Once a significant kingdom with palaces, large markets and temples, Hampi is now a small tourist village with ancient ruins and Unesco sites, green rice fields and millions of rocks. And it is precisely these rocks that make Hampi the world’s largest bouldering area. In the season from October to March, when the monsoon is over and it is not quite as hot, sometimes world-famous climbers, like Chris Sharma, travel to Hampi to boulder for weeks. Hundreds of routes with difficulty levels from 4 to 8a invite both beginners and bouldering experts to make a climbing stop on their journey through India.
But Hampi is mainly known as a cultural tourist resort and so slowly the young hippies discover this beautiful place for themselves to enjoy this wonderful landscape in the many small backpacker restaurants in the rice fields. In Hampi there are probably the most beautiful sunsets, which can be admired excellently by the countless rocks or on the hill of the Hanuman Temple.
When I first visited 4 years ago, I didn’t even know about bouldering and visited the many Unesco sights and temples together with a friend, cycled through the green rice fields and palm forests and bathed in the nearby reservoirs.
For 2 years now, however, we come annually in the winter months for a few days to Hampi only because of bouldering.
The best time to do this is in the early morning and evening hours, as the heat is still tolerable at these times.
In between you can either rest in the small restaurants, go swimming or do tours by bike or motto bike.
The last 10 days in Hampi this year were sore! We were able to solve some bouldering problems for us and make new projects. We have met many old friends again and been able to make new, beautiful acquaintances! Thank you for that! And we are sure: next year we will come back to Hampi!
More travel advice for Hampi as a Climbing destination you can find here.
