Sasivekalu Ganesha

440 m · 6 min walk

The living heart of Hampi — a Shiva temple in continuous worship since the 7th century, with a towering ~50 m gopuram on the bank of the Tungabhadra at the head of Hampi Bazaar.

The masterpiece of Hampi — a 16th-century Vishnu temple famed for its iconic stone chariot and the "musical" pillars of its ranga mantapa that ring like instruments when tapped.

410 m · 5 min walk

The long colonnaded market street running east from the Virupaksha temple, once a thriving medieval bazaar of diamond and horse traders; its ruined pavilions front the temple gopuram.

120 m · 1 min walk

A low granite hill just south of the Virupaksha temple studded with pre-Vijayanagara temples, gateways and monolithic shrines — Hampi’s favourite sunset spot with views over the ruins.

890 m · 11 min walk

The highest point in central Hampi, topped by the Veerabhadra temple, giving a 360° sunrise-and-sunset panorama over the whole ruin field and the Tungabhadra — a short, steep climb.

280 m · 4 min walk

The largest monolith in Hampi — a 6.7 m image of Narasimha, the man-lion avatar of Vishnu, carved in 1528 and seated under a seven-hooded serpent; the adjacent Badavilinga is a large monolithic Shiva linga.

The compact royal chapel of the Vijayanagara kings, its outer walls and inner pillars covered in bands of relief carving telling the Ramayana — "a thousand Ramas".

An elegant two-storey pavilion in the walled Zenana (ladies’) enclosure, blending Hindu and Islamic arches into a lotus-bud shape — once an airy retreat for the royal women.

A grand symmetrical row of eleven domed chambers that housed the royal elephants, with a central tower — one of the best-preserved and most photographed structures at Hampi.

A plain square exterior hiding an ornate arcaded bathing pavilion with a large sunken tank, projecting balconies and lotus-shaped fountains, once fed by aqueducts for the royal household.