Mysore Tours & Experiences

Things to do in Mysore

Mysore lies at the foot of the Chamundi Hills, and most of what follows sits between the hill and the palace. Karnataka Tourism suggests about three days for the city at an easy pace.

Tour the palace with a guide

Our Mysore Palace tour picks you up from your hotel, helps book entry tickets ahead and walks you round the outside first, because the building looks different from each side. Inside, the Durbar Hall still hosts the Dasara durbar, and the octagonal Kalyana Mandapa has a stained-glass ceiling patterned with peacocks. The palace opens daily from 10 am to 5.30 pm; Karnataka Tourism suggests arriving at opening time.

Stay for the lights or the sound-and-light show

On Sundays and public holidays the Mysore Palace Board switches on the palace's 97,000 bulbs from 7 to 8 pm. On other evenings a 45-minute sound-and-light show tells 400 years of the city's history, in English from Thursday to Saturday and in Kannada from Monday to Wednesday, with a later Kannada show on Saturdays, and ends with about 15 minutes of illumination. Tickets for the show are sold only at the Varaha Gate counter, from 6.30 pm.

Climb Chamundi Hill

The Chamundeshwari temple, whose goddess the Wodeyar kings took as their family deity, crowns Chamundi Hill, about 1,000 m above sea level. Drive up the winding road or climb the 1,008 stone steps that pilgrims use, passing a Nandi bull carved from a single block of granite halfway. Mornings are quieter at the temple; evenings bring cooler air and views over the city.

Browse Devaraja Market

One of the city's oldest bazaars, dating from the Wodeyar era, Devaraja Market sells jasmine and other flowers, incense, sandalwood and spices under its old colonnades from early morning into the evening. In festival weeks go early, and ask before photographing stallholders.

Watch the fountains at Brindavan Gardens

About 21 km from Mysore station, beside the Krishna Raja Sagara dam, Brindavan Gardens steps down in terraces to a musical fountain show at dusk, which Karnataka Tourism's own itinerary keeps for the end of a day.

See Dasara

For ten days in September or October the city celebrates Dasara: the palace is lit every evening, the Dasara exhibition opens at Doddakere Maidan, and on Vijayadashami the Jamboo Savari carries the goddess Chamundeshwari in a golden howdah on a lead elephant from the palace to Bannimantap, with a torchlight parade there that evening. Rituals close the palace to visitors for some hours on certain days, and for whole days at the festival's height.

Choosing between our tours and experiences

The Mysore Palace tour is a tour package for travellers staying in the city: a private guide in the palace, a car from and back to your hotel, help with tickets and timing advice for the lights and the Dasara crowds; the entry ticket and any camera fee are extra. Our Mysore tour packages page lists it too; for trips joining Mysore to the rest of the state, see Karnataka tours and experiences, and for the sights, our Mysore guide.

When to go for these

Karnataka Tourism treats Mysore as a city for any season, with October to March the most comfortable months for sightseeing. Dasara brings the most to see and the biggest crowds, so book rooms early; the palace lights are a weekly event, so a Sunday or holiday evening in any month will do.

Planning tips for Mysore

Shoes come off before the palace galleries; the Palace Board keeps a footwear stand and lends wheelchairs, umbrellas and bicycles for its gardens and temples. Karnataka Tourism advises being back at the palace by 7 pm for the lights. Mysore Zoo closes on Tuesdays and the Rail Museum on Mondays.