Badami - Pattadakal - Aihole- Bijapur : A 2 day itinerary

This UNESCO heritage site is breath-taking and very well maintained. There are 10 Shiva temples here, all facing east, built in both Dravidian and North Indian style of architecture. The prominent temples are the Virupaksha temple (based on the one in Hampi), Kashiviswanath temple, Galaganath and Sangameshwar temple. There is also a Jain temple here. All of them are intricately carved, with a lot of detailed designs. Definitely a place to feast on the excellence of the Chalukya dynasty's taste for architecture!

You may want to hire a guide for a tour of the place; though all temples are well marked with descriptive boards.

We then headed towards Badami, to check in and have lunch and then head out to explore the town. Badami is a small place and Grand Clark Inn was the only hotel we found. We checked in, ate at the hotel and after a quick siesta stepped out to see the Cave temples.

Badami is famous for the Cave temples, a view of which you can get from the hotel itself. A 5mins drive/walk through extremely narrow path, we reached the entrance. The approach road is very small and recommend walking to the caves instead of driving. Badami was quite crowded as a town and to avoid that we drove. The first thing we noticed at the cave temples were the abundance of monkeys! So beware and don't carry food. We bought tickets by using the QR code at the counter and started climbing the stairs to Cave 1. There are a set of 4 caves, each at a higher elevation than the other. Each cave is different, intricately carved with statues of Vishnu and Narasimha. The 4th cave is a Jain cave with carving of Bahubali in meditation and other poses.

I would definitely recommend climbing up to the 4th cave cuz the views of the town on one side and Agastya lake and Bhoothnath temple on the other are beautiful. Its a great place to witness the sunset too! We then headed to Agastya lake and Bhoothnath temple to sit by it. The approach road is even smaller hence recommend walking. Most of the sights close by 6pm so do plan accordingly. After a peaceful evening by the lake we got back to the hotel to eat and get some rest. Given the covid situation we didn't venture out to explore local food options and preferred to order in room service - least contact mode on!

Well, we have studied about Gol Gumbaz in school, and being so close to it, we just couldn't skip it. Gol Gumbaz is the tomb of King Adil Shah of the Shah dynasty and is situated in Bijapur, about 2.5hr drive from Badami. We started around 8am post an early break-fast and headed off on the highway to Bijapur. The roads were quite good, some dotted with windmills as well 🙂 We reached Gol Gumbaz around 10:30am ish, parked near by, scanned the QR code to buy tickets and went on to explore it.

The first building is the Archaeological museum, and that has a separate ticket to enter. We skipped it and walked around it towards the Gumbaz. The first thing that struck us is the symmetry of this tomb and well, the size of the Dome itself! The main highlight, the Dome, is the second largest dome in the world, after the St Peters Basilica in Vatican City. Once you step in you see the tomb of the King; and you can proceed to climb one of the 4 pillar to go up to the Whispering Gallery aka the Dome. The stairway is extremely narrow, with high steps and about 5-6 floors up, we reached the Whispering Gallery. This is famous due to its unique acoustics - a whisper/sound made in any corner can be heard across the entire the dome. It's just amazing. We spent some time making sounds and hearing the echo bounce through the entire structure! Wow!

We finished exploring the Gumbaz close to lunch time, stopped by the Qaswa Hills restaurant to pack our food (avoiding eating in the restaurant) and set off towards the next destination.

Aihole was our next destination. Badami, Pattadakkal, Aihole lie on the same state highway. Aihole is quite different; a small village with close to 120+ temples , a temple at every corner almost! Aihole was once the capital of the Chalukya dynasty before it was moved to Badami. Here are some prominent temples of Aihole, most housed in the same complex -

Durga Temple

Is a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Is very unique given its rounded architecture, which is very unlike Hindu temples. A Dravidian style temple, it has some very intricate and detailed designs - do step inside and check out the carvings on the columns and the ceiling - beautiful! This was one of the first temples where no sealant was used to hold the stones, instead grooves were designed so that the stones fit in.. like gear teeth!

Lad Khan Temple

A Shiva temple, yes you read right, though with a Muslim name which has many legends around the name, has such a different architecture. Its the only temple with a square "mandap" on the roof, like a chimney is what it looks like from far away. Similar to other temples, it has some very delicate designs and a remarkable example of the Chalukhya architecture of using large stone blocks.

Suryanarayanan Temple, Chakra Gudi Temple, Rachigudi temple - a few other temples in the same complex to admire the architecture of.

Ravanaphadi Cave temple

A few mins away from the Durga temple complex is this cave temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. What caught my eye was a the beautiful Mahishasurmardini carving and the dancing Natraja carving and Ganesha carving in the sanctum of the temple.

With that wrapped our 4 day immersion into Karnataka's glorious heritage. It was really enriching to be transported back into a different period of time, brimming with art, architecture and culture. The following day, we set off on the 8hr drive back home to Bangalore.

As you decide to step out during these covid times, do ensure to follow the guidelines, masks and sanitizer on and safely, physically distanced from others! Safe travels!

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