Of the fortifications little survives, but remarkably, over the ten-square-mile site, there are still some buildings left to give an impression of Vijayanagar's former splendour. The heart of the palace complex was the Hall of Audience and the Singhasan, the Throne Platform, built by Krishna Deva Raya in 1513 to celebrate victory over Orissa. The terraces of these remain to demonstrate their grand proportions and the outer walls of the platform are carved in relief with elephants, dancing girls, camels and scenes from the Ramayana. 

Krishna Deva Raya's court was rich with silk hangings, silver furnishings and exquisite gems, fragrant with the smoke of incense, filled with gifted Sanskrit and Telugu poets and philosophers dazzling in its sculpture and ornamentation. Several temples in Dravidian or Tamil style are quite well preserved, like the Vitthala Temple with nearby a life-size stone replica of a ratha, a processional temple car; the exquisite Hazara Rama Temple; and two temples dedicated to Ganesha, with enormous granite slabs as roofing. 

There are everywhere the ruins of once fine, colonnaded bazaars and among them an arch identified as the 'King's Balance' where the ruler was weighed in gold coins for distribution on auspicious occasions; some early Jain remains; and temples dedicated to Vishnu, the principal deity here after the advent of the Saluva dynasty: a huge incarnation of him, the Narsimha avatar, a colossal lion-headed man, looms beneath a canopy to overwhelm the visitor. There are temples to Shiva, too, like the Pampapati Temple, one of the oldest here and still in daily use, with a huge Nandi bull opposite. Where a temple could not be added to, further enclosures were made round the original shrine, with multi-storeyed gateways or gopurams, and sumptuous, many-coloured pavilions, many here with typically exuberant carving on the pillars. 

There are several elegant towers in the zenana, from which the ladies could watch the festivals and court life. The pretty, arcaded Lotus Mahal is well preserved; its small, screened upper windows suggest a Hawa Mahal, Breeze Palace. There were ranges of guardrooms nearby, for a female guard as well as eunuchs, and outside the zenana is a splendid arcaded building, the Elephant Stables. After 1565 Rama Raya's brother, Tirumala, and Sadasiva took refuge at Penugonda until Tirumala usurped the crown to form the Karnata dynasty, which dwindled in importance except as patrons of the arts, moving again in 1585 to Chandragiri and fading from the scene. Vijayanagar, however, reduced as it is, retains an aura of greatness that can never be eclipsed.