Spending a day in Mysore

My journey for Mysore, which is famous for it's silk and sandalwood, started from Bangalore on 21st January, 2019. I was accompanied by my best friend Dhriti. We came to Bangalore for a hackathon, so decided to extend our trip and utilize our visit to South India to the fullest.

On the fine morning of 21st, we boarded our bus to Mysore from Rupena Agrahara bus stand in Bangalore at around 7. The bus was pre-booked by us online, in order to prevent any last minute hassles. Most of the people in the bus were half asleep with bleary eyes while some were as fresh as the wind on mountains. The bus journey from Bangalore to Mysore was phenomenal. The coconut trees on the sides of the roads made our journey more pleasant and soothing. The bus took a short break at a restaurant on the way. We were served hot idlis and vadas with some delicious sambhar and coconut chatni and it was then we realised that yes! we are in South India.

We reached Mysore at around 10:30 and quickly grabbed an auto to Hotel Ginger, our stay for the night, which was around 1.5 kms from there. The prices of the autorickshaws are obviously hiked at first, so do bargain. The average charge for 1-1.5 kms is 30 INR. Since we had our check-in at 2pm, so we decided to deposit our luggage in the safe zone and visit the places nearby. One can also check-in at an early time by paying some amount, depends on the hotel policy though.

We took an auto from our hotel and straight away went to the famous Mysore Palace. The grandness of the palace could be felt even from a distance. As we reached the palace, we found people selling various stuff like bangles, goggles, hand fans, etc. We bought a pair of glares as we had forgot ours in the luggage :P. We purchased the tickets for entry in the main building of the palace worth just 50 INR. As we entered through the main gate of the palace, we were left numb by the beautiful view. The skies were clear blue and were accompanied by the green trees and bushes of the palace's premises.

The whole place is extremely photogenic with huge shady trees. After clicking a lot of pictures, we moved inside the palace and oh my God! We were witnessing an architectural marvel! Built in the 1900s, the palace consists of beautifully decorated halls and corridors. It is surely one of the best places to visit in Mysore. After spending around an hour there, we came back to our hotel and finally checked-in.

After freshening up a little bit, we roamed on the streets of Mysore in search of some food. And guess what we found instead? Coconut water :P What can be better than a cool and refreshing coconut water in a sunny afternoon! Soon we found a decent looking restaurant and quickly stuffed ourselves with the famous Mysore Masala Dosa.

Our next destination was the Brindavan Gardens which is located in the Mandya district of Karnataka. It is around 23 kms from Mysore, so one has to take either a taxi or auto or a bus. We opted for the local bus as they charge you only 20-25 bucks per person one side while the autos will ask you for around 500 bucks for the round trip. This experience was quite different from the ones I had on my previous trips. I always traveled by taxis or own car, but I now realize that it is sometimes good to travel by the local transport.

The garden lies next to the Krishnarajasagara dam which is built across the Kaveri river. With full of beautiful flowers, trees and fountains, the garden encloses within itself the aesthetic sense of attractiveness. Evening is the best time to visit as you get to see the glamorous light and sound show at that time. Also, one cannot afford to miss the pretty sunset view from the gardens. The sun setting behind the dam with it's reflection in the lake will leave you spellbound.

One thing that I didn't like about the place was that the lake was not maintained properly. The water was quite stinky with garbage around the sides and corners.

After spending ample amount of time there, we hoped into a bus and returned to Mysore. Soon we found ourselves eating at a restaurant named Om Shanthi- Hotel Siddhartha, which is a pure vegetarian restaurant and offers the best finger licking food in the town.

As it was a long day, I slept as soon as I laid on the cozy bed of our room. Next morning, we had our return bus from Mysore to the Bangalore airport directly. One can book the Flybus from KSRTC website online.

Mysore To-Do

If you're on a one day trip to Mysore, you can go by the above plan. But if you want a longer trip, you can visit more places like Chamundi hills, Mysore zoo, Wax Museum, Rail Museum, National Museum of Mankind and obviously the 100 year old Devaraja Market.

All the very best for your travel :)