Legends of Hampi - 2 Days

A plan that covers important heritage sights of Hampi & explore its mythological connections at a leisurely pace.

First two days at Hampi, we will engage in a heritage tour that will take us through all the important sights within the UNESCO world heritage site of Hampi. We will learn about the History & Architecture of the medieval city of Vijayanagara, we will hear stories of origin, victory, celebrations, and defeat.

On our third and last day, we will explore Hampi’s connection to the great Indian epic – Ramayana. Hampi and its surrounding villages are believed to be Kishkindha, the Kingdom of the forest dwellers led by Vali & Sugriva. We will visit all places associated with the 4th Chapter of Ramayana as we hear stories narrated by a local.

For more details please refer to the detailed itinerary section. Transportation & Accommodation are included in the itinerary by default but you can opt-out of these if you wish to.

Name

Phone

Start Date

Adults (Age 10 and Above)

Kids (Age 5 to 9)

Transportation

Message Area

Covers all the important heritage sites and monuments at Vijayanagara Hampi

Sacred Area of Hampi
- Origins story of Vijayanagara Empire & Stories from Pampa Mahatme Sthala Purana
- Visit to the only functional temple complex at Hampi and the oldest shrines dating to 7th Century
- Pinnacle of Vijayanagara temple Architecture style at Vittala Temple with 56 pillared ranga Mantapa with musical columns and the stone chariot to Garuda.
- Learn about the great philosopher saint Vyasa Tirtha and his disciples Kanakadasa & Purandara Dasa who resided here on the banks of Tungabhadra river.
Urban Core of Hampi
- Social life of Medieval citizens of Vijayanagara. Festivals they celebrated, layout of the city.
- Unique courtly architecture style of Vijayanagara.
- Cover different monuments whose function vary from residential, ceremonial, administrative, defensive, pleasure and military.

Explores all places related to the Ramayana from the Kishkindha Kand

Tour conducted by a local from the village community
Visit the Kodanda Rama Temple, learn of its significance and participate in a special temple ritual
Visit Malyavanta hill and temple, participate in Ram Bhajan here.
See the Madhuvana and learn what happened here when Hanuman came here.
Visit Chintamani ghats and learn its connection to Ramayana. Meditate in a sacred space where Rama set foot.
Learn about Vali and his brother Sugreeva
Visit Vali Gufa, Pampa Sarovar and learn their connection to Ramayana
Get a beautiful view of Kishkinda valley from a vantage point above a hill.

DAY 1

09:00 AM to 12:00 PM: Sacred Area of Hampi

Sacred Center as the name suggests is the religion center of Hampi, a number of ancient temples and structures are in this area. The sacred area is spread over in a South West – North East direction along the southern bank of Tungabhadra river. We already covered some sites within the Sacred area yesterday, we will continue from where we left of today.

The lifeline of Hampi is the mighty river Tungabhadra. She is the basis and origin of everything in Hampi. She has witnessed the boulders hills form over millions of years, she has seen early humans settle on her banks, she has seen many a sages and mystics, she has seen the rise and fall of one of the greatest empires in India. On this tour get a glimpse into thousands of years of History as it unfolded on banks of this mighty river. Learn about the rituals, festivals celebrated along the river. Learn about the birth of carnatic music and Haridasa movement. Visit the most beautiful and intricate of all temples in Hampi – Vijaya Vittala Temple & Stone Chariot.

Monuments Covered: Sasivekalu Ganesha, Double Stories Mantapa, Moola Virupaksha, Manmata Kunda, Virupaksha Temple & Hampi Bazaar, Vittala Temple (Ranga Mantapa Musical Columns, Stone Chariot, Kalyana mantapa), Pushkarnini, Narasimha Monolith.

02:00 PM to 04:30 PM: Urban Core of Hampi

After the lunch break, we continue our exploration with the Urban Core area. This area was the Citadel of the Vijayanagara kings, it encompasses courtly and military structures of the core zone.

Here we have basements of palaces, administrative buildings, underground chambers, aqueducts, military structures, etc. We will learn about the social lives of people in the city through art, we will learn about festivals celebrated, irrigation, and sanitation plans of the city.

Monuments Covered: Queens Bath, Mahanavami Dibba, Aqueduct, Secret chambers, Stepwell tank, Audience Hall, Public Bath, Hazara Rama Temple, Lotus Mahal, Elephant Stables, Underground Shiva Temple, Nobleman’s Quarters.

05:00 PM: Return to Hotel/Resort in Hampi

Overnight stay at Hotel/Resort

DAY 3

9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon: Ramayana Tour

Hampi and surrounding villages together are believed to be the Mythical Kingdom of Kishkinda mentioned in Ramayana. The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic that follows Prince Rama’s quest to rescue his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana with the help of an army of monkeys. In the fourth chapter of Ramayana, Rama arrives in Kishkinda in search of his abducted wife. On this tour, we will hear the story as it happened here in Kishkinda after Rama’s arrival, as we visit important sites associated with Ramayana.

12:30 PM: Drop back to Hotel

INCLUSIONS

All transfers (including pickup/drop from Station/Bus Stop) and local transportation
Tours & Activities
- Day 1 – Expert english speaking heritage guide, Battery Cart Fee.
- Day 2 – Light refreshments, Local expert guide, Offering of dakshina & Pooja at Temples.

EXCLUSION

Accommodation – You will have to book this on your own, we can recommend the appropriate places
We do not provide bottled drinking water to avoid single-use plastics on our tours. Please carry a water bottle or buy one on the way.
Entry fee to monuments is NOT included in the price. We do this so as to keep the price same for foreign and Indian nationals

Having read previous reviews and comments I had high expectations and Explore Hampi did not disappoint. I booked two tours – the heritage tour, which covered all of the important monuments of the sacred and the royal centre, and the mythical landscape tour, which included a ride on mopeds through the countryside. Both tours covered the best parts of Hampi, with the highlight being a delicious home cooked breakfast. A big thank you to my amazing tour guide who was extremely knowledgeable and went out of his way to make sure that I had a memorable experience. I highly recommend Explore Hampi.

At first we did the Hampi Heritage Tour, it was absolutely amazing! We saw a lot of beautiful temples and thanks to our great & very knowledgeable guide, we learned a lot of the indian mythology! The next day we did the Sunrise at Matunga Hill Tour. We climbed up early in the morning on the hill and were rewarded with an incredible view over Hampi! We also enjoyed the coracle boat ride through the Tungabhadra river. We highly recommend Explore Hampi Tours to any traveller, because you get to a lot of background knowledge and get to see a lot of beautiful things in compact time!

We , the gang of three friends visited Hampi for short two nights trip. As we had limited time, we decided to take a guided tour to make the most from our trip. I went through the trip advisor s rating on all the various tours and picked up this. After my interaction with Arjun and his professional and prompt response on all my concerns and queries, we zeroed down to go with these guys. First day of our trip was exploring the ruins of Hampi with tonnes of information on history of this once glorious empire. It was a wonderful exhaustive day and we enjoyed it every second of it in spite of hot sun all along. The second day was exploring villages on the bikes, caves, paintings and coracle ride along with amazing picnic lunch on the rocks.