‘Hampi Rath’ Marches On: UNESCO Heritage Site Wins Asia’s Top Emerging Travel Destination Award For 2019

The group of monuments at Hampi has been voted as one of Asia’s top emerging travel destinations for 2019, reports Deccan Herald (DH).

The awards, which were published on the travel website TravelLemming.com, were curated with inputs from world's top travel bloggers, vloggers, and influencers. They were asked to help select the top destinations around the world from dozens of nominations by tourism boards.

“India is one of those places that's always surprising and can so easily captivate you as a traveller. And honestly: there's nowhere in the world quite like Hampi,” said Adam Groffman, one of the judges.

“Its Flintstones-like scenery and laid-back atmosphere stands in stark contract to other places in India, yet it still feels as magical as anywhere else—just maybe a bit more beautiful," he added.

Hampi, a UNESCO site, was the last capital of the last great Hindu kingdom, the Vijayanagara empire. The site is dotted with many Dravidian-style temples and palaces, built by prosperous princes.

By 16the century, the Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world's second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing, and perhaps also India's most prosperous at the time. It attracted traders from Persia and Portugal and won the admiration of travellers between the 14th and 16th centuries.

However, the city was plundered and pillaged for six months by the Bahmani Sultans, when the Deccan Muslim confederacy conquered the Hindu Vijayanagar empire in 1565. Now, the UNESCO site contains only ruins of the lost great city.

Also Read: Ten Thousand Pictures Of Vijayanagara: How John Gollings Has Captured Hampi For 40 Years