Halebid and Belur Reviews

Overview of the destination
We took a KSTDC tour from Bangalore to Halebid, Belur and sravanabelgola on a saturday. The tour started at 7:15 in the morning. At around 10:45 we reached our first stop Sravanabelgola. Its a long hike up the hill and tiring to the bone. We took about 25 mins to get up the 680 odd steps, but once you reach the top the view is breathtaking. Also the 58ft monolithic statue of Lord Gomateshwara or Mahavir is beautiful. Coming back down takes a toll on your knees but its completely worth it. After 2 hours we reached Belur. The Chennakesava temple is extremely beautiful. the carvings on the temple are extremely intricate. The temple was built by the Hoysala dynasty kings as a memoir of their win over Chola kings. The temple inside is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Guides are avaialbe here for 15 Rs/person. Next destination was Halebid. It has similar architecture as Belur but some parts of the temple were never completed. This temple is supported by the archaeological society of India. This temple has two beautiful huge Nandi's. At every destination. the tour guys give you one hour to see it and come back. All in all it was a wonderful and enriching experience.

Food, sight-seeing and shopping
Food at the places the tour guy stops is not that great other than the one he stopped at in the evening at Chanarayapatna. At all the other places we just survived on chips, biscuits etc.

Activities & things to do
Main thing to see are the temples. no other major activity to do here though. The temple it self takes up most of your time.

Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc.
Make sure you take a camera. The guides that you get at Halebid and Belur are ok. Some part of what they tell you is made up but the other part is actual history. If you want to book the KSTDC tour make sure you book on a weekend as the volvo buses are only available on Sat and Sun. On all the other days Non AC buses ply to these places.