Onward Journey: Bangalore – Hiriyur – Chellekare – Bellary – Tornagalu

  • Bangalore – Hiriyur is 6 lane except for one section in tumkur where you need to weave in & out of slow moving trucks.
  • Chellakere – Bellary bypass is around 170 km and the truck traffic was relatively lower than what I expected.
  • Could easily do 70-80 kmph as the roads are good but the problem is speed breakers. If you are driving a small car/sedan, then these could be a pain to negotiate.
  • Bellary bypass – Hyatt has broken roads, monster speed breakers and significantly high truck traffic

Return Journey: Hampi – Hospet – NH13 – Chitradurga – Bangalore
NH13 is truckers paradise. The road is broken and a lot narrower than the Hiriyur – Chellakere – Bellary road. Add to that speed brakers in front of every small hamlet and even some unmarked ones in front of a few petrol bunks. Trucks, speed brakers, broken & narrow roads makes for an unnerving drive and the 130 km from Hopset to Chitradurga took nearly 2 hours 45 min.

Stay at Hyatt Place Hampi
I had booked my stay at the Hyatt Place in Tornagalu, which is part of the Vidyanagar township run by Jindal Steel. While the rooms are clean and in general the place is good, its nothing great and doesn’t really live up to its “Hyatt” tag. Even the food is just about par and hence my rating for the entire stay & experience at Hyatt would be a 3/5

Roads of Vidyanagar


JSW plant – Its a sight to see at night!3-IMG_20160228_064308_HDR

Hyatt place – reminds me of my 40 year old college building

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Driving from Hyatt Palace – Hampi
Need to drive on SH63:Bellary – Hospet road and then take a diversion onto SH131 to get to hampi. SH63 is a again has high truck density but sections of bar roads were fixed and some were being fixed over the last weekend. SH131 is beautiful piece of winding tarmac on which you will find JLR Sloth bear resort & the new Orange county that will open soon.

Somewhere on SH131

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Things to consider while planning to visit Hampi:

  • Stay closer to Hampi – there are enough and more luxury/mid range places around hampi now. Jungle lodges, Orange county, Clarks Inn, Heritage resort to name a few
  • Avoid NH13 as much as possible. Its less stressful to go via Hiriyur – Bellary bypass – Hospet
  • Get a good guide. Makes all the difference when it comes to experiencing the magic
  • Watch the sunset from any of the sunset points – its totally worth whatever pains you need to take to get to see it
  • Summer months (Feb – May) are extremely hot and you cant do anything between 11 am – 4.30 pm. Hence the right time to visit would be Sep – Jan
  • Always carry water and some light snacks with you as you might need to do a little – lot of walking depending on places that plan to visit
  • Do take a boat ride and go across to Anegundi side. We did not get a chance to do that but plan to do so the next time we visit