Driving Holidays from Bangalore 1 - Karnataka Heritage trails

These are comfortable drives from Bangalore. Being road-trippers, we love the freedom road trips provide to stop, look and explore.

These drives, cover not more than 300 KMs in a day. The plan is to cover for a week extendable for another two days.

We will be sharing details about 6 lovely drives from Bangalore in this blog exploring heritage, western ghats, wild life, beaches etc....... 

This is the first one in the series covering the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal. It also covers the hill fort of Chitradurga and Bijapur. Take a look, plan and go!

Read on.....

Driving Holiday 1 - Karnataka Heritage trails

Winters are the best months to 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.

The Circuit

Bangalore - Chitradurga - Hampi - Badami - Bijapur - Hubli - Bangalore

Map - Google Map of the circuit

The Itinerary

Day 1 - Friday - Bangalore - Chitradurga - 201 KMs.

Road condition - Excellent. Well marked diversions between Tumkur and Chitradurga.

Leave Bangalore in the evening and head to Chitradurga. The drive from Bangalore to Chitradurga should not take more than 3 Hours. If you are able to get out at 5 PM, you will reach Durga by 8 PM for Dinner. Check in, have dinner and rest.

Day 2 - Saturday - Chitradurga - Hospet - 135 KMs.

Road condition - Excellent. Expect heavy truck traffic on the road.

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. 

Panoramic view of the structures inside the fort

Another view.....

Arrive in Hampi for Lunch. Rest for a while. After 4 PM explore Hampi, watch lovely sunset from Hemakuta or Matunga hill. 

Day 3  - Sunday - Hampi

Explore Hampi. Take a good guide. Visit Daroji Bear sanctuary in the evening. 

Small temples in Hampi with lovely backdrop 

A mantapa on the banks of Tungabhadra river

For more details on Hampi please look at the following posts

Hampi Wonders and Sandur's splendors

Royal Ruins of Hampi

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. Visit Banashankari temple after completing cave temples.

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.

Magnificent setting of Bhootanatha temple in Badami

For more details on Badami. Aihole and Pattadakal look at this post

Chalukyan temples of Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal

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.

Day 7 - Thursday - Explore Bijapur

After breakfast visit monuments in Bijapur. Hire a guide. Stay at Bijapur.

Monuments of Ibrahim Rauza

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.

Brahma Jinalaya Basti

Step well in Lakkundi

Day 9 - 29 Dec 2012 - Saturday - Hubli - Bangalore - 400 KMs

Travel tips

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, 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.

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 on Hampi above

Badami - The Heritage Resort and Badami Court. 

Bijapur - Hotel Pearl and Hotel Madhuvan.

Hubli - Clarks Inn and Ananth residency or Taj Gateway

For a detailed post on Hampi and its wonders, please click this link below.

Hampi wonders and Sandur splendors!

Useful Links

The best possible link for exploring these monuments is this monumental book by Japanese Architect Takeo Kamiya. Here is the website for the same.

Indian Architecture

Get hold of "Southern India - Blue guide by George Michell" a well known architect - beautifully written with lot of details.

For other Driving Holidays from Bangalore, Please click on these posts

Driving Holidays from Bangalore 6 - Exploring Uttara Kannada

Driving Holidays from Bangalore 5 - Hill Holiday in Coorg, Wayanad and Ooty

Driving Holiday from Bangalore 4 - Karavali and Koffee combo!

Driving Holidays from Bangalore 3 - A Tryst with Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu

Driving Holidays from Bangalore 2 - Magical Malnad!

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