It all started, when we saw a note in my daughter's school diary stating - 'Dasara holidays starts from Oct 10 and ends on Oct 24' and my daughter asked 'Dad, what's the plan for my Dasara holidays?'
Since the 'sprint end' was during the end of my daughter's holidays (Dasara weekend), we planned to extend her holidays and go for trip a week after Dasara weekend, so that I am also free from office duties and avoid long weekend crowd too.
So, next trip was finalized for that weekend (Oct 27 to Oct 29) without planning where we are going, what we are seeing and how many of us are joining etc. etc.
During my college days, we all (friends) used to meet and plan for a trip and now, we all need to plan just to meet (with friends). The lives have become so mechanical, people have become busy, and priorities have changed which is the sad part of this era.
Then, few days passed dialing my classmates checking who is available, who would join etc. Finally, we concluded we would visit one of the UNESCO world heritage sites in Karnataka i.e., non-other than 'Hampi'.
My grandmother used to say - 'ಹಂಪೆಗೆ ಹೋಗೋಕಿಂತ, ಕೊಂಪೆಲಿ ಇರೋದು ಲೇಸು' which translates to - Its better stay at home rather than visiting 'Hampi'. I never realized it before visiting to Hampi. Now, after the trip I have realized that its true to some extent because you are unlucky to watch just the ruins that leave you in agony, as you realize if they were not destroyed, they would have been few of many Architectual marvels in India.
Dasara approached we had not booked any stay, Vijaya Dashami was over still we had not booked, just worked on (or noted) the places to visit in Hampi.
Just 2 days before the trip my friend suggested 'Gowri Resort', which was finalized and booked for stay, as we could not look for more options due to time constraint. That was a very good option indeed for our stay, as we mostly travelled throughout the day and just reached back to hotel/resort for the sleep/rest.
Below is the itinerary for a 3-day trip to Hampi that include the to and fro travel from the native.
Day 1: Reach Hampi, explore 'Kishkindha' (earlier popularly known as 'Hippi Island').
Day 2: Vittala Temple, Royal Enclosure and TB Dam.
Day 3: Virupaksha Temple and its vicinity, travel back to Native.
Its optional to hire a guide at Hampi unless you are very much interested in History. We can move along with other tourists who have hired a guide, so you know many things. Audio guides are also available online. So, we can download/bookmark them before the visit and listen to them when we visit those places.
There are hundreds of ruins at Hampi and we will need at least a month to visit them all. So, we just decided to cover the main attractions which we come across in online articles, blogs and vlogs.
Day 1
Just before lunch
After lunch
We had both Lunch and Dinner at the resort on Day 1 and it costed us around 2k for 6 people.
Day 2
We started the day early and planned for a Coracle ride to see the amazing Sunrise from Sanapura Lake, which is just next to our Resort. We negotiated for 200/- per person for 30 - 40 min ride in the morning to see the Sunrise. It generally cost 150/- per person for a short ride, we can negotiate for a longer ride.
Just after Tea/coffee
After breakfast
After early lunch
After snacks
Day 3
A breakfast
As I believe in "A picture is worth a thousand words", have not detailed about the places we have visited above.
Listing out the detailed itinerary in case someone needs a readymade plan to execute the Hampi trip:
Day 1:
Post Lunch
Durga Temple (we could not visit due to time constraints)
Anjanadri Hill (Plan for sunset, to get an enchanting views)
Day 2:
Early morning
Coracle ride @ Sanapura Lake
Post breakfast
Post lunch
Post snacks
Tungabadra Dam (Sunset)
Tungabadra dam boating (after sunset)
Musical fountain (First show starts at 07 pm)
Day 3:
Post breakfast (check out hotel and start your last day)
Yanthrodharaka Anjaneya temple
Achyutaaraya swami temple pushkarini
Hilltop Hanuman (added a pic above in Day 3 pics)
Ugra Narasimha (Lakshmi Narasimha temple)
I have shared the itinerary in the order we can cover if we are staying close to Sanapura lake or staying in Kishkindha and travelling back on day 3.
Expenses for 4 adults and 2 kids 3 day trip to Hampi:
Accommodation: 8k (2000/- per day per room)
Food, parking, lots/loads of water/buttermilk/juice: 4k
Guide charges at Vijaya Vittala temple: 0.5k
Coracle ride: 1k
Travel & Toll: 4k
Miscellaneous: 0.5k
Tips and Tricks:
- Wear light clothes as its too sunny here.
- Drink lots/loads of fluids (water, tender coconuts) else we will be dehydrated.
- Do not miss to see the floating stone which they claim to be the one used while building bridge to Lanka by vanaras along with Lord Srirama in tretha yuga at Anjanadri temple on the Anjanadri hill.
- Use electric vehicle and book entry ticket at Vijaya Vittala temple to save time and money [Entry ticket: offline ticket 40/- per head, online 35/- per head].
- Parking and entry tickets are very reasonable and advisable to keep cash for the same.
- Kamalapur is the best locality for dining on day 2 & 3.
- Don't miss 'ಆಲೆಮನೆ' [a house where sugar cane is crushed (chiefly for making jaggery); a jaggery factory] on the way back to Hosapete for fresh Sugarcane juice (Just 15/- for 200 ml) and Organic Jaggery (price starting from 55/- per kg)
Please feel free to add any important/useful information I might have missed out, to help other readers by commenting on this article.
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