An ancient Vishnu temple that was built by the Cholas and later developed by the Vijayanagara empire, Rangasthala in Tippanahalli village, Chikkaballapur around 70 Km from Bangalore is a well kept secret. (Locals claim that the temple is over a 1000 years old and the main shrine was installed by the Sapta Rishis in the …

There is more to Bangalore than Lalbagh, Cubbon Park, Vidhan Soudha and MTR. We have visited over 50 interesting places across 25 day trips in and around Bangalore. Almost all these trips are 7.30 AM to 3.30 PM day trips. Ancient temples 1000’s of years old, beautiful serene ashrams, Treks – Easy and not so …

A challenging and interesting trek – Madhugiri is a magnificent monolithic hill near Tumkur. Its not a long trek – but a steep one on rocky inclines with limited to no grips. Located near Tumkur –  it is about 15 km ahead of Devrayani Durge. Look out for a signage for Devarayanadurga/Madhugiri and turn right …

Birla Temples are a must see tourist attraction in many cities of India. Bangalore doesn’t have a Birla temple – but we discovered a Jain temple on Hosur Road that was a lot nicer than many of the Birla temples we have visited. Most of our trips had been in and around Devanahalli, Tumkur, Kolar …

Most people wonder what to do in Bangalore over a long weekend and the  roads to Coorg, Chickamagalur and Ooty are jammed. But Bangalore has a lot to see – we have done over 15 day trips and we keep discovering new interesting places. This time we did a Fusion trip and accomplished a fun …

A few years back I had discovered Shreyas – a lovely nature / Yoga retreat at Neelmangala and called it Bangalore’s best kept secret. I now discovered another gem ” Baevu Village” on Kanakpura Road – 2 hrs drive from Bangalore. “Baevu” in Kannada means Neem Tree and this 30 acre property has over 1000 Neem …

Mandargiri, also known as Basadi Betta, is a beautiful, round hillock housing a number of Jain temples that are ~ 1000 years old. It is an important pilgrimage centre for Jains in Karnataka. Located at Tumkur District near Dobaspet it is ~ 75 Km from Bangalore. Trekking on this monolith is relatively easy as it …

Trip – 15 : Grover Zampa Vineyards  Jan – Feb – Mar is grape season – the perfect time to go on a day trip to a Vineyard in Bangalore. India boasts of two Wine growing areas – Bangalore & Nasik. The Grover Zampa Winery in the outskirts of Bangalore near the Devanhalli airport is …

Trip – 13 : Antarganga   Antargange Hill is  located in Kolar, at just 4 kms from Kolar town. ( 65 Km from Bangalore) Antar-Gange literally means Ganga from Within/Ganga of the deep in Kannada. It is a huge field of boulders and rocks. Located at an altitude of 1712 m above the sea level, …

Trip – 10 :  Devrayanidurga – a Nice green Hill Temple near Tumkur (7.30 AM – 3.30 PM)  The trip to Devrayanidurga was more like a day trip to a hill station. It was London weather , misty and cool and we soaked it all in with the green as green greenery engulfing us up …

Trip – 9 :  Kolaramma Temple – Someshwara Temple Kolar – Avani Rama Lingeshwara temples – Mayyas (7.30 AM – 3.30 PM)  When you think of Kolar you think of Gold Mines – but there is more to Kolar. I had heard about the “Koti Lingeshwar”  temple in Kolar and as part of my recee …

Trip – 8 :  Veena Stores – Malleshwaram temples – Kote Venkatramana Temple – Mahabodhi Society – Little Italy (7.30 AM – 3.30 PM)  As usual we started at 7.30 AM and headed to Malleswaram via MG Road and Windsor Manor and reached our breakfast point by 8.10 AM. Malleswaram is old age Bangalore – …

Trip – 12 : Shivanasamudra – Talakad – Somnathpura (7.30 AM – 7.30 PM)  We covered a lot of ground and were almost 30 kms from Mysore. As usual we started at 7.30AM from Koramangla and reached the Nice Road by 8 AM and hit the Kanakpura Road by 8.15. Our breakfast stop was at …

Trip – 6 : Visit to Lepakshi  Located 120 Km from Bangalore – on the Bangalore Hyderabad road , beyond Devanhalli is the Lepakshi temple. The road is excellent – we left at 6AM and after a relaxed breakfast at Sri Krishna Grand ( You will find many restaurants after you cross the Airport Toll …

Trip 4  : A city trip in and around MG Road (Suryanarayana Temple – Someshwara Temple – National Gallery of Modern art – Planetarium)  We started at 7.45 and our first stop was the Sun Temple at Domlur. This is probably Bangalore’s and India’s cleanest temple. It feels like a 5 start hotel with green polished …

I discovered after nearly 25 years in Bangalore that the city  has a plethora of amazing sights that can be covered in less than a day. We call it the 7.30 to 3.30 trip. Leave after the school bus departs and be back at home when the kids return. Thats what we have been doing …

I love visiting well maintained big spread out gardens. After the magnificent gardens in Srinagar, the beautiful Botanical Parks in Ooty & St Louis, The Lalbagh of the past and many more  – one garden on my must visit list for long was the Mughal Garden at Rashtrapati Bhawan. I did visit this on 27th …

The land of the Vikings Stockholm is a compact & beautiful city.  At 59 Degree N latitude its the N most city I have visited ( Only Reykjavik at 64 & Helsinki at 60 are established large cities at higher latitudes). Like any European city it has a wonderful personality  and old world charm. A …

Thanks to my company I am fortunate to be able to visit London frequently. Again I am lucky to be able to stay in the heart of Central London off Oxford or Regent Street. However short, a trip to London is not complete without a walk @ Hyde Park. Many a  time I miss it …