The golden age of maharajahs and princes may be over, but Mysore remains a splendid city of palatial buildings, beautiful gardens and broad tree-lined boulevards. There are 17 palaces here in all, and even the most common public buildings are ...

In Hospet, stay at Malligi Tourist Home, 6/143 Jambunatha Rd (tel 8101), a short rickshaw ride from the bus-stand. Friendly and comfortable, it has nice single/double rooms from Rs50  (plus air-conditioned doubles at Rs250), good restaurant, bakery and ice-cream parlour, ...

Virupaksha Temple–Vittala Temple Complex–Narasimha–Sister Stone–Palace Complex–Kamalapuram Just up from Hampi Bazaar bus-stand, you’ll find Virupaksha Temple, the only sacred complex in Hampi still ‘living’ (still in worship). Dedicated to Virupaksha, an aspect of Shiva, it has two main courts, each ...

Hospet, 13 km (8 miles) from Hampi, is the popular base for travellers. It has better food and accommodation, and offers frequent buses (Rsl) to Hampi Bazaar and Kamalapuram, the two main entry points to the ruins. From either point, ...

About 190 km (119 miles) east of Belgaum and 350 km (219 miles) north of Bangalore lie the ruins of Hampi, once the greatest of all medieval Hindu capitals. Founded in 1336 by two local princes, Hari Hara and Bukka, ...

Luxury/Expensive (over US$35IRs1000 per room night) Three of the best properties in Bangalore are managed by the Taj Group but in August 1992 an Oberoi hotel opened making the city one of the few with hotels run by all India’s ...

Because Bangalore has few sights of its own, and these widely dispersed, travellers tend to spend just a couple of days here, resting up and cooling off before heading to Bombay, Goa or further south. But if there’s little to ...

Capital of Karnataka state, Bangalore is a clean, spacious and well-planned city of beautiful parks, long avenues and magnificent buildings. One of Asia’s fastest-growing cities, it has lost many of the trees, gardens  and quaint bungalows that gained it the ...

In Hyderabad, you stay either in isolated splendour up in the Banjara Hills 6 km (3 3/4 miles) from the rail station, or in the seedier, but atmospheric Abids area of the town centre. Here, as in many large Indian ...

Nehru Zoological Park Hyderabad has the best zoo in India. It lies in a huge 121-hectare (300-acre) expanse of undulating, semi-tropical landscape, and is the home of some 1600 animals. Famous for its Lion Safari Park and for its many ...