Visit Mumbai Goa and The Deccan
Destroyed by an alliance of Deccani sultans, Hampi was once the centre of the Vijayanagar empire. Today this rambling ghost city next to the Tungabhadra River attracts a trickle of pilgrims and tourists who make the journey across the Deccan plateau or from Goa. Farmers have revived the irrigation channels, so that rice and banana plantations fill every cultivable spot between the sprawling ruins and giant boulders. We recommend a minimum of two days to explore the ruins of temples, elephant stables and sculptures in an area inhabited largely only by monkeys and cave-dwelling sadhus.