1 day private tour of Hampi world heritage site in car with professional guide
Description
Hampi in 1 day takes you back to the 16th century when it was a thriving global city. A professional guide will bring alive this world heritage site and often considered the world’s largest open air museum. Some of the highlights include the magnificent Vittala temple and stone chariot, King’s Balance, Virupaksha temple, monolithic statues, Queen’s bath. Royal enclosure and Elephant stables.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We commence our tour of Hampi in 1 day at Vijaya Vittala temple , probably the grandest masterpiece around. It is constructed on a polyhedron foundation. Right at the front is the world renowned stone chariot made of rough quartz. You will spot figures of soldiers, hunters and even foreign visitors like Portuguese and Arabs etched on the chariot. The musical pillars of the temple is one of the greatest work of art by mankind.
King’s Balance is the last destination. This is a huge stone frame east of Purandara Mantapa. A stone beam is placed on two pillars of stone. Legend has it that the generous Kings of Vijayanagara used to weigh them with gold and gems and distribute it among the poor.
We visit the magnificent Virupaksha temple, next in our Hampi tour from Bangalore. It is from the Hoysala period and is the oldest temple in Hampi. The temple tower has eleven storeys and goes up 165 ft in height. The river Tungabhadra flows inside.
Sasivekalu Ganesha Temple is a huge statue of Lord Ganesha, carved out of a single block of rock. We will visit this 8 feet tall of the Lord.
You can find the biggest idol of Hampi, a few feet from Badavi Linga.Ugra Narasimha is 22 feet in height and was carved by a Brahmin during Krishnadevaraya’s time. There is a serpent with open hood at the back.
The Royal enclosure of Hampi was the seat of power of the Vijayanagara kingdom. This area consists of durbar halls, platform, tanks, underground chambers, and temples. We start at Queen’s Bath which is a magnificent structure and used to be the private bathing chamber for the royalty of Vijaynagara Empire.
We will next visit the Zanana enclosure , which was the place for the royal women. The Lotus Mahal is the most impressive structure here. It is a palace is a two-storied building surrounded by a rectangular wall and four towers. The Palace gets a Lotus like look with pyramidal shaped towers.
We will visit the only temple in the Royal Enclosure. Hazara Rama is a temple dedicated to Lord Ram, the incarnation of Vishnu.
Before the end of the day, we will have also visited an excavated water tank, administrative enclosure, and an underground temple of Shiva.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
All hotels in Hospet and Hampi
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(40)
We had a positive experience and would recommend 5 Senses as an operator and guide Rajesh. 5 Senses had excellent communication - extremely responsive and professional. Rajesh was friendly, knowledgeable, and cared about our comfort and interests. Two additional bonuses of the day were a trip to the local Hampi museum and a fantastic lunch at Mango Tree - both of which I also recommend. Driver Mutturaj was helpful, patient, and punctual.
I recently booked a highly complex, fast-paced trip through Hampi, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Bengaluru. Managing multiple transfers, including three trains, one overnight, alongside constant car and guide coordination, was handled flawlessly by this operator. Communication: Outstanding. Narayanan is incredibly fast and goes straight to the point; he’s an absolute asset. Operational Excellence: Nive, who managed operations, provided a fantastic daily WhatsApp briefing. Each message included the full program, contact details for every driver and guide, and logistical specifics. It provided total peace of mind that the situation was under control and tailored to my needs. Logistics & Hotels: Seamless. Every connection was handled perfectly. The selected hotels were clean, well-chosen, and perfectly suited for the trip. Staff: The drivers were always punctual and courteous; their minimal English was sufficient for the job. The guides were professional and friendly, though their knowledge was generally average (tending toward rote memorization of dates and facts rather than deeper insights). Their English was sometimes difficult to follow. Value: Excellent price-to-quality ratio. Overall, I highly recommend this tour operator for anyone needing reliable logistics for a demanding itinerary.
Great experience, worth starting early to avoid heat and queues. Weekends is more busy as well. Rajesh is an amazing and knowledgeable guide. We covered : * Vittala temple * Stone chariot * Kings balance * Puranadara dasara mantapa * Virupakshesha temple * Mustered seed Ganesh * Monolithic Narasimha **Lunch* * Queen's bath * Mahanavami debba * excavated steeped water tank * administrative enclosure * Hazararama temple * Lotus Mahal * Elephant stable * ASI Museum kamalapuram. We had great lunch, vouchers covering per person 200 Indian rupees . Read less
Great experience, worth starting early to avoid heat and queues. Weekends is more busy as well. Rajesh is an amazing and knowledgeable guide. We covered : * Vittala temple * Stone chariot * Kings balance * Puranadara dasara mantapa * Virupakshesha temple * Mustered seed Ganesh * Monolithic Narasimha **Lunch* * Queen's bath * Mahanavami debba * excavated steeped water tank * administrative enclosure * Hazararama temple * Lotus Mahal * Elephant stable * ASI Museum kamalapuram. We had great lunch, vouchers covering per person 200 Indian rupees .
Very soon after booking our tour we were contacted via WhatsApp by our guide Rajesh to introduce himself and check arrangements. He also checked with us a couple more times before our trip. The day before he also sent us details of our driver Vikram with his contact details. This was very professional and reassuring. On the day Vikram was bang on time picking us up from our hotel and took us to Hampi where Rajesh met us. His tour was very well paced and arranged so that we saw the main sites before it got too hot and the museum after lunch. We particularly liked his use of videos and photos on his phone to explain the site and elements of the Hindu religion. His explanations of the sites were excellent and detailed and nothing was too much trouble. Vikram was a very careful and safe driver. We really enjoyed our tour and recommend Viator, Rajesh and Vikram.
Very nice very extensive site that really deserves the visit. We found a remarkable Francophone guide: Gopal. Tel: +919483936083 gopalhampi@yahoo.com
This is a very renowned UNESCO heritage site to visit once in a lifetime. You will need at least 3-5 days to visit all the places; hence, plan accordingly. Veg food is difficult to get; hence, search and plan for that—MangoTree is a good restaurant.
Great experience and explanation with Mr Rajesh to visit the lost city of Hampi. He also recommended us a great spot for sunset over Hampi.
Our guide Akhil gave us a full day tour of all the major Hampi sites. We had a terrific lunch at the Mango tree then continued touring sites. One of the hi-lights was taking a boat rock to see the ancient temples there. Highly recommend this guide and driver. The car was comfortable with AC.
The tour of the Hampi ruins was a very enjoyable experience, as it felt like a different world. As I am not good at English, it was helpful that the explanations were given slowly and in simple English. The driver was also very kind and drove safely, so I was able to sightsee with peace of mind. Thank you very much.
