Since Christmas holidays were approaching and we wanted to have a trip to rejuvenate us and to add new places to our travel list. So we started thinking of the places we can cover in 4 days. As we live in Hyderabad and here schools don’t have much holidays in winters. And after scanning the google map for nearby places we finally got our destination for this Christmas. And from the post title you can easily know our final destination for this Christmas. Yes, we planned to visit Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka. So let’s share our compact travel itinerary of Hampi in 2 days. We have explored both sides of Hampi that you will get to know while reading further.
Let’s Know About Hampi Before Travelling
I always read a lot about places I visit. It is so interesting to know about the history, culture, local food and many more things of the place before visiting. As I mentioned above Hampi is a UNESCO world heritage site so it has its own magical stories to amaze the travelers. Hampi is situated on the banks of Tungabhadra river in the state of Karnataka. Hampi depicts the royal heritage and architecture of Vijaynagara Empire. But this city which was once one of the most prosperous and wealthy city of the world is in ruins all over. After being defeated by Muslim sultanates, the capital was destroyed by the armies and today it’s ruins are there to share its glory and glamour.
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How To Reach Hampi?
We did a road trip to Hampi from Hyderabad. If you are passionate about driving you can drive yourself though the roads from Hyderabad to Hampi was single lane so it took almost 8 hours to reach Hampi from Hyderabad. But then road trips have its own pleasure where the journey is also enjoyable. You can reach Hampi by train. The nearest railway station to Hampi is Hospet which is 13 km from Hampi. From Hospet you can use any public transport like auto, bus or hire private taxi to reach Hampi. And the nearest international airport is in Bengaluru, other domestic airports near to Hampi are in Hubli, Belgaum and Vidyanagar.
Travel itinerary to explore Hampi in 2 days
We started our journey at 8 in the morning, from Hyderabad. Google map was showing 404km via NH167 and Raichur road and time was 8 hrs 28min. And for us it took like that only with extra 1 and 1/2 hr for breakfast and lunch halts. It was dusk when we reached hotel. We stayed in Hotel Malligi at Hospet. You can get many hotel options in Hampi and Hospet areas. There are many homestays too to stay.
After reaching hotel we did the check-in procedure and then explore the hotel interior a little. They had a nice pond in the middle where there were some beautiful lotus flowers floating. It was really eye captivating for us. After that we had our dinner and so the day passed with a sound sleep as we all were very much tired.
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Day 1
Our first day in Hampi started well with stomach full complementary hotel breakfast to charge ourselves to explore the city. Today we had booked one cab to roam around the city. Our hotel had a provision to book cab from there. They charged Rs 2200 for a day trip like from morning 9 to 6.
The places we visited on day 1 are :-
Vijaya Vittala Temple
Vijaya Vittala Temple can really make you feel awestruck with its magnificent architecture. To visit the interior of the temple you need to book ticket. From the ticket counter you have to walk around 1 km to see the temple. There are battery operated vehicle if you are not able to walk but that is chargeable. We walked while going and booked a vehicle while coming back. It is one of the most famous tourist spot in Hampi. There are many things to see in the temple like the Stone Chariot i.e printed on Indian 50 rupees note, musical pillars. You can carry a 50 rupees note when you are planning to visit Vijaya Vittala Temple to click picture in front of the Stone Chariot.
Queen’s Bath
Queen’s Bath is a part of the royal compound that was built for women in the royal family. It was built in beautiful Indo-Islamic architecture style. The bath is enclosed by ornate arched corridors with beautiful sculptures crafted on the walls. When you roam around this rectangular pool you can feel the royal essence of the bygone era.
Hazara Rama Temple
Hazara Rama Temple was built in early 15th century by the king of Vijaynagara Empire. The temple is dedicated to lord Rama. This is a place where you will feel each stone of the temple has a tale to tell. The most important thing of this temple is its bas-relief on the walls depicting the story of Ramayana. The spell bound architecture will surely make you fall in love with architectural heritage of India. There are thousands of carvings of lord Rama that gave the name of the temple Hazara meaning thousand and Rama is Lord Rama.
Lotus Mahal
The name will surely make you visit this temple and I am sure the architecture will make your visit worthy. As the name suggests the structure is like a open lotus flower two stored structure made of lime mortar and brick. The arches of the structure resemble petal of lotus flower. This is a part of Zenana Enclosure reserved for the royal women of Vijaynagara Empire. This is one of the most popular photographed place of Hampi. The green lush lawn over there will surely tempt you to sit there and enjoy the view of splendid architecture.
Elephant Stable
The Elephant Stable is an Indo-Islamic architecture consisting of 11 dome shaped chambers used to provide shelter to royal elephants of Vijaynagara Empire. This is least ruined monument in Hampi. Each chambers had enough space to accommodate two elephants. These monuments really make us feel proud of the craftsmanship of that era.
Virupaksha Temple
Virupaksha temple is one of the oldest temple in Hampi that was built in the 7th century. It is the only structure that was not destroyed because of the religious emotions attached with this temple. This is one of the most popular spot to visit in Hampi. The temple depicts the rich heritage and architecture of India. This is a Dravidian style temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Outside the temple there is small market known as Hampi Bazaar but you won’t get that much things . Very few shops are there, you can certainly take quick tour. For us we ended our day 1 here and it was already evening so we planned to go back hotel and had rest.
Day 2
Next day morning after having delicious and tummy full breakfast at hotel we started our journey to explore the other side of Hampi. We planned our 2nd day to see the Sanapur Lake. This is the other side of hampi that has totally different vibe from Hampi. Previously few years back this side was known as Hippie Island. But due to some problems government demolished the Hippie Island. But don’t be disheartened you still get the chilling and relaxing vibes of Hippie Island near this Sanapur lake.
From Hampi it took almost 1 and 1/2 hour to reach Sanapur Lake. The road has very beautiful scenic view with paddy fields on both the sides and boulders all around. Sanapur Lake is surrounded by huge boulders that make it more beautiful and unique. The most exciting part of visiting Sanapur lake was coracle ride. It is very popular here in Sanapur lake and Tungabhadra river.
So we booked one Coracle, they charge Rs 2000 for 20 minutes. If you want to share with other people you can split your fare. It was worth paying the money for the ride. The beauty all around was so mesmerizing and coracle itself has its own charm that will make you feel so elated. If you love adventure you can also go for cliff jumping here. Many people go for cliff jumping in Sanapur lake.
After boating it was almost lunch time so we decided to have our lunch in popular hippie vibes cafe here. There are many cafes around with their special chilling and relaxing vibes. We went to the popular Whispering Rocks Cafe.
The cafe has cuisines from all over the world but most of them are available in evening. As many items were not available during lunch and the waiting time was also too long. But they have nice sitting arrangements to rest and relax and we did that. After having lunch we headed back to our hotel in Hospet.
In the mid way we stopped at Kamalapur lake to see the beautiful sunset. It was so surreal to see the setting sun on the lake. And our day 2 trip also ended with the setting sun. We came back to hotel, took rest and packed our luggage to return next day.
Wrapping Up
Visiting Hampi in 2 days was like ushering to the pages of history. Try to visit Hampi in winters as the temperature is always in warmer side and summers are very hot there. No need to worry if you don’t have your private vehicle, public transport is good to explore there. Or else there are many options to hire cab for a day or two. Don’t keep much expectations for shopping in Hampi but you can surely get some Hampi souvenirs to bring back home. So plan your Hampi trip and enjoy the magnificent architecture of Indian history.
