[DeepChat]

Originally Posted by HarryB

Thanks ampere, However is the road good after Kudligi to Torangallu as I will be exiting NH13 at Kudligi ?

Also any good restaurant to recommend in Hampi and is going to Tungabhadra dam recommended ?

Cheers,

HarryB

Harry, the Tungabhadra dam is a nice place to visit if you have the time. But go while there is daylight. At dusk, millions of mosquitoes descend on that place. But if you have the choice to cover an additional place in Hampi vs Tungabadra, then go for Hampi.

[HarryB]

Guys,

back from wonderful trip to Hampi. Road conditions are excellent all throught

Road taken was : Whitefield - ORR - Tumkur road ( NH4 ) - Hiriyur - Challkere- kudthini - Hyatt Place

Cheers,

Harryb

[ampere]

Originally Posted by HarryB

Road taken was : Whitefield - ORR - Tumkur road ( NH4 ) - Hiriyur - Challkere- kudthini - Hyatt Place

How is the Sandur-Hyatt stretch? Thats the one which goes via the Narihalla river right? It was in shambles. Have they repaired/relaid it?

EDIT : I checked again. Looks like you went all the way to Bellary and then came back. You must have then avoided the Sandur stretch.

[HarryB]

Originally Posted by ampere

How is the Sandur-Hyatt stretch? Thats the one which goes via the Narihalla river right? It was in shambles. Have they repaired/relaid it?

EDIT : I checked again. Looks like you went all the way to Bellary and then came back. You must have then avoided the Sandur stretch.

Yes almost went all the way upto Bellary and some15 kms prior to Bellary at a place called Halakundhi took a left @ railway gate crossing to come onto Hubli -Karwar road ( NH63) and followed it all the way to Vidyanagar and onto Hyatt Place.

Cheers,

Harish

[ampere]

Originally Posted by HarryB

Yes almost went all the way upto Bellary and some15 kms prior to Bellary at a place called Halakundhi took a left @ railway gate crossing to come onto Hubli -Karwar road ( NH63) and followed it all the way to Vidyanagar and onto Hyatt Place.

Thought so. Because the Sandur is just horrible. That was the heart of mining. Sincerely hope, they relay that road. It goes through the beautiful Narihalla river valley.

[NPV]

@ampere, @mpksuhas, @ankan.m.blr, @HarryB looking for your inputs here.
Planning (rather thinking) about a trip to Hampi this weekend, have 4 days (total including drive time). Need help with:
1.Visit to Hampi temples/ruins - is 1 day sufficient?
2.Places to see other than the Hampi temples (Tunghabhadra dam, etc)
3.Stay at Royal Orchid or Hyatt Place ?
4.Route (may also depend on place of stay #3 ?)

Thanks in advance.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by NPV

@ampere, @mpksuhas, @ankan.m.blr, @HarryB looking for your inputs here.
Planning (rather thinking) about a trip to Hampi this weekend, have 4 days (total including drive time). Need help with:
1.Visit to Hampi temples/ruins - is 1 day sufficient?

It would be super hot! How do you manage heat?

2.Places to see other than the Hampi temples (Tunghabhadra dam, etc)

Nothing else. TB Dam.

3.Stay at Royal Orchid or Hyatt Place ?

Hyatt should be the better place. (Costlier too). No ideas though.

4.Route (may also depend on place of stay #3 ?)

NH4/Nh13 BLR-Chitradurga-Hampi

The SH via Hiriyur-Chalkere is also superb.

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by NPV

@ampere, @mpksuhas, @ankan.m.blr, @HarryB looking for your inputs here.
Planning (rather thinking) about a trip to Hampi this weekend, have 4 days (total including drive time). Need help with:
1.Visit to Hampi temples/ruins - is 1 day sufficient?
2.Places to see other than the Hampi temples (Tunghabhadra dam, etc)
3.Stay at Royal Orchid or Hyatt Place ?
4.Route (may also depend on place of stay #3 ?)

Thanks in advance.

1. Hampi is a city of ruins. To see ALL the places in detal and to know historical significance of all big & small ruin will take a week minimum. However 4 days are good too. The climate should be very hot in Hampi now, so you need to time your visits outdoor in the morning & afternoon.
2. Lots of places to see; popular ones are Vittala temple campus, Virupaksha temple campus, Hazara Rama temple campus, Lotus Mahal campus, Zanana Enclosure campus, Ugra Narasimha , Ganesha temples etc. I suggest hiring a govt approved tourist guide (pleae check id card before hiring). Tungabhadra dam is located at Hospet (15 KM from Hampi) and is a must visit to view sunset on the river.
We visited Hampi last October. On the first day, I tried to venture on my own; it was very hot; we did not know the internal roads and frequently had to get out of the car to ask localites for next tourist destination. So next day, I booked us 4 seats in the AC tourist bus from KTDC. It was a whole day conducted tour to most of the tourist attractions; a govt guide accompanied us to all places.
3. I presume both are very good (have not stayed at either of them). I wanted to stay as close to Hampi as possible. So booked us rooms in Hotel Mayura Bhuvaneshwari (KTDC hotel). Its bang in the middle of Hampi and very near to all the tourist spots. The hotel is spacious, vast parking ara, has a garden and power backup. They offer basic AC rooms and luxury suite; can be booked online. Please note that if you are staying at Hospet and visiting Hampi, you need to either carry your lunch OR you need to have lunch at Mayura Bhuvaneshwai KTDC. They have veg buffet at Rs.100/-. There is no other viable food option at Hampi.
4. Depends on your stay.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by NPV

1.Visit to Hampi temples/ruins - is 1 day sufficient?
2.Places to see other than the Hampi temples (Tunghabhadra dam, etc)
3.Stay at Royal Orchid or Hyatt Place ?
4.Route (may also depend on place of stay #3 ?)

1. One days is sufficient to see the ruins. However do keep another morning for visiting Matunga hills, around sunrise will be the best time to visit the place. It is a moderate climb and view of ruins (Achutaraya temple) is awesome from there. This will not be feasible on same day you are planning whole day ruins trip.

You can get help of guide for your visiting ruins, more than explaining about history of each place they will help in getting across from one ruin site to another quickly. Usual rates varies from 700 - 1300 depending on season.

Also, do start the early. Since most of the guides follow the same route a crowd at one place will be along with you for entire day. Food option is limited to KSTDC Mayura, when we traveled we were not even given menu. They have a fixed menu and you select that, I have heard they got buffet too on certain days. Another place I had read reviews was mango tree restaurant. However as per latest reviews they had shifted to another place.

Matunga hill, Achutaraya temple mentioned earlier are not in the usual tourist route. Both are near to Virupaksha temple which usually is the last point in one day trip of Hampi.

Also, do visit Hampi ASI museum and Pattabirama temple both some 2 KMS from Hampi main circle (near KSTDC Mayura), again both are not in usual tourist itenary but worth the time. We planned the visit to these places at end of ruin trip day after getting route direction from guide who left us at Virupaksha temple.

2. On way to Hampi if you can visit Chitradurga fort. Timings are 06.00 AM to PM. Aihole also is near to Hampi, however you may ideally need 5 days for including the same. Daroji bear sanctuary is near to Hyatt, I guess TBHPian Fauji had visited there.

Also, since you have more time you can think of visiting other bank of Hampi. To reach there you either have to take Coracle ride from Hampi or take a round route which passes near to TBD dam. It takes around 40 mins to reach the other bank from Hospet via car. Coracle ride usually is suspended when the river current is strong, which wont be the case now I guess.

There you can visit Anjaneya temple at Anegudi. You can see Hampi ruins at other bank from here.

TBD dam has a small garden and light and sound show, both of which are passable. However sunset from dam is supposed to beautiful. I have seen the pics of the same, however we got late after visit to other bank and missed the sunset.
3. Hyatt and royal orchid both have good reviews. However personally I feel it may not be worth spending on a hotel much since unlike a destination like say Goa you wont be spending much time in hotel. Your days will be mostly spend roaming and seeing the ruins. With that criterion you can also think about Mallige hotel at Hospet. Got clean rooms, good restaurants and cheaper than other options.

4. The normal route is NH 4 till Chitradurga, the bye-pass branches towards right (left from here takes you to fort) and little ahead you need to get off the bye-pass and take right towards NH 13. However for this you need to take left service road and go below the flyover. The deviation is marked as NH 13 in sign board. However if you are staying in Hyatt I guess this road does not make much sense. Not sure about the road condition from Kudligi - Sandur.
Alternate route of Hiriyur - Bellary - Hospet is also good as per reports on forum, I had thought of taking that route on way back from Hampi, however dropped the plan due to Telegana agitations that time, there is a small strech of route that passes through AP.

You can get the details and links of other travelogues which I had checked while planning in my Hampi travelogue.

Also note that Parking is free all across Hampi and all tourist places has sufficient parking. Only for Virupaksha temple you will have to park at the parking lot and walk bit far (~300 mts). There are no good petrol bunks in Hampi and the ones in Hospet also looked bit shabby.

[ankan.m.blr]

Good news for Team BHPians travelling to Hampi this extended weekend.

Hampi gives bird-watchers a high
Over 3,000 Flamingos Land At TB Dam
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hampi: World heritage site Hampi now has another attraction besides its architectural grandeur: Greater Flamingos that have arrived from the Rann of Kutch. More than 3,000 flamingos have arrived at the backwaters of the Tungabhadra dam, 16 km from Hampi, on their way back home.
With their long necks, delicate pink legs, cup-like beaks and white bodies, the flamingos can be seen gracefully wading through the shallow waters of the Tungabhadra. These winged beauties are spotted in the vast mud banks of the reservoir in early winter and from March to early June every year.
A team of bird-watchers has estimated that more than 3,000 flamingos have arrived this season.
Samad Kottur, who has authored ‘Birds of Hampi’, a field guide to over 230 species, says the flamingos are found in Africa and Eurasia. The Indian species of Greater Flamingos breed in the brackish water of the Rann of Kutch during summer. They migrate to the south in winter. Most of them congregate at the Pulicat lake in Tamil Nadu and spend the winter there. On the onset of summer, they start migrating back to the Rann of Kutch to breed. On their way back, they spend some time in large reservoirs like the Tungabhadra dam and Almatti dam. In Maharashtra, they are seen in thousands in Sewri and around Pune.
Samad, who is part of the North Karnataka Birders Network, a group that encourages bird-watching, said these birds flock near the Tungabhadra dam because they get plenty of crustaceans, larvae, shrimps, algae and seeds of marsh plants.
The Karnataka tourism department says it has no plan yet to promote the Tungabhadra dam as a tourist destination or to include it in the Hampi package.
“We have no plans to promote it as tourist spot because it’s hard to tell when exactly the birds arrive here. Besides, the birds stay here for a very brief period. We will definitely make efforts to develop the place as we did for Magadi Kere in Gadag district if various types of birds come here often,” said Vijay Mohan Raj, executive director of Jungle Lodges and Resorts.
Samad said: “I had proposed introducing a motorboat safari from the Tungabhadra dam gate till the end of the reservoir. This will facilitate bird-watchers to move around the area (about 166 sqkm) without disturbing nesting birds.”
Officials should appoint watchers to guard the birds and nests from poachers, he suggested. Trees should be planted on the islands in the reservoir to facilitate nesting of more species.

source : ToI

[pareshraheja]

Guys,

Anyone recently done the bellary hospet stretch. Wanted to know the road condition. Last time round, about 15 months back, the road from Bellary upto Tornagallu was horrible and beyond that average. Any improvements?

Cheers

[alokgunhal]

Bangalore - Hampi Road Update: The tunnel work next to Tungabhadra Dam which was a bottleneck to travel to Hampi is complete! My dad who travelled to Koppal last week confirms that the tunnel is now open for trafffic. http://goo.gl/maps/4MvUZ : This is probably the ONLY road tunnel in Karnataka at the moment. On the other hand the streach between Kudligi and this location is deteriorated a bit and it would be good to exercise caution in this streach.

[pareshraheja]

Hi, Had been to Hospet Yesterday and returned the same night. As Alok mentioned, the surface is pretty smooth for most path except for some rough patches between Kudligi and the recently opened tunnel just before Hospet.

Also, the stretch b/w Hospet and Bellary has been resurfaced and is doable in just under 1 hour. However, in my opinion, the surface quality b/w Hiriyur and Bellary is superior to the stretch b/w Chitradurga and Hospet and also the traffic is far less.

The main advantage is the distance if one has to go directly to Hospet and beyond. The distance b/w Yeshwantpur circle and Mallige hotel in Hospet was exactly 325 km and was able to cover the same in 4.5 hours with an early morning start.

My earlier routine was via Bellary and distance b/w Yeshwantpur circle and Bellary railway station was 325 km and the time taken used to be 4.5 hours with an early morning start.

Cheers

[ampere]

Originally Posted by pareshraheja

The main advantage is the distance if one has to go directly to Hospet and beyond. The distance b/w Yeshwantpur circle and Mallige hotel in Hospet was exactly 325 km and was able to cover the same in 4.5 hours with an early morning start.

Sorry could not under stand the post fully. So are you saying the Hiriyur-Bellary-Hospet is still a better option compared to NH13 (Chitradurga-Hospet)?

Also how is the Bellary bypass on NH63?

[pareshraheja]

Originally Posted by ampere

Sorry could not under stand the post fully. So are you saying the Hiriyur-Bellary-Hospet is still a better option compared to NH13 (Chitradurga-Hospet)?

Also how is the Bellary bypass on NH63?

What I meant to say was Chitradurga-Hospet road condition is better than what is use to be but, the road surface of Hiriyur-Bellary is still superior.

However, as I highlighted in the time verses the distance covered, both routes take similar time i.e. Blr to Bellary via Hiriyur and Blr to Hospet via Chitradurga. Therefore, if one plans to go directly to Hospet, then he need not go via Bellary

But, if one wants to really enjoy a fun drive on smooth road with low traffic then opt for Blr-Hiriyur-Bellary bybass-Hospet. This will definitely add an extra 60 km and 45 mins additional drive time.

By bybass I assume you mean the Bellary ringroad. If that's the case it was always good considering it being a toll road.

Cheers