

Highly highly recommend this route.

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by anandavinash

Just returned from a 5 day visit to Hampi. We were staying at Evolveback and although multiple people recommended taking the route via Anantapur-Bellary but Google showed the route via Chitradurga-Hospet as being 2 hours faster.

From Bull Temple Road in Basavanagudi to Evolveback Hampi took us 5.5hours including a 45min break for breakfast. My average speed from door to door was around 82 kmph and the highest I ever got to was 120 kmph on the Chitradurga-Hospet highway. This is mainly because it was an empty stretch and I wanted to see how long I could hold that speed which was around 15min. Otherwise, most of my highway driving is between 90 and 100kmph.

The road from the Hospet to Hampi is still work in progress so that last 20 odd kms are snaking in and out of service lanes. Over the 850km that I drove in total, I only scraped the bottom of my sedan twice and that too very lightly with 4 people in the car.

Highly highly recommend this route.

The Chitradurga - Hospet road is excellent and definitely recommended over the longer route via Ananthpur. Only bottleneck is getting out of the city via Hebbal / NH4 Peenya flyover. Once you cross Tumkur, it is smooth sail all the way to Hospet.

[anandavinash]

Originally Posted by sureshurs

Returned from Hyatt Place Vidyanahar via Sandur- Kudligi-Chitradurga- nice road- HSR layout. Good roads all through. Sandur- JSW Vidyasagar has huge speed humps but manageable.

Took 4.5 hrs from Vidyasagar to HSR layout.

Did you drive in a VW Sedan? I saw someone getting out of Evolveback one afternoon and in my rearview mirror, caught a LTD sticker on the back of the car.

[sumannandy]

Travelled to Bellary today morning and came back in the evening. Started from Bangalore at 6.15 and was in Bellary by 10.15 with a short breakfast break. Route taken was Anantapur - Bellary. After Anantapur, road is two lanes, 80% good. Return was via Hospete-Bangalore. Bellary to Hospete is abut 65 kms, takes about an hour, roads are partially good, four laning is in progress. Hospete to Bangalore return took us about 3 hours.

[bhushan08]

Hello Friends, Is now a good time to visit Hampi? Planning for next weekend. Read about heavy flooding in the town and especially the monuments due to rains/ release of water from the Dam.

[rg12]

Travelled Bangalore to Hampi through BLR - Chitradurga - Hospet - Hampi route and it was a cool drive. Little slow from Bangalore to Tumkur due to traffic but road condition is excellent from Tumkur to Hampi. Started at 4:30 AM and reached Hampi in 5 hours which included 40 mins of stoppage for breakfast.

[ved]

Travelling from Bangalore to Hampi with small kids and elderlies. The BLR - Chitradurga - Hospet - Hampi route seems to be preferred one on this forum for drivability but wanted to check if there are frequent stops on this route v/s the Hyderabad highway alternate route.
Thanks in Advance