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-   -   Bangalore to Hampi / Bellary : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/19934-bangalore-hampi-bellary-route-queries-62.html)

Team

Has anyone travelled from Bangalore to Hampi in the past week ?

How are the road conditions, and also, what is the flooding situation in Hampi itself ?
(one of the dam's gates has broken a couple of days back and a lot of water is being released so that repairs can be carried out)

Am travelling on Thursday, hence the questions.

cheers
lazy

All good as of now. Roads are good all the way. Some low lying areas were flooded due to the past week's heavy rains. The dam's washed away gate does not currently pose any threat.

Happy miles!

I have traveled to Gadag through Chitradurga and Hospate on 10 Aug and came back on 12 Aug. The route and road conditions are very good. There are no Good food joints from Chitradurga to Hospate. The Tdam is in full glory , you need to take a few km diversions while going to Hampi.

Just back from the trip.

Many thanks for the inputs. The roads are good all through and the weather in Hospet/Hampi was bright and sunny all days.

The kind of reporting on newspapers and socials about the dam gate breaking really is a hyperbole.

cheers
lazy

I do not follow social for fact checking. Trusted sources in your place are better placed to verify. E.g: Regular tour/taxi operators there.

If you stayed at a hotel, how was your experience.

Stayed at Royal Orchid Hospet, about 20 min away from Hampi.
Great service, no complaints at all.

cheers
lazy

Any recommendations for veg restaurants with clean toilets at Chitradurga? Driving with family from Mangalore to Hampi via Shimoga and Chitradurga. Planning for a break at Chitradurga.
TIA.

Over the past year and a half, we have visited several restaurants, including Paakashaala, Ruchi, and Sukhsagar, all of which are family-friendly and have clean restrooms. We discovered that Paakashaala and Ruchi are the superior choices. If you're traveling from Shimoga, Ruchi is the more convenient option with a minimal detour.

On October 29th, I traveled from Bangalore to Gadag and back to Bangalore.

The route taken was Bangalore - Chitradurga - Hosapete - Gadag, covering a distance of 440 kilometers. The journey lasted seven and a half hours, which included a 45-minute break. I departed from Whitefield at approximately 8:15 AM and arrived in Gadag by 3:45 PM. The road conditions leading up to the outskirts of Tumkur were average, with numerous potholes for about 10 to 12 kilometers just before reaching Tumkur; however, these were manageable in a sedan. From Tumkur to Chitradurga, the 6 lane highway is in excellent condition, albeit with a few diversions. Beyond that, the highway was a smooth four-lane road with minimal traffic, as is typically the case.

For the return journey on the same day, I opted for the Gadag-Hubli-Bangalore route, which spanned approximately 480 kilometers and took around eight and a half hours, including a 45-minute break. I commenced my return from Gadag at about 7:15 PM. The night driving, coupled with heavy traffic after Tumkur, contributed to a slower pace and reached home by 0345am in the morning.

Just to iterate that there are not good restaurants for family in this Chitradurga-Hospaete-Hubli circuit. And the highway from Hosapete to Hubli is in very good shape but cemeneted and bumpy.

Not sure if any of you noticed, Hiriyur-Challakere-Bellary is now a 4-lane! Given Hubli-Hospet-Bellary-Guntakal-Gooty and there on is also a 4-lane, its another great option to hit Toranagallu (Hyatt).

Is it fully done? Challakere-Byrapura was done in 2021 I think.

No. Hubli-Hospet is the only section that's mostly done. East of Hospet is all half baked work and abandoned. Same continues on the other side of NH7 as well in Mydukur.

I am not fully aware. But I see Google Satellite shows this to be almost 100% complete.

I agree. I was just saying at some point we have a clean alternative to Bellary/Hampi outside Hospet. Another good thing going for NH67, it will cut the Bangalore-Vijayawada 4-lane at Mydukur.

An Okay place, not that great compared to Paakshala or similar, but okay toilet and food, next to highway.

Location

I wouldnt recommend staying at Toranagallu at this time for Hampi sightseeing.

Yup.

For folks considering this route for Hampi - dont stay at Toranagallu yet.

I returned from a Hampi drive recently and booked a stay at Pearl by Priyadarshini at Toranagallu because the hotel prices at Hosapete were all jacked up owing to a longer weekend.

We drove to Tungabhadra dam from Bangalore via Chitradurga and so needed to drive the stretch from Hosapete to Toranagallu at night for the first time. It was horrible. Lots of road construction ongoing. Many unmarked diversions. The diversions themselves are in terrible condition with massive potholes. Even when there are no diversions there is plenty of places (especially where there are drainage bridges) and the road surface drops some 2-3 inches instantly delivering massive shocks on both the entry and exit.

Its made worse by the lots of large trucks with ultra bright led lamps on long stretches of undivided highway that blind you from seeing the road surface.

Horrible roads to drive after the sun goes down and pretty bad even in daylight.

Eventually I switched to to Toranagallu - Hyatt Hampi - Joga - back to highway for another ~3km - right off the highway at Papinayakanahalli - Vajpayee Zoological park - Kamalapura - Hampi which was a much much nicer road. Note that Hyatt Hampi to Joga to highway stretch is essentially desolate and I wouldn't drive at night - scenic but narrow roads where for significant stretches you'd find it hard to even take a u-turn in a sedan.


On the way back took Toranagallu - Ballari - Hiriyur road to Bangalore (didnt want to drive Torangallu to Hosapete again) and it was a really nice in the Ballari-Hiriyur stretch after couple of small bad patches during the Ballari bypass (ring road) where you have to be careful due to hidden craters on the far-side of speedbreakers.

The place I meant was Hyatt only. But if you mentioned that Hospet-Tornagallu is bad that I agree. I thought it was under construction for long time and by now should be good. Sad to note its still far from good.

The other option if you are coming via Chitragurga, you can do is Kudligi-Sandur-Tonranagallu.


The real Bellary bypass is also coming-up on NH67. Not completed I think. You may have seen the construction work.

So my decision to stay at Gangavathi for a Hampi trip wasn't as bad ;)

Its always been there. I saw it in my traumatic August 2012 drive. Bellary-Hospet NH67 was a disaster then. The bypass looked creepy to say the least, that only truck drivers took.

Looks like this is a curse on the AP-KA border town bypasses. Its a similar story on Adoni bypass too. Alur entry-exit roads are probably the worst. This comes after an awesome 2-lane road.

In summary, driving Bellary district roads is not an exciting thing to do