[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

Thank you Dr.AD for an excellent set of recommendations in your travelogue. During our recent visit to Hampi, we looked no further and tried to follow your suggestions to the 'T'.

OK, great! I am glad my travelogue helped you in planning your trip.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I have been to that underground Shiva Temple in one of my previous trips, and even that time, it was flooded due to rain. Looks like dry summer is the best time to visit this underground temple.

Sunflowers are seasonal sightings. I had also not seen so many sunflowers there in my previous trips. But this time we got lucky with our timings. This is why I say that Hampi is a marvelous place that offers unique experiences in each trip and each season. What I saw in one trip is almost impossible to replicate in another trip :-)

[mpksuhas]

AD, you have contact of any guide at Hampi and / or Badami?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

AD, you have contact of any guide at Hampi and / or Badami?

Yes. We used a guide which was quite good. He spoke well in English and Hindi. He was giving very good information, and was also polite.

I will PM you with his phone number since I do not know where he would be OK with me sharing his phone number on a public place.

[Aviator_guy]

Has anyone been to Hampi recently? Is there any weekend restrictions for the monuments? I am planning to visit next weeekend so if there is any information please do share. TIA

[FlashMustang]

Not very recently, but, we visited in early September (September 10 - September 12).
A couple of days prior to our trip, we were informed that the monuments would be closed for the weekend. So, we originally thought of completing the visits to the monuments on Friday upon our arrival.
When we reached there, we were informed that the restriction was relaxed for that weekend and so, we are good to visit the monuments on Saturday.

Based on this experience, my reading of the situation is that it changes frequently, and we might not have visibility even a few days ahead of the trip.
The safest bet might be to include a weekday, if possible, as part of the stay at Hampi, and plan to visit the ruins on the weekday instead of the weekend.

Hope this helps.
Cheers and safe travels!

[ajithbr]

Hi,

Planning to visit Hampi day after tomorrow from Bangalore.

What are the good options for food and toilet breaks for a family group?

About Pavitra Thatte Idly at Tumkur, what time do they open? If we are going towards Hampi, is it worth to take a U-turn (assuming that is the only option) for a breakfast stop there? Do they have toilet facility, or which would be the nearest before or after this place?

Thanks,
-Ajith

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Hi,

Planning to visit Hampi day after tomorrow from Bangalore.

What are the good options for food and toilet breaks for a family group?

About Pavitra Thatte Idly at Tumkur, what time do they open? If we are going towards Hampi, is it worth to take a U-turn (assuming that is the only option) for a breakfast stop there? Do they have toilet facility, or which would be the nearest before or after this place?

Thanks,
-Ajith

There are a coupe of places within 1-2 hrs drive from Bangalore (depending on where you are located). I have seen them on the way but didn't stop so not sure about food quality etc.
- Shree ratnam https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Dkbmd1HHKcEbe638

- Anand khushi
https://maps.app.goo.gl/j1jmFLeYCHD2dHcA7

Further along the way(mid way), for bathroom / tea coffee break, you can also try Shell petrol bunk near Sira
https://maps.app.goo.gl/uPgaHFUzMPxznvgw8
It has well maintenaned rest rooms and also decent snax / beverages collection. We did quick stops here both ways.

[ajithbr]

Had an amazing 2-3 day trip to Hampi.

Roads are excellent throughout, and so off-peak driving will be roughly 7 hours... 4 hours from Indiranagar,Bangalore to Chitradurga byepass and 2 hours from there to Hosapet, and then on under an hour drive due to local traffic, narrow(er) undivided state highway roads with 3-4 higher-than-normal kind of speed-breakers. Upto Chitradurga bye-pass, it is the good old familiar Bangalore-Davanagere-Hubli-Pune-Mumbai highway NH-48, and from Chitradurga, it is the Hampi Expressway which is a 4-lane (separate 2-lane and 3-lanes in important stretches, like near exits for small towns/villages) where you can smoothly cruise at 80+ kmph speed (guess 90kmph is the speed limit) and there are 2 tolls in this 120-125 kms stretch.

Add 30 minutes of breakfast break at famous Pavitra Thatte Idly shop in Tumkur byepass, and 15-20 minutes of fuel and Tungabhadra backwaters viewpoint right before the landmark Hosapet tunnel just before entering the town limits.

Since all Hampi and Hosapet hotels were fully booked (upto Jan 3rd as I heard from them), we walked in to the new 3-star hotel of famous Kyriad group right next to Gangavati bus stand (in the town center) on the other side of Hampi. You need to just continue on NH-50 towards Koppal-Bijapur(Vijayapura) and take a turn-off towards Gangavati-Bellary just before Koppal (where there is a major intersection with right turn-off towards Hubli as well):
https://www.kyriadindia.com/kyriad-gangavathi.html
Hotel is brand new, very friendly staff, ample private car parking space with security, excellent rooms and complimentary buffet breakfast.
If you are interested to visit the popular Kishkinda Water Park bordering Sanapur lake, you can get discount vouchers (we got 2 tickets free for 2 tickets purchase, for our family of 4) as well:
https://kishkindawaterpark.com/

Not detailing out Hampi part of the trip which was the usual full-day guided tour. But on top of the same, besides water park mentioned above, we had a wonderful late evening safari at Atal Bihari Vajpayee zoo in the jungle area amongst the remote-ish hills about 15 minutes away from Hampi towards Bellary. Very healthy group of tigers, including white tigers which you can see right next to the safari bus as he stops close to the feeding area. Then there were lions and lioness in another safari area. There were separate area of safari where you see varieties of deers and peacocks/peafowls too. After safari, you will be dropped on the entrance of zoo area where you walk in one direction for about 45 minutes seeing a variety of animals, birds and reptiles. Zoo safari bus will pick you up from the other end of walkway and drop you back to the main gate/ticket counter/parking area.

On our way back, we went to Munirabad Lake View area (other side of Tungabhadra from Hosapet) where we can step into the waters of Tungabhadra dam reservoir. Played in water for some time and you can walk a few feet into the reservoir lake, feeding some small fishes and taking some filmy snaps as the whole area is like a few frames from some photographically well-made movie. Then crossing the river, we took the T.B.Dam mini bus to go the hilltop for the viewpoint and had a mesmerizing panoramic view of sorrounding geography (TB Dam, Endless water till horizon in the mega reservoir, Hosapet city aerial view, a few canals running from TB Dam to the nearby villages and small towns, and the bifurcation of river into 2 and then rejoining again creating a small rocky island in the flow).

Only low part of the whole trip is the heavy incoming traffic to Bangalore starting right from Tumkur byepass till Yeshwantpur circle(upto IISc). A 50-kms in this stretch took about 2 hours to cover, compared to 5 hours for the 300 kms before that in less than 5 hours.

[Shivam]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Had an amazing 2-3 day trip to Hampi.

I did almost the same between 26-30 Dec.
Meanwhile, I came across an interesting thing/rather disturbing scene on the highway. Did you also notice?

In one of the road junctions between Hospet and Chithradurga, some guys were selling weapons to the travellers, mainly targeting the truck drivers, but also to other cars as well.

The way they were showing sickles and axes. I took some courage and asked them the purpose. They said it is for cutting trees. I didn't quite understand why someone should go to a highway junction to buy farming tools.

Moderators, please feel free to move/remove if the post does not belong here. Thanks!

[ajishanand]

We have recently visited Daroji sloth bear sanctuary. We stayed in Wilderness Resort by Jungle Lodges and the safari was part of the package. I have never expected something like this in Hampi as we came to explore the historical monuments. I was pleasantly surprised by this unexpected and truly worthwhile experience. Here's a video of the safari to the bear sanctuary. It's a beautiful drive:

https://youtu.be/jNiJeH3eZ74