Kottureshwara Temple, Kotturu

A 987 CE Rashtrakuta–Chalukya Shiva temple at Bagali, ASI-protected and famed for finely carved black-stone pillars, ceiling panels and a navaranga of dancers and deities — its rich sculpture earns it a "Khajuraho of Karnataka" tag.

An ancient hill fortress, once a capital of the Nolamba and Uchangi-Pandya chiefs, its ramparts and a hilltop Uchchangi Ellamma (Durga) temple climbing a steep granite hill near Harapanahalli — a stiff trek with wide Deccan views.

An 11th-century Western Chalukya temple at Nilagunda, listed by the ASI as of national importance — a soapstone shrine with a finely worked doorway, lathe-turned pillars and old Kannada inscriptions, near Harapanahalli.

A ruined hill fort above Gudekote in Kudligi taluk, once a Palegar (chieftain) stronghold — bastioned walls climbing a boulder hill, a stepped "cradle well" and megalithic blocks, said to have held off Tipu Sultan.

A hilltop Shiva (Jambunatheshwara) temple on a granite outcrop near Hosapete, reached by a stepped climb, giving quiet views over the town and the Tungabhadra plains.

A large masonry-and-earth dam across the Tungabhadra near Hosapete, about 15 km from Hampi, with a landscaped garden, a musical fountain and reservoir views; the spillway is spectacular when the crest gates open after the monsoon.

A large early-16th-century temple at Ananthasayanagudi, about 5 km from Hosapete, built by Krishnadevaraya for a reclining (Ananthasayana) Vishnu; its rare barrel-vaulted brick-and-stone sanctum is one of very few of its kind, though the image is long gone.

The medieval royal suburb of Malapanagudi on the old Hampi–Hosapete road, with a large stepped tank, an octagonal domed bath and remains of the stone aqueduct that once carried water to the imperial capital.

The Shiva temple at Mylara (Mailara) in Hadagali taluk, centre of a large Shaiva-Kuruba pilgrimage — best known for the Karanika, when an oracle-priest balances on a taut bow and utters a yearly prophecy at the Mailara fair.

The ASI site museum at Kamalapura, with galleries of Vijayanagara sculpture, arms, coins and inscriptions and a large scale-model of the whole Hampi ruin field — a useful orientation stop before or after the site.

One of the largest and best-preserved temple complexes at Hampi, near Kamalapura — a spacious Dravidian Rama temple with a tall gopuram, a big pillared mandapa and a colonnaded courtyard, and usually blissfully quiet.

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.