Karnataka — Bangalore, Hampi, Mysore & Coorg

A garden begun under Hyder Ali and finished by Tipu Sultan, now around 240 acres of old trees and lawns in the middle of the city. The iron and glass conservatory at its centre was modelled on the Crystal Palace, and one of the four watchtowers Kempegowda built to mark the city limits stands on the rock outcrop inside.

• Walk through the Glass House
• Climb the rock to the Kempegowda tower
• See the lake at the far end

A Tudor-revival house built in the 1870s and later bought by the Wodeyar family, with turrets, fortified towers and a good deal of carved wood inside. The audio tour covers the ballroom, the durbar hall and a large collection of family photographs.

• Take the audio tour of the interiors
• See the durbar hall
• Walk the front lawns

The state legislature building in granite, best seen from the road outside since it is not open to visitors, with the green of Cubbon Park directly opposite.

• Photograph Vidhana Soudha from the road
• Walk a stretch of Cubbon Park
• See the High Court building across the way

A low rock hill just above the Virupaksha Temple, covered with small pre-Vijayanagara shrines and gateways. It is a five-minute climb and the best free view of the ruins, the river and the boulder fields beyond.

• Watch the sunset over the boulder country
• Look down on the Virupaksha tower
• Walk among the small stone shrines

The oldest working temple on the site and the one thing at Hampi that never fell out of use — worship has continued here for centuries. The tower over the eastern gate rises about fifty metres above the bazaar street. A small chamber inside shows an inverted shadow image of the tower cast through a pinhole.

• Find the inverted shadow chamber
• Walk the pillared bazaar street outside
• See the temple elephant at the morning hour

The finest building at Hampi, built in the sixteenth century and never fully completed. The stone chariot in its courtyard is carved from blocks fitted so tightly that it reads as one piece, and its wheels once turned. The hall behind it has the musical pillars, which ring when struck — though they are now roped off to protect them.

• See the stone chariot from all four sides
• Look at the musical pillars in the main hall
• Walk the old market street running east

The administrative half of the city — platforms where the king watched the Dasara processions, stepped tanks, and the queens' quarter with its arcaded Lotus Mahal. The eleven domed chambers of the elephant stables next to it are the best preserved secular building on the site.

• Climb the Mahanavami platform
• See the stepped tank
• Walk the length of the elephant stables

A short spin in a round basket boat below the Vittala Temple, which is how the river has been crossed here for a very long time. It runs only when the water is safe.

• Ride the coracle below the temple
• See the carved rocks along the bank
• Watch the sunset from the riverside

A hill fort of seven concentric walls built into the boulders above the highway, held by the Nayakas and later by Hyder Ali. It makes a good leg-stretch about two and a half hours out of Hampi, though the climb is steep and takes longer than it looks.

• Walk the first two rings of wall
• See the rock-cut water tanks
• Look out over the plain from the gate

A hill about a thousand feet above the city with the Chamundeshwari Temple at the top, dedicated to the goddess the Wodeyars took as their family deity. There is a road to the summit and also a stone stairway of around a thousand steps. The large monolithic Nandi bull sits partway down the steps.

• See the temple gopuram
• Stop at the monolithic Nandi
• Look over the whole city from the viewpoint

Amba Vilas, rebuilt in the early twentieth century after a fire, in a mix of Hindu, Islamic and Gothic detail with stained glass, carved doors and painted halls. The Dasara processions still start from here. Photography is not permitted inside the main halls and shoes are left at the counter.

• See the Durbar Hall and the Kalyana Mantapa
• Look at the Dasara procession paintings
• Return after dark on a Sunday for the illumination

An island town in the Cauvery that was Tipu Sultan's capital until the British took it in 1799. The Ranganathaswamy Temple is the oldest thing here; Daria Daulat Bagh, Tipu's summer palace, is a teak building whose walls are covered inside with painted battle scenes, and the Gumbaz holds his tomb.

• See the murals at Daria Daulat Bagh
• Visit the Gumbaz
• Walk the old fort walls by the river

Terraced gardens laid out below the Krishnaraja Sagara dam in the 1930s, with the musical fountain running after dark. Best in the last hour of light, when the terraces are still visible and the fountain has started.

• Watch the musical fountain
• Walk the terraced beds
• See the dam wall from the north end

The largest Tibetan settlement in south India, established in the 1960s, with a prayer hall holding three gilded figures around sixty feet high. The painted walls and the sound of the monks at prayer are the reason to stop rather than the building itself.

• See the three gilded Buddha figures
• Sit in on a prayer session if one is running
• Walk the settlement lanes

A forest department camp on the bank of the Cauvery where elephants once used for timber work are now looked after. Visitors cross by boat and can help wash and feed them during the morning session. It closes when the river runs high.

• Join the morning bathing session
• Cross the river by boat
• Talk to the mahouts about the camp

A waterfall about eight kilometres out of Madikeri, reached down a path through coffee and spice plantation and seen from a hanging bridge across the gorge. Heaviest just after the monsoon and thin by late spring.

• Walk down through the plantation
• View the falls from the hanging bridge
• Look at the pepper vines along the path

A small garden pavilion in Madikeri where the Kodagu rulers are said to have come to watch the sun go down over the valleys. It is still the best sunset in town and gets busy for it.

• Get there half an hour before sunset
• Walk the terraced garden
• Ride the toy train with children