Overview
- Main Attractions: Mysore Palace, Mysore Zoo, Srirangapatna
- Best Time to Visit: Late October to early March
- Local Specialty: Sandalwood products
- Travelled By: Train, bus, auto rickshaw
- Cost: $$
- Duration of Stay: 2 days
- Location: Karnataka, India
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Summary
Mysore is a true representation of South India, and you haven’t seen South India until you’ve seen Mysore. It has some world-class attractions, not to mention some fantastic restaurants and food. Moreover, public transportation makes travelling around Mysore so easy and affordable. The city has a heart beat that is lively, friendly and charming all at once, and it creeps up and grabs you before you know it.
Mysore: Our Experience
5th December 2013 (Day 1)
We took an early train from Bangalore at 7am that got us into Mysore within three hours at around 10am. From the train station, a quick auto rickshaw ride dropped us to our hotel, Aishwariya Residency located only a few minutes from the centre of the city.
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After a hot shower and a change of clothes we took an auto rickshaw to Mysore Palace, the most popular tourist attraction in Mysore. In our opinions, this is the most beautiful and adorned palace in India and should be the first attraction that people visit in Mysore. They have pretty strict rules regarding entry to the palace – you have to leave your shoes outside the complex and no photography is allowed inside. In fact, bags and pockets are checked before entry and all cameras and iPads are to be left outside in the locker. One guy was caught taking photos with his phone and his phone was confiscated by a guard.
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We headed out of Mysore Palace into the afternoon sun and found a small restaurant to have lunch. There were a lot of interesting chicken dishes so we picked a Chilli Chicken and a Chicken Curry with some steamed rice. This was a no-frills place where locals sit at small tables squashed into an even smaller room but the food was cheap and delicious although the service was terrible. Sometimes when you have a full, satisfied stomach, customer service doesn’t matter all that much and that’s exactly how we felt that afternoon.
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After lunch, we walked down to the Mysore Market which is one of the oldest and most colourful markets in India. Apart from learning a thing or two about local life in Mysore, the market is a great photo op. This is also a great place to buy sandalwood products as well as watch the local shopkeepers make sandalwood incense sticks. It’s not possible to get lost in this market as it’s not very big. Try to enter from the northern end near the Dufferin Clock Tower and exit from the southern end so you get to see the entire market.
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The sun was starting to set when we exited the Mysore market and headed for the hotel. A nice rest for a few hours and we were ready to hit the town. Well, just for dinner that is!
We were sick of Lonely Planet recommendations which were mostly disappointments so we asked the receptionist at the hotel for recommendations. Now that was a good idea, as we wound up at a place called Jungle Restaurant located at Hotel Pai Vista on Bangalore-Nilgiri Road just a few minutes walk from the hotel. If you haven’t figured it out already, this is a jungle-themed restaurant which means we were eating at a table under a jungle canopy; chairs were fitted out with zebra and leopard prints; even the waiters were decked out in ranger outfits which was quite amusing.
Dinner was lovely and we enjoyed the ambiance at the restaurant. It was a nice way to end the day in Mysore.
6th December 2013 (Day 2)
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It was our second day in Mysore and unfortunately our last day too. We took an early morning bus to Srirangapatna, an island fort located about 30 minutes away from Mysore city. The bus left from the City Bus Stand located west of Mysore Palace and dropped us right in front of the train station in Srirangapatna. The town of Srirangapatna intrigued me because it was the administrative centre for the empire of Tipu Sultan, who is my favourite Indian warrior from the 19th century and also the bain of existence for the British army who wanted to conquer South India. Located here are his summer palace, family tombs as well as the place he was shot and killed by the British army.
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We were on a bus back to Mysore city by early afternoon. At the City Bus Stand we connected on to a Volvo bus that took us up to Chamundi Hills. Most people come here as pilgrims to visit Chamudeshwari Temple and provide offerings to the goddess Chamundeshwari. However, what attracted us to Chamundi Hills were the magnificent views over the city provided by the vantage points around the temple.
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Taking another Volvo bus down the hills, we stopped at the Mysore Zoo, another popular attraction in Mysore. Graham and I are big fans of animals, and Mysore Zoo is one of the oldest and best zoos in India. There were a couple of things that impressed me about this zoo. Firstly, it was the first zoo I’ve seen in India that has an Adoption Scheme where people pay to adopt a particular animal for a year. The zoo also has signs around prohibiting littering and also has environmentally friendly bins to ensure this doesn’t happen. Other signs request people remain quiet especially around the animals so as not to upset and scare them; however, this is easier said than done in India.
We loved this zoo as there were big open spaces for the animals who seemed alert and were actively moving around. As animal lovers we were pleased to see that the zoo took good care of their animals.
As we walked around the zoo, we were aware that we had a train to catch at 5:45pm. As we waited for our train to Madurai we looked back on our two days in Mysore and realised how much we had enjoyed our short stay here.
Mysore is a true representation of South India, and you haven’t seen South India until you’ve seen Mysore. It has some world-class attractions, not to mention some fantastic restaurants and food. Moreover, public transportation makes travelling around Mysore so easy and affordable. If you ask me what I liked best about Mysore I would have to say it was the atmosphere of the city – it has a heart beat that is lively, friendly and charming all at once, and it creeps up and grabs you before you know it. Clearly, Mysore is one of my top destinations in India.
