Been to Goa or Gokarna or Pushkar? If your answer to that is a yes and you are on a lookout for some other place like that with similar feels in India, then Hampi has to be your the next place you visit. Let’s say you already knew this and are planning to go there, but before you plan your stay there did you know that it is also one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. Yes, its got its root deep in Indian History. So now its just not a chillout place but also a site seeing place and you have to plan to see all that Hampi has to offer in the small time that you’ve decided to be there for.
Ideally, you can keep around 4-5 days to enjoy it completely and also be satisfied with your visit.
2 parts stay
You can divide your stay into 2 parts.
Hippie Island
- On the Southern bank of the Tungabhadra river
Hampi Bazaar
- Inside actual Hampi to see all the ancient ruins from the times of Ramayana and the more recent (around the 1300s) the Vijayanagara Empire.
Now you can day 2 days on both the sides if you just have 4 days but I know you’ll want to stay longer on the Hippie island side once there. Also if you just have 3 days or a weekend with you for Hampi then you can plan your trip with this perfect itinerary for a weekend in Hampi.
You can decide which place to go for first either depending on from where are you coming or what you want to do first.
Depending on the Direction
- If you are coming from anywhere around Hyderabad then you’ll be on the Southern bank of the Tungabhadra and the closest to the Hippie Island. If taking a bus then you can get down at Sangapur and take an auto or check your Gps and find that your stay might be on the way and get down just in front of it.
- Another side is if you are heading to Hampi from either Bangalore or even Goa then the last stop you’ll and up in before Hampi would be Hospet and then take a bus to the Hampi Bus top.
Depending on what you want to do first
- See the ruins
- Then better to stay in Hampi Bazaar first and then take the ferry to Hippie island if you want to check out a few cafes there.
- Chill out
- Then you can stay on the Hippie island and keep coming and going to Hampi by ferry.
- The only thing is that the ferry stops by 5:30 in the evening.
Now your question can be why can’t we stay just on one side and keep coming and going to see everything. That’s a very valid question.
The reason why I suggest staying on both sides is first
Places to stay on the Hippi island side is
- Wanderers luxury
- Has a hostel stay and is extremely clean. Possibly the best kind you can find in Hampi for budget travel. But the only drawback is its distance from Hippie island, which would be about 8-10 km.
- Dream Mango
- This is on the way to Hippie island. Closer to the Hanuman temple which is also the sunset and sunrise point on this side.
- It also offers tent stays if you are up for it.
- Laughing Buddha cafe
- This one has to be my favorite not just because of the food and the view also because its a little secluded from the actual lane of the Hippie island.
- I wish I knew about it earlier, nevertheless you guys and benefit from this information. The rooms here are about Rs 600-700/ night.
Places to stay in Hampi Bazaar
Here’s a thing to keep in mind before you decide to stay in Hampi Bazaar. Firstly very bad network connection (Very Important) and second is that the stays and guest houses here have very basic facilities. Most of them offer two types of rooms with attached bathroom and one without, that means there is a common one to be used by all. If comfort is your first priority then this side not a place for you. But if you can do with basic then you won’t have any problem.
What do I mean by basic?
By basic I mean, no cupboards, no mirror, no shower, just one bulb in the room or a tube light, walls are painted very wierd blue or green and the worst the size of the bathroom are next to nonexistent even when you go for attached bathroom room.
But I guess for a day of stay its manageable because you aren’t going to stay there in the room and only return to sleep.
You can find many guest houses on Booking.com. Can’t suggest the one I stayed in which was Herman’s Guest House. It was pathetic. Don’t know how I stayed there. That’s why just went back to the room only to sleep.
In Hampi Bazaar most of the places have rooms on the ground floor and a restaurant on the top.
Now that I’m done telling you all about the stay lets get to how to move around Hampi.
You can hire Scootys on the Hippie Island side for 200-250 rs. But on Hampi side, there are no scootys. You’ll find plenty of cycles for hire and can also hire Mopad’s but the latter are difficult to find as there are a very few. And the third option is autos. Auto walas there will take you around each and every place in a day in Hampi for Rs 1200. It sounds a lot and pretty costly but when you are cycling in scorching heat and dusty conditions it would seem better to take an auto and roam around comfortably.
He is the best guide and autowala you can find in Hampi, for the two days I was there I did not to hire a guide anywhere. As he would tell me everything before hand. And I also got to know a lot of fascinating stories related to Hampi too.
Cover of Hampi Magazine
You can read more about Hampi in these posts:
- 3 days itinerary of Hampi without missing anything.
- Hampi – Things you’ll not come to know on your first visit here.
- 14 Places you have to see in Hampi and a few more.
That’s it for this one.
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