Hampi, Gokarna and Badami Trip
This was a long pending family trip and the day has come finally. Hyderabad to Hampi and Gokarna Road trip. Our family and elder sister’s family started from Hyderabad on this road trip to Karnataka and younger sister’s family started from Mumbai.
8 Day Itinerary of Hampi, Gokarna and Badami Caves:
Road Trip Day 1. Hyderabad to Hampi
Day 2. Hampi local site seeing
Day 3. Hampi Local site seeing
Day 4. Hampi to Jog Falls to Gokarna
Day 5. Gokarna local site seeing
Day 6. Gokarna to Murudeshwar temple to Mirjan Fort to Gokarna
Day 7. Gokarna to Badami
Day 8. Badami caves to Hyderabad
Day 1: Started off to Hampi on Sunday morning around 7.45 am from Hitech City in Hyderabad via ORR, Jadcherla, Mahbubnagar, Raichur, Sindhanur, Gangavathi and Hosepet. Had a 30 mins stop for breakfast at Jadcherla around 9.20 am and then had a 45 mins break for lunch around 1.40 pm at a place called Manvi. Reached our homestay, Lotus Riya by around 5pm and met up with our younger sister’s family who had already reached. Just before reaching Hampi had a break to take some photos in the lush green fields. Got fresh and went for dinner at Happy Hampi restaurant.
Day 2: In Hampi – Engaged a local guide for 2 days to visit the places in Hampi which has historic ruins of the famous Vijayanagara Empire. Had breakfast at the Homestay and went to Vijaya Vittala Temple which has the famous Stone Chariot. It is a world heritage site and need to go there from parking by electric car (Golf cart) which are available there. Also saw nearby places, King’s Balance, Ancient Stone Bridge, Tungabhadra River, Purandaradasa Mandapa. Then came back to the parking and went to Royal Enclosure which had Mahanami Dibba, a very beautiful Stepped.
From there, went to Queen’s bath and had lunch at a local restaurant. Post lunch, visited Zanaja enclosure which houses the Lotus Mahal and Elephant Stable. One common ticket for Vijaya Vittala Temple, Museum and Zanaja enclosure. Then went to Hazara rama temple and came back to the room. Went to Virupaksha Temple in the evening which is a very old and has an elephant by name Lakshmi. There is one dark place in the temple where the shadow of the Gopuram is inverted and comes through a small hole in the wall. Came back to room and had dinner there itself.
Day 3: In Hampi – Next morning, went to the other side of Tungabhadra River which had Anjaneya Temple on top of the Anjanadri Hill which is considered to be the birthplace of Lord Hanuman. It has a total of 575 steps to the top and it has a very beautiful view of the surrounding areas. After that went to Sabari Cave, Pampa sarovar, Gagan Mahal (which was under renovation), Ranganatha temple, Chintamani Temple in Anegundi which is a really old temple by the Tungabhadra river.
Had lunch at a local restaurant and went to the surrounding places of Virupaksha temple, Monolithic bull, Kadalekalu Ganesha, Badavilinga temple, Lakshmi Narasimha Temple (monolithic). From there went for a Coracle (small round boats) Ride in the evening. They charged Rs.500/- per head for 30 mins, which we thought was on a higher side. Returned to the room via handloom emporium (where we did some shopping) and had dinner. This was the end of a successful trip to Hampi.
Day 4: Drive from Hampi to Jog Falls to Gokarna – Started to Gokarna around 9.30 am in the morning and decided to cover Jog falls on the way which was about 7 hrs drive from Hampi. Though we knew that there would be less water in March, we decided to go ahead and we will not be visiting these places again and again.
Reached Jog falls around 5.30 pm and it was the closing time. Requested the official there to allow us to go in as we were coming from a far place and he agreed. Water was better than what we expected and after spending around 30 mins there proceeded to Gokarna which was around 2.5 hrs from there. The roads were quite good and the ghat road was also quite big and newly laid. Reached our resort, Viraz Valley which was close to Om beach around 9.30 pm and had dinner at the in house restaurant. A long journey today. Distance from Hampi to Gokarna is 316 kms.
Day 5: In Gokarna – Woke up a bit relaxed in the morning and went to the terrace of the resort which had a very good view of the surrounding places of Gokarna. Had breakfast and visited Om beach via a beautiful seaside drive. Went for a 30 mins boating at Om beach after lunch and saw Paradise and Half Moon beaches from the boat itself. Kids had a good time in the beach and from there went to Gokarna Main beach via the market which was full because of MahaShivaratri celebrations at the Mahabhaleshwar temple. Spent some time at the beach till sunset and returned to the resort around 7.30 pm.
Day 6: In Gokarna – Started around 10 am the next morning to Murudeshwar Temple which is around 1.5 hrs from Gokarna. A very beautiful temple with a huge Gopuram (around 21 floors high) and also a very big Siva statue in the backdrop of sea. This is surrounded by water on the 3 sides and one can go to the top of Gopuram by a lift to have a very good view. Had lunch near the temple and on the way back to the resort, visited Mirjan fort. In the evening got fresh and visited Mahabhaleshwar and Maha Ganapathi temples. Mahabhaleshwar temple is a very old one and considered to be the only temple which has Shiva’s Atmalinga.
Day 7: Drive from Gokarna to Badami – Woke up in the morning and went to Kudle beach for a walk. Returned to the resort, had breakfast and started to Badami around 11 am. It was about 7 hour drive including one hour lunch break in between and could not reach on time to visit the caves in the evening. Checked in to Heritage resort and had rest.
Day 8: Drive from Badami to Hyderabad – Visited Badami cave temples in the morning. The historic cave temples were fantastic to get a glimpse of the rock cut (sandstone) architecture and were built by Chalukyas in the 6th century. There are a total of 4 caves out of which 3 are Hindu and 1 Jainism related. The caves have special carvings of Vijaya Narasimha in standing position (generally seen seated), Harihara (half Shiva and half Vishnu), Seated Vishnu (generally one sees Vishnu in standing or sleeping position), Nataraja with different hand positions (9 right and 9 left) which can be matched to form 81 different dance moves.
Started back to Hyderabad around 11 am and had a brief stopover at Pattadakal which was the cultural capital then. Reached Hyderabad on Sunday night around 11:45 pm via Hungund, Mudgal, Lingsugur, Yadgir, Kodangal, Pargi and Chevella. It was a great relaxing trip and enjoyed the 1800 km long drive spread across 8 days. All in all a must visit place for travel enthusiasts.
The roads were overall good but for a very few stretches. Expect quite a few speed breakers in Karnataka on the Highways. All the family members had a great trip and enjoyed every bit of it. Click here for more of my road trips.
