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1. Mysore Palace
Palace
Mysore Palace charges ₹150 for Indian nationals and ₹1,000 for foreign nationals as of 2026, for entry between 10:00 and 17:30 every day of the year.
- 10:00–17:30 daily
- ₹150 Indian · ₹1,000 foreign
- 2 hrs
Karnataka, India
8 Places to Visit in Mysuru
Also known as Mysore · City of Palaces
Mysuru sits 145 kilometres southwest of Bengaluru at the edge of the Deccan plateau, ringed by the granite outcrop of Chamundi Hill on its southeastern flank.
8 places · Updated · How we rank
Jaganmohan Palace charges ₹20 for Indian adults and ₹10 for children aged five to ten as of 2026, for a collection that runs past 2,000 paintings across the Mysore, Rajput, Mughal, and Shantiniketan schools.
- 10:00–17:30 daily
- ₹20
- 1 hr
- 3
3. Devaraja Market
Market
Devaraja Market has traded on the same Sayaji Rao Road site since 1886, when Dewan Poornaiah's canal — built to carry drinking water to Mysore Palace — ran directly beneath the market floor and gave the structure its original wooden-rafter, stone-masonry…
- 06:00–20:30 daily, though flower and produce stalls are open
- Free
- 1 hr
- 5
5. Rail Museum, Mysuru
MuseumClosed Tuesday
Rail Museum, Mysuru opened in 1979, making it India's second dedicated railway museum after the National Rail Museum in Delhi.
- 09:30–17:30
- ₹20
- 45 min
- 7
7. Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens
WildlifeClosed Tuesday
Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens charges ₹100 for Indian adults and ₹50 for children as of 2026, for grounds spanning 157 acres that make it one of the oldest zoos in continuous operation anywhere in the world.
- 08:30–17:30
- ₹100
- 2.5 hrs
- 8
Kukkarahalli Lake covers 62 hectares (150 acres) within the University of Mysore's Manasagangotri campus, holding roughly 2.53 million cubic metres of water at a maximum depth of 5 metres.
- 06:00–19:00 daily
- Free
- 1 hr
Chamundi Hills rises to about 1,062 metres (3,489 feet) above sea level, 13 kilometres southeast of central Mysuru, and the Chamundeshwari Temple at its summit has served as the tutelary shrine of the Wadiyar dynasty for centuries.
- 07:30–14:00, 15:30–18:00, and 19:30–21:00 daily
- Free
- 2 hrs
- 10
10. Brindavan Gardens
Garden
Brindavan Gardens charges ₹15 for Indian adults and ₹5 for children aged five to ten as of 2026, for access to three descending terraces of lawns and fountains laid out below the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam on the Cauvery river.
- 08:00–20:00
- ₹15
- 2 hrs
About Mysuru
The Wadiyar dynasty ruled the kingdom of Mysore from here for most of six centuries, interrupted only by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan's rule in the late eighteenth century, and the city's layout still radiates outward from Mysore Palace along broad avenues laid out under Wadiyar-era urban planning rather than growing up around a colonial cantonment grid, as many other South Indian cities did.
Mysuru's most visible modern institution, the University of Mysore, was founded in 1916 as one of the earliest universities established outside British India's presidency capitals, and its Manasagangotri campus still surrounds Kukkarahalli Lake on the city's western side. The city is equally known for its Mysore silk sarees, sandalwood carving and oil, and the dense, layered sweet called Mysore Pak, all still produced and sold within a few kilometres of Devaraja Market.
Mysuru Junction connects the city to Bengaluru in roughly three hours by rail and road, and to Chennai and Kerala's hill stations beyond; Mysore Airport at Mandakalli has run only intermittent scheduled commercial service in recent years, so most air travellers route through Bengaluru instead. The ten-day Mysuru Dasara festival each September or October, built around the Chamundeshwari Temple's mythology and culminating in a lit-up palace and an elephant procession, is the single best-attended and most disruptive-to-plan-around event on the local calendar. October through March is the most comfortable stretch for walking the city; April and May bring the Deccan plateau's sharpest heat.
Day trips from Mysuru
| Destination | Distance | Drive | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Srirangapatna | 16 km | 30 min | Tipu Sultan's island fort capital on the Cauvery, with the Ranganathaswamy Temple, his Gumbaz mausoleum, and the muraled Daria Daulat Bagh summer palace. |
| Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary | 20 km | 35 min | River-island bird sanctuary on the Cauvery where boat rides pass nesting painted storks, pelicans, and river terns at close range. |
| Somnathpur (Chennakeshava Temple) | 38 km | 1 hr | Star-shaped 1268 CE Hoysala temple with wall-to-wall stone carving, part of the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas UNESCO World Heritage listing inscribed in 2023. |
| Nagarhole National Park (Rajiv Gandhi National Park) | 95 km | 2 hr 15 min | Tiger reserve and part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, reached via Hunsur, with jeep safaris for elephant, gaur, and (with considerable luck) tiger sightings. |
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