Hampi Gokarna and Goa Honeymoon Tour

Look for our greeter, sign in hand, just beyond customs at Kempegowda International Airport, which sits far out on the northern edge of Bangalore. Reaching the hotel takes roughly sixty minutes on the airport expressway, longer when office traffic peaks. Since most European arrivals land well before dawn, the morning stays empty, and we can pre-book the room so it is ready the moment you walk in. Our host briefs you on the trip ahead, hands over a printed plan and confirms if tomorrow's leg to Hampi will be by air or by road.

In the afternoon, a short outing gives you a feel for the city without tiring you out. Cubbon Park, created in 1870 during British rule and now some three hundred acres of lawns and woodland, makes a cool afternoon stroll under bamboo and old rain trees, past the red Gothic front of the State Central Library. At the edge of the park stands the granite Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the Karnataka legislature, finished in the 1950s in a style that mixes Dravidian temple details with colonial proportions. It is not open inside, but the front steps are worth a look in the late light.

Indians call Bangalore the country's pub capital, and its microbreweries and old coffee houses are reason enough to stay out for the evening. Choose a rooftop brewpub in Indiranagar with a tasting paddle of house beers, or a decades-old eatery in Malleswaram or Basavanagudi known for crisp masala dosa and strong filter coffee poured from a height. Keep dinner light if you are taking the road north tomorrow, since the drive starts soon after breakfast. The car collects you at whatever hour you agree on, so there is no need to rush back. Overnight in Bangalore.

There are two ways to reach Hampi today. The road route north on the highway via Chitradurga takes about six hours with breaks, passing sunflower fields, wind turbines on the ridges and the hill fort of Chitradurga, worth a short stop if you are curious. Alternatively, a morning flight of about an hour lands at Jindal Vijayanagar Airport near Toranagallu, around an hour's drive from Hampi, where your car and driver meet you. Flights on this route run on a limited schedule, so we confirm the option when you book and set the morning timings around it.

Either way, you check in at a resort set among the boulders on the edge of Hampi by mid-afternoon. The landscape is unlike anywhere else in India: hills of rounded granite blocks stacked in improbable balances, banana plantations and paddy fields along the river, and the ruins of a city that in the early 1500s was one of the largest in the world. The Vijayanagara empire ruled much of South India from here until its army was defeated in 1565 at the Battle of Talikota, after which the capital was looted and abandoned. Take an hour to rest before heading out.

About an hour before sunset, your driver takes you to the foot of Hemakuta Hill, a low sheet of granite just above Hampi Bazaar, dotted with small early temples crowned by stepped pyramid roofs. The climb is gentle, a few minutes on bare rock, and from the top you look down on the tall tower of the Virupaksha Temple and across the boulder fields as they turn orange. Locals and travelers gather in small groups, but there is plenty of space to find a ledge of your own. Bring a torch for the walk down, then enjoy a quiet dinner back at the resort. Overnight in Hampi.

Set the alarm early for Matanga Hill, the highest point in central Hampi and the best place in the area to watch the sun come up. The path from the Achyutaraya temple side takes thirty to forty minutes and includes rock steps and a few steep sections, so wear proper shoes and carry water, and your guide leads the way by torchlight. Local authorities sometimes change the hours when the hill may be climbed, so the guide confirms the current rule the day before. At the top a small shrine sits on the summit, and as the light rises the whole ruined city spreads out below you.

After breakfast back at the resort, your guide walks you through the Sacred Centre. Worship has never stopped at the Virupaksha Temple, where Shiva is honored as Virupaksha and the eastern gopuram stands roughly fifty meters above the old bazaar; leave shoes at the gate and cover your shoulders. Ask your guide to show you the dark side chamber where light through a narrow slit projects the gopuram, inverted, onto the wall, a natural camera obscura. You then follow the ruined colonnades of the old bazaar, where traders once sold horses and precious stones, to the huge monolithic Lakshmi Narasimha statue and the Badavilinga standing in water.

In the late afternoon you head down to the river for a coracle ride on the Tungabhadra. These round boats, woven from bamboo and sealed with a waterproof skin, have been used here for centuries, and the boatmen steer with a single paddle, turning them gently between the rocks. The ride passes small shrines and carved reliefs on the riverbank that cannot be seen from the road, and on a calm evening the boulders glow red in the falling light. Back at the resort, a private dinner for two is set on a terrace facing the boulders, lit by lanterns and the stars. Overnight in Hampi.

The Vittala Temple is the finest piece of Vijayanagara architecture still standing, and it is best seen at opening time, before the heat and the crowds. Cars must stop some distance away, and battery carts cover the final kilometer or so. In the courtyard stands the famous stone chariot, a shrine to Garuda carved to look like a wooden temple car, its wheels once able to turn. The main hall is known for its musical pillars, slender columns that ring with different notes when struck; touching them is now forbidden to protect the stone, but your guide explains how the masons achieved the effect.

Next you move to the Royal Centre, where the palace buildings once stood. Behind the high walls of the Zenana, the women's quarter, rises the Lotus Mahal, a pavilion of scalloped arches that mixes Deccan Islamic and temple styles, and a short walk away the Elephant Stables line up eleven domed bays for the king's elephants. The Queen's Bath is a square pool wrapped in an arched corridor with balconies projecting over the water. The last stop is the Hazara Rama Temple, the royal family's private shrine, whose outer walls are wrapped in friezes of horses, dancers and marching soldiers, thought to record the Mahanavami festival. Lunch is at a café in Kamalapur.

After a rest, cross the river by road to Anegundi, a village older than Hampi itself, where families still live in mud-and-stone houses with painted doorways. A local women's cooperative makes bags and baskets from banana fiber and river grass, and it is a good place to buy a gift that supports the village. If you have energy left, climb the 570-odd steps of Anjanadri Hill, said to be the birthplace of Hanuman, for a final Hampi sunset over rice fields and boulders; otherwise, watch it from the shore of Sanapur lake. Back at the resort, pack for tomorrow's drive to the coast. Overnight in Hampi.

Expect six hours on the road today, so eat breakfast early and plan to be in the car by eight. The route runs west across the Deccan plateau via Hubli, then drops through the forested slopes of the Western Ghats toward the coast near Ankola. Somewhere near Hubli there is a break for coffee and lunch at a reliable highway restaurant; order a North Karnataka plate of jowar rotti and spicy stuffed brinjal if it is on the menu. The change of scenery is the real interest: dry granite country gives way to teak forest, then to coconut palms and the first glimpse of the sea.

You reach Gokarna in the mid-afternoon and check in at a small resort on the cliffs above the beaches near Kudle. The town itself is a Hindu pilgrimage center, and its main street is lined with old wooden houses, priests' homes and shops selling ritual items. Spend the evening by the water at your resort, where the sun sets straight into the Arabian Sea, and have an early dinner, as tomorrow's beach walk includes some uphill sections. Overnight in Gokarna.

Gokarna's beaches are linked by footpaths over the headlands, and walking them together is the best way to spend the day. Start after an early breakfast at Kudle Beach, a long sandy bay with a few cafés, and follow the trail south over the rocks to Om Beach, named for its shape: two linked curves that resemble the Om symbol when seen from the hill above. The walk takes around thirty minutes, with some rough and steep patches. Om Beach has more shacks and water sports, and its sheltered northern end is usually calm enough for a swim in season.

From Om the trail turns wilder, winding through scrub and cashew trees above the cliffs to Half Moon Beach, a small curved cove with a handful of huts, about forty minutes on foot. Beyond it lies Full Moon Beach, the last and most remote cove on the trail, where the forest reaches almost down to the sand and many travelers know it by an older nickname. There is little shade and nothing to buy on some stretches, so carry water, sunscreen and snacks. Your guide can also arrange a fishing boat between the beaches if you would rather walk only one way.

In the late afternoon a boat brings you back from the far coves to Om Beach, cruising along the cliffs as the light softens, and dolphins sometimes surface near the headlands. At your resort, a couples' Ayurvedic massage has been booked to ease your legs after the trail. Before dinner, consider a short visit to the Mahabaleshwar Temple in town, an important Shiva shrine believed by devotees to house the Atmalinga. Dress codes are strict: men are usually asked to remove their shirts, and access for non-Hindus to the inner areas can be restricted, so your driver checks on the spot. Overnight in Gokarna.

After a final breakfast on the cliffs, you leave Karnataka by the coastal highway, crossing the wide mouth of the Kali River at Karwar, where fishing trawlers moor beside a long road bridge and the hills of the Western Ghats fall almost into the sea. Karwar made a deep impression on the poet Rabindranath Tagore, who stayed here as a young man, and a quick stop on the seafront promenade breaks the drive. Shortly after, the road enters Goa at Polem, and the scenery shifts in small ways: whitewashed chapels, roadside crosses and houses with tiled roofs and pillared porches.

Before heading to your hotel, your driver turns off the highway to Cola Beach, a small bay on the Canacona coast where a freshwater lagoon sits right behind the sand, separated from the sea by a narrow bar. The track down is steep and rough, so the last stretch is covered on foot or in a local jeep. A handful of tented camps sit along the lagoon, and lunch at one of them is an easy, unhurried meal of grilled fish and fresh juice. Swim in the calm lagoon or in the sea, depending on conditions, and enjoy one of the quietest corners of Goa.

In the afternoon you continue north to your hotel in South Goa, a villa-style property near Benaulim with Portuguese arches, a pool and the beach a short walk away. The southern coast from Velsao down to Mobor is one long beach of fine pale sand, more than twenty kilometers end to end, with fishing villages spread along it. Late afternoon is the time for a walk on the sand, as fishermen haul in their nets and the sky turns pink above the water. For dinner, eat at the hotel or walk to a small Goan family kitchen in the village. Overnight in South Goa.

South Goa's inland villages hold a side of the state that beach visitors rarely see. Your first stop with a local guide is Chandor, whose square is dominated by the long double-winged front of the Braganza House. Two branches of a wealthy Goan Catholic family share the mansion, each owning a wing, and their descendants lead guests through ballrooms hung with Belgian chandeliers, rooms of carved rosewood and a family chapel holding a precious relic. Visits are by donation, and the family appreciates guests who arrive at the agreed time. Photography rules are explained at the door, and the tour of each wing takes around forty minutes.

Nearby Loutolim is another village of grand old houses, many built by Goan families who served in the Portuguese administration or traded abroad. Walking the lanes, you learn to spot the marks of a Goan Catholic home: the balcão porch with its built-in benches for evening gossip, steep roofs of Mangalore tiles and windows once glazed with translucent oyster shell. Some houses open their gates by appointment, and the village church of the Saviour of the World looks over a sleepy square. Life moves slowly here, especially after lunch, when shutters close for the afternoon rest.

In the late afternoon you join a Goan home cook in her kitchen for a private cooking class. Together you prepare two or three dishes, perhaps a pork vindaloo sharpened with toddy vinegar, a prawn curry with coconut and kokum, and a simple cabbage foogath, and learn how Portuguese rule shaped Goan cooking through vinegar, potatoes, chilies and bread. Dinner is what you cooked, eaten at the family table with a glass of local wine or feni. Your host writes out the recipes for you to take home, and your driver returns you to the hotel afterward. Overnight in South Goa.

Nothing is booked until four o'clock on your final full day. Sleep late, have breakfast by the pool and spend the morning on the beach in front of your hotel, where the sand is wide and rarely crowded outside the Christmas and New Year week. If you want to be active, the hotel can arrange a bicycle ride through the paddy fields and village lanes of Benaulim and Varca, where white churches and painted houses sit among the coconut groves. Lunch might be at a beach shack, with a plate of fried calamari and a glass of chilled kokum juice to beat the heat.

Around four o'clock, a local guide meets you on the Sal River near Mobor for a gentle paddle in a double kayak. The river runs parallel to the sea for its last few kilometers, separated from it only by a thin spit of sand, and its banks are lined with mangroves where kingfishers, egrets and herons hunt in the shallows. The paddle suits beginners, and the guide carries water and keeps the pace easy. If you would rather not paddle, a small motorboat can cover the same stretch of river, with a stop near the sandbar at the river mouth.

The trip ends at the tip of the Mobor peninsula just as the sun goes down over the Arabian Sea, with the river on one side and the open ocean on the other. It is among the best sunset spots in South Goa, and on most evenings you share it only with a few fishermen. For a last dinner, try a seafood restaurant on the riverbank at Cavelossim, where tables sit at the water's edge and crab and lobster are sold by weight. Your driver brings you back to the hotel for a final night by the sea. Overnight in South Goa.

After breakfast and a last swim, your driver takes you to Dabolim Airport, around forty minutes from Benaulim, or to Mopa in the north, roughly two and a half hours away. Pickup is set so you arrive with three hours in hand for an international flight, or two for a domestic one. With an evening flight, ask us ahead for a late check-out, or pass the final hours at a beach shack while your luggage waits locked in the car.

In ten days you have climbed granite hills at dawn, drifted on the Tungabhadra in a coracle, walked between Gokarna's coves and cooked in a Goan kitchen. It is a route few couples choose, and that is much of its appeal. For a future anniversary, the coffee estates of Coorg or the Kerala backwaters would make a fine sequel. Our representative sees you off at the terminal entrance. Safe travels home.