The Bangalore city tour begins with hotel pickup at 7:30 am in a private air conditioned vehicle.

The first stop is Lalbagh Botanical Garden, 240 acres of extraordinary horticultural heritage built by Hyder Ali in 1760 and expanded by his son Tipu Sultan. The garden contains more than 1,800 species of plants, shrubs and trees, a glasshouse modelled on the Crystal Palace of London, and a geological rock formation estimated at over 3,000 million years old, making it simultaneously one of the oldest landscapes and one of the most beautiful green spaces in any Indian city. Lalbagh hosts the famous Republic Day and Independence Day flower shows that draw visitors from across South India every year.

The Bull Temple of Basavanagudi follows, one of the oldest and most unusual temples in Bangalore, built by Kempe Gowda himself in the 16th century and dedicated to Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Shiva. The monolithic Nandi idol inside is 4.5 metres tall and 6.5 metres long, carved from a single block of granite. According to folklore, a small iron plate fixed to the bull’s head prevents it from continuing to grow. Your guide tells the story of Kempe Gowda, the founder of Bangalore, and why this temple was the first landmark he built in the city he was creating.

Vidhan Soudha is next, the seat of Karnataka’s state legislature and one of the most imposing public buildings in South India. Built entirely of granite and porphyry and rising to 46 metres, this 300 room building houses 22 departments of the state government and dominates the skyline of central Bangalore with its four domed towers. It is best seen from the outside and your guide explains the political and architectural significance of a building deliberately designed to project the confidence of a newly independent state.

The ISKCON temple on the hilltop in Rajajinagar is the most visually extraordinary stop on the Bangalore city tour. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness was founded in New York in 1966 by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and the Bangalore temple is one of the most spectacular in the world, a riot of colour, sound, marble and devotion that is genuinely overwhelming on first encounter. Your guide explains the philosophy of bhakti yoga and the global reach of a movement that began with a single elderly Indian scholar arriving in New York with seven dollars in his pocket.

Bangalore Palace is the final destination, the summer palace of the Wodeyar kings of Mysore, built in Tudor style with fortified towers, battlements and turrets that make it look more like Windsor Castle than anything you would expect to find in Karnataka. The interiors are extraordinary, with wood carvings, floral motifs, relief paintings and furniture in Edwardian and Victorian styles that tell the story of the relationship between the Mysore royal family and the British Empire. An audio tour available in multiple languages provides rich detail of the life and times of the Wodeyar kings. On Mondays when the palace is closed, Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace is visited instead, a different and equally fascinating chapter of Bangalore’s royal history.

Hotel drop by 3:30 pm.

This private Bangalore city tour is fully inclusive. We take care of hotel pickup and drop in a private air conditioned vehicle, your English speaking cultural guide throughout the day, multilanguage audio guide support, all entry fees and a South Indian vegetarian lunch.