I am writing this post to detail the logistics of doing this tour purely using public transport.
While researching this tour I didn't find any such blog, most people went by their own transport.
Also many people do this tour in one day, I wanted to share our relaxed itinerary of 3 days.
This trip had been pending since a year now.
Last diwali we had booked Pune - Badami train tickets, but due to heavy rains in mumbai the train to badami got delayed by several hours and we had to cancel the trip.
This time we decided not to take that train but go via Pune-Solapur-Badami route.
Date of trip : 7 September - 11 September 2016
We took the Indrayani from Pune, it reaches Solapur by 1:35 p.m.
From Solapur we took the Golgumbaz express to Badami. It starts from Solapur at 2:10 and reaches Badami by 7:45 p.m. During our journey the train was mostly empty.
We hired a shared autorickshaw from Badami railway station to Badami bus stand (20 Rs each).
We stayed at Hotel RajSangam ( Rs 1800 per night for 3 guests) which is just opposite the bus stand. This is a very decent and good hotel and is centrally located.
For food we preferred Hotel Anand next to Badami bus stand.
First Day - Pattadkal in morning , Badami caves in the evening
We went to Pattadkal by NWKRTC bus, there are buses in the morning at 30 minutes interval.
The bus drops you exactly at the heritage site.
We hired a certified guide and the whole visit took around 3 hours. The guide charged us 300 Rs.
At the gate of Pattadkal local women sell jawari bhakri do have it , it tastes awesome.
There are frequent buses from Pattadkal to Badami.
In the evening we hired a rickshaw from Badami bus stand to Badami caves. He charged us 50 Rs.
From the drop point you need to walk around 75 steps to the end of the caves.
The view of lakes from the top of the caves is very beautiful.
Second Day - Mallikarjuna, Bhuthanatha , Upper Shivalaya in the morning , Mahakuta temple in the evening
On this day there was bandh declared in Karnataka due to Cavery issue so we decided not to take any risk. We decided to spend the day in and around Badami.
We trekked up to the Upper Shivalaya.
Here the last fight sequence of Rowdy Rathore was pictured. The trek took us 30 -40 minutes.
We went till the base of the hill by shared rickshaw (50 Rs) and returned to the hotel by horse cart (40 Rs).
In the evening , we hired a private rickshaw to Mahakuta temple.
This place is not connected by bus, we need to hire a rickshaw.
The rickshaw guy charged us 280 Rs.
This temple is very calm and beautiful in the evening and is a must visit.
Third day - Aihole in morning , Badami museum in the evening
Aihole is the farthest as far the whole trip is concerned also the frequency of the buses is not very good. There is a bus every hour from Badami to Aihole.
While coming back we had to wait around an hour for the bus. Also do note that there is no good eating place near by so do pack something to eat.
Aihole is quite vast , the guides focus more on the Durga temple but you should also visit the ravan phadi and the jain temple at the hill top.
Since the bus frequency on the return journey is not very good, you could also take a shared rickshaw to pattadkal from aihole , have lunch at pattadkal and then take a bus to badami.
In the evening we went to Badami museum since it was closed the earlier day. The museum is at the base of the Upper shivalaya hill and we took a shared auto.
Return journey we took the Badami - Solapur train Golgumbaz express which leaves Badami at 6:45 a.m and reaches Solapur at 12:30. From solapur we booked Solapur - Pune Indrayani at 2:00 pm
The train from Solapur to Pune is very crowded on weekends so prefer an AC coach.
While researching this tour I didn't find any such blog, most people went by their own transport.
Also many people do this tour in one day, I wanted to share our relaxed itinerary of 3 days.
This trip had been pending since a year now.
Last diwali we had booked Pune - Badami train tickets, but due to heavy rains in mumbai the train to badami got delayed by several hours and we had to cancel the trip.
This time we decided not to take that train but go via Pune-Solapur-Badami route.
Date of trip : 7 September - 11 September 2016
We took the Indrayani from Pune, it reaches Solapur by 1:35 p.m.
From Solapur we took the Golgumbaz express to Badami. It starts from Solapur at 2:10 and reaches Badami by 7:45 p.m. During our journey the train was mostly empty.
We hired a shared autorickshaw from Badami railway station to Badami bus stand (20 Rs each).
We stayed at Hotel RajSangam ( Rs 1800 per night for 3 guests) which is just opposite the bus stand. This is a very decent and good hotel and is centrally located.
For food we preferred Hotel Anand next to Badami bus stand.
First Day - Pattadkal in morning , Badami caves in the evening
We went to Pattadkal by NWKRTC bus, there are buses in the morning at 30 minutes interval.
The bus drops you exactly at the heritage site.
We hired a certified guide and the whole visit took around 3 hours. The guide charged us 300 Rs.
At the gate of Pattadkal local women sell jawari bhakri do have it , it tastes awesome.
There are frequent buses from Pattadkal to Badami.
In the evening we hired a rickshaw from Badami bus stand to Badami caves. He charged us 50 Rs.
From the drop point you need to walk around 75 steps to the end of the caves.
The view of lakes from the top of the caves is very beautiful.
Second Day - Mallikarjuna, Bhuthanatha , Upper Shivalaya in the morning , Mahakuta temple in the evening
On this day there was bandh declared in Karnataka due to Cavery issue so we decided not to take any risk. We decided to spend the day in and around Badami.
We trekked up to the Upper Shivalaya.
Here the last fight sequence of Rowdy Rathore was pictured. The trek took us 30 -40 minutes.
We went till the base of the hill by shared rickshaw (50 Rs) and returned to the hotel by horse cart (40 Rs).
In the evening , we hired a private rickshaw to Mahakuta temple.
This place is not connected by bus, we need to hire a rickshaw.
The rickshaw guy charged us 280 Rs.
This temple is very calm and beautiful in the evening and is a must visit.
Third day - Aihole in morning , Badami museum in the evening
Aihole is the farthest as far the whole trip is concerned also the frequency of the buses is not very good. There is a bus every hour from Badami to Aihole.
While coming back we had to wait around an hour for the bus. Also do note that there is no good eating place near by so do pack something to eat.
Aihole is quite vast , the guides focus more on the Durga temple but you should also visit the ravan phadi and the jain temple at the hill top.
Since the bus frequency on the return journey is not very good, you could also take a shared rickshaw to pattadkal from aihole , have lunch at pattadkal and then take a bus to badami.
In the evening we went to Badami museum since it was closed the earlier day. The museum is at the base of the Upper shivalaya hill and we took a shared auto.
Return journey we took the Badami - Solapur train Golgumbaz express which leaves Badami at 6:45 a.m and reaches Solapur at 12:30. From solapur we booked Solapur - Pune Indrayani at 2:00 pm
The train from Solapur to Pune is very crowded on weekends so prefer an AC coach.
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