Explore Mysore

Mysore was the capital of the Wodeyar dynasty-rulers of Mysore Kingdom for over 500 years-and remains one of the few Indian cities where a royal family's public life is still embedded in the city's calendar. The Mysore Palace, built between 1897 and 1912 in the Indo-Saracenic style that blends Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic architecture, illuminates every evening with 97,000 light bulbs. The effect is best seen on Sunday evenings between 7pm and 7:45pm, and throughout the Dasara festival in October. The Jaganmohana Art Gallery, in the palace compound adjacent to the main palace, holds the private art collection of the Mysore Royal Family-a gallery that most Mysore visitors miss. The 14th Wodeyar's collection includes Raja Ravi Varma's original oil paintings, Tipu Sultan's personal artefacts, ivory carvings, and Mysore gold-leaf paintings that represent some of the finest examples of the Mysore painting tradition. Alike's private palace walk includes the Jaganmohana gallery as a standard itinerary element, not a separately arranged option. Somanathapura, 38 kilometres from Mysore, holds the Keshava Temple-one of the three great Hoysala temples of Karnataka, built in 1268 AD. The star-shaped structure's exterior is covered in approximately 240 friezes of carved figures arranged in horizontal bands-each band narrating a different text, from the Ramayana to the Mahabharata to the Bhagavata Purana. Archaeologists and scholars have been studying the iconography for 150 years without exhausting it. Alike's visit includes a guide who can read the narrative. The Devaraja Market, established in 1900 in the heart of the old city, is Mysore's most atmospheric bazar-three blocks of jasmine garland vendors, turmeric merchants, silk sari dealers, and Mysore pak sweet-makers. Alike's curated Devaraja Market food walk, led by a local food historian, is two hours that covers the history of the market, the origins of Mysore cuisine, and several planned eating stops. Brindavan Gardens, 19 kilometres from Mysore on the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam, is one of South India's most celebrated formal gardens-a Mughal-style terraced garden with musical fountain shows at night. Chamundeshwari Temple, at the top of Chamundi Hill (1,062 metres), offers the broadest view of the Mysore plains in any direction.