Smooth granite, cut steps and a river crossing
Boulder country and a river that bends around it: reserve five nights at Hampi on the Tungabhadra
Five nights in the boulder field, from $1,260 per person, two sharing a double room. This is the first half of the line that runs on to Pattadakal, and it works as a reservation on its own. Come between November and February, when the days are dry and workable; by April the stone holds heat well past sunset and walking gets unpleasant.
Reserve this with the officeNothing is charged here. The form stays open at any hour and a person writes back inside one working day.
Granite, ruins and a wide river
Hampi is a landscape before it is a ruin: several square miles of granite boulders, some of them the size of a house, piled into hills that look stacked by hand and are not. The river runs through the middle of it, wide and brown, over shelves of the same rock. Inside that, spread across roughly sixteen square miles, lie the remains of the seat of a large medieval kingdom: temple compounds still in daily use, a long straight market street with pillared arcades down both sides, water channels, stables, gates, tanks cut in steps, and platforms where buildings have gone. This is not one site with a gate. You spend five days moving around inside a working village landscape that happens to sit on top of it.
Walking hours in the boulder field
Most of a day is spent on foot on uneven granite. Mornings start before seven, because by ten the rock is already giving heat back, and they cover three to five miles between compounds with a good deal of short scrambling on smooth stone. Grip matters more here than fitness. Around midday everything stops for three or four hours. Late afternoons are shorter and often go up one of the hills for the long view over the boulder field, or across the river by the local crossing to the quieter side. Two evenings are kept for sitting still somewhere as the light goes, which in this landscape is the point. One day of the five has nothing scheduled in it at all.
Getting in takes a whole day
The move mark is 3, a full day, and on this segment that day is yours. From the nearest large arrival city the road runs six to eight hours across dry plateau farmland with very little on it; there is also an overnight train that puts you in at first light with a stiff back. Either way the day is gone. We do not reserve that leg, and we arrange nothing by air and nothing by sea: you make your own way in, tell us the arrival time, and the five nights start when you reach the site. The first night is built as an arrival night with nothing in it. Moving on afterwards to the second segment of the line is a much lighter day.
What $1,260 pays for, and what it does not
From $1,260 per person, two sharing a double room. Inside the figure: five nights of accommodation near the site, breakfast, the ground moves once you are there, entry to the ticketed compounds, the river crossing, and a guide on three of the five days. Outside it: your travel into the country and to the region, lunches and dinners, drinks, tips, anything personal. This office invoices you for nothing. The company operating the trip charges you directly, in its own name, and pays us a commission afterwards; we never see a card. The line as a whole, Hampi through to Pattadakal, is $2,350 for ten nights, which is $1,260 and $1,090 added together. Reserving the chain removes nothing and adds nothing.
| Nights | 5 |
|---|---|
| From | $1,260 per person, two sharing |
| Move into it | a full day |
| Part of | Deccan stone route |
| Taken alone | Yes. Nothing obliges you to take the rest of the line. |
| Inside the figure | Rooms, the ground arrangements named on this page, and the local operating company's own charges. |
| Outside the figure | Getting to the country, meals not named above, anything personal, and anything you add later. |
Asked before people commit
How fit do I need to be?
Steady on your feet matters more than fit. Distances are moderate, three to five miles a day, but much of it is smooth sloping granite with nothing to hold, and there are steps cut into rock that have worn round. If uneven ground is a problem for you, say so before you reserve and we will ask the operator which parts can be dropped and what that leaves.
Will you hold my payment or take a deposit?
No. This office takes no money from you at any point and holds no card details. The company running the trip bills you directly, in its own name, and pays us a commission after you travel. That means the contract and the terms are theirs rather than ours, and you should read them. If anyone asks you to pay us, it is not us asking.
Can I add the second half of the line later?
Yes, if the operator still has the dates open. The two segments are separate products at $1,260 and $1,090, and the whole line is $2,350, which is those two added. The figure does not change whichever order you reserve in. What can change is availability, so if you already know you want both, it is simpler to say so in the first note you send us.
Segment 1 of 2 on Deccan stone route
You can take this segment on its own and leave the rest of the line alone. Nothing here obliges you to walk the whole thing, and the figure for one piece is the figure for one piece.
Reserve one segment, or a whole line
This form is open at any hour, and whatever reaches it is read by a person who answers inside one working day. Nothing you send commits you, and no figure is charged at this end at any point.