Stone Chariot
Hampi's iconic stone shrine shaped like a temple chariot, standing in the Vittala Temple courtyard.
Open
6:00 am – 6:00 pm
Entry
₹40 for Indians · ₹600 for foreign visitors
Best time to go
Morning
Time to spend here
About 20 minutes
Crowds
Can get busy
Inside the Vittala Temple complex, covered by the same ASI ticket (also valid for the Zenana Enclosure and Elephant Stables). The wheels are fixed and climbing on it is not allowed. Quietest before 9 AM.
On the ASI ticket
This place is one of ten that share one ASI ticket. Bought for a date, the same ticket also gets you into these that day:
₹35 online for Indian visitors · ₹550 for foreign visitors
How the ticket worksListen to the story
About this place
The Stone Chariot is the single most famous image of Hampi — so beloved that it features on the Indian fifty-rupee note. It stands in the courtyard of the Vittala Temple and is in fact a shrine to Garuda, the eagle mount of Vishnu, carved to look like a processional temple car (ratha). Though it appears monolithic, it was assembled from many blocks of granite fitted so tightly the joints almost disappear. Its stone wheels, carved with lotus medallions, were once able to rotate, and elephants at the front replaced an earlier pair of horses whose broken legs can still be seen. Visited as part of the Vittala complex, it is best seen in the soft light of early morning before the tour groups arrive.
Where it is
Close by
Photo credits
- Stone Chariot: Iconic Stone Chariot @ Vittala Temple, Hampi, Karnataka · Ram Nagesh Thota · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Stone Chariot: Hampi Stone Chariot · Achyuth B S · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Stone Chariot: The Stone chariot, Vijaya Vittala Temple Hampi · Vinayak Kulkarni · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Stone Chariot: Stone Chariot, Hampi 5 · Sujay GR · CC BY-SA 4.0
