[Fauji]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Biju,
I am yet to go to Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
Whenever i do, i will refer to your travelogue along with Hari's (Luke)

Wonderful pictures, i would have liked few of "we were at this place" images as well. That makes it much better than catalog of images.

thanks,

Star,

Whenever you plan, do keep follwing in mind.

a) Plan immediately after monsoons. The places are spectacularly green.
b) There is only one decent hotel in Badami - Badami court. Book in advance.
c) There is a good guide - Chandru - who will be of help. His number is 9448823161
d) I dont think there is direct train to Badami from Pune. You can change over at Hubli
e) If you have not seen Hampi, makes sense to club it with Badami.

[sagarpadaki]

nice TL pjbiju.Even though i have visited aihole,pattadkallu,badami i have not noticed the architecture in such great detail.feeling bad now.

BTW,which camera gear do you use?ANd have you use a circular polorizer for the shots?because in almost all the pics the sky is very blue

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

nice TL pjbiju.Even though i have visited aihole,pattadkallu,badami i have not noticed the architecture in such great detail.feeling bad now.

BTW,which camera gear do you use?ANd have you use a circular polorizer for the shots?because in almost all the pics the sky is very blue

So you have a reason to visit the place again. I am using a P&S camera, Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5. So no circular polarizer for the shots. Since many of the pictures were shot under bright sunlight, I have used spot metering from the bright areas (since the dynamic range was too much to get any detail of the shadow regions) thus either decreasing the aperture size or increasing the shutter speed. This gave a blue sky in many of the photos. And increasing the contrast in a photo-editor gives the sky a richer blue color.

[pjbiju]

Attached is a guide map to Hampi monuments. I have converted a photograph to a pdf document. If anyone wants the original image, please PM me your personal email ID. The image is around 4.5 MB in size.

A map guide to Hampi Monuments
MapOfHampiMonuments.pdf

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Vehicle: Swift Vxi (1.3L engine)

Mileage
Pune to Kolhapur : 18.05 kmpl
Kolhapur to Hospet (including trips to Hampi) : 15.68 kmpl
Hospet to Badami and Dharwad : 15.6 kmpl
Dharwad to Pune : Yet to fill fuel

A/C: 99% of the time
Passengers: 2 adults and one child
Luggage: Full

Finally filled petrol again after running another 196 km within Pune City. So the final mileage assuming 12.5 kmpl within city (average of what I have been getting within the city for my short 4 km/day trips) is:

Pune to Kolhapur : 18.05 kmpl
Kolhapur to Hospet (including trips to Hampi) : 15.68 kmpl
Hospet to Badami and Dharwad : 15.6 kmpl
Dharwad to Pune : 19.29 kmpl

This is by far the best mileage I have got so far. I usually get around 16-17 for my trips.

[gtonsing]

Very nice pictures and well written pjbiju. Reminds me of my Bangalore - Hampi - Gokarna - Bangalore trips (yes more than once) a long time ago. I hope to put up a travelogue or two too once I get through the moderated comments stage.
Hampi is a lovely place. The sheer magnanimosity of the place is awesome. You did not do the night visit. Especially during the Hampi Festival, these structures are lighted up and you just need to be alone, standing or sitting and contemplating the kings, queens, laymen and visitors to the area walking, running, playing in the eerie silence. WOW!!

[magiceye]

Hi pjbiju,
Am planning a trip to Hampi this August while returning from Bangalore for a couple of days. Your travelogue has been very helpful. Just a small request. Grateful if you could share the reference of a guide in Hampi and his approx charges.
Thank you so much
Deepak

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by magiceye

Hi pjbiju,
Am planning a trip to Hampi this August while returning from Bangalore for a couple of days. Your travelogue has been very helpful. Just a small request. Grateful if you could share the reference of a guide in Hampi and his approx charges.
Thank you so much
Deepak

Deepak,

There are a lot of authorized guides in Hampi. And they have a fixed rate card with charges for half-day and full day. I do not recall the exact rates. I will dig up my notebook and see if I have their rates. We had randomly selected one guy and he turned out to be alight. Nothing great. I will try to get you the contact numbers of some guides.

[raghunandanj]

Very nice pictures !

Also, an interesting hike in Hampi ( if you've not done it already ) is the one up Matunga Hill, from where you can get panoramic views of the bazaars and temple complexes.

[elgeevees]

Folks,

I'm planning a trip to Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal starting on Oct 20th. I'm planning to stay in Hospet (Malligi hotel) and cover these places. Rough itinerary is as follows

Day 1 (Oct 20th) - Drive from Bangalore to Hospet. Check-in, relax and probably catch some local sightseeing like TB dam etc

Day 2 (Oct 21st) - Hampi sight-seeing

Day 3 (Oct 22nd) - Badami, Aihole, Pattadakkal

Day 4 (Oct 23rd) - Check-out and drive to the 2nd leg of my trip (to Tirthahalli as base to cover Kollur, Sringeri, Udipi, Jog etc)

I have the following questions

1) What is the best route from Bangalore to Hospet? Any specific advise on road conditions etc

2) What are some of the things that I can cover on Day 1 - en route and/or near Hospet?

3) Is my plan for Day 3 realistic since Badami is about 2-3 hr drive from Hospet?

4) What is the best route from Hospet to Badami etc?

5) What would be the best order to see these places on Day 3?

Appreciate any/all inputs. Thanks in advance

Regards
Guru

[ampere]

Originally Posted by elgeevees

1) What is the best route from Bangalore to Hospet? Any specific advise on road conditions etc

There are two ways. Bangalore-Hiriyur on NH4 and then take the SH to Bellary via Chalkere. Take the Bellary by-pass to Hospet.

The other option is Bangalore-Chitradurga on NH4 and take the NH13 to Hospet directly.
The SH was used because the Chitradurga-Hospet NH used to be bad. Now as per reports, It seems this NH has improved and can be taken. Please confirm on this though

Ref:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2663961

2) What are some of the things that I can cover on Day 1 - en route and/or near Hospet?

Check Sindur

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...jis-bears.html

3) Is my plan for Day 3 realistic since Badami is about 2-3 hr drive from Hospet?

Day 3 is hectic. You need at least 2-days minimum.

4) What is the best route from Hospet to Badami etc?

Hospet-Koppal-Ron-Badami

5) What would be the best order to see these places on Day 3?
Appreciate any/all inputs. Thanks in advance

Day 1 Reach Hampi. Stay at Hospet (Sun set at TB dam for example)
Day 2 Spend around Hampi and by evening reach Badami
Day-3/4 : Badami/Aihole/Pattadakal
Here is an excellent TL by @lukeskywalker. That should given quite some ideas.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...itage-run.html

[elgeevees]

Thanks a lot for your responses Ampere

1) Route to Hospet - I guess I'll follow Fauji's route to Sandur and then get to Hospet

2) I've decided to stay in KSTDC Mayura Chalukya on Day 2 and Day 3

3) Thanks for the route to Badami from Hospet and for the revised itinerary

Originally Posted by ampere

There are two ways. Bangalore-Hiriyur on NH4 and then take the SH to Bellary via Chalkere. Take the Bellary by-pass to Hospet.

The other option is Bangalore-Chitradurga on NH4 and take the NH13 to Hospet directly.
The SH was used because the Chitradurga-Hospet NH used to be bad. Now as per reports, It seems this NH has improved and can be taken. Please confirm on this though

Ref:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2663961



Check Sindur

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...jis-bears.html




Day 3 is hectic. You need at least 2-days minimum.


Hospet-Koppal-Ron-Badami



Day 1 Reach Hampi. Stay at Hospet (Sun set at TB dam for example)
Day 2 Spend around Hampi and by evening reach Badami
Day-3/4 : Badami/Aihole/Pattadakal
Here is an excellent TL by @lukeskywalker. That should given quite some ideas.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...itage-run.html

[CANPUSH]

Hospet to Badami road is not in very good condition. Hospet -Koppal - Ron section has certain bad patches. Expect 4 hours to reach.

Staying at Badami you can easily cover Aihole and Pattadakkal in one day if you wish. You have good accommodation at Badami at Heritage resort.

[manjubp]

:-) I am also planning the same route, but starting 2-3 days later.
Guess many more may be planning same route, with some changes. So appreciate info on hotels and route.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by elgeevees

Folks,

I have the following questions

1) What is the best route from Bangalore to Hospet? Any specific advise on road conditions etc

2) What are some of the things that I can cover on Day 1 - en route and/or near Hospet?

3) Is my plan for Day 3 realistic since Badami is about 2-3 hr drive from Hospet?

4) What is the best route from Hospet to Badami etc?

5) What would be the best order to see these places on Day 3?

Appreciate any/all inputs. Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by manjubp

:-) I am also planning the same route, but starting 2-3 days later.
Guess many more may be planning same route, with some changes. So appreciate info on hotels and route.

I had driven to Hampi from Bangalore in August end. Took the Bangalore- Chitradurga-Hospet route and it is decent.

Bangalore - chitradurga is good toll roads, but expect construction deviation post tumkur all the way till chitradurga

Post chitradurga, take the Hospet route its a single 2 lane road with alot of truck traffic but you can keep a steady 60-80km speed. road is rough at few patches but not too many potholes.

Do watch out for some huge Speed breakers near villages.

As you near the Hospet, sometimes there may be horrible jam(there is a railway crossing bang on top of a slop) and i faced atleast couple of kms of Truck jam. Since i drove a car, i just went without waiting at the back. This purely depends on train timing and if some oversized container gets stuck. Try your luck

Hospet city has some good options. Enroute to Hampi there is a Rajastani place called Vijayshree heritage resort. I stayed in this place and it was good experience

If you like rajastani meals followed by experience such as Camel ride,horse ride, magic show, folk dance etc. do visit this place( every evening 6-10:30 they conduct this)

If you are not a fan of rajastani meals, skip it and Malligi has decent food.

About Hampi, you can cover most of the important places in one day

I visited places on day 1(second half) and Day 2 morning as most of the places are motor-able.

I cant comment much on badami as i didnt go further. TD Dam is good if you have an evening to spare