The 16th century Vittala temple with its musical coloumns, a world heritage monument.

How you want to go about seeing Hampi is your choice. There’s an entire city to explore and you could spend days just soaking in the atmosphere of the place. Several tourists, especially westerners, like to hang out in close proximity of the ruins and spend hours doing nothing at all. The main sites of interest are the Sacred Centre, which includes the Virupaksha Temple and Hampi Bazar, and the Royal Centre.

Virupaksha Temple One of the earliest structures to be built in Hampi, it is today a very peaceful place to visit. Try and get there early so there aren’t many tourists and you can see the stones come alive in the early morning rays of the sun.

The temple complex houses a shrine for the goddess Pampadevi who is an incarnation of the goddess Parvati.

Entrance is free from 6.30 to 8am and 6.30 to 8pm. At other hours the entry ticket costs Rs 5.

Ancient ghats are still in use today by the locals of Hampi.

Hampi Bazar All that remains today are the stone ruins bordering the road to the Virupaksha temple, but in its prime it was here that all the trade took place. The guide explains that traders would set up shop between the stone pillars and the scene was very much like today’s share market.

Achyutaraya Temple and Vittala Temple Located in isolation at the foot of the Matanga hill, the temple is in a poor state of repair. But the scale of the front gateway is a stark reminder of its former glory. Continuing north-east towards the Vittala temple, you climb a rocky path and come upon a number of small piles of stones. Couples hoping to conceive visit this site and put stones as an offering. On becoming parents, they return to remove the stones.

T he Vittala Temple is the highlight of the ruins, one of India’s three world heritage monuments. Work on the temple is thought to have started during Krishnadevaraya’s reign and though it was never finished or consecrated, the temple’s incredible sculptural work is the pinnacle of Vijayanagar art. The main temple hall on a raised platform has a cluster of intriguing small columns that, when struck, produce the sound of different classical instruments. Over the years, with innumerable and insensitive sightseers striking them, these pillars have worn out and today the practice is actively discouraged. Usually the temple caretaker will oblige a large group and strike the columns for a small tip.

Royal Centre It houses monuments like the queen’s bath with its ingenious drainage and ventilation system that has a constant breeze blowing through it. The royal enclosure area was the most important structure of civic life, but sadly all that remains today is the stone. All the wooden buildings were burned down by the rampaging Muslim armies.

The stepped tank was uncovered recently after archaeologists figured that there must have been some kind of water entrapment system below huge aqueducts that terminated a few feet above the ground. One experience that shouldn’t be missed in Hampi is crossing the Tungabhadra by the corracles. These huge straw saucer-like boats have been around for centuries, the only difference being that the buffalo hide used to keep water out has been replaced by plastic.