India · Karnataka

Plan your Bangalore trip

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Places on the map Lalbagh Botanical Garden A 240-acre garden begun by Hyder Ali in the 1760s and expanded by Tipu Sultan, with a Victorian iron-and-glass house modelled on London's Crystal Palace and a 3,000-million-year-old granite outcrop at its centre. The single best argument for the garden-city name. Cubbon Park and Vidhana Soudha Three hundred acres of rain trees and bamboo groves in the middle of the CBD, bordered by the state library's red-brick pile and the vast granite Vidhana Soudha, Karnataka's 1956 legislature building in a self-consciously neo-Dravidian style. Bangalore Palace A Tudor-revival pile built in 1878 by the Wadiyar family, complete with fortified towers, wood-panelled halls and a slightly deranged collection of Victorian portraiture. Still privately owned, which explains both the entry fee and the eccentric curation. Bull Temple and Gandhi Bazaar, Basavanagudi A 16th-century Kempe Gowda-era temple built around a single enormous monolithic Nandi bull carved from the granite it sits on, at the top of a street of flower sellers, produce stalls and old-Bangalore tiffin rooms. Church Street and Blossom Book House The most walkable street in the city, pedestrian-repaved and lined with cafés, bars and bookshops. Blossom stacks three floors of secondhand and new books floor-to-ceiling with an indexing system only its staff understand. A 100 Feet Road brewery crawl, Indiranagar Four or five in-house breweries within a fifteen-minute walk, pouring fresh unfiltered wheat beers, lagers and IPAs at a standard that has no equivalent anywhere else in India. Toit is the institution; the surrounding streets keep adding challengers. Russell Market and Shivajinagar An 1927 covered market hall of meat, fish and flower vendors at the centre of the city's dense Muslim commercial quarter, with street food that comes alive after dark and shopping streets that operate on entirely different rules from Indiranagar. HAL Aerospace Museum India's first aerospace museum, on the Hindustan Aeronautics campus in the east, with airframes from the country's aviation history parked outside and a simulator hall inside. Genuinely good, almost entirely un-touristed.

01Your itinerary

02Where to stay

Indiranagar

Best for travellers whose evenings matter as much as their afternoons

Bengaluru's eating-and-drinking heartland, east of the centre and directly on the Purple Line metro. Leafy residential Mains that have been steadily colonised by breweries, cocktail bars, boutiques and chefs with opinions.

Bloom Hotel - Indiranagar

Puts the whole brewery and restaurant cluster within walking distance, which in this city is worth more than any other amenity — you avoid a car for most of your trip.

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Tristar Serviced Apartments

The quieter residential streets a few blocks back from 100 Feet Road are still five minutes' walk from everything and considerably calmer after 10pm.

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MG Road, Church Street and the Cubbon Park fringe

Best for first-timers and short trips built around the central sights

The old cantonment core and the closest thing to a sightseeing base: Cubbon Park, the museums, Vidhana Soudha and the CBD's shopping streets all on foot, with two metro lines meeting nearby.

Iris - The Business Hotel

Central Bangalore's hotel stock skews corporate, which means reliable rooms and good rates at weekends when the business travellers have gone home.

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Nahar Heritage Hotel

A handful of older cantonment-era properties survive on this side of the park with gardens and high ceilings — the one part of Bangalore where a hotel has actual character.

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Koramangala

Best for longer stays, remote workers and anyone here for the café-and-coworking culture

The startup neighbourhood, south-east of the centre. Cafés, co-working spaces, mid-range restaurants and a population that mostly arrived in the last five years for work. Excellent for food, no sights, no metro.

Move-Inn OBS Serviced Apartments Koramangala

The best value in the city for a week or more, with kitchens and workspaces built for exactly this kind of guest. Check the commute to wherever you actually need to be first.

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Jayanagar and Basavanagudi

Best for repeat visitors and travellers who want the pre-boom city

Old south Bangalore: 1940s houses, tree-shaded blocks, Gandhi Bazaar's flower sellers, the Bull Temple, and the tiffin rooms everyone else is copying. On the Green Line, and much quieter than the east.

Hotel UR Comforts Jayanagar

Puts you inside the best traditional shopping and breakfast district in the city, with a metro station for reaching the centre without touching a road.

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A homestay in Basavanagudi

This is the neighbourhood where a family-run guesthouse actually beats a hotel — the streets are residential, the mornings are quiet, and Lalbagh is a walk away.

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03Tickets & tours

Lalbagh Botanical Garden

A 240-acre garden begun by Hyder Ali in the 1760s and expanded by Tipu Sultan, with a Victorian iron-and-glass house modelled on London's Crystal…

Tip Enter at the West Gate around 6.30am with the walkers and joggers, before the ticket booth attendants arrive and while the mist is still in the trees.

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Cubbon Park and Vidhana Soudha

Three hundred acres of rain trees and bamboo groves in the middle of the CBD, bordered by the state library's red-brick pile and the vast granite…

Tip Come on a Sunday, when the park roads close to traffic entirely. Vidhana Soudha is not open to casual visitors inside, but it is floodlit on Sunday evenings and public…

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Bangalore Palace

A Tudor-revival pile built in 1878 by the Wadiyar family, complete with fortified towers, wood-panelled halls and a slightly deranged collection of…

Tip The separate camera fee is steep and enforced. The audio guide is included and is genuinely better than the signage, which barely exists.

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Bull Temple and Gandhi Bazaar, Basavanagudi

A 16th-century Kempe Gowda-era temple built around a single enormous monolithic Nandi bull carved from the granite it sits on, at the top of a street…

Tip Time it for a weekday morning and pair it with a benne masala dosa at Vidyarthi Bhavan five minutes downhill.

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Church Street and Blossom Book House

The most walkable street in the city, pedestrian-repaved and lined with cafés, bars and bookshops.

Tip Hit Blossom in the early evening, then eat at one of the Church Street counters rather than a restaurant — this stretch does casual far better than formal.

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A 100 Feet Road brewery crawl, Indiranagar

Four or five in-house breweries within a fifteen-minute walk, pouring fresh unfiltered wheat beers, lagers and IPAs at a standard that has no…

Tip Start by seven. Bengaluru bars close around 1am and the good places fill from eight on weekends, with no reservations and long waits.

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Russell Market and Shivajinagar

An 1927 covered market hall of meat, fish and flower vendors at the centre of the city's dense Muslim commercial quarter, with street food that comes…

Tip Go in the morning for the market itself and the flower halls, or after 8pm for the food.

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HAL Aerospace Museum

India's first aerospace museum, on the Hindustan Aeronautics campus in the east, with airframes from the country's aviation history parked outside…

Tip Worth combining with Indiranagar since both are on the eastern side. Closed Mondays, and photography rules on the campus edge are stricter than inside the museum itself.

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Day trips from Bangalore

Mysore (Mysuru)

Two hours by express train and the grand set-piece Bangalore itself lacks: the Wadiyar palace, one of India's most extravagant royal buildings,…

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Nandi Hills

Sixty kilometres north, a granite hill fort with an old Tipu Sultan summer retreat on top and a famous sunrise above the cloud line.

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Coorg (Kodagu)

Five to six hours south-west into the Western Ghats: coffee estates, misty ridgelines, homestays on working plantations and a distinct Kodava culture…

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Hampi

Further afield — an overnight train north — but the ruined capital of the Vijayanagara empire, spread across a boulder-strewn landscape along the…

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Everything to do in Bangalore

Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.

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04Getting there & around

Getting around, and the traffic problem

You cannot plan a Bangalore trip properly without first accepting the traffic, because it dictates everything else. International congestion indices routinely place Bengaluru among the five slowest large cities in the world, with average speeds that turn a ten-kilometre crossing into a forty-minute crawl at best and ninety…

Flights

Compare fares into Bangalore and pick dates that suit the days you planned.

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Airport transfers

Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.

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Car hire from Bangalore

Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.

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