We reached hospet by 10 am on the next day. And from there, we had booked auto which took 25 min to reach to our hotel. Our hotel owner was very hospitable guy. He had arranged that Auto for us from Hospet to Hampi which had cost us Rs.200. Public transport buses are also available from hospet till Hampi bus stand which charges hardly 20 bugs.
Hotel Info: Padma Guest house, near to hampi bazar. Total charges for 2 nights - Rs. 2900. We had booked this guest house from booking.com in advance. The room was very neat & clean and the place is also comfortable and safe. Padma guest house is the same hotel where marathi movie 'Hampi' was picturised. There are lot of other budget guest house options available there to choose from. I advise you to book your stay near to Hampi Bazaar as most of places you can access by walking down from there.
After freshening and breakfast, we had started our day and headed towards Virupaksha temple which was exactly opposite to our hotel. But before that we had clicked some beautiful photos with picturescue background view of temple and of nearby surrounding from our hotel terrace. Virupaksha temple is dedicated to Lord Virupaksha, a form of Shiva. This is oldest temple and main center of pilgrimage in Hampi. One must visit this during the Hampi tour. Laxmi, the elephant resides under temple surrounding and offering you blessings during visit. It was a my first close experience with temple elephant. What a blissful experience it was!
After that we had visited Krishna temple and Pushkarni opposite to temple by walking down hemkuta hill which were at 15 min walking distance from our hotel. The temple had beautiful carvings on it. And then we had taken a rest at Pushkarni for half an hour by seating near waterfront peacefully.
At 5 min distance from krishna temple, there were Narsimha statue and badav linga both in the same surrounding. The Lord Narsimha statue built in 1528 A.D.
And it is the biggest monolith statue of Hampi. Badavlinga temple has the 12 ft big monolith shivlinga under the water.
After finishing the places, we had gone to Mango tree restaurant for lunch, a very famous vegetarian restaurant in Hampi. It was already 4 pm so we decided not to have a perfect lunch. So we had ordered special breakfast thali and some sizzlers and Juices which were very delicious. After having food and chill at mango tree, we had gone for shopping in Hampi bazar on the way back to our hotel room.
I had kept day 1 itinerary small and places nearby to our hotel, having walking distance so that we dont need to hire transport for halfday.
We had started our day 2 at 9.00 am. We had hired auto rickshaw for Rs. 900 for a day. We booked this in advance on day 1. This rickshaw guy was the hotel driver only. He told us Rs.1200 for day. We had bargain with him for 900 bugs and he agreed in the end.
We had started with Vijaya Vitthala temple, which took 30 min to reach there. One needs to go early as you get crowd there after 10 am. The Vijayi vitthala temple had No idol and it is said that the idol of god vitthal shifted to Padharpur (Maharashtra) during the mughal war for safety and security purpose. This was told by our guide. We had hired a guide for tour of Vijayi Vitthala temple as it was big main tourist attraction and World UNESCO HERITAGE site in Hampi having beautiful Stone chariot in the same surrounding of the temple. We had feel like we landed in our childhood history lessons after seeing full site. We did some wonderful photography. We even took some photos with Rs.50 note having stone chariot image backside of the note depicting the cultural heritage of India.
Guide Charges: Again you have to bargain with guide. Their rate starts from some 400 bugs but we bargain with tem and paid Rs.250.
After great visit to temple, we had moved towards the Hampi museum and then to Royal Enclosure. All places in Royal Enclosure were very nearby to each other. We had visited king palace, Pushkarni near palace, Queens bath, Lotus mahal, Elephant stable, Hazarrama temple. To visit all these monuments including Vijaya Vitthala temple and museum, you need to book tickets online from govt site which costs 40 bug per person. We had taken this ticket at the time of entering Vijaya Vithala temple.
After finishing visit to all places in royal enclosure, we finally had our lunch @ Hampi Paradise Restaurant on outskirts of Hampi in kamalapura. This time we had ordered some chicken cuisine which were really good. Non-vegetarian restaurants are very rarely found in Hampi due to some restrictions.
At 4.00 pm we had returned to our hotel for some rest and again @5.15 pm we called our driver to took us to see beautiful sunset at Hemkuta hill. And the beautiful day ends with beautiful sunset. One needs to check the sunset timings from the google or locals otherwise there is a chance you will miss it. On the the way to climb hill, we visited Saasvikalu Ganesha temple, having a huge idol of Ganesha.
Again we did some shopping in Hampi bazaar in the evening and dinner @ Mango tree.
Hampi....The land of ruins! Yes...we did it in the month of December...peak season for travel! Planning a trip to hampi in the middle of chaos of lockdown was not that easy for us. But as a travel bug, I had decided to take the calculated risk and made this reel plan into reality. Me and my 2 friends made the plan together. We had pre-booked the return bus tickets for Mumbai to Hospet and 2 night stay in Padma Guest house, in Hampi bazaar. I had made the itinerary and things to carry in week advance.
And finally the day had arrived. We had left mumbai on 3rd of December evening for 16-18 hrs overnight bus journey.
Bus Info: There are lot of buses available from mumbai which takes you to Hospet, the nearest city to Hampi. Please see the reviews of the buses before booking so that your journey of 16-18 hrs will be comfortably pass. Bus ticket will be ranging from Rs 1000 - 1400 (one way) according to your time of booking.
On Day 3, we had wakeup early at 5.30 am to see the sunrise @ Matanga Hills. But our hotel owner told us not to go early before 6.15 am as there will be dark and also risk of wild animal roaming around the hilly dark side. We had listen to him and started at 6.15 am by walking towards Matanga Hill. It took 45 min to reach the top of the hill. We witnessed the radiant sunrise and then we had returned to our hotel after having some spongy Idlies in Hampi bazaar on the way.
After freshening, we did checked out from hotel and request our hotel guy to keep our luggage in reception area so that we can visit day 3 itinerary comfortably. We had not hired any transport for day 3 and decided to walk down.
We had first covered Monolithic bull which was opposite to Virupaksha temple (at 5 min distance) and then Achutraya Temple for which you have to climb stairs near to monolithic bull.
After that we come down to Tungbhadra river for famous Coracle ride. Charges for the same was Rs.400. You can always bargain but that guy was not ready to lower the rate and end up paying Rs.400 for half an hour ride. For 1 hr they charged Rs.700 including visit to some temples on the river banks. What a amazing ride that was!
After having amazing ride, we had our Lunch @ Chillout Bamboo and rested for hours there. At 4.00 pm we had come back to our hotel. The owner allowed us for freshening at guest room. Such a kind gesture it was! After saying goodbye to hotel owner and Hampi for last time, we left the hotel for our return bus journey. Our bus timings was @6 pm. But it got late by 1.5 hr. We had to wait there in that tours and travels office. Hence, please book your bus only after reading all the reviews.
We reached next day at 11am in Mumbai. And the beautiful trip of Hampi ended up with lots of beautiful memories to be cherished for lifetime.😊🎉
