Murali Guesthouse Hampi

It’s a great place to stay.It was the best experience staying there.Location is very beautiful and close to nature. This place is very well maintained...Upon arrival we were warmly welcomed by the Owner(Murali). Home cooked food was yummy. Rooms were spacious and comfortable. We loved the ambience I would highly recommend this place and I would definitely want to come back to this place again. Thank you Murali for being a nice host.

Food is costly

The good aspects about the homestay where the clean facilities, a big room, a nice and quiet area, 2.7 km from his house to the Ferry point where you need to go if you want to cross in Hampi and visit the temples and maybe 1 km to the small village. He suggested a nice tour for our time there and gave us all the location names where we can go if we want. The price for the room we had was really affordable but the other prices we gonna talk about them in the next section.

It's hard to give this kind of review when you see so many good reviews but in the end we intend to give a constructive feedback, hoping that we contribute in a healthy manner to a better touristic experience. We noticed in this area that tourists are asked to pay sometimes crazy prices, at least the locals (the transport and the guided tours) try to overcharge, so Murali follows this approach. Before arriving, we received a first "good offer", 150 rupees for 2.7 km. We refused and in the end we found with 60 rupees (it was not easy). When we arrived, we received other "good offers". First, the motorbike rent / day - 500 rupees. We found out from different tourists that usually you could rent a motorbike between 200-400 maximum (at ferry point they usually ask 400/day, 300/day if you take it for more days), so we were so disappointed seeing how we wants to extracharge his guests. He was very pushy with putting the gas in the motorbike and close the deal with me, even if I kept saying to him that I need to talk with my partner and decide together. He even made the next day a more overpriced rental for the motorbike to another couple from the homestay while I was there. Coffee with milk 70 rupees (he used the menu from the next door restaurant which is a medium-high range one, even though he is making everything in his kitchen). It was the most expensive coffee in India by now. We saw in the comments the good offers about sight-seeing tour with the rickshaw, but 2-3k rupees for a tour in our opinion is not a good one. You can find cheaper ones in the city. In the end, it's a choice from both parts, he who makes the offers and us as guests if we accept them. We had from him just the coffee and the breakfast and found our way of enjoying the city and eating on a budget. I would not recommend or either come back to this location because tourism should be also about respect, trust and connection, specially in the homestays.

The hosting family, the location in front of a Banana Plantage and the convenience to have erverything sorted out through Murali

The host made our stay very comfortable.

He is amazing host. He gave all the best places to visit and also helped to get rental bike on reasonable price which saved lot of time to visit places. Amazing experience.

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