Eat, Stay and Travel - Hampi

BiCycle and Moped Rental

City can be visited on the rented moped bikes, bicycle or the auto. I enjoyed my first day exploring hampi ruins on the rented moped. Don't imagine me driving the moped :-) I was doing stunts by standing on the back seat somehow balancing myself and moped ...

Second day, i preferred to rent a geared bicycle. I enjoyed running bicycle after a number of years :-). The way was too scenic that can only be enjoyed on an open vehicle like a bike or cycle. I drove it around 12 kms but its difficult to run them on the hilly areas because they say it's a geared one but actually its not.

Issue with Rental Moped - Unfortunately the moped that we hired broke twice and the repairing stations in hampi were 3 to 5 kms away. We had to hire a auto to get our bike to the station. Autos there, charge a lumpsome money, they dont use meter at all. I lost my patience when it broke second time and servicewala told me that patches for the old punctures on the tyre are coming out. I contacted the owner, he apologised and offered me free service for one more day which i didnt utilize.

I really couldn't stick to my travelling plan for the day and had to shift visiting one of the temple to accomodate this in the second day.

Travel from Bangalore to Hampi

Hampi is approximately 300 km away from Bangalore. I took a train from Bangalore to Hospet (Hampi Express).

The trip to catch the train was quite adventurous. I got late in office that day due to some meetings and on the way to the Majestic Railway station from whitefield, I was day dreaming of running behind the train in case i reach the station a little late. Luckily, I got there few minutes in advance and boarded the train easily.

Hampi to hospet is overnight journey. Hospet, a small town located about 12 kilometers (8 miles) from Hampi is the nearest railway station. From the hospet railway station, we took an auto to reach bus stand. From Hospet, public buses are easily found to reach Hampi.

There is an amazing bus with a great palace like interior with pillars inside, dark brown yellow colour, named as VijayaRath. Rent is only 5 rs higher than the local bus. It was not at all crowded. I really enjoyed my journey in the bus.

Where to Eat 

You won't find many options on the way to tourist places for the food, we survived the whole day on chips, buiscuits, masala nimbu soda, coconut water and mineral water. These can be found in most of the building you visit. Some of the local restaurants can be found which offer you food with very cheap price .

Mango Tree is the only available popular restaurant, View is too scenic as this is close to the river. Seating arrangement is quite indian, sitting on a mattresses on floor and a small table in front of you to serve the food. They serve different kind of cusinies like Chinese, Maxican and more along with the indian but it is all vegeterian. I tried roti and curry which were average food.

I had trouble with the mosquitos, even the mosquitos repellent coils were ineffective for me at that place. Also, you have to make sure you took off your slippers before entering the restaurant.

Accomodation

If you are planning to stay in Hampi, don't expect any luxury place to stay. There are more of home stays which can easily be found in 500-700 rs. I reckon that cheapest would be 100 rs.

There are some resorts available after crossing the tungbhadra river. Food options strictly limited to the place to stay.