The quiet Hoysala temples
Chikkamagalurueasyabout 8 hoursGuide optional
Belavadi and Amruthapura in a day: two twelfth-century temples as fine as Belur, with none of the crowd.
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Photos: Doc.aneesh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Dineshkannambadi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
About this
Everybody goes to Belur and Halebidu. This is the day for the two Hoysala temples inside the district that almost nobody visits: Veera Narayana at Belavadi, one of the largest temples the Hoysalas built, with a hall 103 feet across, and Amruteshwara at Amruthapura, with 140 panels of the Ramayana, Krishna and the Mahabharata running round the outer wall. A guide who knows the iconography turns a wall of carving into a story. The drive between them crosses the Bhadra plain and can end at the Lakkavalli dam for sunset.
Where it starts
Chikkamagaluru town, or your stay
The meeting point. Confirm the time with your guide.
Open in MapsNobody is leading this yet
Guide optional. Go with a guide or go on your own — entirely your call. Both temples are open to anyone. A guide who reads the iconography is what turns a wall of carving into a story.
No guide on MaladTrip has listed this one yet, so it cannot be booked here. You can still do it on your own — the details above are what you need. We have described it anyway: it is worth doing, and we would rather tell you it exists than pretend it does not.
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