After a long overnight bus coach that was certainly interesting, I made it to Hampi.

Hampi is an ancient village in Karnataka surrounded by temple ruins ranging from the 14th to the 16th century. The whole complex is an outdoor museum and very rich in history. Most of the monuments are Hindu, some are Jain and a couple are Muslim.

I have never been one to enjoy museums or religions (my spirituality is more of a free flowing thing that doesn't like rules) but I felt drawn to Hampi and when drafting our itinerary, it was put as a priority.

What I most enjoyed in Hampi was to be an outsider - as predicted I didn't particularly care for entering temples but I like to be on the fringes and observe, taking in the incredible architecture intertwined with nature and small town life.

It might say something about my personality type …

Here are a list of tips if you are planning on visiting Hampi.

Plan to go for 4 days

We only had two full days and a bit to explore and it was very intense. We ended up exhausted, particularly after the uncomfortable overnight bus we had to suffer through to get there. And as a photographer, I prefer the morning and evening light to go out - I am not particularly fond of any pictures I've taken outside of golden hour.

Hire a rickshaw for the day

If you are travelling on a budget it might seem frivolous but despite being small, Hampi has a lot of wonders that is difficult to cover by foot. We still managed to walk over 20 000 steps on our first day even with a driver. So without one you either cover less ground or walk a LOT.

Go see the sunrise

Waking up at 5am made the two days even more exhausting but it was worth it. Both sunrises we caught were unique experiences and the light was much more interesting, with the added benefit of being less crowded.

There are a few points to observe the event but our favourite was the one near Sri Malyavanta Raghunata Gudi temple.

Matanga hill is a closer viewpoint and we did catch the sunset from there, but the climb is very unsafe - make sure to bring comfortable shoes and nerves of steel.

We went to Anjanadri Hill for our second sunrise. The best place to watch the sunrise there is not exactly comfortable as it is a fenced up area near the temple, but the whole experience was full of life. Be prepared to walk 500 steps in the dark with enthusiastic devotees shouting “jai sri ram” the whole way up. It is also a sunset spot.