Bijapur or Vijayanagara or the City of Victory, is a typical small Indian city but is loaded with history. It was capital of the Chalukyas in 11^th -12^th century and later of the Bahmani Sultanate king of Gulbarga. Most of the well known monuments of the city were built by the Adil Shah dynasty, most notable being the Gol Gumbaaz.

Bijapur was a night’s stop on our 2500kms road-trip route from Mumbai – Bijapur – Badami – Aihole- Pattadkal – Chitradurg – Jog Falls– Konkan Coast – Goa – Ganpatipule – Mumbai. ( To read about the full road trip , click here -> 2500 Kms road trip through North Karnataka & Goa ). We had just one day to cover the city of Bijapur. One ideally needs one and half days to cover the city at leisure, but with proper planning and setting ourselves a time limit of 1 hour at each monument, we were able to cover most of the city in one day with lot of time left on our hands to relax.

We arrived in Bijapur after a 12hr drive from Mumbai covering almost 500kms. We started out at 6am in the morning & breezed down the Mumbai – Pune Highway, stopping at good old McD’s for breakfast. We got on to NH-9 after Pune, heading straight to Sholapur, stopped on the way at Kamat’s for lunch & then took the NH-13 to Bijapur. The roads were good except the last patch of NH-13 which is an unlit one lane state highway and hence a pain to drive what with blinding oncoming headlights post sunset.

We hit the city early next day at 8 am and reached Gol Gumbaaz. If you are an early riser, the gates open at 6am at which time there are no crowds and you will have the entire place to yourself. We kicked ourselves for not getting there earlier when we saw hordes of school children who arrived by busloads on their annual school trip. It was quite painful to get even one photograph without it being photobombed with kids from all sides.

Gol Gumbaaz is the the mausoleum of Muhammad Adil Shah known for its amazing dimensions – It is the 2^nd highest dome in the world after the Vatican and has one of the biggest single chamber spaces in the world. The inside of the dome has unique acoustic features and acts as a whispering gallery as even a slight murmur in one corner can be heard from across the chamber. We spent a good three hours at the monument and climbed to the rooftop to get some amazing views of both interior of the tomb and the outer landscape of the city.

Next stop was Ibrahim Rauza, which is also known as the Taj Mahal of the Deccan for having purportedly inspired the design of the Taj Mahal in years to come. It was built by Ibrahim Adil Shah II in mid 17^th century and has his tomb and a mosque on a common raised terrace surrounded by a huge garden.

Jod Gumbad’s twin domed tombs were built in memory of Khan Muhammad and Abdul Razzaq Qadiri. This is in middle of a village and is being used as a mosque, so I wasn’t able to go inside.

On can easily skip the Taj Bawri. Once a beautiful step well, it is reduced to a garbage disposal water body with some local villagers washing clothes on the other side. An eyesore!

Bara Khaman is the unfinished mausoleum of Ali Roza II, meant for him & his wives. Supposedly the work was stopped as it could have overshadowed the brilliance of the Gol Gumbaaz.

From there on we went to Jami Masjid which is the largest mosque in Deccan/ south India built by Adil Shah 1 in 16^th century. Not as much a sight as Taj-ul-Majid at Bhopal, but nonetheless is an important monument in the landscape of Bijapur.

Wander to the Uppali Burj, a 16^th century watch tower built by Hyder Khan to strengthen the city’s defences.  There is also Malik-e-Maidan, which is a majestic site with a 55T canon, the largest medieval cannon in the world. For those who are religiously inclined, there is also a huge Shiva temple called Shivgiri, which is on the outskirts of the city.

 A quick immersion into the 4 century old city, replete with architectural attractions was well worth it. Bijapur is an important town to understand the history of India and should be stop in every history lover’s explorations through Karnataka.

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Where to Stay: Hotel Basava residency is a decent option and is on the main road from where you can cover all attractions.

Tips:  Get to the sites as early as possible. In winter time, sites open as early as 6am. Check the timings and get in early. While all attractions are at walkable distance from each other, in case you do need to take a rickshaw, negotiate hard. Some autowallahs do fleece outstationers.