The best things to do in Mysore are Amba Vilas Palace, lit by close to 100,000 bulbs on Sunday evenings, the Chamundeshwari temple at the top of Chamundi Hill, the jasmine and kumkum aisles of Devaraja Market, and the Hoysala carving at Somanathapura, 35 km east. Two days covers the city. A third buys Srirangapatna, a Kaveri waterfall or a safari at Bandipur.
Mysore ran a kingdom for nearly six centuries and still carries itself that way. The Wadiyars' palace sits at the centre of the grid, the goddess the city is named for looks down from Chamundi Hill, and the streets between them trade in silk, sandalwood and jasmine. Bengaluru is two hours away and feels further.
The seat of the Wadiyars, rebuilt in grey granite and pink marble by Henry Irwin after fire took the previous palace in 1897 and finished in 1912. Indo-Saracenic outside, a run of durbar halls, mirrored ceilings and stained glass inside. It is India's most visited monument after the Taj Mahal, and the queue says so.
The goddess the city is named for stands 13 km from the palace at the top of a hill you can drive up or climb. The stairway of just over a thousand steps was cut in 1659, and two thirds of the way up sits a Nandi carved from a single block of granite, 4.9 m tall. Weekend queues at the shrine are long.
Some 800 stalls under one roof, built out in stages from the 1900s and named for Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar. Come for the cones of kumkum powder, the banked fruit and above all the flowers: Mysore mallige, the local jasmine, is strung here by the metre from first light.
A three-shrined Hoysala temple finished in 1258 and carved as though the stone were soft: elephants, horsemen and full narrative friezes wrapped around a star-shaped plinth. UNESCO listed it in 2023 as part of the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas. The shrines are empty, so this is architecture rather than worship.
Tipu Sultan's island capital, stormed by the East India Company in 1799. What survives is three separate visits: the Ranganathaswamy temple inside the fort walls, the teak and fresco summer palace at Daria Daulat Bagh, and the Gumbaz where Tipu, Hyder Ali and Fatima Begum are buried.
Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens opened in 1892 in the maharaja's own grounds, which is why it reads as a park with mature trees rather than a compound. It is among the better-regarded zoos in the country, it is closed on Tuesdays, and it adjoins Karanji Lake.
A neo-Gothic cathedral finished in 1936, its twin spires 53 m high and modelled on Cologne. The nave seats around 800 under stained glass that runs from the Nativity to the Ascension. It is one of the tallest churches in Asia and still a working parish.
Terraced gardens laid out below the Krishnaraja Sagara dam on the Kaveri, with a musical fountain added in 1985 and lit at dusk. This is a mass evening out rather than a quiet one: close to two million people come a year, most of them for the water.
Built in 1861 and pressed into service as the royal residence while Amba Vilas was rebuilt. The Jayachamarajendra gallery inside holds around 2,000 works, Raja Ravi Varma canvases among them, alongside Mysore and Mughal painting. The lighting is dim and the labels are thin, so give it time.
A lake dug in the 1860s for the Lalitha Mahal grounds, now a nature park holding the largest walk-through aviary in India and a butterfly park on the bank. The Regional Museum of Natural History stands at the water's edge, and Chamundi Hill fills the view across it.
A white guest palace below Chamundi Hill, modelled on St Paul's and now a heritage hotel.
Built in 1905 for the maharaja's sister, now the university's folklore museum.
The Wadiyars' summer palace, on the summit of Chamundi Hill beside the temple road.
Chikka Gadiyara, 1886, at the market end of the road. The city kept time by it.
The town hall, raised in the 1880s for the diwan who gave Mysore a representative assembly.
A Dravidian Shiva temple inside the palace fort, older than the palace around it.
Raised in 1829 by Krishnaraja Wodeyar III, who gave it 40 bronze figures.
Butter-soft benne dosa off a very short menu, with coconut chutney. Trading since 1938.
The state silk mill. Walk the power looms, then buy the saree next door.
The government emporium: sandalwood carving, rosewood inlay, no haggling.
Running since 1916, and the source of the oil in Mysore Sandal soap.
The old commercial spine: silk shops and sweet counters either side of the market.
Over 6,500 objects of rural Karnataka inside Jayalakshmi Vilas, one of Asia's biggest folk collections.
Western Ghats ecology, pitched at children, on the bank of Karanji Lake.
The palace, the goddess and the Dasara elephants, carved in sand at the foot of the hill.
A university-managed lake with a walking loop and well over a hundred bird species.
A Project Tiger park since 1973. Forest-department jeeps run morning and afternoon.
The reserve across the Kabini backwaters, at its best for elephants late in the dry season.
The Kaveri splits and drops twice, at Gaganachukki and Barachukki. Best after the rains.
Night-long queues at the Shiva shrines, Mahabaleshwara on Chamundi Hill among them.
The Kannada new year, marked with neem and jaggery and a house full of fresh obbattu.
The Cheluvanarayana idol wears a diamond crown brought up under police escort.
Neighbourhood pandals for ten days, then immersion processions to the lakes.
Ten days of the Wadiyars' state festival, closing with the Jamboo Savari procession.
A fair on Doddakere Maidan that opens with the festival and outlasts it by weeks.
Pilgrims gather at Talakaveri in Kodagu for the river's rising. A day trip from the city.
Lamps along the market stalls, and the palace lit on the public holidays.
At Mandakalli, about 10 km south of the centre. It is a small domestic field with a thin schedule, so most visitors fly into Bengaluru instead and come the rest of the way overland.
Mysuru Junction is the end of the line. The fastest services cover the 140 km from Bengaluru in about two hours, and they sell out at weekends and through Dasara.
The ten-lane expressway took the drive from Bengaluru down to comfortably under three hours. State buses run through the day from the city and suburban stands.
Autos are everywhere and metered in principle. Agree the fare first. The palace, the market and most hotels sit inside one walkable square kilometre.
Gram flour, sugar and a great deal of ghee, invented in the palace kitchen.
A dosa spread inside with red chilli chutney before the potato goes in.
Soft in the middle, crisp at the rim, finished with a spoon of white butter.
Finger-millet balls, swallowed rather than chewed, with lentil or bone curry.
Rice, toor dal and tamarind cooked hot together. Said to start in the palace.
Darker and thicker than the Tamil version, with coconut in the spice mix.
Flatbread stuffed with jaggery and chana dal, served warm under ghee.
Fried lentil batter with coconut and green chilli. Coconut chutney alongside.
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