Hubli
©
Hubli

Hubli

Commercial Karnataka twin city with Dharwad, a transport hub between Bangalore, Goa, and the coast.

Hubli (officially Hubballi) is Karnataka's second-largest urban agglomeration, a sprawling commercial city that shares a municipal boundary with Dharwad. It's primarily a transport and trade hub rather than a tourist destination, but it's a common overnight stop on the way between Bangalore, Goa, and the coast. The old town has a busy market character and the Nrupatunga hill offers a decent vantage point over the city.

Guide

Getting There

Hubballi Junction is one of the major railway hubs of Karnataka, which is the main reason most visitors find themselves here. Direct trains connect Hubli to Bengaluru (about 6 hours on the fastest services), Mumbai (around 12 hours on the Goa-Mumbai corridor), and Hyderabad. For Goa, take a train to Londa and change to the Konkan Railway — or take a direct bus, which is often faster and more frequent.

The Rani Channamma Airport (HBX), named after the 19th-century queen of Kittur, serves a handful of domestic routes including flights to Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. Schedules change frequently; check before planning an air arrival.

By road, Hubli is about 5 hours from Bengaluru on NH48 and roughly 4 hours from Panaji in Goa via NH4A. The city is on a flat section of the Deccan, so road journeys here are less dramatic than elsewhere in Karnataka but also more straightforward.

Guide

Things to Do

Hubli is primarily a transit hub, and most visitors are passing through rather than stopping to explore. There are a handful of things worth knowing about if you have a few hours between trains, including the city's best Chalukyan temple in the Unkal neighbourhood and the views from Nrupatunga Hill.