[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by alokgunhal

Bangalore - Hampi Road Update: The tunnel work next to Tungabhadra Dam which was a bottleneck to travel to Hampi is complete!

Originally Posted by pareshraheja

....and the recently opened tunnel just before Hospet.

Where exactly is this tunnel? Is there any chances of missing this? I'm planning Bangalore - Chitradurga - Hospet - Bijapur this week and looking for more details on route.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Where exactly is this tunnel? Is there any chances of missing this? I'm planning Bangalore - Chitradurga - Hospet - Bijapur this week and looking for more details on route.

Its here.

You cant miss it. Its on the main NH13.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its here.

You cant miss it. Its on the main NH13.

I did this trip yesterday, thanks for all your inputs.

Onward: Bangalore - City - Yeshwantpur - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Hospet - Bijapur

Return: Same route + NICE road to Electronics City.

Left Madiwala at 3.15 am through city and could reach Chitradurga by 5.35 with a 10 mins tea break at Hiriyur. Traffic was sparse and could maintain good average speeds.

Chitradurga - Hospet is in good condition except for last 10+ kms, which is rough with occasional potholes. Lorry traffic is average during morning.

Tunnel and surrounding roads are excellent.

Hospet - Bijapur is excellent four lane with less traffic.

Returned to Bangalore just after 2pm and truck traffic on Hospet - Chitradurga was very high. Felt like being on Trichur - Palakkad road! Took NICE road to beat city traffic.

I could find hardly 10 cars between Chitradurga and Bijapur during morning and no decent place to eat on highway.

Overall, very good roads and the downside is the n number of humps between Chitradurga and Bijapur and lack of eateries.

[vrvarier]

We had a very pleasant Hampi trip during the last week-end, Aug-29, 30, 31. Some notes on this:
1. Good roads throughout, except last few kms (~10) before Hospet (till the tunnel). There are a few bad patches in between, but manageable.
2. Hampi was very pleasant, no rain and no harsh sun. And very less crowded. Most places we had the entire place to ourselves.
3. We liked Vithala temple and surroundings the most, then Royal enclosure and around, Virupaksha temple the least. We did not take any guide, Google maps and TBHP helped immensely. Thanks Suhas.
4. TB dam turned out to be good fun for kids. The dam, the garden the walks were good. It was too cloudy to watch the sunset, so we gave it a miss. Also much less crowd till 6pm.
5.Hotel mallige is a complete package. Kids had good time in the swimming pool. Food was good and options many. we paid 3700 for a luxury room (2adults+2kids)
6.We did not find anything good in Anegundi, except the drive.
7. I spotted at least 4 good petrol pumps in Hospet. 2 on the TB dam road, and one in the town centre. There were many on NH-13. Their toilets, though badly maintained, can be used in case of emergencies.
8. We had forgettable lunch at Mayura. Good that I selected Mallige over Mayura. But I guess Mayura is only option for lunch in Hampi. We did'nt see anything good.
9. We completed the ruins visit in a day. We were little quick, but two days will be very good for an average visitor.

Thanks.

[deepakhon]

I will be doing B'lore - Hampi over the coming weekend. I plan to start early, around 6 from Kanakapura Road - NICE Road - NH4 - NH13 till Hospet and Hampi. I wanted to check whether there is any good restaurant at Chitradurga where we can have our lunch? Also, is there anything else apart from Kamat for breakfast? Depending on the options, I plan to choose either Chitradurga for lunch or drive all the way to Hospet.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by deepakhon

around 6 from Kanakapura Road - NICE Road - NH4 - NH13 till Hospet and Hampi. Also, is there anything else apart from Kamat for breakfast? I plan to choose either Chitradurga for lunch or drive all the way to Hospet.

I guess the Kamat you mentioning is the Sira Kamat. With a 6 AM start you will reach there around 08.00 AM (based on traffic at Neelmangla toll booth).

Chitradurga is ~ 1 hour from there, hence you will cross Chitradurga around 10.00 even if you factor stoppage at Sira Kamat, which will be early for lunch.

You can proceed towards Hospet in that case and have lunch from there.

Do note that fuel options on NH 13 are limited to few shady bunks. It is best you tank up at COCO next to and opposite to Sira Kamat. Even in Hospet there are no descent bunks.

Sira Kamat comes on right side when you are traveling towards Chitradurga and food there is not that great. My choice for food break on that road is hotel inside VRL campus just before Chitradurga located here. It comes around 20 KM's after the toll booth, food here is as good / bad as that of Kamat. But service is fast and is on left side of the road.

[pgupta]

Came via NH 4 and NH 13 to Hospet from bangalore. Road upto chitradurga was super, chitradurga to hospet was terrible full of potholes. While going back to bangalore is there another route which I can take instead of NH13 ?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by pgupta

Came via NH 4 and NH 13 to Hospet from bangalore. Road upto chitradurga was super, chitradurga to hospet was terrible full of potholes. While going back to bangalore is there another route which I can take instead of NH13 ?

I think the following are 2 options, but not sure about current road conditions:
Hampi-Bellary-Challakere-Hiriyur-then NH4 for Tumkur-Bangalore
Hampi-Bellary-Anantapur-then NH 7 upto Bangalore

[pgupta]

Originally Posted by vrvarier

We had a very pleasant Hampi trip during the last week-end, Aug-29, 30, 31. Some notes on this:

1. Good roads throughout, except last few kms (~10) before Hospet (till the tunnel). There are a few bad patches in between, but manageable.

.

Could you please let me know the route you took ? I am assuming that you travelled from bangalore.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by pgupta

Came via NH 4 and NH 13 to Hospet from bangalore. Road upto chitradurga was super, chitradurga to hospet was terrible full of potholes. While going back to bangalore is there another route which I can take instead of NH13 ?

Originally Posted by pgupta

Could you please let me know the route you took ? I am assuming that you travelled from bangalore.

Try the Hospet-Bellarry-Chalkere-Hiriyur-Tumkur route. The SH is supposed to be better. Dont know how is it today. That was the default route for Hampi, when NH13 was in tatters.

[pgupta]

As suggested by Ampere tried the Hospet-Bellary-Hiriyur SH 63 then SH 19 leading to NH4 today. The road end to end i.e Hospet to Hiriyur is butter smooth. Quite a few Speed breakers are there till Challakere but most of them are such that will cause no problem at all. I don't think that distance wise it is anything significantly more than chitradurga- hospet route however way better in condition. I will recommend taking Hiryur-bellary route to Hospet anytime over NH13.

[abhishekd]

Originally Posted by pgupta

Came via NH 4 and NH 13 to Hospet from bangalore. Road upto chitradurga was super, chitradurga to hospet was terrible full of potholes. While going back to bangalore is there another route which I can take instead of NH13 ?

Hi, I am planning a 2 day trip to Hampi starting tomorrow. Thanks to the wonderful and detailed travelogue by mpksuhas, I am planning to cover Chitradurga fort on the way to Hospet.

Based on the information in the thread, I was under the impression that only a small stretch of 10-20 kms between chitradurga - hospet is bad but after reading your comments I am a little confused for I have to take the NH route to visit Chitradurga fort. Is the entire 128 kms. stretch between Chitradurga - Hospet bad and full of potholes ? If that's the case then maybe I will skip Chitradurga and try to cover Badami caves on day 2 of this trip. Thanks.

P.S. After following the community for the last 4-5 years, I finally joined the Team-BHP as a member last month. This is my first post. I am based out of Bangalore and just like most of Team-BHPians, a big fan of anything with wheels and an internal combustion engine Cheers, Abhishek

[ampere]

Originally Posted by abhishekd

Based on the information in the thread, I was under the impression that only a small stretch of 10-20 kms between chitradurga - hospet is bad but after reading your comments I am a little confused for I have to take the NH route to visit Chitradurga fort. Is the entire 128 kms. stretch between Chitradurga - Hospet bad and full of potholes ? If that's the case then maybe I will skip Chitradurga and try to cover Badami caves on day 2 of this trip. Thanks.

2 days wont do justice to both the places. I would say spend both the days at Hampi. That would be much better.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by abhishekd

Is the entire 128 kms. stretch between Chitradurga - Hospet bad and full of potholes ? If that's the case then maybe I will skip Chitradurga and try to cover Badami caves on day 2 of this trip.

Thanks Abhisek and welcome to TBHP.

When I traveled only few KM's of NH 13, towards Hospet end was bad. However, since pgupta did the route recently I will also wait for his reply on this.

Regarding Badami, you will have to carry on via Chitradugra - Hubli , if you are avoiding NH 13. Since other option to reach Hospet will be via Bellary you will not be able to add Badami on dropping Chitradurga.

Also, you should be having atleast one full day in Hampi (~08.00 AM - 05.30 PM). In that case also you may be needed to drop few places, travelling to Badami means another half day. This means your 1.5 days is occupied excluding your onward / return travel and Badami sightseeing.

[abhishekd]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Thanks Abhisek and welcome to TBHP.

Also, you should be having at least one full day in Hampi (~08.00 AM - 05.30 PM). In that case also you may be needed to drop few places, travelling to Badami means another half day. This means your 1.5 days is occupied excluding your onward / return travel and Badami sightseeing.

Thanks a lot Suhas!

As per your and Ampere's advice, I will skip Badami otherwise the whole trip will feel a little rushed. Time permitting, I will follow your Hampi itinerary and visit Tungabhadra Dam and Anegundi Hill on Day 1 with Day 2 reserved for the ruins. I will update the thread on road conditions when I am back.

Thanks, Abhishek