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Very interesting & fascinating place. Amazing temples & a view of life as it was. Loved watching the royal elephant being bathed & then walking back to his enclosure. The landscape of boulders was unlike anything I had ever seen. The museum had a great model of the whole area.

Until the trip, I didn’t know the place existed! Ashamed of my ignorance, I explored it thoroughly. Because of the heat ( we travelled in March 2023) we opted for an autorickshaw to get around. The site is huge and the backdrop of massive, naturally eroded boulders makes it look even bigger. Each monument is well described so it may be sufficient for a casual traveller. To get a more in-depth knowledge a local guide is advisable but make sure they speak the language you understand!

If you are one among those who put more value to the content of the place more than amenities in the hotels, then Hampi is the place for you. Climbing the Rocky hill for around 700 ft to watch Sunrise and to have the birds eye view of Tungabhadra river as well as its both banks is a life time experience. Almost whole of Hampi with n number of its temples, ancient ruinsa all are visible from there. Never miss to visit Kishkindha on the there side of river. That will take one day. And visit Badami, a place around 140 km from Hampi. If Hampi satisfies you, Badami will mesmerize you. The best option to travel around within Hampi is to have a map of its temples first, decide and select your first set of choice, rent a bike (Rs 600 - 700 for the day. It comes with 1 lit of petrol. nearest Pump is at 5 km from here). And move as you want. The next option is hiring Auto Rickshaw. The driver cum local guide will charge anything from Rs 500 to 1500 for a trip for 7-8 hour to whole day. Duration and Cost, both are heavily bargain able. All the place worth visiting in and around Hampi are just within a circle of around 3 km radius. Kishkindha is around 30 km. Auto Rickshaws go there. For Badami(140km from Hampi) however you can take a Bus from nearest major town Hosetpete (15 km ), or hire a cab. Cab takes around rs 5000 for a Day trip including Badami Sight Seeing. Almost all the stay facilities can arrange cab against a little amount of commission they take from the cab operator.

The whole city is an open museum. Beautiful and historic. There are several UNESCO world heritage sites in and near the city including the birthplace of Lord Hanuman, Sugreev's cave, the place where God Ram and Lakshman met Hanuman, and the place where God Ram and Lakshman took shelter for a few months due to rainy season before their onset to Lanka. Hampi was once the richest city of India. The entre town is picturesque.

Hampi is a historical and archaeological paradise. There is so much to see and really not enough time. One could spend a whole year there and still barely scratch the surface. It is a place for people that are attracted to history and archaeology. Do take a closer look at all the carvings and you will see the differences in each and every image. I seriously wonder why they did that with so much detail. The Queens bath house, the Royal enclosure, Vijay Vittalha temple complex...truly amazing and dont forget to sound out the musical pillars. The main musical pillar enclosure was not open at the time due to repairs.

It's worth visiting a place for two to three days. I don't believe that any tourist would get disappointed with the small city. Abundance of things to enjoy ! Very easy to get around in an autorickshaw or a cab. Nice and innocent people.