Hi goantogoa when in goa i always like to do most trips DIY for ex taj mahal, mumbai but to hampi it does,nt seem to be worth the trouble i know other HT,ERS will probley disagree but daytrippers do the trip for about £50, sure if you do it yourself it will be cheaper but just trying to book the trains is a nightmare im sorry but i cant understand the indian sites,then book hotels which is,nt to bad then get a guide plus a taxi to madagon, imho and i know other people will disagree its not worth the hassle,we go to goa this saturday and intend to book the hampi trip as soon as we get there,daytrippers go on a tuesday or a thursday hope this info helps if you are determined to go DIY good for you.slan(cheers)

Irishman i agree with you on that we did DIY acouple of years ago with a local taxi guy and he charged us £48 pp that was with hotel taxi fare i think we had to pay to get on site in hampi but dont hold me to that..It took us the best part of 7 1/2 hrs thats with a break for breakfast and dinner plus we had a puncture which he wanted us to pay for soon told him where to get off.. So in all you are better off going with daytripper's in my opinion..

It doesn't happen often but it looks like we all agree! We went by taxi a few years ago and it was a nightmare journey - took us about 10hrs. I'd go by rail on an organised trip.

I would, however, recommend the Maligi Hotel. They have some executive rooms that are, by Indian standards, very pricey but they are really excellent. The restaurant in the hotel is very good, regardless of where you stay.
http://www.malligihotels.com/home.html

Hampi's a wondrous place - I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

I

I did an organised trip a few years ago, by train staying in Hospet for two nights, and would love to go back and stay longer at Hampi ,not in Hospet. The trip was fine but I would have loved to spend more time exploring, as one day is spent travelling to Hospet, one day sightseeing, with a break for siesta, and a couple of hours on the last morning before the journey home .
I've been looking here - http://www.hampi.in/ and think the only difficult thing is doing the train tickets, and I think that could be possible with a local travel agent.
Two of our members have done it, and one very recently, so I hope they will be reading this and give some advice
x lassi

That's a great website, lassigirl. Thanks!

We have the Malligi in our reviews here but it only has one review. It would be good to get some up to date ones.
Anybody able to review Hampi hotels?

Thanks roma,
But I must give the credit to a Google search
x lassi

Fiona,
No hotels in Hampi, the nearest is Hospet 13Kms.
The guesthouses in Hampi bazaar are just fine.
The Padma guesthouse is very good at around 500rps per night.
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/4eab7/10bfe1/
Some reviews of sites and rooms here.

Hi GOANTOGOA

1) Less than 2 hrs by taxi to Madgaon probably about 1.5 hrs from memory.

2) Trains from Madgaon go to Hospet on Tues, Thurs, Fri & Sun. Leave Madgaon at 8am arrive Hospet at 14.45pm which is great as the scenery is lovely (you cross Dudsaghar waterfalls). If you go sleeper class (better views as windows are up (unless you lower)) it is 172 rupees. If you want a/c go 3A and it is 454 rupees. From Hospet you will be surrounded by tuks tuks who will try and rip you off outrageously asking 150 rupees to Hampi this dropped dramatically the more you kept walking towards the bus stop. We walked to the bus stand approx 1.5 kms from station (would have cost 10 rupees in the rickshaw) and then got a bus to Hampi, which took from memory about 1/2 hr or 45 minutes and cost 10 rupees each.

3) Guesthouses in Hampi are fine in my opinion we crossed the river on the ferry and stayed in the Virupapur Gaddi area as they serve beer that side and we like beer! We stayed a place that had 4 rooms with 1 shared bathroom and it was 150 rupees a night called Muralis (the son accosted us when we got of the ferry and we said we would look and it was Ok for us but not for everyone I will admit!). They are plenty of other places that have rooms with attached bathroom so don't worry. If you not fussed about beer you can stay on the side the bus drops you off. Buses are met by touts and you can always have a look and if you don't like it don't stay, if you stay and have arrived accompanied by a tout you will pay more for your room however hard you haggle. If you want a hotel stay in Hospet and just get the bus to Hampi.

Hope this is useful.

Cheers

Sian

Hi, we went to Hampi in february! in relation to places to stay, we stayed in a guesthouse called rockys which was really nice, cost us about 600rps per night and was perfect for what we needed! but we also stayed in a place called Hampi's Boulders, on the other side of the river to the bazaar! its about £80n per night but it is so so worth it!

we got the train to hampi, we started in baga and got a taxi which was about 1000rps because it was first thing in the morning! we paid for a normal seat and then got into the a/c two tier sleeper carriage and when the conductor came through we upgraded to stay in those ones.

we also have a number for some rickshaw drivers if you need any

Hi Goantogoa

You can book tickets quite easily, I have been looking into it.

If you go to http://www.irctc.co.in/ (it won't let me post links yet!) and join, eaily done, it will let you book etickets online 3 months to travel date and up to the day before travel I think, and is only 172 rps single trip from Madgaon to Hospet.

Hope this helps! x