[amohit]

Well, after months of thoughts, and weeks of planning, we finally went to Hampi. And oh boy! what a trip it was.

Places visited:
TB dam, hospet
Hampi
Badami
Pattadkal
Aihole

Route taken

bangalore(0km)->tumkur(70km)->chitradurga->(~130km)->hospet(150km)->hampi(15km)->hospet->illkal->hungund->gudur->badami->pattadkal->aihole->amingarh->hunkund->and back.
hospet to badami is 150kms.

Total distance travelled:1130
Milage 16.5kmpl

We started off from basvanagar on oct 1st, 4.05 AM. By 4.45am we were crossing peniya. The moment I reached peniya, I knew it that its going to be a good trip. For the first time in my lifetime I found peniya roads completely devoid of traffic!
By 5.45am we were at the toll gate outside tumkur.
We missed to right turn for the bypass. Its few 100 mts after the toll gate. Not lit and the stretch is under construction.
So we spent some time roaming around in the town of tumkur, but were soon on our way to chitradurga. Roads till chitradurga are just wonderful. No potholes. No road humps. The moment you enter chitradurga the road conditions deteriorate. Here we have to leave NH4 and get on to the road that leads to sholapur i.e. NH13. For the next few kms there is less of roads and more of potholes. Later the road condition improves but there are unmarked roadhumps. It took us 2.5 hrs to reach chitradurga from tumkur.
From chitradurga to hospet is 150kms. Of this, first 15-20 kms is bad. next 40 kms is ok with some really nasty potholes once in a while and lots of unmarked roadhumps. Last 20 kms are again quite bad. Just before you reach hospet there is a right turn for hampi. The road straight goes to munribad(TB dam). We continued straight to reach TB dam(on the left side). There is a garden and the dam area to see. not something great, hence can be skipped.
We reached hampi by 12am. we had booked ourselves a room in the KSTDC Mayura hotel in kamlapura, which is 4 kms from hampi. Surprisingly the hotel was very nice and clean.
After having lunch in the hotel restaurant(not so good food), we rested till 4pm and then ventured out.

A picture is worth a million words, and I have got 500 of them, so will let them do the talking

Sunrise, somewhere on NH4


Windmills near chitradurga


Park at TB dam



Hampi....amazing place!




Coracle ride in the tungabhadra river



Lots of raw material...in case you want to try your hands at sculpturing.



Signature photograph of Hampi.



Hampi - View of Royal Center





Elephant stables



Stepped tank



Lotus mahal



King's balance



Sasivekalu Ganesha(mustard shaped ganesha)



Now...how do I get down?


In case you do not want to hire a guide in hampi, you can use the information/maps given at HAMPI in India : Every detail you need on Hampi. These maps are pretty accurate and quite helpful.

After spending 2 days in hampi, we headed towards badami. To go to badami, we had to go back to hospet and then from there on continue further up on NH13. Roads till hungund either has craters(there are a few), or the road surface is corroded, or has unmarked humps. Finally after a while I was able to conclude, whenever you see some houses in the horizon, there will be humps.

We have to take a left turn at hungund and come onto the state highway(i think sh14). The roads are wonderful here(but with road humps).

Somewhere after gurdur, roads narrow down to single lane. Traffic after hungund is sparse, scenery after gurdur is beautiful plus the good roads make the last few(i guess 30kms) journey a drive to heaven! Humanity after gurdur thins out, so its advicible to do this stretch during daylight.

I was not aware of the location of aihole and pattadkal so went to badami first and then came back to see those places. Best would be to leave hampi early in the morning and reach aihole first(there is a right turn 2 kms after amingarh). roads between aihole and pattadkal/badami are well marked. Pattadkal is located at just 100mts deviation from the road to badami and can be covered on the way.
If you start from hampi by 6, you can reach aihole by 9, pattadkal by 11(after spending 1 hr in aihole), and badami by 2(after spending 2 hrs in pattadkal). Badami can be seen in 4 hrs and you can start back for bangalore the very next day.
among these 3 places, accomodation/fuel stations/eating joints is available only in badami.
Badami court is the most expensive hotel, but it didnt look like VFM. There are hotels around badami bus stand which are ok and VFM.

Photographs in next post...

Regards,

[amohit]

The wonderful SH14.


Badami caves






Temples at pattadkal





Regards,

[Mr.Bangalore]

hi Mohit,
nice travelogue with good narration and pics are really amazing..
Keep them coming.

[dadu]

Yes, nice, any other hotel options there ?? and how was the food + tariff.

[Rajesh Rawal]

Hi....

Excellent pics and a nice writeup...

I particularly liked the pic of the winding tree leading towards the sky ,feels as if its a staircase towards heaven.

Will wait for more pics to be uploaded!

Cheers...cheers:

[ravibhat]

Good trip!! I cancelled this trip couple of months back because of sudden fever to my daughter and later realized driver is not feeling as well.

I came to know samething, Statehighways in Karnataka much better than National Highways.

Badami court renowation should be done by now but its costly place to stay. One can do like this Leave Hampi/Hospet by 6AM and cover Aihole, Pattadakallu, Badami and then proceed to Bijapur or Hubli for stay.

Bijapur, Almatti dam, Kudla Sangama are worth places as well can be covered in a day from Bijapur or Badami and one can come back to Hubli to proceed to Bangalore next day.

Regards,

Ravi.

[snaronikar]

Nice pics and travelogue. Keep them coming.

[mjothi]

Ha, that is an wonderful place. I was thinking of not doing any more trips for the next couple of months. Man, you are not allowing me to be firm in my idea

Nice ones, Keep them flowing.
Cheers.

[nemo]

Green Grass, Blue sky, bright sunshine your pictures got everything...very nice!

I've been wanting to go to Hampi for awhile now but never managed it.

There's a long weekend coming up for me this week, may i'll plan for it but i don't want to drive ~1000 kms. I know there is a KSRTC Volvo bus that goes to Hospet but beyond that how are the bus service? Please guide me if you have any information on this. I would like to cover Hampi, Badami, Pattadkal, Aihole.

thanks

[amohit]

@dadu: Hotels in hampi, I am not sure. I just booked this kstdc hotel. Food in hampi is certainly not a problem. This place is completely oriented towards forigen tourists. Hampi bazar have got several small clean hotels serving Indian, Chinese, Tibetian, Italian and what not.

In badami, we stayed at Hotel anand deluxe. It was an economy hotel with average ambience. There is also, hotel moombika(or something like that) which looked better than anand delux. Food in badami is not a problem. there are quite a few udupi darshnies.

We did carry some emergency food suplies with us as we were not sure about the food availability, but didnt use any of those stuffs(nothing can beat steraming hot dosas/idlis!)

In my quest to look for a hotel, I came across this website "www.inasra.com". Gives compresive information about hotels & there current tariffs. We can also book hotels through this website(they charge some commission tough. I was charged Rs30 for a tariff of 450 per night).

@nemo: I am not sure about the bus services, but I did see a few buses commuting on those roads. you can actually drive down. Its quite decent. Moreover hampi was so relaxing, you will forget all the pains

In case you are still reluctant, KSTDC runs a package tour to hampi and few other places. At ~1.5k for 4/5 days trip including accomodation its quite a VFM.

Regards,

[mjothi]

Thanks amohit. The site you mentioned seems to be interesting. Would check and give it a try for the next bookings.

[Lukeskywalker]

Good travelogue and even better pictures, I had been to Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal during my college days, nice to note that these heritage sites are maintained well. How do you rate the roads on an overall basis? (Bangalore to Bangalore), how many days would be required if time is scarce but should also do justice to the places?
Regards,
Hari.

[amohit]

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker

How do you rate the roads on an overall basis? (Bangalore to Bangalore), how many days would be required if time is scarce but should also do justice to the places?

Roads are excelent for the first 200 kms(blr->chitradurga).
Of the remaining 150 kms to hospet, 40 kms very bad. remaining 110 kms avg.
hospet to badami 150kms. Of this, first 20kms bad. Remaining 80-90 kms above avg. and the rest 40-50 very good(narrow roads with some potholes, but the drive is thru almost inhabitant regions.)

Now coming to the second question,
Hampi has 3-4 main temples+adjsent areas and they can be seen in 1 day.
aihole+patadkal+badami can easily be done in 1 day.

You can start from bangalore on day 1 early morning.Reach hampi by lunch time. spend .5 day near the river side. Day 2 spend .5 day hampi. Start for badami by noon. You can see aihole, patadkal and reach badami by 6pm. Day 3, see badami caves(they are open from 6am to 6pm) and start for bangalore by 10am.Reach bangalore by 8pm.

But if you are travelling 350 kms to hampi, its strongly recommended that you spend a day more there.

Its very peaceful there and gave me the feeling like..."if only someone would pay me just to sit here and count the number of rocks "

Regards,

[rkg]

Badami has KSTDC guest house also. not great but OK.

Food one has to be careful in badami also. we went in 2005 Jan. the road between Hungund and Gudur is being laid at that time. and there were no pucca roads between Aihole and Pattadakal at that time

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by amohit

Well, after months of thoughts, and weeks of planning, we finally went to Hampi. And oh boy! what a trip it was.

Places visited:
TB dam, hospet
Hampi
Badami
Pattadkal
Aihole

Route taken

bangalore(0km)->tumkur(70km)->chitradurga->(~130km)->hospet(150km)->hampi(15km)->hospet->illkal->hungund->gudur->badami->pattadkal->aihole->amingarh->hunkund->and back.
hospet to badami is 150kms.

So we spent some time roaming around in the town of tumkur, but were soon on our way to chitradurga. Roads till chitradurga are just wonderful. No potholes. rested till 4pm and then ventured out.

,

Hey bro, I did the same trip, only difference I did
Mumbai - Hamp - Pondi - mumbai. A road trip for 7 days.

BTW at hampi did you eat at Mango Tree ??? and did you visit Shanthi Guest house ???

I highly recommend these 2 place. I personally think the best food i have eaten in my life is at Mango Tree.

Cheers,
AC