Are you planning a Road Trip from Bangalore to Hampi, Badami & Bijapur? This is the first in our series of “Road Trips from Bangalore – 10 Exciting options with detailed itineraries .
Yes, as road trippers we love to drive to destinations. We love the freedom road trips provide us to stop, look and explore.
We are sharing details about 10 exciting road trips from Bangalore exploring heritage, western ghats, wild life, beaches etc……. in this series. These road trips from Bangalore, cover not more than 300 KMs in a day. The plan is to cover for a week extendable for another two days. It also provide you an option to just plan for as many number of days you wish to.
Take a look, plan and go!
Read on…..
Winters are the best months to go on a road trip fromBangalore to Hampi, Badami & Bijapur and explore the UNESCO World Heritage complexes of North Karnataka. With mercury rising above 45 degrees in summer, this is the right season to explore the gems of Karnataka heritage. This road trip guide will help you get a memorable experience.
The Circuit
Bangalore – Chitradurga – Hampi – Badami – Bijapur – Hubli – Bangalore
The Itinerary ( Please click on the pictures to see in higher resolution)
Day 1 – Friday – Bangalore – Chitradurga – 201 KMs.
Road condition – Excellent.
Leave Bangalore in the evening and head to Chitradurga. The drive from Bangalore to Chitradurga should not take more than 3.30 Hours. If you are able to get out at 5 PM, you will reach Durga by 8.30 PM for Dinner. Check in, have dinner and rest. If you don’t want to do Chitradurga with this trip – Chhitradurga can be done as a weekend trip separately from Bangalore (Please see this detailed travel guide for weekend trip http://traveltwosome.com/weekend-breaks-from-bangalore-chitradurga-fort/) –
Alternatively You can leave Bangalore in the morning have BF break at Kamat Upachar (Sira), Sai Palace (Between Sira and Hiriyur), Cafe Coffee Day (Sira), Upadhya Ruchi (Chitradurga byepass), Kapatharu ( after Tumkur), Adigas Pakashala (Sira Byepass). Our Choice is Adigas Paakashala and Upadhya Ruchi. All these places have rest rooms. You can reach Hampi for Lunch and then follow the itinerary from Day 2 as under.
Day 2 – Saturday – Chitradurga – Hospet – 135 KMs.
Road condition – Good. Expect heavy truck traffic
Get up early. Drive from hotel to the entrance to the Chitradurga fort. Explore this amazing fort. After exploration, feast on excellent butter Masala dose at Mahalaxmi Bhavan close to fort. Come back to hotel and drive to Hampi.
Sampige Siddheshwara temple inside the fort
Gaali Gopura or Wind pavillion
Arrive in Hampi for Lunch. Rest for a while. After 4 PM explore Hampi market near Virupaksha temple, watch lovely sunset from Hemakuta or Matunga hill
Stay at Hampi.
Day 3 – Sunday – Explore Hampi
Explore Hampi. Take a good guide. We have used services of Basappa and he is excellent. He can be contacted at 94480 07211.
Visit Daroji Bear sanctuary in the evening.
Stay at Hampi. A list of must see places in Hampi as below.
- Vijaya Vittala temple
- Stone chariot
- Krishna temple
- Achutaraya temple
- Virupaksha temple
- Hampi Bazar
- Hemakuta complex
- Lotus mahal
- Elephant stable
- Sasivekalu Ganesha
- Ugra Narasimha
- Badavi Linga
- Tungabhadra riverside on the way famous Yantrodharaka Hanuman temple
- Do visit Mango cafe in Hampi bazar. Chilled out place
- Mahanavami Dibba
- Hampi museum
- Hazara Rama temple
If time permits you may visit magnificent Tungabhadra Dam.
Hampi Bazar
The tower of Virupaksha temple
Day 4 – Monday – Hospet – Badami – 134 KMs
Road condition – Good. Expect some broken patches.
Leave for Badami after breakfast. Reach by Lunch. After lunch and rest. Start around 4 PM and explore Cave temples of Badami. Get a good guide. Visit Banashankari temple after completing cave temples.
Stay at Badami.
Magnificent setting of Bhootanatha temple in Badami
Day 5 – Tuesday – Local visit to UNESCO heritage complex of Aihole – Pattadakal
Leave for Aihole, Pattadakal and Mahakoota after early breakfast. Take packed lunch. After seeing the UNESCO world heritage sites at Pattadakal, visit Ilkal for fine handwoven sarees.
Stay at Badami.
Day 6 – Wednesday – Badami – Bijapur – 120 KMs
Road condition – Good
Leave Badami after breakfast and arrive in Bijapur for lunch. Rest. Explore Bijapur after 4 PM.
Stay at Bijapur.
Golgumbaz
Day 7 – Thursday – Explore Bijapur
After breakfast visit monuments in Bijapur. Hire a guide.
Stay at Bijapur.
Monuments of Ibrahim Rauza
Bada Kaman, Bijapur
Day 8 – Friday – Bijapur to Hubli via Gadag – 253 KMs
On the way visit lovely Chalukya temples in Lakkundi on the way. Take a detour at Nargund to Gadag. Lakkundi complex is on the outskirts of Gadag town. From Gadag drive back to Hubli.
Stay at Hubli.
Step well at Lakkundi
Brahmajinalaya Basadi, Lakkundi
Intricate doorway at Kashi Vishveshara temple, Lakkundi
Day 9 – Saturday – Hubli – Bangalore – 400 KMs
If you leave early, you can have breakfast of Benne Dosey – Butter Dosas – at Davanagere. More details here
Travel tips
Please read the following tips which will be useful for your road trip from Bangalore to Hampi, Badami & Bijapur.
a) We recommend that you leave on Friday which will help you to explore Chitradurga. Else, you can go to Hampi from Bangalore on Saturday and do Chitradurga on the way back. Instead of staying in Hubli on the way back, you can stop at Chitradurga for the night. After visit to Fort and Butter Masala Dose, you can drive back to Bangalore.
b) Take a good cap with rim. Though winter, afternoon sun will still be strong in this region.
c) Keep a water bottle handy. All these place require quite a bit of walking. Be prepared.
d) Carry a binocular. It comes handy in Hampi and Badami.
e) Always hire a good guide. It is worth the effort.
f) You get lot of opportunities for taking pictures. Take a good camera.
g) Lastly, make sure your car/bike is serviced and in good condition and carrying necessary tool kit including inflator.
Recommended hotels
Chitradurga – Naveen residency and Aishwarya International. Both are the best options in Chitradurga.
Hampi – Hotel Malligi and Shivavilas Palace. Hotel Malligi is value for money and is a lodge with spacious rooms. Shivavilas palace in Sandur which is 20 KMs from Hampi is a lovely. Read about it in our post here
Badami – The Heritage Resort and Badami Court.
Bijapur – Hotel Pearl and Hotel Madhuvan.
Hubli – Clarks Inn and Ananth residency or Taj Gateway or many options.
Useful Links
The best possible link for exploring these monuments is this monumental book by Japanese Architect Takeo Kamiya. Here are relevant links from his website
Hampi –https://bit.ly/2DC8FUO
Badami – https://bit.ly/2DCWuXM
Pattadakal – https://bit.ly/2BqcmeM
Aihole – https://bit.ly/2BqycyQ
Bijapur – https://bit.ly/2Qg1eJu
Lakkundi – https://bit.ly/2KpZ4lp
Get hold of “Southern India – Blue guide by George Michell” a well known architect/Historian – beautifully written with lot of details.
Lastly, the road conditions in the state may change. It will be good to join a road trip enthusiasts group HVK Forum managed by H V Kumar, the doyen of road trip in India. You can get the latest updates on the road conditions in this very active group.
We strongly suggest that you download customised Routo app from H V Kumar. HVK as he is fondly called, provides you customised route maps, live support on the road trip and will also help you with hotel accommodation as well. Check out all details here.
Routo – The Right Route & Travel Support For The Motorist Traveller
Thank You
Hello…
One of the finest blog today i have seen its been pleasure to read this wonderful information. i really loved all that images which you have shared in this blog.I am really keen to read more blogs of your side.anyways thanks lot for sharing this wonderful blog.
thanks again & good luck
Christmas Gift Ideas
Thanks Gareth for your kind words. The idea is to share with fellow travelers to India so that they can go back rich with their experience.
Hi dear really your blog postings are very good and it will usefull to all the peoples who are looking forKGudi Resort
when i was searching the same i got good inforation about the best B R Hills
Hi dear really your blog postings are very good and it will usefull to all the peoples who are looking forWildlife Safari
when i was searching the same i got good inforation about the best Resort and spa
hope u njoyed a lot there,I was searching for resort in Bangalore ,I got few one of them was hill view resort
i was looking till the end with the hope that u arranging these trips 🙂