Let’s help you
plan your journey
Explore responsibly, discover offbeat places, guided by locals, rooted in culture.
Let’s help you
plan your journey
Explore responsibly, discover offbeat places, guided by locals, rooted in culture.
Soumen Bhowmick
Soumen Bhowmick founded Pollen Dots in 2024 to plan journeys across India and Bhutan. He works in the Commercial Department of Indian Railways, where he has been since 2000. From 2016 to 2020 he was Head of Business Development and Partnerships at ScoutMyTrip, a community-driven road trip planning platform. There he built a nationwide network of local Scouts who helped travellers on the road, and grew the Road Trippers Club to 16 Indian cities. As a core member of Devil On Wheels, he helped travellers plan Himalayan trips and started Spreading Smiles. He has driven solo from Arunachal to Goa and from Himachal to Karnataka, and has run his own caravan for more than ten years. His photographs have won national and international salon awards, and his writing has appeared in Outlook Traveller.
The places to visit in Karnataka fall into four groups that sit far apart on the map. The state holds three World Heritage temple sites, and the third of them was added to the list in 2023. Hampi and Pattadakal are in the north, the Hoysala temples and the tiger reserves are in the south, and the coast runs about 320 kilometres down the west side.
Hampi and Pattadakal are separate World Heritage sites, listed a year apart, and each has a temple called Virupaksha.
Six, grouped by where they sit.
| Place | Region |
|---|---|
| Hampi | North, Vijayanagara district |
| Pattadakal, Badami, Aihole | North, Bagalkot district |
| Belur, Halebidu, Somanathapura | South, Hassan and Mysuru districts |
| Mysuru | South |
| Bandipur and Nagarahole | South, near the Kerala and Tamil Nadu borders |
| Gokarna, Murudeshwar, Udupi | Coast |
Mysuru holds the palace, the Devaraja market and Chamundi Hill, and it is the base for Somanathapura, Bandipur and Nagarahole.
The capital of the Vijayanagara kingdom, spread over several kilometres of granite beside the Tungabhadra river.
The Virupaksha temple stands at the end of the old bazaar and holds daily worship. The Vittala temple holds the stone chariot that appears on the reverse of the Indian fifty rupee note, issued in 2017.
The Elephant Stables, the Lotus Mahal, the Lakshmi Narasimha statue and Matanga Hill are the other named stops. Hosapete Junction, about 13 kilometres away, is the nearest railway station.
Two days covers the site on foot or by bicycle. There is almost no shade across most of it.
The site is split by the Tungabhadra. The temples and bazaars sit on the south bank, and a coracle or ferry crosses to the north side.
Three sites in Bagalkot district, close enough to see in one day.
Pattadakal is the World Heritage one, a tight group of sandstone temples. Its Virupaksha temple was built around the year 740 and is a different building from the Virupaksha at Hampi.
Badami has temples cut into a red sandstone cliff above a tank. Aihole holds early temples scattered through a working village. Badami has the most rooms of the three.
The three stand within about 40 kilometres of each other and share one driving loop out of Badami.
In Hassan and Mysuru districts, and together they form the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas, listed in 2023.
Chennakeshava at Belur and Hoysaleshvara at Halebidu are both in Hassan district. Keshava at Somanathapura is in Mysuru district.
All three are carved in soapstone, which is soft when quarried and hardens with exposure, which is why the detail runs as fine as it does. Hassan is the base for the first two and Mysuru for the third.
Bandipur and Nagarahole, both in the south near the Kerala and Tamil Nadu borders.
Safaris in both were stopped on 7 November 2025 after tiger attacks killed people near the forest edge. They restarted in phases from 21 and 22 February 2026, under a forest department order.
| Reserve or zone | Hours a day |
|---|---|
| Bandipur, cut from eight | 5 |
| Sunkadakatte zone | 6 |
| Nagarahole | 4 |
Gokarna, Murudeshwar and Udupi, north to south.
Gokarna is a temple town whose beaches are reached on foot over the headlands. Murudeshwar carries a tall Shiva statue on a point above the sea. Udupi has the Krishna temple and the cotton handloom that holds its own protected name.
Off Malpe, near Udupi, St Mary's Island is formed of columns of volcanic rock standing in the sea. Boats cross when the water is calm.
Karwar sits at the northern end of the coast and Mangaluru at the southern end, with the Western Ghats rising a short drive inland from both.
Our seven day journey through coastal Karnataka and the Western Ghats runs this coast and the hills above it. Journeys Just for You runs on your own dates. A short guide to getting ready for a trip in India covers papers and bookings.
Two days. The site runs for several kilometres of boulder country and is covered on foot or by bicycle. There is almost no shade across most of it.
No. They are separate sites, listed in 1986 and 1987, in different districts. Each has a temple called Virupaksha, and the two are different buildings.
The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas, listed in 2023. The listing covers Chennakeshava at Belur, Hoysaleshvara at Halebidu and Keshava at Somanathapura.
Yes. Both restarted in phases from 21 and 22 February 2026, after a stop that began on 7 November 2025. Bandipur runs five hours a day, the Sunkadakatte zone six and Nagarahole four.